My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 123

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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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Mabuka walked bravely while holding Pudding, striding forward with determination. I felt like an overly protective guardian sending a child on an errand and then following behind. I really didn’t want to go this far.

But Mabuka saw Nigella eating rats! This means she’ll definitely try to eliminate the witness! Of course, with Pudding by her side, he’ll probably protect her well enough… but I can’t help worrying.

I followed the child while suppressing my presence as much as possible. But Mabuka, who had been walking along fine, suddenly stopped in place, covered both ears tightly, and sat down sobbing.

Pudding, whom she had been holding like a lifeline, escaped from her arms when Mabuka’s hands loosened to cover her ears. Now free, Pudding didn’t comfort the child but took the opportunity to disappear. He must have been annoyed from being bothered by Mabuka… I’m glad I followed after all.

I told Pudding to go hunt and relieve some stress for now. Since there are many rats, hunting should be enjoyable. I’ll comfort Pudding later, but first I need to take care of the crying child.

“Mabuka.”

“…Angel.”

That damn angel thing again. Isn’t she even scared of me? Mabuka grabbed the hem of my dress. Really, what would have happened if I hadn’t followed? I coaxed and comforted Mabuka while asking why she was frightened. Mabuka rolled her eyes, looking around warily as she answered.

“So, someone is calling for me.”

Huh?

At Mabuka’s words, I also listened carefully. It wasn’t just my imagination – I really heard something running across the ceiling along with shouts calling for Mabuka.

“Mabuka.”

“Mabuka! Where are you!”

Very desperate calls. At first I thought it might be Rico, but different voices from various places were calling for Mabuka.

Why are they calling for Mabuka so desperately? I tilted my head in confusion, then suddenly had a rough idea and took out my pocket watch to check the time. It was already past 10 PM.

So the child hadn’t returned until this late hour, and Rico asked the servants to help find Mabuka?

‘It’s not Nigella, right?’

Or could it be that, as I feared, Nigella is looking for Mabuka to eliminate the witness? Since they made eye contact, Nigella would know exactly that Mabuka caught her swallowing rats.

As soon as I thought that, the sound of running footsteps grew even more intense. Damn. I must have raised a flag. Strangely, it didn’t sound like high heels, but since it’s late, she’s probably wearing slippers.

“Sc, scary…”

Mabuka was even more terrified, closing her eyes tightly and hugging me. I, I’m scared too… But since I’m in front of a child, I didn’t show it and hugged Mabuka tightly as she clung to me.

The footsteps grew closer and closer until I could feel the ground shaking. If earlier it sounded like some small animal running, now it definitely sounded like human footsteps.

“Mabuka!”

Moreover, I was extremely tense at the voice now coming from very close by. If it’s Nigella, how should I catch her? I was waiting while pondering this, but fortunately the owner of the footsteps was Rico. Then those voices from before must have just been people helping Rico find Mabuka.

“Th, thank goodness…”

Seeing Mabuka clinging to my legs, Rico’s body collapsed as if her tension had been released. I gently patted Mabuka’s shoulder, telling her it was safe to relax. Mabuka carefully raised her head and spotted Rico.

“Mother!”

Mabuka threw away all her fearful expression and leaped into Rico’s arms.

So she really was being shy and crying in front of me earlier. It’s not like she’s an inexhaustible spring, yet Mabuka cried so hard again that the manor might float away. How many times does she cry in a day? At this rate, Mabuka’s tear ducts might break.

“Mabuka, do you know how much Mother searched for you? Where on earth did you go…”

And Rico was no different. I thought she would scold her, but Rico’s voice reproaching Mabuka was full of moisture. I was awkwardly watching this touching mother-daughter reunion scene, but couldn’t bear the awkwardness and interjected.

“Good evening, Rico.”

You didn’t forget I’m here too, did you? I don’t know when my presence became so weak.

“Evangeline…?”

Only now noticing me, Rico glared at me sharply while hugging Mabuka tightly. It looked like she was protecting Mabuka from me.

She was just with me until now, so what’s the point of hiding her now? I didn’t do anything wrong, but I felt a little hurt being treated with suspicion. Wasn’t this supposed to be a scenario where I gain favor by helping Mabuka? What favor stack – I’m only increasing her wariness.

Right, if her precious daughter who hadn’t returned until late at night, causing her to search desperately with help from other colleagues, suddenly appears holding hands with me, the number one target of suspicion, it would be suspicious…!

“Mabuka! Where are you!”

Huh? Someone is still looking for Mabuka. Is it because they didn’t say she was found?

“Did you just hear that voice calling for Mabuka?”

“You heard it too, Evangeline…?”

“It would be strange not to hear it.”

Seeing how colleagues are still earnestly searching around to find Mabuka, Rico must be a famous daughter-doting parent. Let me compliment her on her great love for her daughter.

“You must have been very worried.”

Rico nodded. Rico, who was rubbing her arms as if feeling cold, said it would be awkward to keep talking in the corridor and offered to guide me to her room.

