A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 96

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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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“Where is Dennis’s House?”
“Over there, that house… Wait! Look over there!”
“…?”
“That boy is Dennis!”
“What?”
“Dennis!”
A tall boy was walking toward them from the opposite end of the street. Lania waved her hands excitedly at him.
“….”
But I couldn’t bring myself to share her joy.
‘…Damn it.’
Instead, I found myself cursing inwardly.
[How… why….]
Bes, the Water Ghost, who had been giddy since yesterday at the thought of finally meeting her son, stood frozen with her mouth agape.
“Lania?”
The boy’s face was radiant with joy as he ran toward us. I genuinely wanted to be happy that we’d found the child.
‘What is that?’
If only there weren’t a ghost clinging to the boy’s side.
[D… Dennis.]
And if only Bes hadn’t kept calling out her son’s name toward that ghost.
[Why is Dennis….]
The ghost clinging to the boy’s side appeared to be a young boy of about five years old.
Bes kept calling out her son’s name—not toward the living boy, but toward the child ghost.
‘This is maddening.’
What made it worse was that the child ghost was completely unresponsive. No matter how much Bes called out or drew near, there was no reaction.
‘Just like that woman.’
My gaze shifted to Lania. I could see a female ghost clinging to her, equally unresponsive.
‘Is this a coincidence?’
A ghost that looked identical to the living body, yet was completely unaware?
“Ha….”
A faint laugh escaped me, and my eyes grew cold.
This was no coincidence to be dismissed lightly.
“This is Dennis, the person I was looking for, right?”
“…Yes, it seems so.”
I smiled—more beautifully and brightly than ever before.
“Perfect! Dennis, let’s go inside and talk.”
“Sure.”
“Camilla, let’s go in.”
I watched Lania and Dennis move ahead in silence for a moment, then slowly followed in their footsteps.
I needed to find out exactly what those things were.
[Dennis, my baby….]
Even after stepping into the home, Bes, the Water Ghost, kept calling out to the child with a pitiful voice.
But the child ghost still showed no reaction whatsoever. He simply stared intently at the boy who insisted his name was Dennis.
“Camilla, how did you know about Dennis?”
“I feel like I’m meeting you for the first time….”
The boy emerging from the kitchen with a beverage tilted his head in confusion repeatedly.
“That’s right. First time seeing you.”
“But then why did you come looking for me?”
“It wasn’t me—your mother came looking for you.”
“…What?”
“Your biological mother. The one who left you at the Orphanage.”
The boy’s eyes widened, and Lania’s mouth fell open in shock.
“That, that’s…!”
“That woman is already dea…!”
The words tumbled out before Lania could stop herself, and she hastily clamped her mouth shut in embarrassment.
See?
‘She already knew?’
That Bes—the child’s mother—was dead?
“She asked me earnestly. Please, she said, find my child.”
“You really met Dennis’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“How….”
“How else would I know about Dennis if I’d never laid eyes on him before in life? I heard it from her, so I know.”
“That…!”
Lania bit her lip hard, barely suppressing the urge to cry out that this was impossible. Her mind reeled in confusion at what was happening.
“Where is she now?”
After a long silence, she finally posed the safest question she could think of.
“Dennis’s mother?”
“Yes.”
I was about to say ‘right beside you,’ but instead I simply smiled.
“So you really are Dennis, then?”
“Ah… yes.”
The boy, equally flustered as Lania, quickly nodded his head.
I didn’t miss a single expression on the boy’s face, my gaze unwavering. Uncomfortable under my scrutiny, he quietly turned his head away.
“…Hm?”
But moments later, my expression twisted slightly.
‘What is this?’
Suddenly my stomach churned and my head spun. I’d felt a slight headache since entering the home.
“Ugh…!”
Then my vision blurred.
‘Could it be.’
Given that everything about this situation reeked of suspicion, I hadn’t let a single drop of the beverage the boy brought pass my lips. But then why?
“Camilla, what’s wrong?”
Lania’s voice carried a note of concern.
“Are you all right?”
Yet despite her words, the corners of her mouth gradually curved upward.
‘Damn it….’
And with that sight, my consciousness began to slip away.
* * *
“That woman is really dead, right?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“Then what is it? Are you saying she’s lying?”
“Well….”
“You asked me to find Dennis. There’s no way anyone else would know! Is she really alive?”
“I clearly confirmed the corpse of the woman in the water. You know as well as I do. We never bring children who might cause problems later. When we tried to find her to dispose of her, she was already dead!”
“That’s exactly why it’s strange. Who on earth did she meet?”
Through the haze of consciousness, I heard a familiar voice. It was Lania and the boy I’d just met having a conversation.
