How to Stop the Villain from Going Crazy
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 72 - Just seeing that rope made Mitte tremble and his heart pound against his ribs (1)
As Mitte looked into her eyes, his feelings for her completely changed.
He used to think that if a woman lost her femininity, then she was no longer worthy of being appreciated by a gentleman. He had a strict set of criteria for judging women; they must be beautiful, pleasant, gentle, and listen to men.
They had to be well-read, but can't refute a man's opinion. They had to manage a household, but can't disobey a man's order.
His wife met all these requirements. She was an exemplary model of an upper-class woman.
And yet, after seeing Clermont, he thought a woman like her who didn't abide by traditional womanly virtues also had… a unique charm.
He was willing to lower his head and admit his mistake… as long as she agreed to become his mistress.
He wasn't worried about passing the test of courage.
He swept his gaze over the pub's layout and thought the police had exaggerated too much.
Just this? It wasn't even as scary as staying overnight in a swamp.
When he was hunting in the swamp last time, he camped out for a night and happened to see the aftermath of a fight.
The gentlemen that were hunting with him didn't even dare to go over to check. He had sneezed and walked over there with a lamp to take a look.
Blood and the remains of limbs and organs were scattered everywhere on the ground. The swamp was dyed maroon. He didn't know what happened in these woods, but over 10 gunmen died through decapitation instead of bullets.
At the time, his face turned deathly pale and he was profusely sweating. He had to exert his self-control to its fullest to stop himself from throwing up.
He convinced the other gentlemen to come over to look, and they violently threw up. Two of them even fainted, which made him feel a little bit better about himself.
Since he was the calmest one there, he once again became the most courageous man in their social circle.
No matter how scary Clermont's show was, it couldn't be scarier than that bloody scene he saw in the woods that night.
Before the show began, he took one last look at her. He was determined to get her.
Wright and Davis didn't have Mitte's confidence. As soon as they walked into the performance area, they felt a chill rushing from the soles of their feet to their heads.
Their eyes were attracted to a wall full of bizarre items.
The closest item was a smooth, glistening fetal specimen. It was smaller than an adult's hand, but they could already see its distinct facial features as if its flesh had been carved by a knife.
In addition, there were supernatural photos, exorcism props, mermaid skeletons… Wright and Davis were experienced and knowledgeable people, but they were shocked by this exhibit.
"This is simply… blasphemous."
As a Catholic, Wright had been taught from childhood that having an abortion would send ono to hell. If conception occurred, the child had to be born. That Clermont had made a fetus into a specimen was completely beyond his understanding.
Davis found a label underneath the fetal specimen.
"This specimen is based on the true story of Emily, the Four-Legged Woman. Her former circus brutally killed her unborn child in order to make into a specimen.
"Emily…" Wright furrowed his brow and asked, "Isn't that name on my character card? I'm going to play the role of a woman that had an abortion? That's a bit unlucky."
He didn't even go near the delivery room when his wife was giving birth, and now, he had to play the role of a woman that had an abortion.
Wright felt nauseous and wanted to quit.
Davis said, "This is Clermont's strength. She knows that men view these things as taboo subjects, so she deliberately displayed these exhibits at the entrance to make us feel awkward and retreat. This woman isn't as ignorant as we thought."
Wright looked at Mitte, hoping that he would denounce Clermont like before. "Walter, what do you think?"
Mitte was relishing his memory of Clermont's wild cat-like eyes and absent-mindedly replied, "What do I think? Don't be so timid. It's just a specimen, and you're so scared."
Wright felt that Mitte was two-faced. He forgot his loyalty to his friends when he saw a beautiful woman, but Mitte's family background was much better than his. No matter what happened, he couldn't criticize him.
Wright could only turn his gaze to Davis and say, "Very good, you both changed your minds about Clermont, so why are we still taking part in a test of courage? We might as well raise our hands and surrender."
Davis thought Wright's critical thinking skills were too poor. Mitte was obviously interested in Clermont, and yet, Wright stupidly spoke ill of her and made the mood tense.
