Catherine lowered her gaze to young Saul’s small hand extended before her. With a somewhat vacant stare, she looked at the inside of that hand, clean without a single wound. Then she slowly shook her head to indicate she wouldn’t take his hand.

Following the movement going left and right, Catherine’s black hair that hung down to her chest swayed.

At that moment, the sound of knocking on the door was heard again. That briefly continuing sound still sounded cheerful. The evil thing, who had been there with an unreadable expression at Catherine’s refusal, finally withdrew his hand.

And he too raised his head and turned his gaze toward the door.

“……”

However, the evil thing soon turned his head again to look back at Catherine. Catherine got the impression from young Saul’s face looking at her that he was hesitating about something. And indeed, the evil thing was moving his lips like he had something to say.

But that was all. The lips that had been moving ultimately couldn’t produce any sound. Hesitating like something was bothering him, he eventually rose from his seat without saying anything at all.

Seeing young Saul rise from his seat, Catherine couldn’t hide her puzzlement and blinked. Strangely, he who had risen from his seat seemed to have grown a bit more in that brief moment.

Catherine’s eyes narrowed like they were distorting. However, before Catherine could examine him to confirm whether this was truly so, young Saul turned around. And he began to move his steps toward the door where the knocking sound had come from.

Catherine, who had been staring vacantly at young Saul’s back as he walked toward it, suddenly realized that the strange impression she had felt wasn’t wrong. The appearance of young Saul moving away from Catherine was changing little by little.

Like showing the flow of time completely… following his steps that moved forward slowly, somewhat hesitantly, he was definitely growing.

It didn’t take very long for those steps to stop. And when Saul finally stood in front of the door, his growth also stopped. Catherine tried to gauge the age of the child standing with his back to her. He looked to be in his early to mid-teens.

His appearance having grown in an instant didn’t feel real at all, so Catherine blinked vacantly for a moment. Her eyelids rose and fell slowly. Then she blinked rapidly all at once. This was because she had suddenly realized something.

Catherine figured out what memory the evil thing wanted to show her.

Simultaneously with that realization, the evil thing standing in front of the door slowly turned around. Looking back, he met Catherine’s gaze with that characteristically dry face.

Tilting his head diagonally, he blinked once like nodding in affirmation of Catherine’s realization. The evil thing opened his mouth.

“I will show you the memory you are most curious about.”

Speaking, the evil thing placed his hand on the door. Catherine unconsciously held her breath. The evil thing’s eyes looking at Catherine glinted coolly. Even as his hand slowly slid down to grasp the door handle, the evil thing didn’t turn his eyes away from Catherine.

It seemed like he was warning Catherine.

“About that day’s… accident.”

That this was the last moment she could run away. Or that if she wanted to run away, this was the only moment.

However, Catherine didn’t move. This was because she no longer knew what to believe. Until just a few hours ago, Catherine had thought Saul and David were right. She had thought she shouldn’t listen to the evil thing’s words.

But even if the evil thing truly wasn’t speaking falsehoods, should she do so?

Looking back, it was strange. In fact, she couldn’t understand the reason for not listening to the evil thing from the beginning. To begin with, neither Saul nor David had properly explained anything. Catherine thought.

‘Can I really trust them in their silence? Can I completely understand them as they hide something?’

And… perhaps seeing the memories the evil thing revealed might become a way to escape this strange situation. Even if it didn’t become a way, she might at least be able to find a clue.

…No, that’s not it. In fact, even without such reasons, Catherine didn’t want to avoid it at this point. This had now become a very important matter for Catherine. Catherine was already entangled in many things happening at Cavendish.

As the master of Cavendish, as one receiving the evil thing’s obsession, and… most importantly for Catherine was the fact that she loved Saul. Catherine wanted to be by his side. So she couldn’t just keep avoiding it anymore.

She wanted to understand the things happening in this castle now. No, she had to understand.

“You are now the master of Cavendish.”

Catherine grasped the ring on her right ring finger. She hadn’t forgotten those words Saul had whispered to remember when he had put this ring on her finger with his own hands. Because of that, Catherine wanted to do what she could in this place.

