My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 229

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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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Good answer. Still, hearing that there were no injuries brought relief washing over me. It’s better to be covered in someone else’s blood like this anyway.

No. Thinking about it again, that wasn’t great either. Since I kept watching and my insides were boiling over, I reached out to at least wipe his face, but I could see Gabriel slowly backing away.

“You’ll get dirty.”

Gabriel said that while slightly frowning at his hem as if the color staining my clothes was filthy and disagreeable.

He’s clearly doing that because he’s worried about blood getting on me, but I don’t know why I’m getting angry. How dare he avoid my hand?

“Stay still.”

When I glared and spoke, Gabriel’s body stiffened. I carefully wiped Gabriel’s face with my sleeve. The white sleeve quickly turned red.

His head was deeply lowered, and raindrops gathered at the tips of his eyelashes dripped down.

Fortunately, thanks to the falling rain, the blood on his face was quickly washed away. When I rubbed my hand against his cheek to check if anything was still coming off, I saw his face had turned completely red.

“Evangeline. …There are many eyes watching.”

What’s the big deal about just touching his face once. Did I bite him or something? If I had at least kissed him, I wouldn’t feel wronged. And whose fault is it that there are many eyes watching. I felt unreasonably resentful. Of course there would be many. When a sacrifice that was bound suddenly appears so magnificently, who wouldn’t look?

“Why did you come?”

I thought I might have been too cold and felt a moment of regret.

“Your wounds haven’t healed yet, so you decided to avoid this.”

I hurriedly added. Actually, I wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him. I thought he had slipped away since I couldn’t see him for a moment, so why did he appear in this chaos!

When I questioned him, Gabriel smiled softly and answered.

“Because it’s raining heavily.”

That rain is what we planned, isn’t it?

Gabriel tilted his head slightly with a languid expression and rubbed his face against my hand.

“Since Evangeline has a cold body, I was worried you might shiver from the cold and couldn’t leave you alone.”

Since Gabriel was also getting rained on, the warmth touching my hand wasn’t that warm either, but his words felt like they would burn me.

How foolish. As if my brain had melted from sweet emotions, even knowing it was dangerous, it seemed Gabriel had come looking for me because he was worried there was no one to protect me since Pudding wasn’t here.

Who’s worrying about whom exactly. The people in this world who could worry about me could probably be counted on one hand, including Gabriel.

My insides filled with sweetness. My eyes stung, but I couldn’t bring myself to thank him. Because I was equally worried about Gabriel. If he got hurt while exposed under the holy water, and if his appearance of wounds not healing with holy water was revealed to the whole world, I didn’t know what kind of brilliant verbal tricks Bishop Marik might use to pin blame on Gabriel.

“Your body is cold too, Count.”

I scolded him unnecessarily and removed my hand from Gabriel’s face. Like the aftertaste that lingers in your mouth after eating sweet cookies, a warm sensation remained in the hand that had touched Gabriel.

Only after finishing our light verbal sparring did Gabriel get to the main point. Gabriel looked up at the clear sky for a moment, then whispered in a voice so small that only his breath reached me.

“Do you think Pudding can hold out much longer?”

I shook my head at Gabriel’s question.

“No. He’s probably overexerting himself even now.”

Of course, since I asked him, Pudding would continue making it rain even if it meant gnawing at his own body, but if our cat really got hurt beyond recovery…

My breathing became agitated at the unpleasant speculation. The fear of losing what was bound to me was much greater than I had anticipated and too burdensome to endure. When I first saw Jelly’s injury, my heart even stung.

So I didn’t want to lose anyone else. I would absolutely never allow anyone to die because of me.

“Then we should hurry to get the situation under control.”

His voice had become noticeably subdued. Gabriel explained to me soothingly and patiently.

“I asked Rafaela to call Bishop Jabaniya.”

“Bishop Jabaniya?”

I questioned the ambiguous choice of personnel.

Isn’t he the person who spoke to me when I visited the temple before? The person Rafaela cursed at with flying spittle for arbitrarily using Gabriel, whether he’s a father-in-law or evil boss, I couldn’t tell. Why call that person? When I looked at him as if puzzled, Gabriel briefly added.

“I thought we needed someone to stand at the opposite pole to keep Bishop Marik in check.”

Even without long explanations, I roughly understood what Gabriel’s words meant.

Gabriel was literally looking for a temple-affiliated symbol to take our side in place of Bishop Marik. Just like a mascot.

Looking at Jerak and the others, the knights clearly recognized that Bishop Marik was inherently wrong. Yet the reason they deliberately turned away from the truth was probably fear that if they didn’t follow power, they would fall into heresy. What was supporting Bishop Marik now was the authority she had built up over time and the legitimacy of her position itself.

A mere priest, a mere knight. Who could possibly rebel against God’s chosen one?

But Bishop Jabaniya would be in a different position. Bishop Jabaniya was also an old fixture of the temple with his age, and though I don’t understand it, I heard he had good reputation too.

If I denounced Bishop Marik and accused her of evil deeds, that would be a demon spouting cunning lies to frame someone. But if Bishop Jabaniya said similar things, that would be righteous words criticizing a corrupt bishop.

The problem was that Bishop Jabaniya was also clinging to Bishop Marik trying to get scraps.

