Emily Hunts Monsters - CH 26

Helena answered with a nod. “At the time, I thought you just didn’t want to talk about it… But it seems you really don’t remember.”

“…”

I bit my lip. Helena’s explanation was shocking and logically incomprehensible. Why was I with Enoch Bowen? I didn’t know him at all at the time. And now, more than a decade later, our relationship could be considered hostile.

…I was trying to track him down.

Helena sighed when she saw my darkened expression. “Emily… You don’t have to force yourself to remember things you’ve forgotten.” She added, “The human brain tends to protect itself by forgetting memories associated with a negative experience.”

“But…”

Helena forced me to lie back down. “You look pale. Why don’t you take a nap?”

Come to think of it, I still had a headache. Sometimes it was better to leave memories buried. Nodding, I let Helena cover me with a blanket.

“Good night.”

I closed my eyes, thinking her soft voice somehow sounded like a lullaby.

How many hours had I been asleep? When I opened my eyes, my headache had disappeared. Feeling refreshed, I recalled the order from the King in Yellow.

[Reveal to the world the truth related to the Living and Moving Statues.]

The King in Yellow had given me two weeks. I just thought it was a mission that would increase the remaining survival time by 14 days if I finished it quickly…

Jimmy’s death. When I recalled the terrible incident, I understood why he gave me a suggestion. It meant it was a mission I couldn’t do by myself.

“…It can’t be helped.”

Just as I took out the invitation to check the time and place, Sally walked in after knocking on the door.

“Ma’am, are you going to get ready now?”

“Get ready?”

“…Don’t tell me you forgot that you were going out with Mr. Henry later.”

“Me? On a date?”

Did I set up a date?

When I looked at her with a perplexed expression, Sally sighed. “I heard you were going horseback riding with him.”

“Oh, that.”

“You may not think it’s anything, but Mr. Henry thinks it’s a date.”

I laughed as she scolded me. Sally stood at the dressing table, saying she’d help me.

“Just leave it to me!”

She wasn’t so bad at putting on makeup. How did I know?

“…Emily?”

The look on Mr. Henry’s face when I saw him waiting for me downstairs. It felt like he was looking at someone else.

***

A few nights ago.

Hyde was very unhappy with the situation at the time.

“Hey, Henry. In front of the Edinburgh Medical School…”

He heard from someone else that Emily was with an outcast.

“Did you have dinner with Jimmy?”

Henry, who cared about it a lot, asked without realizing it. Hyde was frustrated to see him be a loser.

…And at that moment when he thought he wasn’t curious about the man who was with Emily.

“Henry, look me in the eye.”

“…”

Suddenly, a soft hand grabbed his chin. Emily’s face was mere centimeters away. The fragrance of wildflowers from her was intoxicating.

I don’t know what you’re thinking. Just relax and…

His heart was beating violently. It was so loud that he couldn’t hear Emily properly. The desires of Jekyll and Hyde became one.

Henry gulped. Her body temperature, which he could still feel, was noticeable. When he turned his head, he noticed an unusually thin, white wrist.

If I held her arms like this…

The moment Hyde’s desire was about to run wild like a horse that had gotten loose.

Stop.

“Jekyll” restrained him and regained control of the body. Hyde, who missed his chance, licked his lips.

That was just a few days ago.

“…”

Currently.

Inside Henry, Jekyll and Hyde were sharing a desire.

…The strong urge to make the woman standing in front of them completely his.

“Henry, why are you looking at me like that? …Is it not to your liking?”

Emily smiled awkwardly and spun around. She was beautiful no matter what she wore, but she really exceeded his expectations today.

Henry managed to open his mouth, his eyes still on her. “…It’s different.”

A low voice came out, and his gaze seemed to lick her whole body greedily. Today, Emily was wearing standard clothes for horseback riding. Her platinum blonde hair under a protective helmet and a dazzling face that nothing could hide behind.

“On the contrary.”

“What do you mean by different?”

“Really…”

She wore a simple white blouse, a jacket, and pants. It wasn’t much different from what men would wear. He typically saw her wearing dresses. The fact a woman was wearing pants was a scandal in itself in this London society. It felt rather provocative that she dressed casually in men’s clothes.

“…You’re beautiful.”

An elegant neck reminiscent of a swan was revealed from that collar. He wanted to put his lips on that soft neck. Hyde tried to appease the desire that boiled quietly in Henry.

Emily responded with a cheerful smile. “Thank you.”

“Then…”

Henry took a few steps forward and held her hand. He kissed the back of it. The kiss lasted a little longer than what was appropriate according to a gentleman’s etiquette.

“Shall we get going?” Emily pointed to the door.

Henry escorted her out of the mansion, pretending to be nonchalant. Hyde had to soothe his disappointment.

It’s not time yet.

Just a little longer, and then this relationship would bloom.

***

I had gone horseback riding with Mr. Henry in the quiet hunting grounds behind the country house.

“Let’s go a little faster.”

When I nodded at the remark, Mr. Henry smiled and went ahead. I had no intention to lose.

Hahaha! The speed increased as the horse neighed.

The wind rushed past. All the while, I couldn’t get the terrible experience before my regression out of my mind.  What was that exactly? A strange ritual of splitting open the stomach, injecting drugs, and applying crushed herbs to the face. That strange language which sounded unfamiliar to my ears despite encountering many foreign languages.

What was the real purpose of the graveyard?

More importantly…

The corpse rose upright after reciting a prayer that sounded more like a curse. Was it a kind of resurrection? The moment I bit my lip, I heard Henry speak.

“What are you thinking about?”

Maybe it was because his horse ran at full speed for a while that his cheeks were slightly flushed.

“Oh, it’s just…”

Contrary to his build, he sometimes had a boyish face.

“I can’t get this image out of my head after reading a book.” I summed up what I had gone through. Naturally, I lied by saying it was something I had seen in a story.

Henry mulled it over before opening his mouth. “It’s not unfamiliar.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know how to say this… Well, you know everything anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

After hesitating for a while, a familiar name came out of his mouth. It was a story about his father, Edward Hyde.

“I sneaked into my father’s room only once when I was a child.”

Edward Hyde, a fanatic of the Church of Starry Wisdom. He was said to spend time alone every day in his study deep in the mansion, hiding it from his family.

“Henry, you must never come into this room.”

Henry wasn’t the only one. No one, not even the maids, was allowed in. In the sanctuary where only his father could enter, the young Henry was curious.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to just take a peek?”

One evening.

Entering the room in question, Henry took advantage of the moment Edward forgot to lock the door.

“What’s… Father doing?”

Edward Hyde didn’t notice his son’s presence. Mumbling to himself, he was focused on something. There was a little altar in front of him.

“What’s that?”

When the curious, young Henry opened his mouth, his father began to speak in an unknown language.

“Wza-y’ei! Wza-y’ei! Y’kaa haa bho—ii!” A raspy voice from deep within one’s throat.

Henry winced. He felt something ominous as he looked at his father’s back.

Along with an eerie sound, a fishy smell struck his nose.