Muñeca nocturna

Capítulo 34

Strands of hair were ripped out. Although this crude method of crime bore no resemblance to the clean and efficient murders of Glass.

There were similarities, but everyone firmly believed that the murderer in both places was the same person. The people of Grasse felt relieved as they drew three lines...

They were relieved that the beast was no longer with them, but was raging in Grenoble, seven days' journey away.

They committed evil. They organized a torchlight procession to praise the bishop, and held a ceremonial ceremony on December 24th.

A grand thanksgiving worship service was held. Security measures were relaxed on New Year's Day, 1766, and the ban on women staying out all night was lifted.

The ban on going out was lifted. Public and private life returned to normal at an incredible speed. Fear seemed to have been swept away...

A gust of wind blew it away, and no one talked anymore about the horrific murders that had shrouded the city and its suburbs months earlier.

Even within the victim's family, no one mentioned it again, as if Bishop Heshe had not only brought up the murderer's name but also...

People's memories of him have been dispelled. There is a general sense of satisfaction.

However, anyone with a daughter of marriageable age would still be hesitant to let her go out alone, especially after dark.

He was afraid, but in the morning, when he saw his daughter safe and sound, he felt happy—of course, he didn't want to tell himself...

The reasons have been clearly acknowledged.

But in Grasse, there was a man who doubted this peace. This man was Antoine Richis, the Second Senator.

He lived in a magnificent manor on Rue de la Drois.

Richis was a widower with a daughter named Lor. Although he was not yet forty, and possessed great energy...

He has plenty of time, but he wants to wait a while before getting married. First, he wants to marry off his daughter, and not just anyone.

She didn't want to marry just anyone, but rather someone of high status. There was a Baron Blaise at the time, who had a son in Van Gogh.

Sri Lanka has a fiefdom with a good reputation, but its economic situation is very difficult. Regarding the children's future, the village has already...

After a difficult negotiation, it was settled. Then, Ger married, and he already wanted to extend his marriage proposal tentacles towards the highly respected Drew...

Families like Maubert or Fron-Michel—not because he was vain and single-mindedly sought marriage alliances with the nobility,

Rather, he wanted to establish a dynasty and guide his descendants onto the path to the highest social prestige and political influence.

Therefore, he needs at least two more sons, one to inherit his business and the other through a legal career and advancement.

He rose to the rank of nobleman by joining the Council of Aix-en-Provence. If he and his family were closely associated with the nobles of Provence,

Therefore, he is certain that he can realize such ambitions based on his position.

He devised such an ambitious plan based on his possession of astonishing wealth that was only known in legend.

Antoine Richis was the wealthiest citizen in the surrounding area. He not only owned a large estate in the Grasse region, but also...

The garden grows arbor, oil crops, barley, and hemp, and there are also [other crops] near Vence and in the direction of Antibes.

The estate is for rent. He has houses in Aix-en-Provence, houses in the countryside, and shares in ships sailing to India.

Genoa has no permanent office, but it has the largest warehouse in France dealing in spices, seasonings, oils and leather.

However, of all his wealth, the most precious thing was his daughter. She was his only child, ten years old.

Sixth, she has dark red hair and green eyes. She has a pleasing face that appeals to people of all ages and genders.

Visitors who see her are immediately mesmerized and cannot look away; they practically gaze at her with their eyes.

They licked that face; as if licking ice with their tongues, while making a very typical silly grin at such licking.

An expression of rapture. Even when looking at his own daughter, Richis was captivated, to the point that he would unconsciously become...

For a quarter of an hour or half an hour, he forgot the world and his own career—and even then, he forgot all about them.

It wouldn't happen while I was sleeping! —My attention was completely focused on watching this beautiful girl, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

What exactly had he done? Lately—he had become quite unhappy with this realization—he had taken her to bed at night, or...

When he went to wake her in the morning, she was still asleep as if lying in the hands of God, her arms and breasts still in the shape of...

Through the thin nightgown, he gazed at her breasts, the curves of her shoulders, her elbows, and the area beneath her face.

Her smooth forearm, the rising warmth of her calm breath—at that moment, his stomach clenched painfully, and his throat...

He clenched his throat, swallowing hard. Heaven knows, he was cursing himself, cursing that he was this woman's father, and not...

A stranger, not just any man. She could sleep in front of this man as she did now, just like she was in front of him.

He could lie beside her, on her body, in her arms, and indulge in unrestrained pleasure without any inhibitions. He suppressed the terrible...

His desire ignited, and he leaned down towards her, awakening her with the pure kiss of a father; each time, a cold sensation would rise from his body.

Sweat, trembling limbs.

Last year, before the murder, this unpleasant temptation had yet reached him. At that time, his daughter...

The effort it exerted on him—at least in his opinion—was childlike. Therefore, he was never truly worried.

Lor will become a victim of that murderer, who, as people know, does not harm children.

Instead of targeting adult women, he specifically targets teenage girls. Admittedly, he has increased security at his house and ordered the building to be...

