“…Do you remember what you were doing four months ago?”

Catherine, who had been trying to examine David’s expression, hesitated at Samuel’s sudden question. She turned toward Samuel with a contorted expression. This again. Catherine couldn’t understand why Samuel kept repeating the same thing, and she had no intention of listening to him anymore. She had already given Samuel several chances, which seemed sufficient.

“I know this is unpleasant and disagreeable. But please, just answer this. Lady Cavendish, do you remember what you were doing before coming to Cavendish? Do you recall anything at all about what you were doing four months ago?”

Yet his expression as he asked again was too serious to simply ignore. Though she felt she should cut him off coldly, it was difficult to dismiss his request to revisit her memories when he asked with such a grave face.

Catherine, making no effort to hide her displeasure, lightly pressed her throbbing head before removing her hand and carefully retracing her memories as Samuel had asked. She figured reviewing her memories was simple enough to grant him this request.

Soon, however, Catherine suddenly realized something strange and blinked vacantly. She froze as though something cold had crept up her neck, her body seeming to turn ice-cold in an instant. How could this be possible? For a moment, it was as though someone had struck her head—her mind flashed brightly.

“Ugh,” an involuntary, suppressed sound escaped her. She felt nauseated, someone suddenly stirring inside her head. Feeling like she might vomit, Catherine reflexively covered her mouth. Her waist bent involuntarily. She couldn’t think of anything, her mind strangled by pressure. Catherine staggered.

Her knees seemed about to buckle. Leaning on the hand that supported her collapsing body, she cradled her throbbing head. From above, voices addressing her sounded like buzzing. The sounds became tangled.

Catherine, Cathy… Voices from unknown sources overlapped, spreading and receding repeatedly. The endless flood of sounds shook inside her head, colliding, bouncing away, and returning again.

She couldn’t distinguish how many people were speaking or who was saying what. Catherine gritted her teeth, trying to endure the roaring that surged into her mind like a tidal wave, turning everything inside upside down. She couldn’t breathe, like facing a strong wind head-on.

***

【Prophecy】

“Catherine!”

She couldn’t tell how long it lasted. At some point, Catherine opened her eyes at the familiar voice that suddenly surged forward. “Huk,” she gasped for breath. It seemed like white light was flashing before her eyes. Catherine curled up, panting. Distressed by her vision blurring into whiteness, she buried her face in the warmth that held her.

She felt like a glass bottle that might shatter at the slightest touch. Someone had violently shaken that bottle, causing the water inside to continuously ripple. The constant, unceasing shaking made it impossible to regain her senses.

Fortunately, the warmth that held Catherine didn’t push her away. Instead, it embraced her firmly, cradling her head, shielding her from the light. Catherine went limp in that small nest created by those hands, breathing heavily.

Through the faint light filtering in, she could sense the movement of shadows and people. Suddenly, the light seemed to dim, and the hands supporting Catherine trembled briefly as a cold voice dropped from above her head.

“Samuel, what are you trying to do?”

That cold voice awakened Catherine’s mind. Even in a situation where she was nearly fainting, it was a voice so distinctly cold it felt vivid. And it was an equally unfamiliar tone—a chilling attitude that had never been shown despite Catherine’s cold demeanor.

Because of this, Catherine momentarily failed to recognize it as David’s voice and blinked in surprise at his continued words. David’s sudden hostile attitude toward Samuel was that unexpected.

“I asked what you’re trying to do now.”

The voice that followed sounded not just cold but almost simmering with anger. An ominous feeling surged that something might happen at any moment. For a while, only the sound of breathing pouring down from above could be heard.

 The one who broke the oddly twisted sound was Samuel, exhaling with complex emotions. In a tone mixed with uncontrolled breathing, Samuel said:

“She needs to remember.”

At those calm words, David’s voice rose accusingly. To Catherine’s ears, David seemed extremely agitated.

“Even seeing her condition like this…!”

“Don’t you understand?”

But that didn’t last long. At Samuel’s calm continuation, David fell silent. David frowned as he saw Samuel lower his gaze to Catherine, who lay limp and breathing heavily. Instead of looking back at David, Samuel continued while examining Catherine’s condition.

