The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 81

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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 Ghost Bride of the Forsaken Crown Prince — Episode 81

“Ugh… all my hair came out…….”
While Lia stared blankly at the hand mirror, Kaiser’s eyes glistened with tears as he scraped together a handful of pulled-out hair.
“Is this really me…… You, you all! Did you swap me with someone else’s face?!”
Lia kneaded her own face roughly and tried to pull it with all her strength, but it only hurt.
“Damn it. If I’d used magic, you’d have noticed already! This is your body — how many times do I have to tell you! More importantly, you! What are you going to do about my hair! If I go bald because of this, are you taking responsibility?!”
Kaiser whined as he showed off this noble red hair that had fallen out.
Lia was still in a daze, so she let Kaiser’s words go in one ear and out the other.
Kaiser sighed, understanding why she couldn’t grasp it.
“Turns out your body was in the basement.”
“……What?”
“You know that basement has a door with a magical seal written on it. Lucian somehow managed to open that door, and your body was inside.”
Kaiser explained how Lia had managed to recover her body.
“……Does that even make sense? You’re saying my body stayed intact for over three hundred years?”
“I still don’t understand how it didn’t decay for so long, but what was protecting your body was the sealing stone — a Dragon Heart.”
Lia was dumbfounded at the scale that defied imagination.
“……Why was I sealed like that in the first place?”
“Who knows. Not me, anyway.”
Kaiser shrugged, but Lia couldn’t dismiss this lightly.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re waking up four days later.”
“What? It’s been that long?”
“A couple of months, not a few days. They did a diagnosis while you were sleeping and said there were no problems. Still, let’s get a more thorough checkup just in case.”
“Right…… Oh, and now that I think about it, my throat really hurts.”
“Why? Where does it hurt?”
“My mouth just feels so dry and sore, like a drought has set in.”
“…….”
“H-Have I caught some fatal disease?”
As Lia’s face crumpled and she fidgeted anxiously, Kaiser’s eyes narrowed.
“A joke…… doesn’t seem like. Well, everything might feel strange to you right now. Wait a moment — I’ll get you some water.”
“Huh?”
Kaiser prepared a glass of cold water and handed it to her.
“Drink it down. You’ll feel better then.”
“Will this really make the pain go away?”
“No more questions — just drink.”
Her skeptical gaze prompted an exasperated look in return. Lia finally drank the water, half-doubting, half-worried.
As the cool, refreshing liquid slid down her throat, the pain gradually faded and a sense of ease washed over her.
“Ahhh! One more glass!”
“Sure, sure.”
And so Lia drank three more glasses of water before catching her breath.
“Did you cast some kind of magic? How did the pain vanish like that?”
“Magic nothing — what you experienced was thirst.”
“Huh? Just that?”
“Yes. You haven’t consumed anything for three hundred years, so of course your throat is dry. You must be hungry too.”
Growl—
“Is the rumbling in my belly a sign of hunger? It feels like something’s about to come up my throat.”
“When you’ve gone without food that long, that’s normal — don’t be scared. Goodness, it’s like teaching a Hatchling everything from scratch.”
“I-I couldn’t have known!”
As Lia huffed indignantly, Kaiser laughed and gently stroked her head.
Kaiser’s expression grew a bit more mature, and he smiled with genuine warmth.
“……I never thought a day like this would come.”
“…….”
“Being alive is better after all, isn’t it?”
“Well…… it doesn’t feel quite real yet.”
Finding Kaiser’s affection a little embarrassing, Lia scratched her cheek.
“Wait here. I’ll bring food and call the others.”
After Kaiser left, Lia was alone in the room and looked around.
“So this is the Imperial Palace.”
That scoundrel Lucian should have told her if there was something like that in the basement earlier — instead of scaring her like a ghost…… no, like a person.
“……Still, it’s nice that I seem to be living in a good place.”
If Lucian is willing to give her a room like this, it means he must be living somewhere even better.
She’d been worried he might mistreat her as his Twin sister, but she felt a bit reassured now.
Sitting quietly and just looking around sparked her curiosity. Lia carefully slipped down from the bed.
“Uh…… this feels strange.”
She had never set foot on anything before and had always flown, so the sensation against the soles of her feet and the weight felt quite unfamiliar.
“At least I can stand…… Ow!”
The moment she took a step forward, her legs buckled like a snapping branch and she tumbled down.
Fortunately, there was a thick carpet beneath the bed that kept her from getting hurt.
“Ugh…… so embarrassing…….”
She wasn’t a newborn learning to crawl — what was this?
At least no one was watching…….
Bang—!
“……Lia?! What happened!”
The door suddenly burst open and Lucian appeared.
Lia saw him and immediately hung her head.
Well, of course. Nothing in my life ever goes smoothly.

