A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 52

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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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[Our brother didn’t go to a good place, did he?]
Amy had witnessed it too—the moment Professor JB died, his soul dragged down by countless black hands, vanishing into the earth with a terrible scream.
They say death would be happier than living that way, but was he truly happy in that moment?
“He murdered innocent people like that—you think he went to a good place? If that monster went to a good place, there wouldn’t be a single soul in this world deserving of hell.”
[Still, that’s a bit harsh for a dead man.]
“Look at you, defending him like he’s your brother.”
How could anyone without a sibling find solace in this world?
[Grrr?]
As I muttered my displeasure, King, who had been pacing nearby, gently tapped my foot as if to comfort me.
“Yes, King. Be my sibling.”
I lifted King into my arms and softly stroked the tiger cub’s head.
Perhaps it was the power of a small life—somehow, holding him like this seemed to calm my mind.
My thoughts naturally drifted toward the victims.
The dead women had all witnessed Professor JB being dragged to hell.
With tears streaming down their faces—a mixture of conflicting emotions—they bid me farewell and scattered in different directions.
[They must have gone to find those they wanted to see one last time.]
I felt a pang watching those women weep so sorrowfully, but holding King eased my heart.
[It’s finally over.]
Amy exhaled a short sigh once more.
I had watched my brother for so long, feeling both anger and heartache. I wanted to stop his murders by any means, but there was no way.
All I could do as a dead person was watch.
At least I could be grateful it ended before he committed even more sins.
“Over? What’s over?”
[Huh?]
“This is just the beginning.”
I continued stroking King without pause, my gaze turning toward the documents laid out to one side.
They were materials I’d requested from Rube previously—information about the dead women.
“Those people are still here.”
There was a reason Professor JB’s murders hadn’t been easily exposed to the outside world. No one knew these women had been murdered.
[Why?]
Because their parents had covered it up.
Professor JB had manipulated the circumstances to make it appear the victims had taken their own lives, and the parents had rushed to hide their daughters’ causes of death, fabricating the deaths as accidents.
They were terrified their own abuse would be exposed.
If it became known their daughters had committed suicide, people would inevitably dig into why they’d made such a choice.
But now that Professor JB had been caught, all the facts were coming to light.
[The lies had been exposed.]
All those who had fabricated their daughters’ deaths as accidents were now in absolute chaos trying to conceal the truth.
They were pouring every ounce of their power into preventing information from leaking to the outside world.
[And I intend to obstruct them.]
Through public opinion.
There was no force more terrifying and powerful than public opinion. As an entertainer, I had felt that power more keenly than anyone.
Of course, there was no internet here, no mobile phones, but there were plenty of means to shape public opinion.
There were newspapers, and one could use flyers and posters as well.
I decided to use every available means at my disposal.
I would distribute detailed accounts of the entire incident to every media outlet across the Empire.
‘This is why power and money are so valuable.’
I borrowed the Sorpel Family’s influence without hesitation.
Duke Sorpel not only readily granted his daughter’s request but actively helped her efforts.
Starting tomorrow, the entire Empire would surely be in an uproar again.
The adoptive parents of the dead women would scramble to suppress the rumors and hide their deeds to the end, but with Duke Sorpel’s involvement, it would be far from easy.
‘They’ll have a hard time showing their faces in public from now on.’
People’s interest wouldn’t last long, but in a noble society that valued reputation, it was clear they could no longer move about freely as they once did.
‘As for them, well, it’s unfortunate, but that should be enough….’
Now only one thing remained.
[Hm? Why?]
Amy tilted her head when she noticed my gaze turning back to her.
“Amy.”
[Yes?]
“Where do the people who made you this way live?”
[…!]
Amy’s expression went blank for a moment.
* * *
“Mm….”
Binter, who had been deeply asleep, woke with a parched throat.
“Damn it.”
Finding the water glass beside his bed completely empty, Binter cursed softly and rose from bed.
He glared briefly at his wife for not even filling the glass with water, then headed toward the Kitchen.
“Sigh.”
Yawning repeatedly as he entered the Kitchen, he made his way to where the cupboard was to retrieve a fresh glass.
“Hm? What is this….”
Then his footsteps abruptly stopped. He had discovered something moving and writhing in the corner of the Kitchen.
Binter’s face twisted immediately.
‘That brat!’
It had to be that one. The child he’d brought in not long ago.
‘How did this bastard…!’
He’d even locked the door—who in hell had opened it?
“You little rat!”
Binter strode toward where the child was.
Stop!
His footsteps suddenly halted again. Something about the child huddled in the corner of the Kitchen seemed odd.
