The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 120

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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 120

But before he left, Kaiser approached Lucian once more.
“Keep this with you.”
“……This?”
Kaiser withdrew a portrait from his Subspace. When Lucian saw the painting he’d glimpsed in the Studio long ago, he tilted his head in confusion.
“Lia grabbed it in a panic right before we left the Mansion. Tell her about it when she wakes up.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure to pass it on properly.”
Soon after, Kaiser and Age vanished from the Imperial Palace via Teleport.
Lucian gazed down at the portrait in his hands as he watched them disappear.
“……Come to think of it.”
Hadn’t Lia asked for a painter to be summoned right before leaving the Mansion? The one who’d painted her portrait was named Diane Layple.
“……This person is Henry Layple.”
Lucian turned to James at once.
“James, I need you to find someone for me tomorrow.”
Surely Lia had harbored the same thought.

* * *

‘Thank you for your help. With your support, we were able to subdue them easily.’
‘Hmph. This sort of thing is child’s play for one such as I.’
Three months had passed since Karserin joined Leon’s company.
They had already achieved the impressive feat of capturing three Lordships.
During the fall of the first Lordship, there had been only Leon, Odel, Aria, and Karserin, but word of their exploits spread, and people began gathering one by one. Now, three months later, they had amassed quite a sizable force.
Yet even with these new comrades, Karserin had cultivated rapport only with the founding members.
In particular, he had taken a strong liking to Odel.
‘Odel! Come over here for a moment!’
‘Right away! Just a second! Karserin, I’ll go to him for a moment.’
When Leon called from across the way, Odel hurried to his side.
Leon had spread out a Map and was consulting with Odel.
Where Leon drew people together through his superior leadership and served as a vanguard commander to bolster morale, Odel fulfilled the role of strategist with his keen intellect.
The two, alike yet different in temperament, led their growing forces with complementary strengths.
‘How much longer are you planning to stay here?’
Karserin’s face twisted instinctively into a scowl. As he turned his warped visage, the witch appeared, drenched in blood.
“Just like a witch to show her true face…… What’s with that look? You bathing in blood?”
“What nonsense. Don’t you know there are still remnants holed up in the castle? I’ve been swamped dealing with them. If you’d lent a hand, I wouldn’t be covered in this mess.”
Aria clicked her tongue and wiped away the dried blood clinging to her skin with Clean Magic. Even so, Karserin held his nose as if detecting a foul odor.
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
‘What.’
‘How much longer are you planning to stay here?’
Karserin flinched.
‘Didn’t you say so yourself? That you’d help just this once and be done with it? So what are you doing here in your third month?’
Karserin had agreed to stay only until he caught the Lord who’d placed a bounty on his head.
He’d completed that task long ago. There was no reason for him to remain.
‘C-cough! I’ll leave someday! I could depart tomorrow if I wished!’
‘Then just go. Stop confusing people for no reason.’
‘……You’re a heartless witch, aren’t you? It would be more useful if I stayed here?’
‘Maybe so. But your wishy-washy behavior is confusing people.’
‘Confusing them?’
Aria gestured with her chin toward the twin brothers.
‘Both of them fret every day, wondering when you’ll leave or whether you might slip away tonight.’
‘…….’
‘Especially Odel — he’ll be quite disappointed when you go. So make up your mind already. Will you continue traveling with us, or shall we end it here?’
Aria was right. Karserin had been making excuses and quietly extending his stay.
Why? He was traveling with loathsome humans, after all.
And hadn’t he been badly burned by humans before? When he thought of that, it was clear he should end his companionship here, yet somehow the decision would not come.
……He simply wanted to stay with them.
Truthfully, there were moments of irritation, times when he wondered why he’d bother expending such effort. But fundamentally, being with them brought him tremendous joy.
When he’d wandered the human world for proper entertainment, hadn’t he yearned for something like this?
The thrilling excitement and delight he could not find in the Dragon realm.
At last, Karserin turned his gaze inward and found his answer.
When Karserin let out a soft chuckle, Aria looked bewildered.
Karserin glanced sidelong at her.
‘Listen, witch.’
‘What.’
‘You’d be disappointed too if I left, wouldn’t you?’
‘……! What absolute nonsense!’
Aria reacted angrily, but with a beat of hesitation — and Karserin caught that fleeting pause.
‘Not just me, but you’re terribly dishonest yourself, aren’t you.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, and frankly, it’s irritating. I don’t appreciate being lumped in with you.’
‘What a graceless witch you are.’
Karserin found himself growing accustomed to even her grumbling.
……Is that actually true?
At that moment, a commotion arose from where the twin brothers Leon and Odel stood in the distance.
Karserin and Aria exchanged a glance before heading toward them.
‘What’s happened?’
‘There’s a hidden chamber in the Basement, apparently?’
The patrol unit, having dealt with all remaining forces and surveyed the Lordship, had discovered something.
They hurried down to the Basement.
‘It’s sealed with Magic — we simply lack the strength to open it.’
‘Indeed it is.’
Karserin and Aria discovered the hidden Magic Circle. Karserin glanced at Aria.
‘You can open it, can’t you?’
‘What do you take me for?’
Aria dismantled the Magic Circle with trivial ease, as if it were nothing.
The door opened, and a sight so horrific it made everyone present grimace unfolded before their eyes.
‘……Monsters.’
‘How could people do such a thing!’
Leon and Odel voiced their rage.
Inside were roughly a dozen emaciated people, ravaged by hunger and neglect.
They trembled at the sudden appearance of strangers, fear overwhelming them.
Leon, moved with pity, approached carefully and knelt on one knee before the man closest to him, meeting his eyes.
‘You can rest easy now. There is no one left to torment you.’
‘……W-what do you mean?’
‘We have brought down the Lord of this place.’
The captives’ eyes widened in shock. As they stirred and wavered, Odel spoke.
‘If I may ask, what brought you to this place?’
They began to tremble and exchange nervous glances. Long silence followed, and no words came.
It was then that Karserin noticed something stirring in the darkness of the chamber.
Then one man finally spoke.
‘……We are Dark Mages.’
Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.
‘He called us demons and imprisoned us here, exploiting us. The adults among us can manage, but there are still children. If you would have us do anything at all, we shall comply. Please, we beg you — give the children at least a crust of bread.’
The man appeared to be their leader. As he prostrated himself in supplication, the others began to follow suit.
Karserin now understood: the rippling in the darkness was the power wielded by Dark Mages.
‘Dark Mages, you say……’
‘Can we take them in?’
As Leon’s companions grew uneasy and stirred, the man bit his lips and pressed his forehead harder against the ground.
Odel, witnessing this, frowned and gently raised the man to his feet.
‘Please, rise. We do not turn away those in need. Isn’t that right, brother?’
‘Of course. Come, let us leave this place. It is no fit dwelling for people. Ensure they have quarters and share provisions with them.’
When Leon, their leader, gave the order, his people initially hesitated but ultimately had no choice but to escort the Dark Mages to new lodgings.
‘Thank you! Thank you so much!’
‘Mother, where are we going?’
‘These kind people are giving us a new home.’
The Dark Mages were all brimming with tears, their gratitude pouring forth.
Looking at the elders and children together, they appeared to be one family.
‘May I ask your name, our benefactor?’
When the leader of the Dark Mages asked, Leon replied with a gentle smile.
‘My name is Leon. This is my twin brother Odel, this is Aria, and finally, Karserin.’
As Leon introduced the core members of his group, the man’s expression softened into a peaceful smile.
‘My name is Karigo. We are the last remaining of the Dark Mage Clan.’
This was how Leon’s company first encountered the Dark Mages.