* * *

“Your Majesty, here is the additional report. Please review it — it must be examined by today.”
“……Harry, you’re angry with me, aren’t you?”
“What could I possibly be angry about toward Your Majesty?”
“Because I’ve been away from the Imperial Palace for so long…….”
“You’re at least aware of it, I see.”
At Harry’s piercing gaze, Lucian fell silent. The truth was that two months before releasing Lia’s seal, Lucian had gone to the Northern Region to prepare for breaking Lia’s seal alongside Aige.
And this was merely three months after ascending to the throne as emperor.
“I’ve said repeatedly that an emperor must not leave his post for at least a year, and yet you went to the Northern Region anyway.”
“Well, that was…….”
“I understand, of course. It must have been unavoidable for the sake of your first love. While Your Majesty was chasing after your first love, I dealt with stubborn old nobles, reviewed incoming memorials, and worked through the nights as your regent to ensure there would be no gaps in governance.”
“Ugh. I’m sorry. Even if I had ten mouths, I’d have nothing to say.”
“No, no. I’ve never once blamed Your Majesty, have I?”
“Harry, just curse me out instead.”
Dio, a bodyguard knight who had been forcibly drafted due to insufficient manpower, stopped Harry with a vacant stare. Only then did Harry snort and cease needling Lucian.
“Isn’t this only possible because Your Majesty trusts his minister? Please, ease your mind.”
Even James, who had been organizing documents in a corner, chimed in, and only then did Harry uncross his arms.
“I dislike working for passion without pay.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll grant you a reward in consideration of your efforts. Would a bonus suffice?”
“Give me a two-month vacation instead.”
“Two months is too much.”
“Then fifty days.”
“That’s basically the same thing, isn’t it?”
When Dio made an exasperated expression, Harry relented and called out forty days. Still, it was a lengthy vacation.
After a lengthy back-and-forth, the two finally agreed on twenty-five days.
Seeing Harry’s satisfied face, Dio realized he had intentionally named inflated vacation days from the start.
It was only briefly that Dio censured Harry before turning to Lucian with a question.
“How is Lia doing?”
“She hasn’t woken up yet. But they said she’s just sleeping, so she’ll wake up soon.”
Everyone here knows who Lucian is in love with and who the woman he brought is.
“Honestly…… when Your Majesty said you’d bring that Ghost Bride here, I thought you’d gone mad.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. If someone said they had a devoted bride whom they loved dearly, but that bride was a ghost, wouldn’t everyone think they’d lost their mind?”
“Well…… I understand Harry’s doubts. Since I knew how you felt about Lia, I thought it wasn’t unreasonable for you to like her, but when you suddenly said you’d bring Lia here, I thought you were trying to escape because things had gotten too difficult.”
When even Dio said the same thing, Lucian swallowed dryly.
“But she turned out to be more beautiful than I expected.”
At James’s words, Harry and Dio nodded in agreement.
“Honestly…… she’s definitely more beautiful than most noble ladies.”
“Lucian, those paintings you showed us don’t do her justice at all. Now that I’ve seen Lia’s face, I finally understand why you pine for her so much.”
“I’m grateful for the compliments about Lia, but…… if anyone dares harbor ill intentions toward her, I will never forgive them.”
At the sudden drop in temperature, Dio and Harry trembled.
“Ugh, even if you offered it, we wouldn’t take it.”
“What fool would make an enemy of the greatest emperor in the realm?”
Only then did Lucian smile again, and Harry muttered that he should suspect Lucian of having a split personality.
“Bringing the lady is fine, but…… what is your plan going forward, Your Majesty?”
James wore a worried expression.
“We know Your Majesty is Lucian, so we understand, but others perceive you as Leopold, don’t they? Lately, you’ve also rejected the marriage proposal from the House of Sevans. This will inevitably lead to rumors that Leopold has taken a new woman.”
This was a problem that had needed consideration from the moment Lucian brought Lia here.
He had moved quietly with minimal personnel and brought Lia directly to the Imperial Palace without drawing attention, but he couldn’t block everyone’s eyes and ears forever.
“Are you…… truly planning to become emperor like this?”
At the sensitive question, everyone tensed and looked at Lucian. Harry even swallowed visibly.
Lucian remained expressionless for a moment, then shook his head.
“I have no intention of becoming emperor. This position belongs to Leopold.”
“Hah…… Yes, of course?”
Harry and James visibly relaxed.
“I never expected Leopold to remain unconscious for this long.”
He was still locked in battle with an unidentified spirit.
Aige had said a resolution would come soon, but that was something he’d said a year ago.
Which meant Leopold’s awakening remained uncertain even now.
“The marriage should be Leopold’s, not mine. If we marry, there will be wedding night ceremonies and all manner of private affairs — I can’t claim Leopold’s woman for myself. I have no desire to, anyway.”
“That’s true…….”
“And to be honest, I don’t care for that woman.”
Liriis, Duke of Sevans’s daughter. The Crown Prince’s — no, the Emperor’s fiancée and Leopold’s beloved.
Lucian despised her more than anything.
“Last time too, she clung to me so irritatingly. Eventually, she even dragged in her own father, pushing forward with all her might for a forced marriage.”
“……If it’s the Duke, he would know your true identity.”
“That’s precisely why I find it revolting. He knows who I am and Leopold’s condition, and yet he still pushes for the marriage.”
Though the previous emperor, Ruber, is said to have deep ties with him, that’s their affair, not mine to judge.
Besides, when Lucian first took the role as Crown Prince’s proxy, the Duke spoke of knowing his place and not causing trouble for Leopold.
Yet now he’s flipped like a pancake, and that galls him even more.
Perhaps the Duke is switching sides because Leopold shows no sign of waking up.
He doesn’t care if the Duke disrespects him. But betraying Leopold is something he will never forgive.
“Honestly, I’d like to break off the engagement.”
“Your Majesty!”
At Harry’s alarm, Lucian waved his hand.
“Of course, I don’t actually intend to. It’s merely a wish.”
“The Duke of Sevans is one of the Empire’s great pillars! You must never make an enemy of him!”
“I know. That’s why I’m suppressing my irritation and only delaying the marriage instead of breaking it off.”
Harry felt a throb in his head at the news that this alone constituted Lucian’s major compromise.
“I can’t fathom what Leopold sees in her. There’s nothing about her that appeals to me.”
“……You’re not saying this in front of other people, are you?”
“What do you think?”
Looking at Lucian with his lips twisted into a wry smile, Harry found himself speechless.
Lucian later joked that he was only kidding, that it couldn’t possibly be true, but Harry couldn’t find comfort in it.
Because if it was Lucian who despised Liriis to the point of contempt, he could imagine exactly how he would treat her.

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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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