My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 169

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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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Duke Hosaquin was protecting the wicked Evangeline Rohanson. Because of this, the nobles who had dealings with the Duke had recently dwindled to almost none, fearing they might incur his wrath by association. Jeremiah responded shamelessly to the servant’s suspicious gaze.

“Yes. I heard news that the Viscountess’s condition is poor, so I’m concerned and wish to convey my condolences.”

The servant recalled the rumors that had been circulating frequently lately. They said the Viscount’s wife was on her deathbed.

Princess Jeremias had become somewhat more vicious in her conduct since losing her father and twin sisters, perhaps due to the shock.

However, before the series of events occurred, Princess Jeremias had possessed a generous nature and would often send letters like this when she heard unfortunate news about nobles. The servant, understanding the situation, bowed his head to the knight.

“Yes. I will immediately tell them to send the letter.”

“No. You do it.”

Then the knight grabbed the servant.

“Pardon?”

The servant momentarily asked back, as if he had heard nonsense.

“You know how to ride a horse, don’t you? You’ll have to go yourself.”

“Me?”

When the servant asked again, Jeremiah, who was impersonating Azazel, immediately turned fierce.

The servant realized he had offended the knight’s mood and bowed his body. Originally, one shouldn’t argue back against orders from superiors.

But strictly speaking, the servant’s master was not the knight before him, but the Princess. The servant, who disliked additional labor this late at night, showed defiance once more.

“Well… Unless the Princess directly orders it, it would be difficult for me to leave my post.”

The servant nervously broke into a cold sweat, wondering if he had shown unnecessary bravado. However, the Holy Knight before him unexpectedly spoke calmly without showing any signs of displeasure.

“What if… this letter arrives late and the Viscountess passes away before then? Wouldn’t that make her an unparalleled scoundrel for writing a condolence letter about a dead person?”

“The letter won’t arrive that late…”

This wasn’t just anyone’s letter, but a missive from the Princess herself. Moreover, even to the edge of the empire, there were dozens of people who could ride horses day and night. The servant added an explanation to the knight who seemed ignorant about the imperial court, but the knight’s face became even more menacing.

“How can you guarantee that? What if the Viscountess passes away tonight? On what grounds do you guarantee when the Viscountess will die? Are you perhaps planning to use an assassin, which is why you can guarantee it?”

“No, no! How could that be!”

When the servant turned pale and waved his hands in denial, Jeremiah relaxed her stern expression.

“Right? You’re neither an assassin who would kill the Viscountess nor an incompetent fool who would drag your superior’s reputation through the mud, so you’ll surely deliver the letter personally.”

“Yes…? Yes…”

“Then depart right now. Oh, and since Duke Hosaquin has a bad reputation, she said not to inform the subordinates of your whereabouts.”

When Jeremiah urged him, the servant hastily put the letter in his chest and headed to the stables. When the stable keeper saw the imperial seal, he handed over a horse without even asking about the destination.

Throughout the journey to Duke Hosaquin’s estate, questions kept bubbling up about why he, a mere servant, had to deliver a letter more precious than life, and how a knight he only knew by name knew that he could ride a horse.

But if he stayed still, he would become an ignorant fool who didn’t consider his master’s reputation. Moreover, if he rebelled unnecessarily, the knight might make unreasonable demands and frame the servant as the Viscountess’s assassin.

Originally, superiors are beings who must somehow make their subordinates work to feel satisfied. The servant decided not to think too complexly and just go and return.

The servant delivered the letter to the Duke’s servant. After staying up all night to make the trip, he received thanks from the knight, not the Princess, for delivering his letter.

“Yes, wasn’t it Princess Jeremias’s letter?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? That was a letter I wrote.”

When the servant asked, the knight patted his shoulder. It was literally a letter written by Jeremiah, but naturally the servant understood it differently.

Searching his memory, the knight had indeed never once said that the letter writer was the Princess. The servant had made his own assumptions.

“But it had the imperial seal on it…”

“I borrowed it from Princess Jeremias, right?”

“Ah… I see.”

The bewildered servant, looking noticeably haggard, greeted Jeremiah and left.

Though he was feeling wronged like that, the servant would never report to Tenebray that he had been treated unfairly. This was because he knew she usually disliked getting involved in troublesome matters. Jeremiah had also been helped by the servant’s lazy nature several times when she was a princess.

Jeremiah, who had deliberately chosen someone who wouldn’t fall for Bishop Marik’s schemes and wouldn’t open or steal the letter, secretly conveyed her gratitude to the servant.

***

“Um… Miss?”

Someone was calling me.

“Miss… Evangeline!”

Along with the call, a careful touch reached me. I almost brushed the hand away but suddenly came to my senses. Kanna was looking at me with a worried face. Wait, had I just tried to hit Kanna’s hand? I wanted to apologize, but my throat was choked and my mouth wouldn’t open as if it were frozen.

I had used Agera as bait to catch the Rats. After that, I had stopped by the Duke’s office to discuss Rico’s treatment. The Duke had given me a letter from Gabriel, saying it would help decide Rico’s treatment.

Kanna received the letter from the Duke and handed it to me. The letter was already opened, and the Duke explained that he had opened it thinking it was a letter for him.

I nodded in understanding and read through the letter. After finishing reading, I almost lost my mind with anger. Kanna, who had been by my side the entire time I was reading the letter, asked carefully.

