My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 74

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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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“I’ve recovered!”

Toten Madam raised her voice unusually as she cut off Gabriel’s words. Then she sent me a pleading look for salvation, so I quickly nodded in agreement.

Gabriel might make an exception for me since he fell for me at first sight, but there would be no mercy for Melek. No matter how good the intentions were, or that it was to help Toten Madam, commanding corpses wasn’t something that could be tolerated by common sense.

Toten Madam didn’t welcome visitors anyway, and Gabriel knew that well. Then there would be no reason to meet Melek now, so it should be fine not to mention it.

I wasn’t sure if Gabriel didn’t realize it or was pretending not to know out of consideration, but he didn’t pursue the topic at all. However, when our eyes met and he smiled smoothly, I suddenly wondered if he had figured it out.

While Toten Madam and Gabriel were awkwardly watching each other’s reactions, a brief silence fell before a knight in the same uniform as Gabriel broke the silence and interjected.

“Captain, I apologize for interrupting your reunion, but we must also inspect Lady Evangeline and Toten Madam’s belongings.”

“Uriel.”

It was Knight Uriel, who had escorted me at the temple before.

Gabriel’s knight order had come to provide support, and it seemed they were also handling baggage inspections before entering the banquet hall. Well, since it was a birthday banquet hosted by the Crown Prince himself, it made sense for the security checks to be thorough. Given the historical setting, there could be assassination attempts. Besides, most people attending today brought birthday gifts for the Crown Prince, so those needed to be checked too.

“Excuse me, Lady Evangeline. You look truly beautiful today as well.”

Uriel shamelessly delivered flattery with an expressionless face that wouldn’t flinch even if stabbed with a sword. I did look pretty good today… but why was he giving compliments so monotonously, like someone who had been force-fed praise training?

Looking at it this way, knights really were no different from service workers. Their main income came from selling holy water to nobles anyway, so at this point weren’t they just a high-end bottled water company? Was this too irreverent a thought? No, it’s fine. I’m a transmigrator, so it’s okay.

Other knights checked the gifts for the Crown Prince, while Uriel, being the same gender, briefly examined Toten Madam and me. Meanwhile, Gabriel had turned around with his back to us, looking in the other direction. He flirts so freely, but he’s surprisingly proper about things like this…

Glancing around, I noticed other nobles were also obediently submitting to body searches without any resistance. I would have expected at least one villain to refuse the inspection, asking if they were being suspected and demanding not to be falsely accused, but everyone was responding meekly. Ah, maybe that role of the troublemaking villain was originally supposed to be Evangeline’s.

“Captain, everything has been checked.”

Uriel called Gabriel, saying the inspection was complete.

“No weapons or anything like that?”

Uriel spoke as if somewhat disappointed. Why was he disappointed? Did he want me to have weapons? Then I had no choice but to meet his expectations.

“If you’re talking about weapons, I did bring one separately.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

When I spoke teasingly and ominously, Uriel panicked and asked back about bringing weapons. Getting into the villain act, I silently raised my hand and pointed behind Uriel. There, they were busy examining gifts to be presented to the Crown Prince. When they opened the elegant box Hena had prepared, a ornate dagger emerged from inside.

“A… sword?”

The knight who opened the gift box saw the sword and trembled his hands in great confusion.

“Captain, what should we do with this…?”

The knight called Gabriel and looked up, then saw me standing close to Gabriel and had a pupil earthquake as he looked back and forth between us. He clearly needed to report to his superior, but since that superior was my partner, he was obviously confused about ‘what to do about this?’

“The Lady was just joking. It’s a decorative piece without a blade, so there should be no problem bringing it in.”

Gabriel quickly covered for me. I also nodded while wearing the smile I had practiced hard.

“I-Is that so? Let me draw it once to check.”

The knight glanced at me nervously, took a deep breath, and drew the sword. As Gabriel had explained, the sword had no blade – only a hilt and scabbard. After confirming there was nothing in the blade section, the knight let out a big sigh of relief and put the sword back in the box.

“Yes. As you said, there seems to be no problem. Same with Toten Madam’s items.”

Toten Madam had brought elegant cufflinks as a gift for the Crown Prince. Usually, decorative items like those cufflinks were said to be the safest gifts.

I had just brought it along because the Count had given me a sword saying it would be perfect for the Crown Prince, and I was too lazy to prepare something else.

