“…Emi, Emily?”
Again I got that eerie feeling.
Pain and discomfort of all kinds rushed through my body, and I struggled to lift my head.
‘Fortunately, I can’t recall any new memories.’
A Pandora’s Box full of dangerous and dark memories would be a good way to describe my situation.
I’ll have to open it someday, but hopefully not now.
“…Helena.”
What time was it?
I looked around and tried to figure out just how far back I had returned.
‘Ah, the clock.’
From the clock and calendar hanging on the wall, I realised it was 4 pm the day before.
There were still a few hours left for the banquet to end.
After checking the time, the memories before the return came back vividly.
‘Shoot me, Helena’
I used the shortcut again to turn back time.
Thankfully, the King in Yellow also understood that it was an inevitable decision, so I did not feel a headache like before.
‘I didn’t want to show that to the people I care about.’
Sally was so astonished and frantic.
Sir Henry tried to subdue Helena by force.
Even though she was shocked and unwilling, Helena silently followed my words.
And then, him…
‘Moriarty, did he notice something?’
Baron Moriarty certainly was extremely intelligent.
It’s like he could discern what was going to happen.
Did he perhaps know…?
“Ha… no way, no.”
Even if that were the case, I’m glad that I can travel back in time. There are a lot of things I can prevent this time…
“’No’, what do you mean by that?”
When I looked up, Helena was looking down at me with worried eyes.
“Are you feeling alright, Emily?”
“Ah… Yes, I’m okay.”
I couldn’t forget the memory of Helena before my return.
“Okay.”
As she barely held back her tears that were about to burst, she bit her lip as she spoke.
I still remember the trembling of the slender, brown hand holding the pistol with extreme reluctance.
‘I’m sorry, Helena. I always entrust you with difficult tasks.’
Nevertheless, she obeyed me without a single word of complaint.
One of the few gifts given to my misfortune-stained life is the existence of Helena.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
I shook my head as I looked at a puzzled Helena.
“It’s nothing~”
“What do you mean it’s nothing? Your face is pale. Are you hurt anywhere?”
I laughed out loud on purpose.
“I’m okay, really.”
“Alright, if you say so. I’m going to try to see if I can talk to Sir Bridle—”
“Don’t do that,” I stopped her. “It won’t be of any use.”
“…How can it be of no use?”
A mysterious light appeared in Helena’s eyes for a moment and then disappeared.
“Well, if you’re saying it then it must be true.”
“…”
Helena is always like this.
No matter what I say, she believes it without question.
‘Now then, what did James Moriarty say?”
I remembered the hastily stored information in my mind.
In the cellar, ‘undead’ beings were producing wine.
Inside a huge tank, a giant octopus-like creature releases mucus from its tentacles, which is mixed into the wine.
‘Is that mucus the cause of the hallucinations?’
There was also the fact that Jimmy was stabbed by the thorns on the tentacles.
According to James’ guess, the undead working in the storage room were also created through the same process.
“Thorns and tentacles…”
“Madam? What are you murmuring about?”
Sally pricked her ears and asked, but I only waved my hand.
There was something I wanted to remember, but I couldn’t…
A marvellous wine that makes the drinker hallucinate.
A pond that should not be approached at night.
Huge tentacles and thorns at their ends…
I know I’ve seen it somewhere.
I have all the puzzle pieces in my hand, but it feels like they don’t fit together.
“Sally.”
“Yes, Madam?”
I looked back at the only person who could give me a real clue at this point.
“How have your conversations with Abigail gone?”
Sally’s eyes lit up.
* * *
“I…”
Helena looked at Emily and stopped again.
‘I’m not sure if I can talk about this.’
They were talking about a dream she had.
In the early hours of the previous day, after returning from the banquet, she fell asleep and had an unknown dream.
…In her dream, Helena was standing in front of a pond.
Amidst the murmuring of the dark green water surface that gives off a gloomy atmosphere, she squeezed her nose at the strong, strong stench.
No, she tried to do that, but her hand didn’t move.
Was she held in constraints?
Or maybe because it was a dream, her body didn’t move as she intended.
At that moment, a terrible voice was heard in her ear.
‘Bow down to the great king who reigns in the water!’
She felt an instinctive rejection of a foreign being invading her head, but that voice did not stop.
‘Your insignificant body will be granted eternal life.’
‘Accept perfect salvation with your whole body!’
It was at that moment.
Helena’s body, which had been hardened like a stone, slowly, as if in a trance, walked towards the pond.
‘Stop it!’
She tried to refuse, but her body did not listen.
When she finally reached the shore of the lake, barely inches away from the water…
Whoa!
