I Don’t Believe in Ghosts, But I Make a Living by Exorcising Them! - Chapter 95

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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 095

Honestly, I didn’t think much of it.

We only talk to each other, and we’re not the type to spread rumors elsewhere.

But since there might be some misunderstanding, clarification was essential.

“We’re just going as banquet partners, it’s absolutely not like we’re dating or anything.”

The Former Countess’s eyes widened. At the same time, I realized.

‘…Why does it feel strange after saying it?’

Why does it feel like I’m hastily hiding from my parents that I don’t have a boyfriend?

While I was feeling this strange sensation after speaking, the lady herself forgot about reading my mood and got extremely excited.

“Lady Siena, that’s how dating starts! Usually everyone subtly requests to be partners with someone they’re interested in!”

“That’s right.”

The Former Count agreed.

“Right, how pretty must this person have been during her debutante ball for me to send a letter asking to be her partner at the next banquet?”

“I shouldn’t have done that…”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing at all.”

I stared blankly at the two people bickering.

The Count who made the mischievous joke still smiles tenderly as if his wife is lovely, even though her hair has now become completely gray.

‘If I ever date Harman, these two would say I’m too good for him.’

Not to mention the Former Count, the lady is only saying it’s good because I like Harman.

She would watch with fire in her eyes to make sure Harman doesn’t hurt me even a little.

That felt a bit bitter.

‘I didn’t realize because everyone pampers and worries about me like this.’

Outside, everyone would ask Harman why he’s meeting me, a commoner and even a scary exorcist.

Clack.

At that moment, Bella cheerfully set down her teacup. All my thoughts folded at that sound.

When I looked up, Bella silently winked at me.

It seemed she noticed I had become gloomy and deliberately placed the teacup loudly to prevent me from having dark thoughts.

‘Thank you, Bella.’

When I smiled faintly, Bella also smiled lightly and poured tea.

The Former Count and Countess waited quietly as if their earlier bickering had never happened.

Just as they were smelling the aroma…

“Wait, this is-“

“H-how did you get this!”

The two looked down at their teacups as if they had made a promise.

“These are tea leaves that only grow in the Aldimos Kingdom!”

“…Excuse me?”

What?

I looked down at my teacup with a stunned face. A sweet aroma brushed my nose along with the hot steam.

The Former Count, who had been so taciturn, excitedly rattled off about the tea leaves.

“After Aldimos became a ruined nation, we couldn’t obtain them even if we wanted to. The cultivation method was quite difficult, so cultivation failed in the Empire. I thought they had completely disappeared, but how did you get this…”

Count Helkene’s House is the top family in the Empire for trading business.

It’s natural to get excited when seeing something right in front of you that you couldn’t obtain despite your efforts.

But the problem was that these were the tea leaves I had brought.

At some point, the Former Count became quiet.

When I looked up, he was obviously being cautious.

Reading the mood of everyone here – me, Bella, and Emily.

Then he muttered very quietly as if in passing.

“Hmm, well. The Duke might have had methods we don’t know about. Since the Former Duchess was from the Aldimos Kingdom.”

…Huh?

It was clearly a murmur he let slip unconsciously, but I couldn’t let this pass.

‘How do you know that?’

In the original work, Harman himself and his family, as well as everything related to him, were shrouded in mystery.

So when Harman told me that his mother was a princess of the Aldimos Kingdom.

I thought no one else knew this fact.

Probably except for the Emperor and Harman.

‘I thought the Former Duchess, like Harman, never came outside the estate under the pretext of mysticism.’

But there were many parts that didn’t make sense for that to be true.

Even right after hearing Harman’s story, didn’t I first think about how people could not know that a princess of the Aldimos Kingdom became a duchess?

If these two know something more…

I leaned forward over the table.

“May I ask you in more detail about the Former Duchess?”

“Uh, huh?”

The Former Count panicked and pulled back.

It seemed he only now realized what he had said carelessly earlier.

* * *

‘What kind of secret story is this that they’re taking so long?’

The Former Count couple, who had been exchanging glances for quite a while, finally asked Bella, Emily, and even Sir Zeros to leave.