.
.

Lia opened her eyes slowly, and her head throbbed.
And today, her eyelids felt particularly heavy, making it difficult to open them at all.
“……Another dream.”
Or rather, the past. Just like before, the past had surfaced in the form of a dream.
When she recalled Odel and Leon, so close to each other, her emotions stirred anew.
Against her will, tears spilled forth, and her mind grew hazy.
She had wanted to reclaim her past, it was true. It was something she would eventually have to do, and she was curious about who she had been.
“But this isn’t what I wanted.”
Each time a fragment of the past surfaced, she felt as though she were sinking into a fathomless abyss.
When Lucian had expressed his anxiety about her pursuing the past, she had told him clearly—

‘Listen, Lucian. Even if what you fear comes true, I could never be driven away by you, nor would the affection I hold for you ever vanish. Why harbor such foolish thoughts?’

She had insisted that past ties could never outweigh present ones, that her care for Lucian would never disappear.
“I feel like I’m suffocating.”
Leon had betrayed her. Karserin had died protecting her. And Odel had met his end by his brother’s hand.
Even without reclaiming all her memories, she could sense how precious her bonds with them had been.
And that was what tormented her — the reality that they were no longer by her side.
As her emotions surged again, Lia pressed her eyes with both hands and began to sob.
“Hic…… Hic……!”
She tried with all her might to contain her feelings, but they would not obey.
“You are Lia now! Not Aria! Don’t be consumed by the past!”
As her stress reached its peak, Lia began striking her own head in self-reproach.
While she was gasping and thrashing through her tears, she suddenly felt a warm hand grasp her wrist, and she froze.
As she lifted her tear-soaked eyelids, beyond her blurred vision she could dimly make out golden eyes.
“……Odel?”
“…….”
The figure reached out silently and wiped away Lia’s tears. Only then did her vision clear, and her face went deathly pale.
“……No matter how much you suffer, don’t strike yourself. It hurts.”
“L-Lucian…….”
It is not Odel. It cannot be — for Odel has long since passed away.
He is a man who died long, long ago.
As Lia sat up with a confused expression, Lucian offered a wry smile.
Yet the hurt in his heart lay bare in his golden eyes.
The moment Lia saw Lucian’s wounded gaze, she could not bear it.
“No, Lucian. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Lia.”
“The person I love is you! Just now…… yes! It was that past dream. I suddenly became confused between what was and what is…….”
As Lia spoke her desperate plea, Lucian’s expression grew more tormented.
When her words seemed not to reach him, Lia’s heart sank.
But only for a moment. Lucian drew her into his embrace, gently arranging her disheveled hair.
Then, slowly, he began to place his lips softly against her face, again and again.
Remarkably, from the instant his lips touched her, Lia’s turmoil began to settle.

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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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