Lin Hai's back was already covered in cold sweat, he closed all the web pages related to Nostradamus and dared not think about the wizard-like prophet anymore.
After a silence of half a minute, Lin Hai suddenly thought of someone.
Shamefully, that person was me.
Yes, Lin Hai thought of me, who was in Paris. He immediately looked up my email address and sent me an email about what he had experienced in the past two days, from when he fainted in the Western Art Museum and was locked in the toilet, to rescuing Marguerite from the painting, and the various mysteries and puzzles he faced now.
After finishing the email, Lin Hai breathed a long sigh of relief. In fact, he also wanted to know about my progress in Paris.
He only attended one class in the afternoon and then left school in a hurry to return to the old house.
Opening the door of the old house, he did not see Marguerite. Lin Hai's heart rate immediately increased. She was not in the inner room, and the lunch on the table had been eaten.
Had she been captured by Nostradamus?
No, Lin Hai covered his chest tightly, his heart almost jumping out of his throat. He shouted loudly, "Marguerite! Marguerite!"
"I'm upstairs."
Marguerite's voice came from the attic, finally letting Lin Hai's anxious heart down.
He quickly climbed up to the attic and saw Marguerite standing on the small wooden bed, sticking her head out of the skylight. Lin Hai also climbed up to the skylight and looked at the sky outside with her, asking softly, "Why did you come up to the attic?"
"I wanted to see the sky. I haven't seen the sky in a very, very long time."
Marguerite's eyes were fixed on the blue sky, taking deep breaths, even the roof tiles seemed fragrant to her. They stood side by side at the window, the narrow window only allowing two heads to fit in, and their heads were almost close together. Lin Hai also sighed softly, "Yes, you have been trapped in the painting for more than four hundred years."
"I want to fly - I want to be free. It's been my dream since I was young."
Lin Hai nodded, he could understand Marguerite's sorrow. Growing up in an imperial family had its own troubles, being trapped in a secret room for more than four hundred years was an even greater pain that did not exist in the mortal world.
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly said softly, "Let me accompany you for a walk outside. What's the difference between being locked in this old house all day and being imprisoned in a painting for four hundred years?"
"But I'm afraid..."
"What are you afraid of? Is it Nosferatu? Margaret, look into my eyes," said Linhai.
Margaret turned her head and stared at his eyes tightly. Linhai wanted to reassure her and said sincerely, "I will protect you, always."
"Okay, shall we leave now?"
A few minutes later, Linhai took Margaret out of the old house.
This time, Margaret was finally discovered by people, but she covered her face with a veil, so no one could tell that she was a foreigner. However, her clothes from more than four hundred years ago certainly attracted the attention of many people.
Linhai flagged down a taxi and took her to Huaihai Road. Of course, the first place to go was the clothing store. Every woman likes to buy clothes, and the French princess from more than four hundred years ago is no exception. On the way, she was attracted by a clothing advertisement, which showed a blonde girl wearing jeans. Linhai quickly helped her buy the outfit, and when Margaret walked out of the fitting room, he could hardly recognize her. The court dress was long gone, replaced by a plaid cotton shirt and jeans.
Margaret liked this outfit very much. She stood in front of the mirror for a long time. It seemed that this was the nature of women. The clothes immediately aroused her shopping desire. She was a French princess from more than four hundred years ago and never had to worry about money. She dragged Linhai into the mall with a posture that made him nervous. Was he going to be her ATM today?
Luckily, Linhai had already prepared his credit card. Although he was only a college student, French is a rare language in the Chinese market, and French translators can often earn more money. In the past year, Linhai has often worked outside, helping people translate French contracts, so he has also accumulated some extra money.
For Margaret, who came from more than four hundred years ago, Shanghai was like a heaven on earth. Although she had seen it on TV last night, there were still many things she couldn't understand and needed Linhai to explain to her. Even more frustrating was that Linhai's credit card quickly burned through four figures, and Margaret bought several sets of clothes and shoes, including women's underwear, and "armed" herself from head to toe. It seems that she has become a woman of the 21st century.
Then they carried big and small bags and went to the Red House Western Restaurant for dinner. Although Linhai didn't like Western food, it was very suitable for Margaret's "French stomach."
After dinner, she pulled Linhai to take a walk on Huaihai Road. There were many foreigners on this road. Coupled with her completely changed appearance, no one would stare at her anymore.
