Marilyn asked, turning her head as far away from Raymond's body lying on the carriage floor as possible.
“Isn’t this the way to the Germain Count?”
“I’ve met an annoying opponent. I have to get rid of him, so I have no choice but to go back a little.”
Fortunately, it seemed that she was not being followed, but she could not help but notice that at the last moment, Kiel Spencer's eyes lingered particularly long on the carriage.
Since Marilyn's face was deliberately exposed to the police, there will be no thorough investigation.
Still, it wasn't a bad thing to be prepared.
“I’m just going back a little. I know it’s awkward, but bear with it.”
Marilyn squeezed her eyes shut.
Even if a dead body was better than a reanimated corpse, riding in a carriage with a corpse was not very pleasant.
However, Marilyn, who seemed to fully understand the situation and nodded obediently with a tired expression, suddenly asked as if a thought had occurred to her.
“What on earth is Young Lady's true identity?”
“I'm a spirit master, right? That’s what everyone else says.”
At least in this world, no one can know 'exactly' what her abilities are.
Marilyn opened her mouth in shock at Dorothea's words.
“What spirit master in the world exorcises an evil spirit possessing the body of a dead person?!”
“Marilyn.”
Dorothea smiled faintly and tapped her on the mouth.
“There are some things in this world that are better left ignorant.”
The moment you look into the world of the dead, you will encounter a world completely different from what you have seen so far.
Dorothea had no intention of letting Marilyn, who was not even ready mentally, get a glimpse of the ‘world beyond this world’.
“But if you really want to know, then you have to have a very deep and profound relationship with me from now on.”
Marilyn Lehr swallowed hard. Dorothea's eyes rolled back into arcs.
“Do you want it?”
"No."
Marilyn turned her head, her words coming out quickly as if she was leaving no room for anything.
Seeing the look of deep regret on her face, she guessed Marilyn wouldn't ask any more questions.
Jane, who was nearby, leaned forward cautiously.
“Were you nervous?”
“Yes, I am afraid I might not ring the bell at the right time.”
Jane let out a sigh of relief as she carefully gathered the silver drops that were called "Chararang."
Dorothea gave her 'disciple' a friendly compliment as his face relaxed and tired.
“Well done. That was great.”
Marilyn, who was watching with a strange expression as the white, smooth hand patted Jane, muttered blankly.
“You make that kind of face too, don’t you?”
An awkward silence fell over the carriage after Dorothea smiled faintly without saying a word.
By the time Jane had fallen into a deep sleep, the carriage, which had been circling the streets for a while, finally entered Count Germain's house, and it was already dawn.
***
Leaving Jane asleep in the care of Wood and Colin, Freed wrapped the body in a blanket and carried it into the Count's house, where he placed it inside the coffin that had been prepared in advance.
The haggard-faced Count Germain approached staggeringly and touched Raymond Germain's face.
The son's body looked extremely lifelike as if he had been dead only a few hours.
Without a single scratch.
“Someone did a great job of making my son’s last moments beautiful.”
It might have seemed like a pretty gruesome death.
A pious atmosphere emanated from the corpse, whose eyes were closed as if asleep.
“My mother loved Raymond’s bright smile. He was still very boyish and innocent even as a grown man.”
A look of pity crossed Marilyn's face at Chase Germain's subdued voice.
Dorothea turned her head away, looking at the Count, who was silent with a very gloomy face, and his eldest son, who was lost in thought.
'The Countess's room... was it over there?'
While everyone else was lost in their thoughts, reminiscing about the past and being engrossed in the empty body, Dorothea strode open the door to where the Countess was sleeping.
“Young Lady!”
A startling sound was heard from behind her, but Dorothea pretended not to notice and quickly approached the bed. She bent down towards the Countess, whose eyes were wide open.
"Ma'am."
“Umm...”
The sleepy Countess groaned and blinked her eyes.
Dorothea whispered to her, watching her cloudy eyes gradually become brighter.
“Your second son is here.”
“...”
“Raymond Germain has returned to the Count’s household.”
Marilyn, who had been running in, was startled and reached out to grab Dorothea but was stopped by Freed.
As the stern-faced Count strode into the room, Dorothea straightened her bent back and looked at the Count as she recited each word.
“Do you really think, Countess, that your second son is going down to another estate and helping out diligently?”
“Young Lady...”
Dorothea did not stop talking, even though his cry was as muffled as a moan.
“A son who was planning to spend a long time away in a faraway land just left without saying a word to his sick mother, not even showing his face?”
The Countess blinked weakly.
Dorothea wrapped the warm blanket around her trembling body and asked again in a low voice.
“Madam, is your son really that kind of person?”
He left his sick mother behind and went far away without saying a word, not even writing a single letter.
Sometimes, a few short words sent to his brother or father are all the Countess gets from him.
Was he really that cruel?
Dorothea's eyes captured the Countess staring blankly at her.
A wrinkled hand was placed over Dorothea's.
