To the local residents of Hope County, Lily of the Valley Convent was a place truly steeped in mysticism.
It wasn't just a building dedicated to the Mother Goddess of Destiny.
The gossip most frequently discussed over tea and after meals often revolved around this place.
For instance, someone’s husband or wife, or an elderly father, mother, uncle, or aunt.
They would go to the Lily of the Valley Convent with hearts full of piety and quietly listen to the sermons there.
Upon returning home, miraculous things would happen.
Minor ailments that had troubled them for years, or old injuries that even doctors were powerless against, would vanish.
It was as if they were completely erased by some divine power, never to recur again.
It was simply more effective than any medicine.
But why would Elias go to the Lily of the Valley Convent?
This was an unsolvable mystery currently weighing on Charlotte’s mind.
And that wasn't even the most absurd part.
The most absurd part was the damned divination game right in front of her.
In the several consecutive tests that followed, the Star Whisper Pendulum’s direction regarding Elias’s current location was surprisingly consistent.
The shilling coin hanging at the bottom of the red string acted as if it were being gripped by an invisible magnet.
It either tilted steadily toward the west, or it stopped on the first letter representing the Lily of the Valley Convent.
Once could be called a shaky hand. Twice could be called a coincidence.
But five or six times in a row with the same result was beginning to challenge the baseline of human reason.
Even when asked specifically if he was at the Lily of the Valley Convent, the pendulum answered "yes."
Now, under the dim candlelight, even the most staunch materialist would find it hard not to believe in the existence of supernatural forces.
Let alone Charlotte and Victoria, who were born into this era.
And every time Charlotte saw the Star Whisper Pendulum stop at that answer, a strong intuition welled up from the bottom of her heart.
The answer was indeed real.
The Star Whisper Pendulum was not lying!
Yet, her remaining sanity stepped on the brakes in her mind, refuting this ridiculous conclusion.
No one would run off to the Lily of the Valley Convent in the middle of the night.
Even if it was teeming with believers during the day and felt full of life, one mustn't forget its other side.
It wasn't just a convent; its backyard was a sprawling cemetery!
Many ancestors of Hope County were buried there.
Cold tombstones, rotting earth. Wandering around a cemetery in the middle of the night sounded ominous just hearing about it.
At that moment, the gas lamps on the street outside began to flicker back to life.
The Great Blackout was declared over after lasting thirty minutes.
“Shall we go?”
Before Charlotte could even open her mouth to discuss a plan, Victoria, sitting across from her, had already looked up impatiently.
Her beautiful eyes sparkled under the candlelight as she stared intently at her.
“But...”
Charlotte opened her mouth, trying to use the terrifying legends of the cemetery to dissuade her best friend from this crazy idea.
“Don't worry!”
Victoria seemed to have predicted what Charlotte wanted to say and cut her off immediately.
“Everyone is out celebrating.”
She provided a perfect assessment of the environment.
“Everyone is watching the parade. There probably won't be a soul there!”
Charlotte listened and stared at the blonde girl across from her in shock.
“We're going precisely because no one is there?”
Was her courage made of iron, to go to an empty cemetery in the middle of the night?
“My brother likely isn't there either,” she tried to use logic to convince the other girl.
“You said it yourself, no one goes there!”
How could Elias go to a place that so clearly defied common sense?
“Maybe your brother thinks it's quiet there?”
Victoria blinked and immediately threw out a counter-argument.
“On a holiday like this, there are noisy crowds everywhere. Because of what happened with George today, he definitely wants to be alone for a while.”
“In all of Velen, where else would be more suitable than a place like the convent?”
“And I think we should believe the pendulum...”
Charlotte was stunned.
For a moment, her brain couldn't find a single word to refute her.
Her logic is so clear! That was the only thought in Charlotte’s mind.
Can an infatuated girl really produce such rigorous logic? She could practically go to Old Palace Yard and become a detective.
Under her best friend's persistent nagging and physical tugging, Charlotte ultimately failed to hold her ground.
The two blew out the candle and set off from Ash Street once more.
As soon as they stepped out, the cold wind blew, and Charlotte’s rationality returned slightly.
She tried to change the destination at the intersection.
“How about we go to the Central District Police Station to find Arthur?” she suggested.
At least having a detective with a sidearm along would give her some peace of mind.
However, this sensible proposal was heartlessly rejected by Victoria.
She yanked Charlotte back and flagged down a carriage that was still looking for customers at the corner.
Tossing down a few coins, the carriage immediately turned around and headed straight for the Lily of the Valley Convent in the western outskirts.
They traveled all the way west, gradually leaving the city's clamor behind.
When they were nearly at the convent, the carriage suddenly braked hard and stopped.
The two inside the cabin leaned forward due to the inertia.
