My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 131

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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 spoke to the Duke as if brainwashing him. Perhaps because my voice echoed in the room, it seemed like my voice was splitting into two.

“Who is to blame?”

“It’s me… It’s me…”

Finally, the Duke acknowledged the guilt he had been carrying.

“You merely provided the pretext, but I was the one who drove the situation. I am the sinner…”

I think so too. If only the Duke hadn’t declared estrangement, Agera wouldn’t have performed human transmutation just because she missed her daughter.

I tried to take advantage of this opportunity to knead the Duke’s softened mind a bit, but another interruption came from outside. This time it wasn’t a knight, but Rico.

“Duke, a guest has arrived. Shall I guide them to the drawing room?”

“…Do so.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Along with the reply, I heard the sound of heels fading away. A guest? Who would come at a time like this?

As I was trying to figure out the identity of this unwelcome guest, the Duke gave me an order.

“Evangeline Rohanson, you go and greet the guest.”

Me? I’m not even part of the ducal family.

“I don’t have the qualifications to receive guests.”

“No. You’re not a guest, so you have the qualifications.”

What? Did I just mishear? If I’m not a guest and I’m in a position to greet guests, isn’t that the same as acknowledging me as his granddaughter?

“Guide her to the drawing room.”

The Duke called a servant and ordered them to guide me. I left the office in a dazed state. I had scratched at the Duke with all my might, telling him to properly choose his position whether he was going to be hostile or take my side.

But I never expected him to change his attitude so immediately, like flipping his palm. The Duke has a picky and stubborn personality, so I thought he would only acknowledge me before dying, or act like a tsundere.

I have no idea what change of heart made him acknowledge me.

“I’ll guide you, Miss.”

Even while following the servant, I couldn’t understand and kept raising question marks in my mind.

Could it be that this guest is a dangerous person, so he’s putting me forward as a shield?

***

The man bearing Hosaquin’s name was alone in the room, immersed in regret.

The air seemed to have weight as it pressed down on him heavily. Thus, Duke Hosaquin couldn’t lift his head even though there was no one present to whom he wanted to apologize.

Where do souls not embraced by the Divine go? If Amaranth’s defiled soul had melted and seeped into the earth, it made sense that the Duke found it so difficult to breathe.

“…Amaranth.”

Even after Evangeline left the room, he couldn’t easily lift his head. If he straightened his posture again, he felt like he would see his daughter resenting him.

Though he had declared he wouldn’t acknowledge Evangeline Rohanson, what he had brought into this house resembled Amaranth to an unpleasant degree. Of course, since Amaranth had created it, it couldn’t be otherwise.

The harsh words Evangeline uttered became Amaranth’s reproach, and his own cold attitude toward Evangeline became a repetition of the past.

“How regrettable.”

Until recently, Duke Hosaquin had never regretted what he had done. On the Duke’s shoulders hung countless lives that depended on him.

So during the tail end of the heretic massacres, when Amaranth said he had made the wrong choice, the Duke sentenced his daughter to estrangement without hesitation.

The sin Amaranth committed was hers alone to bear. Duke Hosaquin thought so. The Duke had a sun-like beacon he should rightfully follow, so he never doubted his actions.

“I was foolish. Only now do I come to understand Amaranth.”

If Agera hadn’t dabbled in sorcery, he would never have understood for his entire life.

After Amaranth died, Agera lost her mind. It would have been better if she had resented the Duke, but Agera was too weak a person to burden others. Agera’s time had stopped.

The Duke had to live with someone whose time flowed backward.

Duke Hosaquin followed the sun, so he aged day by day as the sun rose. But Agera turned her back to it, becoming younger as the sun set.

However, unlike with Amaranth, the Duke couldn’t let go of Agera. Because Agera was the most important thing to him. Even in this state, the Duke hoped the Divine would mercifully watch over Agera. The Duke’s feelings for his wife were greater than his guilt toward his daughter. Surely for Amaranth, that monster called Evangeline was such an existence.

The Duke took out letters that had been stored in his drawer for a long time and carefully caressed them. These were letters sent by Amaranth after the estrangement. Afraid of what might be written, he had kept them stored away his entire life without reading them.

“Father.”

A rat popped out from under the desk. No, it was his daughter. The Duke didn’t stop the rat from climbing onto the desk. Taking advantage of the Duke’s mental confusion and weakness, the ‘Rat’ tried to bewitch him.

If Evangeline had known this fact, she would have been angry enough to burn the ‘Rat’ alive for coveting her share.

