How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 54 - Other than blood and water, was there another method? (3)
Before dawn, Bo Li was woken up by a nightmare. She dreamed that she returned to the modern era. Just as she was about to sigh in relief, she saw that Mrs. Merlin's corpse had followed her.
The knife had returned to Mrs. Merlin's neck. The police obtained her fingerprints from the knife and easily arrested her. The result from the trial was that she would be imprisoned forever in the 19th century.
The dream surroundings quickly changed. She was tried in the New Orleans court. However, she was charged not with the crime of murder, but for being a person from the future.
"We believe in God and respect science," the judge said, "Your existence not only affects God's authority, but is also inconsistent with the progress of science. We sentence you to death."
This feeling of not belonging to either side scared her awake.
Strangely, she no longer felt as panicked as in her dream, but her heart was hammering, and she could feel that fierce heartbeat even in her wrist's veins.
Bo Li rubbed her eyes. Just as she was about to get up from bed to pour a glass of water, she saw a tall figure standing in the hotel room.
She instantly tensed up and stopped thinking about the nightmare.
She stared at the figure and realized it was Erik.
Bo Li sighed in relief. Without her noticing, she took on a dissatisfied tone, "Where did you go?"
He didn't speak and only stood next to her bed and looked down at her.
The lighting was dim. It looked like he was looking for something on her body.
Bo Li flinched. "I didn't deliberately not come back… I thought Mrs. Merlin was a good person. I wanted to get closer to her to find the whereabouts of the deformed performers. How could I have known she was in cahoots with Trique and Boyd? She locked me in the basement…"
Before she could finish speaking, he suddenly leaned over and grabbed her chin, forcing her to expose her vulnerable neck. The white mask moved closer.
She could hear distinct breathing behind the mask.
Exhale. Inhale.
He slowly moved up and down along the side of her neck.
He was sniffing her.
Bo Li immediately got goosebumps all over. He wouldn't fail to recognize her just because her smell had changed, right?
"It's Mrs. Merlin's blood… I was afraid of attracting the patrol's attention. I had to spray a lot of perfume to cover the smell," she nervously said, "There's still some residual smell, but it should be gone in a few days."
Erik didn't speak. He was focused on smelling her.
His sniffing made her scalp tight. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest. The content of the nightmare no longer mattered. The most important question at the moment was what Erik was thinking.
It was obvious that she could never correctly guess his thoughts.
After thinking it over, she could only rely on past experience. She leaned forward, tightly hugged his waist, and buried her head in his chest.
"I don't why, but I missed you," she murmured.
This was the truth.
Ever since she saw Thorne, that strange sour feeling kept lingering in her heart and wouldn't go away. She didn't know if that sympathy was for Erik or for herself.
He stared at the side of her face and surprisingly asked, "What did you miss about me?"
His voice was too close to her. It echoed in his white mask and drilled into her ears with a peculiar numbing feeling. It was as if something was being poured into her ears.
Something hot and sticky, like blood.
Her breathing felt a bit hot. Was it because of what she had experienced today?
She felt like she could still feel the blood on her hands. It felt so dirty and uncomfortable.
However, under Erik's staring, that discomfort soon changed into something else.
The blood was no longer blood, but oil. Slippery, thick oil. A single spark would ignite it.
The mood became strange.
Bo Li turned her head and vigorously rubbed her ear against the pillow. "I don't know. But when I was pushed into the basement, I was scared I would never see you again and that you would misunderstand and think I ran away…"
Smelling her scent, Erik thought without much emotional fluctuation; liar.
He knew that Mrs. Merlin had pushed her into the basement.
He was there, but she never mentioned him.
She was even in the leisurely mood to win over another deformed person. She had once used those exact lines on him to try to trick him.
"I really want to give you a job so that you can impress the audience with your story, your acting skills, your charm just like a real actor instead of relying on your unique appearance."
How many times did she want to repeat those lines?
He had sat in the shadows of the house, waiting for her to ask him for help.
As long as she called out his name, he would strangle Mrs. Merlin.
She stood behind the basement door and shouted for help hundreds of times for that boy. Her panicking voice changed from clear to hoarse. Even as she started crying, she never mentioned his name.
Why?
He watched as she thrusted the knife into Mrs. Merlin's neck, as Mrs. Merlin's blood covered her body.
She made herself into a mess for that freak.
As he watched from the side, he couldn't describe how he was feeling. It felt like his heart was beating out-of-control. It rapidly expanded and contracted, accelerating the blood flow throughout his body.
This sort of out-of-control feeling made him extremely irritable.
He wanted to push her into the water and hold her down until that strange smell completely disappeared.
And yet, he didn't want to kill her for the time being.
Suddenly, he broke the silence. "Are you still bleeding?"
Bo Li froze in surprise for a moment before realizing he was asking about her period.
"... It's been over for a while." She thought it over and added, "It usually only lasts a week."
He didn't speak. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of how to return her scent to normal.
Other than blood and water, was there another method? Was there another liquid that could cover that smell on her body and make her pristine again?