How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 31 - As if someone was breathing behind her (1)
Bo Li never thought she would one day place her hopes in ghosts and the supernatural. She kept in contact with Boyd, hoping to get news about other psychics from him.
To be fair, Boyd was worth making friends with. He was gentle, polite, humorous, and charming. He had slender white fingers and carried a light cologne scent.
Even if he wasn't a psychic, she would still be willing to be friends with him.
Boyd told her that psychics were cautious and wouldn't easily see strangers.
"You have to understand that even now, there are places that continue the tradition of burning witches," Boyd said, "Every psychic, especially female psychics… They're precious communicators with the spiritual world. We must protect them."
"But don't worry," he gently said, "when the time is right, I'll definitely introduce you to them so that your friend can find his way home."
Bo Li didn't know if she was grasping at straws. She clearly knew that some of Boyd's words were just educated guesses and artful speaking rather than being able to hear her spirit's grievances.
For example, most people that sought out psychics were at the end of their ropes. Since they were at a dead end, they naturally felt gloomy.
Moreover, Erik's fingerprints were on her neck. She had been choked to the point that there were bruises, so of course she was scared. That's why Boyd could confidently say that her spirit was very scared.
What she really cared about was him saying that she didn't belong here.
On the other hand, her accent, tone, movements, clothing, and walking posture were out of tune with the ladies around her, so it was normal that he concluded she didn't belong to her.
Bo Li thought it over and decided she would rather believe he was a psychic than not.
Today, she had lunch with Boyd. He wanted to go to the theater to watch a performance.
When she thought about the plot in the movie, she didn't want to go.
Boyd thought she didn't want to watch an opera show. He explained with a smile, "This is a small theater. They don't perform opera here. People come here to watch magic shows and acrobatics and listen to singers."
Bo Li thought it over and agreed. Perhaps, she would have to go back to her old profession one day. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go to the theater to scout out the current performance style.
Boyd was a frequent visitor to the theater. He took her straight to a private box decorated in dark red to sit down.
He took out a pair of opera glasses from his inner pocket and offered it to her, "Use this to see more clearly."
The opera glasses carried his body temperature, which made her uncomfortable.
She didn't know if she was mistaken in seeing him stroking the back of her gloved hand with his thumb when she took the opera glasses from him.
Bo Li furrowed her brow.
Perhaps, it was because the theater was too crowded. The audience's collective hot breaths created a stifling environment.
Bo Li had only sat down for less than ten minutes when she started sweating. The sticky sweat slid down her neck like crawling insects.
She didn't know if it was because she was sitting in a private box, but she felt a hot breeze blowing on the back of her neck as if someone was breathing behind her.
Boyd suddenly said, "This female singer is crazy. She actually cut her hair as short as a man's."
Bo Li wanted to go out for fresh air and didn't pay attention to his words. "Huh?"
"Your hair has your spirit," he quietly said, "When I treat my female clients, I always advise them to protect their hair. A woman's hair holds part of her spirit. Cutting your hair is like cutting off a piece of your spirit. This will attract ghosts to invade your body."
Bo Li finally realized that he was talking utter nonsense. "How can hair be part of someone's spirit? Then don't all men have crippled spirits?"
Boyd didn't speak. After a while, he stood up, walked behind her, and held her shoulders.
Bo Li felt increasingly uncomfortable and tried to shake him off. "You-"
"Don't move." He leaned over and whispered into her ear, "I won't hurt you. I just didn't expect that after knowing each other for so long, you still don't believe I can see spirits… Let me prove it to you."
He reached and gently stroked her neck. "Do you feel it? Your spirit is following my fingers… It's very scared. Its afraid that someone will grab your neck and leave you with terrible bruises. But don't worry, I can heal you. My blood is magical. As long as you share a room with me and open your heart to me. You'll be cured-"
Bo Li's lips slightly twitched, and she abruptly stood up.
She felt too embarrassed. As a modern person, she actually spent so much time with a charlatan.
Her initial judgement had been right. Boyd's cliche lines were his way of tricking women into having s*x with him.
He must have tricked countless single and married women. A naive woman might really feel numb all over because of his touch and mistakenly believe that it was because her spirit was moving around in her body.
Boyd looked at her in surprise. "Miss Clermont, what's wrong?"
Bo Li really wanted to tell him off.
However, she had been leaving and coming back to the hotel with Boyd in the past few days. He knew that she was also staying at the hotel and caught a glimpse of her room number on her key.
She really wasn't prudent enough. Just because he looked like a man of honor, she thought he was a good person.
If she was in modern-day, she would have already kicked him.
But, she was in the 19th century, in New Orleans, America.
The police weren't well-staffed and had limited means of handling cases.
Boyd was connected to Trique Terry. The manager had sold Emily to Trique Terry, so that he would euthanize her and "dedicate her to science".
When she met Trique, she had just escaped from the circus and though it was all over. She completely forgot that Trique was just as dangerous as the manager!
Bo Li felt cold sweat gathering in from her palms and a chill spreading from the soles of her feet.
Boyd and Trique were of the same ilk. It was very likely that he could do terrible things like Trique.
She was in a weak position. She had to stay calm and stabilize him.
She would worry about the future after getting away from him.
Bo Li gulped, took a step back, and forced herself to say, "It's too stuffy here. I'm a little out of breath. Let's go watch a show another time."
Boyd raised his eyebrows. He knew that she was scared by his actions, but he often saw this side of his clients and didn't take it seriously.
As an outstanding hunter, he knew that he could only close the net when his prey had let down her guard.
Bo Li was very pretty. Although her hands were a bit rough, her speech and behavior was unlike a girl from a poor family. He didn't mind waiting longer.
"It's okay." Boyd lifted the brim of his hat with two fingers and gently said, "Feel free to contact me when you want your spirit healed. I'll keep waiting for you."
Bo Li didn't speak. She collected her lady's coat and hastily left.
Boyd sat back down on the velvet seat, crossed his legs, and took a sip of his gin.
He picked up his opera glasses and focused on watching the performance. He didn't notice that the closed door was silently opening.
Translator Ramblings: I think Bo Li is a bit hard on herself. She's meeting him in public places, not in the secluded woods or a private room. Even if he knows her room, she can just go to a different hotel if she's really worried.
T/N: Next update at 11:25 PM EST.