CHAPTER 323: CHAPTER 146: MIDNIGHT CONVERSATION AT THE VILLA

Mussen and Ye Taina’s studio was located in the basement of this building.

Unlike other places in the mansion, this place was locked. The keys were usually kept by Olson himself, and only handed over to Housekeeper Dennis when he was out.

Fortunately, Pello encountered Housekeeper Dennis tonight, otherwise, he would have needed to make more effort to successfully enter the basement.

Due to the undulating terrain of Olson Manor, several villas were built on high ground. Thus, although it was a basement, it was actually equivalent to the first floor of a residential house. Moreover, since the villa on the left side faced the sun and there were no tall trees around to provide shade, even on cold nights, the basement still carried the scent of the afternoon sunshine. This was why the life-loving Ye Taina chose the basement as her studio.

Compared to the luxurious decorations in the rest of the mansion, the basement was simply rudimentary. Mussen was responsible for the diamond polishing tools, and all kinds of pens and papers Ye Taina used for drawing designs were laid out on two sturdy maple wood tables.

Besides, under the table, there was a container resembling an incense burner, inside which pine charcoal for dehumidifying was placed.

Pello walked up to the table and flipped open the paper on top of it, and there were still some indiscernible scribbles made by Little Perro left on the table. Pello’s memories of this studio weren’t very vivid.

"Everything here is still the same as before," the old housekeeper turned on the work lamp with a green shell. More than a decade ago, the Earl and Countess created the world-renowned "Mussen’s Blessing" right here. Back then, the Munsen family might not have been as rich as the wealthiest families in Europe, but nobody could deny that the reputation of the Munsen family at that time was something money couldn’t buy.

"Are the design sketches for that set of jewelry still here?" Pello started searching on the table. The studio’s layout was still the same as before, so those sketches might still be here.

Housekeeper Dennis joined Pello in searching through the studio, but they couldn’t find those sketches anywhere.

"I remember that Tina drew the sketches; she liked to use charcoal and hardly used any modern tools." Pello could still remember how Tina, immediately after taking off her social dress, would tie up her hair and bury herself beside the green-shelled work lamp, diligently sketching. That memory was so clear, to the extent of recalling the few strands of hair that fell unnoticed while she was engrossed in her work—it was vivid in his mind.

"Yes, the Countess disliked using tools like compasses or rulers and always spent a long time drawing drafts by hand. Each of her drafts was unique," Dennis also remembered the night when Mussen’s Blessing was finished, how the excited Countess, despite the Earl’s objections, would knock loudly on her door to have him fetch a bottle of wine for celebration.

"Such drafts wouldn’t be casually discarded," Pello believed that Olson, who was also in the jewelry business, wouldn’t easily destroy those precious drafts.

Actually, Pello was also puzzled why, with Olson’s status and wealth today, he would want to collect "Mussen’s Blessing". Although color diamonds were rare, Olson, owning vast diamond mines, should be able to find suitable diamonds and recreate a "Mussen’s Blessing".

"Sir, nothing here, not a single sheet or centimeter, has been touched," Dennis assured him, as he pulled out a few pages of paper that had already started to yellow, "Look, even these papers are from that time, nobody has ever moved them."

Pello recognized those papers. Unlike new modern paper, old paper has a darker yellow color, but its ink-absorbing quality and toughness are much greater than those extensively treated with sulfur like modern papers.

"Wait," Pello took over the dozens of pages of old paper. These papers must have been used by Tina constantly, therefore they bore countless pen marks. Tina had a strong hand in writing, such that even through several pages, the original pen marks on the drawing paper showed through.

The design drawings of Mussen’s Blessing were piled together, and it was no longer possible to clearly distinguish each paper’s design. But on them, there was a row of neat handwriting, stretching from the upper left corner of the paper to the lower left corner, a total of eight lines of text.

Pello turned up the light of the green-shell lamp, while Dennis carefully watched the outside, guarding against the sudden passing of security or others.

"Mussen’s Blessing," Pello’s voice lost its usual calm due to excitement, he felt an unease in his throat, a choking sensation surged upwards.

"Red Love... Passion; Orange Love... Desire; Yellow Love... Rebirth; Green Love... Fame; Blue Love... Independence; Purple Love... Revenge; Purple Love...," the handwriting here seemed as if the writer suddenly lessened the strength, and it became unclear.

"These are not Tina’s handwriting," Pello put down the stack of papers, it was Mussen’s handwriting. Bold and unrestrained writing, that belonged to Mussen.

The jewelry designs created by Tina, the blessings written by Mussen, they were like Mussen’s self-evaluation, only, what does the Purple Love at the end signify? What final definition did Mussen leave behind for this ’inheritance’?

Pello sat down between Mussen and Tina’s desks, grabbing his hair with his hands, his eyes fixed on that piece of paper. He wanted to know, his father’s last attitude towards Tina.

Blue Love of revenge placed last, could it be, his father also made the same choice as he?

The light of the left villa in the dark night seemed somewhat abrupt. While Pello was deep in thought, in the main villa, a light in one of the rooms also turned on.

Su Ziceng did not expect that she would wake up in the middle of the night. She was sleeping soundly, suddenly a sharp pain in her head, and then she woke up.

She casually turned on the light, the unfamiliar room, the unfamiliar mattress, even her shadow cast on the wall by the light looked so strange.

Everything in the room gave her an uncomfortable feeling, these few villas, by nighttime, seemed somewhat cold.

Su Ziceng pulled over the brand new robe, draped it over herself, opened the room door, and walked to Pello’s room door, wondering whether or not to wake Pello up. She actually had a lot of questions to ask Pello.

She always felt, Pello being in this house, would be more anxious than her.

After her hand dropped, no knocking sound was made, the door gently opened by itself, the room was full of night, empty without a person. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation.)