“Father why did you abandon me. Why won’t you love me. What did I do wrong. Father abandoned me. To leave me to die alone. I’ll die soon. Please save me. Father. I want to return to the ducal family.”

The rat seemed to recite the contents of letters the Duke hadn’t been able to read. The voice the rat uttered ridiculously resembled Evangeline’s.

Was Amaranth’s voice like this too? His memory of the past had corroded from trying to forget, losing even his daughter’s voice.

“Swallow me. Eat me. Chew me up. I’m a very tasty rat. If you eat me I’ll forgive you. I won’t hate Father.”

Without even realizing it, the Duke was gripping the rat as if entranced.

Indeed. If Evangeline hadn’t warned him beforehand, his heart would have sunk. This was the malice that Agera’s second daughter, crushed by the Duke, had to accept. The Duke felt anger rising. To be more angry at what was summoned than at Agera, who had cast the sorcery—what a biased attitude.

“…Hate me for eternity.”

The Duke put more strength into his grip until his eyes were bloodshot. The rat clawed wildly at the Duke’s hand, trying to escape.

“Amaranth, my daughter. I have no intention of being forgiven by you. So resent me even in death.”

Crunch. The sound of bones crushing was heard. The Duke didn’t release his grip. Because the ‘Rats’ came back to life even after dying, if the Duke let go, it would escape and be eaten by other people in the manor.

So the Duke continued, repeatedly killing the rat each time it came back to life.

For a very long time, until Evangeline, who resembled his daughter more than the ‘Rat’, returned to the office again.

***

Rico had already taken care of all the preparations for receiving guests without me having to do anything. If I hadn’t joined hands with Rico and had been hostile instead, life in the ducal family would have been quite arduous.

While waiting in the drawing room, the guest the Duke mentioned soon arrived. They were people wearing pressed-down cloaks, and I almost let out a cheer because I thought I knew who they were as soon as I saw them.

“Count Gabriel.”

At my call, Gabriel pulled back his cloak. His melancholy beauty, hidden by the cloth, was immediately revealed. Did someone set up lighting for Gabriel’s entrance scene? I felt like the surroundings had brightened a bit.

“I’m pleased you recognized me right away.”

Gabriel smiled sweetly. Now even a reflector was set up. Since I hadn’t seen him for a while, perhaps my immunity had weakened—I almost gave him a thumbs up and praised him for his enduring beauty. My villainess dignity almost died.

“I didn’t expect you to come in person, Count.”

No wonder the Duke sent me—it must have been because Gabriel came.

But wouldn’t it be dangerous to come in person when Bishop Marik would be watching with fierce eyes? That’s why he sent letters under Misha’s name. At my words, Gabriel lowered his eyes as if ashamed.

“Opportunities to see you are not common, Miss. Because I haven’t seen you for so long… even knowing it was dangerous, I ended up coming.”

As he said, it really had been a long time. The last time I saw him was when we saved Jeremiah, so it had been quite a while.

There was no trace left of the upright and sincere knight. Gabriel had really settled into my fish tank. I realized this anew. That’s probably why he’s abandoning his faith and duties to help me.

Still, Gabriel was the only one in my fish tank, so my conscience hurt less. But if there’s only one… isn’t that no longer a fish tank? Anyway.

“It would be nice if you had missed me too, Miss.”

Gabriel added as if lamenting. He seemed convinced that I wouldn’t have missed him. I did miss him though. I wanted to interrogate him about why he dropped me into the rat apocalypse without giving any hint.

“I missed seeing you too, Count Gabriel.”

Though it was purely out of necessity. Since the meaning was the same, I gave him plenty of sweet talk. Since I was seeing him after a long time, I had to diligently give him bait.

“Is that so?”

Gabriel’s eyes curved upon hearing my answer. Without placing any significance on the other meaning in my words, it was a smile that came from being moved by the pure fact that I had longed for him.

“So Miss Evangeline thought of me.”

My gaze was naturally drawn to his bright smile.

“The fact that I occupied part of the time you spend, Miss, makes me incredibly happy.”

Gabriel acted as if just my saying I thought of him a few times was sweeter than any flattery in the world. Gabriel’s eyes were flushed red with emotion even though he wasn’t crying. It seemed like his feelings might overflow at any moment.

I had never seen a person so filled with just one emotion… with happiness. Seeing Gabriel, who was always coldly unmatched, laughing with excitement, and the fact that I had created that emotion, felt strange. My heart rate quickened, and nausea rose. I covered my mouth.

“Miss?”

Gabriel immediately erased his smile and looked at me with concern. I avoided Gabriel’s eyes.

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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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