Immediately after, the coachman’s voice, filled with deep confusion and irritation, came from the driver's seat outside.
“Go on!”
With this angry shout, he also raised the leather horsewhip in his hand.
Crack!
The whip made a crisp sound, but even as it struck the horse’s back, the old horse—which had been quite docile—seemed to have grown roots in its hooves.
Its muscles were tense all over, and it refused to budge.
It even snorted uneasily, its front hooves pawing at the dirt in agitation, refusing to take another step forward.
The coachman struggled for a long time but found no solution.
Eventually, he could only turn his head apologetically and speak to the passengers in the cabin.
“Ladies, I am truly sorry.”
He pointed to the frightened horse.
“I don't know what's wrong with this damned horse, but it refuses to move forward no matter what.”
The coachman sighed and offered a compromise.
“How about this, you walk the rest of the way?”
Charlotte and Victoria exchanged a glance. Since the horse was unwilling to go, they couldn't force it.
They had no choice but to push open the door and proceed on foot.
As soon as they stepped out, the black carriage acted as if it were fleeing for its life. The coachman shook the reins, and the horse immediately turned and bolted, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.
Only the two girls were left standing on the dirt road leading to the convent.
Along the way, Victoria held Charlotte’s hand tightly, her palm covered in cold sweat.
The surroundings were eerily quiet. The rustling of leaves in the wind was the only accompaniment.
Charlotte felt an immense sense of regret. She shouldn't have been soft-hearted; she shouldn't have accompanied Victoria on this foolish errand.
She wasn't particularly brave to begin with, and the current scene—the cold moon, the shadows of trees, the desolate wilderness—looked exactly like the dark forests where man-eating monsters lurked in the bedtime stories she had heard as a child.
With every step, she felt as if a pair of eyes was staring at their backs from the darkness.
Since the Lily of the Valley Convent was located in the remote outskirts of the West District, it was even more silent at night.
Especially on the night of the Spark Festival, almost everyone nearby had left their homes to participate in the parade in the central district.
This made the already deathly atmosphere here even more intense.
Finally, after the two had finished the long dirt road in the heavy darkness, they caught a glimpse of the spire of the convent’s church in the distance.
They finally breathed a long sigh of relief. They had arrived.
However, in stark contrast to the deathly silence along the way, a faint smell of rot had begun to permeate the air at some point.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose slightly, feeling a wave of discomfort in her stomach.
As they drew closer, the massive silhouette of the church building became clearer.
And just then, by the faint moonlight peeking through the clouds, the two of them simultaneously noticed a strange object.
It was a dark, unknown mass, huge and bloated.
It sat abruptly next to the church spire like a small hill that had sprouted out of nowhere.
But there had clearly been an empty space next to the church before!
As they got even closer, Charlotte could even hear some distant shouting.
The smell of rot grew closer, its concentration skyrocketing. Charlotte was so overwhelmed she almost had to hold her breath.
At that moment, she turned her head and saw that Victoria, who was still gripping her hand tightly, seemed to be in an abnormal mental state.
Victoria wasn't covering her nose.
She was staring blankly at that pitch-black, writhing small mountain.
In her once lively eyes, her pupils were somewhat dilated, having lost their focus.
She was unconsciously murmuring Elias’s name.
“Elias...”
It was as if that mountain of flesh emitting a foul stench was her beloved.
Her steps became stiff. One step, then another.
She dragged Charlotte along, moving toward that terrifying mound at the Lily of the Valley Convent.
Charlotte realized something was wrong. Fear instantly gripped her heart.
“Vicky!”
Charlotte shouted anxiously, trying to wake her spellbound friend.
But it was to no avail. Victoria was deaf to her cries, her gaze still fixed ahead.
Charlotte gritted her teeth and used all her strength to try and pull her away.
However, the moment her free hand forcefully grabbed Victoria’s shoulder, her mind suddenly felt a sluggishness, as if sinking into a quagmire.
Her brain’s processing speed slowed down. Her vision began to warp and distort.
In her twisted vision, several strands of an unknown dark green substance extended from deep within that dark hill.
They looked like the withered hands of an old witch in a fairy tale, wrapping around Victoria and pulling her toward it.
We can't go any further!
Charlotte gritted her teeth. She gave up on pulling and instead used her entire body weight to lunge and wrap her arms around Victoria.
She tackled Victoria to the ground. The two of them fell in a heap.
But before Charlotte could scramble up to take further action, that sense of sluggishness completely overwhelmed her consciousness.
Her vision gradually blurred, and the scenery before her began to bleed and smear like a melting oil painting.
In a trance between waking and dreaming, she looked down.
What she saw was no longer Victoria’s blonde face, but a pale, familiar countenance that had been laid to rest many years ago.
It was her deceased mother.
“Mom...”
Rate on N.U.
