Vera
The next time I meet Lord Henry is during another event when someone from the nobility is celebrating a birthday during the night and that too in a garden. I do not know who's birthday it is but I get free food and get to wear a pretty dress so I'm not that bothered.
Cecelia and Lord Henry have been inseparable the whole event. It's like they come in pair. You can not spot one without the other and Cecelia genuinely seems happy with him so I finally give him my approval mentally. He wouldn't know ofcourse.
As I'm looking at them I spot a familiar figure approach Lord Henry.it's him . I take a look at him and no matter how much I see or try to find a difference, he looks exactly the same as that dunderhead from my dreams.
As I'm looking at him he suddenly turns his head and we make eye contact and just for that moment I feel like we're the only ones here. Everyone else becomes noises. I do not know what this is called but I certainly don't enjoy this feeling.
I turn away and walk towards another direction trying to avoid him but I bump into someone. I don't turn around to see if Lord Vulcan is still looking. I simply apologize to the person I bumped into without even looking at their face. "Miss Vera? Pleasure to see you again" I recognize that voice. "Ah... Mr. Arjun, it's been a while" I greet him politely and he smiles. I look around to see if Mira is also with him but I don't find her anywhere.
"I'm hurt Miss Vera" Arjun says in a teasing tone. "Why so?" I ask in confusion. "You're always looking for Mira. Am I not good enough of a company for you? I heard you and Mira have been visiting each other often. It's a shame I'm mostly at work so I don't get to see you much" He says and that makes me giggle a little.
I play along with his little teasing game to distract my mind. "Well what can I say, your sister is infact more pleasure to be around and most importantly she doesn't try to flirt with me as a joke"
I say and he smiles "guilty as charged. Although if I ever make you uncomfortable do point it out Miss Vera" He says seriously and I appreciate it. "So where is Mira exactly?" I ask and he rolls his eyes. "you just only care about your friend now don't you?"
He says and I shamelessly nod making him laugh yet again. "She's over there having a pleasant chat with a friend of hers" He points towards the direction Mira is standing and I immediately smile looking at her. I look at Arjun with a little bit of guilt and then I look at her "it's fine Miss Vera just go to her" He says laughing and I'm grateful to him for not taking it to heart.
As I'm about to go to her someone suddenly comes in the field of my vision. "M'lady we need to talk" It's him. Calling me M'lady. I back away and hit Arjun yet again. "Is there any trouble Ms. Vera?" He asks sternly looking at Lord Vulcan. "No, no it's fine Thank you" I say and flee the scene by walking faster towards a secluded place in the garden so no one can come near me.
I sit against a tree wishing no one would disturb me anymore but ofcourse that's not possible.
I feel someone sit on the other side of tree but they don't say anything. I appreciate it. I sit there in silence for a while and so does the other person.Somehow I feel like it's him but I'm too afraid to confirm my suspicion. I don't know how long we spend just sitting there is silence.
"M'lady I'll wait"
I hear the person from the other side say and he immediately gets up after saying that. Something in me stirrs up and I get up to follow him. "Don't turn around" I say and he stops "is it really you?" I ask hoping he understands what I mean. I hear a sigh and then he says "yes M'lady" I knew it was him so I shouldn't be this shocked after he confirmed it himself but I am.
"How?" I ask and "I'll explain everything tonight M'lady" is all he says before walking away. Tonight when? In the dream? I suppose that's what he meant. I watch him walk back into the house along with people celebrating. He didn't even turn around once. Not that I wanted him to but...since when did he follow what I told him to do? I'm not disappointed just surprised at how he listens so well in real life.
The rest of the night was busy and ended quite quickly. As I arrive at my house my Mother looks rather pleased. I do not know why though. "I heard you are talking to some Lord Vulcan" She says cheerfully. "It's not like that. He's a friend of Lord Henry and I'm interested in his work that's all" I say trying to shrugg her off but of course she doesn't stop at that.
