132 [132]

The bed where I slept alone was cold.

The mind became clearer and clearer, and Karen blinked her eyes in the dark and woke up.

I couldn't fall asleep. It was so frustrating to lie still. It was only half a day, but it was hard to bear. I had to move my body to make it tired.

"…sigh."

Karen came down from bed and lifted the lamp. I lit the candle inside. When the fire started, there was just as much light. Karen got up with a lamp. I didn't have to dress up because I was alone. Look in the mirror. There is a glimmer of light through the tangled hair. The light of the candle added to the gloom. He is unfamiliar even though he is himself.

'It's a little scary.’

Karen handed her hair over with her hand. I got goosebumps funny.

Why is he afraid of himself? He killed people and was not afraid of death, but when he opened his eyes from the mansion where he was alone, he was terrified. Is he a weak person after all? Raymond wondered if he had any fear when he was alone. Raymond doesn't seem to be afraid of anything.

Karen laughed. I couldn't imagine what Raymond was afraid of. That's also fear of being alone. Raymond would say it's more dangerous to have people around him. You didn't even imagine you'd be scared of this. Or they think that fear is nothing compared to the threat a person poses.

Karen turned away from her ghostly appearance.

In fact, his nature was not different from ghosts. a man who has no rest and who wanders for ever and ever. They wander where they should be without being able to mix with people.

Karen shook her head.

It's different now. There is Raymond. What flows through the body is red blood, not ink, and it will surely go out to the world. Together.

"…it's so big to be alone."

Walked down the hall.

The Tess mansion was really big. Karen walked slowly down the hall. It was a walk at night.

My heart was pounding because I felt like I was taking an adventure. Although this place is like his own house, it was unfamiliar as if he had arrived for the first time. In the past, countless users used to always listen to it, but now there is no one.

No matter how hard Raymond tried, he couldn't fill their inadequacies. However, the sense of loss without one person was much greater than the sense of loss without many people. Going from 1 to 0 was much heavier than going from 100 to 1. Karen closed her eyes and opened as she walked through the empty hallway. The hallway was dark, but when I went a little further, a big main hall came out.

The main hall had many windows, so the moonlight poured down. Even on a dark night, the moon was shining right away, so it wasn't that dark. Still, the night was night.

The hall was a smooth marble floor. Raymond swept and wiped every day, shining even at night.

Do I have to clean it now?’

Raymond has stressed several times that he doesn't have to clean while he's not around. It is meaningless if you slip and die while cleaning. The meal was full of meat jerky and military meals that did not require much cooking. But if he didn't do it, the dust would fall, and Karen wasn't sure if she could stand the dirty.

I learned the basics when I was a maid. Its main task was to be an object of anger under the guise of Isela's companion, but it was not that I didn't do it at all. Time will pass quickly if you repeat what you do while cleaning up this mansion every day.

Let's wait for the day you die.

And Karen closed her eyes.

I may not die this time. As Raymond said, you may be able to enjoy your natural life. A miracle happened. Raymond remembered and Karen could die before that day. Maybe he won't die and will meet the next day and the next day. That day is his true birthday.

"Let's go anywhere. Whether it's a white snow field or an endless sea."

Karen recalled Raymond's words. When I thought of him, a smile came to my lips. I feel much better.

Wherever you go, let's celebrate here if you succeed later.

Let's get everyone together and start with ourselves and real start for ourselves and Raymond. Let's celebrate that they are not people who will eventually leave somewhere, but people between people and members of society.

Let's bless ourselves with death. Like we celebrated our wedding here.

Let's be congratulated even if we can't say it.

I remember the wedding that took place here.

One day, my father was alive, too. Most of them ended well then. When was it? Sometimes it was. At first, Karen asked Raymond for love, and he thought he was the answer. And because Raymond had shown Karen a really plausible love, the end was always a happy ending. Raymond was sure to return to Karen no matter what the hardships were with Verdick or any other competitor. So he was Karen's knight and so was that day.

Would he have given up sooner had Raymond been worse?

Karen had that thought suddenly. It was because Raymond was too good to have been able to believe his life for more than a hundred years as a love story, and also to accept it from the beginning. Karen laughed. If Raymond was a more ordinary and dirty man, would he have suspected it sooner?

I remember the wedding.

