Chapter 139: A Killing Intent
When Lin Sanjiu stepped on the first stairstep, she felt as if she was about to enter another story. Her vision blurred for a second but when she composed herself and looked down, she was still standing on the stairs covered with a thick carpet. [Am I paranoid?] A shred of doubt flashed across Lin Sanjiu’s mind. She held on to Lila’s wrist and pulled her upstairs without giving her time to speak.
She hurried past the portraits and rushed in front of the mirror. Lin Sanjiu stopped suddenly and Lila nearly bumped into her back.
"Hey," Lin Sanjiu cleared her dry throat and gestured to the mirror with her chin, "Where is this mirror from?" She spoke extremely fast, afraid that she would be sent to another story any second later.
Lila looked at the mirror as directed by Lin Sanjiu, Lila’s expression lightened, her fear and confusion visibly lessened when she replied, "This is mine!"
"Huh?" Lin Sanjiu turned to her.
"Even though my husband is very rich, he was impressed by this item from my dowry. It’s rare." When she said this, she seemed to remember something as she touched the frame, "He mentioned a few times that he wanted to give this to the king, but I refused…"
When she heard this, Lin Sanjiu’s heart skipped a beat while she vaguely remembered something. But she didn’t have the time to ponder about that as she was afraid that she didn’t have much time in this storyline. She interrupted Lila hastily, "Okay, come with me…"
Both women strutted quickly to the room at the end of the corridor. Lin Sanjiu took the key from Lila. The key felt dry in her hand as though the blood on it had seeped in. The key remained red as the blood stained the crevices on the surface of the key. The stains wouldn’t go away no matter how hard Lila tried to clean it just now. Lin Sanjiu ignored that detail and pushed open the door violently. She stared hard at Lila, "Look!"
Lila probably remembered her husband’s words, so she looked uneasy but a little excited. She stretched her white neck forward. This evoked the image that Lin Sanjiu saw just moments before, the image of her neck covered with veins. Lila took a single glance and shrunk her head back, "There is a woman inside…"
[What?]
Lin Sanjiu froze for a second and looked into the room.
When she looked into the room again, she was speechless. The corpses dangling from the ceiling had all disappeared. The faint light in the room segregated the room into a few lit areas. The person that Lila saw seemed to be sitting at the far end of the room. Lila turned pale and stared at Lin Sanjiu, saying softly, "She... she looks like you…"
Lin Sanjiu did not make a single sound. Her eyes were glued to the woman in the room as she felt her blood turn cold. The woman looked unfamiliar to her at first glance, but after a few seconds, she saw the combat pants and boots, confirming that she was indeed ‘Lin Sanjiu’.
Blood dripped from the fingertips of the other ‘her’, as her arm was injured. Even though the two women at the entrance had created a commotion, the ‘Lin Sanjiu’ seemed unaware of them. She was staring in the opposite direction. Lin Sanjiu was certain that the other her was very tensed and was wary of some other person.
However, the space she was staring into was empty.
"It’s too weird… who are you, people…" Lila mumbled. Lin Sanjiu ignored her as she stepped forward in a daze.
"This isn’t right." Lin Sanjiu moved her lips.
Lin Sanjiu found it very suspicious that the person in the room did not even turn to look at them or notice that there was someone at the door. [Could it be…] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.
When she took one step forward, the room immediately became dimmer. Suddenly, multiple corpses appeared, hanging from the ceiling, filling the entire room. This happened as if proving that Lin Sanjiu was right. The corpses swung slowly from their ropes. Lila was shocked and let out a piercing scream when she saw the scene and collapsed at the entrance. Lin Sanjiu scanned the room and, just as expected, the other ‘her’ disappeared.
[Whatever we see in this room can’t be real…]
The corpse of Lila she saw just now was now hidden at the back of other unfamiliar women. Although Lin Sanjiu had some inkling about what was happening, her throat felt parched. She was about to call Lila when the woman suddenly stammered as she stared ahead, "Isn’t that Rosa from the neighboring province? Why is she dead?"
Lin Sanjiu frowned. She had the feeling that something was amiss but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She followed Lila’s lead and asked, "You know her?"
"I know her! In the past, every time we met at the ball, she would flaunt the newest items her parents bought for her…" Lila's voice was trembling terribly. "After I married Bluebeard, she never, she never…"
"Wait. Isn’t she your husband’s ex-wife?" Lin Sanjiu finally realized what was wrong. In Bluebeard’s story, the main female character only realized that her life was in danger when she saw Bluebeard’s seven ex-wives. After that, she sought her two brothers for help.
"Of course not," Lila wiped her tears. "My husband wasn’t married before. I am his only wife. What’s the matter? You could scare someone with that face…" Lila was shocked when she saw Lin Sanjiu’s expression.
Lin Sanjiu’s face was white as a sheet. She couldn’t utter a word as she stared at Lila. There were exactly seven corpse hanging from the ceiling. In Bluebeard’s story, his wife’s name was never mentioned. When Lila revealed her identity, Lin Sanjiu naturally assumed that she was the woman in the story who got away—Bluebeard’s eighth wife.
From everything that had happened, if the story developed normally, Lila would die. The thought crept into Lin Sanjiu’s mind. If Lila refused to offer the mirror to the king, how could the king give the mirror to Red Riding Hood’s grandmother?
By now, she thought that she understood everything more or less. Lin Sanjiu bit her lips and dragged Lila away from the room. "We need to go. This room shows the future…" her voice was hoarse when she said this.
She didn’t want the poor woman to see her own corpse so she pushed Lila out of the door. There was a pool of blood on the floor between herself and Lila. Once again, the key laid in the middle of that pool of blood. Other than that, everything else in the room was an illusion of the future.
If her conjecture was right, she would injure her right arm in the near future… That bit of injury did not bother Lin Sanjiu, who had found herself in this spiral of confusion. She sighed softly. Thinking about this story, she took the key that was near Lila and tried to lock the door.
Lila’s lips were white and she was wringing her hands nervously. She did not know what to say and from the looks of it, she felt a little crazy. She watched Lin Sanjiu, who was unfamiliar with how old medieval locks worked. She tried a few times but was unable to lock the door. She wanted to say something when she heard a loud sound. Next, a man’s voice roared out, echoing through the corridor, "Lila! Where are you? Lila!"
No one expected that Bluebeard would return at this critical juncture. His voice nearly scared the soul out of Lila. She quickly muttered, "I'll come back." Then, she turned and ran downstairs while calling out, "Hi."
Her blue dress was stained with an unsightly patch of dark red blood, she had dirtied her dress when she fell by the entrance just now but she did not notice it at all.
When Lin Sanjiu saw it, she became very anxious. "Just wait for a mome— "
Just then, the door opened by itself with a creak as it was not locked properly. She cursed silently and turned her head involuntarily. She suddenly saw someone standing in the darkness. At that moment, she felt as if her heart had stopped. She only reacted after a split second. The person standing there was not real.
"Why would you appear here?" Lin Sanjiu smiled bitterly and mumbled to herself when she saw a very familiar face. Her mind was a mess, "Will you get hurt too?"
She quickly examined her friend and saw that she was alright. The person was not hurt so Lin Sanjiu was slightly relieved. Just then, she heard a sharp shriek from Lila. It struck a nerve and Lin Sanjiu dashed through the corridor.
[I should just kill Bluebeard—] Lin Sanjiu pursed her lips tightly as this thought surfaced in her mind. Her vision blurred and she was back outside Cinderella’s door.