"Oh dear that's how great relationships start" She says and I roll my eyes. "Sure Mother" I mumble to myself and go into my room ready to fall asleep after being exhausted. Will he be there? I should hope so.
After falling asleep I find myself surrounded by a thick fogg and nothing else in sight. What is this scenario? "Father please don't leave us" I hear a child cry and I follow the voice.
It leads to a room where a sick man is lying on his bed surrounded by two children and a woman. These people. They're from the painting I saw at Lord Vulcan's house. Why am I having this dream? I didn't even know them at that age.
"Celeste don't cry, we will be fine and Father is not leaving us. He's just sick" The little boy says bravely although I can tell he also wishes to cry but is holding it together.
"Children your Father needs rest. It's time you leave him alone" The Mother says and the children nod. "Theodre" The sick man lying on bed calls the little boy towards him. "Remember that you will always be my pride and joy and Celeste my beautiful princess you're always perfect in my eyes" The scenario abruptly changes as if someone is changing it on will.
But I'm not the one changing it then how? "What's happening? It's my dream but I'm not the one controlling it?" I say to myself and my question is answered after a few moments. "That's because it's not your dream M'lady, it's mine"
I turn around to find that dunder- Lord Vulcan standing in front of me. "Whatever do you mean?" I ask with perplexion evident in my tone. "How am I in your dream? How is that possible?" I ask and my question is answered right next moment.
"Just like I have been in yours multiple times" He says simply like it's supposed to make sense. "That doesn't make any sense" I say and he smiles a little "Many things in this world don't, M'lady. You said you were fascinated by my work in psychology so you must understand that Human mind, conscious and subconscious are always mysteriously fascinating." It's true. I have always been fascinated by consciousness, human mind and mysterious meaning behind dreams so I nod in response.
"M'lady have you heard of hypnosis?" He asks and I remember that day in bakery he mentioned something similar. "I remember you mentioning it to those detectives" I say and he nods.
"Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness where the person is-" He stops in between the explanation and looks at me "M'lady would you prefer it if I showed you?" He asks and I nod. I would like to see what he's talking about.
"Very well" He says and the scenario starts to change and I suddenly find myself in a dark room where a person is lying on a bed comfortably and Lord Vulcan is sitting on the chair next to the person while holding a pendulum on top of the person. The person's eyes are following the pendulum and they seem like they're sleeping.
"What is happening to the person?" I ask and turn my head to right only to find him standing there leaning against the wall while crossing his arms. "This is my memory" He says and I look back at 'him' who's sitting on a chair performing this 'hypnosis' "so what exactly is going on" I ask and he tells me to focus on what I'm seeing.
The person lying on the bed looks dazed like he isn't in his right mind but he's also answering all the question lord Vulcan asks him like a machine with no awareness of anything else around him. "So this is hypnosis?" I ask and he nods.
"Yes M'lady. Through hypnosis a person can enter a different state of awareness and also revisit memories or answer any questions the person in control is asking" He says and it sounds fascinating that something like this is possible but "how is this related to anything that happened with us. The dreams I mean" I ask and he comes and stands next to me.
"M'lady hypnosis isn't just for revisiting old memories or asking questions. It can also be used in a dangerous way." He says and I'm suddenly even more curious "how?" He smiles and points towards the person lying on the bed. "He was my patient for a long time" He says and I nod
"it all started with him when in a hypno therapy session when he found himself in someone else's subconscious or you can say someone else's dream" I listen to him very carefully.
"At first I thought he was just dreaming but he wasn't able to control the dream despite the instructions I was giving him. If It was his own dream he should've been able to control it but he wasn't. Instead he tried to fight the person who's dream it was" I look at him with evident surprise on my face.
"Of course that didn't end well so I had to snap him out of the hypnosis" He says and I nod. "So what happened? How did you figure out that it was someone else's dream?" I ask and he smiles. "Ironically M'lady, the person whose dream he was in is my friend you know very well" My mind immediately goes to Lord Henry.
