My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 264
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
A faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. It contained a strange emotion mixed with resignation and desire.
“If I may dare to hope, please stay by my side.”
Gabriel pleaded. He tried to bind me with words tangled with desperate attachment and obsession. However, I could not respond to his plea to fall into the abyss together.
“I cannot do that.”
“Why not?”
Gabriel’s voice lowered and settled heavily. His gaze toward her was filled with a longing to find reasons, as if he couldn’t understand.
“My lady. Is it because I asked you to stay by my side? Or is it because I initially forgot you and failed to recognize you…”
“Neither.”
I took a step back from Gabriel. Then I caught my breath.
“It’s simply because you are not the person I’m looking for, Your Highness.”
Gabriel’s eyes shook in confusion.
“My lady, what do you mean…”
“You are not my Count Gabriel.”
I declared once more.
“I am…”
His face contorted with indescribable complex emotions. I took another step back, avoiding the hand he extended to grab me.
Indeed, the prince before me was not my knight.
How much I had hoped for Gabriel to become devoted to me again at the banquet hall. But ironically, the moment Gabriel clung to me, the disconnect became even more clearly felt. In this well-crafted play, I realized he was merely an actor immersed in playing the role of ‘Gabriel.’
There was no way I couldn’t distinguish between Gabriel who spoke with his mouth asking for my love and cried out with his whole body that he loved me, and a mere actor assigned by Rahel to play the role of holding onto me.
“…My lady.”
Yet my ankle was caught by that desperate voice.
The prince’s voice trembled finely. As if confessing only sincerity, his eyes were gazing deeply at me.
“Perhaps does my lady’s heart lean more toward me when I’m injured?”
Gabriel’s expression held a twisted conviction.
It was hard to grasp. What kind of nonsense was that? Before I could answer, his hand moved toward his sword sheath. What happened next occurred in an instant.
“Like this… ugh, would this… suit your taste?”
Drop, drop, droplets fell to the floor. The scene of red blood flowing down Gabriel’s ceremonial robes unfolded before me like a nightmare.
…Gabriel had stabbed his own stomach.
I froze while holding my breath. Gabriel’s face held a smile tainted with pain.
“Count Gabriel!”
I reflexively called his name and rushed to him. No, this can’t happen. I pressed my hands against Gabriel’s wound trying to stop the bleeding, but the blood showed no signs of stopping. Even in this situation, Gabriel looked at me with blurred eyes and smiled faintly.
“Yes… I am your Gabriel.”
Like a young beast, Gabriel leaned against my shoulder endearingly and rubbed his forehead against my nape.
‘Hah…’
I let out a short sigh and closed my eyes. Rahel truly is remarkable. The sublime Sun knows exactly what I’m weak to, how to shake me to my core.
But there’s one thing overlooked. I am inherently selfish and greedy. If you thought you could carelessly bind someone like me, you were mistaken.
I placed my hand on the prince’s back and pulled him into a tight embrace. Then I called his name in a gentle voice.
“Gabriel. Do you love me?”
“Yes…”
He responded immediately to my call. Like a being mechanically designed to love me, without a trace of hesitation.
I released the embrace, created some distance, and placed my hand on the prince’s face.
“Then please die for me.”
I spoke in a whisper. Though shy like a confession, it was no different from coercion. Even knowing how cruel and heartless my words were, I couldn’t take them back. I couldn’t let Rahel continue to interfere with me.
His blue eyes wavered. A brief silence passed, and finally he nodded and closed his eyes.
“If that’s… truly what you desire.”
The prince quietly accepted the approaching finale without refusing it.
I had expected this response. The characters here imitated reality too perfectly. Though merely fake, what the prince was mimicking was Gabriel. My knight would sweetly drink poison if I offered it asking him to die.
His body tilted weakly. I gently leaned the unconscious prince against the bench. His eyelids remained closed without any movement. I suppressed my stirring heart and turned away. That’s not Gabriel. That’s not Gabriel…
I didn’t look back.
I need to rendezvous with Azazel, but where the hell is this bastard? If I had known this would happen, I should have asked where the maid was guiding Azazel.
“Evangeline, where are you going?”
“Evangeline!”
The imperial servants approached me with kind faces trying to stop me, but I consistently ignored them all. I simply moved my steps quickly.
But their attitude became increasingly persistent.
“My lady! Prince Gabriel is waiting!”
“Count Gabriel is dying!”
“Evangeline! Return immediately! Your love is dying!”
Let me ignore this. These are just words meant to hold me back. I gritted my teeth and hastened my steps toward the carriage. Perhaps because I had lost Gabriel, the most important key to me, Rahel’s schemes became increasingly blatant.
“Count Gabriel! Are you alright?”
“Count Gabriel requests to see Evangeline one last time!”
Leaving all those temptations behind, I finally spotted a familiar figure at the street where carriages were lined up.
“Azazel!”
I urgently called his name.
“My lady! What the hell is this commotion? Everyone in the imperial palace has gone collectively mad and they’re all calling for you!”
“It’s a long story. Gabriel was fake.”
“Aha…?”
Azazel’s eyebrows twitched. Soon he twisted his lips.
“My lady, so you were being all desperate over a fake?”
From his sarcasm, I immediately knew what he was trying to say. He was talking about that day at the banquet hall when I desperately hid my crumbling heart and acted like I wanted to dig a tunnel and crawl into it.
There should be limits to double standards. He’s the one who recoiled in horror at even touching the fake Saraka. I glared at Azazel and got into any carriage as voices calling my name echoed from afar.
“We need to get out of here first.”
“I agree with that. If we stay any longer, I think I’ll go crazy too.”
After saying that, Azazel didn’t actually get on the carriage. He just stood there watching the imperial maids and attendants rushing toward us.
“Azazel. What are you doing?”
Azazel, who had been distracted looking at something, answered absent-mindedly.
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
Azazel took the reins.
We barely escaped the imperial palace, but the situation outside was also chaotic. It seemed as if the madness from inside the palace had spread directly to the city.
Countless voices echoed calling my name. They reached out their hands clinging to the carriage or shouted toward me like street vendors.
“Look at this! It’s a cat with a collar that you like, my lady! We have dogs too!”
“Look at my hands! Beautiful cherry blossoms have bloomed on my fingertips! They’re cherry blossoms from the Rohanson Estate!”
Unfortunately, it had no effect. The animal dolls with ropes tied around their necks and flowers blooming on human bodies were rather grotesque.
“Evangeline!”
“My lady!”
“Evangeline!”
People chanted my name as if enchanted. I don’t think I heard such cheers even when I brought down Bishop Marik and played the role of a saint.
“Oh. My lady. Isn’t your popularity a bit too much?”
Azazel marveled as he ran over people jumping into the carriage. None of those who were hit complained of pain.
Running to avoid the crowd, we entered a familiar street.
“Isn’t that your manor over there, my lady?”
I raised my head following Azazel’s gesture. It should have been the most chaotic place, but the Rohanson Estate was as quiet as a mouse.
“Suspicious, isn’t it? Let’s go! I’m excited to see what might be there.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————