A gigantic vine-like jumped out of the green water.
A sharp pain pierced her heart. She watched in shock as she felt the tentacle stab her chest.
‘Agh…!!’
She had woken up in horror.
“Hah… Hah…”
After taking a deep breath, her vision slowly adapted to darkness.
‘Ah… I’m in my room.’
It was a dream. She was really glad.
Helena’s mind was wandering as if to distract her from that dream.
‘However…’
It was still vivid, that ominous dream.
When she closed her eyes, she could feel the tentacle stab her chest all over again.
“What in the world…”
If she didn’t have the strength to go see Sir Bridle, what she had to do was–
As soon as her thoughts jumbled into a crazy mess, Helena jumped up from her seat.
Emily turned to her.
“Helena? Where are you going?”
“I…”
She opened her mouth like that, but Helena herself did not know.
Why did she stand up and where did she want to go?
Seeing her blurred eyes, Emily tilted her head in wonder.
Sally’s bright voice continued.
“Come to think of it, I had a strange dream yesterday, Madam. Are you okay, Madam?”
“A strange dream?”
Sally nodded her head passionately as she looked back at Emily with her brows narrowed.
“Yes. Madam knows the pond next to this mansion, right? I had a dream where people with creepy faces were running around it and muttering weird things–”
“…Pond.”
At that moment, Helena, who remembered her destination, muttered blankly.
‘I need to go to the pond.’
‘Your king waits there. Someone you need to serve awaits you.’
As a mysterious voice whispered endlessly in her head, Helena began to move awkwardly, as if being controlled by something.
“… …”
Emily cried out as she watched her walk towards the door.
“Sally, hold Helena!”
“Huh?”
“Don’t let her leave!”
Just before Helena walked out the door, Sally ran and grabbed her.
“Eek, Lady Helena… You’re really strong.”
Emily helped Sally restrain Helena with all her might.
“Never let her go to the pond.”
At the same time, Emily realized.
The lost puzzle piece had been recovered
* * *
Sally helped Helena into her room.
“Sally, you must never let Helena go out alone.”
After instructing Sally strictly, I also asked Mr Henry for help, fearing that it was not enough.
“Ms Blavatsky…Do you want me to watch her so she doesn’t go out?”
“This mansion is full of things that reason and logic cannot explain. Helena said she had a strange dream. But I think…”
I continued speaking as I watched Sir Henry quietly nod.
“It’s not just a dream, it’s highly likely to affect Helena’s consciousness.”
“Is there a way to prove it?”
I raised my head and met Sir Henry’s eyes.
Seeing his unshakable, strong gaze, I suddenly felt that I wanted to depend on him.
“It is still just a possibility. I cannot be too sure yet, but I’ll tell you when I am..”
…In the current situation, it is best to remain careful.
If you walk about carelessly, it could end up being life-threatening– to the point where, at best, even if you regain your sanity, it wouldn’t be useful anymore.
“All right. Please leave Ms Blavatsky’s safety to me, and continue your search.”
I was relieved to hear Sir Henry’s words.
After I left the room that way, I discreetly met and had a conversation with Abigail, the employee Sally had introduced me to.
We negotiated for a while on a simple matter, and it didn’t take long.
“…Then, I leave this matter to you, Miss Abigail.”
“I’ll take care of it, Madam.”
Abigail thanked me for this opportunity, turned her back and disappeared.
‘I’m glad things went as expected.’
After things were sorted out, I waited until 10 o’clock at night.
According to the notice, “Access to the pond after 10 p.m.” was strictly prohibited.
‘That means that after 10 o’clock, something hidden can be found at the pond.’
By now the sky was getting quite dark.
At 10:10, putting on a simple coat, I stepped out of the mansion. The cool, moist air caressed my skin.
‘Let’s go to the pond.’
Although access to the pond after 10 o’clock was prohibited, by using the secret route given by Abigail, I could go there without being restrained by the mansion servants.
As I walked along the damp trail, I reflected on the information I had gathered before returning.
There were ‘living corpses’ in the wine cellar.
Inside the cellar lied a huge tank, and in it dwells a tentacled creature with thorns in its arms.
The Brichester wine was prepared by mixing that viscous mucus released from the thorns into ordinary wine.
That was not all.
Just before I came out, Helena, who regained her composure, told me about her dream.
“Emily, I…I have never had such a vivid dream in my entire life.”
Something like a huge vine rose from the pond, and the stinger at the end of it pierced her heart.
“When I close my eyes, I can still feel the pain.”
Didn’t Sally say something too?
People with creepy looks circling around the pond…
‘All these clues…They’re pointing to a single fact.’
