Dearest Anonymous, Let Me Be

Chapter 34: ARC 2 - The Woman in the Painting

"You did remarkably well on the first world so I reckoned that you might be able to fix this next world that I wrote on a whim. l trust in your abilities."

Umi snorted, "Why do I think that those praises are now exaggerated a bit?"

Mochi, the hologram kitten who was trying his best to hide the pleasure that he was feeling due to Umi's quandary, pursed his lips as he continued Effie's message with a suppressed laugh.

"However, to abide by the natural rules of this world, I'll restrict your [Psychokinesis] skill so you can only use 10%, and entirely repress your [Potion Maker] skill. Best of luck! I await your victorious return. From Effie, with love."

"I seriously will file a complaint after this world," Umi mumbled through gritted teeth.

Nonetheless, no matter how vexed Umi was, things wouldn't stand still just because she was being grumpy. The camera will always be rolling whether she likes it or not, so at most, she can just silently light a candle in her heart, because tonight is the night that the actress will be able to witness another strange episode.

Umi couldn't move her limbs at all, yet at the very least, thanks to the world's generosity, she can move her eyes to see and mouth to speak. However, much to her absolute frustration, it takes up a lot of her Spiritual Energy to even barely mumble words.

Therefore, she can only glare at the floating kitten after using up almost all of the Spiritual Energy left in Vera's soul. Yet, as soon as the Malcolm Manor's caretaker approached with the stupid book he found in the master's bedroom, Umi immediately swallowed whatever she can swallow at the moment, including her complaints.

"Baby, I'll be seeing you again soon," Lucian murmured as he stroked the wooden frames of the canvas that encases his precious artwork. "Just endure this night, all right? I promise it won't be too painful."

With those words, the young man slowly stepped back while opening the ominous book with great caution. He then squatted and placed the book on the floor as he fished out a dagger from his pocket.

As this story was not fully written into detail, and there are some missing spots or glaring plot holes that needed fixing, the world's consciousness had unconsciously filled up the blanks.

The divine powers of Effie created this world and the world made the story. As such, some details that are not described in the draft will be automatically fixed by the world's consciousness, so Umi's knowledge of this world may not be absolute at all.

For instance, Umi wasn't fully aware of the ritual's process that is about to transpire.

Umi fixed her eyes at the young man in front, who was nonchalantly letting his blood flow into a bowl from the cut on the palm of his hand, whistling all the while like it was just a normal peaceful evening.

At the point when he felt that the blood was sufficient for his scheme, he then grabbed a paintbrush from the table on the side and dipped it into the bowl of blood.

Umi was somewhat fixated on the young man's actions that she even forgot how she was complaining a while ago. But then when the youth began painting strange symbols on the floor, as someone who had experienced misery before—most especially during the past world, Umi's survival instincts started to kick in violently.

This Lucian is bad news.

Wiping the blood on his hands using his shirt, the one that he was just wearing a second ago but somehow it's already on his hands another second later, he admired his work with a satisfied look.

Umi tried to take a look at the floor below whenever the young man wasn't looking, and from what she can observe; the symbol drawn was the same as the symbol on the cover page of the old book that Lucian was holding.