The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 89

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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 Ghost Bride — Episode 89

“Let me check on Leopold’s condition.”
Lucian stepped back, and Lia began a thorough examination of Leopold’s state.
He had lost considerable strength from his prolonged unconsciousness, but there were no serious complications.
Yet when she felt his body, she sensed something foreign yet strangely familiar, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.
“……What is this?”
“Oh, you feel it too? According to Age, it’s a spirit.”
“A spirit?”
“Yes. Leopold collapsed because there are two spirits in his body. After investigating, it seems something happened during his coming-of-age ceremony.”
Before his ascension to the throne, Lucian used Habier to uncover every detail of what had occurred at the Temple.
The investigation suggested that the Temple had injected a new spirit into Leopold’s body.
“What madman would do such a thing?”
“We’re looking into the cause now. The moment I ascended to the throne, I began tearing through the Temple, so we should uncover something soon.”
Ruber had been unable to proceed forcefully due to his ties with the Temple, but Lucian was not bound by such restraint.
After all, they were the ones who had reduced Leopold to this state. There was no reason to show them mercy.
“A spirit…….”
“It’s rather peculiar, isn’t it? It’s difficult to perceive unless you concentrate intently. Lately it’s become harder to grasp.”
Much time had passed, and the two spirits had begun to merge, making it difficult to discern Leopold’s true condition. Even Age admitted he couldn’t quite understand it, shaking his head in uncertainty.
“I can see it clearly.”
“So I was right after all—wait, what?”
“I said I can see it. Quite vividly.”
Unlike Lucian’s words, Lia perceived everything with crystalline clarity—from the trailing ends of the tangled spirits to their overall form.
“It must be because I spent so long living as a ghost.”
Lucian froze for a moment. But if her words were true, then perhaps they could find a way to fully awaken Leopold’s spirit.
“L-Lia! Then what’s Leopold’s condition now? You said there are two spirits—is Leopold’s spirit all right?”
“Wait a moment.”
Lia closed her eyes and began a deeper examination.
Her physical senses faded, and before her unfolded a vast galaxy of spirits.
It was a beautiful sight, but she could not be seduced by it. Lia resisted the allure and reached toward the center of the spirit.
A black spirit—its nature imperceptible—writhed in a rounded sphere.
Yet between the shadows, a faint white light glimmered.
Lia understood instinctively. That white light was Leopold’s spirit.
‘Leopold is precious to Lucian. Let him go.’
Lia reached out her hand, extending it toward the tangled spirit.
Darkness engulfed her. But its consumption was brief—the darkness hesitated, then began to retreat.
Lia had fully unleashed her power.
‘Even if I look like this, I’m an Earth-bound Spirit who drives out malevolent entities.’
To disregard a ghost who had lived for over three hundred years was to court disaster.
With a snort of amusement, Lia pressed forward unrelenting.
Wherever her hand touched, the tightly bound spirit scattered, and the white spirit—nearly consumed—was forcibly torn free from the darkness.
The spirit was taken aback by her audacity.
Roooaaah!
Deciding this state of affairs wouldn’t do, the black spirit launched a counterattack.
Lia retreated momentarily, closed her eyes, and opened them. What she saw then was extraordinary.
‘……Leopold?’
The black spirit bore the shape of a human. But that form resembled Leopold very closely.
Wasn’t the white spirit Leopold?
Turning her confused gaze to the side, she beheld a white spirit—weaker than the black one but wearing an identical human form.
‘What is this……?’
There were two Leopolds.
Both the black and white forms bore Leopold’s appearance.
Contrasting in color as they were, the white Leopold seemed pure and chaste, his face etched with fear, while the black Leopold knitted his brow as he regarded her.
‘……Could it be that both of them are Leopold?’
When Lia murmured Leopold’s name, the white one startled and opened his mouth.
But his lips merely moved soundlessly—no voice reached her ears.
The black one blocked the white one and opened his mouth.
‘……How are you here?’
‘I came at the request of someone precious to me, to check on things. But I never expected a development like this…….’
Could it be that there aren’t two spirits, but rather Leopold has had two personalities all along?
As Lia’s confusion deepened, the black spirit’s eyebrows twitched.
‘……Someone precious?’
‘Who else but Lucian? Leopold, he’s waiting for nothing but your awakening.’
The white one broke into a broad smile and opened his mouth to speak, but again his voice could not be heard.
Then the black one murmured.
‘……Lucian. That fool who spouts useless drivel every day.’
‘What did you just say?’
The voice was too faint for her to catch. When she asked again, the black spirit merely chuckled.
‘……Tell that fool. He’ll wake soon.’
Something felt off, but that spirit was still Leopold, wasn’t it?
‘Don’t make him wait too long.’
With those words, Lia opened the eyes she had closed.
She emerged from Leopold’s inner landscape back into reality.
“Lia, how’s my brother?”
Lucian waited with anxious eyes. Seeing him, Lia smiled.
“He’ll be fine. He should be able to wake up soon.”
“Really?”
“From what I could tell, everything looked good. Oh, and both of the spirits were Leopold.”
Lucian, who had been beaming with joy, tilted his head in confusion at her next words.
“……What do you mean?”
“Like you said, I saw two spirits tangled together, but looking closer, they both appeared to be Leopold. So the Temple was trying to inject another spirit into Leopold’s body, right?”
“That…….”
Lucian fell into confusion at Lia’s words. He was reexamining whether there was something he had overlooked.
But Lia herself could not assert with certainty that what she had seen was the truth.
‘Something feels off.’
Spirits can only take the form of their original vessel.
So both spirits bearing Leopold’s form should indeed be Leopold.
‘But I feel like I’m missing something important.’
What was it? This ominous feeling.
It was too significant to dismiss lightly—a thorn lodged in her throat, a nagging unease.
“Lucian, could you share with me what you’ve learned?”
Seeing Lia’s serious expression, Lucian nodded.
The two then left the room to assess the situation.
Not long after they departed, the fingertips of unconscious Leopold twitched.
Within his inner landscape where Lia had been, a change was taking place.
The white spirit—the one Lia had first instinctively named Leopold—trembled as it cowered before the figure before it.
‘Haha, hahaha! Hahahaha! Someone precious, you say……Aria, you mustn’t choose another over me.’
The black spirit, which Lia had found ominous, let out a mad laugh, its eyes flashing with madness.
Seeing it, the white spirit thought.
This is dangerous. If things continue like this, Lucian will be in danger too.
Honestly, had Lia not intervened just now, the white spirit would have been completely consumed by the black spirit, vanishing from this world forever.
But thanks to her, he had bought time. Just a little.
Wondering how to deal with the dark spirit, their eyes suddenly met.
‘I’ve changed my mind.’
The black spirit approached in great strides and seized the white spirit’s throat. The white spirit, suspended in the air, thrashed helplessly.
‘Come with me as well. That way I can deceive your sibling’s eyes and draw closer to Aria.’
‘My sibling……! Don’t you dare touch him!’
Snap!
The white spirit exerted what power it could and broke free, but it remained far too weak to truly oppose the black spirit.
The black spirit observed its own tingling hand for a moment, then gazed down at the white spirit with cold eyes.
‘If you don’t wish to vanish forever, you’d do well to obey me. Yes, before I truly begin, I should deal with you first.’
Seeing the shadow descending upon him, the white spirit—Leopold—trembled.
The black spirit. Abyss Odelion.
The boy who founded the Odrian Empire smiled with an unsettling expression.

