My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 191

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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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How long had I slept? The sun had already set and the moon was floating in the sky. Pudding told me that the carriage had arrived long ago, and out of consideration to let me sleep a little longer, the coachman had circled around the Duke’s mansion several times.

When I expressed my gratitude for the consideration, the coachman waved his hands frantically, saying it was nothing to worry about. I slipped him a gold coin as a tip.

Originally, gratitude should be expressed with money. When I told him to consider it payment for buying today, the coachman felt honored yet pocketed the gold coin. It was too much money to refuse while maintaining dignity.

Even at this late hour, guards were standing at the Hosaquin Duke’s mansion. This was thanks to Duke Hosaquin strengthening security right after the temple’s heretical massacre.

Among the well-armed guards, there was one person with a smaller head mixed in. When I wondered who it could be, it was Kanna.

“Miss!”

Kanna threw herself into my arms just like Pudding had done.

“Why aren’t you inside when it’s cold?”

“I haven’t been waiting outside for long!”

That was a lie. Her nose tip was red, and her body was very cold. It seemed she had been waiting outside for me to return for quite a while. Meanwhile, I had been sleeping soundly.

They said the carriage circled around the Duke’s mansion because I was sleeping. Kanna must have just watched the carriage going round and round. My conscience, which had been working busily lately, greeted me once again. At this rate, I felt like my conscience would wear down from being pricked too much by guilt.

My sin is great. Somehow lately, there hasn’t been a day without tears for the people around me. Just wait until the sacrifice ritual is over. I’ll make sure smiles never leave their faces.

“Did you receive the invitation properly?”

“Yes.”

“Viscount Rohanson didn’t cause you any trouble, did he?”

That Viscount Rohanson was still unpleasant, but before he could say anything else to me, he collapsed and just snored.

Though it was a bit excessive, I didn’t feel bad about her worrying for me.

That said, it wasn’t entirely pleasant either. With Pudding, Misha, and Kanna all the same, I found it a bit amazing that there were so many people in this world who worried about me. Even though they weren’t completely ignorant about me.

It hadn’t been long since I accepted that I was Evangeline, so what exactly did they see in me to give their affection? My previous self must have been similar to Bishop Marik in not treating people as people.

As soon as Kanna returned to the room, she lit the candles and brightened the room. The surrounding objects became clearly distinguishable, and it felt like returning to reality.

Kanna chattered to me about missing me, waiting a lot, and so on, then warmed herself by the brazier fire before blinking sleepily.

Even when I told her to lie down on the bed, she wouldn’t listen, so I eventually covered the sleeping Kanna with a blanket as she sat in the chair and left the room.

Pudding went to return the rats to Mabuka. The Duke must have heard through the guards that I had returned. However, there was one more person I needed to inform of my safe return.

I knocked on Gabriel’s door. When there was no answer, I initially thought Gabriel had fallen asleep first. Though Pudding’s help allowed his body to move naturally, Gabriel was still a patient.

Still… should I try calling just in case?

“Count Gabriel?”

“Evangeline?”

When I asked quietly, a gentle voice called my name from beyond the door in response. It was a warm and affectionate tone. Soon I heard footsteps, and the door opened wide.

“Evangeline.”

Gabriel looked me over once to check if I was injured, then welcomed me with relief.

“Did you have a good trip?”

“Yes, I’m back.”

Only after answering Gabriel’s question did I feel like all the poison had drained from my body. The tension seemed to completely release.

Peeking into the room, it was very dark inside. The only light came through the slightly open window. The curtains fluttered in the breeze that blew through the gap.

“Why weren’t you keeping any lights on?”

“The starlight was shining so brightly that I didn’t even notice darkness had fallen around me.”

I unconsciously agreed with Gabriel’s answer. As he said, the night here was truly bright. Countless stars twinkled in the sky.

Gabriel got up and fully drew back the curtains. Now the room was filled not only with starlight but also with moonlight. Blue moonlight scattered down through the ends of his black hair.

I briefly gazed outside the window, appreciating the night sky.

“Was there anything that troubled you?”

Gabriel asked carefully. For a moment I hesitated about how to answer. Should I honestly tell him about meeting Bishop Marik or not? But it was obvious he would worry… After pondering, I decided to confess honestly.

“I met Bishop Marik.”

I really shouldn’t be acting spoiled like this to a patient. It’s all Gabriel’s fault for listening to my complaints without objection. He keeps making me act like a spoiled child.

Perhaps it was imprinting. Because Gabriel was the first to say he wanted to help me. Because Gabriel tried to protect me despite knowing he could get hurt with a body that even holy water couldn’t heal. I unconsciously came to rely on Gabriel.

“The invitation I received was ordinary. But Bishop Marik directly proposed the role of sacrifice.”

It was just as Gabriel had said.

“Sacrifice…”

Gabriel sighed at my words. Though he had been guessing and making vague inferences, having it directly thrust before his eyes made it feel real in a different way.

“Count. I will become the sacrifice.”

Gabriel silently looked at me quietly. The faint moonlight that entered on the wind outlined Gabriel’s form.

Under his hair fluttering in the moonlight, his blue eyes caught my gaze. As if drawn to them, I spoke.

“A sacrifice that will destroy Bishop Marik.”

It was a cold night where even shadows couldn’t form properly. I couldn’t even distinguish between my shadow and Gabriel’s. It was so cozy and dreamy that I couldn’t tell dream from reality.

