The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 12

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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, Chapter 12

About a month had passed since Lucian gave her the name Lia.
“Lia, I’m done!”
At first, there were times when she didn’t realize he was calling her and couldn’t understand, but now she was growing accustomed to her name by degrees.
Currently, they were preparing dinner together. Lia watched Lucian in silence.
“What is it? Do I have something on my face?”
[It’s not that. Aren’t you exhausted?]
“Me? Why would I be exhausted?”
[Well, you were training just before.]
Half a month ago, after exercising, the child used to stagger about with trembling limbs like a newborn fawn—but where had that one gone now?
“Oh? Come to think of it, my body feels really light today.”
The scrawny, diminutive child who had looked younger than his actual years had somehow become a sturdy young boy.
Moreover, she’d begun to notice that his frame was filling out.
[Looks like some muscle’s coming in. And his stamina seems to be improving.]
“Training doesn’t feel hard anymore these days. There are still tough moments, of course, but afterward it feels refreshing, if that makes sense?”
[Now that I think about it, today marks exactly one month. So? Are you warming up to training?]
“Yes! I’m okay with it!”
[Then we can do even more from now on?]
“Um…….”
Lucian’s voice trailed off. Apart from growing accustomed to the training, he seemed reluctant to do more.
“Are we… going to keep doing Physical Training forever?”
The unexpected question caught her attention. She answered quickly, sensing there was hope yet.
[No, it’s not. Physical Training is just preparation to build a foundation. Once your body is ready, we’ll move straight into Swordsmanship training.]
“Can you teach me archery too?”
[Of course. You’ve seen what’s in the Storage Room, right? I’ll teach you how to handle all the Weapons there.]
Lucian’s face lit up. He expressed his enthusiasm, saying he’d be willing to do more.
[But why the sudden change of heart? A month ago you didn’t want to do this.]
“Because it sounds cool!”
[Hm?]
“In the books I read, all the Heroes are incredibly strong. I’m going to become a Hero!”
Ah, so that was his impudent motivation.
Still, it was far better for him to find his own drive and sharpen his determination than for her to explain it a hundred times over.
[What about the Witch? You said you liked the Witch best.]
“Well, that’s because Lia’s going to be the Witch.”
[Hm? You mean me?]
“I took the name from the Witch’s name, and the Witch is incredibly beautiful and uses Magic really well! Lia’s exactly like that.”
She hadn’t expected him to think that way. Come to think of it, when she said she’d give him a name, the Witch’s name had been mentioned.
Lia began to suspect there was an equation in Lucian’s mind: “Witch = Lia.”
“Since Lia is the Witch, I’ll become the First Emperor and stay with Lia forever!”
At his unexpected bombshell, Lia’s mind went blank.
[Lucian, do you understand what you just said?]
“Of course I do! It means we’ll live together.”
Lia ran her hand over her face. Of course, of course. What would a child know?
[You mean what you saw in the fairy tale?]
“Yes, that’s right.”
[Lucian, when the fairy tale says they “lived together,” it means a man and woman fall in love, marry, and spend their lives as husband and wife.]
“……? But we’re already married.”
Where even to start explaining this? For a moment, her mind reeled, but Lia quickly grabbed her head.
[Yes, we married, but that was just playing around. We both did it without any real consent, didn’t we?]
“Didn’t we?”
[Normally, marriage is when two adults fall in love and promise to spend their lives together. We skipped all the middle steps and just rushed into a marriage without meaning it, so it doesn’t really count as being married at all.]
They did call each other “Bride” and “little groom,” but that was mostly in jest.
In the first place, nothing was written down officially—how could there be a real marriage?
Lucian’s expression grew complicated as he grasped the gist of what she’d said.
“Then we just need to love each other, right?”
Good grief. Why did he focus on that?
[Love isn’t something you do with me—you do it with someone else.]
“I don’t like anyone else. I’m going to do it with Lia.”
[……Why do you want to be with me so badly?]
“Yes! I don’t want anyone but Lia!”
[You just don’t understand yet. Later, when you grow up and meet a pretty girl your own age, you’ll see things differently.]
“How would Lia know that?”
[Because I’ve lived longer than you, at least.]
Lucian puffed out his cheeks, plainly unhappy with her answer.
“Or… you just don’t like me, right?”
[What……?!]
Despite Lia’s bewildered expression, Lucian’s face remained set.

