My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 167

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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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“Count Astaroth. There was a spectator watching you die. But if that spectator gets hurt, would you show them mercy?”

Jeremiah thought for a moment. He remembered the knights who tried to present him to the Emperor when his stomach was pierced. Those cold, indifferent eyes looking down at him. Jeremiah would also turn away without mercy if they were hurt.

“So it’s only natural that I don’t treat Marquis Wujeta.”

It was a reasonable statement, but it felt very strange. When had Marquis Wujeta ever turned away from Tenebray’s injuries? A princess was someone for whom holy water would be prepared even for a single scratch from a blade of grass.

“Are you saying Marquis Wujeta watched you get hurt?”

“Ridiculous, right? Yes. He watched me.”

However, Tenebray affirmed this absurd situation.

“When that damn Father dragged me to prison to whip me, he was always behind me, laughing at me. How much joy he must have felt watching the gloomy princess get beaten to death. My nails were being pulled out, my back was being torn open! And he stood next to the Crown Prince pretending to be some loyal knight, acting like he’d sacrifice his life for the royal family!”

Jeremiah thought Tenebray was talking nonsense. Marquis Wujeta wouldn’t do such a thing, and above all, Father would never have whipped Tenebray.

She was crazy enough to kill her only twin sister and steal her identity, so this must be paranoid delusion. Bishop Marik had brainwashed Tenebray just as he had done to Hena. That must be it.

Tenebray began nervously scratching her neck with her nails. Whether she felt no sensation, her neck quickly turned red and eventually drew blood. Was this why Bishop Marik had told him not to worry about Tenebray’s injuries?

“Princess Tenebray.”

When Jeremiah called her name, Tenebray belatedly came to her senses. Then she was startled to see the red blood under her nails.

“I can’t do this, I can’t do this. Jeremiah doesn’t have such ugly habits.”

Tenebray immediately ran to open a drawer. Inside were dozens of bottles of holy water. Since Jeremiah hadn’t put them there when he was the true owner of the room, Tenebray must have prepared them later.

Tenebray began wiping her neck with holy water and scrubbing her hands vigorously. Only after checking several times in the mirror did she return to her senses. She looked exactly like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Jeremiah felt strange watching Tenebray’s half-mad state.

She had killed her biological father and twin sister and stolen their positions. Moreover, with Bishop Marik, who supposedly controlled even the Emperor, as her backer, the throne would be hers if she could just eliminate Oratorio.

Jeremiah had thought Tenebray would be living quite happily. That’s why he had been burning with revenge, but what was this miserable state?

Tenebray’s strange symptoms didn’t end there.

When a maid brought tea, Tenebray took one sip and threw the teacup, shattering it. The maid, knowing she had displeased the princess, looked terrified. Jeremiah quickly sent her outside, worried she might get caught in the crossfire. Fortunately, Tenebray didn’t even glance at the maid.

“You know, I think someone poisoned my cup. Maybe it was Jeremiah?”

‘How could I? I’m dead because you killed me.’

Jeremiah swallowed the response he wanted to give.

“Isn’t Jeremiah already dead?”

Replying thus, Jeremiah cleaned up the broken pieces. With the maid sent away, Jeremiah had to clean up, but even that wasn’t smooth.

Blood drops fell onto the carpet and soaked in. Looking up, he saw Tenebray holding a broken piece of porcelain in her hand.

“Right? That’s right, isn’t it? I know too. I saw the corpse, but sometimes it doesn’t feel real… Everyone acts like Jeremiah is alive. Don’t they? Oh, right, right… It’s natural since I’m using Jeremiah’s name.”

Tenebray rambled incoherently while gripping the broken teacup shard tightly. Her hand was covered in blood, but she seemed to feel no pain. When Jeremiah tried to stop her, she got angry instead. The wound grew larger, so he forcibly took the shard away.

