“Don’t avoid me.”

Despite the pitiful whisper, Catherine felt neither sympathy nor compassion. She simply wanted him not to approach, longing to distance herself from him.

But with her body frozen stiff, she could only retreat slightly, moving backward with jerky motions like an overturned insect.

“Cathy, please…”

Catherine was gripped by fear that the man would chase and capture her at any moment, but contrary to his previous obsessive behavior, he remained motionless.

He merely pleaded while watching Catherine from his lowered position, making no move toward her.

Only then did Catherine belatedly realize that the man was afraid too. His manner suggested he worried she might flee or fear him.

He seemed to lack the courage to grab her, repeatedly starting to reach out but withdrawing his hand whenever Catherine’s frightened gaze turned toward him.

“What… exactly are you?”

Recognizing this strange behavior, Catherine stopped her gradual retreat and questioned him. His answer came immediately.

“What would I be?”

Catherine’s eyelids fluttered rapidly. She had heard a similar question before. Suddenly, she recalled a not-so-distant memory. 

That breath pressing in so heavily she could barely breathe, and the answer she had given him. Catherine felt a chill, her hair standing on end. She bit her lip. It had been the same back then. 

The belated realization washed over her.

“I am Saul, master of Cavendish and your husband.”

Cathy, my Cat. Please don’t avoid me…

His voice was honey-sweet, trying to coax Catherine. Yet that sweet whisper proved his falsehood. Saul never spoke to Catherine in such a voice. He never showed such a sorrowful face.

The more she faced him, the more certain she became.

Her parted lips trembled. They stopped short of denying the man’s words because of a sudden memory.

“Do not listen to it.”

Saul’s warning echoed in one corner of her mind. She clenched her teeth, feeling the pain of compressed flesh, and opened her eyes wide. She thought coldly.

Could she escape?

Perhaps it might be possible, if this thing would just let her go. But she wasn’t confident it would. The man before her did nothing only because Catherine hadn’t yet tried to flee.

She knew instinctively that the moment she rose to escape him, he would no longer wait patiently.

Catherine stared at the man before her. She remembered Samuel’s words about the evil thing before the strange incident occurred in the study.

Samuel had clearly stated that the evil thing had tampered with Catherine’s memories, and that there must be some reason for it. Catherine knew why it had done this to her.

“I love you!”

She couldn’t forget that cry that had shattered with the lightning strike. The man who looked exactly like Saul had been begging for her love from the moment he first appeared before Catherine.

Saying he loved her, pleading for her to love him in return. He had shouted aloud, pushed obsessively, and held Catherine with his entire body. But unlike then, now everything was cautious.

Catherine didn’t know why the man’s attitude had suddenly changed. However, a faint certainty arose that he wouldn’t harm her if she didn’t avoid him. Remaining seated, Catherine met the gaze of the man who hesitated with curled fingertips.

Her dry mouth felt stiff, and only after swallowing a breath, pushing it out with the tip of her tongue, did she slowly open her mouth. Catherine asked:

“What if I don’t avoid you?”

At her calm tone, the man’s chin tilted slightly. His attitude suggested he didn’t understand Catherine’s question. But he didn’t blink. Catherine belatedly realized that throughout their eye contact, he hadn’t blinked once.

She held her breath, trying hard not to show any sign of avoiding him. Though everything happening had been strange, the man before her was particularly bizarre.

“What do you want to do?”

What do you want from me? Catherine slowly spoke, recalling Samuel’s words that there must be some reason. Surely there was a reason why this evil thing was pretending to be Saul and courting her.

However, perhaps because she hadn’t spoken persuasively enough, the answer was unsatisfying.

“I want nothing. Just stay by my side. Like you always have…”

Catherine blinked. She relaxed the muscles around her eyes that were instinctively contorting. She couldn’t understand what he was saying. When had she ever been by the side of this evil thing?

