My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 129

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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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Rico nodded with a determined expression when I brought up Amaranth’s story. Then he looked at me as if finding it remarkable.

“Lady Evangeline really loves your mother.”

What I feel toward Amaranth is nothing but guilt, though? It wasn’t by choice, but since I possessed Evangeline’s body, I felt sorry for Amaranth even if I didn’t feel that way toward Rohanson Viscount. He must have misunderstood because he heard about Amaranth from the Duke or because I asked for Amaranth’s room.

“I like Mother too.”

Mabuka hugged Rico as if she wouldn’t lose to me. But I wasn’t talking about Rico. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.

It can’t be helped. Let me close my eyes tight and try being an exorcist once. I need to hear about Amaranth from the Duke, and since he said there’s a traitor of uncertain identity at Rohanson Estate, it’s difficult to return and I have nowhere else to go anyway.

Besides, I already promised the Duke I’d exterminate the rats, didn’t I? I’m not someone who says one thing and does another. My own life is tough enough, but I didn’t want to admit I was doing exorcism for a ducal family while being swayed by a child. I have to rationalize it this way or what else can I do.

“Instead, you’ll have to cooperate with me as much as possible. You can’t just stand by and watch like yesterday.”

“Yes, my lady. Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

Rico made a firm promise in response to my warning with a serious face.

Hmph. I didn’t bother responding and just focused on petting Pudding.

I pressed down on Pudding’s belly. Fortunately, it was slim. If Pudding had eaten any rats, I would have left the ducal family behind and returned home regardless of Mabuka or Agera. But it seems Pudding hasn’t eaten any rats yet, and I’m fine too.

You should have told me sooner, really.

Adolescent Pudding shyly shook off my touch and curled up in embarrassment. Yet he didn’t get off my lap, which was quite adorable. I diligently petted Pudding’s head to calm my mind and body.

From the very day I had that conversation with Rico, I began the full-scale ‘rat’ elimination operation.

“Pudding, would you go around the manor and catch rats for me?”

I left the task of dealing with the rats roaming the manor to Pudding. I told him to catch every one he saw but absolutely not to eat them, giving him a stern warning. Of course, I know well that Pudding’s true form is a beautiful boy who could rival a prince, but to me he was just a cat in the midst of adolescence. Even if he’s a beastman, it’s almost instinctual for cats to eat rats, right? If I didn’t warn him to be careful and Pudding ended up eating a rat and becoming a host for the demon Agera summoned, what would I do…

‘Maybe I should just overturn everything.’

Of course, it was just my needless worry. Pudding did his best to fulfill my request with all his might.

The rats Pudding brought back couldn’t be killed by ordinary methods, just as Rico had said. The rats could only be killed by soaking them in holy water or setting them on fire immediately, like the Duke had done. Thinking that holy water costs money too, I once closed my eyes tight and burned one alive, but hearing the rat scream in agony gave me chills from head to toe.

“Save me! It hurts, it’s hot! Mother!”

“Mother! Please save me! It’s hot, please spare me!”

Listening to the sounds of agony from the flames made me feel like I had become Bishop Marik. To explain it simply, it felt like I was glimpsing the daily life of an unparalleled villain. Bishop Marik burned an entire family to death, but I don’t know how he manages to eat well. Even knowing that the rats’ true forms are demons, I feel guilty about disposing of them, my hands tremble, and I even have nightmares.

This is why fanatics are scary. Of course, it’s not a cult since this is a world where catchphrases like ‘Shocking! The Sun God Really Exists!’ would apply…

“Evangeline, you’re killing your own mother! I’m Amaranth! Quickly put out the fire. Get me out of here… No, I’ll burn you to death the same way. I’ll tie you up with rope and set you on fire alive, joyfully watching you die slowly! Once you’re dead, Mother will surely return to me.”

“I guess we can’t burn them right away.”

Rico, who had been trembling, earnestly agreed and drowned the rat in holy water. The cost of buying holy water wasn’t the issue. At this rate, my mental state would become impoverished. Killing rats with my own hands was already mentally exhausting, but hearing them scream and curse me as they died made me feel creepy, as if I might actually be cursed. Right. This isn’t the time to consider cost-effectiveness. Let’s think of it as buying mental health with money.

Hosaquin Duke didn’t put rats in the aquarium for no reason. I thought the old man had grotesque tastes, but that wasn’t it—he had already experienced all this. The grotesque sight was also because he had gathered the rats together to save on holy water.

‘At this rate, we’ll run out of holy water, won’t we?’

My concern soon became reality.

Due to Pudding’s natural hunting talent bringing rats indiscriminately, the holy water I had on hand quickly ran out. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have poured out the water when cleaning up the aquariums in the greenhouse.

‘I didn’t know that was holy water at the time.’

This isn’t my fault but the Duke’s for not telling me earlier what had happened.

“Lady Evangeline. What should we do about the holy water? If we obtain it in large quantities, it will surely be recorded at the temple and they’ll find it suspicious…”

“Who was it that procured the holy water that was in the manor?”

“…Count Gabriel.”

“Then we have no choice but to ask Count Gabriel for help again this time.”

Come to think of it, Gabriel was too much as well. Seeing that he provided holy water to the Duke, Gabriel must have known the situation long ago, but there wasn’t a word about it in his letter. Of course, it was typical of the prudent Gabriel not to meddle in other people’s family affairs. Still, he could have at least given me a hint.

