My Husband Lives Inside a Painting Chapter 21

The list of adopters.

It was densely packed with the identities of certain clients and personal information about children whose transactions had already been completed.

Camille frowned in disbelief.

“……How could you do something like this? Buying and selling children from an orphanage!”

“C-Camille!”

Gail clung to his trouser leg, desperately pouring out excuses.

“I-I never intended for things to turn out this way! I just wanted the children to go live in good homes……!!”

“If that had truly been your intention, you shouldn’t have gone about it like this.”

Camille seemed to be learning about the existence of illegal adoptions for the first time.

His eyes trembled sadly with disbelief, overwhelmed by the shock.

“I…… never imagined you could be this kind of person.”

“C-Camille!”

Even after facing such an ugly truth, Camille’s kind nature remained unchanged. He was still trying to leave Gail one last way out.

“I’ll give you a week. Shut down the entire operation within that time.”

“……A-a week?”

“But I’ll be taking this list with me. I’ll take responsibility for bringing the children back.”

“What? No!”

‘Without that client list, my next transaction will be in trouble!’

Watching Camille walk away with the stack of documents, disappearing without a trace, Gail clutched at his hair.

‘Damn it, that was the only lifeline I had left to cover the merchant guild’s losses!’

Guilt?

For a businessman like him, such an inconvenient emotion had been absent from birth.

Then—

‘Hm? What’s that……?’

As he sat on the floor, a single document that had somehow escaped detection caught his eye.

“Anne-Marie. Seventeen years old……”

Right. There was a buyer looking for a child around that age. And a regular customer who would pay a very high price, at that.

“J-Just one more time, then I’ll quit. That much should be fine, right?”

With that careless self-justification, Gail reached out to the illegal adoption business once more.

But it wasn’t long before Camille caught him red-handed again.

And this time, it happened right at Camille’s birthday banquet.

“……You got involved in it again.”

“I-I’m sorry! I really thought this would be the last time! I swear I’ll never do it again!”

“…….”

“……C-Camille?”

The moment Gail’s eyes met Camille’s, he froze in place.

That look of contempt, as though he were gazing at something less than human, was colder and more unfamiliar than any gaze Gail had ever encountered.

“I’ll be formally referring this matter to trial.”

“W-what?”

“I won’t be entrusting the charity supply business to you anymore, either. Nor will I entrust Pistachio Merchant Guild with anything else from now on.”

“W-wait. Camille, Camille!”

“I’ve already lost my trust in you. Both as a friend and as a business partner.”

“A-ah……!!”

As he stared at the pink-haired figure walking away without a second glance, Gail saw an illusion of everything crumbling around him.

‘I-I can’t let him leave like this! Absolutely not!’

Gail frantically scanned his surroundings.

That was when he spotted a large porcelain vase.

“……!”

His hand, stripped of reason, seized it in a tight grip. And then……

Crash—!

“……Hah.”

That was the last image Gail remembered of Camille.

 

***

 

“Gail, Gail!”

“H-huh?”

Gail, lost in thought as he recalled the not-so-distant past, raised his head a beat too late.

The sound of cicadas rang in his ears like a hallucination beneath the scorching sun.

“……Ah, sorry. What did you say?”

He had been resting against the safe for several hours. With not a single patch of shade in sight, this place was practically designed to make someone lose consciousness.

“I said I’d look around the area. I wanted to see if there were any clues about the password.”

“Clues?”

“That’s right. You said you didn’t know it either, didn’t you? But we can’t just give up and do nothing.”

“Ah.”

He remembered what had just happened. In order to escape this place, Camille had been trying to find the safe’s password.

“Hmm……”

Gail pretended to ponder the matter as he stole a glance at Camille’s face.

‘But why the hell isn’t this bastard sweating even a single drop? Why am I always the only one……?’

Even the smallest things made him jealous. But he didn’t let it show.

Meanwhile, Camille stood before him, looking perfectly at ease, seemingly thinking of nothing but waiting for Gail’s answer.

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll guard the safe.”

“Good. It might take a while. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Don’t worry about me. Go on.”

With those final words, Camille left.

Left alone, Gail plopped down in front of the safe and took a moment to catch his breath.

‘Still, does he really not remember what happened at the banquet?’

He was still suspicious, but judging by Camille’s reactions so far, it was clear he knew nothing.

The very fact that someone who had died had come back to life was beyond common sense. But after speaking with him directly, there was no room left to deny it.

