The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 42

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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 Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride — Episode 42

“May I ask just one thing?”
It was then that Habier, forcing down his fear, looked directly at the Bishop. The Bishop gazed at him with eyes alight with interest.
“What exactly is this ritual—the one where you make these offerings?”

…….
“I want to know at least what you’re doing.”
“Hmm, a ritual for what, you say…… In truth, I don’t know the details myself.”
……Yes?”
“Do I seem like I’m lying now? I’m sorry, but this is only my second time, so I don’t know much about the particulars. However, I’ve heard it said that the Temple was created for the sake of this work alone.”
“What on earth does that mean?”
“If you wish to know more than that, you’ll have no choice but to go higher up yourself.”
“Then, then please answer just one more question! Who gave the order for this? Could it be His Holiness?”
The Bishop’s eyes grew cool as a serpent’s as he raised his index finger, pointing upward.
“Higher still than him.”
Higher than the Pope? Then could it be……
“Now, enough idle talk. We must get on with the work.”
The Bishop turned around, gazing at the Magical Circle where blue and red light twisted and churned together.
Soon after, he looked at his pocket watch, which pointed precisely to midnight, and stretched out both hands.
Once more, an ominous aura poured forth from the back of his hands.
The Magical Circle responded in kind, and beyond the pure red light, a black aura began to writhe.
“Humble servant that I am, I offer up this sacrifice—”
Crunch—crunch-crunch—!
A sickening sound emanated from within the pattern, and the corpses crumpled as if being devoured by it, beginning to vanish. It was as though the pattern itself were consuming them.
After some time had passed, the corpses atop the pattern had disappeared without a trace. Only the pooling blood remained to prove that what had happened moments before was no illusion.
“Now, this is the final task.”
When the Bishop turned back, all of them tensed at once.
“If you climb these stairs, you’ll come upon a Mansion. In that Mansion, there should be one child.”
……A child?”
“Yes, find a child about ten years old.”
“W-what should we do once we’ve found them?”
“Hmm, though it’s been said the time has not yet come…….”
The Bishop muttered something under his breath, then came to a decision.
“If the child appears healthy, leave them as they are. But if they look sickly or as though they might collapse at any moment…….”
Bring them here.