"Yes, it was Lord Henry. I met him next day for a chat and he briefly mentioned a weird dream he had the day Before and it sounded oddly familiar to what my patient had been saying during the session. That's when I started getting intrigued by the possibility of travelling through the realm of subconcious and people's dreams. It might not sound sane to others but to me it was fascinating" I hear him and as ridiculous as it sounds I myself find it intriguing.
"since I could always control my dreams I started trying to travel to other people's dreams to see if it was actually possible" I look at him and he smiles.
"I know any other normal person would let it go but I just couldn't" He says as if trying to convince me that he isn't normal. "I don't think you're weird for that" I say and he looks at me with a strange sort of look as if it's his first time hearing that.
"I would have done the same thing" He seems rather relaxed now that I've said that. "You really are a unique person M'lady" He says and I add "however... " His relaxed expression falters for a bit.
"Spying on other people's dreams is not a good thing." I say scolding him. "Yes M'lady I'm aware. I had only been doing it for experiments at first but then I started finding myself in random people's dreams. I couldn't control it for awhile but eventually I got a hang of it and I originally planned on stopping that one night but then I ended up in your dream."
He looks at me with an expression of....awe? "Most of the time people would be enjoying riches or having a loving marriage in their dreams but you M'lady were shooting men and that too with such rage, I couldn't help but be a little curious and intrigued by you" He says and I remember the first time I encountered him in my dream when I was letting out my rage.
"You could've told me you know" I say and he laughs in disbelief. "M'lady this sort of thing isn't exactly something that can be just said so easily" He says and I understand why he would think that.
Although I'm still mad at him. I remember all the times I've talked to him about Lord Vulcan as if he were someone else and he heard me out so intently. I suddenly feel nauseous and betrayed by him. I must have looked so funny to him. Acting like his fan or what not. He must have been laughing at me during those times.
My eyes widen further as I remember the time I told him I'd seduce Lord Vulcan and he laughed at me. Lord heavens all of a sudden I feel so embarrassed I want to crawl In a hole. I want to get away from him. He must've noticed the change in my demeanor as he started looking concerned. "M'lady are you feeling okay?" I don't respond and try to run away from him but there's no place to run away to since it's his dream but I don't care about that I just want to run.
As I'm trying to get away from him I feel the scenario of the dream change into a field and I feel relieved. I can run freely now, did he change the scenario on purpose? I run for a few moments and as I'm about to reach a tree I'm suddenly pulled back by someone. It's him. He's hugging me from behind. I don't know what to say so I don't say anything. He just holds me and rubs my arms gently as if trying to calm me down. He doesn't say anything until I've calmed down. "M'lady you can be as mad as you want at me but please never be embarrassed for being yourself. Not in front of me at least" He says and I feel a sense of calmness in me as if every bone in my body is telling me that I can trust him On that. Although it's a dream but what I feel is completely real.
"you were never too childish or too much for me. Even your silly ideas have a sense of uniqueness in them that I admire." He says and all the embarrassed I was feeling is starting to slip away little by little.
I turn around to finally face him. I take a good look at him for next few moments. His features sharp yet a little gentle in their own way, his light brown hair matching his eyes perfectly, his attire, everything. "No wonder I thought you weren't real" I mumble to myself. He hears it and smiles. "Whatever do you mean M'lady?" He asks and I sort of want to punch his perfect face so I do.
It's Not like it's going to hurt much in a dream "Woah okay I deserved that but you still haven't clarified what you meant by that M'lady" I realize he's actually serious. "I mean you look perfect and say perfect things so of course I thought my own mind created you" I say and I think I see him.... blush?
He looks away from me and tried to divert the topic. "Well M'lady another fun fact you should know about human mind is that it can not create new faces so it wouldn't be possible" He says and I nod.
