The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 61

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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 Phantom Bride — Chapter 61

Lucian felt as though he were caught in a dream. Just to be sure, he pinched his cheek—but the sting that followed told him this was no dream at all.
Lucian rose from where he sat and this time examined the woman within the jewel more carefully.

Black hair that curved past her waist, fine features arranged in perfect proportion. Everything about her build and height matched the woman he knew.
“L-Lia! It’s really Lia!”
Lucian rushed up to the jewel.
Thump, thump, thump…….
The moment his hand touched the jewel, a heartbeat’s rhythm rippled through from within, clear and unmistakable.
“……She’s still alive.”
Lia has a body. Lia is not a phantom who died three hundred years ago.
The realization drew an involuntary smile across Lucian’s face.
“Ha, haha…… Lia isn’t just a ghost after all. She can live again……!”
Joy threatened to overflow. The simple fact that he could make Lia human like himself filled him with an elation he could scarcely contain.
But that joy was short-lived, overtaken by a question.
“But…… why is Lia trapped here?”
Lia has no memory of her life before. Because of that, she believed herself to be a person who died three hundred years ago.
So here lay the problem.
How many years had the woman here existed in this state?
“……At least three hundred.”
Was such a thing possible? To maintain life for over three hundred years without a soul?
Could it be that Lia had been sealed away for some reason, leaving only her spirit to wander?
Who had sealed her? What grievance could warrant such cruelty?
“Wait…….”
Something suddenly came to Lucian’s mind. He stepped out of the chamber and examined the wall where the runes were inscribed.
“This is clearly an apology. And it’s addressed to…….”
Lia, precisely.
Just before the door had vanished, a voice of unknown origin had echoed in his mind.
That only one who loved her purely would have the right to open this door. And that he met that condition.
Could it be that his love for Lia was the key?
“What a remarkable coincidence.”
Yet he could not laugh about it.
What crime could this person have committed to apologize to Lia? And who was the one Lia had been entrusted to?
‘……I feel jealous.’
If she was a figure from three hundred years ago, she should long be dead—yet here were people who loved her so.
Jealousy gnawed at him. For the first time, he found himself grateful that Lia had no memory of her past.
“Ah, wait. Lia doesn’t know her body is here.”
Given that she thinks she’s dead and cannot access the basement, it’s certain.
“How do I return her body to her?”
He understood that body and soul had been separated, but the question of how to reunite them remained.
First, must he remove the jewel?
But what if she dies in the process? If removing the jewel proves too much for her to endure three hundred years, it would be a catastrophe.
“And there’s no guarantee her soul will enter her body immediately.”
Lia cannot even approach the basement due to some unknown force. If he recovered her body but her soul could not enter it at once, she might face grave danger.
“First, I need to understand what this is.”
Lucian approached the jewel and pressed his forehead against the glass above Lia’s face.
“Lia, I swear I’ll restore you.”
Within the jewel, Lia lay like one in peaceful sleep, her presence known only by the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.

