Chapter 108

Chapter 108

The young marquis looked at me with a puzzled expression. I sorted my thoughts in my head before opening my mouth again.

“The doll you picked—it was my favorite out of all of them. And the meal we shared today was really delicious. You recommended it, didn’t you? It turned out to be exactly to my taste. Looking at it this way, don’t you think we match well in several ways?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

“…Is that so?” he said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“Yes. That’s why I really enjoyed today with you. If you had fun today too, doesn’t that mean we have quite a lot in common…? So…” I trailed off, the words hanging in the air.

“…” he said, staying silent.

“So, Young Marquis. Well… I think we’re good friends with matching tastes,” I finally managed, my voice barely steady.

“…” he said, his silence deepening.

He said nothing. Just looked at me like that. I didn’t flinch—I met his gaze head-on. The young marquis seemed to study my face for a moment, then turned his head away with a small motion. Unlike me, who’d stared him down completely, he looked almost like he was trying to avoid me entirely.

“That’s right. You’re correct.”

He kept speaking without really looking at me. Then he pulled the white mask from inside his coat and held it in both hands, turning it over for a moment before shifting his gaze back to me.

“I like this gift you gave me too, Laura. So yes—our tastes match well.”

The young marquis lifted the mask and covered his face. His features and expression were instantly hidden behind a blank white.

“Noona!”

Then I heard Ren’s voice behind me, along with hurried footsteps drawing closer. He must’ve come out to fetch me since I hadn’t returned yet. The young marquis seemed to spot Ren over my shoulder, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth beneath the mask.

“Your brother’s here. I’ll be going now. I enjoyed today too.”

He said that, then reached out with his free hand and caught my fingertips. Slowly he bent, pressing a kiss to the back of my hand. A warm, ticklish sensation brushed my skin before drifting away just as slowly.

“Yes… Take care on your way back… See you again.”

I said that, watching him.

“Yes. See you again.”

The young marquis replied, a light laugh threading through his voice. Then he released my hand and turned away. I stood still for a long moment, watching his receding back. As I did, my younger brother came dashing out and grabbed my arm.

“Noona, why are you so late? You told me to come out! Ghosts! Even on my way here! I ran into a—a few!”

He panted, blurting it out breathlessly, but it seemed the lack of air kept him from saying much more. Before a fresh wave of scolding could spill out, I quickly turned on my heel.

“Let’s go, Ren.”

“Noona, noona…”

Ren clung urgently to my arm, calling out to me. He seemed too spent to pull himself together. I’d thought he was running hard with that frail body of his, and sure enough, he’d worn himself out. I smirked quietly at him and tugged him along home.

“Noona, was that the young marquis? Why’s he keeping people so late?”

Ren had barely managed to catch his breath after chasing after me before he started grumbling. The way he dared to talk back to his older sister was plenty cocky, but I forgave him with the magnanimity of an ocean. It was expected anyway, so it didn’t even bother me.

“Don’t get mouthy before you get hit.”

Instead, I just urged my younger brother on in an elegant tone and quickened my pace. That’s how we arrived at the front of the house and flung open the door. And there, in the living room, we found Roti curled up in her pajamas. It was way past her bedtime, but she’d clearly stayed awake waiting for me. The moment she spotted me, she got up, strode over, and threw her arms around my waist, hugging me tight.

“Noona, you’re back?”

“Why aren’t you asleep yet? You won’t grow tall, you know. Go on, get to bed.”

“I’ll sleep if you read me a story. The one with the dragon and the forest fairy. Oppa says he borrowed it from the library today.”

Roti spoke in a voice thick with drowsiness. I just chuckled and lifted her up with both arms.

“You can read now, you know.”

“Still, I want you to read it.”

“Just this once. I won’t be able to when I go back to work, so this is a special exception. Only this time.”

“Okay. Good.”

The kid said it, clinging tight to my neck. I carried her like that into Roti’s room, laid her down on the bed, and pulled the blanket over her. Meanwhile, Ren brought over a picture book, saying it was the one he’d borrowed earlier that day, and held it out to me.

“This one?”

I waved the book I’d taken in front of Roti’s eyes. The fourth sibling nodded, eyelids heavy and droopy.

“I’m heading to my room, then. Ryan’s asleep in there alone.”

With that, Ren slipped out of the room. I said a quick goodnight to him, then sat by Roti’s bedside and flipped open the colorful cover. As expected from a children’s book, the first page was filled with large, bold letters.

