My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 198

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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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A one-eyed woman with an eyepatch covering one eye looked at Rafaela with disdain and threatened her.

“Quiet. Shut your mouth before I throw you outside.”

Duke Baal clicked his tongue. Rafaela obediently kept quiet as her mother had said. Though anger still filled the eyes looking at Rafaela, even this was an improvement.

When she had just seen off the Rohanson people and the Pararos Knight’s Hall and returned home after a long time, Rafaela was brought before her mother, bound tightly by guards. And she was slapped across the face without warning.

“You damn son! I sent you to the temple to cultivate your mind instead of interfering with your sister, and you’re volunteering to be a demon’s subordinate? You cursed fool! I should take you to the temple right now and build connections with the bishops!”

“All the other incompetent fools are clinging to the temple, but I can’t even do that. I’ve been stabbed in the back by my own son!”

Later, she heard that Duke Baal had collapsed clutching the back of his neck upon hearing the news that Rafaela was detained at the Rohanson Estate. While he was racking his brains over what to concede to the bishops to get Rafaela out, Rafaela had escaped from the Rohanson Estate on her own and fled home.

It was extremely fortunate that it ended with just a slap to the cheek. Even thinking about it again made her cheek sting. If the retainers hadn’t held Duke Baal’s arms and stopped him, Rafaela would have been neatly tied up and delivered to the temple long ago.

Duke Baal looked out the window at the pure white building that was beginning to reveal its majesty and opened his mouth. The mention of ‘pure white color’ reminded him of someone.

“Is the owner of the estate where you stayed attending?”

“Evangeline? Of course she’ll come.”

Rafaela answered obediently, then suddenly became wary of Duke Baal and questioned the reason.

“But why are you suddenly asking if Evangeline is attending?”

“There’s no particular reason… Yes. I wonder if she resembles her mother, so I’d like to see her face once.”

Rafaela tilted her head.

“Does Mother know the Countess?”

“Isn’t that obvious? There were only two duke’s daughters in the empire – me and that child.”

Rafaela was newly reminded that Evangeline’s grandfather was Hosaquin Duke. Come to think of it, Evangeline was staying at the Hosaquin Duke’s residence now. Even knowing this, it was a mistake not to connect it with the Countess.

There were only three ducal houses in the empire, and the Countess was even the only daughter of the Hosaquin ducal house. It would have been stranger if Duke Baal had no acquaintance with her.

Duke Baal clicked his tongue while recalling faint memories.

“What a truly foolish fellow. With parents who would leave everything to her if she just stayed still, she chased after illusions like love and ended up completely ruined.”

Rafaela felt awkward for no reason. Duke Baal, Rafaela’s mother, was someone who had viciously seized victory in the succession competition typical of nobles. In a way, she was a character similar to the current Emperor.

Though Duke Baal was born the youngest, she defeated all her older siblings and ascended to the ducal position. Perhaps because of this, she didn’t like Amaranth, who was born an only child, received her parents’ full love, and was utterly spoiled. It could be called an inferiority complex.

Anyway, perhaps because she had a history of killing her siblings, Duke Baal was particularly cold to Rafaela. The Duke saw herself overlapping with Rafaela, and didn’t stop the clever Rafaela from choosing to become a cleric. The Duke had marked the eldest child as her successor.

She had put her in the temple to drop her out of the succession competition, but she returned holding Gabriel and Evangeline in both hands – how shocking must that have been.

Not only that, she even pestered to accompany the sacrifice ceremony. Honestly, Rafaela had even thought of secretly hiding in the carriage in case her mother didn’t grant her request.

Duke Baal, who knew well that her son wouldn’t give up easily, gave permission before such a situation could occur, so Rafaela was able to board the carriage in a normal way.

After a long while, the carriage stopped.

Duke Baal got out of the carriage first, and Rafaela followed behind. As soon as the carriage door opened, tremendous noise rushed in with it.

“What on earth is this…”

Somehow getting goosebumps, Rafaela brushed her arms. It was an unbelievable sight. Such a massive number of people were concentrated near the Grand Temple that it seemed as if all the people of the empire had come out onto the streets.

They were sitting on the ground and offering prayers toward the sun.

“Is the sacrifice ceremony originally such a big event?”

‘More than that, was the empire’s people’s faith toward the Sun God this strong?’

It was a scene that even Rafaela, who had been a Holy Knight, found questionable. From Rafaela’s perspective, the sacrifice ceremony wasn’t a religious event.

The sacrifice ceremony was originally an event for nobles. It was nothing more than a political show held by the empire’s next emperor to step forward as heir and strengthen relations with the temple.

To Rafaela’s question, Duke Baal disparaged her son.

“Foolish son. Would the bishops’ sword dance be limited only to us nobles?”

“Ah…”

Roughly guessing the hidden meaning, Rafaela sighed.

The sacrifice ceremony was indeed a political event as Rafaela knew. However, the recent sacrifice ceremonies had a slightly different aspect. More precisely, it would be correct to say that only the sacrifice ceremonies held under Bishop Marik were different.

“Are only nobles dying after being branded as heretics? Those people die for choosing the wrong place, die while working for their masters, and die without even knowing what heresy means.”

