A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 98

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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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Arsian and Petro approached the fake Camilla in unison as she desperately rolled her eyes, struggling to comprehend the situation.
“Speak.”
“Where is Camilla right now?”
“I, I… I don’t understand what you’re saying at all…!”
Shing—
“Kyaaah!”
The biting cold of the blade pressed against her throat made her shudder, her face draining of all color.
“I’ll ask one last time. Where is Camilla?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, I tell you! I don’t understand a single word you’re saying!”
She thrashed about in a final desperate struggle, her voice turning vicious.
Whoosh!
“Ugh!”
In that instant, a hand seized her throat with brutal force.
“You really don’t know?”
“Ugh… ughhhh…!”
It was Arsian.
A murderous intent so palpable it suffocated the air surrounded them. Petro, witnessing this, exhaled a short sigh and intervened.
“Take her to the Sorpel Estate for now.”
Watching her thrash about, it seemed clear this situation wouldn’t resolve easily.
“This isn’t something we should decide on our own.”
The Sorpel Estate might have answers, so bringing her there first was the priority.
“….”
Arsian remained silent for a moment, then casually swept his hand through the air.
In an instant, the three figures were engulfed in light and vanished from that place.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Miss!”
“W, what is this…!”
The people of the Sorpel Estate couldn’t hide their shock as Camilla was dragged in with a blade pressed to her throat.
And for good reason—the one restraining her was none other than Arsian himself.
Moreover, Petro stood behind him with his sword already drawn.
“What are you doing!”
The butler Rube was the first to rush toward the commotion. His voice was colder than it had ever been.
“Release her at once.”
Arsian regarded Rube with a hint of interest. It had been a very long time since anyone dared speak so freely to him in his current state of fury.
“What is this commotion?”
Then a low voice resonated through the space. Everyone present held their breath at the sound.
“You dare threaten my daughter in my own home.”
It was Duke Sorpel. His mere appearance transformed the atmosphere entirely.
A sharp, icy chill filled the hall as if cold steel were piercing through flesh. No one dared speak easily under the weight of his presence.
“Does this look like Camilla to you?”
“What?”
It was Arsian who broke that heavy silence.
“Father! Please save me!”
Believing this was her last chance, she cried out desperately before their conversation could stretch any longer.
“I don’t understand why they’re doing this, Father… Sob!”
Seeing Camilla’s tears streaming down her face, Duke Sorpel’s aura grew even more violent.
Yet he couldn’t rush forward recklessly. Camilla, held captive in Arsian’s grasp, looked far too precarious.
“Father! What are you—!”
At that moment, Ravi appeared upon hearing the commotion.
“Camilla!”
Upon seeing Camilla in Arsian’s grip, his face twisted grotesquely. Has that bastard lost his mind?
“What are you doing to my sister right now!”
“Older Brother….”
At Ravi’s arrival, she called out to him with an even more pitiful expression.
“Save me… Please….”
Ravi, who had been rushing toward Camilla, froze.
‘What is this?’
Watching her plead while tears streamed down her face, an uncomfortable sensation suddenly washed over him.
He couldn’t even identify what it was himself.
“Could you shut up for a moment?”
A familiar voice rang out at that instant.
Footsteps.
“Don’t spout such nonsense using my face to that person. It’s irritating.”
“…!”
Everyone watching the figure approach while clicking their tongue repeatedly wore identical expressions.
They all stood with their mouths agape, unable to form proper words.
“C… Camilla?”
Because another Camilla had just appeared.
* * *
“Why are you here?”
Camilla, who had been trapped in the Underground Space, widened her eyes upon seeing someone casually open the door as if it were their own home.
“Then I’ll just leave.”
It was entirely unexpected.
Standing before her was Reaper Habel, arms crossed, regarding her indifferently. He even had fake Dennis slung over his shoulder.
“I’m just so happy to see you!”
Camilla hastily called out to Habel, who was genuinely turning back toward the exit.
Seeing her flash an ingratiating smile, he clicked his tongue briefly before immediately freeing her from the chair she was bound to.
His gaze then turned toward Bes the Water Ghost, who still stood dazed and vacant in one corner.
“Wait!”
Camilla quickly blocked Habel’s line of sight as she rose from her seat.
“Don’t tell me you came here to take that ghost away right now?”
That doesn’t seem right. I can’t just be dragged away like this, can I?
I don’t particularly intend to interfere with the Reaper’s work, but Bes still hasn’t properly understood what happened to her child.
“Incidentally.”
“What?”
“I came to repay a debt.”
“A debt?”
“Consider your help settled with this.”
He seemed to be referring to the matter of persuading Jihyun’s Grandmother before.
I had been hoping to extract something bigger later… but there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Then what about Bes? Are you taking her away right now?”
“It’s not your concern.”
“Just let me ask one thing.”
By his logic, it wasn’t really my place to interfere, but I decided to ask what I was curious about anyway.
As a Reaper, surely he would know something.
“If it’s something I can answer.”
“What are those?”
I pointed to the boy collapsed in front of the Underground Space door. The child ghost still clung to his side, devoid of consciousness.
“Those not recorded in the Registry of Fates.”
“What?”