* * *

Lia is an idiot. She doesn’t even know my heart.
Lucian grumbled as he recalled the situation from moments before.
[I mean, where did that come from?]
‘I’m right! Because you don’t like me, that means we can’t live together anymore, doesn’t it?’
[……Sigh. Lucian, calm down a little.]
At her exasperated sigh, Lucian felt his throat tighten despite himself.
‘Fine! I don’t like you either now! Lia, I hate you!’
And so Lucian ran away without thinking. So where was he now? Somewhere in the Mansion, surely.
He wanted to hide somewhere away from Lia, but he knew his own helpless situation well enough that he couldn’t do it.
He would not leave this place until Lia came looking for him.
“No, wait. Why should I wait? I’m going to live here now.”
Hmph. Why was he thinking about living with Lia again?
He could read a fair amount now, and thanks to consistent training, he’d built up considerable stamina. Besides, he’d picked up cooking by watching over her shoulder—he could manage well enough on his own.
The point was, he didn’t need Lia to do anything anymore.
“……But why is it so dark here?”
He’d just wandered wherever his feet took him, yet now he felt he’d come to an unfamiliar place.
The gloom and chill felt just like his first day in the Mansion.
Fear crept up his ankles—something he hadn’t felt since meeting Lia.
“N-no, no. This is still the Mansion, anyway.”
Lucian tried to suppress his fear and cautiously examined his surroundings with trembling hands.
“I definitely came this way, didn’t I?”
Lucian looked back at where he’d entered. Seeing stairs leading upward, he realized he must have gone into the Basement.
“The Basement—this is my first time.”
It was too wide to be called a corridor and too cramped to be called a hall. Empty as it was, the space felt even more desolate, but still.
“There are three doors.”
Lucian examined the doors at the ends of each wall. The door directly across from the stairs was distinctly more ornate than the others.
Lucian approached it as if drawn by a spell.
“What is this?”
Something was carved into the door. It looked like a picture, yet also like writing.
He tried to read it with his recently acquired skill, but the language was nothing he could recognize. If it wasn’t the Imperial Language, then what could it be?
“And there’s no handle.”
He grunted and pushed and pulled with all his might, thinking it might open either way, but the door didn’t budge.
After struggling with it for some time, Lucian gave up, breathing hard.
“It’s probably nothing important, anyway.”
He immediately turned his attention to the other two doors.
Fortunately, these two doors, unlike the previous one, had handles firmly attached.
“Ugh! It’s heavy!”
Lucian put all his weight into it and pushed the door.
Creeeak—creeeak!
The door resisted at first, but once it moved, it slid open smoothly. The sudden opening nearly sent him sprawling forward.
Barely catching his balance, Lucian looked up. And froze.
Whooooo—
An ominous sound echoed in his ears. Beyond the door stretched a long, impossibly long tunnel. He couldn’t bring himself to venture into it.
That was because its far end was invisible—as if ghosts would emerge from it.
“S-s-scary…… Lia……!”
Lucian instinctively reached for Lia, but seeing no one behind him, all the color drained from his face.
Only then did he realize he had run away from Lia. Lucian swallowed hard, backed away, and shut the door.
Creeeak—Slam!
“I’m n-never opening that again.”
He’d thought he’d grown accustomed to ghosts and monsters because Lia was one, but apparently not.
Lucian examined the last remaining door.
He was afraid it might be similar to the previous one, but since he’d decided to live here from now on, he had few other options.
This time, bracing himself, he opened the final door.
“A room?”
Thankfully, this time it was a proper room. Though it was quite dark and he couldn’t see much, Lucian grabbed a Lantern and cautiously peered inside.
A small Storage Room. There was nothing inside.
“What is this—there’s nothing—aaaah!”
The moment he let his guard down, something caught his foot and he tripped.
He managed to keep the Lantern from breaking, but in his effort to protect it, he couldn’t protect himself—his chin stung.
“Ugh…… What’s this!”
Frustration and sadness washed over him as he checked what had caught his foot. He’d thought there was nothing, but cloth was laid out on the floor.
Seeing that the cloth covered nearly the entire floor, Lucian pulled it away. Then he shone the Lantern on it.
“Huh? It’s the same as what’s on the door.”
A Mystical Symbol similar to the one he’d seen on the first door was carved into the floor.
But for some reason, the more he looked at it, the more his skin crawled.
Sensing something wrong, he felt along the floor. Something rubbed off on his hand.
Lucian held his hand up to the Lantern to see. The color was unclear—darkish, brownish.
Starting from where he’d touched it, the center of the symbol was stained with something so black it obscured the pattern itself.
Lucian approached the center, confused, and touched it. This time, more powder came off in his hand.
“Ow!”
Suddenly, a sharp, stinging sensation shot through his finger. Lucian jerked his hand back reflexively and examined it.
“Ouch…… It hurts. I must have cut myself.”
His finger appeared to have been cut by something. It was a fairly deep wound—blood dripped from his hand onto the floor.
Because his hand was dirty with dust from the floor, he couldn’t suck on the wound. Lucian wiped the wound with his clothes.
But the pain didn’t fade. Just as he was thinking of going outside to wash his hand—
Hummmmm—
An strange sound filled the air, and the dark room was bathed in blue light.
Lucian looked around in bewilderment. The light was tracing the pattern on the floor.
Only then could Lucian see what he’d missed before.
Mystical Symbols covering the entire floor. And those dark marks concentrated only in the center of the pattern. He knew instinctively. Those dark marks were all blood.
His blood drained away. As it did, the blue light of the symbol changed—turning red like blood.
And the Basement began to shake slightly.
“I…… I have to get out.”
He had a gut feeling that if he stayed here, something terrible would happen. Lucian hurried out of the room.
And as he looked back through the doorway, breathing hard—
Crack, crack—!
He could see the Lantern he’d left behind being crushed and twisted into a grotesque shape. But that wasn’t all. The cloth he’d tossed aside was also being dragged toward the center of the symbol, twisting hideously as it slowly vanished.
It was as if the symbol was devouring it.
Not content with swallowing the Lantern and cloth, an ominous sound came from the symbol.
Whooooo!
Soon the sinister red light darkened to a crimson, and a blood-colored vortex swept through the entire room.
Even though he was outside the room, the danger felt imminent, so he quickly closed the door.
Slam! Boom!
From inside came the sound of violent wind and something colliding. It felt as if that symbol was trying to consume him too.
“N-n-no…… S-scary…… Lia……!”
His body trembled like a leaf. Lucian burst into tears and called desperately for Lia.
“Liaaaa! Lia! Waaaahhh! Scary! Liaaaa!”
With the Lantern lost, the Basement was pitch-dark. It felt as if he would die right here.

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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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