Silence fell for moments after Karma's last words:
"Mom... Leon tried to drown himself in the fountain a little while ago."
The mother's eyes narrowed slightly as she pulled away from the hug to look at Karma's face, and she said in an extremely calm voice, without her expression changing:
"What did you just say?"
"Are you telling me he tried to commit suicide?"
Karma was silent, and an expression of excessive innocence was drawn on his face as he nodded his head anxiously, followed by a heavy sigh from the mother.
She gently patted her child's head with maternal affection, smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes, and asked:
"I won't ask you why, but I will ask you how he didn't succeed? Were you the one who saved him?"
Karma swallowed, and his face and expression froze for a second before he lowered his head, looked to the right, and muttered in a low, scarce voice:
"I don't know... he backed out of it."
The mother's smile widened, and her red eye, which perfectly resembled a glowing ember mirroring Histori's, scoffed with a voice overflowing with maternal sweetness and terrifying gloating: "Oh, really? And you were watching?"
And here, Karma apologized involuntarily, saying: "I'm sorry... I..."
But then the mother patted Karma's head harder than the previous time, laughing:
"Well done, my dear. And now, if you have nothing else to say, can you leave your dear mother alone for a while?"
Karma nodded again and left her room immediately. When he closed the door behind him with a light click,he rested his back against it.
He breathed a sigh of relief.And let out a long exhale that spoke of relief, but his exhale was quickly cut short when he felt a presence to his right.
He quickly turned his head and found his brother leaning against the wall two meters away
his arms crossed, his black hair falling over his forehead, and his eyes concealing his cold red gaze.Karma spoke, turning fully towards him with a cautious expression:
"What are you doing here? Were you spying on me?"
He did not reply but pushed himself off the wall, moving away from him, and Karma watched him until he disappeared down the corridor. Karma said to himself:
"He doesn't trust me, but since he knows what I did and didn't interfere, that means I..."
He smiled as he continued in an audible voice, heading back to his room:
" I didn't cross the red line, just as Yi Lian said. Everything is permissible and legitimate except eliminating him, which means... I can push the boundaries a little more."
Meanwhile, Regina was sitting on her luxurious chair near her horizontal mirror, one hand on the armrest of the chair and the other smoking from that golden pipe
puffing a cloud of smoke above her.She seemed to be deep in thought until the corner of her right lip lifted in a smile, and she recalled audibly:
"This is a new development."
Leon was currently in the basement trying to dry his shirt. He was placing it on a metal pipe in the wall, using it as a clothes hanger.His body was trembling as he hugged himself.
He was bare-chested, rubbing his left arm sometimes and his right arm other times to warm himself up in any way.In the palm of his hand, that white mouse was still there.
Leon was looking at it sadly, remembering Karma's words when he told him:
Leon said in a broken voice, his hand acting as a bed for the small white mouse's body:
"Am I really cursed?... I-I'm sorry."
He was gently pressing its belly as if trying to revive it, whispering mournfully:
"Oh God... what should I do?"
But when he heard footsteps approaching his basement
he quickly put on his wet shirt to cover himself in front of this sudden visitor.Leon expected one of his siblings, or in the worst case, Yi Lian.
He sat on his worn-out bed, drew his knees to his chest, and buried himself, curling up to hide his face.
He heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs this time—very heavy footsteps, ticking like a death clock.
Leon realized they were not his siblings; this was not the sound of their slippers.Until that person stood directly in front of him, just an arm's length away.
And Leon's heart was racing.
He gathered his courage and slowly raised his head, but even before he raised it completely,he was completely shocked, his mouth slightly open, and his lips trembling at the sight of a high, black heel in front of him.
He raised his gaze further,andfurther,and saw that woman.It was Regina Martinez... or rather, the ghost of a mother.A creature he did not wish to meet even in his worst nightmares.She was looking at him.
She did not take her eyes off him, nor did she need to look around, for the smell of dampness here made her hold her handkerchief to her nose for a few seconds.
