The Sixth Iron Chest chapter 3

The Invaluable Inheritance

Frans led Jules to the study on the first floor. While sipping coffee, he told Jules a long – standing and legendary story:

The first owner of this villa, Count Hall, was the son – in – law of the king. His status and position were extremely prominent at that time. However, one time, in a place of entertainment, he met the young and beautiful dancer, Miss Osgood. They fell in love at first sight and soon became a couple. Under the circumstances at that time, they could only meet secretly. Before long, Miss Osgood gave birth to a smart and lovely son for Count Hall.

But eventually, Hall’s wife found out about their affair. On one hand, she told her father, the old king, about it and asked the king to punish Count Hall. On the other hand, she sent people to arrest Miss Osgood and her son everywhere.

Count Hall quickly sent Miss Osgood some money and transferred the mother and son to a safe place to hide. Finally, the enraged old king removed Count Hall from his post and exiled him to the border for ten years. And Miss Osgood and her son disappeared without a trace ever since.

Decades later, in the villa he built, old Hall packed all the gold, silver, and jewels he had accumulated in his lifetime into fifteen iron boxes and stored them in the secret chamber of the villa. Before he died, he left a will stipulating that each generation of his descendants could inherit one box of jewels until all the boxes were inherited.

However, in the will, he made a strange decision. That was: while his descendants were inheriting the jewels, they must find the descendants of the son he had with Miss Osgood and temporarily transfer the inheritance rights of the villa and the gold, silver, and jewels to the descendants of the Osgood family. Otherwise, their inheritance rights would be deprived.

Not long after leaving the will, old Hall passed away. Since Frans’ great – grandfather, their family had always been the witnesses of this will and was responsible for supervising the implementation of the will. Now, it was Dade Hall’s turn, the fifth – generation heir. Frans had verified that Jules was the only descendant of the Osgood family. So, according to the content of the will, he successfully transferred the inheritance rights to Jules.

At this point, Frans also told Jules that he could have the inheritance rights for this generation. That is to say, after Jules passed away, he must hand the inheritance rights back to Dade Hall or his descendants. As for the handkerchief, it was the keepsake that Count Hall gave to Miss Osgood and her son when they separated. The reason for cutting it in half was mainly as a proof for future recognition.

After Frans finished speaking, he stood up, took out an old – looking copper key from his pocket, and handed it to Jules. He said with deep emotion, “Young man, take this key and take away your share of the wealth. These jewels are enough for you to enjoy for a lifetime. Leave here quickly. This place doesn’t belong to you. Finally, good luck to you!” After saying that, Frans picked up his briefcase and quickly left.

Jules went back to the secret chamber and successfully opened the sixth iron box with the key. When the dazzling jewels appeared in front of him, Jules was so excited that he danced with joy.

After the excitement subsided, Jules found a big bag and carefully packed the jewels into it. Just as he was about to finish packing, he suddenly noticed a round treasure at the bottom of the iron box. Taking a closer look, it was actually a golden crown. This crown was made of gold and inlaid with all kinds of precious stones around it. Especially the huge diamond on the top of the crown was extremely dazzling in the dark.

Jules knew that this must be an invaluable treasure. He tried to gently lift it out with both hands, but the crown didn’t move at all. Jules was surprised. He tried a few more times with more force, but the crown still seemed to be stuck in the box and didn’t move.

Jules thought for a while and then tried to turn the crown. The crown slowly moved in the direction of his hand. But just then, the walls around the secret chamber suddenly trembled violently, the roof suddenly cracked, and huge stones crashed down on Jules. Poor young man, before he could figure out what was going on, his vision went black and he lost consciousness…