Chapter 153 – Side Story ３

Side Story 3

Late that night, Illiaje encountered a child on the street, begging him to buy a doll. People trying to earn money on street corners were common enough, of course. But this child looked far too young to be wandering the dark streets alone.

“I made it myself! Please buy it! It would make a wonderful gift for a child!”

“…Cheeky little thing. Hey, kid. Stay clear of the carriage path. In the dark, a little one like you is easy to miss from the coachman’s seat. It’s dangerous.”

“Mmm… but the doll… please buy it.”

“Fine. I’ll buy it. Go home now. Don’t wander around at this hour.”

“Yes! Yes, thank you. Kind noble sir.”

The child cheerfully handed over the doll, took the money, and vanished into the dark shadows. Illiaje ordered an escort to watch over the child until they reached home, then turned back toward Cuvershaiden.

Inside the carriage heading back, he examined the doll that fit neatly in his palm. Red hair and yellow eyes—by coincidence, the same colors as Laura. And though crude, for something a child had made, its shape was surprisingly decent.

‘There’s no little one here to play with such a thing, but it’s not something to just throw away either.’

Afterward, upon arriving at Cuvershaiden, he placed the doll in the bridal chamber. And that night, he spent the hours beside his wife.

When he woke the next morning, his wife was still deep in sleep. Even when he toyed with her hair or gently pressed her cheeks, she only furrowed her brow faintly, refusing to wake. She had been running herself ragged lately—fatigue must have piled up.

He didn’t try to rouse her further. He merely rose carefully from the bed and slipped out of the room. Then he headed straight to the Imperial Castle. But upon arriving and busying himself with various tasks, he suddenly realized he had left behind an essential document.

‘My mind’s a mess. Made a mistake on something obvious.’

Fortunately, the urgent matters were already wrapped up. In that case, it would be fine to head home early. So he submitted a brief report to the imperial family and returned to Cuvershaiden once more. But just as he reached the front of the mansion, he spotted something lying abandoned by the garden. Stitched together from scraps of cloth into a human shape—it was a rather familiar object to him.

‘The doll? Did it fall from the window?’

The bridal chamber was directly above where the doll had landed, so that seemed likely. Treating it as nothing much, he picked up the doll, brought it back inside the room, and then made his way to his study.

According to the maid, Laura was in a meeting with a merchant. As it happened, during their honeymoon, his wife was far too busy. Truth be told, he wanted to see her face, even if just for a moment, but he decided it would only be a nuisance to interrupt. He could greet her about his return later—he’d see her tonight anyway, and then he could look his fill.

After that, Illiaje sat at his desk, picking up where he’d left off at the Imperial Castle. But needing to find some missing documents, he moved to the study this time. Then, walking down the corridor, a doll perched on a decorative ornament caught his eye.

?

‘…Am I dreaming?’

The doll had appeared in an inexplicable place, out of the blue. And he’d definitely put it back in the bedroom. Curiosity pricking him, he lifted the doll. It stared back at him with its yellow eyes. There was an oddly unsettling quality to its gaze.

‘Well… there’s no soul inside it, so it couldn’t have moved on its own.’

Right, someone must have moved it. He couldn’t understand why it was on the corridor, but there was no other explanation. A strange question nagged at him, but he refused to dwell on it. Then he returned the doll to the bridal chamber once more.

In the study, Illiaje found what he needed and leafed through a thick stack of papers. Then, suddenly, the doll he’d seen earlier came to mind. Come to think of it, his mother had once brought home an object containing a dead soul. It had been a small jewelry box—she’d said such hollow items easily trapped spirits. Back then, she must have quickly released the soul inside. And perhaps her notebook still held some trace of that day.

‘Should I… take a look at Mother’s notebook?’

He didn’t think a soul was actually inside the doll, yet it kept nagging at him. Setting down the papers, he headed for the bridal chamber again. He’d stored his mother’s notebook in the bedside drawer there. But when he opened the drawer, he spotted the red-haired doll inside.

‘Ah… what the hell? Who keeps moving it?’

His wife had been busy working all day, and the servants wouldn’t dare touch their master’s belongings. That only made it stranger. He had no plausible explanation for why the doll was moving.

‘It can’t really be moving on its own…’

He deliberated for a moment, then placed the doll on the windowsill. He decided to test whether it would move. Anyone watching would think him a fool, but after everything he’d been through with ghosts, he needed that reassurance—to convince himself the doll was harmless. He wanted no more contact with any spirit.

