The bleak world is brought to life by the emergence of a white dress, as if it is emitting a shimmer.
Lu Li watched quietly until his figure was stuck in the narrow frame hanging on the wall. Then he disturbed the silence and approached the oil painting that seemed to be illuminated by a beam of light with echoing footsteps.
The girl in the white dress looked up at the sound of footsteps and looked into Lu Li's black eyes.
A blush spreads silently from the fair neck to the delicate face, clearly visible under the dim oil lamp.
No one knew why the ghost blushed, but it was the same as when Lu Li saw her.
Lu Li reached out to her. The shy girl hesitated slightly, then gently touched her with his illusory white palm, and climbed out of the frame with help.
She was a little nervous. When she stepped out, her feet under the pleated lace skirt were caught by the picture frame and she threw herself forward.
The palm reaching towards Anna changed to embrace her waist, and the left hand facing away from the back made the movement like the beginning of a pas de deux.
Anna stayed in Lu Li's arms, immersed in the starry sky-like depth. After a while, she panicked and left Lu Li's arms.
"Sorry...thank you."
Anna moved her eyes shyly, not daring to look at Lu Li anymore, but soon her girlish nature and awkward silence made her ask with curiosity: "Have we met before? Why do you seem to know me..."
"This is the first time we've met."
"Are you a new employee?"
"I'm...Benjamin's friend." Lu Li's voice seemed gentler than before.
"It really doesn't look like an employee..."
Lu Li's handsome face and black eyes were still fresh in Anna's memory, but they were quickly replaced by more important things: "He left you here? That's a bad guy, because this gallery is haunted..."
Anna, who is also a member of "Haunted", said hurriedly.
At this moment, a chill enveloped the oil painting that became a landscape, and it was bone-chilling.
"Have you... seen... my child..."
"Come on, come on, let's run!"
Anna was so frightened that she hid behind Lu Li and pulled at the corner of her clothes to make him leave.
Lu Li tilted his head slightly and calmly stared at the ghostly figure floating around the edge of the oil lamp.
The long white dress like a nightgown was stained with blood, and a swollen skirt fell out, trailing behind her.
"It should be in the office upstairs."
"Why... don't you... take revenge for me..."
Athena's words suddenly changed. Lu Li lowered his dark eyes and said nothing.
"Why... don't you... take revenge for me..."
When Athena asked for the second time, and her voice became more bitter and tearful, Lu Li said to her: "He is already dead, and died full of pain."
After getting the answer, Athena remained silent and retreated into the darkness with "Have you... seen... my child...", as if everything that happened before was just an illusion.
The coldness gradually faded away, and Anna, who was hiding behind her, popped up again: "You seem to know Athena too?"
"So she is so pitiful... Huh? How do you know this?"
"Benjamin told me."
Anna had no reason to doubt Lu Li. Although he was as mysterious as those black eyes, she was happy to have a "friend" with whom she could communicate.
"Aren't you afraid of ghosts..." However, she still tried cautiously.
"Not afraid."
Lu Li stared at those clear, evasive eyes.
"Then what if...I am also a ghost?"
"You came out of an oil painting."
"Yes..."
Soon, Anna forgot her shyness, although she still did not dare to look into those eyes. She pulled up her skirt and sat down under the oil painting, chattering like a sparrow about her life in the gallery.
As one of the protagonists of the story, the statue moved from far to near. Lu Li looked at it calmly, as if he understood Lu Li's gaze. The statue moved away again with the sound of heavy objects rubbing against each other.
Anna, who was immersed in the conversation, did not notice the arrival of the sculpture yet and continued talking. After telling the story of the gallery, she began to tell her own story and the story of her family.
Occasionally, a voice of inquiry rang out.
"I don't know your name yet."
"Lu Li."
"Strange name...is this a pen name?"
"no."
"Are you from Belfast?"
"no."
"Is that Himfast?"
"no."
"Do you know Benjamin? Is he from the Kingdom of Allen?"
"No."
"Um...have you always been like this?"
"Always what."
"Don't like talking?"
"Um."
Fortunately, Anna has countless things to say.
Lu Li listened quietly to Anna once again talk about the past that she could recall, and was also immersed in some kind of peace and beauty...
The church bells rang faintly in the distance, and the mist of morning enveloped Belfast, which had not yet woken up.
The wick of the oil lamp placed on the floor became fainter, the coldness that passed over his body from time to time no longer emerged, and the statue deep in the gallery had returned to its original position.
"Thank you for listening to my story."
And getting along with Anna is coming to an end.
"Will you come again tomorrow?"
With some expectation and shyness, Anna raised her eyes and stared at the pair of black eyes reflecting the oil lamp and mist.
"Maybe."
"...Goodbye, Mr. Lu Li."
With an undisguised sense of loss, Anna returned to the oil painting. The vividness gradually faded and solidified into the original thickness of the oil painting.
Lu Li was left standing alone in the empty gallery filled with gray mist.
After staying in front of the oil painting for a moment, Lu Li suddenly reached out and took off the frame.
In the early morning, when the anxious Benjamin arrived, he saw the exorcist holding a picture frame and a statue beside him. His calm words frightened Benjamin so much that he almost dropped his fat on the ground.
"There are five weirdos in the gallery. The painting and statue, the Dracula oil painting at the stairs, and the two ghosts Athena and Ruth. Athena has been solved, and I will take the painting and statue away.
"
"Please wait a minute." Benjamin, who was frightened into a cold sweat, had no doubts because he knew about the ghost Athena and the statue: "The oil painting of Dracula and... and the ghost Ruth."
"You can sell the Dracula oil painting to an exorcist. I haven't met Ruth."
Lu Li, who had no intention of cleaning up the gallery, ignored Benjamin's plea and left the gallery.
After getting on a carriage that passed by in the morning and returning to the detective agency, Lu Li put the statue back to its original position, lit the oil lamp, and gently tapped the oil painting frame.
Anna slowly woke up and drifted out of the oil painting with sleepy eyes.
"Where is this?" She realized she was not in the gallery.
"Home."
Under the oil lamp, Anna leaned forward and came closer to Lu Li. A blush appeared on her delicate doll-like cheeks, and her clear eyes were shining, as if thousands of stars were twinkling, conveying the same message as in the past: "So you bought me.
Already?"
"No money was spent. I told Benjamin that there was a ghost in the painting and he let me take it away."
The shy Anna lifted up her skirt gently, lowered her body and showed aristocratic etiquette to Lu Li.