A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 208

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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According to Camilla, the true soul whose body was stolen cannot leave that body and remains attached to it.
‘How do you know that fact so well?’
‘Ah, I, I saw it in a dream. A kind of revelation, you see. Haha.’
As Duke Sefra nodded, the gazes of the two dukes grew even colder.
Though they called themselves close friends, the two who had spent so long with Duke Sefra knew he possessed the ability to sense the spirits of the dead.
‘So it really is Prince Abihel.’
A palpable killing intent suddenly emanated from the three dukes.
Those on Empress Javela’s side rushed forward upon witnessing this.
“What are you doing right now?”
“How dare you! Prince Abihel will soon ascend to the throne!”
“The throne?”
Duke Sorpel repeated the words as if bewildered, and one of them flinched but continued speaking.
“There is a will bearing His Majesty’s seal. It states that the throne is to be passed to Prince Abihel, the Second Prince!”
Despite the countless cries around them, the three dukes’ gazes never left Prince Abihel.
Finding their stares unbearably uncomfortable, he averted his eyes slightly.
“The Eba Cult has resurfaced.”
“Pardon?”
“What are you suddenly saying?”
“The Eba Cult…!”
At Duke Sorpel’s sudden remark, everyone present furrowed their brows. Only Empress Javela and Prince Abihel wore expressions of shock.
“You all know well what the Eba Cult is.”
“They are beings that sustain their lives by stealing the lives of others.”
“Furthermore, it seems they also steal people’s bodies.”
“What do you mean!”
Their initial shock quickly gave way to displeasure spreading across their faces.
The Eba Cult, which had vanished so long ago, suddenly reappearing—was this not absurdly untimely?
“I don’t understand what you three are saying…!”
“There is one among us right now whose body has been stolen by a member of the Eba Cult.”
Only then did those who grasped why the three dukes were emanating such a lethal aura experience a sudden change in their expressions.
And when they noticed the three dukes’ gazes still fixed upon Prince Abihel and Empress Javela, they gasped in shock once more.
“Surely you are not suspecting those two!”
Marquis Duriel, Empress Javela’s father, stepped forward and openly displayed his fury.
“No matter that you call yourselves Guardian Houses, to act so disrespectfully without evidence! You will pay the appropriate price for this!”
“Indeed. The Eba Cult! What nonsense are you spouting!”
“It seems you three wish to side with traitors. If you were to make accusations, you should have brought something concrete. The Eba Cult? How absurd.”
As the Marquis stepped forward, the others who had been flustered hastily rallied to his side and cried out.
These were people who ordinarily wouldn’t dare speak a word before the three dukes, but circumstances were different now.
This was the moment a new Emperor would ascend to the throne. They needed to make their mark properly!
Moreover, the claims of the Eba Cult’s appearance and stolen bodies seemed utterly preposterous.
“On what grounds are you making such accusations? This is an insult to the Imperial Court!”
Empress Javela seized the moment and shouted with all her might toward the three Dukes.
“I’m curious how you can say such things with Shinsu present.”
“…!”
But at Duke Sorpel’s next words, Empress Javela’s body flinched instinctively.
Seeing this, Duke Sorpel clicked his tongue briefly. His gaze swept rapidly across the surroundings.
There were likely members of the Eba Cult among those present.
Some might have had their bodies stolen like Prince Abihel, but there were also those who had willingly followed them and entered the Imperial Palace from the start.
“Ahem!”
Everyone hurried to avoid his piercing gaze. No matter how much a new era had dawned, the three Dukes remained the three Dukes.
“Shinsu, you say!”
But at that moment, someone raised their voice again—it was Marquis Duriel.
“Don’t you know that Shinsu must never be summoned within the Imperial Palace under any circumstances! That itself is treason!”
I cannot retreat here under any circumstances.
Now that my grandson has inherited the throne, I must fasten the first button correctly to strengthen imperial authority!
Marquis Duriel glared at Duke Sorpel with resolute eyes.
“I shall present that evidence.”
At that moment, a voice pierced through the ears of all present, and everyone’s gaze turned toward the Hall entrance.
Footsteps.
Entering swiftly was none other than Camilla.
“Evidence? What evidence?”
Marquis Duriel’s brow furrowed repeatedly. He was well aware that there had been much talk about her lately.
‘They say she awakened the Guardian Sword?’
Is that why the Eba Cult is being mentioned?
If she were to draw what they claimed as evidence—the Guardian Sword—he had planned to mock her thoroughly.
Marquis Duriel possessed considerable knowledge about the Eba Cult.
The Guardian Sword held by the Jebillen Family had prompted his own House Duriel to exert tremendous effort in searching for one as well.
In fact, even now it was so, but his ancestors had been even more desperate. They needed the Guardian Sword to keep pace with the Duke’s House that possessed Shinsu.
