The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 152

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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 Ghost Bride of the Forsaken Prince
Side Story 2. The Dragon’s Discipline (2)

“I have some idea why you’ve summoned me, but it wasn’t me.”
“You’ve come.”
Luche and Daihan turned their heads, leaving the two Red Dragons squabbling noisily behind them.
They found Age, who had relaxed out of his Polymorph form, at ease.
“Hmm?”
“……What is that?”
But soon their eyes fell on two humans dangling limply in Age’s enormous grip.
“What, you didn’t release them on purpose?”
Age lowered his head sheepishly, looking flustered.
“How many times must I say it wasn’t me!”
“Age, after all the years we’ve spent together, how could you…….”
Lucian, standing beside Lia who was hollering loudly, gazed at Age with an expression of betrayal.
Five minutes ago, he had discovered two figures lurking like mice in a corner of the corridor and brought them here.
Of course, during the process, the two had begged not to be taken away, but his response had been decisive silence.
“Ah! Age! Why did you bring Lia and Lucian here?!”
“I didn’t bring them. They were already here from the start.”
“……Wait? From the start?”
Seeing Luche approach within an arm’s length, Lia clamped her mouth shut.
In her face, the features of Karcerin and Kaiser seemed to overlap.
“I wondered how you two escaped our detection, but you’re a witch, are you?”
“A witch, you say? It’s been ages since I’ve seen that race.”
Daihan drew closer. Looking at the two of them, one could understand where Kaiser’s beauty came from.
“One is a witch, the other is a repugnant human of Royalty. How amusing……it reminds me of someone.”
Luche smiled with narrowed eyes, but a thick, murderous aura flowed from her.
The flash of dragon eyes within her slits compelled both humans to bow their heads of their own accord.
‘I, I can’t breathe……!’
‘Ugh! This is just killing intent……?’
It felt as though thousands of needles were piercing their skin. But to give way now would be the end, so both of them tried to meet her gaze directly.
“Ho?”
Luche’s eyes widened with interest.
“So it’s not mere chance that you’re here, is it?”
Luche grasped Lia’s cheek. Though Lia let out a whimper, her eyes flashed brilliantly.
Luche’s brow twitched at the sight of those intense violet eyes.
“I’ve seen those eyes somewhere…….”
“Mother!”
Kaiser’s voice cut through the tense atmosphere.
Kaiser stood flustered and restless, unable to muster even anger.
“……They are precious to me. Please, don’t harm them. All of this is my doing—they have nothing to do with it.”
“…….”
Luche released the hand grasping Lia as though the murderous aura had never existed and shrugged her shoulders.
“What have I done that you speak of such things?”
At last able to breathe, Lia and Lucian exhaled their pent-up breath, and Kaiser released a sigh of relief.
“Well, well. People precious to our son, then.”
But behind the first gate lay another. If Daihan, Kaiser’s father, showed the same hostility as Luche…….
“This is curious. We ourselves struggle to please our son—how did you two grow close?”
“……Pardon?”
Lia and Lucian were at a loss, seeing eyes that shone with unexpected brightness.
Luche frowned, watching the bewildered pair.
“Really now, why do you ask such things?”
“Honestly, Kaiser may be my son, but he’s peculiar. Arrogant, doesn’t get along well with dragons his age, and thinks he’s the best at everything.”
Daihan began to gossip about Kaiser as though uncertain he was the true father. At first, Lucian and Lia hesitated, but gradually they began nodding along in agreement.
“That’s right! And when he’s not satisfied with how things are, he just complains.”
“We’ve had words more than once when I was young. Now that I think back, he should’ve known better even if he was just a Hatchling.”
“And that’s not all. If his abilities were lacking, we might say something about it—but since he’s good at everything, how will that arrogant nature ever improve?”
“Sigh……so we weren’t the only ones thinking this way. This is why we say never to indulge Kaiser by praising him for everything he does?”
Before long, the three of them were merrily gossiping about Kaiser among themselves.
Kaiser, who had been anxious about whether his parents might harm Lia and Lucian, trembled at the sight of these two hitting it off so well.
“You lot! Listen here—what? Arrogant and petty? You dare call yourselves my friends?!”
“We didn’t say that exactly.”
“Didn’t say it, my foot! I ought to just……!”
Everyone shook their heads at the sight of Kaiser thrashing about in fury.
“……So these really are Kaiser’s friends. It’s just like watching your brother.”
At Daihan’s words, Luche briefly recalled Karcerin.
Though they had never met in person, through letters and correspondence, she had learned of Karcerin’s companions.
He too had spent his time intimately with a witch and humans who had become Royalty.
But from a certain point onward, Karcerin’s fate became unclear, and Luche had harbored suspicions about whether his companions were connected to Karcerin’s death.
“Age, explain yourself now. Why did Kaiser reveal himself, and why is he with these humans? You know, don’t you?”
“Mother! I said I would explain! Age has nothing to do with it!”
“I asked Age.”
As the atmosphere grew serious again, Lucian and Lia watched the dragons carefully.
Age blinked his white eyelids and set Lucian and Lia down nearby as he spoke.
“First, regarding Kaiser’s reckless actions today—I have nothing to say. I haven’t heard a word about it myself.”
“How is that something to say……!”
“But I can guess why such a thing happened. This will be a long story. Is that alright?”
Luche and Daihan exchanged glances and nodded.
“I would appreciate it if Master Ador listened carefully as well. It is a matter concerning Karcerin.”
At last, Age’s long tale began.