Despite surely noticing Catherine’s subtle reaction, the man’s attitude remained unchanged. He whispered:

“I love you, that’s all.”

Hearing the affectionate voice, Catherine felt her heart sink and lowered her gaze. For a moment, it was difficult to face the whispers coming from a face and voice identical to Saul’s. Saul was right. She shouldn’t have listened.

She felt she might be enchanted. Even knowing it wasn’t Saul, she couldn’t completely deny the face that whispered love to her. Catherine tightly closed her eyes, then opened them.

This is not Saul. Saul would never speak of love to me… Catherine reminded herself, recalling Saul’s gaze that always looked at her dryly, his attitude. Looking at the lamp with its flickering candle, she struggled to move her stiffened head.

She couldn’t escape. Even if she tried to flee with her rigid, immobile body, she wouldn’t get far before being caught.

Therefore, Catherine had only one option. She needed to persuade him. Persuade him and discover his reason. Catherine raised her head.

She looked at the face of the man who still gazed at her with a begging expression of love, a face identical to the one she loved so dearly. Then she slowly opened her mouth.

“Then don’t lie to me.”

It wasn’t a statement born of lengthy consideration. She didn’t have the capacity to thoroughly think through what ripples this might cause.

Catherine simply wanted to test this man. If the sudden change in his attitude was for the reason she suspected… or even if not.

“You’re not my husband.”

The man would react one way or another.

***

【Those Who Were Tempted】

The man was silent for a moment.

Like hardened plaster, he froze completely. Suddenly, a heavy silence descended. While staring at the man almost glaring, Catherine slowly clenched her empty hand, which felt somewhat clammy with cold sweat.

The tension made her throat feel constricted.

In truth, it was half a gamble. She knew it was dangerous to rely on that faint belief that he wouldn’t harm her as long as she didn’t flee.

But so what?

She couldn’t just remain captive to the man without doing anything. And… this situation wasn’t unfamiliar.

Catherine was beautiful. Though despised for not having pearl-white skin, she was simultaneously revered for her beauty.

Was this man before her the only one who had whispered love to her? Was he the only one who had obsessed over Catherine while professing his love?

Already, countless men had laid flowers at her feet, each asserting their love with their own reasons. It wasn’t the first time she had witnessed duels fought to possess her, men shedding blood among themselves, and then boldly demanding Catherine as compensation.

They didn’t threaten Catherine, but they were threatening. They would act gentlemanly and devoted, seeming ready to offer anything before her, but if things went wrong, they tried to control her.

Because of this, Catherine knew that the love most men spoke of was merely fleeting possessiveness. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so desperate to destroy Catherine.

Catherine feared such men and simultaneously found them tiresome. She wasn’t unaware that people described her as a seed of misfortune or a cursed jewel. But was that truly earned by Catherine’s existence itself?

Catherine scoffed. Had she not met Saul, such things would have been the last of life she remembered.

So, Catherine wanted to test the man before her. If he truly loved Catherine, he should at least be better than those others.

If he had changed his attitude to prevent Catherine from being afraid, to plead his love, if her guess was correct, he would respond to her request not to lie.

“…I have not lied.”

But perhaps predictably, the man continued to lie to Catherine. That’s how it sounded. Had it not been for the strange words that followed, Catherine would not have listened to him.

“I am Saul. He is me, and I am him.”

Saying this, the man truly looked like Saul for a moment. With that characteristically dry expression, his thin lips moved as his whispered voice fell dryly. But what the man claimed was bizarre. When Catherine frowned at those incomprehensible words, the man said:

“How can you be certain I am not Saul?”

With those unblinking eyes, the man stared at Catherine and whispered. Taking one step forward on his knees, seemingly trying to peer into his own reflection faintly visible in Catherine’s eyes, he asked:

“If you deny it so, then what am I?”

An evil thing. Catherine recalled the answer to that question but didn’t make the mistake of voicing it. She merely stared at the form so identical to Saul without blinking once.