Chapter 6

My Husband Lives Inside the Painting

……What?

As my expression went blank, Camille tightened his grip on my shoulders as though urging me to answer.

“It just needs a little more power. Exactly the amount of power one human being possesses.”

“…….”

“You’re not planning to leave me trapped inside this painting forever, are you? Of course, it’s beautiful here. But I want to go outside.”

“……I understand that. But, Camille.”

“Or do you not love me? Have you found another man in the meantime?”

Even though he tossed out the words casually, that was one thing I couldn’t tolerate.

A sharp cry, almost a scream, burst from my lips.

“Of course not!”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

His tone was persistent, probing me as though I were being interrogated.

“Unless you intend to keep me imprisoned here and torment me, you have no reason to refuse.”

“Torment you……?”

Was Camille always like this? My thoughts became hopelessly tangled.

Then, all of a sudden, I questioned myself.

‘Ob, what are you doing right now?’

This was a real chance to bring Camille back to life!

Perhaps it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would never come again.

‘So of course I should do as he says! Unless I really have found another man.’

And yet…… I didn’t know.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The warning bell that had been ringing ever since the moment I first encountered him was now blaring too loudly to ignore.

“……I-If I give you my soul.”

Breaking through the silence, I barely managed to part my lips, which seemed unwilling to move.

The words came out as though I were forcing them from the depths of myself.

“What will happen to me……?”

My eyes met Camille’s.

His eyes, so close that I could feel his breath, were strangely murky. They looked almost as though they didn’t belong to a human being.

And at that moment—

“Nothing.”

A gentle voice quietly rang out.

“Nothing will change.”

A captivating smile rested at the corners of his eyes.

‘……Ah.’

Only then did I realize it.

The being standing before me was not Camille.

“……I-I’m sorry.”

Thump, thump. My heart pounded violently.

“C-Could we talk about this again later?”

Who was the man standing before me? He looked so much like Camille, but if he wasn’t Camille, then who on earth was he?

But stronger than my questions was the overwhelming instinct telling me that I had to get out of here somehow.

The canvas. Through there.

“I still have things to take care of in reality. I think I need to go out for a moment.”

“Wait, Ob.”

“So, next time we can—”

The arm I had stretched toward the canvas was suddenly seized firmly in midair.

Pressure traveled along my bones. At the same time, a clear realization struck me.

Camille—no, Camille would never grab me this roughly. Never this harshly and violently.

“What are you doing right now?”

The man looked down at me with his eyes wide open, his face completely devoid of the gentleness he had shown moments ago.

A faint tremor ran down my spine.

“You’re not seriously trying to leave me here and go out alone, are you? Right now?”

I instinctively took a step backward. The arm he still refused to release pulled taut.

Camille—or rather, the man wearing his shell—pierced through me with an unwavering gaze.

“Why are you making that face? Hmm?”

“…….”

“That’s strange……”

The words came out in a low murmur.

His voice was still gentle, yet for no reason I could explain, I found it difficult to breathe.

An indescribable sense of wrongness slowly crawled across my skin.

It felt as though the person standing before me was not the man I knew.

“I didn’t want to do this. But I can’t help it.”

“What did you say? W-Wait—”

At that moment, Camille snapped his fingers.

Snap—

At the same time, the scenery folded up like a sheet of paper, and my vision twisted in an instant.

I had only blinked once, but somehow I was already inside the house.

“Ah!”

Without hesitation, Camille shoved me against the wall.

With a loud thud, the kitchen utensils hanging on the wall clattered against one another.

But whether I groaned in pain or not, he didn’t even blink as he continued to pin me there.

“I never thought you would betray me like this. What exactly was it that you didn’t like?”

“C-Camille.”

A menacing light flickered in his eyes.

“I did everything you wanted. Or were you just playing with me?”

“Let me go!”

“No.”

“……!”

The warm, cozy air inside the house instantly froze like winter had descended upon it. It was because of the blatant killing intent radiating from his back.

I was terrified. So terrified that my body wouldn’t move as I wanted it to.

‘He’s going to kill me!’

Once I became certain that there was no longer any way to reason with him, I frantically groped behind my back with one hand. My fingers closed around something.

“I don’t want to be forceful with you either. So I’ll tell you one more time.”

“…….”

A heavy, blunt handle. A square shape with a rough, bumpy surface.

“Giving me your soul isn’t actually that difficult. It won’t even hurt. It’ll be over in the blink of an eye.”

“…….”

“If you want, I can even make you dream of living with me forever. No, I’ll make it that way for you.”

The cold touch of metal was unmistakable against my palm.

……This was it.

“You’re my first contractor, so I’m making an exception for you. What do you think? It’s a pretty good deal, isn’t it?”

Camille didn’t seem to notice that I was fidgeting with something behind my back.

I gripped the handle tightly and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Ob? Why aren’t you saying—”

“Sh-Shut up!”

And then I swung it with all my strength.

The moment the bungeoppang mold slammed hard into his head—

Clang—!

“Ugh……!”

With a short cry, his body crumpled limply to the floor.

Thud. The dull sound reverberated across the floor.

“Haa…… haa…….”

……Is it over?

I slowly opened my eyes.

Pink hair scattered across the floor, and a body lying completely motionless as though frozen in place.

“C-Camille.”

Oh God, what had I done?

I hurriedly dropped to my knees and shook him. Camille didn’t react at all.

Cautiously, I raised my trembling hand and held it beneath the tip of his nose.

At the same time, I recoiled in horror and fell backward.

‘He’s…… not breathing.’

It was as though my thoughts had stopped working, and my mind flashed completely white.

Fortunately, when I checked again, the man was still breathing, albeit faintly.

As I let out a sigh of relief, I suddenly corrected myself.

‘……Ah. He’s not Camille.’

Once I reminded myself of the man’s true identity, my reason seemed to settle coldly back into place.

First, I needed to restrain the man, since I had no idea when he might wake up. So I began searching through the house.

I found a rope, dragged him out to the front yard, and began tying him up.

Only after binding both his arms behind his back and tying his legs together did I finally relax and breathe freely again.

“Phew…….”

Wiping the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve, I crouched in front of the man, who was lying on his side like a caterpillar.

Then I poked the cheek of his sleeping face, which looked as angelic as ever.

‘This isn’t Camille?’

Even after looking at him again, I couldn’t believe it.

His eyelashes were longer than a woman’s, his skin was pure white, and he even had the same beauty mark beneath his left eye. Everything about him belonged to my husband.

But he wasn’t Camille. Then what exactly was he?

“……I don’t know.”

And yet, while tying up the man, my mind had become strangely clear.

Until just moments ago, my thoughts had felt as though they were trapped in a soft, hazy fog.

‘I was definitely completely under this man’s spell until just now.’

“Could it be that he deliberately approached me pretending to be Camille?”

If that were really the case, it was utterly infuriating.

Of all people, how dare he imitate him!

‘What should I do with this guy?’

Just as my insides were boiling with anger, the man’s brow furrowed, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Hmm…….”

“Are you awake?”

“Where am I……? Ah, ugh, my head.”

I must have hit him quite hard, because even after opening his eyes, it took him a while to come to his senses.

Then, upon realizing that his body was tightly bound, he let out a startled breath.

“……Uh, hey. Ob.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Did you tie me up?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

An awkward laugh slipped through the silence.

After studying my tightly sealed lips, he seemed to have managed to come up with only one possible explanation.

“Don’t tell me…… this is your thing?”

It was a completely wrong conclusion.