It was supposedly a relic from a kingdom that had fallen long before the Empire was established. Since it wasn’t even a real sword and was a decorative item with historical value, it seemed appropriate as a gift since it wouldn’t cause any trouble. Just in case, I had asked Gabriel beforehand and gotten pre-approval.

“Were you surprised too, Sir Uriel?”

“Yes. My heart sank.”

Uriel was truly the epitome of expressionlessness. Who would believe someone saying their heart sank with such a calm face? The checked gifts were handled by imperial servants, not Hena. Hena would wait where the maids were stationed. I was relieved that Uriel offered to guide Hena there.

“I’ll enter first.”

“Yes. I’ll see you inside, Toten Madam.”

Even as a chaperone, we couldn’t enter together, so Toten Madam stepped into the banquet hall first. An attendant who checked the guest list loudly announced Toten Madam’s name.

“Presenting Kinder Toten, Madam of the Toten Marquis House!”

Wow, how! So this is how they announce names when entering? Awesome. What is this, it’s totally like a romance fantasy! Oh right. This was inside a romance fantasy.

“Shall we enter now?”

I guess it was our turn to enter. Gabriel hesitantly extended his hand for escort.

When I slightly lowered my gaze, his long, moist eyelashes fluttered as if holding moisture. At first, I didn’t notice because he was smoothly giving compliments about stars or something, but Gabriel was indeed unusually nervous today. Was he nervous because I had dressed up? Well, after completing the full styling, I did look damn pretty like a proper villainess.

But it seemed Gabriel wasn’t nervous in that sense.

“Though touching me must be unpleasant for you… since you said you’d go along with me, please endure it just for today.”

His fingertips trembled as if resonating with the words that came out as if crushed.

I thought he was nervous about filming a romance by himself, but that wasn’t it. Gabriel was just being careful, remembering the words and actions I had shown. Because I had asked him to get along appropriately as usual, he had complimented me like before and acted as if nothing was wrong.

Last time when we parted, Gabriel didn’t offer his hand when saying goodbye, so he probably assumed I would find contact with him unpleasant.

Who destroyed this guy’s self-esteem! Oh right, me. Gabriel’s low posture made me feel guilty and my conscience pricked. If just Gabriel alone was this overwhelming, how do people who manage multiple romantic interests live with their conscience? Managing a harem while playing push-and-pull is too exhausting…

“It’s not unpleasant. Rather, I told you that I like you, didn’t I?”

I placed my hand on Gabriel’s soothingly and grasped it with slight pressure. Honestly, just a few days had passed, so there wasn’t any major change in my feelings, but I did reflect that I had been too cold to Gabriel.

Gabriel looked at me with a complicated expression. Yeah… you don’t understand why I keep going back and forth either? But originally, managing romantic interests involves push-and-pull while maintaining appropriate distance. You need to understand.

“Is that because I know my place?”

“What?”

“Never mind. It wasn’t important, so don’t worry about it.”

How is that not important! I’m a villainess, not a sunshine heroine, so even small mutters don’t get filtered out and I can hear everything clearly! Seeing him know his place so well that his self-esteem was crawling on the floor made my guilt even worse.

While I was wondering what to say, whether comforting him would be deception, we ended up entering the banquet hall.

***

“Presenting Lady Evangeline Rohanson of the Rohanson Count House and Captain Gabriel of the Pararos Knights!”

With the attendant’s announcement, the gazes of people packed tightly in the huge banquet hall pierced us. I thought the temple building was incredibly splendid, but the Imperial Palace was incomparable.

Even the wall patterns were delicately and carefully carved, making it impossible to estimate how much money had been spent. In one corner, an orchestra was performing, and attendants moved around everywhere serving wine.

People’s attire was also dazzlingly splendid. It wasn’t my imagination that all the crowded people were looking at us and whispering. The combination of an upright holy knight and the century’s villainess would naturally draw attention.

I felt like I had become an attention seeker. People seemed to be murmuring and gossiping, but their voices were drowned out by the music and tangled together, so I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“It’s noisy.”

As soon as I spoke, the commotion stopped. I think I even heard someone hiccup.

“My Lady.”

Gabriel called me softly in warning. I had just commented that it was noisy, but I didn’t know everyone would shut up… Is this the impact of a villainess destined to rule high society? Now I really can’t carelessly say just anything.

“My daughter, Evangeline! You’ve finally arrived!”

A familiar man suddenly popped out from among the people and greeted me. It was the Count who hadn’t waited for me and had gone ahead by himself.

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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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