My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 113

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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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Recalling the portrait of the Countess I had found in the storage room, the two mother and daughter looked exactly alike, so there was a high possibility that she was an illegitimate child brought by the Countess’s affair, not the Viscount’s.

I recalled the Countess’s diary. After being deceived in marriage, the Countess felt extremely lonely and longed to see her family and craved love. So she must have met someone else instead of that Viscount bastard.

Except for the expression, they looked exactly the same as if looking in a mirror, making me wonder if the Countess had given birth through parthenogenesis, so there was no worry about others finding out and she just pretended not to know while raising the child.

Then let’s say the Countess really had an affair and gave birth to someone else’s child, not the Viscount’s. Originally, adultery has been condemned throughout all times and places. It would probably go against the nobles’ beliefs too, so Hosaquin Duke would have cut ties with his daughter and wouldn’t have treated Evangeline as his granddaughter either.

I had planned to go to the Rohanson Estate after the banquet to look for the Countess’s diary, but I was dragged straight to prison so I couldn’t find out.

Listening quietly, it seems the Duke also knows the secret, so I should try to uncover the truth while staying at the Duke’s mansion. If I take the regret route, the Duke will surely shed tears and reveal the past story.

Then what I need to do from now on is break the Duke’s upright noble beliefs. Does saying it like this sound too harsh? Then let’s go with something like ‘Fold Your Beliefs – Operation Turn Hosaquin Duke into a Granddaughter Fool!’

It sounds like a failed game title, which is nice.

Finally, the time has come to fully utilize the romance fantasy knowledge I’ve accumulated!

You’d better brace yourself if you don’t want to become a granddaughter fool. Let’s see who wins, you old geezer. I smiled sinisterly inwardly while looking at the Duke.

First, while the Duke might deny the fact that his daughter had an affair, he didn’t actually hate his daughter herself. He must feel some guilt about turning his back on the Countess until her death, so that’s the point I need to target. Memories and guilt – it’s like carrot and stick, so it would be strange if it didn’t work.

“You say you don’t acknowledge me as your granddaughter, yet you do admit I resemble her.”

I reminded him that even if the Duke hated and refused to acknowledge it, Evangeline was Amaranth’s daughter. As expected, the Duke made a disgusted expression.

“Yes. You resemble her to a disgusting degree.”

To a disgusting degree? I’m not even the actual person involved, but I felt deeply hurt. Actually, I might have become ‘Evangeline’ herself now, so maybe I’m just over-immersed.

To soothe my wounded heart, I frantically petted Pudding. Pudding looked at me in confusion at this sudden close contact. It had been a while since I petted him, as I’d been restraining myself from touching him to respect his adolescence after seeing his humanized form.

But right now, healing my emotional wounds was important. Yes, I know you’re an extremely handsome boy, but you’re a cat right now, aren’t you? Obediently become my healing totem.

Pudding soon purred and surrendered. If the Beastman Protection Association had been riding along, they would have tried to send me back to prison for beastman abuse. Trying to travel quietly with an awkward person makes me imagine all sorts of strange things.

“Is it alright to bring the cat along?”

Since he didn’t say anything, it seemed like he was tacitly allowing me to bring Pudding, but I should get a definite answer just in case.

“…That cat, does it catch mice well?”

The Duke surprisingly looked at Pudding calmly for a moment with a composed attitude, then only asked if it caught mice well.

The Duke who had thrown a wine glass at Gabriel and called me disgusting without hesitation wouldn’t be asking to make small talk about cats.

The ‘mice’ the Duke mentioned weren’t real mice but probably slang for spies or agents.

“It’s very skilled at hunting.”

The Duke nodded slightly. He seemed satisfied that it hunted well. Could he have immediately figured out that our Pudding is a beastman?

As expected of the villainess’s grandfather… Or maybe he just likes cats. Hmph! At least he knows cats are cute.

“Ah, I almost forgot this. It’s a letter Count Gabriel left for you.”

It seems my favorability recovered slightly. The Duke, who had been silently looking at Pudding, suddenly handed over a letter as if he just remembered. If I hadn’t brought the capable Pudding who hunts well, was he planning to swallow the letter Gabriel wrote without showing it to me?

After handing over the letter, the Duke turned away from me and shut his mouth as if he didn’t want to exchange any more words.

The letter beginning with ‘To dear Lady Evangeline’ contained slightly more intimate details than what I had heard from Count Ante.

How tyrannically Bishop Marik was treating innocent people, how much effort Gabriel was making by running around everywhere with Madam Toten’s cooperation to stop Bishop Marik, and so on.

The more I read, the more it seemed like I had been living the good life lounging around in prison all this time.

It ended with the suggestion that it would be better to take refuge at the ducal family while he investigated the situation, as there might be a traitor in the Rohanson Manor. A traitor? Is there any need to speak so vaguely? It’s Viscount Rohanson. That’s who it is.

The strategy of stimulating the Viscount’s guilt by bringing up the Countess seems to have backfired instead. I did say all sorts of things to torment the Viscount, like how the Countess would return as a ghost or crawl out of her grave.

But it’s his own doing. Looking at the resentful writings the Countess left behind, it wouldn’t be strange if she returned as a ghost.

Once I finish conquering Hosaquin Duke, I’ll deliver justice’s hammer to the Viscount. I don’t care about blood relations anymore. Looking at how things are going, he doesn’t seem to be my real father anyway.

When I was imprisoned, he didn’t even visit me, let alone lock the doors of Rohanson Manor and turn his back on me – it’s obvious. The Viscount was the one who launched a preemptive strike against me when I was being quiet.

