The man grew anxious in response to Catherine’s silence. Perhaps he had been impatient from the beginning. Seemingly forgetting Catherine’s hesitation, he leaned closer toward her.

He reached out his hand as though about to grasp her shoulder, but suddenly withdrew his fingertips like someone coming to their senses. Catherine noticed his face contorting strangely.

Even while watching his expression change moment by moment, she could hardly believe what she saw. The man with his withdrawn fingertips looked down, appearing not to understand his own behavior.

His tightly closed lips twisted with tension. He reached out again toward Catherine, seemingly wanting to grab her, but ultimately dropped his hand without making contact.

The tension eased in response to this strange, inexplicable reaction. Catherine seized the opportunity and spoke.

“Then, let’s make a bet.”

“About what?”

The man questioned Catherine’s proposal. Yet despite his dry tone, his face remained unchanged, giving the impression he was interrogating her.

Catherine felt intimidated by his looming presence but tried not to show it as she spoke softly. Her dark eyes shone clearly as she looked up at him.

“Since we believe different things, let’s find out which one of us is right.”

The man shook his head at her suggestion.

“That cannot be a bet.”

“I am Saul. That’s an undeniable fact…”

His voice sounded somewhat uncentered. For unknown reasons, he appeared confused. In that moment, Catherine realized this was her chance to unsettle him.

“Don’t you want me to love you?”

Catherine whispered to him.

“If you’re Saul, I would gladly love you. Because I love my husband.”

“So give me reason to believe you’re Saul. Prove it. Prove to me that you are Saul.”

Catherine looked up at him, her lips moving slightly.

“Then I will gladly love you.”

She whispered with the same gentle, intimate tone he had used with her.

The man gave no answer, but Catherine noticed subtle cracks appearing in the dry expression he had borrowed from Saul.

He seemed unable to think of anything else upon hearing those simple words, that she would love him solely out of love, like the many suitors who had once pursued Catherine.

Catherine kept her eyes fixed on the man who remained silent, seemingly lost in thought. She welcomed yet felt saddened by the cracks appearing in his Saul-like face, while simultaneously recognizing something in him she had never seen in Saul.

Looking at him, Catherine momentarily wondered what it would be like if the man before her were actually Saul.

“…I will do so.”

Suddenly, the man’s black-gloved hand cupped Catherine’s cheek, interrupting her thoughts.

“So please don’t be sad…”

His fingertips hovered around Catherine’s eyes, seemingly wiping away tears that hadn’t fallen. Catherine blinked, not understanding his sudden change in demeanor.

Catherine wasn’t sad at all, yet the man acted as though he had noticed a sadness she herself hadn’t perceived, his face showing that he was bearing it with her. His gaze was sorrowful. His touch was tender.

The man behaved as though he would do anything to cover Catherine’s sadness. It seemed unbelievable that this was the same entity who had shouted from outside the window declaring his love.

In that moment, despite the strange, creaking movements that had caused such discomfort earlier, he appeared genuinely alive.

When Catherine flinched in surprise, the man’s fingertips paused on her cheek, perhaps misunderstanding that she feared him.

He promptly withdrew his hand and pulled back his body that had been hovering so close to her.

Soon, the distance between them widened, just as Catherine had wished. Yet she couldn’t feel completely relieved; a subtle sentiment clung to her like rain-soaked clothing.

Catherine watched the hem of the man’s thick coat recede and deliberately lowered her gaze, shaking her head lightly. Such sentiments were unnecessary to feel toward this entity.

“Catherine.”

A black hand suddenly appeared before Catherine’s eyes as she tried to clear her thoughts. The man extended his hand to help her up, waiting politely for Catherine to take it.

Though Catherine stared at the hand for a moment, still not entirely free of suspicion, the man remained perfectly still.

After hesitating briefly, Catherine finally reached out. The man pulled her up with remarkable simplicity, then released her hand.

