The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 70

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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 Forsaken Crown Prince’s Ghost Bride — Episode 70

“This way.”
We arrived at the room where Leopold lay. The moment Lucian stepped inside, his breath caught in his throat.
‘Leopold……’
Just hours ago, his brother had waved at him. Now he lay motionless, as though dead.
Lucian forced strength into his trembling legs and approached Leopold.
“Why is he so cold? He usually runs warm.”
Lucian immediately began massaging Leopold’s hands, arms, and legs. They’d said he’d merely lost consciousness, yet he looked more like a corpse than a sleeping man.
“Your Highness, how is treatment possible?”
“……We’ll have to try.”
Lucian drew Mana into his palm at once, assessing Leopold’s condition.
Thump—thump—thump!
A sound reverberated from deep within, as though something were striking against something else.
Focusing closer, he saw black and white wisps colliding violently, locked in opposition.
‘Mana collision? No. Something fundamentally different in essence……’
He’d barely begun his focused examination when the black wisp, which had been clashing fiercely with the white, suddenly paused and turned toward Lucian.
Shriek!
The black wisp hurled itself at Lucian with a vicious onslaught.
“Urgh! Cough!”
The sudden backlash severed Lucian’s Mana connection by force, and he staggered, blood spraying from his mouth.
“Y-Your Highness!”
Dain caught him in alarm. Lucian coughed blood several more times, his trembling eyes fixed on Leopold.
“By the gods……!”
Dain’s cry of shock echoed through the room.
Black wisps were pouring from Leopold’s entire body.
The black wisp writhed left and right, then spotted Lucian and rushed toward him.
Lucian hastily erected a Barrier, blocking the wisp’s advance. The black mist dissipated into the air.

Next is you.

