novelraw Chapter 332: A Story Half-Told
Chapter 332: A Story Half-Told
Secret rendezvous are common in love stories, so their appearance here didn't seem out of place.
However, when the story was directed by an evil spirit and titled "The Book of Sarah's Death," every detail was steeped in a sense of foreboding.
["You'll keep my secret, won't you, Eileen?" Sarah looked at her maid hopefully. When she received an affirmative nod, she exclaimed with delight, grabbing Eileen's hand and eagerly anticipating their upcoming meeting. She was overjoyed, yet also a little nervous.]
"Come with me!" Sarah said suddenly. Eileen was taken aback but slowly nodded. With a companion by her side, Sarah's anxiety eased slightly. She turned to the servants tidying the room. "You may all leave for now. I need to change."]
Lu Li and the other exorcists obediently left the bedroom. The Baroness remained.
In the corridor, the ancient voice continued to resonate in their minds, narrating the story.
["Which dress do you think suits me best?" Sarah hopped off the bed and began rummaging through her wardrobe. The dresses that had once seemed beautiful to her now looked inexplicably plain.]
["They're all lovely," Eileen replied distractedly. She was preoccupied with how she might slip away unnoticed and report everything to the head of the household.]
[Sensing Eileen's inattentiveness, Sarah frowned but quickly composed herself. She remembered that the man surely valued her inner character more than her appearance. With that thought, the dresses in the wardrobe seemed to sparkle for her once more.]
[While Sarah was choosing her attire, Eileen quietly slipped out of the room to inform the head of the household of Sarah's plan to secretly meet a man.]The Baroness, her lips pressed into a thin line, watched as "Sarah" sorted through the clothes in the wardrobe. Then, she walked out into the corridor, ignoring the "servants" standing by the door, and headed for the room of the "head of the household."
The butler followed her. For most of the time the evil spirit was active, the butler had shadowed the Baroness relentlessly, yet he had remained outside the story.
Once the Baroness moved away from the bedroom, the ancient voice in the minds of Lu Li and the other exorcists fell silent, and they temporarily lost the thread of the narrative.
The Baroness soon returned, her expression impassive. As she passed Lu Li, she didn't linger on him with her usual gaze but walked by as if he were a stranger.
The Baroness entered the bedroom, and the ancient voice resumed.
["Eileen carefully closed the door. "Where did you go?" Sarah's voice came from behind her. Eileen froze on the spot, her heart pounding wildly.]
The Baroness looked at "Sarah" and remained silent. The story had not prescribed any action for her.
Time passed, but the story did not advance.
["Eileen?" Sarah stared at the silent maid in confusion.]
Suddenly, an oppressive atmosphere filled the room. Black mist swirled beneath the ceiling, and from it descended thick, dark threads that wrapped around the Baroness's head. A withered black claw lowered itself toward her.
The Shadow Puppeteer had appeared unexpectedly.
But even now, the story offered "Eileen" no lines.
Remembering the butler's instructions, the Baroness took a deep breath, trying to conceal her fear, and finally spoke. "I went to the corridor."
["I went to the corridor," Eileen replied, avoiding Sarah's gaze.]
The exorcists standing outside the door exchanged worried glances, their brows furrowed.
Something had gone wrong.
["Sarah was a little surprised but didn't think much of it. "Are you going with me dressed like that?" she asked Eileen. "I can lend you one of my dresses."]
The Shadow Puppeteer still gave the Baroness no lines.
"There's no need," the Baroness replied.
["There's no need," Eileen answered, declining the offer. Sarah seemed a little disappointed but said nothing. She took a few coins from a drawer, placed them in her purse, and said to Eileen, "Let's go."]
"Mhm," the Baroness replied hastily.
["Mhm," Eileen replied. Sarah and Eileen secretly left the estate and headed for the meeting place.]
The ancient voice in their minds fell silent once more.
This time, the butler did not follow them. He returned to ask the exorcists what had happened.
But some things were unknown even to them, such as whether the Baroness had told the "head of the household" what was happening.
After hearing their response, the butler said gravely, "You must go after her."
"The story is progressing without us now," David frowned. "If we follow, it could lead to unpredictable consequences."
"I'll go," Lu Li said.
Their duty was to ensure the Baroness's safety; hiding outside the story was pointless.
Petra remembered this as well. "I'll go too."
"I was wrong. We will protect the Baroness," David admitted his mistake decisively.
To be safe, they didn't take a carriage and kept their distance from the Baroness and "Sarah." The butler and the four exorcists, still dressed as servants, followed from afar.
This distance was relatively safe; they couldn't hear the ancient voice and weren't drawn into the story.
There were fewer people than usual on the streets on this rainy day. David was suddenly struck by a strange feeling, as if he and the other exorcists didn't belong to this world, even though they were walking on the same street as everyone else.
In the story, the weather was clear and sunny, so neither the Baroness, "Sarah," nor Lu Li and the others following them carried umbrellas, letting the rain soak their clothes.
The butler was deeply concerned for the Baroness's health, but there was nothing he could do.
The two groups of people, one following the other at a distance, occasionally drew the attention of passersby. Soon, they saw the Baroness and "Sarah" enter a café.
"We'll wait here," the butler said, leading them into a restaurant near the café. There were only one or two customers inside. The butler, openly declaring his status, booked the entire restaurant, paying the departing patrons double their bill.
The exorcists sat by the window, watching the vaguely visible figures in the café's window.
The butler summoned the owner, asked him to prepare afternoon tea for the exorcists, and then left the restaurant and headed toward the café.
He wanted to be near the Baroness.
The other exorcists weren't in the mood to eat, so they only ordered drinks. Lu Li, however, ordered a large amount of high-protein, nutritious food that could be prepared quickly. After the events of the previous day, the three other exorcists had more or less grown accustomed to Lu Li's quirks, like his constant need to eat, so they paid it no mind.
Suddenly, a dark figure passed by the window on the street, and for a fleeting moment, the ancient voice could be heard.
["It seems we've arrived too early. The appointed time is still an hour and a half away..." Sarah...]