He bent down to pick up the lamp he had placed on the carpet, held it up toward the dark corridor behind Catherine, and spoke.

“I will show you what you wish to see.”

Turning slightly sideways, Catherine looked in the direction the man illuminated as his voice, so similar to Saul’s, reached her ears.

“See everything about Saul with your own eyes, and then return.”

His final whispered words suggested confidence that Catherine would acknowledge him after seeing everything. When she turned her head toward him, the man gestured to her. 

Simultaneously, a woman’s piercing scream came from somewhere ahead.

“Go,” the man gently pushed Catherine’s back.

After reflexively taking a few steps forward, Catherine looked back and saw the man’s lips moving.

His whispered voice floated down softly as he gazed at her: “I will be waiting for you…”

Catherine turned away without hesitation.

* * *

The light receded.

Catherine advanced into the dark corridor beyond the reach of the lamp’s glow behind her. The piercing scream had come from not too far away, somewhere beyond the hallway. Catherine moved her tired legs diligently.

Though uncertain what the evil entity wanted to show her, she felt certain the sound was related to something about Saul that she needed to see.

However, the screaming stopped before Catherine could reach its source. When the scream that had torn through the air ceased, a sudden silence descended. Catherine unconsciously halted her steps and stared toward where the sound had stopped.

Though hidden around a corner, the air felt heavily weighed down.

The sudden silence had something unsettling about it. Could this be it? Catherine hesitated momentarily but, sensing someone’s faint presence beyond the corridor, slowly resumed walking.

Whether this was right or wrong was impossible to know without investigating…

Catherine reached the end of the corridor and turned the corner. Unchanging pitch-black darkness greeted her. She blinked. Having seen light not long ago, she found it difficult to distinguish outlines in the darkness.

But she heard something. Catherine narrowed her eyes and carefully stared toward the source of the sound. From ahead came what sounded like something being dragged. It didn’t take long to realize what it was.

Something pale was gradually approaching through the pitch-black darkness.

At first, she thought it was a curtain. The way something fluttered resembled fabric swaying in the wind through a partially open window. But before long, Catherine realized it wasn’t a curtain.

It couldn’t be a curtain. The corridor where she stood had no windows. Even if there had been one, on a stormy night like this, it wouldn’t have been gently fluttering if left open.

Moreover… as the unidentifiable thing drew closer, a voice muttering inside someone’s mouth approached.

The figure swayed like someone intoxicated, walking unsteadily toward her. The muttering voice was muffled and indistinct. What she had initially mistaken for a curtain was a plain white dress. 

The dragging sound came from someone walking while barely lifting their feet from the floor.

Even in the pitch-black darkness, bright hair cascaded over the white garment. It sparkled like a path leading to the moon under the night sky. Yet it remained disheveled and unkempt.

The long, curly hair tilted to one side like blooming water hemlock, then fell in the opposite direction in a long curve, repeating this pattern.

Through the gaps, a white face occasionally appeared and disappeared. Catherine, watching this, realized only when they were barely ten paces apart that the figure was carrying something.

The woman was holding what looked like a bundle of crumpled fabric. Due to the darkness, Catherine couldn’t clearly see what it was. Just as she regretted not bringing the lamp, light shone from somewhere in the distance.

“Mother?”

A surprised, whispering voice softly echoed.

“Mother!”

It was a child’s voice, seemingly calling to the woman, but… she didn’t turn around. She appeared not to have heard the call.

It was strange.

Perhaps she hadn’t heard it the first time, but the voice calling again was loud enough for even Catherine to hear at the end of the corridor. If she wasn’t deliberately ignoring it, she should have stopped or turned around.

Yet the woman continued her dragging steps toward Catherine without pausing. Suddenly, the woman raised her head. Through her hanging hair, Catherine caught a glimpse of a straight nose and neat features.

She blinked in surprise.

Even without seeing clearly in the darkness, it wasn’t difficult to notice something strange about the momentary eye contact.