Only the carriage rattled in the silence. Thinking the driving was terrible and comparing it to Melek’s steady driving skills, the carriage seemed to have arrived at its destination and stopped.

“Get out.”

Saying that, the Duke got out of the carriage first, leaving me behind, and strode into the mansion.

I didn’t expect an escort anyway, but is he just going to leave me here? I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t get out of the carriage and just stared at the Duke’s retreating figure when a servant hesitantly called out to me.

“Um…, excuse me…”

When I looked down, the servant immediately bowed his head and avoided my gaze. He couldn’t speak properly, but from the way he fidgeted with his hands, he seemed to want to ask if it was okay to help me down.

At our Rohanson Manor, they would have escorted me without asking, so it really hit me that this wasn’t home.

Surely the servants won’t start bowing their heads and fainting again, will they? It wasn’t that long ago, but I was reminded of when I first possessed this body.

Right after the possession, everyone would kneel when they saw me, prostrate themselves begging for their lives, and tremble when looking at me. I’ve only just gotten used to it, but this is another unfamiliar place.

On top of that, I just came back from prison as a suspect in the Crown Prince’s assassination attempt. Another line has been added to my existing infamy, so now they’ll just be more frightened. It makes perfect sense. 100% feasibility.

“The escort isn’t necessary.”

With him trembling like that, if I even held his hand, he might faint immediately. I just got out of the carriage by myself.

“And don’t call me ‘excuse me’ – call me Lady Rohanson properly.”

I can clearly feel the distance the ducal family people feel toward me from the way they address me. It would be difficult to immediately say I’m Hosaquin Duke’s granddaughter, so I should start with Lady Rohanson and gradually close the distance.

“…I’m sorry.”

The servant bowed his head even lower as if he had committed a great discourtesy. I was about to correct him that I wasn’t trying to scold him when I was interrupted.

“Lady Rohanson.”

He placed his hand on his chest and greeted me politely, introducing himself as ‘Ricoradka Palamedesu’ and the butler of the Hosaquin ducal house.

He looks quite young to be a butler? I thought Hosaquin Duke had a late-born child. Considering all the butlers I’ve met so far have been middle-aged, he was quite young. There’s a high possibility he inherited the position.

“Please feel free to call me Rico.”

I thought I wouldn’t be able to remember the name, but it’s nice that he shortened it for introduction.

“The preparations were rushed, so we weren’t properly ready to serve Lady Rohanson. I will severely reprimand that child’s mistake, so please show mercy.”

When Rico shielded him, the servant’s eyes lit up as he looked at Rico. Hey, I wasn’t even trying to scold him, but you’re butting in and making me look like the bad person?

At first glance it sounds like he’s apologizing to me, but examining each word carefully, his wariness toward me was clearly revealed.

Interpreting it Dolline-style, it means ‘The ducal family people don’t welcome you, and the servant’s mistake is ultimately because of you showing up suddenly, so are you going to scold him? Hurry up and say you’ll let it slide.’

I could feel other servants glancing over, curious about how I would respond to Rico’s words.

I held Pudding tightly and patted him, worried he might suddenly dash out saying their looks were disrespectful. Please understand, our good Pudding. We’re still in the weaker position.

Pudding seemed to understand my feelings and sent me a telepathic message saying he’d go run around and vent his anger instead of scratching with his sharp claws. Is he planning to scratch at walls or something?

I told him beforehand not to bother people, so it should be fine. Pudding jumped down from my arms and quickly ran off and disappeared.

“Is that a cat?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I immediately returned the topic to the original point, worried that attention might be drawn to Pudding unnecessarily.

“More importantly, you asked for mercy from me, right? Good. Do that. But I trust you’ll give a punishment that satisfies me.”

This moment will create my image for staying at the Duke’s mansion going forward. I wasn’t planning to scold him anyway, and it would be better to handle the situation generously.

Rico smiled at my words and thanked me.

“I’m grateful for Lady Rohanson’s generous magnanimity.”

“Th-thank you.”

The servant who followed Rico’s lead in thanking me hurriedly moved out of my sight. As I quietly watched him move away, Rico redirected my attention.

“His Grace the Duke seems to have urgent business to attend to, so I would like to guide you instead. Would that be alright?”

Urgent business is an excuse the Viscount often uses to avoid facing me, but after hating each other to death, they’re similar in this aspect.

“Sure. I’m curious about the reason you brought me to the Duke’s mansion.”

“…Wouldn’t Lady Rohanson know that better?”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Rico smiled and played dumb. Just because you said it quietly, you think I didn’t hear? I’m not the female lead, so I don’t conveniently miss obvious monologues.

I don’t understand what he means by saying I know better why I’m staying at the Duke’s mansion. The Duke only said he had a use for me… And the only other story he brought up was about making a deal with Gabriel.

Could it be Gabriel who asked? He might have requested to get me out of prison and temporarily protect me at the Duke’s mansion. I can’t really grasp it since I was only in prison, but according to Count Ante, the outside situation is quite serious right now.

The Viscount is someone who would readily offer me, who isn’t even his real daughter, to Bishop Marik for his own safety, so Gabriel probably thought it wouldn’t be safe to stay at Rohanson Manor.

If it wasn’t the Duke’s direct initiative but a deal with Gabriel, then my visit to the Duke’s mansion would have been truly sudden. That’s why Rico was displeased. Yet it’s impressive that he doesn’t show it. As expected, a ducal family butler is different.

“Important discussions would be best had directly with His Grace the Duke. For now, since you must be tired, I’ll guide you to the room where you’ll be staying temporarily.”

At his offer to guide me to a room, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Can I choose? I’d like to stay in the room my mother used.”

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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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