Whether Tenebray went mad and self-harmed should have been none of Jeremiah’s business, but somehow it was uncomfortable to watch.

In the end, Jeremiah had no choice but to use another bottle of holy water to heal Tenebray. Why was he treating the wounded hand of the twin sister who had betrayed and driven him to death… Jeremiah felt his situation was pitiful. He decided this was all punishment for stupidly being deceived and helping burn down the Rohanson Estate.

Tenebray was quietly receiving treatment when she called Jeremiah.

“Count Astaroth.”

“Yes… Princess Tenebray.”

“You think I’m crazy too, don’t you? So… is Bishop Marik trying to abandon me because I’m mad?”

It was a very forlorn attitude. Though it seemed one-sided, Tenebray herself seemed to recognize the power relationship.

“Since there are other successors to the throne, someone like me doesn’t matter to the Bishop, right?”

“Are you referring to Prince Oratorio?”

“No. Why would someone like Oratorio be a concern?”

Tenebray replied with a frown. Though Bishop Marik had said he would put Tenebray on the throne, it seemed he had already made moves against Oratorio.

“That bastard Oratorio has a wound on his face that can’t be healed with holy water – how could he be presented in public? It would be cleaner to just kill him, but His Majesty the Emperor is desperately trying to hide him.”

A wound on his face? If it can’t be healed with holy water, it must be a wound inflicted by Azazel – the one who killed Jeremiah himself.

Jeremiah remembered the moment Azazel, whom he had trusted, stabbed him in the stomach, and clenched his fists. His heart pounded so violently it felt like it would burst from his mouth. Jeremiah tried to calm his anger and maintain a composed expression.

“How dare he try to ascend to the throne with a split face? It’s proof he’s a cursed being who hasn’t received the Sun God’s blessing – who would acknowledge him as emperor?”

“If Oratorio is in such a state, what’s the problem?”

What more could be lacking after harming all your blood relatives? When Jeremiah asked back, maintaining an indifferent tone, a sharp answer came from Tenebray.

“The Bishop brought a prince.”

“A prince…?”

“Yes. My uncle.”

Uncle? Jeremiah couldn’t understand who Tenebray was referring to. Hadn’t everyone in Jeremiah’s lineage above Father died?

“Oh? Count Astaroth doesn’t know?”

When Jeremiah nodded, Tenebray asked with bright eyes.

“Really? …Then do you want to go see?”

Of course Jeremiah couldn’t refuse. Even if Bishop Marik questioned his whereabouts later, it was more important to find out what was happening and who this prince that suddenly appeared was. It was even more concerning since Bishop Marik had brought him.

Jeremiah followed Tenebray. The place Tenebray was heading to was the underground prison. He couldn’t understand why someone called uncle, supposedly a prince, would be underground. Moreover, Tenebray’s steps toward the prison were confident.

Jeremiah only knew that an underground prison existed but had never known its location. Tenebray should be in a similar situation, yet somehow she found her way without getting lost. There was no way Tenebray’s claim about being whipped in prison could be true.

The place where Tenebray stopped after skillfully slipping gold coins to the guard wasn’t where ordinary prisoners were kept. It was a place where death row inmates guilty of serious crimes would be confined before execution.

“Say hello. This is my uncle.”

Tenebray introduced him, and Jeremiah looked inside the prison. Then he saw someone familiar, very familiar, and couldn’t help but call out their name.

“Count Gabriel?”

Jeremiah was bewildered, unable to follow the situation. Meanwhile, Gabriel, recognizing Jeremiah, blinked his eyes. With a gag in his mouth, he greeted with his eyes. Jeremiah almost felt nauseous at Gabriel’s calm demeanor.

Why is someone who returned with the Plauros Knights here?

When returning to the temple with Bishop Marik, he had clearly seen Gabriel being helped into a carriage by the Plauros Knights. Bishop Marik had also said he was just venting anger and had sent Gabriel back.

