The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 5

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Forsaken Prince’s Ghost Bride, Episode 5

I watched blankly as the small boy scampered up the stairs.
[……How long has he even been here?]
I’d let my guard down. Even if I was invisible, I should have been more careful.
Where did he start seeing me? Was my form visible because his spiritual power was weak? Did I frighten him? Either way, he still needs to eat, and a dozen other thoughts crashed through my head like a flood.
For some reason, strength drained from my entire body. My chest felt hollow, and I kept seeing that frightened boy’s face in my mind.
I knew from the beginning that he was afraid of me, but feeling it again now made me feel somehow——
[……Strange.]
All motivation abandoned me. I stood dazed until I noticed the Steak I’d left half-finished.
Since I’d been in the middle of cooking, I finished it and plated it.
It looked appetizing at a glance.
To leave no trace of myself, I cleaned up everything except the plate of food.
[He’ll come down if he gets hungry.]
By now he’d be thoroughly shaken, so he wouldn’t emerge right away.
I waited for Lucian to calm himself and come down.
So ten minutes passed, then twenty, then an hour, then two…… and dawn broke.
After nearly half a day abandoned on the table, the Steak had hardened into something utterly desiccated, all its juices gone, and the vegetables that had been so fresh now lay wilted and waterlogged.
After staring at the spoiled food for a long time, I threw it away.
[All right, he can probably make it through the evening.]
He must have been more startled than I thought. By now he’d have slept and woken, so his fear should be less than it was yesterday.
I immediately prepared a new breakfast.
But even past nine o’clock, Lucian didn’t come down.
So I discarded the breakfast and made lunch, then discarded that and made dinner.
I waited all day for Lucian to come down, but in the end, he never did.
I even caught a fox at the border between the forest and the garden for fear he’d go hungry, but my sincerity never reached him.
[……No, has it ever reached him?]
Not once. He simply mistook me for a human, and I misunderstood that the one he saw in his delusion actually saw all of me.
Over the nearly month I’d watched him, I thought I’d come to know him, to grow closer to him, but it was all one-sided attachment.
To Lucian, I was merely the Ghost Bride, a frightening specter he’d accidentally married. Nothing more, nothing less.
In fact, I was despised far more than the humans who’d sent him here.
Rumble—flash!
The dark night sky flashed, then two seconds later thunder roared. And immediately, a torrential downpour began.
I abandoned the cold dinner and left the kitchen, stepping outside.
If I’d been human, I would have been drenched long ago, but the rain passed straight through my body without touching me at all.
[Ha, ha…….]
My hollow chest felt as though it wanted to pour something out, but I had no idea how.
If I had been human, would I have cried?
But I am a ghost.
I can do nothing that an ordinary person does—smell, feel, taste food, or weep.
For a long time, I stood motionless in the heavy rain, trying to soothe my hollow heart.
Like that, all through the rainy dawn.

* * *

Growl~
“I’m hungry…….”
Lucian, who hadn’t left his room since catching sight of the Ghost Bride, clutched his rumbling stomach as he paced before the door.
He wanted to go to the kitchen, but he was afraid the Ghost Bride he’d seen might still be there.
“No, wait. Maybe it wasn’t the Ghost Bride at all. Maybe it was a person.”
He hadn’t actually seen the Ghost Bride—only objects floating in midair. If it truly were the work of a spirit, wouldn’t it have come for him by now instead of leaving him alone?
“Could it be a benefactor?”
Judging by how someone had been making him food, cleaning his room, and doing his laundry, there was no doubt they meant him well.
What if his benefactor had used magic or something to hide their appearance?
“……Let me try to find out.”
Lucian gathered small courage and cautiously made his way to the kitchen.
Just as he’d expected, breakfast sat on the table—but it had gone cold from sitting for hours.
Lucian poked the French Toast on the plate once, then popped a piece in his mouth. Even though it was cold, it tasted good.
“It really was a benefactor.”
Right, a Ghost Bride made no sense. How would a spirit even grip objects, let alone cook?
He felt sorry for panicking and running away. After polishing off his late breakfast, Lucian went to the sink to wash up.
That was when he noticed the lid of the food waste bin beside the sink was slightly open.
Lucian moved to close it against the rising stench, but froze at the sight of what filled it.
Opening it carefully, he found perfectly good food waste scattered inside—things that had once been meals, now discarded.
Lucian was momentarily speechless.
“……I owe them an apology.”
While he’d been cowering in fear, his benefactor had kept preparing three meals a day.
Lucian closed the lid again and finished washing the dishes, then wandered aimlessly through the spotless kitchen.
Neigh——
An unfamiliar sound caught his ear. It was the whinny of a horse.
Lucian looked up and glanced around. Through the window, he saw someone approaching the mansion.
It was the first person he’d seen since arriving here a month ago.
In that instant, Lucian forgot all about his benefactor and the Ghost Bride, bolting outside.

