Translator: Nox

Chapter 133

#<Episode 133>

The story went like this.

The protagonist of the novel is a twenty-five-year-old woman who works as a typist at a publishing house. She has an ordinary appearance but is a lovely woman who always dreams of travel and romance.

One day, a woman appears before her. She is a widow whose husband has been declared dead after a long disappearance.

Despite wearing black mourning clothes, she is shockingly beautiful and wants to write a romance novel, but she is struggling to write because she lost her right hand in an accident. The protagonist decides to help her as a side job and heads to the widow's mansion every weekend.

The protagonist becomes the widow's exclusive typist every weekend. The protagonist faithfully transcribes the story flowing from her lips onto paper. But something is strange. The story the widow is making up is not a love story but a story about murder. Moreover, it is a story written from the perspective of a murderer.

The murderer is a sharpshooter and a bizarre madman with a morbid obsession with leather. He kills people and then peels off their skin to display on the wall.

The typist is stunned by the shocking development, but she cannot stop her hands. The story is vivid and exciting, and she has already fallen in love with the widow.

A black dress, black hair, black eyes, and a prosthetic hand wearing a black glove. The protagonist, fascinated by all of it, eventually confesses her love to the widow on the day the novel project is completed. Then, the widow leads the protagonist to a place she has been forbidden to approach until now.

Surprisingly, the place is filled with taxidermied animals and leathers of all kinds.

The widow confesses that she has been obsessed with leather since she was a child and has spent a lot of time hunting animals and making taxidermy. She also says that she injured one of her hands while hunting. But the leather she really wants is human skin.

It is a gruesome confession, but the protagonist still loves the widow. The protagonist offers to let her skin her, asking to live with her for just one year. The widow agrees to the proposal, delighted that she can finally skin human skin.

They spend a dreamlike, sweet year together. They go boating together, cook together, and make love every night. The protagonist enjoys happiness without regret.

After the promised year ends, the widow decides to skin the protagonist. The protagonist is calm about her fate. However, the widow cannot bring herself to skin her.

Before she knew it, the widow had also fallen in love with the protagonist. They eventually confirm each other's feelings and decide to leave for Africa.

The two leave England in happiness, and the mansion becomes empty. And a few years later, an unusual torrential rain falls, and a landslide occurs on the mountain behind the mansion, washing something down to the houses.

The skinned body of a man. It is the body of the widow's missing husband.

Miss Hyde's reading was over.

Miss Pendleton could not open her mouth easily. The content was very bizarre. Moreover, the relationship between the two main characters was unconventional.

Laura first praised the good parts to Miss Hyde, who was waiting for her evaluation with an anxious look. Solid writing skills and vivid descriptive power. Solid plot and foreshadowing. Everything was comparable to a professional writer's skill.

Laura was not lying at all. Miss Hyde's writing skills were amazing. However, the problem was the content. The content.

"Whew, that's a relief."

Miss Hyde scratched the back of her head as if she was relieved.

"I thought I wrote it well, but I was afraid it was just my imagination. I can trust Miss Pendleton's praise."

"You can be confident in your talent, Miss Hyde. You are born with it. But."

Miss Pendleton hesitated and spoke with difficulty.

"The content... can this really be published? And, if it is published, won't it damage Miss Hyde's reputation?"

"To be honest, Miss Pendleton, I wrote it thinking that I didn't care about publishing at all. My mind was filled with the thought that I had to write this novel. I felt like my heart would burst if I didn't write it."

Miss Hyde held the manuscript tightly in her arms.

"Even if I can never reveal it to the world, this novel is precious to me. This novel is myself. I am projected as it is."

"Miss Hyde. Did you have a hobby of skinning?"

Miss Hyde shook her head.

"Elements such as murder and taxidermy are just devices to create an atmosphere. It's just to add stimulation to the novel, and I have no intention of actually doing it. But..."

Miss Hyde's face turned red again.

"All the elements that make up this story are things I love. I... expressed what I cannot have in a novel."

Laura quietly traced the contents of the novel. Soon, she realized something.

A disabled woman decorated in black. Hunting. Animal skin. Africa.

"...Miss Rotis."

Miss Pendleton muttered without realizing it.

Miss Hyde's face turned even redder.

Laura stared at Miss Hyde. And soon, she realized why Miss Hyde wrote the novel.

Miss Hyde was in love with Miss Rotis. So intensely that she could give her life. That feeling was expressed violently through the novel.

The words Miss Rotis had said came to her mind.

'Don't you know how big of a miracle it is for two people to be of one mind?'