She could clearly feel the coldness in her fingertips because her blood was not circulating properly.
“My son.”
The voice that was spoken with difficulty sounded so thin that it seemed as if it would break at any moment.
The corners of her lips, which had risen slightly with effort, trembled.
“He likes people, so he's easygoing, his heart is soft-spoken, and he's easily swayed by others because he's docile.”
The woman's eyes filled with sadness as she spoke.
“That’s why sometimes he gets too emotional and acts childishly... That’s probably why he met a bad ending.”
At that moment, the eldest son who entered the room, Marilyn who was standing next to her and couldn't even look her in the eye, and even the Count all held their breath.
Marilyn looked up in disbelief and opened her mouth to speak to the Countess.
“Madam, you knew...”
“...”
Just because you're sick in bed doesn't mean you have no ears to hear or eyes to see.
In the name of consideration, they treated the living Countess as a dead body.
Even the sorrow she should have known and experienced was blocked out by her own presumptions, preventing her from even mourning her son's last moments.
Finally, a teardrop fell from the Countess's eye.
The mouth that had been holding a sad smile slowly opened.
“Let me say goodbye for the last time, honey...”
The Count, who had been watching his lifelong companion for a moment, stepped back and closed his eyes tightly.
The Countess, holding Dorothea's hand, was in the best condition she had been in these past few days.
It's hard to believe that she's someone who's facing death.
The body, which had been consuming the life force flowing from Dorothea's hand, slowly walked out of the room, leaving the floor untouched.
As she walked out on her own feet for the first time in months, she saw the coffin containing her beloved son.
***
“I’ve always... cared about this child. More than my husband or his older brother.”
“...”
“His vision is more of people who are a bit foolish and lacking than those who are capable of it... So, those who make mistakes often tend to be trampled upon more.”
Especially when facing death.
The fingertips that were sweeping her rough face trembled slightly.
The Countess accepted her son's death with more calmness than they had expected.
It may have been because she had already noticed it to some extent, but it may also have been because Raymond's body looked so peaceful, as if he were sleeping.
“Even though he ended up like this, he wasn’t a bad-natured kid. I wonder if he went to a good place.”
Marilyn flinched at the affectionate and gentle voice.
Looking at the trembling of her lips, she could tell that she could do it at any moment and that she wanted to sit next to her and comfort her.
Dorothea stood behind the Countess, quietly covering her eyes with her hand as she looked worriedly at her son, whose eyes were closed.
With the power that once illuminated Philip's 'alien world', she 'showed' her a side of the spirit world that had once appeared through Lily.
Vast nature. Spirits blend into the beautiful scenery that makes it hard to breathe.
“My son is waiting to finish this life and start the next one.”
Over there.
After crossing the long river and following the guidance of the messenger of death, he safely erased all traces of his life and became a clean and beautiful soul, ready to live a dazzling next life.
"Ha..."
The Countess sighed in relief.
A joyous expression appeared on her pale face as if she was glad that her son had a future.
As Dorothea's hand slowly moved away from her eyes, the visions that had filled the woman's eyes also disappeared.
The Countess extended her hand to her eldest son, who lowered his head as if he had done something wrong.
“Can you help me get back to bed?”
It was unfortunate for the family who had to accept her death following Raymond's.
There was no way she wouldn't know that the moment of death was right around the corner.
***
The woman called each person one by one and said her final goodbyes.
And finally, she called Dorothea again.
Chase Germain looked at Dorothea with resentment as she came out of the conversation that was not too long, but not too short either.
“It’s not that I don’t understand at all... but did you really have to do that to your mother....”
He still seemed to have no idea what was wrong.
Dorothea gazed intently at the face of the devoted son and opened her mouth.
“Pain is a privilege that only the living can feel.”
“...”
“You have made her ignorant, and have blocked and controlled the emotions she should feel.”
“...”
“What great treatment is there in treating the living as sacred as the dead?”
Have you not seen the eyes of a human being, yet not considered human, lying in bed helpless and unable to do anything?
Didn't you really notice that she was so exhausted from struggling alone in endless isolation that she had lost the will to live?
“You are the ones who have driven away the will to live.”
Being sick doesn't mean you're incompetent.
Being sick doesn't mean you don't have to know anything.
“This is for her.”
“You are using your power in the best way possible.”
“So that everyone can be happy.”
When we are isolated, all our senses are at their most acute and sharp.
No matter how sweet the hypocritical words may be, we can quickly discern whether they are true or false.
They even went so far as to disguise the lies they told to the Countess as love.
Moreover, it left her unable to offer any resistance and inquire about the truth.
“Her pain and suffering are hers to bear.”
Her shares that no one can replace.
The sunlight pouring down from the rising sun slowly began to illuminate the dark hallway.
The moment the warm sunlight filled the room, the Countess quietly passed away.
She said a tender farewell to those she would leave behind, and smiled peacefully, as if she could now go see her son.
Now, it is everyone's turn to reverently and sorrowfully accept the death they have been 'waiting for' for so long.
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