No voice reached his ears, yet the black wisp’s fierce intent came through with perfect clarity.
It was hunting Lucian. Perhaps far more intensely than it desired Leopold.
“Are you all right, Your Highness?!”
“……No one can treat this.”
Lucian watched the black wisp vanish and wiped the blood from his mouth.
“What do you mean……?”
“Not with my power, at least. Or perhaps… it’s something humans cannot resolve at all.”
Dain stared at Lucian in confusion, but soon realized he was telling the truth. His expression crumbled.
“Then what are we to do……?”
“So it’s as I suspected.”
Another voice layered over Dain’s. Lucian turned to see Ruber standing there.
“Your… Your Majesty……”
“Dain, I’ll address your failure another time. Stand down for now.”
Dain’s mouth closed as he moved to shield Lucian.
“What exactly did you observe that makes you declare the Crown Prince untreatable?”
“……You wouldn’t understand the explanation anyway.”
“I’ll be the judge of understanding or not. Tell me what you’ve discovered.”
Lucian frowned and rose from his seat, looking again at Leopold, now shrouded in wisps.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince has Foreign Energy embedded in his body. It’s already half-merged with his own essence, engaged in a struggle for dominance.”
In the brief moment Lucian had glimpsed it, the two energies had become so thoroughly entangled that extracting one from the other would be impossible.
‘And I doubt extraction is even feasible to begin with.’
“If someone were to forcibly intervene, Your Highness would suffer far greater harm. As I see it, only an expert in the same field—or a being beyond the human realm—could resolve this.”
“……Is there truly no way?”
“For now, the only path is for Your Highness to overcome it himself.”
“Then you’re saying we cannot know when—or if—he’ll awaken.”
No one could guarantee that Leopold would ever wake.
“Haa……”
A heavy sigh escaped. Ruber pressed his fingers to his forehead, staring at Leopold with unfocused eyes.
His gaze betrayed his helplessness—the powerlessness of a father unable to do anything for his fallen son. Yet within that gaze lay a father’s love.
Lucian turned away.
‘I shouldn’t have seen that.’
Parental love—a feeling he’d never once received. Even witnessed indirectly, it felt profoundly uncomfortable and foreign.
An awkward silence persisted. Lucian opened his mouth.
“I believe I’ve done all I can. I’ll take my leave now.”
He tugged at Dain’s sleeve, signaling him with a look to escort him out.
“Wait.”
Before Lucian could pass Ruber, the Emperor called him to a halt.
“Now that Leopold lies incapacitated indefinitely, we need someone to take his place.”
Lucian’s eyes asked what that meant.
“You performed admirably today. Without proper training, yet capable of such ability. You’ll be useful going forward.”
“……Are you saying you intend to exploit me further?”
Lucian let out a hollow laugh and walked past Ruber.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Before he could exit the room, guards stationed on either side of the door drew their blades, blocking the way.
“It’s not an unreasonable proposal, is it?”
“You call this reasonable—now?”
Lucian finally turned back to face him, irritation flashing across his features.
“I’m dragged here by force and made to impersonate my twin brother. You don’t think that’s unreasonable?”
He’d only spent time on this because of Leopold. There was no intention whatsoever to continue this miserable charade.
“From this Coming of Age Ceremony onward, the Crown Prince will begin his official duties. You need only do so until he awakens. If you perform well, I’ll grant you substantial reward.”
There’s truth to the saying that rage steals one’s words. This was exactly such a moment.
“Didn’t you just say we don’t know when the Crown Prince will wake?”
“Precisely why I’m proposing this. Since we cannot predict when he’ll wake, we must present someone in his stead. Most importantly, if word spreads that the Crown Prince is absent at such a critical time, it will create discord in the Succession to the Throne.”
That was the reason Lucian had helped today in the first place.
Unwittingly struck at his weak point, Lucian clenched his fists.
“……I still cannot do this. Find someone else who resembles him and use them as a stand-in instead.”
But no matter how much it might be for Leopold’s sake, he couldn’t help by erasing his own existence.
‘One time was enough for that treatment.’
Being sent to the Haunted Mansion at age eight had already severed his ties to the Imperial Family.
“If truly necessary, I’ll help a few more times. But I cannot continue this indefinite performance.”
Lucian drove his point home. As he moved again to push past the guards’ blades—
“Seize him.”
Ruber forcibly restrained Lucian. With both arms held by the guards, Lucian gnashed his teeth.
“Let me go!”
Ruber approached the struggling Lucian, regarding him coldly from above.
“You have no choice. Sacrifice yourself for your family, at least for now.”
“Ha! Family? You abandoned me the moment I was born! You never once came looking all these years, and now you call it family? Don’t make me laugh!”
“Listen well. Lock Lucian in Leopold’s chamber. He cannot take a single step outside until he accepts my proposal.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The guards obeyed the Emperor’s command and dragged Lucian away. Realizing the man was serious, Lucian gnashed his teeth, understanding he couldn’t simply accept this.
‘I have to escape, even if I use Magic……!’
Smack!
Before he could draw forth his Mana, a blow struck the back of his neck.
His vision blurred and the world spun. At the same moment, he caught sight of Ruber’s conflicted expression.
‘Damn it……’
Lucian’s eyes slowly closed.
Darkness swallowed him.

