A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 348

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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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“Just asking on the off chance, with zero expectations—you’re not thinking of turning yourself in, are you?”
“Turn myself in?! What on earth would I confess to!”
“Five children starved to death.”
When I saw them before, there was only one. It seems the number has grown considerably since then.
“…!”
Cheon Bosal’s eyes widened once more.
‘How could she possibly know?’
Could it be she could see the spirits of the dead? Did she possess spiritual sight?!
Only then did Cheon Bosal begin to grasp Camilla’s true nature. She was someone with spiritual power, just like herself!
“Don’t confess. If you’re unlucky, your sentence might actually decrease.”
I’ll uncover every crime you’ve committed, one way or another. I reached out my hand toward the bewildered Cheon Bosal.
Whoooosh!
Light flowed from my hand. The moment Cheon Bosal saw it, she instinctively felt fear and tried to flee. Of course, the bracelet rendered her completely immobile.
Swish.
“Don’t, don’t do this!”
I brought my hand, radiating sacred power, toward Cheon Bosal’s eyes. As my hand drew closer, deeper terror welled up in her gaze.
“Ugh… ugh…!”
There was no pain. Rather, a warm energy seeped through her entire body.
Yet Cheon Bosal felt a chill run down her spine, and cold sweat streamed down her face.
She could feel the energy that had filled her body—the spiritual power she had painstakingly accumulated over so long—vanishing with almost absurd speed.
“This… this can’t be real.”
Moments later, as I stepped back and Cheon Bosal opened her eyes, she simply collapsed to the ground.
“I can’t see….”
She could see nothing. She felt no aura from the people around her, and the spirits bound to her were completely invisible.
Her spiritual sight had simply closed, leaving her an ordinary person.
“Ah… aaaahhh! Ugh….”
A piercing scream tore from Cheon Bosal’s lips as she sat collapsed on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes.
Everything she possessed had crumbled in an instant. She felt hollow and helpless. She couldn’t believe this situation was real.
“You said you didn’t want your daughter to suffer, didn’t you?”
I made my way toward Chairman Choi and his wife, Lee Suyeon.
“Ugh… haa… haa….”
Mari Choi, nestled in Lee Suyeon’s arms, was still struggling under the torment of the malevolent spirit.
“Then those two can bear that pain instead.”
“What?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Arsian.”
To the confused questions of the two who couldn’t understand at all, I simply called Arsian quietly instead of answering.
Then black energy rapidly bloomed from his hand and seeped directly into the two of them.
“…!”
Though they could see nothing, Chairman Choi and Lee Suyeon trembled at the inexplicable, desolate sensation that washed over them.
Ssshhk— shhk—
Moments later, the malevolent spirit that had been tearing into Mari Choi ceased its assault and crept slowly toward the two adults. Seeing this, Camilla smiled faintly to herself.
‘Arsian was right.’
It was exactly the reaction I had anticipated.
‘There are two kinds of darkness.’
‘Two kinds?’
‘Pure darkness possesses sacred power. That’s why it annihilates impurity and prevents it from drawing near.’
‘And the other?’
‘Dregs.’
‘Dregs?’
‘Darkness formed from the accumulated refuse—the filth filtered out and discarded from sacred darkness. Impure entities go mad for it.’
What Arsian had just unleashed was precisely that corrupted darkness, those dregs. As expected, the malevolent spirit moved toward Chairman Choi and Lee Suyeon as though it had discovered delectable prey.
And then….
“Ugh… uuuaaahhh!”
“Kyaaaaaahhh!”
It began tearing into both of them in turn. They were now experiencing together every ounce of agony that Mari Choi had endured.
“How touching—sharing pain as a family. Truly a close-knit household.”
Camilla’s gaze drifted toward Mari Choi with a light click of her tongue.
Released from the spirit’s torment, she had already lost consciousness—whether from shock or exhaustion, it was difficult to say.
‘Yes, rest well for now.’
Once that darkness has consumed everything, it will return to you.
The darkness Arsian had infused into those two was finite. Once the malevolent spirit had devoured it all, it would inevitably cycle back to its original host—Mari Choi.
