The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 112

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Forsaken Prince’s Phantom Bride — Episode 112

“What are you doing there?”
“Ah. I thought I’d take a look at the Basement.”
The two stood at the entrance descending into the Basement.
“I heard Karserin left some writing. I want to verify it myself.”
“Now that the Sealing is broken, we might find something else down there. Come on, want to come with me, Lia?”
Lia hesitated as she looked at Kaiser’s outstretched hand.
The last time she’d awakened, everything had been chaotic—this was essentially her first real visit to the Basement.
It was an unknown space where only ill omens had occurred, and she felt a little afraid.
‘If even I feel this way, what must the others have felt?’
Lia thought of the humans sacrificed as Offerings and steeled herself, then took Kaiser’s hand.
As they descended the stairs, Lia felt her heart beginning to race.
Her breathing quickened, her hands trembled. An inexplicable dread crept upward from her fingertips.
“Are you alright?”
Age sensed something amiss and gripped Lia’s shoulder. She started violently and regained her composure.
“Y-yes, I’m fine. I suppose I was just anxious.”
Kaiser glanced back at Lia and Age, then continued down.
‘It feels strangely familiar.’
Kaiser found Lia’s trembling form reminiscent of himself when he’d first arrived in the Basement.
After descending the stairs, Kaiser illuminated the space with Magic.
“The left leads to the Underground Tunnel. The right is where the Offerings were made. And here, Lia—this is where you were.”
Ahead, a door stood wide open, revealing a chamber verdant with living green as if they’d stepped into a forest. It was impossible to believe this was truly underground.
“This must be what Lucian was talking about.”
Kaiser led Lia toward the far wall. At its edge lay Karserin’s Confession, which Lucian had discovered.
Lia stared at it blankly, then used Magic to extract the letters and weave them into the air.
Enlarging the script, she could now make out precisely what Karserin had left behind.
“…Karserin.”
“…”
Age fell into longing for Karserin, while Kaiser’s brow furrowed.
Or rather, a dull throb in his head caused his expression to darken of its own accord.
“…Damn it, every time I come to this Basement…”
Someone pressing down on his mind, a chill racing down his spine. It was the sensation he felt when the Phantom that had tried to seize his body drew near.
‘Come to think of it, I think I heard that creature’s voice last time.’
What had it said? That he could rest easy now?
Kaiser pondered back to when he’d broken Lia’s Sealing. Just then, something crashed beside him.
“Lia!”
Lia collapsed to the ground, cold sweat streaming down her face. Age reflexively caught her, and Kaiser hurried to examine her—
“Ugh!”
—when he suddenly cried out in pain and fell.
Bewildered, Age frantically shook both Lia and Kaiser, but neither could hear his voice.
More than that, everything around them seemed to recede into distance—an illusion of terrible isolation.
Kaiser and Lia both clutched their heads and trembled violently.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Screams of agony flooded the Basement, and in an instant the surrounding landscape transformed.

.
.

