My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 230
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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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Bishop Marik found ‘Azazel’ suspicious. So he tested ‘Azazel’. Starting from Gabriel’s whereabouts that Jeremiah discovered, to his identity, and even the fact that Bishop Marik was masquerading as a maid named Saraka—all of it must have been information that Bishop Marik intentionally leaked.
Jeremiah, who saw Gabriel, hastily sent me a letter, and Bishop Marik, who traced the letter’s path, must have become convinced that ‘Azazel’ had changed.
However, Bishop Marik couldn’t actually read the contents of Jeremiah’s letter, so he wouldn’t know the detailed information. That’s where my hypothesis came from. What if… what if the letter contained information that Bishop Marik was trying to hide?
Even searching through my memories, there was one thing that particularly stood out.
Most of the content described in Jeremiah’s letter was information obtained from the Imperial Capital. Except for the basement of the temple that only Jeremiah had secretly snuck into while avoiding Bishop Marik’s eyes.
As Jeremiah speculated, the person confined in that basement, who might be family, would be Bishop Marik’s reverse scale.
The followers of the Sun God favored underground spaces when committing impure acts away from the god’s eyes. Moreover, the basement attached to Bishop Marik’s room was a hidden underground that even the temple’s people didn’t know existed.
No, wait. Harut knew about Bishop Marik’s basement. Since I already knew this information, I was slow to notice the strangeness.
Harut definitely said he encountered Saraka coming out of the basement.
Suddenly, my spine went cold and goosebumps rose all over.
What if the person confined in that basement wasn’t Bishop Marik’s family or anything like that, but the Saraka that Harut claimed to have seen?
Harut hadn’t encountered Saraka again since seeing her once in childhood, so he thought she was dead. But he hadn’t directly confirmed the corpse. It was merely speculation that she was dead. In reality, hadn’t Saraka been continuously confined underground all this time?
“Evangeline.”
Just then, Rico called me.
“There’s a red lump alive in Bishop Marik’s basement.”
A red lump? Rico’s choice of words was strange, but considering that his body was divided and thinking had become somewhat difficult, it seemed he was describing burn scars that way.
Anyway, he found it really quickly.
“Thank you, Rico.”
I suppressed the urge to stroke the rat’s jaw vigorously, lest I do something unnecessary and get Rico caught by Bishop Marik.
The person presumed to be Saraka was alive. Actually, I wasn’t certain it was Saraka, but whether the confined person was really Saraka wasn’t important. As I’ve said repeatedly, my strategy today was fabrication. I can’t just keep taking hits.
With Harut here to testify to Saraka’s existence, what was there to worry about?
What could be more shocking than a person being confined in Bishop Marik’s basement?
Wait a moment…
A person lying like a corpse with burns in the basement, and Bishop Marik maintaining his youth to an eerie degree. This seems like it would make it easy to corner Bishop Marik? The story of witches maintaining their youth by drinking women’s blood has been a long-standing cliche. No wonder there were rumors about me being a cannibal.
Torturing heretics wouldn’t be much of a crime, but transfusing youth looked obviously suspicious and evil.
Moreover, he shamelessly introduced himself as Saraka and even acted as a maid, so wouldn’t everyone click their tongues? How could he arbitrarily use the name of a child he had confined underground?
I’ve decided. I need to unveil Bishop Marik. And in a very dramatically blazing way.
Before I knew it, Bishop Marik had approached very close.
“Bishop…”
Count Jerak, who had fallen to the floor, crawled toward Bishop Marik with a flushed face.
“Bishop, please tell me the answer. Am I… really seeing hallucinations? That’s right, isn’t it? I’m seeing illusions, right?”
Bishop Marik just quietly kept his head down. He was probably looking down at Jerak with uninterested eyes. After maintaining silence for a moment, Bishop Marik opened his mouth.
“I clearly told you not to raise your sword against Evangeline.”
However, the first thing Bishop Marik scolded was the fallen Jerak. Bishop Marik cut off the plea with one stroke.
“Count Jerak. Did my command seem trivial to you? Did Marik’s words carry no weight?”
There was something in Bishop Marik’s words that grated on people’s nerves. His pronunciation was distinctive from the start, with a special tone. Even when reproaching, he had a benevolent aspect like a nun holding hands and praying together, making one anxious about falling out of favor.
“No, that’s not it…!”
Jerak hurriedly shook his head and denied it with a retching sound.
“Do you know what that wicked demon said about you, Bishop? She said you were arrogant, that we were serving you instead of the sun, spouting such dog-like blasphemy!”
Oh my, what a tattletale. Really. He couldn’t even open his mouth when scared of Gabriel, but now that he has an ally, he’s completely worked up. Honestly, what I said wasn’t wrong, so why is he getting angry? Just looking at him now, you could clearly see he was worshipping Bishop Marik.
However, Bishop Marik is truly an arrogant god. He has no intention of showing mercy even to the believers who worship him. Bishop Marik began to tear into Jerak with a cold tone.