“I… ugh… what is… krgh!”
“Haa… what have you done… what have you done to us… gahhh…!”
“I did warn you. Since you both seemed so eager to distribute your daughter’s suffering to others, I simply obliged.”
Camilla crouched down to meet their eyes, then withdrew something from her pocket and handed it to them.
It was a small glass vial. Inside, a considerable number of tiny black stones—no larger than a baby’s fingernail—were contained.
“Whenever you wish to share in your daughter’s agony, feel free to consume these. Then you can experience the same torment once more.”
They were manifestations of Arsian’s dark energy, solidified into tangible form.
Camilla was deeply curious whether these two would continue seeking to bear their daughter’s suffering in the future.
‘Perhaps they’ll try to bribe others to consume it instead.’
Wasn’t it the nature of the wealthy to solve everything with money? If they offered payment and asked someone to eat it, there might be takers.
‘But that will prove difficult.’
Camilla intended to hand over all the footage and photographs she had just recorded to a journalist from the Social Affairs Department.
That reporter was infamous for being a relentless fanatic who, once she sank her teeth into a story, would never let go regardless of orders from above—she would certainly conduct a thorough investigation and expose everything about Chairman Choi and Mari Choi.
‘As for what comes after, the people will judge.’
How would others perceive the scene of Cheon Bosal raising her blade to murder the maid, with the Choi family huddled together before her?
‘Now the real problem is them….’
Camilla’s gaze turned toward the corner of the underground chamber.
As Cheon Bosal’s divine power—constructed from impure energy—dissipated entirely, the Child Spirits, freed from their bindings, huddled together in that shadowed space.
‘What am I supposed to do with them?’
A short sigh escaped my lips.
* * *
“It’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Those children—they’re different from the ones I saw in the Other World.”
I had left Chairman Choi’s House, bringing only Cheon Bosal with me, still bound by the bracelet.
We arrived at Cheon Bosal’s Shrine, where she had established her residence.
After settling into Cheon Bosal’s Shrine, I found myself unable to tear my gaze away from the Child Spirits clinging to her.
‘Why is that?’
What made them different? The children in the Other World—the ones Aaron had starved and controlled—possessed no such spark of consciousness.
Even after I destroyed the black ring Aaron possessed and freed them from his grasp, those children had only radiated malice and resentment, never once displaying any sign of awareness.
‘But these children….’
They’re actually thinking? They’re displaying emotions?
Malice and venom still lingered, but woven within them were countless other feelings.
They feared the sacred power I wielded—that strange force—yet they seemed fascinated by how I had brought down Cheon Bosal.
‘Of course, these children were never bound by sacred objects.’
That must be the difference from those bound to Aaron.
Reaper Habel had said it then: souls bound by the black ring are completely erased from the Registry of Fates.
‘Which means these children might still have their names recorded in the Registry of Fates.
They don’t necessarily need to be destroyed.
‘They haven’t become complete tools.’
As time passed and I watched the children’s eyes grow increasingly expressive, I felt more confident in my conclusion.
[Um, excuse me….]
“….”
One child even dared to speak to me. That one—the same child I had seen when I first met Cheon Bosal long ago.
[What happens to us now?]
“…I don’t know.”
Why are you asking me that? You’re already dead. It’s not like I can introduce you to an orphanage.
[….]
At my response, all the children hung their heads in despair. Some even had tears glistening in their eyes.
‘…Why are they crying?’
A short sigh escaped my lips.
Now that they’d been freed from Cheon Bosal’s bondage, perhaps they felt anxious instead.
What was that called? This psychological dependence on someone who had harmed them—what was its name?
Clap!
I clapped my hands to draw the anxious children’s attention.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
[…Talk?]
“Everyone, gather around.”
[….]
Even at Camilla’s gesture, the children still regarded her with fearful eyes. None of them dared to approach.
‘There’s only one way to handle this.’
With a subtle nod, I extended my hand toward Arsian, who stood silently beside me.
“Arsian, take out some food.”

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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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