Chapter 86….
After that, I remember losing consciousness immediately.
I woke up after fainting for half a day, and with the help of Helena and Mr. Dulles, I made my way to the Metropolitan Police.
“Ma’am, are you… alright?”
Detective Harvey, handling me as carefully as if I were made of glass, asked. I confirmed to him that the corpse from earlier was indeed my husband, Randolph Carter.
“I saw it with my own eyes. There’s no doubt about it.”
Even as I mustered the last of my strength to say that, the situation felt unreal.
It felt as though, even now, Randolph could appear before me if I just called for him.
Yet.
The corpse I had seen was undeniably Randolph.
Golden hair that shone in the sunlight, glimmering brown indoors.
Skin so pale it seemed too delicate for a man, symmetrical features with a gentle expression, and slender limbs perfectly straight.
…In every way, it was Randolph Carter himself.
“I see. Thank you for confirming, ma’am.”
Detective Harvey, somber, spoke cautiously but truthfully.
“All the blood in his body is gone. There are no wounds, so we have no idea where it went.”
Even the coroner had never encountered such a case and could not estimate the time of death.
“However, judging from the scene when he was discovered, and from the testimony of the first discoverers and nearby residents, it seems your husband had been at that location for about a month.”
“A month… ago?”
That would have been when we formally reported him missing.
“Yes. Several residents said they saw him enter the cabin, but none of them had seen him come out since then.”
Most likely, he had met a strange death in the meantime.
That was the police’s deduction.
Detective Harvey asked whether Randolph had any connections with secret societies or had shown inexplicable behavior just before his disappearance. But I could answer none of his questions.
The investigation eventually fizzled out.
‘Deaths related to so-called unknown mysteries were rare at the time…’
They did happen occasionally, and the police treated this incident as an extension of such bizarre events.
Meanwhile.
I, who had wanted to deny his absence until the very end, had no choice but to accept Randolph’s death once I saw his body with my own eyes.
It had been almost ten years, yet the memory remained vivid.
Once more, the feelings of that time came flooding back.
‘Randolph’s body, reminiscent of a plaster statue.’
Perhaps because I had dredged up memories I had struggled to bury in the depths of my consciousness.
In the swaying carriage, I suddenly felt as though I might vomit.
“Emily, what’s wrong? You look pale… Is something the matter?”
Helena, noticing the change in my expression immediately, asked in a concerned tone.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
I forced a smile and added that she shouldn’t worry, yet concern still clouded her face.
Click-clack, click-clack.
As the carriage neared its destination, the edge of the museum slowly came into view beyond the window.
“But Emily, don’t get your hopes up too much.”
“……Huh?”
“The ‘Moon Lens’ they got from Baskerville Manor.”
The “Moon Lens” given as a reward by the Yellow King.
I had discovered this object at Sir Charles Baskerville’s estate and asked her to investigate it.
“I understand the desire to grasp at straws, but…”
“Yeah.”
“I just don’t want you to be disappointed, you know?”
Helena’s gentle voice was full of affection.
“I understand, of course.”
I didn’t want to keep anything from Helena…
‘But I can never tell her that I am an apostle of the Yellow King.’
Even a single word would let her immediately guess what I had become.
I had long revealed that I remembered a previous life in modern times, but other facts remained secret.
…Among them, confessing that I had become a servant of an otherworldly evil god was an entirely different matter.
The fear of being rejected by Helena.
It was incomparable to the fear that James might disdain me.
Then, the carriage stopped.
“We’ve arrived.”
We opened the door at the coachman’s voice.
That was the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The milky-white walls gleamed under the morning sun, as if to show it had only recently been relocated to South Kensington.
Entering through the main gate, the massive, dazzling interior immediately caught our attention, befitting a museum famous for its global-scale collections.
Despite the odd hour, there were quite a few visitors touring the museum.
Their faces, filled with curiosity as they examined the exhibits, looked thoroughly happy.
‘How I wish I could live such a peaceful life too.’
