My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 173

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

After hearing Rico’s words, I realized he meant it as a telephone substitute. Pudding clearly showed his distaste, but since he couldn’t bear to hand the rat over to me, he picked it up himself.

Then he came over to me and also lifted Gabriel, who was leaning against me, carrying him in his arms.

I was naturally strong and could easily lift an adult man, but Pudding, who was particularly devoted to me, never let me struggle.

Pudding and Gabriel occupied Rohan No. 1’s princess carry position. Since Pudding was also a beastman with good strength, he showed no signs of strain even while carrying Gabriel. But looking closely, it was all a trick.

I could see there was a gap between his hands and Gabriel. He was floating Gabriel with telekinesis. Then why bother with the princess carry position at all?

Why on earth…? It couldn’t be to humiliate Gabriel, could it…? Probably.

***

We returned to the Hosaquin Duke’s mansion with Gabriel. The Duke noticed that Rico wasn’t among those who had returned and fell silent for a moment. Perhaps realizing that Rico had gone into a death trap in Gabriel’s place stirred some uncharacteristic feelings of regret?

Or maybe he felt guilty for contributing to Rico’s doom? Or perhaps I was just projecting the uncomfortable feelings I was experiencing onto the Duke.

I asked the Duke to provide a room for Gabriel to stay in. Since there was no need to inform the ducal family’s people of Gabriel’s existence, I requested it be somewhere with little foot traffic and difficult access if possible.

The Duke recommended the room next to mine. Well… When I first came to the Duke’s mansion, I was treated like the villain of the century and avoided, and after sprinkling holy water everywhere, they maintained courtesy by not hovering around me, so it was indeed the most inaccessible place.

Gabriel briefly regained consciousness, confirmed he was at the Duke’s mansion, then collapsed again. His body was burning with fever like a fireball. It was puzzling how he had endured in prison until now. As Gabriel broke out in cold sweats and groaned in pain, I couldn’t just stand by and watch.

“We need a healer.”

I went to find Duke Hosaquin and demanded a doctor.

As soon as the Duke heard my words, he immediately pulled out profiles of healers and handed them over. It seemed like he had prepared them in advance, and I was amazed by his unexpectedly swift handling of the matter. When I thanked him, the Duke added:

“…These are people I searched for Agera.”

The Duke’s expression was quite peculiar as he said this.

“Every single one of them shook their heads saying they couldn’t treat Agera. However, they might be useful for your knight.”

It was natural that the doctors couldn’t treat Agera. Even in the original world without holy water, dementia was an incurable disease.

This world had the cheat key called holy water, which correspondingly diminished doctors’ standing. Doctors mainly examined commoners who couldn’t afford holy water, and most specialized in treating external injuries.

There was no way such doctors could treat Agera’s dementia.

“There are those who are tight-lipped. I’ll call them for you.”

The Duke selected a few capable people from among them.

He meant that these were tight-lipped individuals who hadn’t gossiped about the condition even after examining Agera, so it would be fine to show them Gabriel.

Rather than them being tight-lipped, I suspected that those who had spoken about the Duchess suffering from madness were probably no longer in this world. If they had been, the Duke would have dealt with them long ago. In any case, I was surprised by the Duke’s unexpected consideration.

“…I thought Grandfather would immediately threaten to throw Count Gabriel out.”

Wasn’t this the same Duke who had been hostile when I asked him to tell me about places where I could hide the people from Rohanson Estate? I hadn’t expected him to introduce doctors so readily.

Moreover, the Duke didn’t pry into why I was looking for a doctor when a Holy Knight could simply be treated with holy water. If it had been the original Duke, he would have immediately expelled Gabriel for providing grounds that could endanger Agera and the ducal family…

Could it be because of the favor he received from Gabriel before – the method to subdue the rats and the holy water? No, that seemed unlikely since the Duke was meticulous about debts and calculations. The transaction with Gabriel would have been sufficiently repaid by bringing me to the Duke’s mansion for protection.

When I looked puzzled, the Duke hesitated before muttering as if to himself:

“You… remind me so much of my past self.”

“…”

So he was saying he saw Agera in Gabriel, and himself in me. Really, he claimed he could never cherish me, yet he’s quite good at seeing himself in me. The Duke seemed embarrassed after saying this and quickly changed the subject.

“Moreover, didn’t you say so yourself? To provide proper compensation.”

Compensation? Had I done something that would make the Duke readily cooperate with me? Was it because I dealt with all the rats? But wasn’t that compensation supposed to end with telling me about places where I could smuggle out the people from Rohanson Estate? Before I could voice my questions, the Duke began explaining.

“When you went to fetch Count Gabriel… I visited Agera.”

Since I had used Agera as bait to catch the rats, he must have gone to check if Agera was safe.

