England, village of Little Hangleton, northern edge of Sussex.
On a hillside beside the village, there is a dilapidated old house.
It was once the most spacious and imposing building within a few miles, but now it is difficult to find its original beautiful outline - several windows of the house are blocked, the tiles on the roof are incomplete, and ivy crawls with claws.
It filled the entire house. Although the owner of this house has changed several times in the past few decades, the villagers of Little Hangleton still used to call this house "Riddle House".
Due to the bizarre and terrifying thing that happened here half a century ago, except for the naughty boys in the village, most villagers will not take the initiative to approach this area. However, whenever night falls, Riddle
A small wooden house in the courtyard of the mansion will still have lights on.
Frank Bryce was the Riddle family's gardener. He had been working for the Riddle family since he came back from the war.
Many people rumored that he was the murderer who killed the Riddle family. However, the police found no evidence to prove that the Riddle family was murdered. The cause of death of the Riddle family was determined to be sudden death. After several days of interrogation,
, the police station had no choice but to release Frank.
To the surprise of all the villagers, Frank did not leave Little Hangleton Village.
He stayed and took care of the gardens for the next family to live in Riddle House. Perhaps it was because it was a haunted house, or maybe the lame and silent old Frank seemed a bit intrusive, so he originally bought Riddle House.
The two families did not live here for a long time.
As no one lived in it for many years, the house gradually fell into disrepair and looked like a haunted house standing on the hillside.
Later, no one of the wealthy people who owned Riddle House chose to live in it, and several of the previous owners had never even been here.
The sheriff of the village said that the wealthy people kept it for "tax reasons," but no one knew what happened. However, the wealthy homeowners continued to employ Frank without exception.
, let him help take care of this dilapidated house.
Frank once thought he would work here until he died, just like those guys who had been ringing church bells all their lives.
This situation lasted until a few weeks ago...
…………
"You are fired, Mr. Bryce. I hope you can move out as soon as possible."
The man who called himself Barty Crouch said coldly, and the sheriff stood outside the cabin and looked at Frank coldly.
"Master doesn't want to smell the smell of Muggles in Riddle House. From now on, everything in that courtyard has nothing to do with you. I don't want to see you here next time I come... considering
For all your hard work over the years, the master has generously given you a settlement allowance."
The roll of banknotes tied with a worn leather rope was thrown at Frank's feet, but the old man did not look at the beautiful banknotes with the Queen's face on them.
He didn't even have time to ask what Muggle was, although he knew from the tone that it was definitely not a good word.
"No, no no - Mr. Crouch. You don't understand the power of weeds in the yard, and those little bastards -"
Frank stood up excitedly, waving his arms in clumsy and excited gestures.
"Please, sir, don't kick me out! Even if there is no wages..."
"One week."
The man with pale skin, slight freckles, and light yellow messy hair took a few steps back in disgust.
He ignored Frank, but turned to look at the Sheriff of Little Hangleton who was standing in the cabin, "You will solve it, right? After this old guy leaves, we can free up our energy to repair that broken house.
Put down the renovation. This place must be put to some use—"
"Don't worry, Mr. Crouch, we will take care of it." The Sheriff said with a smile.
The expression on his face was a little subtle, more like some kind of faint uneasiness than flattery.
"It's best this way-"
Barty Crouch snorted, turned around and left the cabin.
"Put it down?! Wait, what do you want to do?!"
At this moment, Frank Bryce finally came to his senses. The old man's eyes were wide open. He pressed the bad leg with one hand and limped toward him. The other hand straightened
He stretched out forward, as if trying to grab the man's collar.
"No, no no, no, absolutely not. You can't just destroy Riddle House like this! Let me talk to your master!"
"Calm down! Frank, they can do this."
The Sheriff walked over quickly and stood between Old Frank and Barty Crouch.
He leaned down and pushed the old man back into the chair hard to prevent him from jumping towards the suspicious guy from London, the so-called butler of a big family.
"No, no, Rod, you don't understand-"
"The man who bought this house is named Tom Riddle! Do you understand?!"
Sheriff Rod's voice was like a bullet, penetrating Frank's somewhat deaf ears. He felt as if he had been hit by a cannonball. His whole body felt dazed for a moment, and some kind of buzzing sound began to emerge. The old man was stunned for a few seconds.
Afterwards, his lips trembled violently.
"Rod, this is not a funny thing. We all know that Tom Riddle decades ago..."
"That's right! It's not funny at all. But..."
Sheriff Rhodes swallowed his saliva and subconsciously turned his head to look at the man who had walked away outside.
"Whether it is the same name or a deliberate prank, we have contacted the London Police Department and even asked people related to the real estate transaction to inquire a little bit. The new owner who bought 'Riddle House' is called this.
Maybe they heard those legends from somewhere, you know rich people always have some weird ideas. And this Tom Riddle should not have the same name as the one you know."
"I have the impression that the signature on that document seems to be...Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"them……"
Frank's body seemed like a deflated balloon, instantly losing its strength.
"Just now he said that he would entrust you to help with some modifications...what do they want to change..."
"Some weird requests——"
Rhodes frowned and tried to recall the construction requirements put forward by the generous Mr. Crouch.
"He wanted... that we clean out the fireplaces at Riddle House and knock out some old walls to get a few more fireplaces out, even ones without chimneys, just empty fireplace troughs - they didn't give
Little money, you know how rare it is these days."
In an economic recession, wealthy people like this who spend a lot of money may disappear at any time.
As the Sheriff of Little Hangleton Village, Rhodes came here with only one purpose today, to find a way to stabilize Old Frank.
After all, if this old guy insists on causing trouble, it will be quite troublesome - he doesn't want to cause trouble, let alone know the relationship between Tom Riddle and the Riddle family. He just wants to securely win this temporary commission.
And win the bet in the tavern.
"But...but...the fireplace? What do they want to do?"
"Who knows? They paid the village a big advance anyway."
Rhodes shrugged his shoulders, looked at Old Frank who was gradually stabilizing, and said nonchalantly.
"It's just a fireplace that can't even light a fire. Could it be possible that it could become Satan's gate to hell?"