"Mr. Wright," Davis said, "Clermont is a lady after all. Where have your gentleman's virtues gone? Show her some respect!"
His two friends seemed have to become different people. Wright couldn't accept it, but he couldn't have a falling out with them. He could only suppress his anger and follow after them.
Ever since they entered the performance area, Mitte became exceptionally silent and seemed preoccupied with his thoughts.
"... I get it," Davis said, "Mitte is Marbella, I'm Flora, and you're Emily. We're in the circus now. We just have to escape from here, and we'll succeed."
Wright sarcastically said, "You got into your role so quickly. You're treating yourself like a woman."
Davis was losing his patience. "Mr. Wright, now isn't the time to quarrel. If you want to leave here as soon as possible, then come with me to collect clues."
They glared at each other. They were at a deadlock and were about to explode into a quarrel.
Davis was about to ask Mitte to be the judge, but he discovered that Mitte had vanished.
Mitte's mind was filled with thoughts of Clermont. He wasn't in the mood to pay attention to their argument, so he didn't even say anything when he left. They were inferior to him in both family background and erudition. Staying with them would only slow him down in passing the test.
Mitte went straight to the second floor.
The first floor's concept and furnishings were just to tell the background story of the circus.
He wasn't interested in that. Circus stories were more or less the same. The clues should be on the second floor.
Sure enough, he saw a body that had been dead for a long time in a room on the second floor. The corpse was made so realistically that it even emitted a strong stench.
Mitte's stomach suddenly spasmed. Furrowing his brow, he approached the corpse.
The corpse's swollen, and its skin was as thin as an insect's wing. It looked like the contents inside would burst through it any moment. Its eyes, nostrils, and mouth were crammed with wriggling white maggots.
This scene was so disgusting that his favorable impression of Clermont faded a lot.
If she became his mistress, she had to agree in advance that she wouldn't touch these disgusting things again and close down this pub. It was too indecent and undignified.
He would only allow her to continue wearing men's clothing.
When he thought of her walking in front of him in a shirt and pants, his throat suddenly felt parched.
He wanted to pass this test even more, but there was only a corpse in the room. Could the clue be hidden in the body?
Mitte didn't want to touch the corpse even if it was just a prop made by the circus. He searched through the room for a long time, but he didn't find anything like tongs for moving charcoal.
He could only put on his gloves, suppress his nausea, and go rifle through the corpse.
Was he imagining it? The corpse seemed to have moved closer to him when he wasn't looking.
It was probably his imagination.
When he was looking for tongs, he had also checked around the corpse. He didn't see any fishing lines, counterweights, or other hidden mechanism like a trapdoor.
However, no matter how he searched the corpse, he couldn't find any clues.
After realizing he had gone down the wrong track, Mitte cursed in a low voice and turned to go to a different room.
There was suddenly the sound of rolling wheels from the hallway along with the creaking of the wooden floor.
Mitte felt a chill from his spine to the back of his head.
He told himself that everything was fake. It was just a hidden actor turning wheels.
He underestimated a human's fear of the unknown. The hallway was a maw of darkness, and the room he was in wasn't that much better. Whether he took a step forward or back, everything was shrouded in the unknown.
T/N: I think the author is basing Bo Li's business off the escape rooms in China instead of haunted houses. In China, the escape rooms are usually horror-themed and story-based with several rooms and actors. It's more like an immersive experience where the customer is assigned a role in a horror movie, and the focus is on the storyline and acting instead of solving puzzles.
This would also explain Bo Li's comment in a previous chapter where she says customers wouldn't go to the same haunted house twice, that would make more sense for an escape room than a haunted house.
Also, the author mentioned in a previous chapter that she is deliberating choosing to use Chinese-specific terms, and she views it as paraphrasing English phrases. I think she is missing out that those terms have specific cultural connotations attached to them, and it's jarring to see them in a story set in New Orleans.
For example, in this chapter, Mitte mentions the Confucian code of conduct. I translated that into something more general even though I usually try to match the author's wording as closely as possible and do my best to avoid taking liberties.