41

Once again, Katherine's countenance was gloomy, and Elizabeth had a piercing ache of dread.

Katherine's words, which seemed as if they were taken directly from Elizabeth's mind, were: "Nothing can be accomplished by her. She is nothing but a brittle old skeleton." Katherine's hands were quite elegant, yet the moves they made seemed like they were trying to shatter those bones. "All she can do is speak, and there have been a number of instances when I've prevented you from listening to her." Once again, Katherine's countenance was gloomy, and Elizabeth had a piercing ache of dread.

"Yes! That made me laugh. You all rushed out of the house and began wailing and screaming as soon as you saw what had happened..." Pantomiming the event, Katherine described the tiny dog laying dead in front of Denis's home and the girls rushed out to look for the corpse of the dog. "Even though he had a horrible flavor, it was well worth it. I followed Dominic there when he was a crow. I used to keep up with him rather often. I could have gotten hold of that crow whenever I wanted, and then..." She wrung her hands quickly and forcefully.

Elizabeth had the chilling realization that the dream Denis had been having was hers. It wasn't until she spotted Katherine and Katherine gazing at her that she realized she had really been speaking out loud. She said, "Denis dreamt about you," as she looked at him. "On the other hand, she assumed it was me. She shared with me that she observed me braving the gusty wind while I was standing under a tree. And I was able to intimidate her. She mentioned that I seemed unusual, describing me as pale yet almost shining. And at that moment, a crow passed past, and I snatched it out of the air and wrung its neck." When Elizabeth felt bile rising in her throat, she swallowed it as quickly as she could. She responded by saying, "But it was you."

The elation on Katherine's face suggested that she believed Elizabeth had been vindicated in some way. She boasted with a smug expression, "People dream about me a lot." "Your aunt has told me that she's had dreams about me. I let her know that your death was due to her actions. She believes that you are the one who is informing her."

"Oh, God..."

Katherine continued, her expression growing vindictive as she said, "I wish you had died." "You really ought to have passed away. I've kept you submerged in the water for far too long. However, because to the fact that you were such a vagrant and stole blood from both of them, you returned. Oh, well." She smiled deceptively at the camera. "Now I get to spend more time playing with you. On that particular day, I lost my cool after discovering that Katherine had handed you my ring. My ring!" Her voice increased. "That was mine to leave behind for them to use as a way to remember me. And then he handed it on to you. At that point, I realized that I wasn't going to just be playing with him. I had to murder him."

The look in Katherine's eyes conveyed shock and bewilderment. He responded by saying, "But I thought you were dead." "Five hundred years ago, you had already passed away. Katherine..."

Katherine said, "Oh, that was the first time I deceived you," but there was no joy in her tone now. "That was the first time I fooled you." It had a gloomy air. "Together with my maid, Gudren, I made all of the arrangements. Both of you are unwilling to go along with my decision, "She exploded, glaring violently at both Katherine and Dominic as she looked from one to the other. "I liked everyone of you and wished for our happiness as a group. Both of you had my affection. However, you deemed that to not be satisfactory."

The look on Katherine's face had shifted once again, and Elizabeth recognized the abused youngster from 500 years ago in it. She pondered for a while before coming to the conclusion that this must have been how Katherine seemed. The large blue eyes were genuinely beginning to well up with tears.

"I wished for you to have love for one another."


Katherine continued, giving off an air of bewilderment, "However, you wouldn't do that. And I felt awful. I imagined that if you both believed that I had passed away, your feelings for one another would deepen. And even if Papa didn't start to suspect anything, I knew I had to get out of there before he found out the truth.

"But then," Katherine said, her face contorting with anguish "You made every single mistake imaginable.
You were supposed to feel sorry for each other, cry, and console one another as you did so. I completed the task for you. But rather than that, you fled and obtained swords. Why did you do that?" It was a scream straight from the gut. "Why didn't you take my gift? You treated it like garbage. I expressed my desire for you both to find peace with one another in the note that I gave to you. But you didn't listen and you got swords. You have each other to blame. Why did you do it?"