“Lately, spirits of those unrecorded in the Registry have been appearing in droves.”
Not being recorded in the Registry meant they were those who died before their time was up.
Until the Reaper personally discovers them with their own eyes, the spirits cannot be found or taken away.
“Meanwhile, those recorded in the Registry are vanishing without a trace.”
At Reaper Habel’s words, I furrowed my brow repeatedly. So the spirits of those meant to die and those meant to live had been swapped.
It was good that one vague puzzle piece had fallen into place… but my mood only grew fouler.
“So they stole the bodies of people living perfectly fine lives.”
I remained curious about one thing: who exactly were the ones occupying Lania’s and that boy’s bodies?
I had wondered if there might be an organization that specialized in possession magic, but it seemed the reality was far more complicated.
“Why don’t those have consciousness?”
I pointed to the child ghost clinging beside the boy.
“Because their bodies were forcibly taken. They didn’t die according to their predetermined lifespan—when the spirit was violently torn out, consciousness became bound to the body.”
“Then what if we put the spirit back in?”
If we removed the fake spirit occupying that body and put the real one back in?
My eyes suddenly gleamed noticeably. Perhaps I could save the child and Lania after all.
“Wouldn’t it work if the original owner returned?”
“No.”
“Why?”
They’re not even recorded in the Registry!
My voice rose involuntarily. They’re not dead, and the spirit was forcibly torn out, so shouldn’t it work if they returned?
“The thread binding spirit and flesh has already been severed. His name simply hasn’t been recorded in the Registry of Fates—but he’s as good as dead.”
“Damn it….”
Camilla ground her teeth audibly. What kind of wretched situation was this?
Her gaze shifted to Bes. The hope that had briefly sparkled in Bes’s eyes had already drowned in despair once more.
“So what are you going to do with that bastard now? You’re not just going to leave him like this, are you?”
Camilla’s eyes turned glacial as she regarded the boy. How satisfying it would be to tear apart the rotting creature that had seized this child’s body.
“Jinmyeong.”
“Jinmyeong? His real name?”
“Simply call it.”
“How do you find out that bastard’s real name—”
“I already know it.”
Albro Harrison.
Whoooosh!
[Ugh… ugh…. W-what!]
The moment Habel spoke the name, a spirit slipped free from the collapsed boy’s body—an elderly man in his late seventies.
“That bastard….”
“Yes, I’ve been pursuing that… that human all along. He was originally my charge.”
For the first time, a desolate fury flickered across Habel’s otherwise impassive eyes as he recalled the arduous task of hunting down the missing spirit recorded in the Registry of Fates.
[N-no! This can’t be! No, it can’t!]
The elderly spirit wrenched free from the boy’s body and shrieked in anguish.
Realizing he had lost his physical form, the old man howled desperately, but no one answered his cries.
[Insane… this insane old fool!]
Well, actually, one person did.
[You! Because of creatures like you! My son!]
[Gack! W-what are you doing! Aaaaaaah!]
It was Bes. She seized the old man’s throat with both hands and unleashed all her rage upon him.
Camilla pretended not to notice her.
Instead, she silently cheered her on from within. Tear out every last hair, she thought.
Habel seemed to share the sentiment, paying no attention to the two spirits’ struggle. If anything, he handed Bes a wooden club, urging her to continue.
“What? So you didn’t come to help me—you came to catch that thing? And then you said we’d call it even about last time? That’s so underhanded… what are you doing now?”
Why are you picking up the rope again?
“Sit down.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll tie you back to the chair, so sit.”
“Who dares call the Reaper underhanded? The always-busy Reaper came in person and even untied your bonds. Isn’t that right?”
“….”
Habel’s expression turned utterly bewildered at the lightning-fast shift in attitude.
What? Why? This isn’t something I do for just a day or two. I’m not embarrassed at all! Not embarrassed! …Damn it.
[W-where is this?]
Then came the soft, childlike voice of a young boy.
I turned my head sharply and caught sight of the child spirit who had been clinging to the boy’s side, lost in confusion, now glancing anxiously around the unfamiliar surroundings.
[Dennis.]
Bes, who had been pouring her fury upon the old man, froze at the sound of that name.
[…Mother?]
The child’s face, which had been twisted with fear and uncertainty in this strange place, suddenly bloomed with the brightest of smiles.
[Mother! Did you come to get me?]
Watching the child rush toward her, Bes slowly dropped to one knee.
[Yes, I came to get you.]
At those words, the child’s smile grew even brighter as he ran forward, then threw himself into Bes’s embrace.
[I’m sorry… I’m so sorry for being so late, Mother.]
Bes, holding the child in her arms, began to weep.
Watching the scene unfold, I let out a long sigh.
It was good that mother and child were reunited, but whether I could call this a happy ending was another matter entirely.
“Sigh.”
I wanted nothing more than to crush that mad old fool beneath my heel, but this was not my place to act.
That ancient creature would answer to Reaper Habel now.
“I shall give you one more thing.”
“Hmm?”
In that moment, Reaper Habel’s voice reached me once more.
“With this, my debt for what happened before is truly settled.”
He released a brief sigh and pressed a rather useful gift into my hands.

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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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