There have been so many times that I don't know exactly how many times.

When the banquet was held here, the sound of the shoes ringing on the floor was loud and cheerful. Karen stamped her foot.

percussion

However, he could only hear the quiet sound because what he wore now was leather slippers, not shoes.

Karen sat on the central staircase with a lamp.

Being alone, I had nothing to do but think about. Getting up and moving became tiresome. Karen lay down and thought she might die. I have to get up.

“…….”

The moon was bright and quiet, but it was a splendid and antique mansion. If I closed my eyes quietly, I could hear the sound of grass bugs, owls, and sobbing from afar.

"…huh?"

Wait, Karen shook her head at the strange sound. Why do you hear the sobbing? I opened my eyes. I couldn't hear any more strange sounds. He must have misheard himself.

Black...

There was only silence.

The world where you are the only one.

Really?

Are you alone now?

Karen suddenly thought of it. I closed my eyes and opened them. There was no sound. Audience? Karen lamented her weakness.

"…I'm alone."

But what's a little scary is probably because a person has died here. Karen woke up again.

Who was the owner of the nail? And how is it going now?

“…….”

Should we look for Raymond when he's not around?

He's already dead. But I don't even think there will be one person. It may not be one or two. Karen hated herself for being afraid.

This sense is familiar. Nights that tremble with fear are familiar. At times like this, anyone should be there. Raymond should be there, and at least call a maid like Nancy. But that sometimes wasn't enough.

So I killed a man.

If something is too scary, you should get used to it on purpose.

If you're scared of looking at the dark, you can go into the dark. If you're scared to die, you can be a murderer. Then I feel like I'm getting a little better. But what if you're afraid of being alone?

If I search the house, can I find someone else?

Wouldn't it be less scary to find a more scary body when you're scared?

Indeed, what is the reason for him to be afraid of ghosts? Why is it that a person may appear after death?

A sudden thought follows a tail.

"…Mr. A."

He also had to move with a gun. Even a pistol will kill you if you shoot your head up close. Even a weak self can kill a person with a gun. I needed that heavy weight.

Karen looked down again as she climbed the stairs. At that time, Raymond was cleaning the floor of that hall. And the fingernails that came to mind were also on a mop that was wiping over there.

'Someone here...?’

He plucked someone's fingernails from somewhere in this house. Did someone bleed at the bottom of that hall? Where and where did it go? Did Raymond clean the body completely? Was it just one person? Is Karen alone now?

I felt dizzy. In this case, we have to check. When you are afraid of the dark, you should go into the dark. You should know when you are afraid of what you don't know.

Karen went down the stairs again.

with a thud

I heard loud footsteps.

Karen looked down at the floor. You think he wiped the blood here? Then, would he have put someone in the basement? Even if Karen stayed here, she didn't stay with Raymond all the time. He did many things by himself.

Is the strange sound coming from someone else?

I looked about me. The hall was wide, but behind the central staircase was a passage down to the basement. Karen stood at the door of the basement. The basement was locked.

“…….”

It reminds me of a fairy tale. The wife sneaks into her husband's room and finds the body there. The wife, who picked up her husband's secret, dropped the key in surprise, and the blood on the key could not be erased no matter how hard she tried. And the husband who came back killed his wife.

'Not me.’

Karen denied the story. It's not his story. He does this because he wants to understand Raymond. And Raymond didn't test it by telling me not to go. It was just a story about Karen's safety.

The wife in the story did not know her husband. The husband didn't know his wife. He chose the wrong wife. If it were you... you would be willing to take the ax with your husband to catch love.

with a rattle

It was then. Karen put down the lock she was touching.

The strange sound sounded stronger and stronger. But it wasn't a sound from the basement. It was outside.

"…oh, hell."

Karen hurriedly put out the light she was holding. It was to hide the fact that there were people. But the sound didn't stop.

rattle, rattle

Karen bit her lips. And he blamed Raymond.

He should not have been here alone. Raymond misjudged.

He grabbed his skirt and climbed the stairs. I had to grab a gun. It was because of anxiety that he could not sleep. And I should have thought of the anxiety that comes from the very day he disappeared.

Bang!

"…where are you going in such a hurry?"

A familiar voice was heard from behind. There was no need to confirm who it was.