“Alright, let’s see… The green fairy lived in a green forest. Then one day, a dragon came down to a cave in the green forest and settled in for a nap. The fairy, who lived all alone in the woods, was truly happy to see the dragon. So the fairy wanted to become friends with the dragon…”

I slowly traced my fingertip across the page, reading the words aloud. But before I even finished the first chapter, Roti’s breathing had turned into a soft, steady snore. Peeking over the book, I saw the kid had already fallen asleep. She’d been fighting off drowsiness, but in the end, she’d lost the battle.

“Honestly… you couldn’t even last one page…”

I let out a snort of disbelief. Then I roughly set a book on the nightstand beside the bed and tried to get up. But then my eyes caught sight of a wooden jewelry box lying next to Roti’s pillow.

‘Ah. Mother’s keepsake.’

Roti always carried this with her. Today, it seemed she’d even given up her spot on the bed for it. I quietly picked it up. A solid weight pressed heavily into my palms.

‘What could be inside?’

I’d never been particularly curious before, figuring nothing important was in it. But today, for some reason, a fresh wave of doubt about its contents washed over me.

‘Hmm… I want to open it, but I don’t have the key… and I’d feel bad about breaking it…’

Just imagining Roti throwing a fit if I smashed it on a whim made my head spin. Suppressing my curiosity, I put the wooden jewelry box back by her bedside. Then, thinking I should just wash up and change, I moved to leave the room.

Creeeak—

The rusty hinge groaned as I pushed the door open. And there, standing right in front of me, was a large man. He strode toward me as if he’d been waiting for me all along. I calmly lifted my head to study his face. It was unmistakably the shabbily dressed ghost I’d encountered in the street. I thought I’d lost him in the marketplace, but he must’ve been hiding his form, tailing me the whole time.

Fear gripped me in an instant. That soul, brimming with malice, looked ready to attack. Yet, he just brushed past me.

My heart plummeted. Roti was sleeping right behind me. If that ghost had her as its target, it’d be better to redirect its attention to me instead. She was still too young, too vulnerable to a wicked spirit’s influence.

“Stop!”

I spun around and reached a hand toward the ghost’s form. But it was already at the bedside. It was reaching both hands toward Roti.

Zzzzzt—

Suddenly, a yellow flash exploded, and the ghost was blasted backward.

“Huh?”

I stared at the ghost in confusion. It hesitated for a moment, then walked back toward the bed. Another bolt of yellow light shot out, bursting fiercely like an explosion. At the same time, the ghost vanished into thin air.

‘Is this… divine power?’

That moment, I remembered the ‘Eye of the Sun’ the priest had given me. Whenever a ghost possessed me, it used to flare with yellow light. So could that light that drove away the ghost just now also have come from the ‘Eye of the Sun’?

‘But that light was so enormous…’

I raised the hand I’d reached toward the ghost and looked at the bracelet dangling from my wrist. Tiny raw gemstones hung from it in clusters.

‘There’s no way it could be in here…’

Even the ‘Eye of the Sun’ the priest had given me only emitted a faint glow. But the jewels on this bracelet were far smaller than that. Of course, there were many of them, but I couldn’t imagine they could hold all that massive divine power I’d seen earlier.

‘Then what was it?’

I slowly turned my gaze, this time fixing it on Roti, who was still asleep.

Could the source really be her?

* * *

In the morning, I woke up and fed Ryan the baby food Ren had prepared. Then, I opened my mouth toward Ren, who was still busy cooking.

“Ren, maybe Rotera has an enormous amount of divine power.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ren asked without even turning to look at me. So I briefly explained what had happened last night—roughly, that I’d run into a ghost, and that divine power had appeared from somewhere to drive it away.

“What? A ghost came? Why are you only telling me this now?”

Ren jumped, startled, and exclaimed. That reaction was pretty much what I’d expected, so it didn’t faze me much. I just gave a half-hearted response.

“Forget it. Forget it. It’s already dealt with, anyway. And that’s not the important part. You have a little divine power too, right. I heard priests can sense divine power—don’t you feel anything? From Roti, I mean.”

“Am I a priest? And I only have a trace of divine power. Not enough to make a judgment like that. And even if I forced what little I have to try and verify it… she’s probably got none.”

My second brother said it all in a thoroughly fed-up tone. Then he started setting the food he’d made on the table.