Catherine looked at young David.

Young David, whom she was properly seeing for the first time, was incredibly lovable. His golden curls, reaching barely to her waist in height, sparkled and caught her gaze even under the reddish light.

His round nostrils showed beneath, and his cheeks, soft-looking like white bread, glowed with rosy vitality.

He looked like a young apostle depicted in religious paintings. If light had dwelt in those blue eyes looking at Saul, he would have looked even more so.

However, his eyes, deeply sunken without a single point of light, seemed to have lost their reason. He appeared capable of nothing more than standing there blankly.

Because of this, Catherine felt a strange anxiety clinging stickily and refusing to let go. David’s body also seemed to sway gently. He stood at the very edge of the landing, right where it connected to the stairs…

His posture was nerve-wracking, like he might collapse and fall down the stairs at any wrong move. Because of this, Saul seemed unable to even think of calling David loudly. Saul’s face looking at David was excessively pale.

He now seemed almost not to breathe, making it feel like time had stopped. Catherine only realized she was also tense when she saw a fine strand of hair fall across Saul’s forehead.

Suddenly, David’s lips twisted while looking at Saul. He looked at Saul with a strange smile, then tilted his head like wondering why he wasn’t coming readily.

“Saul, come here.”

David’s whispering voice was heard again. However, Saul neither responded to David’s call nor answered. It was closer to being unable to do so…

Catherine understood Saul’s hesitation. From Saul’s attitude she had observed throughout, she knew how much he loved his young brother.

For Saul, he could neither abandon his brother nor simply follow his instructions.

However, Saul would soon realize it too. It was only a matter of time. If Saul couldn’t abandon David, there was only one choice he could make.

“That person… is she still there?”

As Catherine had guessed, Saul seemed unable to abandon David. Saul’s voice was heard asking in a somewhat slow tone, trying to appear calm.

While asking, Saul slowly moved toward where David stood, like trying not to provoke him.

“Of course she is.”

David’s voice came back, answering in a similar tone like mimicking Saul.

At the same time, David’s figure leaning toward the stairs was visible. For a moment, Saul stopped walking. What’s wrong?

David, who had been quietly watching Saul’s reaction, suddenly smiled brightly. It was an innocent attitude like not knowing what the problem was.

“David, don’t move from that spot.”

Saul warned in a voice heavily suppressed and choked. Even knowing that young David wasn’t in a state to understand those words, he seemed unable to bear not saying them.

Perhaps thinking David might lean toward the stairs again, barely contained anxiety was felt from Saul, who didn’t dare move rashly.

“What are you doing, Saul? Come here.”

You can hear her calling for brother. David’s whispering body swayed lightly like a pendulum. And every time his body swayed, Saul’s gaze also wavered.

Like playing a light prank, using one foot as support while kicking the floor with the other and leaning toward the stairs before returning repeatedly looked extremely dangerous.

Following the tense Saul, Catherine also held her breath. Even knowing the healthy appearance of the adult David, she couldn’t help but be captivated by what was happening before her eyes. 

David’s appearance looked dangerously precarious. The way he seemed to push his body into the air, if he made a wrong move and fell…

“…!”

The next moment Catherine stopped breathing. Like that thought had become a seed, in an instant David’s swaying body stopped with a sharp bend. For an extremely short time, not even enough to blink, David stood still leaning into the air.

David’s gaze tilted diagonally. Catherine saw light enter his blinking eyes at that moment.

But that was all. Unable to do anything, David helplessly tilted over. Having finally come to his senses in that brief moment, he blinked with an expression of not understanding what had happened to him.

Huh…?

The dazed sound broke the silence, and Catherine reflexively reached out her hand toward David while kicking off the floor.

At that moment, nothing came to mind. She couldn’t think at all that young David couldn’t see Catherine, or that Catherine couldn’t catch him. Only the instinct to catch that falling young body moved Catherine. Realizing it was futile was also instantaneous.

The moment she thought she could catch David’s hand, Catherine’s hand trying to grasp it cut through empty air. There wasn’t even time to say “ah.”