“Since Mabuka looks tired too, would it be alright if we go to the room first?”

I was already feeling conscious of others’ gazes from staying in the corridor, so I nodded that it was fine. Rico led the way.

As soon as Rico arrived at Mabka’s Room, she locked the door. Rico laid Mabuka on the bed. Mabuka had already fallen asleep. She must be very tired from crying so much and experiencing scary things. After carefully covering Mabuka with a blanket, Rico came and sat on the sofa.

“So why were you with Mabuka, Evangeline?”

Rico questioned me sharply, ungrateful for my help. I could have just left her alone, but I even went to the trouble of following and bringing her back!

“Mabuka came to me crying, so I got delayed comforting her.”

First, I clarified that I wasn’t the one who made Mabuka cry, and I didn’t approach her first either.

Rico looked back and forth between me and Mabuka as if doubting her ears. It’s understandable that she wouldn’t believe that the villainess who suddenly appeared to steal the Duke’s inheritance comforted her daughter. I was annoyed but decided to be generous and understanding.

“Wouldn’t it be better to hear the details from Mabuka?”

I meant she should ask her daughter since she probably wouldn’t believe me no matter how many times I explained.

The thing is, your daughter was almost eaten by a demon that eats mice, but our house cat saved her. Should I reveal this so straightforwardly?

I briefly wondered how much I should tell Rico, but I thought Mabuka would probably tell Rico, her mother, everything about what she experienced anyway.

“Since Mabuka is sleeping now. If you know what Mabuka went through, please tell me.”

Rico seemed to want to hear at least a situational explanation from me first.

Is she planning to cross-verify? I was habitually suspicious but decided to just tell her honestly. I don’t dismiss even a six-year-old’s words lightly, but Rico might brush off what a young child says, even if it’s her daughter.

After hearing about the priests approaching Mabuka to steal internal information from the Ducal Family and about Nigella, Rico gritted her teeth.

Rico’s lovely daughter, Mabuka, was a child who required little attention.

Instead of the Viscount’s Wife who couldn’t handle proper work, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the internal affairs of the Hosaquin Ducal House ran through the hands of Rico, the butler.

Due to the considerable workload, Rico couldn’t devote proper time to her six-year-old daughter. Even so, Mabuka followed Rico very well and was a mature child for her age.

While Rico worked, everyone in the Ducal Family shared in caring for the child. She would go to the stream with the laundry maids to play in the water, and servants running brief errands to the village would take Mabuka along to buy her snacks.

Mallow, the head chef, was currently trying to fix Mabuka’s picky eating habits. Thanks to the people in the Duke’s Mansion being favorable toward Mabuka, Rico could focus on her butler duties.

Of course, what Rico was most concerned about recently was the Viscount’s Wife’s condition. Starting from the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration, the Viscount’s Wife had completely lost her mind.

If before she would occasionally regain her senses, now there was truly no trace of her former elegance to be found.

The memories that made up the Viscount’s Wife were shattered and damaged in the process of killing and re-killing the summoned flesh. After seeing the rats that ate parts of the flesh as daughters, when the rats began dying, she reached the point of having seizures just from seeing rats.

Now the Viscount’s Wife acted as if she only had lingering attachment to her deceased daughter ‘Amaranth.’ It was natural that she didn’t remember Rico. The Hosaquin Duke, unable to bear watching the Viscount’s Wife’s condition, brought Evangeline Rohanson, whom he had vowed never to face again.

Even from Rico’s hazy remaining memories, Evangeline and Amaranth looked very much alike. The Viscount’s Wife, whose mind wasn’t sound, didn’t even suspect they were different people and regarded Evangeline as Amaranth.

She had calmed down enough to have normal conversations, but when Nigella removed the curtain that had been covering the aquarium, all the effort became useless.

Evangeline said she saw rat corpses in the aquarium, and as Rico well knew, what was in the aquarium was indeed rats.

However, the maids who had been in the greenhouse came to find her one by one later, revealing that they had seen something other than rats in the aquarium. This came with excuses that they couldn’t reveal it at the time because they would seem like people truly suffering from madness.

The maids said they saw a statue in human form in the aquarium. The beautifully sculpted statue looked very much like Evangeline, and the Viscount’s Wife called it ‘Amaranth.’

Even though they brought someone so similar, the Viscount’s Wife considered the ‘rats’ that ate the flesh to be closer to Amaranth. Fortunately, her memory didn’t last long and she quickly forgot what she had experienced, so by the time they left the greenhouse, she was treating Evangeline like a daughter again.

Nigella, who had the most severe symptoms, didn’t come to Rico directly, but from what other maids told her, it seemed she saw the same scene as the Viscount’s Wife.

Rico wanted to dismiss it as the maids seeing things, insisting that the contents of the aquarium couldn’t have changed, but since they all unanimously said they saw a statue, she had no choice but to check the aquarium herself.

And when Rico checked again, rat corpses were still submerged in the aquarium.

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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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