* * *

“You summoned me, Your Majesty.”
One of the hidden chambers within the Imperial Palace, accessible only through a secret passage.
Habier appeared there, removing his robe.
He widened his eyes at the sight of those assembled within.
One was the Emperor who had summoned him, Lucian; another was a high priest from the opposing faction, though secretly allied with them; and he recognized familiar faces including Harry and James.
Yet there was one person whose presence particularly caught his eye.
“Kaiser!”
“It’s been a while.”
It was Kaiser, who had introduced him to Lucian.
Through a note Kaiser had left behind, Habier had been connected with Lucian and formed bonds that had endured to this day.
Though he had been unable to see Kaiser since that day.
In nearly a decade of encounters, Habier had seen Kaiser only a handful of times, yet an inexplicable warmth bloomed in his chest.
His joy was short-lived, however, as he noticed a woman standing between Kaiser and Lucian.
Upon seeing her, Habier froze of his own accord.
‘She’s beautiful…….’
But why did it feel so unsettling?
At the mere sight of the woman, Habier felt hostility boil up from within.
When an unknown force emanated from his body, both the high priest and Lucian frowned.
“Habier!”
“Your Eminence! What are you doing!”

Our natural enemy. Annihilate them.

An unidentifiable voice echoed within Habier’s mind. He disregarded the restraint of the two men and fixed his gaze on the woman.
The woman, Lia, frowned and began gathering her own power.
As she drew the natural Mana to her side and unleashed tremendous force, Habier’s eyes burned even more fiercely.
Just as a dangerous atmosphere permeated the small room.
“Hey.”
A low voice resounded through the chamber, snapping everyone’s mind awake.
The voice belonged to Kaiser. In an instant, his eyes revealed the vertical pupils unique to dragons, and he poured Peer at Habier.
“Do you want to die? Who the hell are you releasing killing intent on?”
“Gack! Cough……!”
Dragons—the supreme apex among all species. A mere human could never hope to fully withstand a dragon’s Peer.
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the dragon’s Peer caused the space to tremble and threaten collapse, Lia seized Kaiser’s arm.
“That’s enough. There must be a reason for this.”
“……Tch.”
Kaiser clicked his tongue and withdrew the dragon’s Peer. Everyone in the chamber exhaled in relief and watched Habier closely.
Habier gasped like a man freshly pulled from drowning water, desperately drawing breath.
His face, pallid and tinged with blue, trembled as he looked up at Kaiser with eyes filled with dread.
Kaiser’s gaze upon Habier was cold and utterly devoid of mercy.

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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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