* * *

“……So Karcerin is indeed dead.”
“Yes. The woman here is a witch who lived with Karcerin three hundred years ago. No remains were left because we protected the witch with the Dragon Heart.”
“…….”
She felt like a criminal.
Lia raised her heavy head. Ador and Luche, Karcerin’s family, wore expressions clouded with grief.
Glancing back at Kaiser, she saw him darken his gaze as he watched his grieving family.
Though they had not revealed that Kaiser was Karcerin’s reincarnation, for him who had fully recovered Karcerin’s memories, this was certainly an uncomfortable place to be.
“……Foolish child. What does a mere human matter.”
Ador, who appeared to be in his prime, wiped his face as tears glistened in his eyes.
Seeing Kaiser flinch and waver at this, Lia rose from her seat.
She lowered herself and bowed deeply to Ador and his family.
Everyone’s eyes widened at her sudden action.
“I offer my sincerest apologies for the death of Karcerin caused by my hand. I am truly sorry.”
“……Lia.”
Kaiser reached out to help Lia to her feet, but Lucian stopped him.
Seeing her disheveled black hair, Ador opened his mouth.
“You did not kill him. Why do you apologize?”
“But had my companions and I not existed, Karcerin would surely be by your side now.”
When they first met in the Cave, when he recovered his body yet continued to accompany them, when he played a part in Leon founding his nation—
He had every opportunity to return to his family’s embrace.
Though it is true that he remained at their side by his own choice, it cannot be said that they did not hold him back from leaving.
“Someone must bear responsibility for Karcerin’s death. For three hundred years, I have preserved my life thanks to Karcerin. Therefore it is fitting that I bear that responsibility.”
You may resent me, you may rage against me, you may cast stones at me.
If by doing so you can ease the knot of anger and sorrow born of losing family, I will gladly offer myself.
Lia’s resolve struck something in all who heard it. Especially Kaiser, who clenched his fists and felt a tender ache for his old companion.
Then Lucian too came to Lia’s side and bowed alongside her.
“This is the doing of my ancestor. I too believe I must bear responsibility. Though the two of us alone cannot ease your sorrow, I humbly beg your understanding.”
A frail human bowing before a great dragon.
A life so trivial that a single gesture could end it. For mere humans to take responsibility for the death of his son…….
‘How utterly absurd.’
Yet on the other hand, Ador now understood why Karcerin had been willing to sacrifice his own life to save his friend.
“……Raise your heads.”
“…….”
“Do you mean to make me repeat myself?”
Only then did Lucian and Lia cautiously lift their eyes, watching his expression.
The boldness from moments before had vanished, replaced by careful hesitation—and somehow, that made laughter bubble up from him.
“Yes, you were Karcerin’s friends.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“We do not know what Karcerin experienced in the human world. Though we exchanged letters, there are surely stories that could not fit on a page. So tell me—tell me of your days with Karcerin.”
As Karcerin’s face seemed to overlap with Ador’s, Lia felt a stab of pain in her throat.
Yet she broke into a bright smile and readily accepted his request.
“The place where we first met was a Cave. There, the wounded Karcerin and…….”
Lia began her story calmly, and Ador, listening to her account, yearned for his son whose image remained vivid in his mind.

* * *

“It’s already been a week, and you still have so much to talk about.”
Having been kidnapped and held captive(?) by Ador for a week now, Lucian found himself resting in a space as luxurious as the Imperial Palace itself, quite unlike his initial confinement.
Lucian watched Lia and Ador in the distance, engaged in conversation.
The two had spent the entire week sharing stories about Karcerin.
“Having spent nearly five years with Karcerin, it will take at least a month to lay out everything we experienced.”
“A month…….”
“What, do you feel like your lover’s been stolen from you?”
At Age’s question, Lucian shook his head.
“I am not so petty a person.”
“……Doesn’t seem like it.”
“I truly am not jealous. Lia is simply fulfilling her duty. If I too had memories of my past life, would I not be standing beside her in that place—such is my only regret.”
Lucian held the awareness that he was the reincarnation of Odel, but he had not inherited Odel’s memories and so could not share stories of the past as Lia did.
“Does it bother you that you’re a reincarnation of Odel?”
Lucian lifted his downcast eyes to meet Age’s gaze.
“You, Kaiser too—I don’t understand why you both resent that you’ve been reincarnated.”
“Hmm…….”
Lucian pondered his own behavior anew.
It was true—he and Kaiser did indeed lean toward denying their reincarnation.
“While reincarnation is curious, on the other hand, the existence of one’s past life is so vivid that it feels as though one’s current life is being denied, if that makes sense.”
What if the past life continued to influence the current one?
“And above all, I do not particularly like Odel.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he is an indecisive fool who could not stop his brother from threatening my lover.”
Of course, he had not known what feelings Leon harbored for Aria until Leon attacked.
Even when he faced Leon as a Spirit afterward, he had not regarded him as an outright enemy.
It was more as if he wished to reform Leon if he could.
“If you think of you and Leopold, doesn’t it make sense?”
“…….”
Lucian fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, if it were me, I would have dealt with my brother to protect Lia.”
When Leon threatened him with Leopold’s life, he could not move readily, and only when Lia stepped forward was it somewhat resolved.
But had not the situation been rather special at that time?
Had it not been Leopold’s life in danger but Leopold himself eyeing Lia, he would not have hesitated.
“Of course, such a thing will never happen.”
“True. Leopold is not that sort of person.”
The two exchanged glances and smiled softly to themselves.

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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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