* * *

“Kaiser! We’re not finished talking!”
“You brat! Don’t you know you’re still in the palm of our hand?”
“Want some roasted orc? Come out of hiding, quickly now.”
The Red Dragon elders set out to find Kaiser, who had fled.
Days ago, Kaiser had accidentally created the Golden White Flame—a lesser version of the White Flame—while training in it.
Red Flame, Blue Flame, and White Flame carry purifying power in that order. But only the White Flame can fully purify aberrant forces.
Yet the Golden White Flame that Kaiser created, though weaker than the White Flame, possessed pure purifying power.
With the Golden White Flame, many dragons who could not master the White Flame could now be taught.
The elders could not contain their excitement at the new technique and praised Kaiser as a true Lord Candidate.
Kaiser, at first proud, had bragged about the Golden White Flame here and there. At first, that is.
“Damn! Stubborn old fossils! I’m leaving!”
Today was the day of the regular gathering where all Dragon Clans convened by quarter.
Kaiser had been commanded to demonstrate the original Golden White Flame before all the assembled Dragon Clans.
But after days of relentless pestering, Kaiser was in no mood to listen.
In the end, Kaiser escaped the elders’ grasp and hid deep within his mother’s Lair.
‘Try bothering me again and I’ll tell Mom! Bang!’
“Phew, at least Mom’s strong enough to protect me.”
If she weren’t, he’d surely have been dragged before the elders without so much as a peep.
Kaiser grumbled as he ventured deeper into the Lair.
“……So…….”
“They’re still looking for me……?”
“Why did I…… become like this…….”
“Hm? Is someone there?”
But from deeper within, he sensed his mother’s voice—and another presence.
Unnerved by the unusual atmosphere, Kaiser crept toward where the voices came from.
Peeking around the corner, he found his mother Luche and the White Dragon Age.
‘What’s that guy doing here?’
Age was on quite close terms with Luche and currently held the position of Duke in the Northern Territory of the Odrian Empire.
To be precise, he had obtained a noble position roughly two hundred years ago while living a life of leisure, becoming the Northern Duke.
Though he now raises humans he’s taken under his wing as members of the ducal household, he still orchestrates all major decisions from behind the scenes.
In a word, the true power behind the Northern ducal family.
A dragon who rarely left the North—what brings him here? Has the grand gathering drawn him out?
‘Yet he was the type who found such things troublesome and rarely came…….’
Curiosity aroused, Kaiser leaned forward for a better look.
“……Thank you. For not forgetting about him.”
“Karserin is precious to me as well. Of course I wouldn’t forget.”
Luche bowed her head as if struggling with something, and Age patted her consolingly. Kaiser, listening to their exchange, tilted his head in confusion.
‘Karserin? Isn’t that my uncle?’
The most likely Lord Candidate—a dragon who had vanished without a trace one day.
‘So Age knew my uncle too.’
While marveling at this new information, something crystalline glinted before his eyes.
As he blinked in bewilderment, a bone-chilling cold seized his feet.
“Oh no, I’ve been caught…….”
“Kaiser, did you grow up to be a little mouse instead of an Adult Dragon? Who told you it was alright to eavesdrop?”
“I-I wasn’t eavesdropping!”
Age was suddenly mere inches from his face.
True to his nature as a White Dragon, his skin was pale as snow, and short silver hair fluttered about him.
His eyes, a piercing blue as cold as ice itself, were enough to make one’s bones ache just looking at them.
Age stared intently at Kaiser, who was slightly larger than him.
In Kaiser’s blunt features, someone else’s image seemed to overlap. As Age’s eyes grew distant with memory, Kaiser’s voice cut through the moment.
“What are you staring at? Release me already.”
“……Like father, like son—your temperament is truly foul.”
“Are you taking a subtle jab at me right now?”
Luche grumbled from behind, but Age paid her no mind. He stepped closer to Kaiser and raised his hand, flicking him sharply on the forehead.
Snap!
“Ow! Ow! That hurts!”
Kaiser thrashed about, scratching at his forehead.
“Damn! Why’d you hit me?!”
“Want another?”
Kaiser flinched and shattered the ice binding his feet, darting to hide behind Luche.
“Mom! Age is bullying me!”
“Then don’t provoke Age. You know he has a nasty temper.”
“But……!”
“Who eavesdrops like a little mouse in the first place?”
Kaiser snorted defiantly.
“By the way, what brings you here at this hour? The elders said you have much to do.”
Luche, who had been soothing her stubborn son, spoke. Kaiser hesitated and slowly backed away.
“Well, I have no idea what you’re talking about?”
He whistled carelessly and lied so obviously that both Luche and Age’s eyes grew sharp.
“Young one, you must listen well to what the elders say.”
