Annan is quite skilled in dismantling houses.
In less than five minutes, he ransacked Ai Lei's room... just like raiding Don Juan's room.
Because unlike the room of Don Juan on the ship, Ellie doesn't seem to stay in her room very often. In Alley's room, Annan didn't find much of value.
There were no weapons in the room, not even a pair of sharp scissors. The only lethal things may be Allie's comb and quill.
But in Annan's view... this is actually a bit abnormal.
But he didn't jump to conclusions hastily, but continued to search for things that might bring him some additional information.
In the closet in her room, there is nothing useful except skirts and underwear. Nothing was hidden under the pillows, under the sheets, or in the crevices of the floorboards.
Except, Ellie's diary.
This is the only hint Annan can get in Alley's room.
[Diary of Alley Morrison]
[Type: Miscellaneous (White)]
[Description: A diary that has been in use for about three months, but some pages are missing]
"Are some pages missing..."
That's okay too.
Annan murmured, and opened Ai Lei's diary without hesitation.
While his main mission is to investigate the secrets of Amos Morrison, this kind of work always has a beginning... a thread.
"March 15th. Amos seems to be in a better mood recently."
This is the first diary that Annan saw belonging to Ai Lei after opening the diary.
"March 18th. Amos's mood suddenly turned bad again today. He drank again and tore up another painting... which he was supposed to give Mrs. Barber on April 1st.
"Silver Lord, what should he do if he can't come up with a gift on April 1st? Amos will lose face."
…
"March 22. It's really strange. Amos didn't drink for the past two days, but he didn't lose his temper. He was hiding in the study and reading a book... It seems to be a relic of his mother.
"I think he probably misses his mother."
…
"March 25th. It's been almost a week, and he hasn't come out of the study. I'm a little worried about him... He hasn't eaten much recently. Is he sick? I'm going to ask the Bishop tomorrow."
…
"March 26th! Amos came out of the study before I went to see the Bishop! And he seemed to be in a good mood... It's really rare, Lord Silver, I haven't seen him for almost half a month until he smiled.
"And I saw him start drawing again!
"Great... As long as you keep your spirits up, life will always get better. I have to make him something delicious, and Amos is going to repaint Mrs. Barber's portrait tomorrow."
…
(a page is torn out here)
…
"April 1st, today is the holy day of Javon. I saw many famous artists come to Freezing Water Harbor, including Master Norman and Master Harold! I actually wanted to go to their concerts, but I I still have to go to Roseburg with my father first, unfortunately.
"The strange painting really satisfied the Viscountess, and my father got a lot of money. He said that the money is enough for me to buy a lot of clothes...
"But I don't want clothes, we're not short of money. As long as Amos is happy!
"When I left, the painting seemed to be looking at me. It's a weird painting."
…
"April 20th, Amos cried today.
"I saw him painting in front of the garden, halfway through the painting, staring at the garden with tears in his eyes. Then he tore up the painting.
"This was Amos's favorite garden, he used to paint here and it was beautiful. But he hadn't painted here for months... he was too busy. Amos had been I made a lot of money doing portraits of great people and bought me a lot of clothes.
"But I don't want clothes..."
…
"On April 24th, Amos had the garden bulldozed. I wasn't too happy, but Amos hasn't been in a good mood lately, so I didn't say much.
"But I'm still not too happy."
…
"April 30th, April is finally coming to an end. When May comes, it will be Silver Lord's shelter month, and Amos won't have to attend so many ceremonies...
"My lord bishop told me that Amos has become famous. His skills have improved recently. It is said that the portraits he drew allow people to see the soul of this person through the picture. They said it was kissed by Javon Hand, this skill has surpassed history, and he will leave his name through the ages... If it is in the United Kingdom, he may even become a god-given honorary viscount on April 1st next year.
"Although I don't quite understand it, it's always a good thing. I'm very happy~"
…
"On May 2nd, Yinjue's festival was very lively, but I was very tired. I fell asleep when I came back yesterday. I didn't write a diary. I will make up for it today.
"Yesterday I told Amos that my birthday was coming up. He said he was going to get me a nice present and I told him I didn't want a gift but just a portrait of me, Amos His face suddenly became ugly... Did I make him angry
"Also: He doesn't seem angry."
…
"June 10th, my birthday is two days away!
“Bringed that up to Amos again today. But he wasn’t angry today, he just bet me that there’s no way I’m going to sit there and wait for him to finish. He said it would take him hours to paint a portrait, and in between Can't move...
"It's just sitting, what's the problem...it's not standing.
"Wow, is it difficult to not go to the toilet for a few hours? Then you won't be able to drink water the day after tomorrow...
"Also: In the past two days, Amos has started to sneak into the study again. I tried to go in and see but was murdered. After a few days, I will find a chance when Amos is not at home. I have to go to the study to see if he is sneaking around. What book to read."
This is the last page of Allie's diary.
"Weird painting..."
Annan muttered, closing the diary.
As expected, the diary contains a lot of key information.
Combining the previous conversation between Amos and him, Annan roughly inferred some of Amos' secrets.
Amos is indeed in love with his daughter Ellie, and their relationship is very close. And his wife died some years ago.
He seems to have fallen into the bottleneck period of artistic creation, so the pain has reached the level of autism. But by looking through the library of his deceased wife, he found a special paint that can strengthen his ability to draw portraits. Portraits painted with this paint will be like living things, with their own souls.
But people who are painted in portraits can have some bad consequences. And Amos himself knew the price.
… Is it some kind of ritual
Annan immediately thought of the weird ritual he saw in the copy on the ship, "Tongue in the Mirror".
A strange ability that doesn't make sense at all, but at a strange price. This fits the situation very well.
He suspected that Amos might have made some kind of secret deal with the false god known as "Skeletal Lord" and obtained a strange and evil ritual...
Gotta go to his study.
Annan thought so, and was about to leave Ai Lei's room.
Before going out, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the portrait of Ellie.
"This is-"
He couldn't help admiring, and his eyes widened.
... Even if he is as harsh as Annan, he must admit that Amos's paintings are indeed very delicate. Of course, Ai Lei is indeed cute, which is a key plus.
The painting is stunningly real, yet beautiful, like an art photo. It's so real that it looks like it was taken by a camera... At least if you just show this painting to Annan, he can't tell whether it's a photo or a painting.
... He calls this a failure
What is the successful product like
The ones in the gallery outside...