“So. Did you want to kill Evangeline? You wanted to taxidermy the corpse, display the eyeballs, and pour the blood into crystal glasses to savor like wine. Unless such desires dominated Count Jerak, what other reason would there be for ignoring my command?”
No, I thought he was insulting Jerak, but it was me who was being verbally slaughtered.
The explicit desires seemed more like listing Bishop Marik’s wishes rather than exposing Jerak’s inner thoughts.
He wanted to do all sorts of things with me. I could clearly feel that Bishop Marik didn’t even treat me as human. Rather than a person, I was treated more like a trophy.
Of course, not just me, but other people, even priests and knights, would be similar to Bishop Marik.
When I regarded this world as inside a book, did the people I dealt with feel like this? Watching Bishop Marik made me incredibly reflective. No, wait. I wasn’t as rotten as Bishop Marik.
“No, I just couldn’t stand hearing you being insulted…”
“If you truly cared for me, you should have prioritized my command.”
While quietly watching what Bishop Marik was doing, I called Rico.
“Rico. Tell Pudding to make the rain a little lighter.”
Whether Rico conveyed the message well, the water stream had become somewhat weaker. I looked toward where people were entangled to see if there were any problems even with the lighter rain.
The knights looked noticeably tired. It was clearly different from their initial attitude of unhesitatingly cutting people down. Since cutting had no meaning no matter how much they did it, they sometimes just loosened their grip and only pretended to swing their swords. They didn’t seem to notice that the water stream had weakened. Good, this was enough.
However, Bishop Marik quickly noticed as the steadily falling rain gradually thinned.
“…Finally.”
Bishop Marik let out a long sigh. He must think Pudding’s power was gradually reaching its limit.
Bishop Marik left Jerak behind and headed toward me. When Gabriel blocked his way protectively, Bishop Marik coldly snapped.
“Is blocking people’s path a habit you learned from Bishop Jabaniya?”
I was startled that he suddenly brought up Jabaniya’s name. Weren’t Jabaniya and Bishop Marik originally on the same side? For that to be the case, it was a cold voice that seemed to despise Jabaniya. Could he have overheard the conversation about Jabaniya deciding to help Gabriel?
“When were you willingly wearing a collar and staying tied up, and now you’re arbitrarily loosening the rope and looking for another master. This is why you shouldn’t raise stray dogs, Bishop Jabaniya really…”
Bishop Marik made a reproachful comment in a feminine manner. Listening to his chatter, Bishop Marik’s tone suggested he didn’t know about Jabaniya’s betrayal.
He just seemed to have mentioned Jabaniya deliberately to get on Gabriel’s nerves, since Gabriel thought of Jabaniya as a benefactor. He even picked at Gabriel’s behavior of taking my side instead of his benefactor Jabaniya.
Looking down on Jabaniya must have been how he always was. People who call Bishop Marik benevolent really need to get their eyes checked, don’t they? Oh right, there are no eye doctors.
Bishop Marik went even further and continued speaking disgustingly. His twisted feelings seeped through his refined pronunciation.
“Oh my. I made a mistake. The Captain of the Knights was a pedigreed dog, wasn’t he?”
“Aren’t you coveting that pedigree, Bishop?”
Gabriel responded as if accustomed to Bishop Marik’s contemptuous words.
Rather, I was the one who became more enraged. Anger suddenly flared up. Now you’re treating someone like an animal, and that’s not enough, so you’re even talking about bloodlines? Saying he has good bloodlines is also a jab at the fact that Gabriel should have been a prince.
Where is the Emperor and what is he doing, not keeping Bishop Marik’s mouth in check? Anyway, I didn’t like either the Emperor or Bishop Marik.
If I left it alone, Bishop Marik would probably keep needling Gabriel. I gently patted Gabriel’s shoulder.
“Count, I’m fine, so please step aside.”
“I cannot do that.”
“Count Gabriel.”
When I called his name again with emphasis, Gabriel hesitated with an anxious look, then stepped slightly to the side.
My view completely opened and I was facing Bishop Marik directly. Bishop Marik looked at me intently and opened his mouth. Though he wasn’t showing his face, it felt like our eyes met.
“You should watch your words, Bishop. The master who raises dogs is a monster famous for having such fierce teeth that it tears apart anything without discrimination. Since monsters can’t recognize noble people, if it heard even gossip about its precious dog, it might bite and tear apart even you, Bishop.”
If the opponent had been anyone other than Bishop Marik, I would have grabbed him by the collar and shaken him vigorously. Of course, it’s because he’s Bishop Marik that he’s spouting such nonsense in front of me.
Perhaps sensing murderous intent in my words, the knights guarding Bishop Marik tried to draw their swords. Gabriel also seemed to tense his grip on his sword, as if wary of the knights.
It was Bishop Marik who released the tension that seemed ready to snap at any moment. Bishop Marik raised his hand to restrain the knights. He takes such good care of my safety. Anyone watching would think Bishop Marik was my guard.
Bishop Marik, who had been looking at me and Gabriel, began as if lost in memories.
“It’s just something I said while lost in memories, so please understand? I had something similar myself. It was a dog that listened very well, but recently I saw its skin peeled off with another beast wearing it.”
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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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