A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 324

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

‘Darkness, then….’
That power only those of Sephrag bloodline could wield? The very ability Arsian despised and scorned most of all….
‘But….’
Had he truly used that power for her sake?
As he continued to check her over, searching for any sign of injury, Camilla found herself unable to suppress a faint smile.
“Ah, that’s right.”
She approached the child lying on one side. Fortunately, the child’s breathing had grown more steady than before.
“What about that child?”
“The one he tried to starve to death.”
….
At those words—that he had tried to starve the child—Arsian’s eyes grew glacial and cold.
In the same moment, the black veil of shadow rippled once, and the barrier containing the man contracted further.
“Ah, Aaron… Aaron!”
The child desperately struck at the dark veil with her small fists, calling the man’s name with pitiful urgency.
And watching the entire scene unfold, the young spirit’s eyes glistened with tears—unlike moments before.
“Sigh.”
Camilla exhaled softly. How was she supposed to deal with all of this?
‘…I’ll summon Habel.’
Let that creature handle the cleanup.
* * *
“Both are already dead, then.”
“Yes.”
Camilla gazed at the young girl sleeping on the bed—Aaron’s daughter, the vessel in which his dead wife’s spirit now dwelt.
The child’s body, unable to undergo the ritual in that cave and thus unable to gain new vitality, was decaying rapidly.
Holy power proved useless. Rather, it only accelerated the body’s decomposition.
‘Because it’s an unholy existence.’
A body that should have already rotted away and vanished.
‘Ah… it hurts… sob! It hurts…. Father… Father….’
Unable to bear the agony of her decaying body, Camilla had finally sedated the child with medicine.
Even as the child slept, the mother—unwilling to share in such suffering—did not claim the child’s flesh as she normally would.
‘And she calls herself a mother.’
It was wrong from the start, crawling into her own child’s body. These were beings unfit to be parents.
“I’ll take her.”
“That’s why I summoned you.”
Camilla regarded Reaper Habel with disdain.
“What is that look?”
“Do you know how many children are dead? Do you know what became of those souls?”
How exactly are you managing souls? All those children, bound to that creature Aaron—what have you Reapers been doing?
“The black ring.”
“The black ring?”
“What? You know about it too?” Camilla was startled to hear Habel mention the black ring that Aaron had used.
“That black ring was created long ago by an entity that once stood against the divine.”
“…Excuse me?”
Wait, wait. Why is this story suddenly becoming so grandiose? The divine? Why are we suddenly talking about the divine here?
“Of course, the one who opposed the divine has long since perished.”
“And?”
“The ring’s whereabouts became unknown, but we only just discovered it had been circulating in the human realm.”
“Can’t you just give me the conclusion?”
Why is this narrative so drawn out? I mean, what does the black ring have to do with you all failing to properly manage those children’s souls?
“A soul bound to the black ring disappears from the Registry of Fates.”
“…What?”
“It becomes an existence we cannot touch.”
Reaper Habel exhaled a silent sigh before continuing.
“A soul bound to the black ring is no longer a soul.”
“If it’s not a soul?”
“A tool.”
“…A tool?”
“Merely a tool bound to the black ring and wielded by it. Since it’s been erased from the Registry of Fates, we Reapers cannot even perceive its existence, let alone retrieve it.”
“….”
At Reaper Habel’s explanation, Camilla clicked her tongue softly. So that’s why Arena’s divine power couldn’t purify it.
Only then did Camilla understand why the child who had come to curse her had been annihilated rather than purified.
‘Then what about the child? What happens to that child?’
The child was different.
A child who, knowing nothing, died by her father’s hand and was forced to accept her mother’s soul.
‘Ugh, that older brother tormented our father in my dreams….’
A child who regarded everything she witnessed while her body was being stolen as merely a dream—a child who didn’t even know she had died once.
[Aah… Aaaah! No, no! I hate this!]
Sara, the soul clinging to the child’s body, trembled and screamed as Reaper Habel reached out.
[Anna! Anna! Protect this mother! Please… please!]
She thrashed desperately, trying not to separate from the child’s body.
[Aaaah! Aaaaah! No, no!]
But ultimately, she was torn from the child’s body by Habel’s power, and in that instant, countless hands erupted from beneath her feet.
[Kyaaaah!]
Black hands seized and wrenched her entire body. She too was bound for Hell.
“….”
Camilla watched the scene with indifference. Surely she hadn’t agreed to her child’s death thinking that the mother parasitizing that body would die and go to a better place?
‘The problem is….’
…It’s that child after all.
Anna, trembling with fear as she watched her mother being dragged into Hell, was weeping.
[Mom… Mom….]
…Even calling that a mother. A short sigh escaped from Camilla’s lips.
“What’s going to happen to that child?”
That child was also a soul bound to the black ring, wasn’t it?
Unlike other souls, she hadn’t lost her sense of self or been reduced to a mere tool, but she still used the power of the black ring, didn’t she?
“I’ll take her with me.”
“Is that possible?”
Now that I think about it, that child’s mother wasn’t annihilated either—she was dragged to Hell? She was also a soul who used the black ring, wasn’t she?
“Those two souls were never used as tools. They never disappeared from the Registry of Fates.”
It was simply that the Reapers couldn’t locate those souls’ positions, much like the souls whose bodies were stolen by the Eba Cult.
“Is that so?”
Yet Camilla remained deeply concerned about the child. She was curious about what would become of her.
Fortunately, the child hadn’t been dragged to Hell, but what if she were punished for the sins her parents had committed?
After all, the dead had been forcibly bound to a physical body. It was an act that defied the natural order.
“Those above are not fools.”
Reaper Habel, discerning what Camilla was worried about, continued in an indifferent tone.
“They do not punish the innocent without cause.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Reaper Habel turned away from Camilla and approached the child, who was still weeping.
Seeing this, Camilla let out a short sigh. That stoic fool is probably making the child cry even harder, isn’t he?
‘Calling out her name like, “You’re dead, so come with me,” or something like that.’
He does it every time, doesn’t he? Telling her the time of death and asking her to follow.
Whoosh.
“…?”
Camilla’s eyes widened slightly as she watched the two of them with concern.
Was Habel—that stubborn fool—actually kneeling on one knee before the child? And was that a gentle smile playing at the corners of his mouth?
A smile? That man could smile?
“Isn’t it too cold here? Would you like to go somewhere warm with me?”
…Who are you?
“Will you come with me, mister?”
…Who are you, exactly?
Camilla stared blankly at Habel as he gently extended his hand toward the child, her mouth hanging open.
That man could smile like that? He could speak in such a gentle tone?
‘What the—’
Camilla found herself screaming internally over and over.
[…Somewhere warm?]
The child had stopped crying and was now gazing quietly at Habel.
“Yes, somewhere warm.”
[…And it won’t hurt?]
“No.”
[….]
Habel waited without speaking or moving, as if giving the child time to make her choice.
He simply kept his hand extended toward her, his face graced with a gentle smile.
A soft whisper of movement.
At last, the child carefully took Habel’s hand. He tenderly stroked her hair before rising to his feet.
“Let’s go.”
He turned away with a final brief farewell to me, his expression returning to its usual cold demeanor as if he’d never smiled at all.
‘…Does he have a split personality?’
Or was it like Jekyll and Hyde? The Hulk? I felt like I’d just watched a movie.
I stared blankly for a long while as Reaper Habel and the child departed, their hands clasped tenderly together, until they vanished completely from sight. Only then did I let out a small laugh.
“By the way, I wonder if the little one has woken up?”
Shortly after, I hurried away from that spot and headed outside.

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