“Miss, what on earth did Count Gabriel write in his letter to make you like this?”

My mood, which had been quite good until I read the letter, was plummeting so fast that Kanna asked worriedly. She seemed curious about what could be written in the letter to make my mood drop so suddenly. But I couldn’t smile while reading something like this.

Instead of explaining, I handed the letter to Kanna, telling her to read it herself. The handwriting looked hastily scrawled as if written in a hurry, so Kanna stammered as she recited the letter.

“To my dear… Rohanson, young lady. Gabriel… is.”

To my dear Young Lady Rohanson.

Count Gabriel is in the imperial palace.

The letter began like this. As soon as my and Gabriel’s names appeared, the Duke realized it wasn’t a letter for him, closed it, and gave it directly to me. That’s why he said the sender was someone who couldn’t even write letters to me. The actual writer appeared right after.

“…Huh? It’s not from Count Gabriel but from Count Astaroth?”

Kanna, perhaps being mindful of the Duke, called Jeremiah by a distant title. As Kanna read through the letter, she was initially excited that Jeremiah had definitely not betrayed me, but gradually became more serious.

The recitation she had been doing aloud also became something she couldn’t bear to voice and swallowed silently. By the end, she had the same gloomy expression as me.

The letter began with Jeremiah apologizing for the mistakes she made by being deceived by Hena, and was filled with information she had discovered while acting as a spy beside Bishop Marik.

Jelly and Hena had gone to the temple together, and though she had tried to find their whereabouts, she hadn’t found them yet. Bishop Marik was working as a maid named ‘Saraka,’ and she had encountered him with burn scars on his lower face when she was Princess Jeremias in the past.

She had discovered a suspicious patient in Bishop Marik’s room. She had found Gabriel imprisoned in the underground prison of the imperial palace where she had gone to serve as Tenebray’s guard.

Gabriel, who I thought had returned with the Pararos Knights… Gabriel was restrained with a gag in his mouth without receiving any treatment…

“Miss… are you alright?”

Kanna looked at me with trembling eyes. Rather than Gabriel’s condition described in the letter, she seemed more worried about me being shocked after reading it.

Since Kanna was worried, I wanted to answer that I was fine, but I really wasn’t fine at all. Rage exploded inside me. I was furious at Bishop Marik, who had taken Gabriel prisoner as well, as if Jelly and the people of Rohanson Estate weren’t enough.

Gabriel was different from Jelly, who healed quickly from wounds. He was an ordinary person. I felt deep guilt, as if I were offering Gabriel as payment to extend my own life.

“Duke, who brought the letter?”

“Princess Jeremias’s servant brought it directly. He said it was a condolence letter the Princess wrote out of concern for Agera. He said he was asked to deliver it by a knight serving Jeremias.”

“I see.”

So that’s why the Duke had opened the letter.

Fortunately, if it was delivered directly from Jeremiah, Bishop Marik wouldn’t have been able to check the letter’s contents. He wouldn’t realize that I had discovered Gabriel’s whereabouts and spirit him away before I could rescue him.

I was grateful to Jeremiah for staying by the Bishop’s side, risking her life. These were all golden pieces of information, too valuable to be mere compensation for the mistake of being briefly deceived and watching the estate burn.

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

First, I conveyed my thanks to the Duke.

“As you said, Grandfather, this helps in deciding Rico’s treatment.”

Then I turned my eyes to Rico.

“Rico.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

“You said you could use the Rats’ abilities, right?”

“…Yes.”

Rico, who had already prepared for her own death, nodded with a resolute expression.

“Then, could you also imitate Count Gabriel’s appearance?”

“Count Gabriel…?”

If Rico could imitate Gabriel’s appearance, I planned to spirit Gabriel away and place Rico in his position. Rico was confused by the sudden request to impersonate Gabriel and fell into thought.

“First, try imitating Kanna and let’s test if you can do it.”

“Yes. I’ll try.”

Rico nodded obediently. Then Rico’s appearance immediately began to melt and reshape. Inside and outside mixed together and were reconstructed. The flesh moved to find its place like separate living beings.

Blood vessels drew out fibers, split skin attached cleanly to fill the red gaps, and what was finally completed was Kanna’s form.

The red hair and bright face were exactly like Kanna’s.

But as I stared intently for a long time, I felt dozens, hundreds of different vitalities, as if it wasn’t one person but various things gathered to form a colony.

Rico was exactly like a pointillist painting. A picture made to look like various beings up close but appear as one Kanna when viewed from afar.

“…My goodness.”

Kanna, who had gained an identical self without even looking in a mirror, covered her mouth. Rico clumsily imitated Kanna and covered her mouth. Seeing this, Kanna stepped back slightly, apparently getting goosebumps.

Rico, keenly noticing that Kanna was frightened, immediately undid the disguise.

“Lady Evangeline. This should be enough for Count Gabriel to imitate as well.”

Rico transformed her appearance once more as if to prove her words. The crumbling mass slowly began to take shape again. It was like watching an adult emerge from a cocoon. What was finally revealed was a face I knew all too well.

Jet-black hair that would look dark even in sunlight, and long eyelashes. Beneath them, somber eyes gazed out. When those cold blue eyes turned toward me, I felt a shiver run through my body as I realized that what stood before me was different from the Gabriel I knew.

“Do you like it?”

Rico asked with an eerie smile that Gabriel would never make.

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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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