His mother's eyes narrowed, and she spoke coldly, with a hint of intense disdain:
"Look what we have here?"
She stood haughtily in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest, her shadow covering him like a real shroud.
Meanwhile
Leon was nervously fiddling with his hands, and cold sweat was pouring from him.
He couldn't even look at her for a longer period, as if all the weight was concentrated on his head.Regina, tilting her head slightly to the left, her eyes not leaving his trembling figure: "Why are you still alive? Did you fail to take your useless soul?"
Leon did not seem to understand and became more nervous than before, stammering awkwardly and inquiringly:
"M-Mom, w-what do you mean?"
Regina, waving her hand in the air with displeasure as if shooing away a mosquito:
"Mom? Don't you dare say it again, or I will truly kill you.And as a simple piece of advice,suicide is an act performed by the living who have souls they want to end, and you..."
She paused, leaving a gap to fill with the following sentences:
"Do you really see yourself as alive?"
Leon swallowed, or rather, he almost choked on his saliva because of those words.
Regina pointed her index finger at him to stand up, and he rose quickly in a panic, his hands behind his back, as she had accustomed him.Shock was more evident on his face than sadness.
He slowly raised his neck, but a slap from the back of her hand made him recoil.The slap was strong and on the right side of his face, making his lip bleed, and he tasted the metallic flavor.
Leon's left hand flew to his swollen cheek, and tears were hardened in his eyes, but they had not yet fallen.He lowered his head again, and she continued in a mocking tone completely devoid of any sympathy, adjusting the sleeves of her coat:
"Don't think you have the right to raise your head in front of me, and... by the way, the answer is definitely no. You are just a void wearing flesh. You are the ugliest mistake I brought out of my body, and..."
Regina stopped, looking at what was behind Leon, behind his foot—that sterile white mouse.That small animal that had died half an hour ago.
Her face contorted in genuine disgust, and using the same handkerchief, she wiped the palm of her hand that had slapped his face, and with sarcasm:
"Sometimes I wish I could go back eight years. I wouldn't even wish to abort you.
Instead, I would have pulled you out of my womb with some wire."
She threw those shocking sentences at him, but Leon heard a sound.A wet popping sound.
His eyes widened in pure horror, and he dropped to his knees as fast as he could, trying to move her foot away from that mouse she had just crushed with her heel.
And he said:"N-No... No! Please, please, what are you doing! Take your foot off it!"
While she moved her foot only to step on Leon's hand.
"What? It's dead. Are you jealous of it?"
Her high heel was pressing hard on the back of Leon's hand, making him cry audibly as he tried to move her foot, which was as steady as a rock:
"Aaaargh!... M-Mom!... Please! This... this hurts!"
While she increased the pressure for a few seconds until she suddenly lunged with her polished red nails at his hair and lifted him up with one hand.Leon stood up, feeling his scalp about to be ripped off.
He did not expect that extremely violent tug, which is not usually expected from a woman.
She whispered to him, her hot breath a mixture of smoke and expensive perfume:Listen to me carefully, you wretched child.
Choose either to kill yourself again and forever so we can be rid of you,or simply shut up, be quiet, endure, and continue living.
There is no third option, because if you try to commit suicide again and fail,I will make you wish that the Angel of Death was the one who came to visit you that night.It's either success or death, and both are the same.She said those words to him and violently released his head, making him hit the wall.
A book fell from that shelf onto his head, causing him to bleed, and two lines of red descended from his forehead.Regina looked at him for a few seconds, then up at the shelf, and smiled sarcastically:
"Do you see?"
After this word, she turned and left.A minute later, a sound of laughter came from the basement.
Leon was laughing, holding his bleeding head, looking at the book in front of him, saying in a voice filled with brokenness:
"What did I do in my life to deserve this? What is my mistake?"
Then his laughter subsided, and his intense distress and rage began to accumulate.
His tears had not stopped since the previous wave of laughter.
"Why did this book fall on me and not on my mother? Is this justice, oh heavens?"
