"What did you say?"
In an art storage room at the Louvre Museum, Severus, disguised as a French Auror, stared intently at the peerless beauty Hathor.
"I don't know where her consciousness went." Hathor held a wineglass as she spoke. "It's like fishing—sometimes the fish eats the bait. Her body is here. You can take her away."
The woman in the red evening gown lay inside an alabaster sarcophagus decorated with roses, looking as though she had fallen asleep. Only, she was no longer breathing.
"Don't panic. Her soul has left her body; she isn't really dead." Before Severus could lose his temper, Gong Saiyi, disguised as another Auror, said, "Every night when we fall asleep, our souls leave our bodies. When we are about to wake up, they return. But that kind of 'waking up,' opening our eyes, isn't real waking. The 'waking' when our souls leave our bodies—that is true 'waking'..."
"Say one more word." Severus looked at Gong Saiyi coldly. "And I'll make sure you never wake up again."
Gong Saiyi immediately shut up.
Severus took out his pocket watch and checked it. It was already past four in the morning. The morning star had risen, and there were less than two hours until dawn.
He did not linger in the storage room and Apparated directly to the North Wing.
The priest of death had vanished, but the cabinet leading to the Tuileries Palace had also returned to normal. When its doors were opened, there was no long corridor inside.
"It's not even dawn yet. How did it disappear?" Gong Saiyi appeared at that moment as well.
"This is a trap," Severus said. "We fell for it."
"What? How could that be?" Gong Saiyi asked strangely.
"He searched the entire world for its most beautiful treasures to