“Isn’t Bishop Jabaniya Bishop Marik’s lackey?”

Could we really trust Jabaniya?

“Bishop Jabaniya even granted my childish request to open the temple doors. Though he’s temporarily blinded by ambition now, he’s actually someone who knows what’s right, so he’ll eventually help us stop Bishop Marik.”

Gabriel defended Jabaniya.

So Bishop Jabaniya was the one who would open the doors? What did he trust about that person to assign him such an important role?

If Rafaela had been here, she would have argued that Jabaniya opened the doors because of his sinister scheme to defeat Bishop Marik and seize real power himself.

I looked at Gabriel as if asking if he was serious. But the two eyes I met were not cloudy but only transparent, so his trust in Jabaniya reached me completely.

Would that clear blue color become murky if I stirred it up wildly?

I understood why Rafaela was so furious about Jabaniya. I was almost jealous of how he gave complete trust while saying he was repaying kindness from childhood.

And that too in front of me, the person who had been shyly blushing just moments before. I seemed to have been influenced by Gabriel at some point, addicted to the specialness Gabriel showed only to me. I wanted to monopolize even Gabriel’s past.

I understood very well that Bishop Jabaniya was meaningful to Gabriel as a benefactor. Since he took in a child who had nothing, Gabriel would follow Bishop Jabaniya like a duckling imprinting.

Ah, I should have saved Gabriel. The thought suddenly jumped out. But it really appealed to me. Don’t I save people too? How wonderful it would have been if I could have saved Gabriel back then.

Let me calm down. Thinking about it, Gabriel bringing in Bishop Jabaniya was actually all for me, wasn’t it?

“If you trust him, Count, then I’ll try trusting Bishop Jabaniya too.”

But I wasn’t in a position to be picky about hot or cold rice. Since Gabriel trusts him, I’ll just try trusting him once too.

Of course, I couldn’t just wait idly for Bishop Jabaniya to come.

I had to plant doubt in the knights beforehand. That way, when Bishop Marik and Bishop Jabaniya chose sides, I could make them quickly attach to Bishop Jabaniya.

But no matter how much I thought about it, there was only one way to disparage Bishop Marik. To drive her into a corner as an evil person instead.

The problem was what method to use. How could I make people who only listened to Bishop Marik’s words snap to attention, even when angels appeared and rain fell from clear skies?

Before I could even think of a method, Bishop Marik was striding toward us. The knights who had retreated like fleeing after seeing Gabriel earlier had called her.

Bishop Marik moved surrounded by reverence.

But rather than a benevolent priest, it felt exactly like the grim reaper approaching. With a veil over her face and even black clothing, she was even more fitting for the term grim reaper. Considering just the number of lives Bishop Marik had taken so far, it wouldn’t be wrong.

Under the tightly covered veil, there seemed to be only a skull. A skull that invaded God’s domain, arbitrarily wielding a scythe and mercilessly taking people’s breath away.

My thoughts wandered for a moment, then like a light bulb turning on, I suddenly recalled the ethereal face that would be positioned under the veil.

The veil? Should I remove Bishop Marik’s veil in a place where everyone was watching directly?

Bishop Marik had a youthful appearance that didn’t match her age. Whether she really received abundant divine favor like ancient books and didn’t age, or how she maintained her young appearance, I hadn’t figured out yet.

And unlike the rumors, her entire face wasn’t covered with burn scars either. Even Gabriel, who grew up in the temple, knew that Bishop Marik’s whole face was scarred from burns.

Wouldn’t seeing a face different from the rumors be enough to make people waver momentarily?

Burn scars… Wait, just a moment… I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Why do I feel like I’ve heard a similar story? It wasn’t a description of Bishop Marik. I definitely seemed to have casually heard a story about someone else with burn scars on their face. As I traced my memory, I realized what it was. I hadn’t heard it, I had read it.

I somewhat urgently sought an answer from Gabriel, questioning him.

“Count Gabriel. Do you remember the basement that was said to be under Bishop Marik’s room?”

“Yes. Isn’t that the part Jeremiah conveyed in his letter? That someone with burn scars on their face was imprisoned in the basement…”

It was briefly described in Jeremiah’s letter and stuck in a corner of my memory.

“Do you think that person is still alive?”

Gabriel couldn’t answer with a sunken expression. Gabriel seemed to have concluded that person was dead. There was a hint of guilt, as if it bothered him that he had acknowledged the existence but condoned the death.

It’s my fault. I asked Gabriel something unnecessary and made him troubled. There was someone else more suitable.

“Rico.”

At my call, the rat hiding in my clothes to avoid the rain stirred. It seemed to lack the strength to respond properly because of the holy water.

“I have a favor to ask. Could you find Bishop Marik’s room and check the basement? Just confirm whether there’s a person alive in the basement.”

Rico squeaked softly as if understanding. To avoid the holy water, some of the rats had taken shelter under the temple building’s roof. Since the holy water didn’t reach inside the building, it would be much easier for Rico to move. Thanks to searching the temple thoroughly like hunting lice to find Jelly, he would know the way well too.

“Evangeline. May I ask why you’re looking for that… person?”

“It’s a breakthrough.”

Perhaps what was in the basement was Bishop Marik’s weakness that Jeremiah had discovered.

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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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