The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 45

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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 Imperial Heir’s Ghost Bride — Episode 45

Imperial Calendar Year 322, late May.
As the sun crept higher and summer drew near, the Ghost Mansion remained as quiet as ever.
Lia finished the mountain of laundry and stretched herself out with a sigh.
Clothes large enough for an adult hung on the drying rack. She fingered them absently, remembering what Lucian had worn when he first came to this place.
[When did he grow so much?]
The little imperial heir who had stood beside her in the Ghost Marriage Ceremony had grown so much that “little” no longer fit him—he was now a proper adolescent.
[Well, he’s fifteen now. That makes sense.]
Three more years until adulthood. Which meant it had been seven years since she and Lucian had started living together.
Time flew too fast.
Before she’d met Lucian, she’d wished each tedious day would pass quickly. But watching him grow by leaps and bounds, she found herself wanting to hold onto every single moment.
[…But he doesn’t understand how I feel.]
Lucian these days wasn’t as affectionate or warm as he used to be.
He’d been so eager to throw his arms around her when he was small, but now he hated even holding her hand. If she tried to ruffle his hair, he’d pull away as though offended.
He’d even threatened her not to come into his room.
[He’s all grown up now, that’s what it is.]
No matter how much she reminded herself that he was going through adolescence, his constant rejection still hurt.
[And there’s something troubling him, I think.]
Lucian went down to the village once a week to spend time with Dio.
When he’d first started going out, he’d return eager to tell her every detail of what had happened. But at some point, he’d fallen silent, and his face had grown darker with each passing day.
When she asked what was wrong, he’d only say it was nothing.
If they talked about it together, maybe his worries would resolve. So why was he hiding? Did he not need her help?
As Lia straightened Lucian’s bedding, she looked around his room. Seven years of memories seeped from every corner.
It was funny that the only time she could freely enter his room was when he wasn’t here.
Suddenly, his desk caught her eye. More precisely, a picture frame sitting on the desk.
[Now then, my dear.]
Lia sat down at the desk and picked up the frame.
[If only he’d follow me around like he used to, saying “Lia! Lia!” the way he did when he was small.]
Inside the frame was a picture she had drawn.
An eight-year-old version of herself—the age she’d been when she first came here. Dressed in formal clothes, she stood beside a boy, and next to him was a woman.
That woman was herself.
She’d revised and revised and revised according to feedback from Lucian and Caesar until she’d finally created something that resembled her own face.
Even though it was supposed to be her face, it felt unfamiliar.
Each time she’d drawn a new version based on their critiques, doubt had crept in.
[Am I really that pretty?]
Unless Lucian and Caesar were both thoroughly blind, then that face was indeed hers.
[Still, I can’t get used to it.]
It felt strange—as though another woman stood beside Lucian. When he grew into an adult and brought home a new bride, would she feel this same oddness?
[Lucian, please grow slowly. I want to be with you a while longer.]
Lia whispered to the Lucian in the frame and laid her head on the desk.

