The Princess to Eight Uncles (Lily And Mr. Crawford) Chapter 84

Charlie immediately walked toward the windows and pulled the blinds open before unlatching the windows. Sunlight filtered into the room together with a breeze of fresh air, brightening up the dreary space. It also made it possible for the group to see Mr. Rosewood clearly. He was a gaunt old man with gray skin, sunken features and skinny as a bag of bones. His eyes could barely open as his unfocused pupils finally landed on Lilly.

“Did you say… you found Amelia’s remains?” he rasped, clearly struggling for breath. It was like he was summoning all his remaining energy to speak to Lilly.

Josh covered his face with his hands, while Valentine’s legs felt shaky. How could a living person look so terrifying? Lilly on the other hand walked up to the old man fearlessly and placed her hand around his bony arm.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood. I know where she is,” Lilly comforted the old man. The red string bracelet around her tiny wrist began to emit a weak flow as she spoke, and the energy from the bracelet seemed to ebb and flow into the old man’s body. Everyone else could almost sense the dreadful energy in the room lifting and disappearing slowly as the old man’s eyes seemed to come back to life.

Moments later, Mr. Rosewood was able to prop himself up weakly, trying his best to sit up. Noticing this, Valentine immediately went over to help him. “Mr. Rosewood, why are you alone in this big, old house? You can’t possibly take care of yourself in this state…” Valentine asked the old man out of concern.

The strange thing was that Old Mr. Rosewood was dressed in a clean set of pajamas, and apart from the strong smell of medicine, Valentine could not discern any other rotting scent coming from the old man. As he looked around the bedroom, he noticed that it was rather clean and well-kept, despite the dark and gloomy interior. Old Mr. Rosewood was just a regular elderly man.

Old Mr. Rosewood let out a slow sigh. “What’s there to take care? My days are numbered…” he said faintly.

Lilly felt a pang of sadness fill her as she took in the old grandpa in front of her. There was an incense candle burning weakly on the top of his head. Master Pablo had once told her that the burning incense represents how long more a person got to live. Once the flame ran out, the person’s life would end.

“Mr. Rosewood, her bones are buried under the school’s football field,” Lilly told him without waiting for him to ask again. “Her name was Amelia Rosewood, and her best friend was Roxanne Larson… am I right? Amelia was a nice lady. She gave all her pretty dresses to Roxanne, but Roxanne killed her,” Lilly continued.

Old Mr. Rosewood blinked in surprise. His eyes filled with tears as the memories of his daughter’s death returned. “Bring me there… Bring me to Amelia…” he wheezed. It had been more than ten years. He never thought he would live to find his daughter’s remains, but there was hope now!

“Be patient, Mr. Rosewood. The police won’t let you near the scene even if you head there yourself,” Valentine tried to calm the old man down.

Noticing Anthony’s expectant look, Charlie immediately sprang into action and rushed out of the room to call the police.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Rosewood! I’ll keep an eye too!” Lilly offered.

Old Mr. Rosewood’s eyes seemed dejected as he looked away from Lilly, leaning against the bed frame. “I spent my whole life building and running my business without ever going against my conscience. When my worker’s parents turned ill, I gave them money to get treatment and even helped them contact an overseas specialist. I lived an honorable life. The only mistake I ever made… was murdering that young lady…” he sighed.

Valentine’s jaw dropped ever so slightly. Did the old man just confess to murdering Roxanne Larson?

Lilly nodded as Pablo whispered something in her ear, before turning to Old Mr. Rosewood again. “Grandpa Rosewood, why didn’t you find out where Amelia was buried? How did she die?” she asked.

Old Mr. Rosewood let out another long sigh. He was looking better just a few moments ago, but now he seems to shrivel up again. “Amelia was our precious kind-hearted sweetheart. She was the kind of person who would give her favorite limited-edition dresses to her best friend. She was also always considerate of Roxanne’s feelings, so she would tear the tags off her dresses and tell Roxanne she didn’t want them,” he told Lilly. “We were also always fond of Roxanne and let her walk in and out of our house freely… But who would’ve known that a seemingly kind, innocent girl like her would turn out to be the devil incarnate!”

Pablo wrapped his arms around himself and listened on intently.

“Don’t be too nice to someone, for you never know their true intentions…” Old Mr. Rosewood warned. Unfortunately for him, he had learnt this lesson the hard way. The truth finally came to light as he described the events from more than ten years ago.

After Roxanne Larson left her job at the printing factory, she got herself into a burgeoning amount of debt as a result of unhealthy spending habits to maintain her lifestyle. Yet, she was still unsatisfied and eventually harbored a desire to replace Amelia Rosewood.

“One day, she called and told us that she had been scammed by an illegal clinic when she tried to buy some medicine for her parents. She said she was being held hostage by the clinic for a ransom of ten million dollars, and someone had to bail her out in person. She was crying desperately on the phone and sweet Amelia rushed to her rescue without thinking twice,” Old Mr. Rosewood lamented with agony in his voice. He regretted raising his daughter to be too kind and considerate as he never expected that to be the cause of her eventual death.

Old Mr. Rosewood shut his eyes as he continued. “Roxanne Larson wasn’t being held hostage in a clinic. She was at an illegal plastic surgery clinic that preyed on young girls’ vanity and lured them into signing expensive cosmetic surgery packages. It was the kind of business that was filthy to the core… Roxanne offered the clinic ten million dollars for them to perform a surgery on her using another person’s skin so that she could look exactly like the person. Heavens, the clinic accepted the job! Can you believe it? There was an actual syndicate performing surgeries using real human skin!”

It was not just the outer skin. The clinic could dissect and replace every internal organ in the body! By the time Old Mr. Rosewood heard of the news, Amelia was nowhere to be found. Roxanne returned with her face and clothes stained full of blood, crying frantically as she told the Rosewoods that Amelia had been captured by the criminals when she tried to save her.

“While we were desperately searching for Amelia, Roxanne had wormed her way into our home under the guise of taking care of me and Mrs. Rosewood. I was truly a fool for not being able to see through her façade…” Old Mr. Rosewood chuckled bitterly. Tears fell down his sunken cheeks as he recalled the painful details. By the time they found Amelia, all that was left of her was scrap flesh and tissue remnants. Her bones and large organs had mysteriously disappeared.

“Since Roxanne was not the one who performed the surgery, she was only an accomplice to the murder at most for deceiving Amelia and luring her to the clinic. The courts wouldn’t have given her a heavy sentence, but we decided she should pay for her crimes with her life!” Old Mr. Rosewood bellowed as his eyes flashed with angry hatred, before burying his face in his frail hands. “But no matter what we did, Roxanne could not tell us where Amelia’s bones were buried since she was not the one who mutilated her…”

Old Mr. Rosewood would have done the exact same thing if he was given a choice again. “My biggest regret is not killing Roxanne Larson. It is not teaching my daughter to be wary of people…” he sobbed miserably.