Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

"This is a special version that Mr. Durin showed me; you mustn't tell anyone," Astrid warned Una before choosing to return to her own room.


Once back in her room, she lay on the bed with a face full of sorrow.


During the Seven Hills holiday, she had read the original and also the novel—a profound tragedy where the lovers could not come together and even in the years to come were unable to meet.


After returning to her country, the woman voluntarily entered a Monastery and never left for the rest of her life; the man remained unmarried, and after retiring, his whereabouts were unknown.


They adored each other but ultimately couldn't end up together.


I was really so foolish, how could I have been deceived by the books mentioned by my aunt? Mr. Durin clearly knew but did nothing to intervene.


He was testing me! Testing the lost lamb named Astrid.


But Astrid failed the test! She betrayed the trust!


Burying her face in the soft pillow, the girl's heart screamed within.


Chapter 58: The Same Story