Chapter 666: Chapter 666 The Hypocritical Side_1
The night was alive with insect trills, silver moonlight poured into the room, casting mottled shadows of the latticed rose carvings on the window, creating a magnificent woodblock print on the floor, a clear divide between light and dark, with entwined branches and blooms.
Purple Summers carefully turned on her side and reached for the cane by her bed.
She slowly sat up, trying not to touch the wound on her thigh as she leaned on the cane to stand.
In truth, she could walk without the cane by now, but although the surface of the wound had healed, the flesh underneath had not mended properly, and any movement that stretched the muscles there caused severe pain.
Purple feared pain, so she insisted on using the cane.
The moment her feet touched the ground, the person sleeping under the bed woke up.
“Where are you going?” Alexander Summers opened his eyes.
“Shh…” Purple put her finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet, “I want to go down to the living room.”
Alexander got up silently, picked her up in his arms, and carried her downstairs without a word.
His steps were quiet and slow, making no sound until he set Purple down in the living room downstairs and then asked quietly, “What do you want to do?”
Purple said, “I want to burn some ritual money for Auntie Meredith.”
She was used to calling Atra Blanc mother, and she found it difficult to call any other woman that.
Alexander, puzzled, asked, “Why would you get up in the middle of the night to burn ritual money?”
Nevertheless, he still helped her collect the remaining ritual money and ingots, then carried her outside.
As Purple burned the ritual money, Alexander stood by her side.
“Don’t stand here…” Purple pointed to a place further away, “Wait over there.”
Alexander was displeased, “Am I supposed to be hidden from people, or from ghosts?”
He had already felt snubbed these past few days by his own mother, and now Purple was snubbing him too; Alexander couldn’t bear it.
With a mix of laughter and tears, Purple pushed him away, “Go on, I want to talk to Auntie Meredith for a while, and it will be embarrassing with you here.”
Knowing Purple felt shy, Alexander found some solace in his heart.
“Don’t be too long,” Alexander said, then walked away a distance.
The moon tonight was large and bright, its cold luminescence reminding Purple of the night she died.
She burned a lot of ritual money for Meredith Richards.
“…I’m really sorry, I’m not your daughter, Purple Summers is no longer of this world, like you, she chose suicide… Her life was full of suffering, and death may have been a release for her,” Purple whispered, her voice a murmur, “Atra Blanc was very kind to her, but they didn’t have a mother-daughter bond. I hope there’s a next life, and that you won’t suffer in it…”
The firelight flickered on her face, illuminating the melancholic sorrow.
She told Meredith everything she knew about Purple Summers, though she was aware that Meredith couldn’t possibly hear her.
After burning ritual money for Meredith, she lit another pile.
This time, it was for the original Purple Summers.
“…I’ve kept all your belongings safe, except for the painting on the wall that I washed away; it was too scary… The man you liked died accidentally, falling right beneath your room’s window… It’s a pity, I didn’t get to understand you sooner, nor did I know your wishes, otherwise I would have tried to fulfill them. Now it seems too late to say all this.”
She rambled on until the fire was nearly out, then with a profound sadness, she uttered a “sorry.”
Sorry for using your body.
Sorry for wanting to change your life…
Alexander came over to pick her up, his tone sharp, “The person is dead, what is there to talk about? You could go on and on for hours and they might not hear a single word.”
“You don’t understand,” Purple said earnestly, “Some words are actually meant for oneself. Saying them out loud eases the heart.”
Admitting wrongdoing and apologizing can feel like receiving forgiveness, perhaps this is the hypocrisy of human nature.
With her head resting against Alexander’s chest, Purple thought: So it turns out I’m quite hypocritical.