Hidden Study

Play this audio right after unlocking DR05, the last puzzle of the Drawing Room.

You have just finished placing the last of the eight obsidian cubes into their correct positions when a sharp click breaks the silence. A section of the panel shifts—a hidden compartment, seamlessly blended into the furniture, now revealed. A four-digit lock mechanism is blocking you from opening the compartment further. You enter the combination you uncovered and the lock releases. Slowly, you pull the compartment open, dust rising as it disturbs the still air.

Inside you find an aged letter—the ink slightly faded but still legible.
“To my son, Richard…”

Before you get a chance to read beyond the first line, you hear a deep voice coming from behind you. You quickly put the letter in your pocket and push the compartment in gently, before turning around to see whose voice startled you.
- Ahem. Good afternoon, Mr Reed.

It’s Geoffrey Whitby, the family’s butler. He’s been loyally serving the Finches for ages.
- Good afternoon, Mr Whitby. You startled me there! I was just looking at this puzzle.
- My apologies, Mr Reed. You know, you are the first to ever solve it.
- Um, really?
- Well, nobody else had a piece of paper with the directions given to them, I guess.

You take a moment to absorb Mr. Whitby’s last statement. How does he know about the paper? Could he have been the one to put it in your pocket earlier?
- You must know a lot about this house. You’ve been here for a long time, haven’t you?
- Oh yes, indeed. Fifty three years this June.
- That mustn’t have been easy. Not always at least, I imagine.
- I’m nothing short of grateful for everyone in the Finch family.

Geoffrey pauses, his gaze momentarily distant. You say nothing, but your silence invites more.
- There have been… moments.
- What kind of…?
- Unsettling ones.
- Unsettling? How so?
- Sir Richard’s grandmother, Elizabeth, was the first I ever saw being affected by it, but she was not the first in the family. And certainly not the last.
- Do you mean the music box?
- I… I’ve said too much. I’ll leave you to it—you must have a lot of work ahead of you.
- Wait, please! One more thing. You sound like you’re still worried. Is it Victoria?
- Ah, Victoria… What an amazing creature! The sweetest girl, right from when she could barely talk. So kind.
- She seems quite different from Sir Richard, at least in temperament.
- They… they actually have much more in common than you’d think. You must have noticed their distinct eyes, I’m sure.
- Yes, indeed, I have.
- Nobody else has ever been as kind to me as Victoria—I would give my life for her. Struggling to hold back a tear, Geoffrey leaves the room. You take a deep breath to let everything sink in—then carefully pull the letter back out and start reading.

As you lower the letter, a faint click sounds. A section of the bookcase shifts, revealing a hidden room. You turn instinctively, but no one is there. Stepping inside, you take in the well-kept desk, the lined shelves, the single chair left slightly askew. It’s Sir Richard’s hidden study.