Chapter 3

My Husband Lives Inside the Painting

“……What?”

With all the color drained from my face, I looked toward the place where the voice had come from. It was the painting I had made.

But when I looked at the painting again, nothing had changed. The tension suddenly left my body, and I unconsciously let out a breath.

‘I’m hearing things now.’

That was a bad sign. It meant my body was no longer in a normal state.

“Right. I’ve been awake for far too long. I should just go to sleep—”

Just as I clutched my splitting head and staggered toward the door, it happened.

“I called you. I’m over here.”

“……Ah.”

Thump, thump, thump.

My heartbeat was so loud that I could hear it ringing in my ears.

Very slowly, in jerky movements, I turned my head.

And then I saw it clearly. A stream of light extending out from the painting.

“Gasp……!”

A hand wrapped in light, reaching toward me.

“W-what in the world is this……?”

Had I finally gone mad?

The hand engulfed in light floated in the middle of the darkness, as though it were a fragment of another world.

Like a will-o’-the-wisp, or an apparition just before it began to glow.

Just as fear began to overwhelm me, the voice rang out again.

“Come to me, Ob.”

A low, gentle voice. It was unmistakably……

“……Camille?”

“You love me, don’t you?”

“……”

“Don’t let this chance slip away.”

All my distracting thoughts disappeared like noise, and only that hand was etched into my mind like a mirage.

At the same time, fear arose within me.

What if I hesitated again and lost him once more?

If I failed to hold on to him this time, I might lose him forever.

‘I can’t lose him again.’

A powerful impulse surged through me.

Perhaps the answer had already been decided from the moment I heard that voice.

As though hypnotized, I moved my hand.

And the moment my fingertips touched the light—

Whoosh—!

The canvas pulled me in as though it were about to swallow me whole.

My head felt like it was splitting apart.

The unpleasant sensation of being forcibly dragged out of a deep sleep made me feel nauseous as well.

“Ugh……”

I tried to ignore it and kept my eyes closed. Then—rustle, rustle…… cold air brushed against my cheek.

In the end, I reluctantly opened my eyes. And the sight that unfolded before me was……

“Where is this……?”

Sunlight scattered across a field covered in flowers of every color. The colors rippled whenever the wind passed through, while the distant hill and lake held the sky like a watercolor painting.

The scenery was so beautiful that it almost hurt my eyes, and a gasp of admiration escaped my lips.

‘But this is strange.’

It was definitely a place I had never seen before, yet it didn’t feel unfamiliar.

I slowly got up and took a step forward. At that moment, a strange sensation made me instinctively look down at my feet.

‘Barefoot?’

The crushed blades of grass rustled beneath my feet, crying out as they were trampled. After hesitating for a moment, I took another step.

Whoosh—

The pain that had filled my head gradually faded with every step I took. The refreshing wind, cool enough to be mistaken for the sound of waves, passed through my hair and seemed to wash away even my thoughts.

How long had I been walking like that?

At the edge of the field, beyond the boundary between the flowers and grass, a small house came into view.

As though entranced, I approached it and stopped in front of the door. Without thinking, I knocked.

Knock, knock.

Only after the sound echoed did I belatedly come to my senses.

‘What am I doing right now?’

But then, as the wooden door opened and a voice came from inside, I froze completely.

“Who is it?”

No way.

“……Ob?”

“……”

Pink hair that looked as though cherry blossoms had been melted into it, and vivid blue eyes.

……A woman—or rather, a man—with those features.

The moment I saw him, my train of thought came to a complete halt.

“You finally came!”

The man smiled as naturally as though this were the most obvious thing in the world, spreading his arms wide.

Then, without hesitation, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

The moment I fell into his arms, all the flowers around us trembled at once, as though celebrating our reunion.

I couldn’t react at all.

“I missed you, Ob.”

The man softened his brows and tucked my hair behind my ear.

His touch was so delicate that it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“I’m sorry. It must have been hard for you, wasn’t it?”

“……”

“Are you all right?”

When I felt a cool hand against my cheek, my dazed mind finally returned.

I instinctively stepped backward and managed to force out a trembling voice, as though I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Ca-Camille, why are you……?”

“Hm?”

The man’s blue eyes held my gaze directly.

“Why are you here……?”