* * *

At that same moment, in the Market District of the Capital.
Vendor stalls lined the street in what was the largest market in the Capital.
Fruit, food, furniture, trinkets—there was nothing you couldn’t find. The place was always bustling, but today it overflowed with even more energy than usual.
“Whew, look at all these people.”
Dio barely squeezed out of the crowd and clicked his tongue.
“That imperial heir—what is he doing, opening a festival for every little thing? Don’t you think so, Lucian?”
“…….”
Lucian was silent, his gaze fixed elsewhere.
The moment Dio turned around, he noticed nearby women glancing in their direction.
Mixed with those intense stares was curiosity and jealousy from men as well.
Dio shot Lucian a sidelong glare.
“Cursed kid.”
“……Are you talking to me?”
He’d pretended not to hear what Dio said earlier, but he caught the insult perfectly well.
“Yeah, you. Is there anyone else here?”
“Why are you starting something?”
“Hmph. Because you’re so narrow-minded, that’s why.”
Lucian shook his head as if to say “here we go again.”
“You know, I think our popularity used to be about the same…….”
As Lucian’s beauty ripened with each passing day, Dio’s own popularity had been reduced to a pebble on the roadside.
His refined, elegant features contrasted with the subtle, lean muscle visible beneath his clothes—apparently Lucian’s hidden charm.
“But anyway, why are you so gloomy today? Did you fight with Lia?”
“Fight? No, it’s not like that.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“What did you say this festival was for?”
It was obvious he was changing the subject, but good-natured Dio decided to let it slide this time.
“It’s not really a festival—it’s a welcome ceremony for the Imperial Heir’s return.”
The son of the Odelian Empire. Imperial Heir Leopold Odelion. He’d just returned to the Imperial Palace yesterday after two years of study abroad.
“And in two months, it’ll be the Imperial Heir’s fifteenth birthday. Since they couldn’t hold a birthday celebration for the past two years, this one will be quite grand.”
Far more people than could gather here would soon converge on the Capital.
“Hey, your birthday is the same day as his, isn’t it? Let’s go see the circus and eat something delicious then! I’ll pay for everything!”
“……Yeah. We share the same birthday.”
Dio, who’d been excited, suddenly felt something off and turned to look back.
Unlike the frown Lucian had worn moments earlier, now his teeth were gritted and he radiated killing intent.
His gaze landed on a poster bearing words celebrating the Imperial Heir’s return.
After staring daggers at it for a moment, Lucian turned away.
“Hey, hey! Wait for me!”
Dio rushed to follow, but Lucian didn’t even glance back.
A year ago, Lucian had accidentally discovered that the person he’d believed to be his older brother was actually the same age as him.
‘How can he be my older brother if we’re the same age?’
Until then, he’d never bothered to learn much about the Imperial Family.
How could he, when he’d grown up in a place where no one’s eyes could reach him, and had been sent to the Ghost Mansion under the pretense of a Ghost Marriage Ceremony?
Of course, meeting Lia had been the greatest stroke of luck in his life, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d been thoroughly abandoned by the Imperial Family.
After learning that the Imperial Heir was his age, he’d begun to investigate the Imperial Family.
And he’d come to one firm conclusion.
‘I was never born at all.’
All the empire’s citizens knew that the only Imperial Heir was the Imperial Heir. There was no word anywhere of a young imperial prince who’d grown up in the Cold Palace.
And to make matters worse, yesterday he’d witnessed the Imperial Heir’s return ceremony with his own eyes alongside Dio.
And only then did he understand why the other was his age.
‘He’s my twin.’
Over more than seven years of frequenting the village, he’d picked up the gist of various tales about twins.
So now he understood why only he had become a non-existent being, never born into the Imperial Family.
In that crucial adolescence when one’s sense of self was just beginning to take shape, when one was slowly growing into an adult—
Lucian had been denied his own existence itself.
It was confusing.
It made him angry.
He didn’t know where to direct this aimless rage.
Every day, he was engulfed in an endless tide of fury.
[Your face hasn’t looked good lately. Is something wrong?]
The moment he remembered Lia’s words from a few days ago, the anger that had risen to his throat rapidly cooled.
‘I can’t tell Lia.’
He was old enough now to understand how much she cherished and loved him.
He also understood how difficult it must be for her to silently embrace a child who’d appeared out of nowhere.
He owed her a debt he could never repay. That’s why he didn’t want to burden her any further.
But despite these feelings, the rage that gripped him made it hard to control his emotions.
So lately, he’d been avoiding her because he didn’t want to snap at her.
He had to resolve whatever he was facing, and soon.
‘But where do I even start?’
The root of this problem lay with the Imperial Family. With the resentment toward those who’d abandoned him.
But he was currently an imperial prince who officially didn’t exist. If he rushed into the Imperial Palace now and threw a tantrum about why they’d treated him as though he didn’t exist, he’d be thrown out before he ever reached the Emperor.
‘What do I even want……?’
What could he do to escape the darkness that had taken root in his heart?
Was there nothing left but to let it rot inside him, hoping it would somehow go away on its own?
‘I just want to ask. Why did you make me this way?’
Why they’d never once come to see him.
Whether they’d wanted to treat him as though he didn’t exist.
What they’d been thinking when they sent him to the Ghost Mansion.
Whether they’d been trying to kill him slowly from the start.
If you weren’t going to be responsible, then why not just kill me when I was born?
‘Ah, Lia would hate that.’
At that last thought, Lucian’s mind immediately turned to Lia.
A small crack opened in his suffocating heart.
‘What would I be now without Lia?’
A hypothesis too horrible even to imagine—that his own family had abandoned him.