“Damn….”
My head felt like it would split, and a curse escaped my lips unbidden. At the sound, I felt the gazes of both speakers turn toward me simultaneously.
“You’re awake?”
As if nothing had happened, Lania spoke to me with her usual composure.
“What are you doing?”
I exhaled a short sigh. The fact that my body was bound to a chair irritated me.
This wasn’t some 90s gangster film. What a tiresome turn of events.
“Did you burn some kind of sleeping incense?”
“You’re quite perceptive, as expected.”
Watching Lania clap her hands repeatedly in admiration, another sigh escaped me. The price of my momentary carelessness was far greater than I’d anticipated.
I should have brought others with me.
‘No, that’s not it.’
If I had, she would never have revealed her true nature like this.
“Originally, I was planning to dispose of you cleanly.”
“Dispose of me?”
Kill me, you mean?
“Really, you went too far. Though I suppose you did treat me rather well.”
“I did treat you well, didn’t I?”
“Then why?”
“Because you were getting in the way. Killing is the cleanest solution.”
She spoke as if asking the obvious. There was not a shred of guilt in her manner regarding the act of taking a life.
“You were interfering with my infiltration into the Sorpel Household, so I was going to kill you.”
She smiled softly and took a step closer.
“But the plan has changed.”
“A change?”
“I heard the surprising news not long ago that Camilla is the owner of the Ghost Merchant Guild.”
A radiant smile bloomed across Lania’s face, as always.
“You decided it would be more beneficial to keep her around and exploit her gradually rather than kill her outright.”
“I’m not that much of a pushover.”
“Whether you want it or not, that’s what will happen.”
Lania giggled with amusement.
“So….”
I fixed my gaze intently on Lania’s eyes.
“Why did you kill the real Lania?”
“…What?”
“Why did you kill Dennis? Is that the only way to steal a body?”
The faces of both who had maintained their smiles even after revealing their true nature rapidly hardened.
“You really can’t act, can you?”
I’d only probed casually, but they reacted so definitively that I felt embarrassed instead.
Watching the two unable to hide their bewilderment, I clicked my tongue briefly. Was this absurd hypothesis actually correct?
“I’ve been curious about it all along.”
The identity of the ghost that looked exactly like her and followed Lania around.
“But now I understand.”
My body was stolen. My own body.
“It was stolen by you two.”
They didn’t kill them, it seems… Is it possession?
“What are you talking about!”
“But why didn’t you steal my body right away? If you just took it, it would be simple. Ah… you two don’t know how to possess a body.”
“Shut up! Don’t say useless things!”
“Or haven’t you received clear orders from above yet?”
“H-How did you…!”
How did I know? You said it yourself.
“You said it just now. That a decision was ‘made.'”
“A decision was made to keep her around and exploit her gradually rather than kill her outright.”
Not that a decision was ‘made,’ but that it was ‘made’—in the passive sense….
“That means there’s someone giving you orders, doesn’t it?”
Watching Lania’s expression grow increasingly pale, I clicked my tongue again. I told you—she really can’t manage her expressions.
“Sigh.”
Lania exhaled a long breath.
“You’re right. Everything you said is correct.”
Her complexion eased again, as if she had nothing left to hide.
“But we never intended to take your body in the first place.”
“Why?”
You said you’d exploit me—wouldn’t stealing my body be the easiest way, just like you did with Lania and Dennis?
Seeing Camilla’s confusion, Lania continued with a regretful tone.
“Because Shinsu’s blessing has been bestowed upon you.”
“What?”
Shinsu’s blessing? On me? No, wait—what does that have to do with someone taking over my body?
“So I’ll use a different method.”
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
“…!”
A dagger materialized in Lania’s hand. The blade, honed to a razor’s edge, flashed toward me in an instant.
Hey! You said you wouldn’t kill me!
“Don’t worry. I said I wouldn’t kill you. There’s still so much I need to hear from you.”
The dagger drew close and sliced cleanly across my palm.
“Ugh!”
With a subtle smile, Lania withdrew something from her sleeve—a small vial containing a transparent liquid as clear as water.
“Would you like to see something interesting?”
Lania collected my dripping blood into the small vial.
Then something extraordinary happened. The transparent liquid inside transformed into an emerald green.
Lania brought the vial to her lips.
“What are you——!”
I tried to shout a protest, but the words died in my throat. Lania’s appearance was changing before my eyes.
Her silver hair gave way to pink-blonde locks, and her blue eyes shifted to a crimson hue.
Even her slightly rounded face sharpened into angular features.
“How is it?”
Even her voice had transformed.
Lania no longer stood before me. In her place was someone who looked exactly like me.

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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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