After that, Bishop Marik’s minions had searched for Gabriel. Since Gabriel and the Plauros Knights were absent then, Jeremiah thought they were hiding under the protection of Evangeline.

So he never expected to encounter Gabriel in the imperial palace. And in such an untreated state, no less.

“Why is a Holy Knight here?”

“I told you. He’s my uncle. Since he’s a prince, it’s natural for him to be in the imperial castle, isn’t it?”

And what did she mean by uncle? Jeremiah felt dizzy from the flood of information.

“Count Gabriel is a prince?”

“Yes. I was surprised at first too. You must have heard the story of the youngest prince who died tragically. My goodness, but uncle was alive!”

Tenebray laughed mockingly at Gabriel without hiding her hostility, then suddenly stopped laughing and looked into the prison with murderous eyes.

“As you can see, he’s tied up now and can’t even move properly – what a pathetic state!”

“…Did Bishop Marik bring him?”

“He didn’t come personally. Even in that state, he’s still a prince, so Marquis Wujeta brought him directly. When was it… was it the day we heard the Rohanson Estate burned down?”

If Tenebray’s words were true, Gabriel must have been kidnapped and imprisoned that very day. Jeremiah gritted his teeth. It was clear that Bishop Marik was suspicious of and wary of Jeremiah.

“Probably the Bishop thinks that if I go completely mad and become unusable, he’ll bring out uncle to use instead? Ah. If I killed him now, the Bishop wouldn’t abandon me…”

Those words from the mouth of a demon who had already killed her father and sister didn’t sound like lies. It was truly fortunate that iron bars separated them.

Tenebray didn’t notice Jeremiah’s agitation and innocently brought her hand to her lips.

“Count Astaroth. It’s a secret that I wanted to kill uncle. And that we came to see Count Gabriel too. You understand, right? You must never tell the Bishop. If we’re caught… I’ll be abandoned by the Bishop. Then I’ll return to my miserable state again…”

Tenebray rambled incoherently.

For Jeremiah, this was welcome news. The fact that he had learned Gabriel’s whereabouts and the secrets surrounding him wouldn’t be good if it reached Bishop Marik’s ears. Bishop Marik had hidden Gabriel’s whereabouts from Jeremiah without telling him. But he couldn’t understand why Tenebray, who was Bishop Marik’s minion, was revealing such secrets.

“What if I report this to Bishop Marik? Why are you telling me these secrets?”

When Jeremiah asked, Tenebray smiled and answered.

“Report it? That won’t happen. You looked at me with pity.”

“…I did?”

“Could I have been mistaken? But you treated my injured hand… If you didn’t feel sorry for me, why did you reach out to help instead of just watching my wounds?”

Jeremiah couldn’t bring himself to answer. The reason he had stopped Tenebray from self-harming while hating her, when spoken from her own mouth, made the emotions he didn’t want to acknowledge come through transparently.

“So please, I’m asking you. Count Astaroth is the Bishop’s escort, right? I understand well that I could be abandoned by the Bishop if I make a mistake… So help me so the Bishop won’t abandon me. If the Bishop asks, you must tell him I’m not crazy. That I was perfectly fine.”

Jeremiah found it terrible that he had looked at Tenebray with sympathetic eyes, but he had no choice but to nod. Perhaps among all the nonsense Tenebray had spouted today, only the part about being whipped in the basement might be true – this thought stuck viscously in his mind.

“I won’t tell Bishop Marik.”

Jeremiah made a pact with Tenebray. Since the one he would confess what he witnessed to was Evangeline, not the Bishop, he wasn’t making a false promise.

‘Does Evangeline know that Count Gabriel is confined in the imperial prison?’

She might have heard that Gabriel was injured, but she probably couldn’t find out his whereabouts. Moreover, she wouldn’t know that Gabriel wasn’t receiving proper treatment and was being treated like a death row inmate. Jeremiah let out a deep sigh.

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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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