Even after that, they emphasized to me several times.

“Lady Siena, listen carefully. What we’re about to tell you must never be revealed anywhere or to anyone.”

“Of course. I won’t even tell the Duke.”

Even after hearing my confirmation, they were still hesitating.

The Former Count, who had been looking at the cold tea, finally spoke.

“Lady Siena, you know this too, right? That the Aldimos Kingdom was a vassal state of the Empire.”

“Yes. I know it was a vassal state from before I was born.”

More precisely, from before the real Siena was born.

By the time I possessed this body, the Aldimos Kingdom had already been destroyed by the Emperor.

“It was more than 20 years ago. His Majesty asked the Aldimos Kingdom to send a princess to promote friendship between nations. That was called a request, but…”

“She was a hostage.”

“Right. She was no different from a hostage. The princess who came to the Empire that way was the Former Duchess. It was a political marriage.”

‘A political marriage.’

A relationship with no love between husband and wife.

The reason Harman despises his father.

…Something seemed to be gradually taking shape.

The Former Count, who had been talking for a while, hesitated again.

He opened and closed his mouth, then sighed.

Then he rubbed his face and looked at me with wavering eyes.

“Lady Siena, as I said before, you really must not tell this to anyone.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

Although he was taciturn, he had always shown me only smiling faces, so I felt a little scared.

He let out a heavy breath.

“The Former Duke and Duchess died in a carriage accident on their way back from visiting the Imperial Palace.”

“…!”

Before I could be more shocked, the lady who had been quietly sipping tea beside me also chimed in.

“The funeral was conducted very quietly under His Majesty the Emperor’s jurisdiction. All the nobles at that time knew this fact.”

A heavy atmosphere suddenly filled the room.

“But no one speaks of it. No, they can’t speak of it. His Majesty officially ordered never to mention the Former Duke and Duchess.”

I finally understood why I hadn’t known this fact until now. It wasn’t that no one knew, but it was deliberately hidden.

But the first thought that came to mind upon hearing this was one thing.

“…The Duke has been left alone since then?”

“Yeah. The Aldimos Kingdom was destroyed around that time, so it’s been about 10 years already.”

“….”

Harman’s age at that time was at most around thirteen.

He was too young to handle his parents’ death.

So he must have stayed holed up in the estate without coming outside, which is how he got the title of the mysterious Duke.

The gloom was brief, but I felt puzzled.

“Wait a minute. Then how did you receive the Duke title? You said he stayed at the estate the whole time.”

“His Majesty the Emperor went to visit him directly. He probably went to comfort the young Duke’s sense of loss.”

So that’s how Harman and the Emperor became close—

‘Something’s strange here?’

I was nodding my head when I paused at a thought that crossed my mind.

There were some inconsistencies in what I just heard.

‘Harman was the mysterious Duke who rarely came out of his estate even before he first met me.’

It was revealed that the reason was the death of the previous Duke and his wife.

But a carriage accident?

If someone was traumatized enough to live holed up in their estate from grief, they would panic just hearing about a ‘carriage accident.’

‘Didn’t Baron Alderton react rather indifferently when the carriage accident happened?’

In really severe trauma cases, someone might not be able to ride carriages at all. But Harman rode carriages quite well.

‘…No, I can’t speak carelessly about this unless I’m the person involved.’

I can’t ask Harman about it, and I don’t want to ask, so let’s skip this.

The real inconsistency was something else.

The Emperor destroyed the Aldimos Kingdom and killed all the royal bloodline.

No, that’s what I thought until recently.

‘One person is alive, right?’

Just one person.

In other words, Harman.

‘What if Harman learns the truth and commits treason out of revenge?’

This is an Emperor ruthless enough to destroy a country and brutally kill all the royalty.

Would such a person have any reason to spare Harman?

Because he’s only half royal blood, because he’s from the Empire, out of sympathy.

No matter what reason I could think of, it didn’t make sense.

‘…Why on earth?’

But not only did he spare him, the Emperor personally visited Harman and granted him a Duke title.

Somehow, it seems like he deliberately kept him alive.

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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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