I Don’t Believe in Ghosts, But I Make a Living by Exorcising Them! - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Don’t Believe in Ghosts, But I Make a Living Through Exorcism! Episode 020

‘That’s right. I never told Bella anything about what happened at the Monteville Ducal Estate and Count Helkene’s Estate.’

To Harman and Rudian, I had said it was indeed the work of ghosts, and that I had performed exorcisms.

A hero who exorcised ghosts!

A benefactor who saved the estate!

There was no faster way to become close to someone than rescuing them from fear.

But I didn’t particularly want to tell Bella such stories.

The young lady who had firmly declared that ghosts absolutely don’t exist was actually an exorcist?!

Just thinking about it was horrifying.

Questions like ‘So there really were ghosts?’ would definitely come back at me.

But it was too late to play dumb since my achievements had already turned into bizarre rumors.

I had been putting off saying I’d tell her someday, but now it was really time.

‘I should have said something before it came to this.’

I placed my elbow on the armrest and rested my chin on it. My head was throbbing.

‘What kind of rumors spread like that.’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why the rumors had spread so strangely.

Having calmed down a bit in the meantime, Bella dragged over a chair with a scraping sound.

She grabbed my hands as if she absolutely had to hear this.

“Miss, what on earth happened?”

“Well, you see.”

After rolling my eyes slightly, I ended up spilling everything.

The plain truth without a single lie mixed in.

“…So, I just untied the chain connected to the pendulum. While I was at it, I also dusted off some visible dirt.”

“I-I see.”

For once, she seemed to be accepting it.

Maybe it was because I had firmly established from the start that ‘it absolutely wasn’t the work of ghosts.’

Or perhaps it was because I was wearing a confident expression that seemed to contain not a shred of falsehood.

“Th-then what about breaking the ghost’s wrist?”

She still couldn’t let go of her attachment. Bella asked quickly as if struck by a sudden thought.

“They said that’s why everyone calls you the Strong Young Lady!”

What the heck is Strong Young Lady supposed to mean?

This feels somehow unfair.

Couldn’t anyone break flower vines with their hands?

To think that turned into a rumor about breaking a ghost’s wrist.

The word-of-mouth in the capital was terrifyingly powerful.

“What I broke wasn’t a ghost’s wrist but flower vines. The maid misunderstood and screamed that a ghost was grabbing her ankle, then fainted.”

Finally seeming to understand what I was saying, Bella nodded.

“So it was a vine ghost.”

“Right. Huh? No, I said it was just flower vines?”

“A ghost appearing in the garden in broad daylight! And it was so hard to distinguish from the flowers? I’ll have to tell my friends to be careful even during the day from now on.”

“….”

“Of course, our manor has nothing to worry about since Miss has exorcised all the ghosts!”

What am I supposed to do when even you act like this, seriously.

When Bella trembled in fear saying there were ghosts in the manor, I had comforted her by randomly punching at the air.

I never thought this would have such lasting effects. Bella’s faith was too firm.

“Miss, this actually worked out well.”

“How so.”

I no longer bothered to correct Bella’s words. My voice was completely drained of energy.

It was close to giving up.

Whatever I said, everything would surely be connected to ghosts anyway.

“My friends working at noble residences say ghosts are spotted at least once a week there too, and they’re scared.”

“I see.”

“There are already over five manors rumored to have ghosts, you know?”

Right, by now the capital must be in chaos with ghost-infested manors. Rudian had mentioned this before too.

Considering that all of Bella’s friends work at noble residences in the capital.

Naturally, ‘ghosts’ would be a hot topic of conversation.

For some reason, Bella’s eyes sparkled.

“Then, no one except Miss can perform exorcism, right?”

“It’s not really exorcism, but well, I suppose that’s true?”

I drew out my words, feeling puzzled.

I had an ominous feeling.

Why is the topic of me being the only one who can exorcise coming up here?

And why is her voice so secretive?

“Servants keep quitting, so the nobles in the capital are having headaches. Everyone’s looking for the rumored young lady.”

The introduction is long.

Very ominous.

What made me even more uneasy was Bella looking extremely excited while saying people were looking for me.

I slowly backed away.

Though all I could do while sitting in the chair was press my back against the backrest.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward.

It wasn’t even this awkward when Bella first became my personal maid and we were left alone together.

‘Let’s run away.’

I tried to stand up suddenly. But Bella’s movements were faster.

Bella grabbed both my hands and shouted.

“Miss can just go and solve it!”

I knew this would happen!

“Why?!”

“What do you mean why! Everyone’s selling their manors at dirt cheap prices because of ghosts and talking about moving away.”