Fearing this moment would disappear like an illusion, I made a firm resolution once more so that even if I woke up, I would never forget.

I will destroy Bishop Marik in order to live and breathe in this world.

After opening my eyes in the coffin. It wasn’t the vague determination I had made first in my ignorant days to twist the original story, throw off the villainess’s fate, and avoid the execution ending.

Now I knew what the coffin I had been lying in meant. It was different from the habitual words I used to say about needing to defeat Bishop Marik.

This is my complete resolution.

***

It had already been several days since the Rohanson estate was engulfed in flames. So it wouldn’t be strange for complaints to emerge one by one.

“Let me out!”

“Be quiet!”

One servant started arguing with a knight. He grabbed the iron bars and shook his body wildly, but human strength couldn’t bend iron bars.

A holy knight shouted threateningly and tried to thrust his sword between the bars. The frightened servant screamed and moved away from the bars. Perhaps he was too slow to escape, as there was a cut mark where the sword grazed his cheek.

Someone who had been quietly watching this scene suddenly let out a lament.

“How long do we have to stay here?”

The people of Rohanson were staying in makeshift shelters they had built in the garden near the burnt estate. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t a suitable environment for people, including the injured, to stay.

Moreover, there were even corpses slashed by the holy knights nearby. They had just covered them with cloth but hadn’t disposed of them properly.

Even after several days, they couldn’t leave the estate, so the corpses began to rot and emit a foul smell, forcing several people to bury the bodies. It was a harsh environment both physically and mentally.

The only intact thing at the estate was the lush cherry blossom tree, but that cherry tree was where Evangeline Rohanson had hanged herself. The people huddled in the corner claimed to see hallucinations of the hanged Evangeline. In many ways, it wasn’t good for mental health anywhere you looked.

They wanted to escape immediately, but whenever they tried to leave the grounds of the Rohanson estate, the holy knights would draw their swords and point them at their necks. They were telling them to attempt escape if their lives weren’t precious. So all the estate’s people were essentially imprisoned.

“Evangeline wouldn’t abandon us, would she?”

All the estate’s people seemed gloomy, and finally even such words came out. The effect of the medicine Evangeline had spread when she visited the Rohanson estate was reaching its end.

“After eating meat pie this morning, do you think Evangeline would abandon us?”

If Evangeline had lost interest, she wouldn’t have bothered sending relief supplies through Pudding. How meticulously and well she took care of meals and necessities for this many people.

Not only tents, but if holy water was lacking, she sent holy water, and as the weather got colder, she sent warm cotton blankets.

It would be amazing enough to suddenly set up tents and create an environment comparable to a campsite, but they even ate well at every meal. When the holy knights questioned suspiciously, they had to lie dozens of times that they had rummaged through the burnt estate to find cloth and food.

Honestly, as Rafaela who had experienced sleeping outdoors quite often under Gabriel, she felt this was actually much more comfortable for body and mind than roughing it.

Of course, that was only from Rafaela’s perspective. Having nearly been caught in the fire and with colleagues killed by Bishop Marik’s knights, the Rohanson estate people must be in a very desperate state mentally.

In fact, people’s complaints were based on being confined to the estate.

“You’ll be able to escape tonight.”

Rafaela tried to lift the mood while hoping Evangeline would come before the estate people’s patience ran out.

However, contrary to her hopes, Evangeline didn’t appear today either. It was already night. Even though they had suffered from the fire, it was cool at night so they had no choice but to light fires. Incidentally, the brazier was also sent by Evangeline. A servant called to Rafaela, who was helping light the fire in the brazier.

“Th-that, Sir Knight.”

“Yes?”

“Um, didn’t you say you were a noble young master? Then couldn’t you pull some strings to get us out?”

“I’m an abandoned child.”

“Well, that’s not very helpful.”

Thanks to living together like roommates for several days, she had formed unprecedented friendships with the estate people. Even those who had initially kept their distance despite her helping them, concerned about her being a holy knight, had completely fallen for Rafaela’s friendliness.

Rafaela was strangely satisfied. Yes, this was the friendliness that had even conquered the shameless Captain.

While Rafaela was chatting, the knights outside began moving busily.

“Looks like they’re changing shifts.”

From Rafaela’s observations, the knights guarding the Rohanson estate worked in two shifts, day and night. More personnel were deployed than expected, so she sometimes encountered knights she knew.

How much the vice-captain of the Plauros Knights had mocked her beggar-like appearance. Rafaela had almost thrown her sword at him.

Worried about meeting another familiar face, Rafaela was lying down flat trying to go to sleep when someone shook her awake vigorously.

“Count Rafaela! Wake up and look.”

“… D-Daisy?”

“The knights are acting strange.”

Rafaela immediately sat up at those words.

Rafaela’s sword had already been confiscated, leaving her without a proper weapon. She should have asked Evangeline for at least one decent sword if she had known this would happen. She had held back because she was afraid the Captain would scold her for daring to trouble Evangeline if he found out.

Rafaela tensely observed the knights outside. Daisy whispered quietly.

“That’s not the carriage the knights usually ride in. Rafaela, that’s not a Temple carriage, is it?”

Rafaela frowned and stared in the direction Daisy’s fingertip was pointing. As she said, it wasn’t a carriage used by the Temple. Rather, that looked like…

“It looks exactly like a cargo carriage.”

At that moment, a certain hypothesis suddenly occurred to Rafaela.

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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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