He hugged his knees to his chest again and did not bother to wipe the blood from his forehead, whispering:
"Avens..." He smiled, looking at the book with tearful eyes:
"You were the most beautiful dream, but... will I see you again if I think of you all night?"
A man in his thirties, approximately, in his luxurious office made of black wood, lit only by faint lights on the edges of the table.
The curtains were tightly closed, and the desk itself was the only source of light in this spacious room.
The man was in his chair,wearing a formal suit, one leg crossed over the other, and a servant behind him with his hands behind his back.
He heard a light knock on the door, and the servant, named Bernard, spoke.
The wrinkles on his face suggested he was in his fifties, and years of blind obedience were etched into every line of his forehead.
He spoke in a steady, practical voice:
"Sir Yaagami, Mr. Histori is at the door."
Yaagami silently gestured with his hand, so Bernard stepped forward, opened the door, and bowed respectfully as Histori entered.
And at that moment,after Bernard left the office and stood outside, Yaagami spoke, looking at him:
"What do you have?"
Histori replied spontaneously, in a tone no less calm than his father's:
"I borrowed three components from the family lab to conduct an experiment, among which was a sterile white mouse."
Yaagami replied without moving an inch in his expression:
"Is that all? But it doesn't warrant your presence."
Histori, turning to leave:"You will know everything later, Father. Someone will come to you after me. I hope you will answer him with what you did not answer me."
Histori placed his palm on the doorknob and turned it halfway. He looked over his shoulder:
"Can I ask you something?"
Yaagami, interlocking his fingers in front of him:
"It's not your habit to talk too much. Get to the point."
Histori quickly and directly: "Do you approve of what is happening to Leon?"
Yaagami did not bat an eyelid. He didn't even ask why the question, but replied calmly, as if stating a known fact: "No."
Histori said to him without turning around: "Why don't you interfere?"
Yaagami replied: "I didn't stop you from helping him. Why didn't you interfere?"
Histori paused for a moment and slightly opened his mouth, followed by a void in the room
as if a virus had entered his thought system. Several questions in his head:
"Yes, I can, but why don't I want to interfere?"
Yaagami continued in a tone that signaled the end of the conversation:
"Dismissed."
Bernard entered after Histori left and stepped behind his master, explaining and clarifying without using paper:
"Mr. Histori took three components from the lab.
The first is:
1 - Activated Carbon: A black, charcoal-like drink that binds toxins in the intestines and prevents their absorption.
2 - Atropine: An intramuscular or intravenous injection given directly to combat any paralysis and respiratory weakness.
3 - Pralidoxime: An additional auxiliary injection that reactivates the enzyme that is the axis of acetylcholine, relieving paralysis and accelerating recovery.
Bernard added, completing his details:
"It is clear, Sir, that this is an urgent rescue protocol and not just a scientific experiment or a school project, as Mr. Histori claimed a little while ago."
Yaagami did not reply immediately. Instead, he gestured with his hand for the door to be opened again.
Bernard was naturally surprised by his master's request, but he did not hesitate and went to open the door, only to see Karma about to knock, his hand frozen in the air.
Bernard smiled and said to Karma: "Welcome, Mr. Karma. It seems my master has a sixth sense."
Karma entered and said with a kind smile: "Hello, Father. I hope I didn't disturb you."
Yaagami nodded negatively: "Not at all. What do you have? Do you still want that phone? You know it's forbidden before you turn ten."
Karma laughed and waved his hands: "No, no! I just wanted to ask you that I put a white mouse for a school project, but I couldn't find it in the lab, and... I think Leo..."
"Histori most likely took it," Yaagami interrupted him calmly, opening his desk drawer and taking out certain papers unrelated to the conversation
Karma replied, surprised: "Excuse me?"
Yaagami looked up: "Histori was here a little while ago and said this. I apologize, but he said it strangely drowned in the bathroom siphon, according to him."
Karma, with genuine confusion and tension he tried to hide: "How? I mean, fine."
He left the office and took quick steps, biting his thumbnail."What is happening?
Did Histori also take a mouse from the lab on the same day as me?
