My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 92
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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 murdered Father? Death sentence? Then… would I be cut down in one stroke like that maid just now?
“That’s impossible… Tenebray, I didn’t do it! I didn’t kill Father! There’s no way I would do such a thing!”
“Yes. I believe you. This is all something Lady Rohanson orchestrated. Just as she deceived Count Gabriel, she must have deceived His Majesty the Emperor. Right now, His Majesty is bewitched by that witch and can’t think straight.”
Since Jeremiah had also seen the summoning circle drawn on the banquet hall floor, he knew well that evil sorcery was involved in his father’s death. That made him even more terrified. To think Lady Rohanson killed Father and could even control Grandmother. Then there was no way Jeremiah, who had only lived a pampered life receiving love, could possibly cope with this. As Jeremiah trembled with fear, shaking his hands, a maid urgently burst through the door.
“Lord Jeremiah! The knights have entered the castle!”
“What should I do, Tenebray? I… what should I do? Am I going to die unjustly like this?”
Jeremiah could only shed tears from the injustice. Tenebray firmly grasped his frail sister’s shoulders. Though Jeremiah’s shoulders hurt from the grip, he couldn’t push away Tenebray, who was like a lifeline. Tenebray stared straight at Jeremiah and told him what to do.
“Run away, Jeremiah.”
Run away?
“But then I’d be disobeying Grandmother’s command.”
“His Majesty isn’t in his right mind right now, is he? First run away, then return when His Majesty comes to his senses. Since it’s surely a command given while bewitched by a demon, he won’t punish you for disobeying it.”
“Really?”
“Of course. His Majesty is fond of Jeremiah.”
Tenebray smiled brightly, and Jeremiah awkwardly tried to smile back, mirroring Tenebray like a reflection. Somehow, it felt like it had been a very long time since he’d seen Tenebray smile. Originally, only Jeremiah used to smile so naturally and brightly.
Beyond the momentary silence, they could hear footsteps and murmuring voices in unison. Jeremiah realized the knights had already come very close and turned pale as a sheet.
“They’re, they’re, they’re here.”
Tenebray helped the trembling Jeremiah to his feet.
“Go, Jeremiah. I’ll pretend to be you here and buy you time.”
“Tenebray!”
“Shh.”
Jeremiah was startled by his own loud voice and covered his mouth, then quietly removed his hand and looked at Tenebray with worry.
“But what if you get caught?”
“They’ll quickly realize it’s me, so don’t worry. Don’t worry about me, Jeremiah. I’ll assign you my escort knight to escape with.”
Ever since rumors spread that Jeremiah had killed the Crown Prince, the timid Princess had dismissed all her attendants, fearing that the retainers around her would hear the rumors and see her as the culprit. Tenebray knew this and was assigning her an escort knight. Soon, a knight appeared to escort Jeremiah.
“It’s Count Azazel Astaroth.”
When Azazel greeted her, Jeremiah was startled and hurriedly returned the greeting.
“I shall serve you. Let us hurry and go.”
“Yes, yes.”
Before escaping, Jeremiah hugged Tenebray tightly with a moved expression. In truth, Jeremiah had long thought that Tenebray disliked her. However, they had grown much closer recently, and she never knew that Tenebray, whom she had always thought timid, could be such a source of strength.
“Thank you, Tenebray.”
After their final embrace, Jeremiah began to escape the castle under Azazel’s guidance, avoiding the knights.
“Haha, likewise.”
Tenebray chuckled at the sight. The way she pretended to be affectionate and kind to the very end was amusing. Jeremiah didn’t know that Tenebray had no proper knights, let alone an escort. If she had shown even the slightest interest in Tenebray, she would have noticed something strange about ‘Tenebray’s escort knight’ and could have saved her life.
After the real Jeremiah escaped, the knights arrived a step too late.
“Lord Jeremiah!”
“What’s all this commotion?”
Tenebray asked with the sickeningly innocent expression she had grown tired of seeing, as if she knew nothing. The knights were conflicted about whether they should tell the naive and timid Jeremiah the harsh news that her sister had killed their father. Their representative made a decision and changed the subject.
“Did Lady Tenebray perhaps visit and do anything harmful to Lord Jeremiah?”
“No, Tenebray has never come here.”
The knights believed Tenebray’s lie without question. Then they belatedly tried to set up guards to protect Tenebray. A young knight who seemed to have feelings for Jeremiah even spouted cheesy lines about how he would definitely protect her.
Haha. She almost burst out laughing. They looked identical but she was gloomy enough to distinguish even without the necklace? She barely held back from sneering at them. Everyone had pretended to be devoted to Jeremiah, acting like they adored her, yet no one noticed that the person had changed. What shallow affection indeed.
