Evangeline was now in her room unpacking her clothes on the bed. It was a big room with a heavy bed made of newly polished rosewood and a floor that was carpeted with fine rugs. Evangeline had been very young when she first came to this house with her parents, she remembered playing hide and seek with her mother and those old town fables that her father told her before bedtime.
It made her feel hollow and empty knowing that her family would never be together like that again and that it was her fault. Evangeline was with her parents inside the car during the accident she had been in the back seat of the car while her parents sat in the front. Her dad was driving that day they had been arguing about something though Eve could hardly remember what it was when she saw the truck coming their way.
She had shouted for her father to stop the car but before he could turn around and see the truck it was too late, their car had turned upside down due to collision and Eve had gone unconscious for nearly an hour and when she woke it was to find her parent's bodies dangling upside down while blood dripped from them forming a puddle on the ground.
She had tried to shout for help, tried to jerk her parents awake but no matter what she did she was stuck there to watch her parents bleeding to death until finally the ambulance and police arrived on the scene. Even after five months she still woke up in the middle of the night in cold sweat from nightmares filled with dead bodies, blood, and death.
She had started losing sleep and throwing up after waking up from nightmares and it was only the medicines she and Jasmin's therapist suggested that she could now sleep better than before and not have panic attacks while sitting in the back seat of a car.
Jasmine and the rest have done everything they can to help her including taking turns in spending the night holding her and cuddling her when she had fits of fear and panic attacks. Rossi came in from the door "Are you finished? Chris and Jazz are waiting in the library, they want to get started right away." said Rossi smiling at Eve.
"I wish I could share some of their enthusiasm. Don't you think we should fresh up first." said Eve trying hard not to show her grief with a fake smile. she should have known better, that her friends would see right through it and so Rossi did. "We already have, you are the one running late" she said with an understanding smile and walked up to Eve to give her a gentle hug.
"You should know that all we want is for you to share some of our enthusiasm and stop acting to be happy for our sake but be happy because you feel like it." she said letting her go "I am trying to." said Eve. "I know." replied Rossi.
"Let's go." and with that, she took Eve's hand and they both went out the room toward the library. They reached two heavy doors on the second floor of the house and entered through the oak doors. "Well they are finally here." said Christine looking up from one of the books she and Jasmine had spread on the polished ivory table that was placed in the centre of the room.
The library was vast with shelves covering the walls. One wall had two large glass stained windows in front of which there was a small round table and two chairs beside the table stood a staircase leading to the lading above to reach the upper shelves. There was also a one-armed stylish couch in one corner behind the long ivory table while a fireplace below the mantelpiece stood on the opposite wall behind the couch.
Jasmine was lying down on the couch reading one of the books from the library. "So what have you two found until now." asked Eve coming in the library. "Nothing much, we have just started." said Jasmin from the couch.
"We were waiting for you two. I wanted to ask you, there are no maps of the servant pathways in these documents and the new adjustments that had been made in the house?" asked Christine.
"I'm not sure there are any detailed maps of the servant pathways of the house since they were built a long time ago and the rest, they must be with the architectures. I can ask them to bring it back once the renovations start." replied Eve.
"The servant pathways, you mean there could also be hidden rooms in this house and nobody would know about them. Talk about lack of professionalism." interjected Jasmin now raising up from the couch and coming up to stand next to Christine. "So about this lost treasure you said you would tell us the family history once we arrive, now that we are finally here I think you should get a move on." said Christine.
"Very well but know I can only tell you the main points of the story that I heard from my parents and some facts are still unknown as the whole thing is quite a big mystery." said Eve "Now, in the early 18th century one of my ancestor Nicklaus Wilber the lord of this land met a wealthy heiress who had only just returned from France.
The family financial state was not good those days. So it was essential that Nicklaus married for wealth at least that was what lady Wilber, Nicklaus's mother had intended but Nicklaus fell in love with Charlotte and much to her mother's disdain was quite happy with his wife weather she came with or without a handsome dowry.
Lady Wilber wasn't found of charlotte because of her linage as charlotte's family had only just become wealthy due to industrialism and didn't have a proper title like herself.
Regardless of her dislike the marriage took place and Charlotte indeed came with chests full of gold, jewels, and lavish cloths.
The family financial state did not only improved but thrived due to Charlotte's father's contacts with foreigner merchants and within a year the family business was at its peak and to cap it all up the couple were soon blessed with twins.
Everything was perfect but Nicklaus's mother still held her grudges against Charlotte. She did all she could to persuade Nicklaus to leave Charlotte now that the family business was stable and marry someone of proper family background but Nicklaus would not hear of it as he was just as loyal to Charlotte as she was to him.
So now Lady Wilber did the next worst thing that one could think of in that age of time. She spread rumours about Charlotte being mentally distressed and possibly though I could not say
for sure she used drugs to turn the rumours into reality and soon Charlotte started having hallucinations and tried to hurt herself.
After seeing her wife's behaviour, Nicklaus decided that it was best for their children's safety that Charlotte keeps her distance from them. So they moved Charlotte to the north tower of the house away from the children though the children were permitted to come and meet their mother whenever she was feeling well but Charlotte was worried for her children. She did not trust her mother in law to leave the children in her care
She begged to be moved back to the main house but Nicklaus assured her that it was for the best. Soon her state became worse as she started having fits of panic but worse than her state was the rumours that had started poisoning the minds of the people living in the nearby village. That Charlotte was either possessed by a demon or she was a witch.
These rumours became so wild that the people begin fearing their lord and his manor and one day a riot break out in the village as people were demanding that Lord Nicklaus should send her wife away to an asylum or leave the town.
Though the riot had been ended as Lord Nicklaus agreed to send her wife away the horrors of the night weren't over yet. When he came home to give her wife the news about his decision he found her hanging from the ceiling while a letter was found near her that said that her soul will protect her children and their children for centuries to come but it will also haunt those who try to hurt those who are of her blood.
Although the letter was written in Charlotte's handwriting Nicklaus suspected foul play but he had no means to prove it or accuse someone of her wife's death. Due to the letter It seemed to everyone else that Charlotte had committed suicide because of her fear of being burned at the stake by town people.
So no one backed Nicklaus's suspension and as days went by Nicklaus's guilt and grief made him so drunk and unreasonable that he trusted no one, not even his mother and isolated himself from everyone. For the mere thought that his wife had indeed committed suicide because of him locking her up in the tower was more than he can bare so he lived on in denial.
A few months later Lady Wilber died from a heart attack but Nicklaus was afraid that the curse that Charlotte had put on the house would haunt his children as well so he moved to London with his children and left the house for safekeeping.
It is said that in her suicide note Charlotte had also mentioned keeping a part of her fortune for her children but it did not say where had she hidden. It just said that only her heirs would be able to find it when the time comes. Many people searched the house in vain though no one succeeded in finding the hidden treasure."