I Think My Husband is a Murderer

The sealed space without a single window was disorienting.

 

Dust settled lightly on irregularly stacked wooden boxes. In the midst of them, a dimly lit table, like it was forcibly squeezed into place, was illuminated by a low-hanging lamp.

 

A man wearing a hood faced one of the walls. Like the other boxes, he ran his fingers over an unmaintained gramophone.

 

“It’s not clean.”

 

The man breathed on his dust-covered fingers. When he lifted the needle of the turntable and placed it on the record, a sharp violin melody began to play.

 

A slight wrinkle appeared on his smooth forehead.

 

“Not bad for a taste in music.”

 

Flashing eyes in the darkness turned towards the woman sitting next to the table. The man looked at her sweat-soaked face with indifferent eyes.

 

“Classical music is an exclusive possession of the upper class. You should know that.”

 

Approaching the woman slowly, the man sat on the chair opposite her.

 

“But it’s not bad to enjoy music while observing the face of someone dying. No, it’s quite satisfying.”

 

The woman clutched her throat in pain, gasping for breath, her labored breath seeming precarious.

 

“So, I’ll give you a reward.”

 

“Breath…!”

 

Struggling with pain, the woman continued to gasp for breath, holding her throat.

 

“That’s why I told you. Be careful with your mouth.”

 

“Water, water…!”

 

The woman reached out to the water glass on the table. The man, staring at her trembling fingertips, then casually knocked the glass away.

 

For a moment, the woman looked at him resentfully with bloodshot eyes.

 

“If you live at the bottom, crawl on the bottom. Just do your job well. Then things like this wouldn’t happen.”

 

The face covered in cold sweat was mercilessly crumpled. The trembling hands, full of effort, barely managed to grasp the water glass.

 

Crack! Fragments of broken glass pierced the hand like a splinter.

 

Next, a blood-stained hand threw a glass shard at the man, who was now leaning against a crooked wooden chair. A thin scar opened on the edge of his cheek.

 

Wiping off the sticky substance running down his cheek, the man’s face darkened in an instant.

 

“I’m merciful to those who know their place.”

 

“Pl… Please, spare me… Please…”

 

“You should use polite language when talking to someone higher than you. Maybe it’s because of your lowly life. Education must have gone wrong. Maybe I should punish your parents.”

 

Tutting, the man clicked his tongue.

 

“But don’t worry. I have quite a refined taste, so I won’t touch anything aesthetically displeasing like you.”

 

The woman’s fingernails scratched the table as if it would shatter. The sharp sound mingled with the music.

 

The man laughed satisfactorily.

 

“So instead of destroying your aesthetics, be content that I won’t touch your old, wrinkled parents.”

 

“Why… Why…!”

 

The man leisurely stepped towards the woman, who was screaming in pain.

 

He stared at her eyes, now bloodshot from all the bursting blood vessels, and lightly stroked her head. Then, leaning down, he whispered in a soft voice.

 

“Poor you, you just had bad luck.”

 

The woman, already on the verge of passing out, collapsed to the ground with a groan.

 

“While you are alive, consider meeting your family in this state as a blessing. It may not be perfect if it takes a long time to find you.”

 

The woman continued to contort her body. As the reddish veins seemed to burst here and there, her movements suddenly stopped.

 

“Faster than I thought.”

 

He checked the chilled wristwatch and, now with a hood that perfectly covered his face, looked down at the motionless woman with indifferent eyes.

 

“Be grateful that you met an artist like me.”

 

The man then removed the hood, revealing bright hair in the darkness.

 

The man’s forehead narrowed as he looked at the woman, then regained its original smoothness.

 

He lowered himself to sit. After observing the stains spread across her body for a while, he opened his closed lips.

 

“Well, it seems like this would be a good reason for your death. A crime of daring to covet what is prohibited by the upper class, using forbidden inventions.”

 

It wasn’t a bad spectacle.

 

* * *

 

I arrived at the Bollun station after a three-hour train ride with Ahin, and the unseen escorts.

 

“Madam, is this Bollun?”