* * *

[It’s ready……]
The table was laden with delicacies made from every ingredient. She’d taken extra care to arrange a proper spread in hopes of reconciling with Lucian.
[Oh, that’s crooked.]
Noticing the cake decoration was slightly askew, she quickly fixed it. Now everything was perfect.
[When will Lucian arrive? It’s long past seven……]
He’s later than usual returning home today.
Is he so absorbed playing with Dio that he’s lost track of time, or is he still angry and deliberately avoiding the house?
The former would be a relief; the latter worried her.
[Let me speak to him seriously this time.]
It’s true—all this time, she and Kaiser had tried to resolve things alone without telling Lucian the truth.
Lucian isn’t a child to be merely cared for anymore.
She could understand why he’d been so angry. Unintentionally, she’d excluded him under the guise of protecting him.
[But what should I tell him first? Should I start with what happened in the basement?]
That priests were making sacrifices in the basement, and that he was meant to be one of them?
Or should she begin with the fact that everyone who ever lived in the Mansion was doomed to die?
[Ugh…… this is difficult.]
No matter how softly she framed it, she could only speak of things that would hurt him. She still dreaded the conversation.
Yet if reconciliation was to come, she couldn’t avoid it.
And so Lia waited for Lucian with a resolute heart.
Ten minutes passed. Twenty. An hour. Two hours. She watched the clock strike nine and began tapping her foot anxiously.
[Why hasn’t he come?]
Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!
Suddenly, outside erupted in noise. Colored lights streamed through the windows.
The Imperial Family must have set off fireworks to celebrate Leopold’s birthday. Seeing them, her mind cleared.
[He’s probably been playing with Dio and lost track of time. Now that he’s come of age, he can drink too.]
By now the festival must be reaching its height. That’s why he couldn’t leave his place. ……She rationalized it to herself and decided to wait a bit longer.
Another three hours passed.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong……!
The world outside had fallen silent—not merely quiet, but desolate. Within the Mansion, the clock began to toll midnight.
Lia stood at the front entrance, gazing toward the gates in the distance.
[……Why isn’t he coming?]
The reassurance she’d tried to comfort herself with long since evaporated.
Anxiety and dread crept in, and her thoughts cycled between hope and despair.
[Could it be…… he can’t even bear to look at me anymore?]
[No, it’s possible he’s staying at Dio’s house.]
[If he were staying, he’d have let me know.]
[He said he’d definitely come back today……!]
Even as she spoke urgently, a memory surfaced—how Lucian had left this morning.
‘I’m just going to see Dio. I don’t know when I’ll be back.’
Lucian…… hadn’t said he would return.
[What…… what do I do? If Lucian really has left me……]
Recent moments with Lucian came flooding back, drowning her in regret.
I shouldn’t have let pride stand in the way of something trivial.
I should have listened to what Lucian was trying to tell me.
I should have treated him as an equal, not as a child to raise.
I should have stopped avoiding him and had serious conversations instead.
[……I should have accepted Lucian.]
When he confessed his feelings to her, she’d been afraid—that much was true.
A human falling in love with a ghost.
They could spend time together and converse, but not the other things everyone else took for granted.
The thought that this ephemeral soul, who could vanish at any moment, wanted to promise him a lifetime together—it made no sense.
Yet if one were to ask what her true feelings for Lucian were, setting aside practical concerns……
Well, she wasn’t sure what she’d answer.
Did she love him romantically, or was it something else?
True, there were rare moments when he felt like a stranger to her, a man in a different way. But having raised him since childhood, harboring such feelings toward him filled her with guilt and self-loathing.
That’s why she’d deliberately erased the very word “opposite sex”
(異性)
from her mind so as not to think of such things when looking at Lucian.
She’d known since he was young that he was utterly devoted to her, yet she’d dismissed it as a passing emotion.
He’d come of age, she’d thought. When he finally went on the journey he’d always dreamed of, he’d meet other people. Surely there would be women whose hearts aligned with his.
Once he fell in love with someone else, his feelings for her would fade quickly, she’d believed.
So she’d pushed him away, cruelly if necessary, guided by that belief……
[But if that’s the case…… does any of it mean anything?]
Lia, did you truly think that by maintaining things as they were, you could spend a lifetime with Lucian?
Did you think that even if he left, found new love, and built a new life, he’d return to you someday?
[Ha…… how arrogant. If Lucian leaves, there’s no way I could hold him.]
Even imagining parting from Lucian, she’d always envisioned him returning to her in the end. She’d never conceived of him leaving so completely, so absolutely.
[Wait…… Lucian wouldn’t leave me like this.]
Once she’d purged the negative spiral, some measure of reason returned.
He’d left wearing only what one would wear for a simple trip to the village—modest clothes, spending money, and his sword.
It was not the garb of someone who’d planned to run away.
[Besides, he left in a huff……]
It was possible he’d simply spent the entire day with Dio.
Lia took up her post at the front entrance and kept watch on the gates alone.
[I’ll wait until tomorrow.]
And so the longest night of Lia’s life began.
Not once did she blink or move, lest she miss even a single strand of Lucian’s hair.
The dark, endless night finally gave way to dawn, and golden sunlight seeped through every corner of the cold Mansion.
Morning passed into afternoon, yet Lucian did not return.
Still, she waited.
One day, two, three, four…… an entire week passed.
Lucian never came home.

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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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