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“I've seen a lot of locked doors in the manor,” you mention casually, “Is there any way you'd be able to help us open some of them? It's only so that we don't need to bother Master Munroe, of course. I know he's very busy.”
Yennifer twitches, a spasm seeming to run through her body as she nervously licks her lips. “That's not allowed,” she croaks, her voice suddenly very low and dry, “We're not supposed to go in there.”
“This is different. You're a servant, we're honoured guests,” you press, “And it's really, terribly important that we take a proper look inside some of those rooms.”
“N-no...” Yennifer stammers, “I can't... Master Munroe is very strict. He'd punish me-”
“I expect he'd punish you if he learned that you were stealing supplies too,” Ariel points out, her voice growing cold, “I suggest you keep that in mind, Miss Yennifer.”
A low groan escapes the servant as she tugs at her hair, squirming in place with such fervour that she almost seems to be caught in the throes of a seizure. You shoot Ariel a warning glance, getting ready to grab the servant if she does anything rash, but the fit is over as soon as it arrived. Yennifer's shoulders slump, her face going blank.
“Spare set of keys...” she whispers at last, “I can get them for you. But I need to be careful. Come back here at full dark, at midnight. But if you get them, you MUST get them back by sunrise. Early, as early as possible. If I don't put them back...”
“I understand,” you tell her with a nod, “Munroe won't notice a thing.”
-
Leaving Yennifer to finish off the last of the meat, you leave the pantry with Ariel. As you're leaving, you catch a smirk flashing across her face. “What?” you whisper, poking her arm, “What's so funny?”
“Nothing,” she murmurs back, “Just imagining if someone caught us sneaking out the pantry like this. They'd probably think all manner of things.”
“It's not proper for a young lady to speak like that,” you scold, even as the suggest sets your mind racing, “Let's just focus on finding Jan, make sure he hasn't got himself in any trouble.”
Ariel nods, waving away your admonishment as you hurry back into the manor's main floor. On instinct, you head upstairs to the art gallery and there you find him – standing in front of one of the statues as if trying to imitate the stillness. Jan tenses up as he hears your footsteps, but he doesn't turn around. “It looks like me,” he muses, gazing up at the statue, “Don't you think?”
At first, you're inclined to disagree – the statue is of a youth, true, but that's about all they have in common. The statue looks fit and healthy, well-muscled, while Jan is scrawny. The hair is different too, short and curled while Jan's hair is long and straight. But then you see something in the angles of the face, and you realise what Jan was talking about.
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