My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 163

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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, who had been delighted by Rico’s affectionate voice mixed with pretense, soon looked at me with trembling eyes and answered.

“Mabuka doesn’t… do things like that…”

“Why not? Don’t you love your mother? If it were me, I could have done anything like that for my mother!”

That’s only possible because you’re a demon. I criticized inwardly while taking care of Mabuka.

“…Mabuka. You heard, right? That’s no longer Rico.”

“No, that’s Mabuka’s mom! Mom promised she would come back!”

Mabuka desperately denied the truth. It seemed I’d have to give up on persuading a child who was covering her ears when even persuading the child itself was difficult.

Now I didn’t care if I had to use force. Even if Mabuka pointed a knife at me as her enemy, claiming I killed her mother, I’d have nothing to say. For the sake of my weaknesses remaining at the manor and those captured injured at the temple, I had to deal with the rat.

“Pudding, Mabuka…”

“…Me!”

My words were cut off as I was about to ask Pudding to teleport the child away. Mabuka, who had interrupted me, poured out words in a tearful voice.

“…I heard everything from Hazel… That someone made a wish and Mabuka’s mom disappeared and became the Duke’s daughter…”

Mabuka sniffled as she chattered. Surprisingly, Mabuka clearly recognized that Rico was now a ‘rat’ and not her mother. So that’s why she said Rico promised to come back.

“Then Mabuka will make another wish… So, *sniffle*… don’t be the Duke’s daughter anymore and be Mabuka’s mom again.”

Mabuka said as she burrowed into Rico’s embrace. Her words were muffled by the clothes.

Whether because her body was being restrained by Pudding’s telekinesis, the rat couldn’t even embrace the child back and remained frozen. No, even if she wasn’t being restrained, the rat wouldn’t have embraced the child anyway.

“Hazel, what did you tell the child?”

“I’m sorry… But since we had to be wary of Rico, I thought Mabuka should know the situation too… Mabuka kept asking, so I ended up explaining it to her.”

It seemed Mabuka knew she wasn’t told the complete truth as a young child, and when her mother disappeared, she vaguely understood that something was wrong with Rico’s situation. She seemed to have pestered Hazel with questions and roughly heard the circumstances. Hazel seemed to have told her this out of fear that Mabuka might follow Rico, who had been consumed by the ‘rat,’ as a warning to be careful.

“Mom, mommy…”

The child cried pitifully. At this rate, she’d become dehydrated. Pudding was currently restraining the rat, and Hazel couldn’t handle even one child, so I had no choice but to step in.

I separated the child from the rat and took her into my arms. The rat looked at me briefly. What are you looking at? I ignored the rat’s gaze and focused on Mabuka. Fortunately, Mabuka didn’t push me away and quietly let me hold her.

I patted Mabuka’s back in a steady rhythm to comfort her. Mabuka kept her eyes wide open, trying not to fall asleep while being wary of me. But perhaps because I had a history of comforting her, she soon fell asleep. Only the child’s characteristic soft breathing filled the room.

I stroked the child’s face, still wet with tears, with my thumb. I could feel the child’s characteristically high body temperature through my fingertips. She was warmer than usual, perhaps feverish from all the crying.

“Being blindly devoted is just like you.”

“Does Mabuka resemble me?”

“Yes. You’re just as devoted to Lady Agera.”

We were having a casual conversation when I felt something was strange and looked at the rat. Pudding was also looking at the rat as if looking at something bizarre. The rat ignored such gazes and was staring only at me, or more precisely, was engraving Mabuka in her eyes.

“Mabuka does resemble me a lot…”

The rat whispered. No, this wasn’t the rat. Recognizing the difference between the two, I examined Rico’s face. A gentle breeze was blowing, and it felt like my body might melt away… I could feel emotions as warm as spring sunshine. I instinctively realized. That was definitely Rico.

“Rico?”

“Yes. Lady Evangeline.”

Could the ‘rat’ be imitating Rico to survive? But I couldn’t sense even a handful of hostility in the calm response.

Could it really be Rico? What suddenly happened? Did Rico’s soul really exert power? Could it be that Mabuka’s wish actually came true? All sorts of questions flashed through my mind.

“What happened?”

Unable to grasp the situation, the question I finally asked encompassed all my doubts. To my question, Rico smiled faintly and answered.

“The child was desperately searching for her mother. How could I just stand by and watch?”

So it seemed she had indeed seized control with her daughter’s support. What kind of novel is this… Oh wait, it is a novel. Right, then miracles could happen.

“Lady Evangeline.”

Rico called to me as I stood there dazed.

“Please, kill me quickly.”

And she dropped a bombshell. Rico seemed like someone who had given up on surviving.

I had prepared myself to kill Rico too. But that was to kill the rat, not to kill the intact Rico who had reclaimed her body like this. If it had been the rat’s form, I would have struck her neck without hesitation.

“Wait, wait a moment. Since Butler has returned, can’t we just stay like this…?”

Hazel intervened, blocking Rico’s hasty decision, seemingly afraid I might actually kill Rico like this.

“…I’m sorry, but I can only surface like this for now. I’ve already become part of the demon. The ‘rat’ was wounded, and thanks to Mabuka, I was able to temporarily seize control, but… as time passes, my body will be taken again.”

So she was saying to kill her comfortably now before she turned back into the rat.

“Hazel.”

“Yes… Butler.”

“Mabuka will be fine. Memories of my death will soon become hazy. In just a few decades, like I did, she won’t even remember her parent’s face.”

Rico predicted Mabuka’s future by comparing it to her own experience.