The moment it became clear she had missed, Catherine froze, sensing what would happen next. However, fortunately, the situation Catherine had sensed didn’t occur.

“Ugh…!”

A scream rose up. Feeling her heart sink, Catherine collapsed on the spot. For a moment, her spine went cold. Catherine clutched her chest and gasped for breath.

Then she looked at the two brothers tangled and rolling on the landing.

Catherine finally recognized who the figure was that had pushed through in the instant she missed David’s hand, snatching and pulling David to safety.

Seeing Saul embracing his young brother, Catherine finally let out a sigh of relief.

Her gaze fell along with her shoulders, sinking powerlessly with her exhaled breath.

“David.”

From inside, the sound of Saul checking on David and saying something was heard. Catherine breathed in deeply like taking a deep breath and raised her head.

And at the same time, carelessly looking down below the landing, she finally remembered what she had forgotten.

It felt like their gazes met… Below the landing, in the dim surroundings where light didn’t properly reach, white skirt fabric buried in the shadows was visible.

At that moment, Catherine felt the illusion of cold air rushing in and sticking to her eyes.

Without any trembling at all, the figure standing blankly like everything had been preserved captured Catherine’s gaze…

Soon after, hesitant sounds followed, and a bewildered call brushed past her ears.

“…Mother.”

【Candlelight】

The air felt frozen cold. Everything was quiet, and her mind seemed cloudy like fading consciousness. The floating coolness all stagnated. And clung together. It strangled everything in the midst.

She couldn’t breathe properly. Like being submerged under a cold winter lake, she felt she couldn’t bear the sensation that would rush in the moment she inhaled…

“What?”

However, under that sharp questioning, everything that had been frozen solid for a moment shattered. Catherine quickly raised her head and looked toward where the sound came from. 

But there was nothing there. Even the shadows of the Cavendish brothers who had been tangled on the landing weren’t visible. Catherine blinked. And in confusion, she lowered her gaze below the landing.

Nothing was there. There was nothing below the landing either. The strange figure that had been there just moments before had already disappeared. Catherine sat alone on the empty landing.

Realizing this fact, Catherine embraced her shoulders, cold from the anxiety that suddenly overcame her.

In the sudden quiet, the lingering traces of the commotion that hadn’t yet faded shook Catherine. She felt fear. Why had everyone disappeared? Had something gone wrong? 

Catherine swallowed the surging anxiety and staggered to her feet. Then she suddenly saw the lamp remaining at the end of the corridor, the light wetting his feet, and stopped. Catherine suddenly recalled the evil thing’s voice.

“Then, follow the light.”

Light… It was here. Catherine felt her anxious heart becoming quiet. She breathed deeply and slowly.

In the midst of long inhalations and exhalations, she felt a presence carefully approaching, like proving that the light still positioned here was the correct signpost.

Catherine raised her head. From the far end of the opposite corridor where the lamp’s light didn’t reach, she could see something white wavering. And… it was gradually getting closer.

Catherine watched the approaching figure with narrowed eyes. Even in the darkness, whitish swaying fabric and sparkling golden hair were faintly visible. It looked familiar.

Because of this, Catherine unconsciously recalled the image of the Countess she had seen just before.

However, when she looked again, Catherine realized her guess was wrong. The figure visible in the distance was very small. The form of the carefully walking figure gradually came closer.

And like a ghost, before the dimly visible outline became completely clear, Catherine soon recognized the identity of the approaching figure.

It was young David. Wearing long, pure white pajamas that almost covered his calves, he wore a gown of exactly the same color. Following his steps, the hanging white fabric swayed.

Young David’s appearance came a bit closer. And the closer he came, the more clearly Catherine could see his appearance, guessing that this memory was from a time somewhat later than just before.

Young David looked like he had secretly left his room while preparing for bed. Under his long pajamas, outdoor shoes rather than indoor slippers were glimpsed… Moreover, his behavior was cautious, like trying to do something bad in secret.

Like fearing someone might follow behind him, he would move stealthily then occasionally stop and look back.