novelraw Chapter 359: Petra's Will
Chapter 359: Petra's Will
Lu Li knew who it was—or rather, what it was.
It was something Anna couldn't sense, something the Baroness and Petra were completely unaware of: the Door.
It had last appeared at the Isle of Gaze, nearly four weeks ago. The constant stream of events had nearly made Lu Li forget its existence.
And now, today, choosing the perfect moment, the Door had returned.
Lu Li had almost answered it; no one can remain on high alert indefinitely. It was the strange reactions of the Baroness and Petra that saved him.
"I'm fine. It's just a hallucination from a low Mind Level," Lu Li explained to the Baroness and Petra, then added in a voice only Anna could hear, "It's the Door."
A cold presence enveloped them for a moment before vanishing. Anna quickly scanned the basement. "Is it gone?"
"Yes."
The Investigators' headquarters had never given him an answer about the Door. After this incident with the Shadow Puppeteer was over, Lu Li planned to speak with Michael.
Assuming, of course, that he survived the Shadow Puppeteer's ritual.During their afternoon tea, the senior maid brought a nourishing broth from the kitchen, dividing it between the Baroness, Petra, and Lu Li, whose wounds were the lightest.
The broth couldn't cure a common cold, but after the hot bowl, Lu Li felt a little better, though his cough persisted.
Time ticked by. The heavy rain made it so dark by four in the afternoon that they had to light the lamps. The forecast said the storm would ease briefly in the morning before a massive thunderhead rolled in from the sea.
It was approaching the time when Lu Li and the others would normally "finish work," but today was different. The real action would only begin after nightfall.
And, just maybe, this would be the finale.
The senior maid brought dinner down to the basement.
During the joyless meal, an ancient whisper suddenly echoed in their minds.
[Most of the people in the mansion have fallen asleep.]
[Sara slipped quietly from under her blanket, changed into loose-fitting clothes, and crept into the forest in the backyard.]
The Baroness pressed her lips together, dropped her knife and fork onto her plate, and looked up at her butler. "She's coming. You need to leave."
The butler replied without hesitation, "I'm staying."
The Baroness pushed her plate away and tried to shove the butler back. "You're useless here. You'll only distract me."
In the end, the butler couldn't win against the Baroness and agreed to leave, taking their half-eaten dinner with him.
A flash of lightning on the stairs stretched the butler's shadow long behind him. The closing door muffled the sound of the rain and a fresh clap of thunder.
Only a few faintly flickering oil lamps remained lit in the basement.
A few minutes later, Sara appeared, and with her came the ancient whisper.
["Miss, please, let me go. It was all the head of the family's doing. I never betrayed you, and I didn't kill Adam!" the maid, Erin, wept and pleaded.]
[The oil lamp in her hand illuminated half of Sara's cold face. She was indifferent to the pleas of her former best friend.]
[Sara set down a black lamp that emitted no light and, ignoring the prisoners chained to the wall, began the resurrection ritual.]
A strange murmuring echoed through the cold basement. The ancient whisper described how the surrounding light was twisting and darkening, while Lu Li and the others watched black spots appear on Vincent's body. They grew, spread, and merged into a single mass, turning his entire body into a black void.
When Vincent's body had turned completely black, he—or rather, it—sat up abruptly.
Sara didn't rush the experiment. She began to analyze the process and results of her previous rituals, trying to find the reason she couldn't resurrect Adam.
But she was just a novice in the world of mysticism, and nothing came to mind. So, she could only resort to the most foolish, yet most reliable method: to keep trying.
Obeying Sara, "Vincent" approached Petra, who was standing in the corner.
"I never thought we would meet again under these circumstances," Petra began, looking at Sara. "My lady, is this why you killed your most loyal servants? To resurrect your lover?"
In the face of certain death, Petra remained calm and composed.
["The closest? How ironic," Sara scoffed, watching as "Vincent" lifted the heavily wounded Petra onto a makeshift table and tied him down.]
"Yes. Though I don't understand why you hurt us, we truly were your closest people," Lu Li said. "For instance, after Petra was attacked by the Rola you were controlling, his first thought was to inform you, not to seek help."
His words were useless. Sara, consumed by her obsession, couldn't hear a thing.
"I already lost too much blood this afternoon," Petra reminded Sara.
[The servant's words made Sara abandon the idea of hanging him, but nothing more. She began to cover Petra's body with moss and arrange candles around him. She had a new idea.]
At that moment, Petra suddenly laughed.
["What is it?" Sara asked, pausing briefly.]
"I'm laughing because I only just now figured it out," Petra said, his smile tinged with bitterness.
["Figured what out?"]
"May I say my last words?" Without waiting for Sara's reply, Petra turned to the other prisoners. "Lu Li, Aileen, listen. This is my will."
"When this is all over, find my friend and tell him to be bolder with his feelings. Perhaps there is a great chasm between them, conflict, or even hatred, but anything can be changed. One shouldn't give up because of enmity. Remember this: we remember our enemies and our friends; it is only strangers we forget."
Petra's will sounded utterly out of place at that moment.
He gazed intently at Lu Li, as if trying to convey something with his eyes alone, and asked, "Have you memorized it?"
"Yes," Lu Li nodded.
"Good," Petra smiled, then looked away from them and straight at Sara, fearlessly meeting his approaching death.
"Begin," he said.