Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ novel Chapter 58

The secret within

There was no chance that Veronica wouldn’t tell Neil every single detail about our visit to the Wintons’ mansion as soon as we left and called it a day. My phone rang exactly fifteen minutes later. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this, Ms. Bell!” I heard Neil nearly cry out as I took the call.

“Don’t be. You told me to call you, and I didn’t, but mostly because I was sure that I could handle it on my own,” I said, wondering where my confidence came from. “Still… You are aware that I needed to report this to Mr. Lan? He got very mad… Please don’t blame me if he calls you… ” His concerned tone sent a wave of anxiety right through my body.

Something about Neil’s words annoyed me. Would Aren truly blame me for taking care of the problem myself instead of using Neil? Why would I need to pretend I was weak when I wasn’t?! It was the first time that I felt strong enough to stand up against someone like Vanessa and keep my head held high. Somehow, my good mood burst like a soap bubble. A soaked in frustration growl left my throat as I ended the call with Neil. I needed to get my mind off of that entire situation. I went to Aren’s bedroom and took the jewelry box out of the safe.

“If I only knew how to open that damn lid,” I muttered angrily, staring at the beautiful carving.

I stroked the box from each side, trying to figure out anything about the hidden construction, but I felt even more lost than when I had looked at it for the first time. I was about to put it back when one of my fingers touched the metal strap, framing the lid, and it moved with an audible click. I gasped in excitement, at the same time hoping that I didn’t break anything.

I grabbed my phone and turned on an app with a magnifying glass. As I looked at the frame, I noticed that it was made from eight thin pieces of metal, all with one end hidden under the next one on the left. Each little strap had a small, round button-like bulge at its right end. Once I pressed the button, I could move the strap forward or backward. Above the metal pieces were rows of tiny vertical lines combined into bigger segments, each marked with a different Chinese character. It almost resembled a ruler.

“Oh, my God! How could I be so stupid?!” I burst out laughing, finally noticing the mechanism.

As I used the online translator, I learned that the characters stood for numbers. Now, all I needed to do was to place the little buttons in the right position just like I was typing the eight -digit code… Except that I had no idea what kind of code it might have been!

“Seriously?! Guessing that is like winning the fucking lottery! How am I supposed to know what kind of code opens that damn lid?!” I roared at the jewelry box.

I started to think that Aren’s mother wasn’t a nice person at all. She had created such an amazing box for one purpose only-she wanted to torment her son’s future wife. Of course, I made a few attempts to choose the right code. Having in mind that Aren’s mother was a

mathematician, I tried setting the first eight digits after the decimal point of pi. The thing that made it even more complicated was the fact that there was no clear point marking where the code should begin, so I had to try setting it in eight different arrangements. When that didn’t work, I did the same with the square root of pi. That didn’t work as well… This was getting more and more frustrating. Lan Liling could have chosen any kind of combination, and since I had never even met her, I had no idea where I should start looking for the clues. I went back to my bedroom and placed the jewelry box by my bed. I kept staring at the flowers and birds carved on the wooden sides. Every detail of it was simply stunning. That made me even more curious about what kind of secret was hidden inside that massive lid.