"I have another question though" I say and he gives me all his attention yet again. "Yes M'lady? Anything" He says and I ask away "at the masquerade ball, did you know it was me?" I ask and he goes silent for a moment. "I had suspicions when we first got paired but the moment I got sure of it was during our dance" He says and I recall our dance. Even I felt a strange sense of familiarity with him at that time but I never would've thought that it was the dunderhead from my dream. "I see"
"But I didn't know you were Lord Henry's sister in law so I was as surprised as you that day in the garden. I figured you'd need time and space to process things so I stopped trying to contact you or visit you in the dreams" He says and I appreciate it.
"But M'lady if you don't mind me asking...." He says hesitantly. "Yes?" I urge him to go on but he still seems hesitant. "How are you acquainted with Mr. Rai?" He asks and I remember the encounter we had with him.
I was too caught up in my own emotions that I completely forgot about him. "He's a friend's brother, he helped me out a few times with some things so I'm grateful towards him" I say and I feel something change in him.
"Why? Is there anything wrong with that?" I ask and he changes his tone "Nothing M'lady. He's a friend and it's a good thing you're going out and making new friends. That's progress" He says but somehow I feel like he doesn't mean it. "I suppose so" I say without pointing the change in his tone out.
"But M'lady I thought you didn't like most Men" He says and he's correct. I don't. "It's true but Mr. Rai and his sister saved me after I got hurt on a street. It was entirely my own fault but they were kind enough to take me to their place and have me nursed. I'm mainly friends with his sister Mira but he also doesn't seem like a bad person. He's very gentle with his siter and protective over her and he helped me out multiple times so I suppose he isn't that bad of a man " I say and somehow I feel like he isn't liking this conversation anymore.
Does he dislike Mr. Rai? I remember Arjun mentioned that he found it absurd that a psychologist was called for help and even on that balcony he mentioned he disliked the idea of getting a psychologist involved so is it because of the cases that they do not get along? That must be it.
"Of course M'lady as long as he's helpful and kind to you and you're enjoying his company I suppose it's all good" He says and I can tell he doesn't mean those words. "M'lady have my sister Celeste ever told you how protective and gentle I am with her?" He asks and I'm confused at the sudden change of topic.
"She briefly mentioned it yes" I say and he smiles. "Now that we know each other I can also help you out with many things in real life too M'lady" He says and I appreciate the offer but I don't want to be much of a burden.
"That's kind of you but I wouldn't want to trouble you after all you're a busy man with cases to solve and estate to manage" I say and he looks confused as if not sure how I knew about his business. "Lord Henry briefly mentioned it" I say and he makes that expression of 'oh' which is kind of adorable.
"I remember you mentioning hypnosis to those two detectives in that bakery" I say and his attention is brought back to the case since I felt like he wasn't liking the previous conversation anymore "Yes M'lady I did" before I can ask why or how he starts the explanation himself. "I suspect that the victims of mysterious death cases are actually killed through hypnosis" He says and I am beyond speechless because what in the world?
"I suspect that the victims were put into deep hypnosis and their brains were wired to shut down the entire body and kill itself" He says and I'm absolutely horrified at the thought. "That is possible? Who would do something like that?" I say to myself.
"It's a mere possibility M'lady that is why no one is willing to believe me." I don't know what to say. "But wouldn't the other person have to be a psychologist or a hypno therapist too?" I ask and he nods. "There are very few people in london who are into this field so it's easy to find out all the psychologist but I fear it's not someone with the tag of a psychologist or a hypno therapist. It's just someone with the knowledge of it" He says and that makes more sense. "Knowledge can indeed be dangerous in hands of the wrong person" I say and he nods.
"But no matter how much I try, the police or court won't believe me and I have no leads whatsoever hence I'm tempted to give up since I've been losing a lot of sleep over these cases in last few weeks" I remember he looked tired even during the birthday celebration last night.
"You should rest more and you don't have to visit me in my dreams you know. Your health is more important" he smiles and says "You never have to worry about my health M'lady and you're not getting rid of me that easily" He jokes and I nudge him with my elbow. "One more thing" I say catching his attention. "Yes M'lady? "
"We're catching the person responsible for the deaths together"