The interior was vast enough to get lost without a map, but Helena knew it like the back of her hand.
Following her, we entered from the open hall into the inner area.
“The ‘Moon Lens’ you’re looking for is in here.”
We walked up stairs, through a corridor, and deeper inside. My chest tightened as we went further.
‘I can finally see Randolph again.’
I felt a pang in my heart, but there was no more escaping.
Finally, we found the “Moon Lens,” which, at first glance, looked like a massive circular wall mirror.
It was fortunate for me that it was placed in a quiet corner of a seldom-visited annex.
“Emily, such rituals should be performed alone. If you need help, call me immediately.”
Helena said she would watch from outside to keep anyone from approaching.
Her reassuring words gave me courage.
Suppressing the fear rising within me, I stepped in front of the “Moon Lens.”
‘I think I understand why they call it the Moon Lens.’
Most wall mirrors are oval, but this one was a perfect circle like a full moon.
Its wooden frame and intricate decorations mirrored my handheld Moon Lens, only magnified.
‘If mine fits in the palm of my hand, this could fit three or four adults inside.’
It was large enough to reflect my entire body.
No doubt, this was the only place that could hold such a “Moon Lens.”
Thump, thump.
Feeling my heart race faster than ever, I retrieved the small Moon Lens I had hidden in my arms.
A miniature version of the giant wall mirror before me.
At a glance, there seemed little difference, but upon closer inspection, the lens shape was distinct.
The handheld one was convex; the wall mirror was concave.
Perhaps that was why my reflection in the wall mirror appeared much larger than in reality.
The ritual using these two Moon Lenses was simple, according to Helena…
“You just reflect incoming light with the convex lens, and project it onto the concave lens.”
Sunlight poured in through the large window, perfect for the ritual.
I positioned the lens correctly, reflecting the light onto the giant wall mirror, just as Helena instructed.
But nothing happened; it was just dazzling.
‘Helena did warn me…’
Emily, I understand your desire to grasp at straws.
You shouldn’t get your hopes up too high.
Though the grimoire she found described the being and the ritual,
‘Among so-called reliable magical tools, the chances of success are extremely slim.’
No, that’s impossible.
This isn’t just any object—it’s a reward given directly by the Yellow King.
Please.
Please.
Certain that the “Moon Lens” was included in that slim chance, I waited patiently.
A few minutes passed.
“…Huh?”
Something seemed to flicker in the mirror.
Squinting against the reflected light, I saw a figure approaching in the glass, growing larger until I could distinguish a face.
‘…!’
When I saw that face, I almost stopped breathing.
It was…
The face I had never forgotten in over ten years.
[Em-i-ly.]
Through the mirror, he spoke with his lips.
[H-o-w h-a-v-e y-o-u b-e-e-n?]
The next moment.
His hand suddenly emerged from the mirror.
It happened in an instant, yet to me, it seemed unbearably slow.
‘Is this what they call the relativity of time?’
First the slender fingers, then the arm.
Soon the legs and knees followed, and finally…
“Huaah.”
Exhaling the breath he had held, his face emerged.
“……”
Too shocked to even scream, I froze stiff.
His movements were slow yet fluid.
Like a scene from ballet, each gesture precise and meaningful.
Randolph, my husband.
He approached, step by step, the air seeming to vanish in front of him.
His dazzling naked body, from head to toe, captured my gaze.
The beautiful face I could never forget smiled at me.
“Emily. Why the expression when we meet after so long?”
I had been filled with half hope and half anxiety, yet now it felt as if someone had slammed a massive stone onto my chest, my heart pounding as though it would burst.
Gasping, I looked up, and he was already right in front of me.
“Emi.”
When his hand gently grasped mine…
“…!”
I recoiled from the chilling touch.
But Randolph did not let go.
“Emily. You gave me life, didn’t you?”
The cold seeped up my arm to my head, my brain spinning, as his voice resonated in my ears.
“Kiss me, my love. Only then can I…”
[Return to being human, return.]
For some reason, those last words echoed vividly in my mind.