The child brought from the Orphanage this time was a boy. Yet the child standing before me now….
‘Short hair?’
Moreover, the child’s frame was remarkably small. Anyone could tell at a glance that this was a girl.
‘Who is this?’
Most disturbing of all was the bluish light emanating from the child’s body.
Why would such a light appear in this dark Kitchen without even a window?
In that moment of confusion, the child crouched in the corner slowly turned their head.
“You… you, you’re…!”
Upon seeing the child’s face, Binter’s legs gave way and he collapsed where he stood.
[I’m so hungry.]
“Ugh….”
[Sir, I’m so very hungry….]
“U… ugh…!”
Not even a scream escaped him.
He crawled across the floor, desperate to distance himself from the child. His body, frozen rigid as ice, moved with tremendous effort.
It wasn’t shock at an unfamiliar face. Rather, this was a child far too familiar—one he knew all too well.
The problem was that this child had died before his very eyes last year.
“T… this can’t be real!”
It had happened less than a month after bringing the child from the Orphanage.
Whether the child had been frail from the start or simply couldn’t withstand a few days without food and some labor, the child had fallen ill and died.
Naturally, he hadn’t called a Healer or given the child any medicine. Had he possessed money for such things, he would have spent it on another bottle of fine liquor instead.
After the child’s death, his frustration had been immense. Where else in this world could one suffer such a loss?
For a time, his anger consumed him so thoroughly that he couldn’t focus on his work.
‘But why…!’
Why was this child now standing before him!
[Sir, I’m so very hungry….]
“U… uaaaagh!”
Only then did Binter scream and bolt from the Kitchen.
[Sir….]
He heard the child’s voice calling after him, but he didn’t look back.
Crash!
“Uaaaagh!”
He tripped over something and screamed even louder. Yet no one came running.
He tried to crawl toward the second floor where his wife was.
Creak, creak—
“Eek!”
That was when it happened.
A strange sound echoed from somewhere.
He stopped crawling and stared toward the source of the sound with eyes full of dread.
The sound came from the Storage Room built beneath the staircase leading to the second floor.
Scratch, scratch—
The sound of claws raking against the Storage Room door.
At that sound, Binter’s body froze solid. He couldn’t even muster the courage to approach the Storage Room.
The fact that this Storage Room was the place where he always punished the children made it even harder for him to take a step forward.
Creeeeak—
“Gasp!”
In that instant, the firmly shut Storage Room door opened of its own accord with an eerie sound. And Binter could see it clearly.
A pale, bluish hand slowly extending from within.
[Mister, I’m so cold… It’s so cold in here…]
Another child. The one he had locked in the Storage Room three years ago.
That child was crying, gazing at him with sorrowful eyes.
The memory of that day suddenly surfaced.
He had scolded the child for being noisy when it cried out in pain, saying it hurt so much.
[It hurts… It hurts so much. Please, please let me out.]
“Ugh… ugh…!”
He collapsed to the ground. He wanted to flee immediately, but his legs had no strength left in them.
[My head, my head… it hurts. It hurts…]
Watching the child crawl slowly toward him from the Storage Room, Binter’s face drained of all color. He had to escape this place as quickly as possible.
“Aaaahhh!”
He screamed and rushed up the stairs.
Crash!
“Y-you!”
He burst through the Bedroom door and into the room, then froze in shock.
“Gack… ugh, gack!”
Someone was strangling his wife as she lay on the bed. A pale, bluish light flowed ceaselessly from that figure’s body.
[Why did you do that to me…]
The moment Binter recognized the identity of the one muttering in that mournful voice, he collapsed to the ground.
At that sound, the woman’s head on the bed slowly turned.
“You… you!”
A face he knew all too well. How could he not recognize it? The child they had raised for eight years!
“A-Amy…!”
[Why did you do it.]
“Eek!”
Watching Amy slowly approach him, Binter hastily backed away.
[Why did you kill me!]
“I-it wasn’t intentional! Really!”
[Why! Why!]
Amy closed the distance in an instant, her hand wrapping around Binter’s throat.
“Gack!”
This wasn’t a dream! This was absolutely not a dream! As the intense pressure crushed his throat, Binter finally lost consciousness.
Thud.
The moment the couple lost consciousness, a figure slipped through the window as if they’d been waiting for this exact moment.
Riding atop a black wolf, the one who materialized in the room was none other than Camilla.
“Their nerves are weaker than I expected.”
Camilla clicked her tongue softly as she observed the Binter couple sprawled across the bed and floor.
I’d thought those who’d orchestrated the deaths of so many would remain unfazed even in the presence of a specter.
“Well done.”
She gently stroked the head of the black wolf circling around her.

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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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