After that, he stepped out into the garden to give the doll some time. With a troubled mind, he walked slowly along the garden path. Then, at some point, a doll arced through the air and landed in front of him. The red-haired, yellow-eyed doll rolled across the grass before stopping, staring at the sky. Its button eyes caught the sunlight, gleaming like phosphorescence. By now, the whole situation was turning terrifying. Hadn’t the bridal chamber window been closed?

“Are you all right, Duke?”

The butler by Illiaje’s side rushed over, breathless as he asked.

“Handel, this doll—don’t you think it didn’t just fall from the window? Wasn’t it almost flying toward me?”

Illiaje picked up the doll and showed it to the butler as he spoke.

“Perhaps a gust of wind blew it?”

“Is that so? …I suppose. The window might’ve been flung open by the wind too. Anyway, take this and put it back in the room.”

“Yes, sir. Where should I place it?”

“Set it on the windowsill.”

At that, the butler nodded and withdrew from the spot. Illiaje, left alone in the garden, continued mulling it over.

‘I should probably ask Laura. Whether there’s a soul stuck inside that doll or not… She can see souls, and she can feel them too…’

On top of that, she had that immense divine power the dragon had left behind. If a ghost really was clinging to that doll, she’d chase it off in a heartbeat. So with Laura by his side, he felt like, maybe, things would be fine.

And so he waited for Laura to finish her tasks, killing time in his study until night fell before returning to the bridal chamber. *Click* — he turned the knob and pushed the door open. Laura, who’d arrived first, spun around with a startled look on her face. Then she dashed over to him in a fluster.

“Th-that doll! Look at it! It keeps moving! I dropped it off the windowsill and it came back, I left it in the corridor and it came back, and it even crawled out of the dresser drawer! What on earth did you bring home?!”

“What? You moved it every time?”

Ah. So the doll hadn’t been moving on its own — Laura had been the one shifting it. That made sense…

The realization hit Illiaje all at once, and he let out a hollow laugh. He did feel a pang of guilt for scaring his wife without even knowing it, but still, the whole situation struck him as rather funny. And for good reason — they’d once had a conversation just like this.

‘[I’ve got a ton of divine power now. If anything happens, I’ll protect you!]’

*[That’s reassuring.]*

‘[Yes. Just trust me. As long as you’re by my side, I can drive away all those dead souls or whatever.]’

Looks like all of that had been pure bravado. Of course, having divine power wouldn’t suddenly change a timid personality, but she’d acted so boldly that he’d been fooled into believing her.

“I’m sorry. I was the one moving that doll. It kept shifting, so I kept putting it back where it belonged.”

“Huh? Is that so? Even when it fell out the window, and when you placed it on the corridor ornament, and when you stashed it in the drawer? You put it all back?”

“Yeah. It was all me.”

“Haah… So there’s nothing wrong with this doll after all?”

“Well… it seems that way.”

“That explains it… I thought there didn’t seem to be a ghost inside. But it kept moving, so it startled me. I’m relieved. Really.”

Laura dragged herself to the bed, exhaustion plain on her face, her steps heavy. Illiaje scurried after her. Now that nothing more frightening could happen, he figured they could finally do what they wanted.

“Should we… move on to other things? That doll mystery’s solved, right?”

He boxed her legs in with his own as Laura lay down. She gave him a small side-eye but offered no real resistance. Instead, she wordlessly threw her arms tight around her husband’s neck. But just as Illiaje’s lips brushed against her throat, Laura cried out sharp.

“Wait, wait! Honey. You. Illiaje! Stop!”

“What? What’s wrong? Are you that tired?”

“No, it’s not that… Look at that doll!”

Illiaje followed the point of Laura’s finger toward the window. The doll sat demurely on the sill. Naturally, it wasn’t moving. There was no soul inside it.

“What about that doll now?”

“It feels like it’s staring.”

“…That can’t be.”

“I know it can’t be! But that’s how it feels.”

“What kind of weird excuse is that?”

“It’s been bothering me all day. It’s just creepy!”

“Hah…”

This was truly absurd. A newly married couple, and she was refusing his advances for such a strange reason. But he couldn’t let a mere doll interfere with their relationship. Illiaje got up in one swift motion, grabbed the doll, and tossed it out the window. Then he came back to the bed.

“There. I won’t go pick it up, so it won’t come back.”

“Yess… It’s fine now.”

Laura felt a flush of embarrassment under Illiaje’s imposing demeanor. She seemed to have been overly frightened by something trivial. Illiaje slowly caressed her cheek, which was tinged with shyness. The soft, warm touch settled in his palm—a sensation that always stirred him.