My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 106
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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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No. Their speculation that he was dejected due to his exceptional loyalty was wrong. Of course, it bothered him that he couldn’t find the assassin with Muzeta’s own hands…, but the reason Muzeta was agonizing so much was because the assassin’s identity happened to be Princess Tenebray.
“But why did that unfilial Tenebray kill His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“What else could there be when blood is spilled among the royal family?”
“Gasp…! Don’t tell me it was because of succession rights?”
“That’s right. Didn’t His Majesty also ascend to the throne after killing all his older siblings?”
The Emperor’s epithet being ‘the Usurper’ was famous. Muzeta scolded the knights as he became displeased with the subordinates fearlessly gossiping as they pleased.
“Don’t presume to speculate about your superiors’ affairs.”
“…Yes!”
“We apologize, Marquis Muzeta.”
There are always mouths everywhere. They might curse the Emperor behind his back, but this was the Imperial Palace. For a mere limb to speak ill of their master regarding the Emperor’s safety was unacceptable. Everything in the Imperial Palace, even people, were consumables for the Emperor and the royal family.
Muzeta was the same. Muzeta was a very loyal guard. He had never added even a hint of personal opinion to his master’s will, and the Crown Prince quite liked Muzeta who served him faithfully.
This also meant he knew the Crown Prince’s secrets to some extent. Who would know that the insignificant and inadequate Crown Prince relieved stress by abusing his own daughter?
Princess Tenebray received miserable treatment unbecoming of her noble status. He could confidently say that noble-born maids would have been treated with more respect than Princess Tenebray. The Crown Prince didn’t want outsiders to know about his abuse of Tenebray, so he didn’t even provide proper treatment.
Muzeta had condoned that sight. Because Muzeta’s master was the Crown Prince, not the Princess. So only Muzeta could understand why Princess Tenebray killed the Crown Prince even at the cost of her own life.
The room the knights were ransacking looked particularly shabby.
It wasn’t his imagination – Tenebray’s room was actually shabby compared to Jeremiah’s room. It wasn’t that Tenebray had modest tastes, but that she wasn’t in an environment where she could be extravagant.
Since the Crown Prince subtly discriminated between the two, that influence reached the subordinates as well. The castle’s treasurer, with the Crown Prince’s tacit approval, wouldn’t have allocated the same budget to the favored Jeremiah and Tenebray.
This was well reflected in their daily clothes – unlike Jeremiah who had clothes made following fashion trends, Tenebray never had new clothes made, so most of her wardrobe consisted of simple dresses that didn’t follow trends.
Princess Tenebray’s dresses were all black without exception. This was to hide the blood seeping from her wounds, and because of this, Tenebray was always compared to the brightly dressed Jeremiah and had to endure the derogatory nickname of the gloomy princess.
Whenever Tenebray received such looks, she couldn’t bear it and would scratch her neck or arms. She kept scratching until her skin peeled and flesh got under her fingernails. Muzeta watched the Princess’s behavior with horror, wondering if she couldn’t even feel pain.
The Crown Prince found such habits vulgar and terrible, so he never allowed Tenebray to scratch herself in front of him. Once he threatened to pull out her fingernails, so Tenebray endured the harsh times with clenched fists, never scratching herself in front of the Crown Prince.
Even if her long nails wounded her clenched hands, she curled them up tightly as if to protect her nails… Eventually, by the time the Crown Prince finished venting his anger, Tenebray’s palms were also a mess. He should have brought her ointment then, even if it meant going against the Crown Prince’s orders…
Muzeta briefly regretted the beliefs he had followed without question. Was this because Muzeta was feeling guilt now?
Before he could judge for himself, he snapped to attention at the sound of someone calling Muzeta.
“Marquis Muzeta! Marquis Muzeta?”
“What is it?”
“Among what we just found, there was a letter. That… the contents seem like something you should read, Marquis Muzeta. It appears to be a love letter…?”
“…I see. Let me check it.”
Muzeta read through the letter.
To my dear Tenebray.
My lady, looking at the cherry blossoms blooming beautifully outside the window, I suddenly think of you. No. Actually, I lied. My cherry blossoms never fade, so I think only of you all day long. I worry that you live trapped in a golden prison with no one to care for you. The gold-plated ones will eventually decay and disappear bearing their sins, but if the stench becomes unbearable, I will bring you claws to cut away the rotting wounds. When the small sun casts its shortest shadow, I eagerly await to meet in the sun’s shade. I hope the words I promised will comfort you. You are more valuable to me than anything else, so please don’t forget that fact.
From your eternity.
“Is it a love letter?”
At those words, Muzeta frowned. If this letter had been a love letter exchanged with a lover, it wouldn’t have been found together with the spell book. This was a letter disguised as a love letter to instigate murder.
However they figured out that Princess Tenebray was being abused, the letter writer was encouraging revenge.
The sun casting its shortest shadow meant when it was at its highest point – the Crown Prince’s birthday. The claws would be the dagger that pierced His Highness’s heart.
Moreover, when talking about the strange cherry blossoms that never fade, it would be even stranger not to mention the cherry tree at the Rohanson Estate. From just these simple things, it could be deduced that the letter sender was Evangeline Rohanson.
In fact, the letter was very sloppy. Just like how the Crown Prince was killed with the dagger Evangeline Rohanson brought to the banquet hall, it was a letter that too obviously urged them to arrest Evangeline. Logically, there was no reason for Evangeline Rohanson to send a letter that would trap herself.
However, Muzeta’s common sense hadn’t functioned properly since the Crown Prince died and even Tenebray passed away. Muzeta couldn’t make rational judgments right now.
“Did you read the letter?”
“…No.”