“That’s right, Kaiser. Go back. It’s not every day the elders take such direct interest.”
“No way! I’m done! If I go back, they’ll just make me perform tricks! Why should I?”
“Speaking of which, I heard a new Lord Candidate has appeared among the Red Dragons…….”
Could it be Kaiser?
Age regarded Kaiser with suspicious eyes.
Kaiser declared he absolutely would not go, then threw himself on the ground in a tantrum.
‘Lord Candidate, my foot. I doubt he can even manage his own affairs properly.’
From Age’s perspective, having watched Kaiser since birth, it was impossible to believe he was being held up as such a promising next generation.
“But why are you here, Age? You’re a homebody.”
Age’s eyebrows twitched. He rapped Kaiser’s head once more.
“I’m four hundred years your senior. Do you understand?”
“Ugh! Just answer the question! Why did you come here?!”
“I heard there was a grand gathering and came to see the other dragons’ faces, and to pay my respects to Luche.”
“You were talking about my uncle. What was that about?”
Age and Luche fell silent.
“Kaiser, that’s something you don’t need to know yet…….”
“Luche, tell him. Kaiser has a right to know what he should.”
At Age’s words, Luche pressed her lips firmly together. Kaiser watched her face carefully.
“……Mom, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Luche managed a smile and stroked Kaiser’s cheek gently.
“No, you’re right. You’ll find out one day anyway. It’s just that Mom is still struggling with it…… Ask Age instead.”
And with that, Luche fled the space as if in escape. Her retreating figure seemed somehow smaller, and Kaiser’s shoulders sagged.
“Understand this—Luche was very close to Karserin. That’s why it’s still hard for her.”
“You mean my uncle’s death?”
“Death…… Not just Luche, but all the dragons who were close to Karserin don’t believe he’s dead. Or rather, they can’t accept his death.”
Death can only be acknowledged when a body is found and a funeral held. But Karserin’s body had yet to be discovered, much less laid to rest.
“Karserin was the only dragon followed by dragons across all Clans. Had he lived, he might have become the first Lord since the Ancient Dragon to unite all the Clans.”
He was strong, charismatic, and highly respected—so much so that there was not a dragon who disliked him.
Though so many dragons followed him, to Karserin the dragon world was suffocatingly narrow. He was always interested in other worlds and often ventured beyond.
“Then seven years before Karserin disappeared, he suddenly began mingling with humans.”
When he returned after a long absence, he explained what had befallen him.
His dragon nature had been exposed, and he’d been hunted by humans, suffering a grave wound.
For the first time, anger and resentment toward humans accumulated, and he nearly fell into the Berserk Dragon state, but was rescued by a human who appeared and helped him recover, pulling him back from madness.
“Those humans who saved him were plotting a revolution, it seems. The human realm was in turmoil at the time, so Karserin readily agreed to aid them.”
Thus he engaged in leisurely pursuits, not as leisure but as purpose, sending word of his progress now and then.
The letters spoke of the humans he lived alongside, and how their faction grew as more came to follow them.
“Then one day, Karserin sent shocking news.”

I’ve made a Soul Contract with Rion. Until his death, I will ensure he can govern his nation in peace.

“W-A Soul Contract? Is he insane?”
Kaiser was stunned.
And with good reason—a Soul Contract is a binding between souls themselves, such that neither can betray the other, neither can kill the other, and it cannot be dissolved until one of them dies.
While it might seem like mutual restraint, such a contract is fundamentally disadvantageous to the dragon.
Should a cunning human secure such a contract, that human can manipulate the dragon at will until the moment of his own death.
“Soul Contracts with humans are forbidden now, but back then there were no such restrictions.”
And Karserin likely gave it little thought.
The average human lifespan was around sixty years, and the human with whom he’d made the contract was one he trusted most.
“And though calling it compensation seems odd, it was decided internally that once he ended his leisure, he would become a Lord. As a Lord, he couldn’t live as freely as before, so he wanted to live as he pleased until then.”
In the end, Karserin completed the Soul Contract and became a steadfast ally to the humans he lived among.
And soon enough, tales of Karserin reached the dragon realm.
‘A human named Rion becomes friends with a Red Dragon and founds a nation.’
“Wait, that means…….”
“Yes. The first emperor of the Odrian Empire. He was the one who made the Soul Contract with Karserin.”

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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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