* * *

Dong—dong—dong—dong—
The clock struck midnight, and the grandfather clock’s chimes rang loudly throughout the Mansion.
The moment midnight arrived, Kaisar witnessed Lia vanish before his eyes.
With no warning whatsoever, the instant midnight came, she disappeared in the blink of an eye.
It looked so much like dissolution that sudden fear gripped him.
“Damn it, that can’t be right!”
Kaisar shoved away the creeping dread and turned his body with difficulty.
Now the true test begins. I need to see what happens in this Mansion.
Kaisar clicked his tongue and hurried first toward where Lucian was.
“What? This, what is this!”
And he found himself speechless with shock.
The Barriers that Lia had layered in double and triple measure had vanished without a trace.
Nor was that all. All of Lia’s Traps and Magic spells placed throughout had disappeared completely.
What remained was only the Magic he himself had set.
‘Could it be that Lia’s magic dissipated when she vanished?’
It wasn’t unreasonable—anything wrought by Lia’s power would naturally fade with her.
Having spotted this new problem, Kaisar rewove a Barrier around Lucian’s room with his own Magic.
The moment he caught his breath, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
“That’s right—the Basement!”
Lia had certainly placed some manner of locking Magic on the door leading down to the Basement.
Now that her Magic had dissipated en masse, there was a strong chance the lock on the Basement door had come undone as well.
And sure enough, he felt a strange presence stirring below, gradually ascending.
Sparks flew from Kaisar’s lips, and his entire body was seized by massive rage.
“How dare some petty human presume to enter here.”
Kaisar descended to the first floor in a single bound. At precisely the right moment, the Basement door swung open, and four foolish-looking humans emerged.
“Huh?”
“There really is a child here?”
Contrary to what he’d expected, they didn’t look like beings capable of wielding any real power. Still, Kaisar never lowered his guard, fixing them with a cold stare.
For the moment, he maintained a Polymorph, taking the form of a child about Lucian’s age to catch them off their guard.
“Who are you?”
“A-ah, w-we’re not strange people or anything.”
“Hey, saying things like that makes you look even stranger.”
“Is that so?”
At their obtuse, foolish manner, Kaisar’s brows rose sharply.
Just then, one of the men whispered to his companion.
“What do we do about this one? Should we take them?”
“We were told to leave them if they looked healthy.”
“But the instructions say to bring them no matter what, if we see their face…….”
Though they conferred amongst themselves in low voices, a dragon’s ears caught every whisper, every breath.
“Let’s just take them. I don’t want to die.”
“Me neither. Surely you’re not going to kill such a small child?”
“Wait, hold on! Are you all out of your minds? Knowing what the Bishop plans to do……!”
“Then Habier, would you rather die in their place?”
“That is…….”
They seemed to be getting along well enough, but now they began to fracture—one opposing the capture, three determined to seize him.
“Little one, won’t you come with us for a moment?”
“Just follow along quietly, and we won’t do anything strange.”
“Why do you want to take me?”
“Well, that’s…….”
“Were you ordered to bring the child?”
Two of them opened their eyes wide, visibly panicked. Kaisar, realizing his suspicion was correct, clenched his fist.
“So you came after all to target Lucian.”
“L-little one? We really won’t do anything strange. If you just listen to us, there’s no danger, no—”
Thud—!
The man who had been creeping toward Kaisar never finished his sentence.
“Cough! Cough—!”
Seeing Kaisar’s hand drive into his abdomen, the man who had been standing dazed suddenly coughed up blood in a gush.
All of them—the man who was struck, and those behind him—froze in shock at what had happened in an instant.
Kaisar, without so much as blinking, withdrew his hand. The man’s body crumpled helplessly, and he met death without even closing his eyes.
“Aaahhh—!”
“A monster! It’s a monster!”
The two remaining priests, save Habier, shrieked and wildly swung the Torches they had brought.
At that, Kaisar’s eyes blazed, and he leaped from where he stood.
Whoosh—!
A great wind swept through, extinguishing the Torches, and darkness consumed the space. Their terror only deepened.
“D-don’t scatter! If you scatter, it’s more dangerous!”
Habier, the first to regain his composure, spoke hurriedly. But——
Ahhhhh—!
A scream rang out from the farthest point away.
“Damn it! Don’t come near! Get away!”
One novice priest flailed wildly with his unlit torch.
But Kaisar dodged it all, moved behind the man, and seized his head.
Crack—!
The man’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and he fell silent, collapsing without so much as a cry.
Habier realized in that instant that he alone remained.
‘What…… what is happening, why……!’
He had only waited for tomorrow, when he would become a full priest. Why had such a nightmare fallen upon him?
He wanted nothing more than to wake from this nightmare at once.
But the bitter cold that permeated his entire body proved this was no dream.
By now his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and his surroundings began to take shape one by one.
The forms of the fallen priests on the floor also grew faintly visible.
At the sight, Habier squeezed his eyes shut.
“L-Lord……!”
Habier trembled violently, his fingers fumbling with the Temple’s symbol hanging about his neck—a Möbius-strip Necklace.
“Almighty God, I beseech you, have mercy on your humble servant…… Ack!”
As he recited his prayer, a crushing force tightened around his throat, and Habier’s breath caught short.
His body was hoisted into the air.
As his breath grew ever tighter, Habier struggled and clawed at the arms that held him.
“B-but you…… you were just a child…….”
Where had the child gone? When had this creature of terrible strength appeared?
Habier could only feel confused by the turn of events.
“I grant you a chance.”
“Cough! Cough!”
“Speak truthfully about what you intended to do, and I shall spare your life. But if you do not, know that you will share the fate of those three.”
“……Cough!”
Kaisar released Habier’s throat. He collapsed and gasped desperately for air.
But Kaisar did not grant him much time to recover.
“Answer within ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven…….”
“I c-can’t speak!”
Kaisar’s brow twitched, and he looked down at Habier with arrogant disdain. A terrible Aura emanated from Kaisar’s body.
“Do I seem to you as though I jest with you?”
Boom—boom—boom—!
The surroundings trembled as though struck by an earthquake, and Kaisar’s voice bypassed Habier’s ears entirely, drilling directly into his mind.
Habier realized at once, instinctively, that the being before him was no human—but something far greater. And that he was not the child the Bishop had sought.
Whether he descended alone or answered wrong, death awaited him either way.
Habier stood torn between the Bishop and the one before him, then shut his eyes tightly.
“I’m n-not refusing to answer—I c-can’t answer!”
Boom—boom—boom…
The savage pressure eased. Habier slowly, painfully opened his eyes again.
And he could see a pair of eyes mere inches from his face.
Eyes that glowed a reptilian green, proof that the being was no human at all.
“Cannot answer, you say…….”
“Ugh!”
His hair was seized and yanked backward. Habier clamped his lips shut firmly, terrified of displeasing his captor further.
Kaisar scrutinized Habier closely.
His pupils narrowed as he examined the man in a single glance. Then he detected something ominous within his mouth.
Without warning, Kaisar pried Habier’s mouth open and pulled out his tongue.
“……You’ve been placed under a Curse.”
It was too peculiar to call Magic, yet too different in nature to call a Curse.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Even he, a master of Magic, could not identify what this was. In form it resembled Magic, but in essence it was different.
But the more he looked, the more he understood how to break it.
“This will hurt.”
Kaisar summoned a Blue Flame at his fingertips and burned away the peculiar Magical Circle with it.
Agh! Ahhhhh—!
Habier’s body convulsed as he cried out. The pain was such that he seemed about to lose consciousness—but it stopped just before he did.
“You’ll not be enslaved by that Curse again.”
Kaisar looked at Habier, twisted in agony, then cast Healing Magic upon him. The terrible pain vanished, but the psychological shock remained.
“Now, you can answer, can’t you.”
Kaisar did not grant Habier time to recover.
He believed that breaking the Curse and casting Healing Magic were already mercy enough.
Habier, perceiving Kaisar’s thoughts, trembled as he lowered his head.
Soon his lips parted.

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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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