Chapter 102
The moment she picked it up, wondering what it was, she realized what it was.
‘Why is this… here?’
It was her letter.
The letter she used to write to Henrietta all the time. Even though she tried to deny it and opened the paper, the reality didn’t change. It was the same when she opened the drawer where she usually put letters while retracing the same denial.
‘Why does Miss Irene…?’
No matter how much she asked herself, Louise couldn’t figure it out, especially since she was unfamiliar with the strange antagonism between Lichpen and Lavrenti. Thanks to this, her brilliant imagination began to stretch to the point where she thought Irene was watching her, and that her arrival late at night was also an extension of the surveillance report.
The circumstances were exquisite. Rodion’s collapse and Irene’s late-night wanderings to spread suspicious rumors further solidified her suspicions. In addition, Louise has recently started to suffer from strange phenomena.
To be precise, it’d be right to say that she started to suffer ‘again.’
From a young age, she often suffered from hallucinatory episodes. Not only was it seen with her eyes, but also she heard with her ears as well.
“Dad, what’s this song?”
“What do you mean, a song?”
“Don’t you hear some sad song? I’ve been hearing it since earlier?”
She could never forget the sadness in her father’s eyes as he gazed back at her.
Her father thought it was because she had lost her mother early while her father was too busy with his business to take proper care of her, but as Louise grew up, she realized that her father was wrong. Even though the doctor said that enough attention and affection could cure her of her hallucinations, no matter how much she was loved, she could never be free of them.
On the contrary, the symptoms got worse day by day.
Occasionally, she could even see something vaguely arguing, and sometimes she could hear the voice of that vague figure calling out to her.
This should have scared her, but somehow it didn’t.
Louise wasn’t afraid of them. Perhaps it was because of her unique childlike innocence. Or maybe it was because their voices sounded like they cared about her.
“I’m sorry, Louise. I’m sorry…”
How could she be afraid of a lachrymose voice saying something like that? The phenomenon didn’t scare Louise in the least.
Still, it was a little difficult to ignore them.
Naturally, she was distracted by the voices as she went about her daily routine. She couldn’t think deeply, became forgetful, and found it difficult to listen attentively. It was a bonus that mistakes became more frequent as voices and hallucinations startled her.
Of course, Louise couldn’t be denied that her original personality was so innocent as well.
These hallucinations hit their peak when she was in Lichpen and then faded as if washed away when she entered Lavrenti.
This wasn’t surprising, as the symptoms were irregular in nature anyway. However, it was strange that the symptoms that appeared after a long time had become bizarrely clear.
In addition…
“Louise, why do you have to go back to him? He won’t let you go!”
Its voice and figure were that of Irene.
‘…No wonder it felt familiar from the beginning.’
It was the voice she’d heard all the time, so it was familiar.
Louise could see why Irene had been the only person on her mind the moment she’d set foot in the mansion. Before, she didn’t realize it because she didn’t know Irene, but now, she couldn’t help but notice that the voice belonged to her roommate, whom she loved dearly.
The strange phenomenon had always followed her when she passed through the garden, through the corridor, or until she organized the bedroom… Irene would be crying, strangely restraining herself, and even gazing at her with an expression mixed with indescribable sadness and gelidness.
So, Louise rather wanted to ask the figure.
“…Why are you looking at me with that expression, Miss Irene?”
When she went down the basement stairs to visit the wine cellar, Louise couldn’t stand it any longer when she saw Irene sitting on the side of the stairs and crying profusely.
“Why do you keep calling me and crying? Why do you keep saying you’re sorry? Is it because you feel guilty because I’m avoiding you? But… Miss Irene took my letter first.”
Knowing that this was just her hallucination and that there was no way she could answer, Louise stopped and asked that.
What started out as a question to herself gradually became emotional.
“Miss Irene was more interested in the masters than I was, and even the Youngest Master only talks about you when he’s with me… so why is it that you always call me by my first name? Does that mean you like me better? I like Miss Irene the most…”
Louise muttered that like the wind slipping away, then covered her mouth in surprise. No matter how disappointed she was in Irene for taking her letter, she couldn’t possibly say something like this.
Frightened by herself, she stomped her feet in the cellar filled with the smell of oak barrels.
“There’s something wrong with me…”
Louise realized that she needed to talk to someone. In this state, she couldn’t see Irene again. So, she diligently avoided Irene, until she finally found the only person she could talk to.
Henrietta, that was.
‘…But this is the situation.’
The sight of the fallen Irene seemed to make her feet sink. A chill ran down her spine at the thought that Irene might die as the chilling tension seized Louise.
‘…I can’t let Miss Irene die.’
Unfortunately for Ahibalt, Irene was the most important thing to Louise. How relieved she was when she realized that Irene’s breath was still there, albeit faintly. As she thought so, the hand that was holding her was strong as Louise’s heart was beating heavily.
What had to be done was clear.
She had to run away with Irene before Edith could do anything more.
‘I have to let Madam Edith let her guard down first.’
Noticing that Edith was already making a gesture of putting things away as if she was trying to tidy up the scene, this could even put her life at risk. She had to say something to take the time…
Louise held her breath as she was about to burst out crying and let it out at will.
“Ma-Madam Edith!”
“…What is it?”
“I need to know what you meant by what you said earlier.”
Louise made a deliberately stern expression. However, she couldn’t hide the trembling in her voice as she continued.
“Ma-Madam Edith said that you were the one who sent me to Lavrenti… what does that mean?”
“Are you curious about that now?”
“Madam Edith might be pushing me into such an outrageous experiment like this without my knowledge! Besides, how can I not ask? The living must live!”
Staring at Louise for a long moment, Edith narrowed her eyes as if she were looking at something strange before picking up the cigarette case that had fallen onto the floor and put one into her mouth.
It must have had a pain-relieving or sedative effect since as the end of the cigarette was lit, and smoke rose, Edith looked much more relaxed than she had a moment before as her gait was also relaxed. She dragged her feet and stumbled toward Ahibalt, opening her mouth to speak.
“I know what you’re worried about, but I’m not a pleasure killer. I have no intention of throwing you into a lab for sheer interest, and I don’t need to. I sent you to Lavrenti for good reason at the time because it was the right calculation.”
“What do you mean, calculation?”
“Literally. Do you really think Henrietta would have been so kind to you for no reason?”
“Madam Henrietta is a good person!”
“Anyone can smile when they need to.”
Edith was about to end the explanation there, but she couldn’t leave it like that. Louise somehow managed to squeeze the question out.
“E-Even so, the reason for you to send me to Lavrenti is—”
“Louise Orpen.”
Edith’s irritated voice cut her off as she was wearing a different expression than she had a moment ago.
“Are you really asking this out of curiosity?”
Or… are you hiding something?
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