* * *

“Sigh…… Why do I have to do this…….”
James, eighteen years old.
He pulled a cart with a single Pony, muttering his complaint.
James had entered the Imperial Palace about a month ago as the lowest of the low, and had ended up being sent on errands to the Ghost Mansion.
The cart held items meant for the Ghost Mansion—some money, food supplies, and clothing.
Why would any of this be needed in a place where there’s obviously no one?
The Ghost Mansion was whispered about in gossip among the Imperial Palace staff as a place of urban legends.
Sitting squarely in the middle of a forest not far beyond the Palace walls, the mansion’s construction date and purpose were unknown to anyone.
According to rumor, it had existed before the empire was founded—meaning it had to be at least three hundred years old.
Stories of ghosts living there were rife, so sometimes bold young people went there for courage-testing.
Countless were those who entered confidently, only to collapse or foam at the mouth.
“……Should I just go back?”
As he arrived at the gate, a sudden urge to turn back seized him.
Since no one had come with him and he was far from the Palace, no one would know if he just left now.
Besides, the Coin Purse looked pretty heavy.
James slipped the Coin Purse into his chest pocket.
“Over here……!”
“Oh, oh I didn’t touch anything! Really!”
At the sound of a voice coming from nowhere, James’s heart leapt into his throat and he hastily made excuses. When he looked back, there was no one.
“What, what is this? No one here? Then where did that voice come from……?”
“Over here, mister!”
“Aaaaah!”
This time the voice came from directly in front of him.
James and Lucian stared at each other with terrified eyes. After a long moment, they both let out sighs of relief.
“You scared me! Who are you?!”
“I’m, I’m sorry…….”
“Make some noise or something! Where on earth did you appear from……! Wait…… .”
Even as he was complaining, James suddenly recognized something familiar in the face before him.
It was that noble face he’d glimpsed, if only briefly, just two days ago while bowing respectfully.
James’s face went pale in an instant, and he hastily lowered his head.
“My, my apologies for my rudeness, Your Highness! I spoke carelessly!”
“……What?”
“I, I had no idea I would see you in this place…… please, spare my life!”
As James suddenly dropped to the ground in distress, Lucian could only look bewildered.
“Listen…… please lift your head.”
“How could I ever look upon the Crown Prince’s face?”
“But I’m not the Crown Prince?”
“……What?”
James startled and jerked his head up. But no matter how he looked, this had to be the Crown Prince. As he lowered his head again, he felt something was off and looked more carefully at Lucian’s face.
“……Then who are you?”
“I’m Lucian.”
“Lucian? Who’s that?”
“……I’m not sure?”
The conversation made no sense, and both of them could only exchange confused looks. At any rate, relieved to learn he was not the Crown Prince, James let out a deep breath.
But the boy’s striking resemblance to the Crown Prince and his golden eyes—the symbol of the Royal Family—nagged at him. If he wasn’t the Crown Prince, then he had to be of Royal Blood.
He had no idea why a Royal child would be in such a desolate place.
Suddenly, words the Chief Steward had spoken just before he came here came back to him.

‘Whatever you see there, you saw nothing.’
‘What? What do you mean?’
‘Exactly as I said. No matter what you see there, don’t go blabbing about it to anyone. This is all for your own sake.’

At the time he’d thought it was just meant to scare him, but now it seemed clear the Chief Steward was telling him to keep quiet about seeing this boy.
“Oh! There’s food!”
James came to his senses at Lucian’s exclamation.
“Yes, I was ordered to leave it here.”
“Oh? Then you’re from the Imperial Palace?”
“Yes, for now.”
Lucian’s expression suddenly brightened.
“Then, mister! Do you know who works here?”
“Who lives here?”
“……What?”
“Is Lucian…… is that who lives here?”
At the astonished look on James’s face, Lucian nodded uncertainly.
“So, um, do you think you might know who works here?”
“I’m sorry, but I know nothing about that.”
“Oh…….”
“I’ve never heard of anyone living here. Since this place is an abandoned mansion, no one maintains it. No one ever comes here.”
Lucian’s face went pale. The small boy was trembling so pitifully that James found his own heart troubled.
“I only came to deliver this, so I’ll just leave it here.”
He’d originally intended to leave the supplies by the gate alone, but now that he’d encountered Lucian, he had no choice but to move them inside.
James led the Pony to the mansion entrance. Behind him, Lucian followed slowly, his expression blank.
Watching Lucian’s reaction, James set the supplies down one by one at the entrance.
“Here, that’s the last of it.”
As he set down the final clothing box, he felt a weight in his chest—the money he’d secretly pocketed.
For a moment, he wavered over whether to put it back.
[I should leave it all.]
Then a strange voice echoed not in his ears, but inside his mind.
Fear made him glance up, and he saw something floating nearby—legs without a body, drifting in midair.

‘There’s a terrible young female ghost living here. Rumor has it she drains the vitality of every man she encounters.’

Why did a colleague’s words from long ago suddenly come to mind?
James trembled so violently he couldn’t even breathe, and he set the Coin Purse down on top of the clothing box.
The mysterious legs that had been visible just moments before vanished.
“Wa, all of this is mine?”
James, standing dazed, suddenly drew a sharp breath and clutched his frantically pounding chest.
‘I need to get out of here.’
“I, I’ll be going now! I’ll come back in a month!”
“Oh……! Wait just a moment!”
Before James could even reach for him, he was already far away, leading the Pony at a desperate run.
Left alone, Lucian watched James’s retreating figure disappear into the distance, then looked down at the boxes.
“……There’s no one else here.”
The benefactor had to be somewhere, yet according to him, there wasn’t a single other person in this place besides himself.
He wanted to deny his words, but couldn’t bring himself to do so.
Because.
‘I’ve never seen another person.’
Only someone who appeared like a ghost and vanished like one.
Lucian stood dazed for a moment, then rose and climbed wearily to the upper floor.
The boxes remained where they’d been left at the entrance.
About three minutes passed after Lucian disappeared.
The Ghost Bride appeared.
She gazed toward the staircase where Lucian had vanished, then began sorting the supplies one by one.
Soon her form faded away, and the entrance was left spotless, as though nothing had been there at all.
Creak—
The wide-open door swung shut, and silence blanketed the mansion.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————