 

Ahin, with sparkling eyes, picked up a pamphlet that was shining in a corner of Bollun station.

 

Bollun, an industrial city that made tremendous progress in a short period due to Russell Marquis’s railroad business.

 

It was filled with tall and dense buildings everywhere, befitting its reputation. I couldn’t say how bustling the capital city Vadun was, but here, where tradition was valued, there would be fewer modern buildings than there.

 

It was my first time visiting a city, but I wasn’t particularly afraid. The purpose of my visit was clear, and I had companions with me.

 

However…

 

‘How do I get to the Carriat Hotel?’

 

I had deceived Johannes, saying I was going to the herbal market. Therefore, all the escorts should be aware of that.

 

But if I took a different path, they would become suspicious.

 

Reporting to Johannes was the obvious thing to do.

 

As I stood still, lost in thought, Ahin asked in a puzzled voice.

 

“Madam, is there any problem?”

 

“Hmm? No… I just heard a story that my friend is staying at the Carriat Hotel, so I thought I’d stop by for a moment.”

 

Not moving was also a suspicious act. Ahin, with perceptive eyes, asked curiously.

 

“Would that be a problem?”

 

I nodded slowly.

 

“Yeah. I have a good reason to go there.”

 

“Then please use my excuse. If you come out soon, the escorts won’t go inside the hotel anyway…”

 

“Okay, can you do that?”

 

Having decided to seek Ahin’s help, I immediately grabbed a rickshaw.

 

Passing through the somewhat quiet Bollun station and entering the bustling downtown, the carriage finally stopped in front of the Carriat Hotel.

 

The hotel building was older and smaller than the others. As I thought about the possibility of my father staying here, my heart pounded fiercely.

 

“Ahin, can we keep what happened inside a secret between us? Whatever happens.”

 

“Yes, of course, Madam.”

 

After taking a deep breath in front of the main gate, I made sure to get Ahin’s promise, and we finally entered the hotel lobby.

 

Contrary to the exterior, the inside of the hotel was neat. It seemed to have been recently remodeled.

 

I immediately approached a staff member at the lobby and, hoping it wasn’t a prank, asked.

 

“Excuse me… is there a guest named Isaac Prim staying here?”

 

For a moment, the employee’s expression strangely stiffened.

 

“Just a moment, please, guest.”

 

He, who had been looking at the guest list, looked up at me again.

 

“Are you referring to a middle-aged man?”

 

“Yes, that’s right…! By any chance, is he staying in a room right now?”

 

My hand trembled uncontrollably. It was a moment when I was anxiously hoping for the answer I desired.

 

“I’m sorry, but he is not staying here. He is a long-term guest, but except for the first day, he has never shown himself.”

 

“That can’t be right. He specifically told me to come here…”

 

“May I ask for the name?”

 

Temporarily stunned by the shocking news, I quickly answered the following question from the employee.

 

“It’s Edith Prim.”

 

Upon hearing my response, he faintly smiled.

 

“Oh, I see. He asked for the room key to be delivered when you arrived.”

 

<Room 709>

 

He soon handed over the room key.

 

“… Can I go up then?”

 

“Of course. Miss Prim said it’s okay for you to come up if her son arrives.”

 

Too easy. It’s too easy…

 

I didn’t dispel my suspicions until the moment I received the key. However, having come this far, there was no turning back. Moreover, since it was inside the hotel, nothing bad would happen, right? I quickly caught an elevator.

 

<Room 709>

 

Having descended from the elevator with Ahin, I stood in front of the door with a plate marked with the same number as the key.

 

Just a single number made me so fearful that I couldn’t have imagined it in my dreams.

 

Even if the person who reserved this room was indeed my father, they had mentioned that he hadn’t shown himself after the first day.

 

So, all I could expect now was the confirmation of my father’s survival.

 

I swallowed dry saliva and inserted the key. With a click, the rusted metal locked clicked into place, and the sealed door opened.

 

And then, as the door slowly opened, my face was instantly filled with contemplation.

 

“Johannes…?”

 

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Translator Note:

 

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