The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 119

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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 Ghost Bride — Episode 119

“Has something happened to Leopold?”
Seeing the worry in Lucian’s expression, Lia and Age exchanged glances. Then Kaiser spoke.
“The soul inside Leopold’s body is the First Emperor.”
“……What?”
Kaiser explained the information he and Age had uncovered at the Mansion. Even hearing only the broad strokes, Lia—for whom this was the first time learning the details—froze in shock at how staggering it all was.
After Kaiser finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the room.
“Good heavens, you mean the First Emperor has been jumping from body to body among his descendants all this time?”
James broke the silence with an exclamation of astonishment.
“How could… how could anyone do such a thing?”
Dio was too stunned to finish his thought.
“…….”
Lucian remained rigid, unable to open his mouth.
“Leopold’s soul stood no real chance, so I came in a hurry—but of all the timing, he had to wake up right now.”
“But… but Lia confirmed it was fine earlier. Doesn’t that mean we can rest easy now?”
Dio countered urgently, and at Age’s words, everyone turned to look at Lia.
“……From what I saw, it felt like Leopold’s soul. I didn’t sense any foreign or alien presence.”
“What about you two? Did Leopold seem like someone else to you?”
This time, Kaiser asked Dio and Lucian.
“……No. I didn’t get that impression.”
“He was just… him. His true self.”
“Then we’re fine. Leopold defeated the First Emperor and reclaimed his body safely. Why are you all looking so grave? It’s a happy ending—you should be celebrating, not fretting.”
At Kaiser’s words, Dio tilted his head as if to say “that’s true,” while Lucian fell into thought for a moment before his gaze found Lia.
She was pressing her forehead, her expression grave.
“Lia, is something weighing on you?”
“Huh? Um, well…….”
When Lia awkwardly nodded, Lucian took her hand.
“Don’t worry about how I’ll react. Tell me what you’re thinking right now. I can take it.”
Lia squeezed the hand holding hers.
She had been fretting, just as he guessed, afraid that her words might shake his resolve.
He had waited so desperately for his brother to wake. She didn’t want to confuse him when he ought to be overjoyed.
‘But staying silent isn’t the answer either.’
At last, Lia closed her eyes tightly.
“I think it’s too early to be certain.”
“…….”
“If Leopold truly defeated the First Emperor and came to his senses, that would be fortunate. But what if—what if there’s a one-in-a-million chance? You won’t have time to prepare yourself emotionally when the moment comes.”
“I see.”
Lucian nodded calmly, and that very composure brought a pang to everyone watching.
“I hope I didn’t misread what I saw. I’ll check on him regularly—to make sure he’s Leopold and not the First Emperor.”
“I agree with Lia on this. We can’t afford to let our guard down. He didn’t parasitize his descendants’ bodies for over three hundred years for nothing.”
When even Age sided with Lia’s caution, no one could afford to dismiss the matter carelessly.
Lucian felt the bitter sting of having to set aside his joy and steel himself anew, but he reminded himself that after more than five years of struggle, what was a few more days of hardship?
“Lia, what’s been wrong with you since earlier?”
Just then, Kaiser turned to Lia with a blunt tone.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve been calling the First Emperor by the name Leon this whole time. Why so casually? Did you recover some of your past?”
Everyone jumped in surprise and turned to look at Lia.
“……You recovered your past?”
Lucian asked carefully, and Lia nodded.
“……Yes, a little. But it feels like it happened to someone else. Maybe because I haven’t remembered everything yet.”
Whether she was reliving Aria’s sealing as it happened or viewing it from a third-person perspective, it felt like the memory of another.
“How much have you remembered?”
“For now, the fact that I was sealed away.”
“The vision you saw in the Underground Chamber?”
“……Maybe? I collapsed in the Underground Chamber, and when I came to, you were suddenly insisting we had to go to the Imperial Palace.”
“I saw that too.”
“……You did?”
Kaiser explained the vision they had witnessed in the Underground Chamber to those unfamiliar with it.
“It was Karserine who actually sealed Aria away. She did it to protect Lia from the First Emperor.”
“To think the First Emperor, hailed as the greatest in the Empire, could be capable of such a thing.”
“……A man who wanders from body to body among his descendants has already abandoned his humanity.”
Dio and James offered their sharp criticisms.
“Before the sealing, there seemed to be a confrontation with the First Emperor. Do you remember anything about that?”
“No, I haven’t recalled that far yet. So far I only remember being sealed and then just recently meeting Karserine, Leon, and Odel. At that time, Leon and Karserine were joining hands to plan the capture of the Lordly Fortress.”
“Is that the part in the fairy tale where the First Emperor joined hands with the Red Dragon?”
“Yes, exactly up to that point.”
If so, this had occurred before the Empire’s founding.
‘There’s nothing crucial here, it seems.’
And though things may have turned sour between them in the end, it appeared they had been quite close beforehand.
The manner in which Aria spoke Leon’s name carried a certain warmth. It was a subtle thing only Lucian could detect.
If someone once dear had betrayed her, the shock would be tremendous. Fortunately, Lia seemed to bear no particular wound beyond grinding her teeth.
Perhaps because she hadn’t fully recovered her memories, Lucian simply felt grateful that she wasn’t tormented by the knowledge.
“Now that I think about it, I’m furious. That bastard! After everything I did for him! If not for Odel, he wouldn’t have spared me a second glance!”
Lia trembled as she uttered the curse, and Lucian, who had been quietly consoling her, suddenly raised his head at something odd in her words.
“Lia, wait.”
“What?”
“What did you just say?”
“What? I mean, that Leon, the bastard……!”
“No, not that. A moment ago you mentioned another name besides Leon.”
“Another name? Oh, Odel?”
“……Odel?”
“Yes. He’s Leon’s twin brother.”
Lucian’s eyes widened to the size of lanterns.
“I followed Leon because I took an interest in his younger twin. So why bring that up suddenly?”
“Lia, the First Emperor had no siblings.”
“……What?”
“The First Emperor had no siblings. A twin brother especially. Think about it—in the fairy tale, the only characters were the First Emperor, the Red Dragon, and you three. There’s no one named Odel among them.”
Lia was confused. Yet, as Lucian said, before she’d recovered these memories, she had never heard the name Odel anywhere, nor had it appeared in any account.
Only when she first regained consciousness had she vaguely recalled the name alongside Karserine.
But now that she’d recovered some of her memories, it struck her as odd that Odel’s name appeared nowhere in any record.
“That’s not all. Do you know why the superstition about twins became so widespread in the Empire?”
“…….”
“The First Emperor publicly declared that twins were a symbol of ruin. In the records of his heirs, there was once a pair of twin siblings born, and the First Emperor killed them both on the spot.”
Lia’s eyes widened in shock, her fists clenching.
“……That can’t be. The two of them were so close. They couldn’t live without each other.”
“Perhaps in the past. But what if, in the memories you haven’t yet recovered, their bond shattered? What if that’s why the superstition about twins spread? Lia, about this person named Odel—can you recall anything more……?”
Lucian couldn’t finish his words.
Violet eyes welled with tears. Aria bit her lip in anguish.
She pressed her reddened eyes and bent forward, her slender shoulders trembling as quiet sobs escaped.
“Odel…… Odel did…… to Leon…….”
A strangled breath erupted from her throat as she crumbled.
Seeing her fall apart, Lucian’s fists tightened before he carefully gathered her into his arms.
“…….”
He gently patted her back, and she clung to his shirt as desperately as a lifeline, her tears soaking his shoulder.
And so Lucian held her in silence for a long while, offering wordless comfort.

