Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 2761

Still, no one spoke.

“What’s that?” someone in the crowd called out.

Everyone followed the speaker’s gaze upward and saw a device hanging above the door, resembling the helm of an old ship.

It was a double-layered wheel, one large and one small, carved with an ornate design of a dragon and phoenix intertwined. Inlaid with mother-of-pearl and iridescent shells, it shimmered in the sunlight, looking stunningly beautiful and lifelike.

At first, everyone assumed it was just a decoration, but they soon realized something was off.

The two layered wheels were constantly turning, the smaller one in front moving quickly, the larger one behind it rotating more slowly.

Each spoke had a hole in it, inlaid with shell to form a magnificent phoenix tail.

Every time the holes on the front and back wheels aligned, a different image would appear in the center of the wheel—sometimes a painting of flowers and birds, sometimes a landscape, and sometimes a dragon and phoenix…

The more the crowd watched the wheel, the more amazed they became.

“The craftsmanship is exquisite!”

“This must use some long-lost clockwork mechanism. It looks incredible!”

“As expected of the Jarvis family. What an eye-opener!”

…

“Does opening the door have something to do with this wheel?” Charlie asked, looking up.

Jonathan watched the patterns align as the wheels turned. After a moment of thought, he turned to Millard, who had followed him. “Get me a ladder!”

“No need for that!”

Xavier stepped forward, holding a long wooden box. He presented it to Jonathan with a faint smile.

“There was supposed to be another small challenge before this—finding the bow and arrow. But I’ll give Estelle a hand this time and present it to you myself. Ms. Sampson said this challenge is called ‘The Arrow That Flies But Once.’ You can’t turn back, and you can’t hesitate. You have one chance. If you miss, the door might lock for good, and you’ll have to come back another day!”

After a moment, he raised the bow, aiming for the three o’clock position, and waited.

At the three o’clock position, when the holes on both wheels aligned, the image of the dragon and phoenix appeared. The dragon was on the outer wheel, the phoenix on the inner one, perfectly mirroring his and Estelle’s current situation.

More importantly, Magdalen wanted him to understand that Estelle had waited three years for him, and now he had to show the same patience and unwavering resolve.

As the seconds ticked by, the courtyard, filled with over a hundred people, fell silent. Everyone held their breath, their eyes wide with excitement and faces flushed, seemingly more nervous than Jonathan himself.

Jonathan stood tall and straight in his black suit, his handsome face a mask of calm composure. Perhaps it was his naturally sharp and imposing aura, but the sight of him in a suit, holding a sleek black steel bow, didn't seem out of place at all.

His arm was steady and strong as he drew the bow to its full extent. Even as the wind blew, the bowstring remained perfectly still.

The nerves of the onlookers were drawn just as taut, as if every fiber of their being had become a bowstring stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.

They unconsciously quieted their breathing, afraid to disrupt the man’s concentration.