My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 170

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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 asked Pudding to warp to the Imperial Capital with Rico. Since it was a different place from where I had been imprisoned, I had no choice but to entrust Pudding with finding Gabriel’s whereabouts. Fortunately, since Jeremiah had stopped by the prison where Gabriel was held, Pudding was able to follow that trail and find Gabriel.

When we arrived at the prison, I could see the guards collapsed on the floor.

“I put them to sleep in advance.”

Pudding in human form was wagging his non-existent tail, so I patted his head. Thanks to Pudding, my gloomy mood seemed to improve a little, but when I went down to the basement and saw Gabriel’s condition, it plummeted to rock bottom again.

The basement was dark. Since Rico was following behind me holding a candlestick, the shapes revealed themselves from the darkness with a time delay.

At first, I couldn’t even distinguish Gabriel. Not only his face, but even his clothing wasn’t properly visible. I took a breath and approached Gabriel closely.

With one step, I saw his powerless legs, with two steps, his wrists bound in chains. Only after taking three steps did his black hair come into view.

“Count, what is this…”

Only a sigh came out.

There was red, there was too much red. It was a color that didn’t suit him at all, with his blue eyes that resembled the blue sky during the day and a serene deep lake at night.

I opened the prison door and hurried inside.

While Pudding undid the restraints, I removed Gabriel’s gag. Gabriel coughed and breathed out thinly before leaning against me. Gabriel’s body temperature is always warm.

Even in this moment when everything was a mess, I could vividly feel Gabriel’s warmth. That temperature, the pulse that thudded and transmitted to the tips of my skin, proved that Gabriel was alive.

Gabriel recognized me.

“…Lady. Am I still dreaming?”

It was a low, cracked voice. But somehow it seemed full of moisture and choked up, so I almost mistook Gabriel for crying.

Gabriel reached out his hand to me. It was an extremely careful touch. Gabriel couldn’t even reach me, tracing my form in the air in front of my face as if sketching it. Due to his injuries, even his fingers couldn’t move properly.

Even with such hands, he seemed afraid that if he touched me carelessly, I might scatter like clouds, so he couldn’t reach out his hand any further out of fear.

This was opposite to how I had moved my steps without hesitation to approach Gabriel. Unlike me, Gabriel hesitated several times and ultimately couldn’t extend his hand further, withdrawing it.

“You came to save me again this time.”

Again? Gabriel’s words were puzzling, but since he was confusing dreams with reality, I figured it was due to that influence.

“It’s not a dream. Lord Jeremiah told me he saw Count Gabriel, so I came to get you.”

Gabriel’s hand stopped. Gabriel seemed to realize that it wasn’t a dream but that I had really come to get him.

However, Gabriel withdrew his hand instead of touching me. The me in dreams would immediately try to caress him, yet why did he treat the real person even more like an illusion?

“Count Gabriel, I brought holy water, so let’s treat you first.”

At my words, Gabriel shook his head and answered.

“Lady. Holy water doesn’t work on me.”

“What?”

“Holy water doesn’t work.”

I couldn’t quite understand why he was saying those words as if he were happy about it while injured.

“It seems Rafaela or Lord Jeremiah didn’t tell you.”

There was no such story in the letter Jeremiah had delivered either. Shouldn’t such important things be told directly in the first place?

“Rico. Give me the holy water.”

I ignored Gabriel’s words and poured the holy water I had brought for him, but nothing changed, proving it wasn’t a lie. The wounds were just washed clean. It was the moment when holy water, which had been a panacea, became no different from water.

Gabriel remained still without stopping me from doing futile things.

Gabriel must be playing a prank. The reason the wounds weren’t healing must be because there wasn’t enough holy water. I threw away the first empty holy water bottle and picked up the second bottle. Then the third bottle. And another bottle…

Obsessed with the thought that I had to heal Gabriel, I frantically poured holy water. But even so, the scar on Gabriel’s ankle didn’t disappear.

“Lady Rohanson, Lady!”

“…”

Then I finally came to my senses at the sound of Rico calling me. Empty bottles were rolling around on the floor. Only after pouring out six bottles of holy water in succession did I fully realize that Gabriel’s words were true.

“But Count Gabriel, you’re a holy knight, aren’t you?”

I knew from Kanna how holy knights were selected. At the baptism ceremony, they deliberately wound their hands and demonstrate healing with holy water to the holy knights and priests, proving they have received God’s blessing.

Gabriel was even the Knight Captain. How could he become Knight Captain with a body that holy water doesn’t work on?

“I received help from my capable adjutant.”

Gabriel shamelessly answered that he had received Rafaela’s help. He said he had coincidentally heard about the trick from Rafaela and used it as is. He had used fake blood and then washed it with holy water that was no different from water.

“I was never a noble knight from the beginning.”

Gabriel laughed self-deprecatingly, belittling himself by saying he had performed a fraud against God and the priests.

“Are you… disappointed in someone like me who isn’t innocent?”

“…Of course not.”