***
As darkness fell, only lights presumed to be torches floated here and there in the air.
The crowd guarding the prison had disappeared. Most had been mobilized to search for the escaped Tenebray, so there weren’t many people left at the prison. Antenor counted the remaining numbers and suddenly spoke up.
“I’ll go down and check the basement. With all the commotion outside, the prisoners must be confused.”
Of course, it was just an excuse to go see Evangeline. Hearing this, one of his fellow knights snorted and sneered.
“It’s not even your time to stand guard. I guess those of lowly birth are different after all. Even in this situation, all you can think about is wagging your tail at the prisoners to get bribes?”
That was true. Even in this situation, Antenor’s first thought was to prostrate himself before Evangeline Rohanson. But after witnessing such overwhelming wonder before his eyes, how many people wouldn’t submit? Moreover, wasn’t his opponent dangling a carrot right in front of him, promising to fulfill what Antenor desired?
“I’ll go with him.”
“Polus!”
As they were arguing back and forth as if they wouldn’t let Antenor go like this, Polus stepped forward.
“I’ll take good care of Ante, so what’s there to worry about?”
Polus patted Antenor’s shoulder and pulled him along. The knight who had been watching this scene strangely curled up his lips. He had caught on that Polus’s words about ‘taking care of him’ involved violence. Go get beaten to a pulp away from others’ eyes in the basement. All of this was Antenor’s own doing.
“Right. I can rest easy with you there. Since Antenor’s leg is inconvenient, take good care of him.”
No one pointed out that Polus was the one who had made Antenor’s leg lame. Polus led Antenor down to the basement. The knights who had been standing guard in the basement looked puzzled at the two men who had returned even though their shift was over.
“Polus, why are you back?”
Antenor answered instead.
“Tenebray Leveardi, the one who assassinated His Highness the Crown Prince, has escaped. His Majesty has commanded us to capture Tenebray, so everyone is helping with the search.”
“What?”
“So how about you go up and join them too? If we catch Lady Tenebray, we’ll surely receive a tremendous reward, and it’s not an opportunity that comes often, right?”
“You’ll stand guard in our place?”
They thought for a moment, then readily agreed.
“Alright. It should be fine since Polus is here.”
As soon as the knights left and the presence of people disappeared, Polus’s body collapsed. Antenor kicked the corpse with his foot. As if it had never moved and spoken so vividly, Polus’s body moved helplessly even under the weak kicks of the cripple.
“What? Amazing?”
He got goosebumps from the voice whispering very close to his ear. When Antenor turned around in shock, Jelly giggled as if he had seen an unexpected cute trick.
“That’s understandable. I’m probably the only one who can move a corpse this precisely.”
When Jelly moved his finger slightly, Polus raised his body again. Unlike before, only the corpse was lifted into the air, making it look exactly like watching a puppet show without strings.
“Plauros broke his neck, so it’s a bit tricky to move. If only he had cut it cleanly like me, how much better would that be?”
“You are…?”
Antenor asked warily of the unfamiliar figure. Had a prisoner escaped taking advantage of the commotion? However, from Antenor’s memory, he had never seen such a criminal in the underground prison.
“Me? I’m Jelly.”
Andras enjoyed the other’s fear and told him his name.
“Are you perhaps someone who serves Lady Rohanson?”
“Something like that.”
The man showed his teeth fully and laughed refreshingly at those words. Well, if not Evangeline Rohanson, who else could command such a monster? Jelly threw Polus’s corpse back on the floor and dragged Antenor toward Evangeline’s prison.
“What interesting thing has happened? That’s why I came to deliver a message to my master.”
“Yes, yes.”
“You listen well and are commendable.”
Letting the empty praise go in one ear and out the other, Antenor picked up the key hanging on the wall and opened the prison door. At the sound of metal scraping, Evangeline Rohanson rolled her eyes from her reading position to look at Antenor. It was like watching the eyes of a portrait in a painting move, which was eerie. Though ominous and creepy, he couldn’t even run away because Jelly was pressing down on him with strong force right behind him.
Seeing Antenor, Evangeline closed her book and stood up. The unusually long dress hem dragged on the floor as she approached. Though the fabric rustled, strangely there was no sound of footsteps.
When Evangeline, who had come right up to Antenor, lowered her head to meet his gaze, thin, long strands flowed down below her shoulders. Only after Evangeline looked down did Antenor belatedly realize that he had collapsed and was kneeling. He hadn’t even properly noticed when the strength had left his legs.
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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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