When Bishop Marik caught heretics, he would burn and exterminate even their entire families. With one noble revealed as a heretic, dozens of lives were lost.

Those families received notice the next day that their wife, husband, child, or parents had died. It wasn’t even certain whether the deceased was truly a ‘heretic.’

If they went to the temple to earnestly plead for their family’s innocence, they would instead be suspected of their faith for not trusting God’s representative and lose their heads. How much had Rafaela and the Pararos Knight’s Hall struggled to prevent such tragedies.

This was just a fragment of countless incidents.

They said the Finance Minister’s Sister’s daughter saved her life by turning to Bishop Marik’s side, but commoners aren’t even given a chance for salvation. They were lumped together and burned to death without even knowing why they were classified as ‘heretics.’

If nobles and merchants understood Bishop Marik’s actions politically, commoners truly regarded them as divine punishment. Death had come so close to their skin that they became this desperate.

Rafaela suddenly felt nauseous.

What benevolent sun. Though it seemed like it would love all humans, the temple was actually very particular about social status.

They demolished slums to build temples, and holy water, the embodiment of divine power, was expensive so generally only nobles used it. Bribery was natural, and all kinds of corruption and scandals were hushed up and overlooked. Even Rafaela herself had received so much favor because of her status.

“The shadows are too deep.”

When had the sun, which should be at the top of the sky, begun to set? To this, Duke Baal casually responded.

“Perhaps night will come soon.”

Because shadows are deepest at twilight.

The sunlight was dazzling. Rafaela found the pure white building before her eyes particularly uncomfortable.

The Grand Temple built entirely of marble was extremely beautiful to behold. The pure white coloring, the intricate three-dimensional wall sculptures that drew admiration the closer you looked, and the overwhelming majesty that seemed to pierce the sky from its massive size evoked gasps.

The exterior, worthy of its reputation, overwhelmed viewers. Even the surrounding scenery seemed to exist as a landscape for the Grand Temple.

The people filling the surroundings prayed toward the sun, but that sun floated directly above the temple. Didn’t it look exactly like they were praying to the temple rather than the sun?

Rafaela awkwardly climbed the stairs leading to the temple.

It wasn’t an emotion she felt because she was visiting the Grand Temple after a long time. In fact, she hadn’t been away that long. Even when she had returned from half a year of external duties before, the temple hadn’t felt unfamiliar.

What were those few days spent at the Rohanson Estate that the temple full of splendor felt so uncomfortable? She would have felt more at ease at the burned-down Rohanson Estate.

As Rafaela felt dismayed, priests who spotted the mother and son getting out of the carriage greeted them respectfully. Among them, Rafaela saw a familiar face. It was Priest Jabaniya.

“Well, isn’t this Duke Baal?”

“Priest Jabaniya. It’s been a long time. Have you been well?”

After a light handshake, Priest Jabaniya noticed Rafaela standing beside him. Javanya’s eyes widened.

“Rafaela, are you acquainted with the priest?”

Duke Baal pinched her son’s side hard as if telling him to come to his senses. Feeling his mother’s still strong grip, Rafaela quickly came to her senses. She couldn’t keep spacing out.

“Mother, did you forget that I’m a Holy Knight? Your memory must be getting hazy. Shouldn’t you be taking some holy water every morning?”

It wasn’t Duke Baal but Priest Jabaniya who was displeased by Rafaela’s witty remark. Not only treating holy water like some health tonic, but of all things, pointing out a memory problem that holy water couldn’t help with.

Javanya hid his displeasure and magnanimously greeted Rafaela first.

“It’s been a while, Sir Rafaela. Or should I call you the Duke’s son now?”

“It’s been a long time, Priest.”

Priest Jabaniya smiled warmly.

“I was worried because your captain and colleagues haven’t been seen lately, but it seems you’ve returned to your family.”

“How could that be? My faith toward God remains the same.”

Actually, Rafaela had always had shallow faith compared to others and still did, so it wasn’t wrong.

“How about you, Priest? Do you still have firm faith in God?”

Rafaela also smiled brightly in response.

After a round of psychological warfare with Priest Jabaniya, the priests who had been reading the situation stepped forward to guide Duke Baal to her seat. Among them, the one with the loudest voice struck first.

“Duke Baal! I, I will escort you to the front seat!”

When Duke Baal left first, Rafaela had no choice but to let Javanya go. As Rafaela stood beside her, Duke Baal warned her son in a low voice.

“Foolish son. At least don’t cause any more harm to the family.”

Rafaela nodded, thinking she should be more careful.

Upon entering the temple, the scenery that met her eyes changed dramatically. While outside was densely packed with countless people, the Grand Temple’s garden was comfortable and peaceful. Holy water endlessly spouted from fountains placed throughout.

True to its reputation as a place watched over by the Sun, being on high ground and receiving more sunlight than other places, it was particularly warm. Though it wasn’t spring, the grass on the ground was green and flowers were budding. Even butterflies seemed to be flying about.

“They say there’s only spring in the Sun God’s temple…”

Nobles who had come up from the countryside didn’t know the real situation and were fooled.

Those who knew nothing would exclaim in admiration at such a dreamlike spectacle, but Rafaela, who knew the internal circumstances well, rather sneered.

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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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