The Duke looked at me intently and opened his mouth. I could sense subtle goodwill from someone who had always kept walls up. Wait, he said he couldn’t love me and acted like a tsundere, so why the sudden change? Had something happened to Agera?

“I don’t know what method you used, but some of Agera’s memories have returned.”

Ah. The moment the Duke spoke, I remembered Agera recognizing Rico before falling asleep. So Agera’s miraculous recognition of Rico wasn’t just a momentary dream. Had her memory fully returned? Even I wasn’t sure of the reason, but the Duke seemed to think Agera’s memory recovery was due to my doing.

It seemed my standing in the Duke’s mind had been elevated from a demon-like granddaughter who had parasitized his daughter to his wife’s benefactor. To think a benefactor received better treatment than blood relatives – this was very much like the Duke.

I had never actually done anything to treat Agera, but there was no reason to correct the Duke’s misunderstanding.

“How much of her memory has she recovered?”

“Most things are hazy, but she seems to dimly know about what she did…”

That meant she was aware that Amaranth had died. I was momentarily worried. Agera had always seemed mentally fragile.

She recovered her memories, missed her dead daughter, tried to revive her and summoned a demon. Realizing that demon had led dozens of people to their deaths – wouldn’t she lose her mind again? The Duke might not know, but perhaps for Agera, it would have been much happier to wear frilly dresses and stroll through the garden under a parasol.

Because oblivion is a blessing.

“…Agera says she wants to see you.”

“Even knowing that I’m Evangeline Rohanson, not Amaranth?”

“Yes. She said she wants to see Amaranth’s daughter.”

Or maybe she had built up immunity after going through it once. The Duke seemed to want me to meet Agera right away.

“…Later.”

I hesitated slightly but postponed the meeting. Meeting Agera had never been difficult before. It felt like playing house while pretending to be a mother I had no memory of.

But if that person had recovered their memories, the situation would be different. Even the Duke had thrown a wine glass at me initially, so would Agera welcome someone who had pretended to be her daughter?

The Duke accommodated my stubbornness. It was refreshing that he didn’t forcibly drag me to see Agera despite her wanting to see me, and instead respected my excuse.

“I want to treat Count Gabriel first.”

The Duke brought the doctors that very night, practically kidnapping them. Three people responded to the Duke’s summons: a middle-aged woman, an elderly man, and a somewhat young-looking man.

The three had been at the Duke’s beck and call before, so they were relaxed despite being dragged here without detailed explanation. But that composure completely disappeared when they saw me.

“Gasp! L-Lady Rohanson.”

They hadn’t trembled before the Duke, but apparently I was more frightening. At least the middle-aged woman named Kalmia looked at me with interest, her eyes sparkling.

“Oh… Are you really the rumored Lady Rohanson?”

“Yes.”

She seemed eccentric, but following the cliché, this Kalmia with her seemingly inadequate frontal lobe would probably have the most outstanding skills. That’s why I didn’t scold her, but the other doctors restrained Kalmia instead of me.

“…Are you mad? Watch your tongue!”

“Why? Are you scared? She must have called us because she needs us, so she wouldn’t kill useful people, right?”

“…Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

I wouldn’t kill them even if they were useless… But thanks to Kalmia’s bold behavior, the other two seemed to relax as well.

I led the doctors to the room next to mine where Gabriel was staying. Before opening the door, I glared fiercely at the doctors and warned them:

“What you see here must never be discussed outside.”

All three nodded resolutely. Even Kalmia didn’t add any playful remarks, seeming tense. I slowly opened the door, and the doctors were startled to see Gabriel inside the room.

“Wow… How is he still alive?”

Kalmia skillfully examined Gabriel and couldn’t hide her shock. Of course, there were other reactions too. When the young doctor realized the patient was Gabriel, he couldn’t contain his displeasure and began grumbling.

“Come on, if it’s the Captain of the Knights, there’s no need to entrust him to us when holy water could…”

Kalmia, despite her appearance, had enough sense to cover the young doctor’s mouth. If holy water had worked, they wouldn’t have been called in the first place. The young doctor soon realized this fact and his face turned deathly pale.

The situation was different from the Duchess’s case. Dementia wasn’t as rare as one might think. It was a condition that appeared quite often among commoners too.

But now they were dealing with a knight of the temple, moreover the Captain of the Knights. For the Captain of the Knights to deceive the temple and enter with a cursed body was an unfathomably grave sin.

The doctors realized they had been tasked with treating a heretical knight who had deceived God. The young doctor couldn’t bear the impiety and tried to pack up and leave.

“I-I can’t do this. I already get called a heretic for not using holy water to treat patients, and now you want me to deliver the final blow? Especially now when heretic massacres are at their peak? I don’t want to die.”

As the young doctor tried to leave the room, Pudding blocked the door.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————