Then she regains her composure, destroys all evidence of her having been in the room, and locks the door behind her. The heroine is so shocked that drops her key in the blood. He killed his last wife so recently that her body is still bleeding onto the floor. In the dark chamber, the heroine finds the corpses of the Marquis's three former wives, whom he murdered. The first she happens to pick up is the key to the forbidden room, and, overwhelmed by curiosity, she sets out to the remote corner of the castle where it lies.

Later, while exploring the castle, the heroine accidentally drops all the keys on the floor. She orders the servants around like a spoiled child and is so overwhelmed by the luxury surrounding her that she calls her mother to complain. In the Marquis's absence, the heroine befriends a blind piano-tuner named Jean-Yves. He leaves the heroine with keys to every look in the castle, but forbids her to enter one room that he says is his oasis and his hell. The Marquis takes the heroine's virginity in a room filled with mirrors and then is called out of town suddenly on business. The Marquis gives her a painting of Saint Cecilia at the organ as well as a wide ruby choker as wedding gifts. Despite her unease at the Marquis's impenetrable personality, the heroine is excited to move into his extravagant seaside castle. The Marquis has already been married three times, and his last wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She is a poor pianist, who is attracted to the considerably older Marquis because of his wealth. She narrates in present tense, going back to the age of seventeen, when she is married off to a Marquis.

The nameless heroine tells the story many years after the events in it happened. 'The Bloody Chamber' is based on the legend of Bluebeard.

The bloody chamber book