Laura said to her in her heart.

'A miracle has happened, Miss Rotis. A miracle has happened to you too.'

Laura reached out to Miss Hyde and held her hand tightly.

"Where is Miss Rotis now?"

"In her room."

"Go and read this to her right now."

Miss Hyde's eyes widened.

"No way!"

"Why?"

"If I read this... if I read it..."

"She'll notice your feelings?"

Miss Hyde nodded.

"Miss Hyde, shall I tell you an amazing story? Miss Rotis likes you."

"I know that. She likes me. Because I'm good at my job, good at massage, and loyal."

"No, that's just a small part. She likes everything about Miss Hyde."

Miss Hyde had an unbelievable look on her face.

"That can't be. Why would Miss Rotis like someone like me?"

"What's wrong with someone like you?"

Miss Hyde replied sullenly.

"...I'm ugly."

"Miss Hyde, you are not ugly at all."

"No, I'm ugly. I bought a lot of clothes to make my appearance look a little better, but as you can see, it's no use. There's no one as ugly as me in London or Bath. I've never been pretty in my life. To borrow my mother's words, I look like a shriveled, long potato."

It didn't make sense. She was not likely to be chosen as a beauty, but she had enough charm to make someone fall in love.

Miss Hyde did not admit that fact at all.

"My mother always said since I was a child. The only man who would propose to an ugly woman like you is a blind man. But you don't have a beautiful voice to satisfy the sensitive hearing of the blind, and you don't have the cooking skills to satisfy their taste, so to marry you off, I'll have to put you near a potato field during harvest season. So that a farmer can pick you up thinking you're a potato he dropped from his cart."

Laura clicked her tongue at Mrs. Hyde's harsh words. She could see why Miss Hyde hated her mother so much.

Miss Hyde continued.

"Women also have eyes. An ugly woman in the eyes of a man is also an ugly woman in the eyes of a woman. If she finds out my feelings, she will be disgusted and drop me. Then I..."

Miss Hyde's throat was choked. She rubbed her eyes roughly with her hands.

Laura felt sorry for her. She held Miss Hyde's hand tightly.

"Miss Hyde. You trust me, right? You trust my judgment more than anyone else, right?"

Miss Hyde nodded.

"Then, read this novel to Miss Rotis."

"Miss Pendleton..."

"Miss Rotis will never abandon you. I guarantee it."

Miss Hyde tried to say something, but Laura shook her head firmly.

"Miss Rotis is as eager for you as the heroine in this novel, that is, as Miss Hyde is. Half of the kindness she has shown me is because of her love for Miss Hyde. And what boss would sew up their secretary's torn clothes?"

"She's a kind person..."

"Miss Rotis is a wonderful person, but she's not that kind. Last time, when a gentleman on the street fell in love with her and followed her, she hit him in the abdomen with the end of her cane and knocked him unconscious."

Miss Hyde smiled, recalling the terrible violence at that time.

"Miss Rotis was really cool then."

"It would have been cooler if she had called the police to solve it. Well, that's not important..."

Laura grabbed Miss Hyde's shoulders tightly.

"Go to Miss Rotis and read it to her right now!"

It was the first time Laura had ever insisted on something so strongly. Miss Hyde was overwhelmed and nodded. However, some fear still remained.

"Miss Pendleton, I shouldn't ask this of a patient, but would you wait for me in the living room when I come out of the room?"

"You mean you need someone to comfort you right away if Miss Rotis rejects you? I'll be happy to wait. Of course, what I'll give you is not comfort but congratulations."

Miss Hyde smiled awkwardly and left the room.

Two hours passed. It was about time Miss Hyde's reading was over. Laura put on a thick knit over her pajamas and went to the living room.

Laura sat on the sofa and waited for Miss Hyde with a happy face.

However, even after an hour, and after two hours, Miss Hyde did not come out. Could it be that the reading took longer than expected? Or did Miss Hyde give up halfway?

Laura tiptoed to Miss Rotis's door. And she put her ear to the door.

She could hear two people giggling quietly from beyond the door. Some whispering.

And the sound of bedding rustling.

Laura was startled and took her ear away from the door.

She was by no means naive. She knew what was going on in Miss Rotis's room.

Laura's cheeks and even her ears turned red. She scurried to the living room sofa and sat down.

As she calmed her breathing and calmed her mind, a story Miss Rotis had once told her flashed through her mind.

'If I could be sure that Jane felt the same way as I do, like you and that man, I wouldn't hesitate for even a second.'

'Miss Rotis, you really don't hesitate.'