* * *

“I’m back.”
When Lucian arrived just before evening, he immediately removed his hat and necklace.
The moment he did, his ordinary features turned pale white, and his eyes began to gleam with gold.
As he was tidying his outer garment, Lucian suddenly noticed that the mansion had gone quiet.
“Lia?”
She wasn’t there to greet him as she usually would. Fear gripped him suddenly, and Lucian hurried from room to room throughout the mansion.
He checked the kitchen, the living room, the library, the music room—he swept through the entire mansion, but she was nowhere to be found.
His breathing grew shallow, his hands and feet trembled. It was an anxiety unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life.
“……Lia!”
Lucian clutched his pounding heart and kept calling her name as he searched the second-floor corridor.
[Did you call for me?]
Then she tumbled out from his bedroom.
Lucian froze, staring at her as though nailed in place.
Lia simply smiled and tilted her head curiously as always.
As relief flooded in, a wild surge of emotion sparked into anger.
“Where were you! I’ve been looking everywhere!”
[I was cleaning your room. Is that really something to get angry about?]
When Lia pouted and grumbled about why he was upset, Lucian felt irritation flare up without meaning to.
“And I told you not to go into my room without permission!”
[I only cleaned, just cleaned it! Listen here—when did you become so formal? The place was practically buried in dust.]
Lia flew forward and pointed at the room. Lucian flinched and scrunched up his nose.
Lia, looking displeased, sighed deeply and crossed her arms.
[Is there really nothing wrong with you?]
“…….”
[You know, right? How you’ve been snapping at me a lot lately.]
“When did I ever—”
[See? You’re doing it right now.]
Lucian’s words lodged in his throat, and he pressed his lips together. She was right. But he didn’t want to admit it.
‘I don’t even understand why I’m like this.’
The last person he wanted to snap at was Lia. Yet somehow, he always ended up frustrated with her.
Each time his anger flared and subsided, guilt would rush in and torment him.
[People say that’s what happens during adolescence, but I don’t think that’s all it is for you.]
When he timidly looked up, he saw Lia—concerned only for his sake.
Suddenly, he wanted to tell her. Everything he’d been thinking about, his resentment and anger toward the Imperial Family, and the fact that his brother and he were actually twins.
All these complicated thoughts pressed up to his throat.
[We’re not meeting for the first or second time. We’ve lived together for seven whole years. If there’s something I can help with, tell me. I’m worried about you.]
At Lia’s words, Lucian closed his mouth again.
Yes, worried. He didn’t want to worry her anymore.
“……It’s nothing, so just leave me alone.”
Pointless words tumbled out, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her. Just managing his own emotions was already too much.
Without looking back at Lia, Lucian moved past her and went into his room.
Click—
As he locked the door and leaned against the frame, he noticed his room was even cleaner than when he’d left.
Though he wasn’t particularly messy, there was a marked difference between places Lia had touched and those she hadn’t.
As he sighed and headed for his bed, he noticed something placed on his desk.
Come back to being my little bridegroom like you used to be!
Beneath the playful message was a mark pointing to the picture above.
Lucian let out a hollow laugh.
He looked at his younger self—back when he’d known nothing—and turned away.
“I know too much now to go back to the way things were.”
A lonely murmur scattered into the empty air.

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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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