Yet in the end, even the Guardian Sword had chosen the Jebillen Family over his own House.
Of course, they had only found the sword and had never actually wielded its true power.
‘At least that was some consolation.’
But recently, someone had awakened the dormant sword, and upon hearing that this person was the daughter of the Sorpel Family, Marquis Duriel could only gnash his teeth in frustration.
Why did everything fall into the hands of the three Dukes alone! How could things be so unfair!
In any case, House Duriel possessed more information about the Eba Cult than most other places.
So he knew well. Finding members of the Eba Cult was never easy.
‘It should absolutely never happen!’
Even if there were Eba Cult members present as they claimed, there would be no way to expose them, even if they truly were his daughter and grandson.
‘Without the Mirror of Truth.’
He also knew that the Mirror of Truth was not an object but a person.
He had once happened upon an old record mentioning that one of Mars’s former companions had been the Mirror of Truth.
‘Evidence? Proof? How?’
Marquis Duriel wore a contemptuous smile. He was certain that both mother and daughter would be shamed and forced to retreat from this place.
They seemed to have come here relying solely on the Sorpel Family’s power, but he had no intention of backing down this time.
‘Holy power?’
He’d heard that Camilla possessed holy power as well. Was she planning to unleash that?
Even so, it didn’t matter. Holy power was of little use in identifying members of the Eba Cult anyway.
In the meantime, Camilla had already come to a stop before Empress Javela.
Meeting the eyes of Empress Javela, who was struggling to maintain her composure, Camilla slowly opened her mouth.
“When an Eba Cultist who has seized another’s body hears their true name spoken aloud, they are expelled from that vessel.”
“W-what are you…!”
Empress Javela’s eyes widened rapidly. The Eba Cultists themselves likely didn’t know this fact either.
Dorman’s sister, who had once read true names and possessed the Mirror of Truth, had only ever used that ability to distinguish Eba Cultists from others.
Unless one was a Reaper, calling out a true name would produce no particular effect.
But…
“Selena May.”
I was different.
“Ugh!”
As her true name spilled forth, Empress Javela stumbled backward by a step.
But Camilla called out once more, with perfect clarity.
“Selena, May.”
“Ah, no…!”
Empress Javela’s face drained of color as if she sensed something wrong, her mouth opening as if to scream.
But the spirit inhabiting Empress Javela’s body was expelled even faster.
[No, this can’t be happening!]
Empress Javela—or rather, Selena—who had confirmed she was now merely a spirit again, shrieked incessantly.
Watching the body she had vacated rapidly decay.
‘I had already confirmed it.’
From whom? From Reaper Habel.
When Habel came to me to reveal the true name of whoever had seized Empress Javela’s body, I asked him just to be sure.
‘If someone recently had their body stolen, does the spirit remain intact even after being expelled?’
‘Are you asking if it decays and disappears without rotting away?’
‘Yes.’
‘Once the original spirit leaves the body, the flesh becomes as dead. A new spirit merely wears the husk like a mask.’
Though it may appear intact on the surface, from the moment the original spirit separates from the flesh, the body begins to decompose.
The instant the spirit inhabiting it departs, that decay erupts outward all at once.
‘So that’s why Lania too…’
Her body had rotted away and vanished in an instant.
‘And Empress Javela?’
Hadn’t considerable time already passed since her body was stolen?
Unlike with Lania, she wouldn’t completely decompose and crumble away, but…
“Gasp!”
“W-what is that?!”
“T-the Empress!”
People screamed. From Empress Javela’s body, which had collapsed onto the floor, a stench of decay wafted through the air.
It was impossible not to be shocked—a person who had been perfectly alive just moments before had become like this in an instant.
“This… what is this…?”
Marquis Duriel, Empress Javela’s father, was the most devastated of all.
His mouth hung open uselessly, unable to form proper words. Why had his daughter, who had been fine just moments ago, become like this?
“Did you… did you do this?!”
Only after a long moment did his gaze turn toward me.
One thought flashed through his mind: that I had done something to his daughter.
As he moved as if to rush forward, the three Dukes stepped in front of him to block his path.
But I held them back and stepped forward.
“I just explained this to you.”
I took a step closer to Marquis Duriel.
“When someone possessed by the Eba Cult has their true name called, the spirit withdraws from them. And…”
My gaze flickered toward the corpse of Empress Javela.
“The body decays like this.”
“That’s impossible!”
Marquis Duriel could not accept it. His mind screamed that her words were true, yet he could not bring himself to accept them.
“How could you know that! A true name?! How could you possibly know such a thing?!”
“Because I…”
I paused briefly, then turned my head. My gaze shifted toward Duke Sorpel.
I had not yet revealed this truth, even as I had shared so many other facts.
“I am the Mirror of Truth.”
Watching Duke Sorpel’s eyes widen further, a bitter smile crossed my lips.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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