“It wasn’t a letter worth worrying about anyway. Just an insignificant love letter. They probably intended to approach Princess Tenebray to become in-laws with the royal family.”
“I see.”
The subordinate nodded without much suspicion and continued the search. When no one was watching him, Muzeta secretly pocketed the letter.
Muzeta’s taking of Tenebray’s letter wasn’t to destroy evidence, but because there was something he wanted to investigate separately. Moreover, Muzeta was moving under the Emperor’s permission after all.
“I have a favor to ask of you.”
“How can Your Majesty call it a favor? We should naturally follow Your Majesty’s will.”
“If you put it that way, I’ll trust and entrust it to you. Marquis Muzeta. If evidence emerges during the investigation of Tenebray that she’s connected to Evangeline Rohanson, overlook it. It’s sufficient to report that fact only to me.”
“However, Your Majesty.”
“Marquis Muzeta. For me, your master, close your eyes and cover your ears.”
Muzeta was a component for the royal family. Before the Crown Prince died, he did his best as his possession, but now that the Crown Prince was dead, it was right to move for His Majesty the Emperor again.
However, His Majesty the Emperor showed no mercy despite his granddaughter’s death, which was so disappointing that Muzeta decided to delay his report for a while.
Princess Tenebray was caught and killed too easily. The one who instigated the Princess’s murder had only used Princess Tenebray and had no intention of saving her when she was cornered. If Evangeline Rohanson was really the mastermind who incited Tenebray…
Should he follow His Majesty the Emperor’s command, or should he clear the Princess’s grievances… Muzeta’s head became complicated. First, let him confirm if it was really a letter sent by Evangeline Rohanson. He could think about what came after slowly.
Muzeta sent someone to the Rohanson Viscount’s estate to check if the letter matched Evangeline Rohanson’s handwriting.
He planned to bribe the servants, but the Rohanson Viscount’s household cherished their young lady so much that they excessively rejected outsiders, making it impossible to approach easily.
Even when he offered amounts that ordinary citizens couldn’t even dream of as payment for stealing samples of the Rohanson young lady’s handwriting, it was the same. With so many employees, it made no sense that not one person was financially struggling. It was as if they had all been brainwashed as a group. That couldn’t be. They were probably just well-educated. Since Evangeline Rohanson was in prison, security had likely become strict.
When one subordinate returned after being hit by a large stone thrown by a child, Muzeta stopped visiting the Rohanson Viscount’s manor.
Muzeta stopped loitering around the Viscount’s manor and went to find the Rohanson Viscount. Since the manor’s doors were locked, he thought he was staying inside, but the Rohanson Viscount was living in another house he had obtained in the capital.
‘The master staying outside while leaving his house behind – what a sight of someone driven out.’
The Viscount could be met easily with a few threatening words. To think he could overturn the Viscount more easily than the servants – it was truly amusing.
“My daughter’s letters? Why are you looking for those?”
The Viscount had no choice but to meet face to face due to Muzeta’s threats, but he didn’t seem likely to cooperate obediently.
“We found correspondence in Princess Tenebray’s room.”
“Don’t tell me that’s a letter my daughter sent?”
Muzeta didn’t answer. The Viscount’s face turned red and blue as he got angry.
“A-are you suspecting my daughter now? Just because of a letter and a sword? If that child dies, I won’t stand for it!”
Muzeta calmly watched the Viscount deliberately getting angry to act like a father who loved his daughter. If he was a father who treasured his daughter so much, he should have protected the Rohanson Estate and made efforts in every way like Gabriel. Therefore, the Viscount’s current anger wasn’t for his daughter, the Rohanson young lady.
“Are you perhaps afraid of being executed under collective punishment if it’s revealed that the Rohanson young lady instigated His Highness’s murder?”
“…Who do you take me for, such a heartless father!”
Muzeta’s guess was correct. The Rohanson Viscount was someone for whom his own safety was more important than anything else. Then it would be easy to coax him too.
‘The biological father is worse than the little kid who threw stones to protect his master.’
Muzeta made a proposal to the Viscount. Even if the Rohanson young lady was the mastermind behind the incident, since the Viscount had cooperated with the investigation, he would definitely give him immunity.
“I can’t easily believe that.”
The Viscount had recently been backstabbed by Viscount Hükel, with whom he had been on intimate terms. So making deals with just verbal promises wouldn’t do.
“Notarize it.”
“I’ll do that.”
Muzeta signed the documents the Viscount had prepared. The Viscount put the documents in his pocket and had a servant bring the letters.
“These are letters Evangeline sent to me.”
Muzeta read the letters. He had planned to simply check the handwriting, but the contents caught his eye first.
To Viscount Rohanson.
Viscount. About the 3rd floor of the manor that only Mother uses. I need to have my children stay in Mother’s room. That’s the only room on the 3rd floor that people can use. Don’t worry. I told Mother about it. And it would be good if other people didn’t come to the 3rd floor if possible. I’ll tell the Butler.
Your daughter, Evangeline.
To the heartless Viscount Rohanson.
Viscount. You tell me not to send letters? If you won’t receive my letters, I’ll have no choice but to tell you face to face. But you hate making eye contact with me, don’t you?
Oh right, I heard from the Butler that Mother’s memorial day is coming soon. Instead of chrysanthemums at the grave, I think it would be good to offer white carnations. Mother likes carnations, you know.
It’s probably because the bouquet you prepared when you first proposed was carnations. Maybe Mother will crawl out of her grave wanting to receive the carnations you prepared.
She’s probably looking forward to meeting again. Since Mother left writing saying she missed you, I’ll attach it. A letter written by the dead – isn’t that romantic?
Your daughter, Evangeline.
Muzeta’s eyes wavered. The person Evangeline called Mother was surely the deceased Countess.
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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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