Ashes of cigars littered the carpet. Smoldering cigers filled the ash tray on the grand mahogany desk. Lord Twetty sat motionless on the balcony.

It was the maid who first saw the dead body when she came into the library to do morning duty. She screamed as hard as she could but echos did not go so far in the grand mansion of Lord Twetty. It was a while before the rest of the servants gathered in the library and even longer for the mistress to hear so.

Lady Roseline became the second wife of Lord Twetty after the death of the first wife from tuberculosis at fairly young age. Lady Roseline herself was no more than 20 years old when she tied the knots 2 years ago. She was the youngest daughter of the Earl of Beckham and it was a marriage of convenience rather than love.

Her gambling addicted father was inconvenienced by the heavy loans and Lord Twetty was inconvenienced by the death of his wife. It was a marriage made in heaven for both families.

The affairs were carried out quickly but discreetly once the body had left the library. Death was pronounced as due to heart attack and much sympathies were offered to the newly widowed Lady Rosline. The will itself was simple , clear and all the assets , amounting to hundreds of millions , were left to Lady Rosline with a rather surprising condition that she would find a book within 30 days.

It came as a suprise because the existance of the book , later given the name X-Book , was not known to anyone even the Lord Twetty’s most trusted butler who had been in the service for all his life. He denied ever hearing from his master about a particular book or ever seeing it. In no time , it became the subject of talk in tea houses everywhere.

The whole household became paralysed with the desperate search for the book. Lady Rosline was well-loved by all and they couldnt’t understand why Lord Twetty left such a burden to his wife. The various appeals to the courts to dismiss the clause were turned down each time. The only solution seemed to be find the book itself.

The result of all that was that the mansion was poked , stripped and bared upside down at each and every corners without fail. Walls were torn down and paintings removed from the frames. Yet the book failed to turn up and the count down was beginning to end for all.

The End.