I wasn’t disappointed. From the beginning, I myself, Evangeline herself, had a body that holy water didn’t work on. So things like the Sun God, divine blessings, and holy water weren’t important to me either.

However, at this moment, the fact that holy water didn’t work on Gabriel was deeply regrettable. Without that magical, omnipotent water, how could Gabriel’s body be healed?

The people of this world are like characters. Just as they revive by drinking potions, their bodies recover with one bottle of holy water. It was like a rule I couldn’t understand, coming from another world. Holy water didn’t work on me either, having dropped into this world through the means of possession.

However, the foundation that formed this world was faith in the Sun God, which I could neither empathize with nor understand. People regarded the Sun God as absolute good and rejected everything else. Whenever I saw groups that sided with God, I keenly felt that I was an outsider.

Among those who cried out that anyone holy water doesn’t work on is a demon and showed hatred, wouldn’t it be right for me to condemn everyone but myself if I wanted to claim I was right? So those who holy water works on, those who live under this world’s absolute order, are all no different from characters in a novel.

In fact, to me, even the Sun God they so revered was nothing more than an equally crafted being, no different from other characters.

So then. Why did you, Gabriel, break out of that?

You’re a character, aren’t you? Then you should properly revive and recover to live on. You’re the male lead, aren’t you? Then you should be safe even when overcoming adversity to protect me. What is this? You can’t even move your hands properly so you can’t even hold me. You can’t even walk to me. What is this supposed to be?

“You tried so hard to protect me with such a body.”

Suddenly, the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet came to mind. At that time, Gabriel was hit by a wine glass instead of me and bled from his head. The wound must have been severe, but he didn’t show it once. I have no way of knowing how long that wound, which couldn’t be healed with holy water, lasted.

“Because I wanted to be helpful to you.”

Gabriel finished speaking like that and put on a peaceful expression.

“Since you’re like this even seeing me, you might shed tears when you see Jelly, whom you cherish.”

Somehow my stomach churned. I felt like I might burst into tears right now without needing to wait until I saw Jelly.

“…I thought you would be safe. Sir Rafaela said Count Gabriel would have returned with the Pararos Knights. That by now he would be receiving treatment to recover…”

I rambled on explaining the situation. Or maybe I wanted to make excuses. That I hadn’t forgotten Gabriel, that I hadn’t been turning away from him.

“Rafaela probably said that so as not to cause you unnecessary worry.”

Gabriel defended his adjutant. Those words were right. In fact, it was my responsibility for blindly trusting Rafaela’s words.

“…If I had known it would be like this, I would have come to find you much earlier.”

His face, which had been flawlessly transparent, was wounded. I hesitated, then touched Gabriel’s cheek. Very carefully, in case Gabriel might be in pain.

Instead of pulling away from me, Gabriel rubbed his cheek against my hand as if welcoming it. His black hair tickled the back of my hand. The ticklish feeling I had was probably due to that.

“Being injured isn’t bad. Thanks to that, didn’t I protect what you cherish?”

That clearly referred to the people of the Rohanson Estate. I almost pinched his cheek at Gabriel’s shameless words. Right now he’s like a broken toy, yet who is he worrying about?

However, I couldn’t blame Gabriel because his thoughts and reasoning were based on me. In the past, because I had pushed away Gabriel’s hand… Because I had diminished Gabriel’s feelings. That’s why Gabriel sees his own value as infinitely low. It’s deeply lamentable that his value was disparaged by me.

“Count, you’re wrong.”

“…Yes?”

“…What I cherish is hurt.”

Gabriel didn’t understand what I had said as if it were a foreign language, then stammered as he asked back.

“By any chance, when you say cherish… are you referring to me?”

His always straight gaze shook restlessly. I carefully nodded my head. After hearing my answer, Gabriel’s eyes gently curved. His moisture-laden eyelids trembled. Gabriel smiled very shyly. Like someone who had heard a love confession.

“That… makes me really happy.”

Gabriel looked at me as if deeply engraving me in his memory. Seeing that gaze, I was at a loss for words. It was because my heart sank at the deep emotion contained in his eyes.

Gabriel’s smiling face was strangely captivating.

***

Now that I knew Gabriel couldn’t be healed by holy water, it became even more urgent to get him out. When I took my eyes off Gabriel, I met eyes with Pudding, who was looking at me with sullen eyes.

Perhaps because I had neglected him like a sack of barley, Pudding puffed up his cheeks like an owner who had met a stray cat, then turned his head away sharply. Though he couldn’t help but look back at me again soon after.

That sight was so cute that I burst into soft laughter. As expected of a healing totem. Since Pudding’s mood seemed to have lifted, I immediately asked Rico to make a copy.

“Rico, imitate Count Gabriel’s appearance.”

“Yes, Lady.”

Rico put down the candlestick on the floor, then began to change his appearance once more. Before long, Rico’s appearance changed to look like Gabriel.

“This is…”

Gabriel’s eyes widened unusually. Realizing I had never introduced Rico to Gabriel, I gave him an explanation.

“This is the true identity of Evangeline Rohanson, who set fire to the Rohanson Estate.”

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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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