“Oh, I thought you were asking something else.”

“Are you really…… you?”

“Of course. It’s me. Your husband, Camille.”

His smile, which I was seeing again after so long, was unbearably sweet. Sweet enough to send chills down my spine.

“You’ve gotten so thin since I last saw you. Have you been eating properly lately?”

I nodded almost unconsciously, but Camille didn’t look like he believed my answer.

“Hmm. You’ve gotten better at lying, too. Or were you always good at it?”

There was no doubt that the man standing before me was him.

The man I had loved and then lost. Camille.

His gentle voice, the way he had always worried about me—it was all exactly the same.

But I couldn’t believe it.

‘This is impossible.’

My heart was beating strangely fast. I couldn’t even tell whether it was from happiness or fear.

But I couldn’t stop my frozen heart from melting at Camille’s gentle voice.

“Ob. You’ve gotten much more prone to tears, too.”

Camille gave a small, troubled smile.

“……I think it’s because of me. I’m happy, but I feel sorry, too.”

“……”

“Can I hug you?”

Without even waiting for my answer, he forcibly pulled me into his arms.

A fleeting sense of discomfort rose within me, but the other emotions overwhelmed it.

“Don’t worry, Ob.”

Camille slowly stroked my light brown hair. The affection in his touch was so sweet that my heart ached.

“From now on, I won’t leave your side.”

A little later, I finally managed to open my mouth, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“……Yes.”

My vision blurred, and my consciousness gradually became hazy and numb.

As though I were slowly sinking into deep water.

The inside of the small house was cozy, just large enough for two people to live in.

Was this what I had vaguely imagined a ‘normal family home’ to look like, having spent my entire life in a mansion?

A wooden bedside table and chairs, a shelf, and a fireplace.

That was all.

“Want me to give you a cloth to wipe your face?”

Camille held out a white cloth he had taken from the shelf.

Sniffling, I blew my nose into the cloth he handed me and hunched my shoulders like a turtle in embarrassment.

‘I can’t believe I’m letting him see me like this.’

Meanwhile, sitting in the chair opposite me with his chin propped on his hand, he watched me with a pleasant smile playing around his lips.

“You’re pretty even when you cry.”

“What kind of thing is that to say……”

My face grew hot, and I looked away.

Once my unruly emotions had calmed down, I secretly glanced at Camille.

Everything still felt unreal, but the Camille before my eyes looked exactly as I remembered him when he was alive.

There was only one difference: somehow, he had become much more sly and teasing.

“You really like my face, don’t you? Still, if you stare at me that intensely, you’re going to make me embarrassed.”

“……What?”

“If you want, you can check. See for yourself whether I’m really me.”

Camille tapped his own cheek, gesturing for me to touch it.

Even when my expression stiffened, he remained completely unfazed.

‘No.’

I felt that if I let things continue like this, I would only get dragged into his rhythm, so I decided to change the subject.

“By the way, what happened?”

“Hm?”

I swallowed hard.

“I mean…… you were already…… dead.”

Yes, Camille had died.

No matter how sweet and dreamlike this reunion was, hadn’t I watched with my own eyes as his coffin was buried in the ground?

Belated confusion came crashing over me.

He was alive? How? Was this a ghost? But…… then how could I explain the sensation of his body beneath my hands?

Camille scratched the back of his neck as though deep in thought, then casually shrugged.

“I don’t know. I don’t really know either. When I came to, I was already here.”

I frowned unconsciously at his halfhearted answer, then suddenly realized something and froze.

……Wait. Isn’t that exactly what happened to me?

‘Could it be that I’m dead too?’

Just as a chill ran down my spine, Camille turned his gaze toward the window and continued.

“Still, Ob, thanks to you, we’ve met again like this. Isn’t that enough?”

“What?”

“This place is beautiful and peaceful unlike the outside world, and also……”

But there was one word in what he said that I couldn’t overlook.

“W-wait a moment, Camille.”

“Hm?”

“What do you mean? You said it was thanks to me.”

At my question, Camille opened his eyes wide.

As though wondering why I would ask something so obvious.

“Because you drew everything, didn’t you?”

“……What?”

“This place. The flower field, the hill, and even this house we’re in right now.”

Then came the words that clearly explained the entire situation.

“This is inside the painting you drew, Ob.”