This was the night in Shanghai. All the lights were on. Margaret looked up at this world of flowers, surrounded by fashionable young men and women, as if she had returned to the dreamlike "Night of St. Bartholomew."
Just when Linhai was feeling a bit complacent, Margaret suddenly grabbed his wrist and trembled in his ear, "Oh my God, he's here."
Linhai didn't understand for a moment, "Who is here?"
"Him - Nosferatu!"
The name from more than four hundred years ago shot into Linhai's ear like an arrow, making him break out in a cold sweat. He quickly turned around and looked around. In the night in Shanghai, there were countless heads of people, one by one strange faces that he couldn't recognize at all.
Linhai asked tremblingly, "Where is he?"
"I feel his breath - he's hiding in the crowd behind us."
"But I can't see him!" Margaret tightly held Linhai's hand and walked quickly forward. "Norchadamas is an immortal ghost, of course you can't see him. Hurry, let's go faster."
Hand in hand, they hurriedly maneuvered through the crowd like two rabbits being chased by hunters, occasionally bumping into people, with complaints from those around them.
While running, Margaret gasped for breath and said, "Norchadamas may disguise himself as an ordinary person, so you have to be careful of everyone around you."
Countless faces flashed past their eyes. Sometimes the lights on Huaihai Road were dazzling, and sometimes they were covered in shadows. In Linhai's panicked vision, it seemed that everyone could be Norchadamas, or that behind everyone's eyes, there could be the gaze of a ghost.
No, Linhai felt that the more people there were, the more likely he would encounter Norchadamas. He pulled Margaret and turned onto a small road. There were clearly fewer people here, and the light was dimmer. The shadows of the plane trees on both sides of the road swayed, making a rustling sound in the night.
Although they had left the crowd, Linhai's sense of fear did not diminish. He felt that there was a hidden danger in every dark corner. He was anxious to hail a taxi, but there were few empty ones at this time. They dared not stay in one place and could only walk towards the direction of the old house.
They had not walked far when Linhai broke out in a sweat, not knowing whether it was cold sweat or hot sweat. He looked back at the dark street, then at Margaret's pale face, and suddenly felt that he had been drawn into an eternal nightmare.
At ten o'clock in the evening, they arrived back at the old house gasping for breath. As soon as they closed the door, Margaret leaned against it and breathed heavily. Linhai let himself calm down slowly, then whispered in her ear, "It's okay, I'm here with you, Norchadamas won't harm you."
Margaret nodded and went to the table for a big gulp of water. She looked down at her clothes – a plaid shirt, jeans, and Nike shoes – and said blankly, "Have I turned into someone else?"
"No, in my eyes, you will always be the French princess from four hundred years ago."
"Linhai..."
But she immediately fell silent, staring at Linhai's eyes, seeming hesitant to speak.
"Just say what's on your mind."
Margaret hesitated for a long time, then suddenly covered her mouth and said, "Linhai, I think you should leave me soon."
"Why?" Linhai approached her, his emerald-colored eyes so sad, like those in an oil painting.
"There's no reason. You should leave me, it's for your own good."
"What did I do wrong? Or do you dislike me very much?"
Margaret immediately shook her head. "No, I'm very grateful for your help. You rescued me from the painting, you're my benefactor, I will forever be grateful to you."
"If you don't tell me the reason, I won't leave you."
She fell silent for a moment. The atmosphere in the old house was suffocating, until she finally spoke up about the reason, "Linhai, if you don't leave me now, I think you might die."
"Die?" Linhai trembled as he spoke this terrible word, shaking his head. "You mean... if I continue to be with you, I will die?"
"I remembered... this is not the first time I escaped from a locked room," she said.
"Not the first time? What do you mean?" Lin Hai asked, surprised by Margaret's response.
"In the past, I escaped from a locked room a long, long time ago. There was a young art student who broke into the Musée de Saint-Louis in Paris one night and rescued me from the painting," Margaret replied.
Lin Hai was shocked and asked, "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing?"
"I just remembered it. Nochadamas never allowed me to remember. He always forced me to forget everything and keep me locked up forever," Margaret's voice was filled with remorse as she lowered her head in pain.
Lin Hai calmed himself down and comforted her, "You said you were rescued back then. What happened later?"