“That evil thing has tampered with Lady Cavendish’s memories!”

Eventually, Samuel’s voice was becoming agitated too. Catherine tried to gather her scattered consciousness, which alternated between distant and clear, while listening to the conversation unfolding above her head.

“Still, not now. Look at her condition. She can’t endure anymore.”

A voice that seemed to counter immediately followed.

“But this is no ordinary matter. Seeing how it clings to her even by tampering with her memories, it’s obsessed. She must remember.”

It was a mess. Clearly, they hadn’t been discussing this when they first started talking, and both then and now, the situation had become completely incomprehensible. Her mind, which had momentarily cleared, seemed to be drifting far away again.

Catherine briefly lost consciousness before awakening again to the sensation of being shaken. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it didn’t seem like very long. And until then, the two men were still arguing.

“Samuel, don’t overstep your bounds. Whatever Saul entrusted to you, this was from the beginning a matter between us brothers.”

“Does it still seem that way to you? We’ve come too far to turn back.”

“No, not yet…”

“At least Lady Cavendish has.”

The voice that seemed about to continue further stopped at that dropping assertion. Even David, who had been maintaining a firm stance against Samuel, couldn’t seem to refute that statement, as there was no response for several seconds.

“There must be a reason why that evil thing is obsessed with Lady Cavendish. We need to find it.”

Samuel’s voice continued in a somewhat softer tone, trying to persuade David. “It’s not simply about having a child. If that were the case, there would be no reason to tamper with her memories. There must be a reason. For Lady Cavendish’s safety, we must find out.”

At Samuel’s words, Catherine suddenly recalled the strange sight she had seen before talking with the two men.

[I love you…!]

That pitch-black window from her nightmare. The shabby-looking man outside… He had told Catherine he loved her.

“Please forgive me, my lady…”

And Saul had called it “that evil thing.” He said it was a being that craved immortality and coveted what belonged to mortals for that purpose. When Catherine asked if Saul had lost something to it, he said he had sinned and begged Catherine for forgiveness…

Though Saul, as always, hadn’t properly explained anything, Catherine suddenly realized that all of it might not have been just an illusion. She even thought that all those strange phenomena that had occurred in the past few days might be pointing to something.

It was probably one of two things: either the situation had gone mad, or Catherine herself had truly gone mad. She couldn’t be certain which it was. But… Catherine thought as she listened to the two men arguing above her head. Even if she were going mad, it would be rare for three people to go mad simultaneously.

“…I.”

The ongoing voices were cut off by Catherine’s voice as she barely moved her lips. “Catherine.” David seemed to lean down to look at her. As Catherine tried to rise, David firmly helped support her. Leaning against David who held her at an angle, Catherine looked up at Samuel, who was kneeling before her. Between the gazes of the two men, Catherine opened her mouth.

“I know.”

Even saying those words was difficult, so Catherine exhaled deeply and swallowed dryly. But with nothing pooling in her dry mouth, all that passed down her throat was a lump of air. After coughing briefly a couple of times, Catherine had no choice but to open her mouth again. Though her voice was terribly cracked, her gaze fixed on Samuel was clearer than ever.

“First, tell me what you were going to say. Everything you’ve been hiding.”

Until just moments ago, Catherine had no intention of listening to Samuel’s story, believing he was lying. But Samuel’s attitude, clearly trying to confirm something, bothered her, and she was concerned about what was happening to her.

Catherine had a premonition that all the strange events that had occurred stemmed from the same cause—everything from Saul’s death to David’s sudden appearance and all the bizarre incidents that had happened to Catherine… And Catherine was entangled in all of these events. So she wanted to know—needed to know. She couldn’t continue being dragged along without understanding anything.

“I will tell you everything.”

Seeing the firm resolve in Catherine’s gaze, Samuel nodded readily. David made a short sound expressing dissatisfaction, but Catherine stopped his complaint by grasping David’s arm that was supporting her. When Catherine, the person directly involved, intervened, David didn’t speak further.