I just stared quietly at my captured hands with anxious eyes.

I tried to pull away, but Bella’s strength was so overwhelming that I couldn’t budge at all.

‘No, Bella alone is already way stronger than me, so why am I called the Strong Young Lady?’

It was so unfair, ridiculous, and even gave me a headache.

And the estate has to be sold at a bargain price for the Female Lead to buy it?

I couldn’t exactly tell Bella about this.

“If Miss just appeared and declared ‘I am the rumored Strong Young Lady!’ wouldn’t everyone beg you to perform exorcisms?”

“That would probably happen. But I have absolutely no intention of doing that.”

“Miss!”

Bella seemed frustrated as she patted her chest a couple of times.

Even though Bella released one hand, both my hands were still trapped in her grip.

‘You could just be the Strong Maid instead, Bella.’

A tense atmosphere hung between us.

Bella stubbornly continued her questioning, seemingly determined to persuade me somehow.

“Miss, what did you receive from Duke Monteville as payment for the exorcism?”

“…Money.”

To be precise, it wasn’t payment for an exorcism.

It was just payment for investigating the estate.

“Yes, money. It was a huge amount, wasn’t it? And from Count Helkene?”

“I received something needed for the Monteville Ducal Estate. Though when I went there, it turned out I didn’t really need it.”

Thinking of that large, solid Rundane Magic Stone sitting forlornly in Harman’s estate garden made me gloomy again.

Bella seemed slightly flustered, as if this wasn’t the reaction she wanted.

“That was…! Anyway, you thought it was something you needed at the time. And you became a bit closer to Count Helkene, didn’t you?”

“That’s true.”

“And Miss, you said you wanted to decorate a garden, right?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

Bella finally seemed to hear what she wanted, smiling contentedly as she moved a bit closer to me.

Both corners of her mouth pulled up to her cheeks looked somehow sinister.

Why… why?

Bella composed herself and began her main story.

“Do you know that Viscount Morgon’s seedling business has been tremendously successful? Thanks to that, he moved from a distant province in the south straight to a grand mansion in the capital.”

It didn’t seem like she was asking for an answer.

She mechanically rattled off words as if she’d been waiting for this moment and had memorized everything whole.

That was somewhat frightening.

“But coincidentally! Viscount Morgon’s estate has been haunted by a ghost, you see? He invested his entire fortune to move up to the capital. Really tragic, don’t you think?”

Her true intentions were obvious.

She even clasped her hands together to appear sympathetic.

She didn’t seem to realize this made her look even more fake.

“Two of my friends work there too. Yesterday a black shadow flashed through the kitchen and they couldn’t sleep, you know?”

Aren’t there tons of occasions when black shadow-like things flash by?

Even if I just walked past while you were working in the kitchen, it would create a black shadow.

“Ah, what a real shame.”

When confusion crossed my expression, Bella immediately let out a lamenting sound.

I narrowed my eyes.

At this point, I couldn’t help but understand Bella’s intention.

“Tell Viscount Morgon that you’ll perform an exorcism for him, and get seedlings to decorate the garden?”

“Yes, that’s it! And learn how to do garden design too!”

Bella, who had been gloomy just moments before, clapped her hands brightly.

‘Right, it’s not like we’ve only been living together for a day or two.’

I can see exactly what you’re thinking.

Which meant that Bella also knew I would be tempted.

“Oh, there’s more besides that place! Marquis Fainen’s Estate and Baron Ranus’s Estate…”

Stop, stop.

She kept folding her fingers as if thinking of who knows how many places, so I hurriedly stopped her.

If we went around to all those places, wouldn’t I just become known throughout the neighborhood as ‘Exorcist Siena’?

Strictly speaking, becoming known for being able to perform exorcisms wasn’t a big problem in itself.

It did stray a bit from my resolution to just secure my own home and live comfortably.

However, think about the future.

To spend a comfortable retirement holed up in an estate without lifting a finger, it was right to roll around here and there now.

Perform exorcisms—point out old places that need repairs—get what I want?

It was perfectly beneficial for me.

They say you can’t buy happiness with money.

But that’s a matter worth considering whether it just wasn’t enough money to buy happiness.

An irrefusible massive amount of money!

A businessman friend who would get me whatever I needed whenever I needed it!

If I had such things, a happy and comfortable retirement would be guaranteed.

‘I’ve already made the money and businessman friend.’

Recently I’ve become somewhat interested in garden design, so meeting Viscount Morgon as Bella suggested wouldn’t be bad either.

But the problem is…

All of those mansions are the ones the female lead needs to purchase at the auction!

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