He re-hung the bars on the windows of the upper floor and instructed the maid to share a room with Lorre. However, he was unwilling to send her away.

Just like how people of his social class treat their daughters, even their entire families. He felt this behavior was...

Despicable, unbecoming of a member of parliament and second senator; he believed he should have acted calmly, composedly, and courageously.

He became a role model for his citizens through his unwavering spirit and perseverance. Furthermore, he was a true man, and his decisions could not be...

Let others make the rules; we cannot be influenced by a group of panicked people, let alone be swayed by an anonymous criminal.

Therefore, during that time of widespread fear, he was one of the few people in the city who was not intimidated by fear and remained clear-headed.

But strangely enough, things are completely different now. While people are celebrating outside—as if they've already condemned the murderer—

The murderer was hanged—when the murderer's activities ended and the unfortunate days were completely forgotten, fear emerged like a terrible thing.

The poison had returned to Antoine Richis's heart. He had long refused to acknowledge that this was fear. It caused him to procrastinate...

He was reluctant to leave his home for the trip he was undertaking, and wanted to end the visit and meetings as soon as possible so he could return home early.

He excused himself with excuses of physical discomfort and overwork, and sometimes admitted to having some worries, just like everyone else.

All fathers of adult daughters share the same worry, a perfectly normal worry... her reputation for beauty has already spread...

Has she gone outside? When I went to church with her on Sunday, weren't there people craning their necks to watch? Wasn't she already in Parliament?

Are there any gentlemen proposing marriage in their own name or in their son's name...?

Later, one day in March, Richis sat in the living room and watched Lor go to the garden. She was wearing blue...

She wore a bright red dress, her red hair cascading down to it, blazing like fire in the sunlight. He had never seen anything like it before.

She was so beautiful. She disappeared behind a bush. Later, he waited for perhaps only two heartbeats, and she…

Then it reappeared—and that terrified him, because in those two heartbeats he realized he was gone forever.

I lost her.

That night he had a terrible dream, but when he woke up he couldn't remember what he dreamt about, but he was certain it was related to Luo.

He was certain that she was dead; he rushed into her room, convinced she had been murdered, humiliated, and had her hair cut off.

She was lying in bed—but he found her perfectly fine.

He retreated to his room, sweating profusely and trembling all over—no, it wasn't excitement, but fear.

He finally admitted that he was indeed afraid. Once he admitted it, he felt calmer and his mind became clearer.

To be honest, he never believed the bishop's curse from the beginning; he didn't believe the murderer was already in the underworld.

Lenoble, too, didn't believe he had left the city. No, he still lived there, still among the Grassians.

He'll do bad things anytime! In August and September, Richis saw several girls who had been murdered.

The sight horrified him, and at the same time, as he had to admit, it also fascinated him, because they were all...

Each of these beauties, chosen from among many, possesses her own unique charm. He had never imagined that there would be so many different kinds of women in Grasse.

He recognized the beauty. The murderer opened his eyes. The murderer's aesthetic sense was exceptional and self-contained. Not only each time...

The murders were all equally clean and efficient, and the selection of victims revealed an almost economically rational arrangement.

The intention. Admittedly, Richis didn't know what the killer needed from the victims, because their best things...

Their beauty and youthful charm, he couldn't take them away from them... or could he? But regardless...

He felt that, despite the absurdity of the situation, the killer wasn't a destructive individual, but rather a meticulous collector.

A prodigy. If people no longer view all the victims—as Rizzis sees them—as individuals, but instead...

Imagine them as components of a higher principle, idealistically conceiving of their individual characteristics as fused together.

If a mosaic is a unified whole, then a picture made up of such colorful mosaic stones is undoubtedly a beautiful picture, and from this...

The effort generated by the drawing is no longer human, but divine. (As we have seen, Rigdzilla...)

S was an enlightened man who was not afraid of blasphemous conclusions. If he hadn't approached the matter from the realm of smell, but...

If we consider it from the perspective of light, then he is indeed very close to the truth!

Hypothetically—Riches continued—the murderer was such a collector of beauty, painting a perfect…

The drawing, even though it was merely a figment of his imagination due to his mental illness; furthermore, assuming it corresponds to what actually appears...

Given the same circumstances, if he were someone with the highest aesthetic sense and methods, it's unimaginable that he would abandon composition.

The most precious component of that painting, and that component that exists in the world, is the beauty of abandoning Laure. He has so far...

The murder mystery to date—without her, it would be worthless. She was the final brick in his edifice.

Richis arrived at this horrifying conclusion while sitting on his bed in his pajamas, marveling at his own quietness.

Strangely, his body stopped trembling, and the vague fear that had tormented him for weeks disappeared.

And it gives way to a specific and dangerous consciousness: the killer's target was clearly Lorre, from the very beginning: others.

All the other murders were merely byproducts of this final and most important one. Although it remains unclear to this day why these murders...

What material purpose did they have, and did they even have such a purpose? But the most fundamental aspect, namely the murderer system...

Richis had long since discerned the methods and the motivations behind those ideals! The longer he pondered them, the more he appreciated them.