At least as long as this place where she was located was Cavendish, and as long as she wore this ring.

The evil thing who had been looking at Catherine simply nodded heavily like he had realized what choice Catherine had made. And he put strength into the hand gripping the door handle. Click. Finally, the small sound of metal hitting could be heard as the door opened.

At that moment, Catherine felt the air surrounding them completely change. The wind that rushed in through the open door gently penetrated and stirred every corner of the drawing room. 

However, the air touching her still-wet cheek was rather cool. Catherine wiped away the remaining tear traces like covering her cheek.

“Saul.”

Meanwhile, a voice was heard. Catherine raised her head. A small figure flickering beyond the open door came into view. In front of the evil thing standing blocking the door, someone was standing.

He was holding a lamp. Light shone in a circle. A shadow was cast behind Saul standing with the light in front of him. It looked like deep darkness rippling.

“You were here after all!”

The voice heard from beyond the door was familiar to her ears while simultaneously being unfamiliar. However, it wasn’t very difficult to figure out who it was.

This was because it was clear who was involved in the ‘accident’ the evil thing had mentioned before opening the door. And hearing Saul’s call that followed, it was indeed so.

“What’s wrong, David? Is something the matter?”

Saul’s voice answering affectionately could be heard. Yes! Following the cheerful affirmation that rose up, muttering words were added. Something interesting happened. Then young David’s innocent laughter burst forth.

Brother, listen. Between the flickering light, David taking a step closer to Saul while whispering with his voice completely lowered came into view.

“I saw a ghost.”

At the sudden words, Catherine’s gaze turned toward the two brothers. Saul stepped back half a step like trying to create distance from David who had come closer.

Thanks to Saul’s retreating foot being placed diagonally, Catherine could see David’s face that seemed somehow extremely excited. In the lamplight, his white face seemed to be flushed red.

“David, you again.”

Strength was in Saul’s voice as he opened his mouth while frowning. It was a stern tone like scolding a wrongdoing. No, it’s not like that. This time I ‘saw’ it.

David’s voice rose in a somewhat aggrieved tone like protesting against him.

“You saw it?”

David nodded to Saul who asked back like he was suspicious. And he glanced around cautiously for a moment with a careful attitude like trying to tell a secret story. On Saul’s face looking at what David was doing, a somewhat displeased expression appeared.

David seemed to have noticed this too, but he seemed unable to bear not telling about what he had seen.

“But brother, isn’t it interesting? The voice we always heard was a man’s.”

“David, that story is…”

Suddenly Saul’s voice stopped. Catherine’s gaze also turned toward David. She couldn’t help it. This was because she couldn’t overlook that subtle impression emanating from David’s words. 

However, even facing a gaze tinged with rather negative speculation, young David seemed to simply think that Saul was showing interest in his words. Without any particular doubt, his voice bounced somewhat quickly.

“But it was a woman.”

However, in the words that followed, neither Saul nor Catherine… could help but listen to those words. She was at the bottom of the stairs going down to the second floor.

The moment those words fell from David’s mouth, they realized who the being he was talking about was.

“With long blonde hair hanging down…”

At those words, Catherine unconsciously bit her lips. And she looked at Saul’s face that had hardened stiffly and turned pale in an instant.

David chattered for quite a while about what he had experienced. And Catherine, seeing young David’s innocent appearance, realized that he knew nothing about his mother’s appearance, the facts about her death, or anything related to her.

Catherine, who had initially been surprised by the fact that David knew nothing, soon recalled the Countess’s strange behavior and her death, and understood the fact that young David knew nothing about his mother.

The Countess’s strange behavior couldn’t become a very good story, and her death wasn’t ordinary either.

Moreover, above all… since there had been an incident where the Countess had tried to harm David, it was completely understandable to hide things about his mother from young David.

So David would be able to talk casually about that woman he claimed to have seen on the landing.

To young David who knew nothing, the existence of that ‘ghost’ would have been simply something different from usual. But… Saul was different.