“I’ll have to send a letter.”

Since we can’t dispose of rats without holy water, I requested Gabriel’s help asking if he could supply holy water.

If he procures large quantities of holy water, anyone can tell something happened at Hosaquin Duke’s family, so we need to use a different workaround. Since it’s difficult to import large amounts of holy water while avoiding Bishop Marik’s eyes, I used a different excuse nominally. I got the hint from Viscount Hükel’s embezzlement through donations. The pretext was that Hosaquin Duke would support the poor with holy water.

Come to think of it, didn’t the rumors about the Duke being ill spread rapidly because he tried to obtain holy water without such safety measures?

The main point was simply ‘Please send lots of holy water.’ But since someone might secretly open it, I beat around the bush and added lots of unnecessary details.

If sent from Rohanson or Hosaquin Duke’s family, it would obviously get caught at inspection, so I had no choice but to use different names. Gabriel had hinted that if I needed to write letters, I should send them under Misha’s name for such occasions. The recipient was Michel, Misha’s younger brother. Of course, that’s only nominally—Gabriel is the one who actually receives them.

“Artemisia?”

Rico tilted his head seeing me write strange names for the sender and recipient. However, knowing well that it would be dangerous if information about Hosaquin Duke’s family fell into the hands of other priests, he didn’t question or nitpick and let it pass.

I entrusted the letter to Rico and took a brief rest.

“Pudding, you worked hard. Let’s rest until Gabriel’s reply comes.”

Pudding was visibly delighted at the suggestion to rest briefly until the holy water arrived. Did I work the kid too hard?

Pudding was happy that he didn’t have to go hunting for a while and pestered me to play with him. I tickled him with my hands while thinking about what lay ahead.

‘It’s fortunate that the number of rats has decreased significantly…’

Once Gabriel sends the holy water, we can dispose of the rats the same way we’ve been doing, but the problem was the people who had eaten rats.

‘Who could be the hosts?’

I couldn’t distinguish exactly who had eaten rats.

Let’s take Nigella, who is definitely a host, as an example. Nigella acted completely normal as if she had never shown strange behavior. If not for Mabuka and Rico’s eyewitness accounts, I wouldn’t have suspected her at all.

Therefore, other people who became hosts for rats like Nigella also don’t show obvious signs at first glance. No matter how much Rico and I wracked our brains, we couldn’t figure out how to distinguish them.

They say you can burn down the house trying to catch a bedbug…

Bishop Marik didn’t commit arson and massacre an entire family for nothing. He must have adopted that method because it was the easiest and most certain way. It might even be the correct response in this world.

But since I don’t have the hobby of massacring people like Bishop Marik, I had to find another method. No matter how much I thought about it, since I knew nothing about demons, I couldn’t come up with any good ideas. So I had no choice but to complain to Pudding. Still, since Pudding is a beastman, I thought he might have more knowledge than ordinary people.

“Pudding, isn’t there a good method?”

“If it’s a method to catch demons… I can think of something.”

Pudding, who had returned to human form at some point, rested his head against my knee. His golden hair that seemed like it would shatter in sunlight tickled my legs through the fabric.

“If the holy knight brings holy water, you should make them drink it.”

“All the people in the manor?”

“Yes.”

Pudding nodded and continued his explanation.

“Holy water purifies everything that goes against the Sun God’s will. If you can’t distinguish with the naked eye, you can borrow the Sun God’s power.”

Is our kid a genius? I ruffled Pudding’s hair. As Pudding said, we just need to make everyone in the manor drink holy water.

Normal people won’t be harmed by drinking holy water. The problem is people in a cordyceps-like larval state… They won’t melt and die together with the demon, will they? I was anxious, but it was still much better than burning down the entire manor. In the first place, if they’re in such a fused state, it would be hard to consider them human anymore.

Now I just have to hope Gabriel brings lots of holy water.

It seems time to empty out my remaining emergency funds. Fortunately, since the purpose isn’t to treat people, I don’t need to give one full bottle of the standard dose to each person. Still, it won’t require as much holy water as I thought.

“Lady Evangeline, please keep petting me.”

I must have stopped my hand while lost in thought. Pudding urged me to continue stroking his head.

“Yes? Go ahead.”

He’s so precious I could pamper him for a lifetime. I moved my hand again. The texture of his fine hair was soft.

Hmm… They say fine hair is prone to hair loss, so could our kid possibly…?

Three days had passed since I sent the letter to Gabriel. No reply had come yet, and there were no signs of Bishop Marik storming into the ducal family. But it was too early to feel relieved. Since Bishop Marik had shown interest in Hosaquin Duke’s family, he would try to use the Duke whenever the time came.

While keeping watch outside, I gradually adapted to life at the Duke’s mansion. Amaranth’s room had become quite familiar now.

“Lady Evangeline, this is Rico.”

“Come in.”

I had also become quite close with Rico.

Although there’s Hazel who’s specifically assigned to me, we can’t distinguish who might be a host. Moreover, since we have to catch rats day and night and they’re demons that need to be disposed of with holy water, it was awkward to let Hazel know about this, so she only served me on the first day I came to the ducal family. After that, Rico took care of me. He does butler work, serves both me and the Duke, and catches rats together—he’s busy, so busy.

Rico entered the room and bowed his head in morning greeting.

“I’ve come with a message from His Grace asking me to escort you to him.”

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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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