A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 232

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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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Laila and Elisha rushed over to Camilla, clinging to either side of her and whimpering. They had been so terrified, they insisted—big sister absolutely must not go in there.
“We were even more frightened, Elisha. Laila, do you perhaps engage in some form of physical training?”
“I thought I was going to be beaten to death in there.”
Watching the two of them, Petro and Jewela shook their heads in exasperation, their expressions betraying utter disbelief.
They made silent vows never again to enter such a place with those two.
A moment later.
“Uhhhhh….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“Uh…uh…?”
The woman in ghost makeup who had greeted Camilla’s group in the first room faltered upon seeing four people who offered no reaction whatsoever.
Having gained confidence from watching Elisha and Laila cry out in terror at her ghost performance moments before, she now found herself hesitating and taking a step backward at the utterly unmoved expressions of Arsian and Camilla.
“Uh… uh….”
“Sister, why is that sister crying?”
“…It hurts.”
“Really?”
Even so, the woman could not stop making crying sounds until she met Rio’s worried gaze, at which point she finally had to cease.
“Sister, does it hurt a lot?”
Rio gazed at the woman in ghost makeup with eyes that looked ready to cry at any moment.
It had been too dark to see clearly before, but now that he drew closer, he could see blood trickling down her head—it truly looked like it hurt terribly.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Oh, no… just a little….”
The woman found herself responding without thinking, and in that instant she realized her mistake, but she simply could not ignore those eyes that threatened to spill tears at any second.
“Here, take these.”
“Huh? Oh… thank you…?”
True to her nature as a candy evangelist, Rio pressed handfuls of sweets into the woman’s hands, and the ghost actress could only manage an awkward smile.
“Please get yourself treated.”
“Mm….”
And so she had to wave goodbye to Rio as he departed, his eyes brimming with concern until the very end.
After that, Camilla’s group’s tour through the Haunted House proceeded very quietly and smoothly.
“Grraaahhh!”
“….”
“Gr…ah? Oh… hehe, the stamp is over there.”
There was one who burst out from the closet with a terrible shriek, only to immediately reveal the location of the hidden stamp upon meeting Arsian’s murderous gaze.
“Uhhhhh….”
“Brother, would you like some candy?”
“…Huh? Oh, yes, thank you. Should I stamp your card?”
“Yes!”
Some even brought their own stamps to mark Rio’s candy attacks.
“But Camilla…”
“Hmm?”
“Is the Haunted House a place where sick people are?”
“…Yes.”
It wasn’t wrong, after all. Those whose hearts ached so deeply they couldn’t leave this world became spirits.
“I see.”
Rio nodded vigorously, as if understanding at last. It was the moment the Haunted House transformed into a hospital in his mind.
“Sister, that looks like the last Classroom! Can I go get the stamp?”
“You want to?”
Rio dashed eagerly toward the final Classroom with an excited expression.
Still worried about letting him go alone, Arsian quietly followed the boy.
“…”
As naturally as it happened, only the two of us remained, and Camilla’s gaze turned toward Sena. Our eyes met, and the child immediately looked away.
“Sena.”
At my call, the child carefully lifted her head.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
Recalling how the child had been unable to tear her gaze away from me since our first meeting, I gazed intently into Sena’s eyes.
“…”
But the child remained silent. Could she truly not speak?
My gaze shifted to where her wrist was—the place concealed beneath layers of clothing.
I had certainly seen it when I first met the child.
Bruises visible here and there through the gaps of her loose garments. A sight far too familiar.
“Hiding and simply enduring isn’t the answer.”
The child’s appearance—keeping her lips sealed, deliberately shutting out any connection with others—resembled someone I knew all too well, and I found myself exhaling a quiet sigh.
Recalling what had come of all that endurance and solitary concealment, I gently stroked the child’s hair.
As if soothing a version of my former self.
“…”
At my touch, the child’s eyes widened slightly, and those expressionless eyes began to tremble ceaselessly with emotion.
“Shall we go as well?”
Watching Rio return in the distance with the stamp in hand, I took the first step forward.
Tug.
“…?”
But a small hand gently grasped the hem of my garment. I stopped and looked down.
Deep green eyes gazing intently at me.
Those eyes seemed to hold so much to say, so I lowered my head slightly to meet her gaze more closely.
“…I…”
In that moment, sound flowed from Sena’s lips for the first time.
Her voice reached my ears with a crystalline resonance, and I barely suppressed the gasp of wonder that threatened to escape.
And at the brief question that followed, I could only be astonished.
“You… don’t remember, do you?”
* * *
“It was really, really terrifying….”
“I thought I was going to faint.”
Rio, who had emerged in record time and received a teddy bear, was regarded with considerable envy by Elisha and Laila.
That plush toy was one we had recommended as a prize. We had chosen the cutest one, thinking we would be the ones to receive it….
“Especially the third room!”
“That’s right! The third room! That female ghost whose head was just floating around!”
“I nearly collapsed right there.”
“That was something Arsian set up with magic, wasn’t it?”
The two of them, who had decided to have dinner together and were moving to another location, simultaneously turned to regard Arsian with expressions of admiration.
“A ghost with only its head floating?”
But Arsian’s reaction was somewhat strange.
He, who had cast all the magic used in the Haunted House, shook his head as if hearing this for the first time.
“I never cast anything like that.”
“Huh?”
“No, but…? In that third room over there. There was definitely a ghost with only its head floating….”
“I’m telling you, I never did that.”
“I didn’t see it either.”
“Was there something like that?”
Following Arsian’s firm statement, even Jewela and Petro, who had entered together, tilted their heads in confusion.
“….”
“….”
Elisha and Laila’s gazes met.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Screams erupted simultaneously from the mouths of the two, whose faces had grown progressively pale.
Watching the two of them, I clicked my tongue softly to myself.
‘So they did see that ghost.’
One of the many reasons I dislike places like the Haunted House.
‘It’s because real ghosts tend to gather where people talk about ghosts and think about them a lot.’
Should I call it the power of words and thoughts? Or would it be most accurate to say that negative energy accumulates?
Ghosts eagerly flock to the negative energy summoned by fear.
Not everyone sees ghosts, but sometimes cases like this occur. The heightened spiritual sensitivity from extreme fear aligns with the ghost’s wavelength, allowing them to catch a glimpse of the ghost for a brief moment.
‘Still, I’m relieved.’
That they only saw one.
I gazed at the Haunted House, which had already receded into the distance, with fresh perspective.
Watching the ghosts pressed against various spots on the windows, waving their hands toward me with great enthusiasm, I gently shook my head.

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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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