Emily trembled all over, nearly collapsing on the spot.
She had indeed just received three church deacons downstairs who had come for a "final visit," and had intended to call her husband down, but the moon had suddenly turned red.
A sense of unease enveloped her, and she immediately went upstairs, never expecting to witness such a bizarre scene.
Her husband was actually able to "hear" downstairs from the second floor? No, was this really still her husband?
"Y-Yes, Riel..." Emily answered with a trembling voice, "It's Father Grove and the others... they want to talk to you..."
"Very good..." Riel's mouth split open wider, and those eyes reflecting the blood moon slowly turned toward the doorway, though his back was to the door, his gaze seemed to pierce through the wood, "Please invite them up. Come straight to our bedroom."
"Ah... But?" Emily thought she had heard wrong.
Under social norms, directly leading strange male visitors—even clergymen—into a couple's bedroom was an extremely rude and improper behavior, yet the current situation seemed to leave her no room to care about etiquette.
"Please... bring them up." Riel's tone remained calm, yet carried an unquestionable, almost hypnotic power, "Come here. I want to... share some... important discoveries with them."
The red glow of the blood moon seemed to fluctuate slightly with his words.
Emily looked at her husband's completely un-human state, and felt the intangible pressure brought by that evil moon outside the window; reason told her this was wrong, but a deeper sense of submission born of fear and bewilderment overwhelmed everything else.
She scrambled to her feet using both hands and feet, and ran staggering downstairs.
The scene in the mirror moved along with Emily's perspective, blurring for a moment before turning clear again, its focus centered on the