Kaiser and Lia, confused by the pain’s sudden cessation, surveyed their surroundings. It was still the Basement, but something was different.
‘Aaaaaahhhhh!’
A woman screamed in agony, and Black Mages encircled her.
[That’s…]
[…me?]
The two couldn’t comprehend what they were witnessing.
The woman before them was undoubtedly Lia. Or rather, her past self—Aria.
The Black Mages appeared to be Sealing Aria.
Behind the Black Mages stood a man with unremarkable reddish-brown hair; but as wind stirred in the wake of the Magic, his bangs parted to reveal his eyes.
The moment they saw those golden eyes, Kaiser and Lia’s hearts sank.
[…Lucian?]
[No—the First Emperor…]
He bore an uncanny resemblance to Lucian, yet was somehow fundamentally different.
‘Leon! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you!’
At that moment, Aria’s anguished scream tore through the scene.
‘Aria, it’s not too late even now.’
The First Emperor, until then silent, finally spoke.
‘If you choose me, I will free you from this…’
Crash—!
Before the First Emperor could finish, a tremendous sound erupted, shaking the Mansion itself. The Black Mages lost their footing and staggered.
In that opening, a tempest swept through, and something crimson flashed before their eyes.
[Karserin…?]
The red figure was none other than Karserin’s hair—that of a Red Dragon. He seized Aria in desperation.
Kaiser stared at Karserin as if nailed in place. This was his uncle, known only by reputation.
But why did his uncle’s face bear such a striking resemblance to the Phantom that had tormented him?
Karserin wrapped Aria in his embrace and gnashed his teeth.
‘You think you’ll get away with this?!’
The Dragon Fear of a Lord Candidate was no trivial force for mortals to endure.
As the Black Mages convulsed in agony and collapsed, the First Emperor Leon observed him impassively.
‘How did you find this place?’
‘Leon! How could you…how could you shatter our friendship like this?!’
‘Predictable as ever. Useless to the very end.’
‘Leoooon!’
A dreadful Dragon Fear and his savage Mana swept through the Basement. Fresh wounds opened on Leon’s cheek, yet he didn’t so much as blink.
Instead, he only stared at him with cold indifference.
‘Cough!’
‘Aria!’
Aria coughed blood. Karserin caught her urgently, and Aria, her vision growing dim, looked at him and grasped his collar.
‘Traitor. How…how could you betray me…!’
Then, her face twisted with rage, she poured her resentment upon Karserin. Karserin shook his head in despair.
‘No. It wasn’t me—’
‘Cough! Hack! I’ll kill you too…I’ll kill you all…!’
Aria’s resentment was short-lived. The hand gripping Karserin’s collar went slack. Karserin’s pupils shrank.
Then came a surge of Mana incomparably greater than before.
‘Why! Why would you do this to me!?’
Karserin caught the fallen Aria and tears streamed down his face. Leon answered him coldly.
‘Words matter. It was your Magical Circle that did this to Aria.’
‘That’s not what I intended—!’
‘Look at your feet. Is that truly not your Magical Circle?’
Karserin continued to deny it, trembling.
‘Karserin, you can never defy me. Surely you haven’t forgotten what contract we made?’
Leon raised his left arm, revealing a Stigma Mark. An identical mark manifested on Karserin’s left arm.
‘As long as the Soul Contract remains binding, you cannot lay a finger against me. You know this.’
‘Tch!’
‘Step aside. Unless you wish to share her fate.’
As Leon approached, Karserin gnashed his teeth and drew up his Mana once more.
Realizing his defiance, Leon’s brows twitched.
‘You’ll regret this. You won’t escape unscathed.’
‘…I will never surrender Aria to you. I’ll give my life if I must.’
‘Karseeeerin!’
For the first time, Leon revealed his emotion and reached out—but Karserin was faster.
Pure White Flames erupted from his body, engulfing both Karserin and Aria.
‘I’m not…I’m not dead yet…’
Karserin laid Aria down gently and muttered something. Then violet smoke rose from her body, coalescing into a single form.
With trembling hands, Karserin scattered the violet smoke into the air. Soon he erased the traces of her blood and healed the small wounds that remained.
‘When someone truly loves you appears, you’ll be able to return to your true self. This is the best I can do now.’
Each time he exerted his power, Karserin’s body dispersed into particles of light.
Lia and Kaiser, witnessing the Vision, grasped the truth at once. He was dying.
Bang! Bang-bang!
Then, a sound erupted from the side. Leon, his face contorted, desperately tried to reach where Karserin and Aria lay.
In times past, he would have passed through these white flames without difficulty, but corrupted by wicked power, they were now nothing less than poison to him.
Realizing that Leon was no longer the man he once knew, Karserin spoke low.
‘I separated his Soul, but if this continues, he may attempt something untoward with your body. I must keep you somewhere safer.’
Breathing heavily, Karserin glanced around and finally managed to speak.
‘This is deliberate deception.’
[This is…]
‘Otherwise, I could never have betrayed you. I’m sorry. I didn’t think things would end this way.’
The Confession he’d seen on the wall now flowed from his lips. It was both a protective charm for Aria and his last apology to her.
‘When I realized I’d been used by that creature, it was already too late to save him. I’m sorry. I wanted so desperately to save him. But he asked me to save you instead.’
His words became a protective barrier, which in turn became a wall that perfectly sealed off all entry from outside.
Kaiser recognized it as the wall before the chamber where Lia had been sleeping.
Not something that had always been in the Basement, but a Barrier created by Karserin himself.
‘I will give everything to keep you alive. I will not let you fall into his hands.’
Particles of light scattered from Karserin’s dissolving form, enveloping Aria.
Seeing him approach death, Lia reflexively reached out.
[No, please…!]
But her hand passed right through him.
Karserin raised his bowed head. Improbably, he looked directly at Lia and Kaiser. A smile crossed his face as he spoke.
‘I’m sorry, and I love you. …Aria.’
Radiant light burst from his smiling form. When the brilliance faded, Karserin was gone, and only Aria remained, sealed within the Dragon Heart, lying still.
The violet smoke that had drifted in the air circled the Dragon Heart once, then escaped from the Basement entirely.

* * *

“Damn it!”
Meanwhile, at that very moment, as Lia and Kaiser suddenly collapsed, Age let out a curse.
No matter how he shook them, struck them, or cast Magic—neither budged.
“Not a curse, so what in the—”
Lia had lost her memories, so a psychological shock might explain her collapse, but why Kaiser too?
As Age pondered what to do, light suddenly erupted from somewhere.
“…What’s this?”
It was coming from Lia’s pocket. As he carefully withdrew it, Age found a self-luminous stone.
“Karserin?”
It was the Dragon Heart he’d given to her—Karserin’s own.
But that wasn’t all. For some reason, his own Subspace opened of its own accord.
Seeing light seeping from within, Age hastily removed all of Karserin’s Dragon Hearts.
“It’s hot.”
As all the Dragon Hearts gathered, they rapidly heated. Soon, a white radiance flooded the entire Basement.
“Ugh!”
Time passed. The light gradually faded, and the fragmented Dragon Hearts had somehow fused into a single piece no larger than a fist.
“What on earth is happening…?”
Age’s eyes darted uncertainly about.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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