‘I’ll think about that after I get out of this painting.’

Quite some time passed after that. But when Camille still hadn’t returned, Gail’s attention naturally drifted elsewhere.

To the dark blue safe he had been leaning against.

“……The password, huh.”

He hadn’t noticed it when he saw it from outside the painting, but upon closer inspection, it was the same model as the one he’d kept in his old office.

Suppressing an inexplicably uneasy feeling, Gail turned the dial.

Click—

“……!”

A gap appeared in the safe’s door.

Unable to hide his astonishment, Gail stood frozen for a moment before cautiously reaching for the handle. Just then—

“Gail, I looked everywhere, but there don’t seem to be any clues about the password.”

“…….”

“Nothing happened while I was gone, did it?”

Camille’s voice came from behind him.

Gail pushed the safe door shut and said nothing.

‘What was inside? I haven’t even had a chance to check!’

Now that he had discovered the safe could be opened with the password he used himself, everything had changed.

‘If he finds out what’s inside, it’s all over!’

There were countless documents in Gail’s safe that he couldn’t even bring himself to speak of.

After Camille’s death, he had reached into even deeper, darker corners of the underworld.

‘I absolutely cannot let Camille see them!’

If Camille discovered that he had gotten involved in illegal dealings once again, Gail had no idea what he might do this time.

“Did you open the safe?”

“No! Of course not!”

“That’s a shame. I was hoping you might have.”

Gail desperately composed his expression and forced the corners of his mouth upward.

Then—

“By the way, something occurred to me while I was looking around.”

Camille plopped down beside him as casually as could be and continued.

“Have you ever heard the legend associated with sunflowers?”

“……What?”

The ground shimmered with heat, as though summer had reached its very peak.

“You see, when sunflowers grow too large, they eventually become unable to bear their own weight. Their stems snap, and they die. It’s because their flowers have grown too heavy.”

“…….”

Gail offered no response, making it seem as though he were listening to Camille’s monologue.

“The flower symbolizes love and devotion, but apparently, it also means admiration…… Isn’t that rather ironic?”

“What’s ironic about it?”

“The way they follow the one they admire, only to meet their death in the end.”

Gail had been avoiding Camille’s eyes, but at those final words, he looked at him without thinking.

The moment he met those lifeless eyes, devoid of even a glimmer of light, Gail instinctively realized the truth.

‘……This bastard. He knew everything all along.’

Now that he had been found out completely, there was only one option left.

And while the first time was difficult, the second was easy.

“You son of a bitch!”

Crash!

Gail lunged at him like a beast, pressing his rough palm hard against that snow-white throat.

“Kh……!”

Even as Camille struggled to claw his hand away, Gail only tightened his grip.

“Die! Just die!”

He could vividly feel the gasping breaths beneath his hand as Camille struggled for air. An inexplicable thrill washed over him.

“Hah…… Hah…… Hahaha!”

The convulsive trembling gradually subsided, and Camille’s body crumpled limply among the yellow flowers.

“You looked down on me. Constantly! Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Hatred poured out over the unresponsive body.

“Hypocrites like you deserve to die. You deserve it! Because, because you were even more…… than me……!!”

He abruptly stopped speaking when he realized there was no one left to hear him.

“Haa……”

Standing dazed before the corpse of a man who had died twice, Gail struggled to suppress his ragged breathing.

It was then that a chill settled over him from behind.

“Oh. So that’s how it was.”

Like a melted clockwork doll, Gail’s head turned mechanically.

‘……Huh?’

Camille was standing there. Looking utterly unruffled.

“So that’s why you killed me?”

“……Y-you. Why are you……”

It was strange.

He had been jealous of Camille, but never once had he felt afraid of him.

‘I clearly just used these hands to……’

Gail turned his head again. The corpse he had just killed was gone.

“……!”

Gail, his face drained of color, stared at the resurrected Camille.

“Looks like I’m suited for this sort of thing after all.”

“……What?”

“I’m having so much fun right now.”

Camille’s cheeks flushed red, as though he were looking forward to something. Then he reached into the thick cluster of flowers and pulled something out.

It was a gigantic shovel.

“My wife used this. It was hidden among the flowers. I wonder when she prepared it…… Honestly, it’s adorable how she tries to hide her true feelings.”

“……W-wait, Camille.”

“Anyway, shall we switch roles now?”

Camille beamed as he raised the shovel high above his head.

“Tag, you’re i~t!”