* * *

“How is Lia?”
The group gathered in the corridor approached Lucian as he emerged from the room. To Kaiser’s question, he replied.
“She’s asleep. She kept crying until she drifted off.”
Lucian’s hands clenched.
He felt anger toward the First Emperor for reducing her to tears, jealousy wondering why Odel mattered so much that it could move her to such grief, and a shameful sense of his own inadequacy for being unable to truly comfort her.
His mind was turbulent, but Lucian exhaled and steadied himself.
“Did you find anything on what I asked?”
While Lia was falling apart over Odel, Lucian had quietly asked the others to investigate something without her knowledge.
It was to examine the genealogy of the Imperial House and determine if a person named Odel existed.
James and Kaiser had gone to the Record Repository multiple times to search for any trace of Odel, but found nothing.
“According to the records, the First Emperor indeed had no siblings.”
“Like with Lia, there’s no record of him from the Empire’s founding onward. We did find evidence of tampering in Lia’s case, but nothing regarding Odel. It’s as if he never existed from the start.”
“Could he have died before the Empire was founded?”
At Dio’s question, Age shook his head.
“The First Emperor spread the superstition about twins being an omen of ruin. That suggests he held his twin in extreme contempt. Rather than dying before the founding, it’s far more likely the First Emperor disposed of him.”
“……But it doesn’t seem like they were always at odds.”
Everyone turned to look at James at his words.
“The First Emperor’s original name was Leon. After founding his kingdom, he changed it to Abyss Odelion.”
“What! The surname!”
“Yes. The Imperial House’s surname—Odelion. It’s a combination of Leon, the First Emperor, and Odel, his brother.”
Moreover, if one examined the name carefully, Leon’s portion came last.
“……At the very least, he cherished his brother in the beginning.”
Could the First Emperor have betrayed him, just as he had Aria and Karserine?
“Man is a creature of greed.”
Age’s words struck deep in the minds of all who suspected Leon.
“He may have harmed those around him solely to make the Empire his own.”
The First Emperor could not have founded the Empire by his strength alone. Aria and Karserine must have given him full support, and an unmentioned younger brother must have pushed him forward.
“I shall investigate this matter myself.”
“You, Master Age?”
“Yes. If they were companions from the beginning, Karserine’s letters to her family may have mentioned him.”
“……Ah!”
Everyone was startled at finding a clue in an entirely unexpected place.
“Karserine often wrote letters to her family. Ruche probably has them. Would you come with me, Kaiser?”
Kaiser flinched and wetted his lips.
“I…….”
“We need to verify something.”
The atmosphere shifted, and everyone exchanged glances uncertainly, sensing something different from their usual dynamic. Lucian approached Kaiser.
“I’ll watch over Lia, so go ahead.”
Kaiser’s eyes flickered for a moment but soon steadied.
“All right, I’ll be back. It won’t take long.”
Kaiser patted Lucian’s hand resting on his shoulder and moved toward Age.

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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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