“……”

Ed looked at Lilith. For the first time, he saw the true face of this witch. Unlike what I imagined, her face looked ordinary, just like the female classmates you would meet in the small shop near the school, or the little sister jumping on the lawn in the yard next door, very clear and beautiful, but far from amazing.

Then, Ed's gaze deflected and he looked behind the girl. The last time I was only half-finished, I have now completely finished it. He saw the tree again, the ghost tree with twisted branches shrouded in a strange twilight, and the figure in the crevices of the tree had been revealed, a girl with long hair and a white dress, with low eyebrows and a blushing face, stretched out a hand, and the fingers were just in the palm of the other hand, and placed in the hand of a young man with gentle eyes and wrapped in a blazing glimmer beside the tree.

Ed looked at the painting, then suddenly turned his head and glanced back at the spacious, brightly lit studio, and then back at the painting, back at Lilith, who was sitting on a high stool in front of the painting, bathed in light. He blinked, silent.

……

"She doesn't like light, she doesn't like light coming into her world, and she only lets people approach her when it's allowed. I don't know if she'll be like this for the rest of her life. If she kept not letting people hold her hand, there was nothing she could do to stop her from slipping into that damn abyss. ”

……

“……”

"I like him," Lilith whispered, "so I want to do something for him." It's like making perfect art. ”

"You didn't do it perfectly this time. Someone dies in your art, and even though he is a scum, sin does not lose his life. ”

"That's not your business."

"That's true." Ed sighed and glanced down at the tips of his shoes, "Goodbye, my witch." I've respected you, really respected. It's a pity, though. ”

He turned around and walked out, his steps non-stop, very slowly. He pushed the door open and disappeared into the world of light. Then, Marcy walked in, followed by a group of police officers.

Considering Lilith's special status, the city bureau specifically granted Marcy's request, making the whole arrest process very simple and low-key. They came in without saying a word, and left with Lilith, no handcuffs, no media lights, and even a few brothers holding the girl's overly long hair in the back. After only a few minutes, they escorted the artist into a police car and quietly took him out of the gallery.

And at the door of the art museum, Russell clasped his hands in front of his chest, watched the police car move away, blinked, and said nothing, with a strange calm and peace in his eyes.

"Isn't it a little too cruel for you?" Ed asked, appearing beside him.

Russell shook his head, then suddenly looked at Ed beside him. Ed looked at him strangely.

"What's wrong?"

"You said before that Lilith's art wasn't perfect this time, right?"

"That's right."

"Lilith has always been a perfect artist."

“……”

With that, Russell turned and walked towards the building. Ed glanced at his back, his hands in his trouser pockets, and blinked thoughtfully.

……

A few days later, Lilith in prison welcomed her second visitor. They met in the reception room, looked at each other, and for a moment neither of them spoke first.

Tommy, still wearing his big black-rimmed glasses, sat quietly on this side of the iron table, his lips closed, looking at Lilith. From the outside, he doesn't look like a super-rich man who can use a luxury car as a sieve to play with, but more like a storekeeper who catches cats in the magic library.

Lilith was dressed in prison uniform, but clean. They kept her long hair and braided it into a big braid. Even in prison, they didn't interfere with her daily work, and she still paints every day except painting. Russell delivered her everything she needed.

She sat across from Tommy and looked at him with a smile. Tommy lowered his head, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"I may leave you," he said, with a tremor in his voice, "I may be gone and never come back to you." You know I can do it. ”

"I know." Lilith chuckled happily, "I don't care. I like you, I wish I could do something for you, that's all. ”

"I'm not worth it from you."

"It's worth it for me to decide."

Tommy smiled. Perhaps it was Lilith's stubbornness that brought back memories in his and her hearts, and he stood up, crossed the table, walked over to Lilith's side, and hugged Lilith, who was also up.

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to kill him with your own hands." He whispered in her ear, "I'll wait for you to come back at the place we agreed." ”

……

With her lips closed and her lips pursed, Marcy stared at the scene on the screen with her eyes spurted and her face wide, pressing the close button before the two could kiss. She lay on the couch in her living room, stretched hard, and then lowered her head and growled. She didn't hear what she was yelling at herself.

Then, she stood up, went to the window, looked at the rows of high-rise buildings outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, took out her mobile phone and dialed it, and put it to her ear.

"It's me." Ed's voice rang out.

"There are results." Marcy got straight to the point and smacked her mouth and said, "He's coming." Your guess is right. ”

"So sure?"

"I can hear it. It's not been a day or two since I've been a police officer. Marcy's tone became serious, her mind recalling what she had just seen through remote clearance monitoring, "He said, 'Thank you for giving me the opportunity to kill him with your own hands.'" This may not be evidence in court, because there is too much freedom of interpretation in this sentence - he is smart enough not to make such a lowly mistake - but I can hear that he means 'that'. He's not a baby who doesn't know anything at all, he's a participant from start to finish, and he's the one who designed it all together with Lilith. ”

“…… The art of perfection. ”

"What?"

"Perfect art." Ed sighed and said, "If Joey doesn't die, then the best outcome for you and me to meddle in this matter can only be to expose Tommy's affairs, so that he can successfully inherit the half of the inheritance left to him by the old man." It's driving Joey crazy, but it's far from perfect. Because as long as Joey is alive, he will definitely do things again, so Joey must die. ”

"So that shot...... That's not justified defense at all. ”

"But it looks a lot like self-defense. And in this way, both get rid of Joey and let Tommy get away with it perfectly. The perfect thing is that Tommy can also settle the grudge between him and this brother himself. ”

"Heh......"

Marcy looked out the window, tapping the corner of her forehead with her palm, her mouth slightly open and her eyes closed, and finally she couldn't help laughing.

"We've been used so badly that we haven't escaped from other people's calculations from beginning to end. Artists are terrible. Love is terrible. ”

"It's not love that's scary, it's not art. My dear Marcy. Ed's voice was like a call from a phone booth on the seaside of another planet, distant and illusory, ethereal about to fly up to the clouds to hug the scrapped fake moon, "What is terrible is human nature, it is the inferiority of human nature, it is something hidden in the darkest corner of all of our hearts. You can find all the corruption in the whole world there, and the most terrible thing is that sometimes we have to draw strength from it, and we can move forward while being corrupted. ”

“……”

"By the way, something suddenly occurred to me." After a moment of silence, Ed suddenly added, "Do I owe you a meal?" ”

"It seems like that."

"Come to my house."

"Hmm...... Well? ”

"I think cooking a bowl of noodles should be about ......"

"Die!!"