Are we taking the same materials? That's not right.
The teacher hasn't been absent because he's a private tutor..."
He entered his room and threw himself on the bed, talking to himself audibly:
"What the hell is going on? I'm sure there's something wrong."
But his eyes widened, and he quickly stood up as if the puzzle pieces had become clear.
This was followed by the sound of a door opening. It was Yi Lian, her hair tied in a ponytail and wearing her usual black dress.
Karma, with suppressed anger and a cold voice: "How many times have I told you to knock?"
She scoffed at him: "Did your plan fail? I saw you almost kill Leon a little while ago, and the mouse trick is very good, but my poison plan is still miles better. You need to put in a lot of effort to reach my intelligence."
She started laughing, and he grabbed a pillow nearby and quickly threw it at her face, but she ducked like a mountain cat and laughed:
"Oh! I'm really interested in hearing the reason for your anger now."
She sat next to him and grabbed his arm: "Come on, come on! Your sweet sister wants to hear the story."
Karma said to himself, looking at her (Sweet? Obviously), and continued monotonously:
"I don't know. Everything is against me today. After I finished with that mouse, an idea crossed my mind:
to use the mouse itself as a pretext to accuse Leon of breaking into the lab, because I was sure Leon would take it with him to his rotten basement, but..."
Yi Lian tilted her head towards her with interest. "Did you fail?"
Karma sighed, rubbing his temple: "Exactly... Histori also took a white mouse on the same day, and Mom stepped on Leon's mouse with her foot... she turned it into minced meat. I saw that when I passed by."
Yi Lian, laughing: "Histori interfered again?"
Karma: "Impossible. It's just a coincidence, I'm sure."
Yi Lian said, moving her feet rhythmically on the edges of the bed, thinking to herself while engaging in a normal chat with Karma at the same time:
"Karma is stupid despite his intelligence.
His flaw is that he doesn't see what's behind the lines.
He didn't even notice how Bernard opened the door as if he was expecting him
which indicates someone was there before him.
But no... Karma knows, but he's too arrogant to admit that Histori foiled his plan even before he thought of it himself."
Meanwhile,
Histori was descending to a place where the air was colder, his hands in his pockets.
"Histori's Perspective"
I was currently in this empty basement.
I looked at Leon's worn-out bed, my eyes scanning the place. For a moment, I felt some curiosity to investigate this lifestyle of his.
I saw his gray shirt on a metal pipe. I took a few steps towards the shirt and touched the metal pipe, noticing its heat.
A thought ran through my mind:
These...are hot water pipes?He uses them to dry his clothes and at the same time uses them as a natural iron? Amazing adaptation for an eight-year-old child.
He memorized the timing of the three periods when hot water is run in the palace: during meal preparation, pool operation, and weekly sterilization.I also touched upon his school books. I knelt down and picked one up and opened it.
His handwriting is very bad, the edges of the letters are shaky, and the ink is faded in an incomprehensible way.
Simply put, it is less black than black ink.Under the worn blanket, the pen was wrapped around a cloth.
I picked it up; it was warm for some unknown reason.
I unwrapped it, and here I understood what was happening.He... puts a few drops of warm water in the ink tube to prevent it from clotting and embarrassing him.
It seems to be his way of extending the pen's life.I started searching the shelves for no reason and found a small glass jar.
I opened it and smelled the scent of crushed chamomile flowers and... a faint scent of cinnamon.
No doubt he uses it for bathing, which is why his smell is not repulsive.
His lifestyle is purely primitive, but his way of adapting and thinking... who taught him this?But a voice came from behind me, the same weak and shy voice:
"B-Brother... what are you doing?"
I looked behind me.
The same suspicious and pitiful expression, but I noticed redness on his right cheek and a cut on his lower lip.
And as he descended and approached me slowly and almost shyly, as if afraid I would move away.He resembles a frightened girl, but...his weakness is completely justified.
"Did... d-did you lose something, brother? C-Can I help you?"
I looked at him for a few seconds and said as I walked past him: "A mouse escaped from me... but I found it."