“I don’t want to show her me dying in front of Mabuka. So please, could you take Mabuka out?”

“But… then after I take Mabuka out, Butler will…”

Hazel’s eyes shook wildly as if an earthquake had struck. I handed Mabuka over to the flustered Hazel. Frail Hazel staggered briefly upon receiving Mabuka, then straightened her posture again. Though Hazel had received and was holding the child, she hesitated, not knowing what to do.

“…If I leave, will Butler die?”

Hazel finally voiced her correct assumption and trembled in fear of the approaching reality. Since the premise that leaving with Mabuka meant death acted like a trigger, though she hadn’t directly held the blade, she must have felt like an executioner.

Hazel seemed crushed by guilt, unable to stand properly. She acted as if she might be crushed to death soon.

I decided to ease Hazel’s guilt. I placed my hand on Hazel’s shoulder and applied just a little pressure while persuading her.

“Hazel. Please respect Rico’s choice. Rico wouldn’t want to live miserably as a demon’s host either.”

Hazel listened to my words and looked at Rico’s face. Then she bowed her head in greeting to Rico, who smiled slightly as if to say it was okay.

“Butler. In the dining room…, thank you for saving me.”

“Haha. If you put it that way, I was the one who put Hazel in danger, wasn’t I? I should be the one thanking you for treating my hand.”

After Rico’s response, Hazel bowed to me as well and left the room sniffling. She would have a hard time comforting the child when Mabuka woke up.

After the two left, Rico and I maintained silence for a long while without saying anything. Only after Hazel’s footsteps disappeared beyond the corridor did Rico look at me.

“Lady Evangeline… This is a shameless request, but please take good care of Mabuka.”

I was the enemy who killed her mother, so there was no way Mabuka would follow me. Though we both knew it was an impossible request, neither of us said anything about it.

“Lastly, may I say goodbye to Lady Agera one last time?”

Rico asked, clenching and unclenching her hands as if blood wasn’t circulating well. She was clearly nervous since there was a high possibility I would refuse. A final goodbye with Agera…, Rico wasn’t blindly devoted like the rat, but she had followed Agera like a benefactor. I wanted to let her have at least a final farewell.

“Alright.”

When I gave permission, Pudding released the restraints. However, since the rat could emerge again at any time, the guard remained up. Rico limped toward Agera.

“Lady Agera…”

Rico sat by the bedside, looked down at Agera, and called out desperately. Rico and the ‘rat’ had strangely similar aspects. Just as the rat had done, Rico couldn’t reach out to touch Agera either. Since it was the last time… Since it was the last time, it would have been nice if she could hold hands and say farewell.

“I’m, I’m so grateful. For not punishing me, a pickpocket wandering the slums, but bringing me home and giving me work.”

Rico chattered quietly as if Agera wasn’t asleep but listening to her story.

“For not throwing me out when I had a child out of wedlock and telling me I could raise her. For saying Mabuka was like a granddaughter. I’m grateful for everything.”

Rico forcibly held back her flowing tears and finally said.

“I, I dared to think of you as a mother.”

I realized why the rat chose Rico as its host. The rat was obsessed with the position of Agera’s daughter. That’s why it tried to harm me and devoured Rico. And the reason the devoured target was Rico was… because Rico thought of Agera as a mother.

Rico roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, afraid her tears might fall on Agera. But despite Rico’s consideration, Agera woke up.

Agera blinked as if still dreaming, then reached out to Rico who was right in front of her. Since Rico couldn’t approach first, it seemed she was reaching out first.

“…Rico.”

I doubted my ears. Did I hear wrong? Did, didn’t Agera just call Rico’s name?

“Rico.”

I heard Rico’s name once more.

And seeing Rico’s shock, I realized I wasn’t the only one hearing things. Agera had recognized Rico. Agera reached out and stroked Rico’s head.

“Rico… I thought of you as a daughter too…”

Rico quietly received Agera’s touch. She seemed to have frozen, unable to accept the situation.

Rico made a face as if emotions were welling up and making her nauseous.

“So…, don’t say ‘dared’…”

With those words, Agera nodded off again and fell back asleep. I felt like I was possessed by a ghost. I wondered if the demon had manipulated Agera. But since the rat had no reason to do good things for Rico instead of itself, Agera must have remembered Rico of her own will.

Had her memory returned briefly? Or perhaps the dementia symptoms Agera showed weren’t simple illness to begin with. She might have offered her memories as payment when summoning the demon, and now that the rat’s influence had weakened, she might have faintly regained her memories.

I couldn’t know which was the correct answer, but it was truly miraculous. It was already amazing that Rico overcame the rat and seized control of her body, and now Agera remembered Rico too. For some unknown reason, my heart was stirring.

Why don’t miracles happen just one at a time?

I had watched from the side as Agera asked for Rico’s name every time while staying at the manor. Agera always seemed to look at Rico as if seeing a very unfamiliar person.

Since Rico was the Duke’s mansion’s butler, she had met Agera several times, but each time Agera couldn’t remember who she was, which was a little heartbreaking. Rico, who regarded Agera almost as a benefactor, must have felt heartbroken as if her heart was being torn apart.

Seeing how she only remembered Amaranth, didn’t she painfully realize that she could never become Agera’s daughter?

So I dare not fathom Rico’s feelings right now.

“*Sob*. Lady Agera…”

Rico cried loudly. Forgetting her age, like a young child, she cried loudly. She wailed pitifully like a child who had gotten lost wandering the streets and found her parents. That sight was exactly like Mabuka. It was regrettable that I couldn’t hold and comfort Rico since she wasn’t a young child.

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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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