"I said I had forgotten the time in the locked room. I don't remember what year it was. I only remember the night when the young student took me out of the museum. He hid me in a room on a rooftop in Paris and brought me food every day. We spent seven days like that, and his face grew thinner every day, as if there was a ghost attached to him. Until the seventh night, he opened the window on the top floor, smiled and jumped out..." Margaret's voice choked up, and Lin Hai felt a chill down his spine, but he tried to restrain himself and said, "If it's too painful to remember, don't go on."
"Let me finish. The student from the art school died like that, and then Nochadamas appeared. He killed that innocent young man. Nochadamas brought me back to the museum and put me back in that locked room. He warned me that everyone who helped me escape would die within a few days, and no one would be spared."
"That was the price of saving you?" Lin Hai asked.
Suddenly, Lin Hai opened his left hand, and the red letters "aider moi" were still vivid like a scar. He murmured "aider moi" repeatedly and shook his head softly, saying, "Whoever saves you will die. Then I'm going to die soon... Who will save me?"
The last two words were still "aider moi."
Margaret trembled and lowered her head, apologizing repeatedly, "Je suis désolée." The meaning of this phrase is "I'm sorry," but Lin Hai shook his head and said, "You don't have to apologize. I will never blame you. This is all because of me. I fell in love with you a long time ago."
"What did you say?" Margaret did not understand his meaning - "fell in love with you a long time ago."
At this moment, Lin Hai remembered the noon ten years ago. He climbed to the attic of this old house, filled with the smell of expired paint, and saw Margaret's portrait.
From the dusty noon when the sun shone, everything was already destined. Perhaps this is called "fate," the destiny that everyone cannot resist.
Lin Hai's expression was no longer fearful. He regained his composure and said, "Margaret, do you believe in fate? Fate brought us together here."
Then Lin Hai told Margaret what he had seen ten years ago on the attic of the old house.
There was something strange in Margaret's eyes. She looked up at the ceiling, where the small attic was located, and sighed, "Yes, we are destined to meet. Fate destined me to be imprisoned for four hundred years and to meet you after four hundred years."
"Four hundred years... Four hundred years... How many cycles is that?"
Margaret suddenly lowered her voice. "Lin Hai, look into my eyes..."
In an instant, Lin Hai was as if under a spell, staring straight into those semi-transparent emerald eyes. He thought those eyes only existed in paintings, where could such a beauty come from in the real world?
She continued speaking softly, "When you first entered the art museum and stood before my oil painting, I discovered you through the mirror in the secret room. It's a transparent mirror that allows me to see the people outside who are admiring the paintings. While you were looking at me in the painting, I was also looking at you through the mirror. In that moment, we were both gazing at each other, and I could feel your heartbeat, your breath, and the tremble in your heart."
"I understand. To me, you are the person in the painting, and to you, I am the person in the mirror. When the person in the painting faces the person in the mirror, and when I, Lin Hai, face you, Margaret... It's all too unbelievable."
"Lin Hai, when I saw you for the first time, I felt like we had met before, like we had some special and unforgettable relationship in a past life."
"A past life?"
Lin Hai suddenly thought of someone, could he be that person from four hundred years ago in Paris, the man who was beheaded and buried by his beloved?
Margaret looked up at him and asked, "Did I scare you?"
"No, you're driving me crazy."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things. You must be tired, go to bed early." Margaret drank a big sip of water and sat on the bed, "I'm tired too."
Lin Hai nodded and asked, "Will Nochardamus find this place tonight? No, I can't let him come in and hurt you."
So he checked the door and put a metal bolt behind it. Even if someone picked the lock, they couldn't get in. Lin Hai closed all the windows and blocked them with wooden or metal rods just in case. He even moved the table behind the door, so Nochardamus couldn't get in. He silently asked himself if this was just his own psychological comfort.
Margaret looked at everything he did and became even more sad, like a prey trapped in a trap, waiting obediently for the hunter's slaughter.
After saying "bonne nuit" to each other, Lin Hai washed his face in the bathroom and hurriedly climbed to the attic. But he found the skylight was still open, so he closed it and put the latch inside. He didn't dare to look at the moon outside, so he used old newspaper to block the glass.
Closing his eyes and lying on the small wooden bed, Lin Hai didn't dare to think about what might happen tonight. It seemed that Nochardamus could knock on his door at any moment...