Chapter 119

Chapter 119

Part 11: The Headless Man

The Duke and I found the headless ghost wandering the corridor and brought him into the room. When we sat him down on the sofa, he looked bewildered but followed our instructions obediently.

“Look here. Talk with us a bit.”

I laid open the Book of Souls before him and spoke. The man bent at the waist to look down at it. I couldn’t tell what meaning such a gesture had for a creature with no head, but he went so far as to cross his arms and study the Book of Souls intently. Then, abruptly, he shrugged once—as if to ask what this was.

“Use this to form letters and answer what I say to you.”

As I quickly added, he brought both hands together, palms facing up. A moment later, a bloodless, pallid head appeared in his grasp.

Aaaaaah!

A scream clawed at my throat. The sight before me was genuinely, overwhelmingly terrifying. But I had no choice but to force it down, swallow it whole, and pretend I was unshaken. I couldn’t run now—not after coming this far. I had to talk to him somehow, to glean a hint for his ascension.

‘Steady, Laura. You can do this. Grit it out.’

After a desperate round of self-hypnosis, I cracked one eye open. The man holding his head in both hands came into view. He was thrusting it toward the Book of Souls. Good God. It was a miracle I hadn’t fainted. There was no denying it was a grotesque scene.

‘I’m scared…’

My heart instantly hammered against my ribs. With a shriveled-up heart, I pressed myself tight against the Duke’s side. Anyone watching might suspect ulterior motives, but there was no romantic intent. I simply felt safer sensing a human’s warmth near my shoulder. And the Duke, perhaps feeling the same, didn’t move away from me.

Meanwhile, the headless man retrieved his head again. He seemed to have finished examining the Book of Souls. The head, now back in his arms, blinked its eyelids a couple of times. Its pale, faded pupils looked eerie enough to make my skin crawl.

And then it happened. The head vanished in an instant, whisked away as the man hurled it into the air. I startled at the sudden action, my eyes following the head as it flew. It spun through the air, then dropped back toward its owner. He caught it with one hand, as if juggling, and pointed with the other at the Book of Souls.

〈What… story do you… speak.〉

He moved his fingers, forming the sentence. Fortunately, he seemed to have grasped how to use the Book of Souls.

That was all well and good, but why the bizarre antics?

I couldn’t fathom the behavior of playing catch with one’s own head. But unlike me, he seemed to find his own amusement quite delightful. The way he was happily shaking his shoulders said as much.

Either way, I decided to stay calm and hear the headless man’s story. I had to find out why he was bound to the land of the living before I could unravel that grudge.

“Listen. You have a reason for lingering here, don’t you? I can help you ascend.”

〈Ascend… I don’t want to.〉

But then he threw back an answer I never expected.

“Huh? Why? Ascending is how you get your chance at the next life, isn’t it?”

I lifted my head in bewilderment, adding another line—only to lock eyes with the man’s severed head cradled in his own arms. A dizzying jolt ran through me, and I had no choice but to drop my gaze. When I looked back down at the <Soul Book>, his hand was already entering my field of view.

〈Reincarnation… I don’t want that either.〉

He formed the words again.

“You don’t want reincarnation?”

〈Ascension… I don’t want it… Reincarnation… I won’t do it.〉

“What? Why not?”

〈I just… don’t want to.〉

And with that, he suddenly lurched to his feet. Then he passed straight through the door and fled outside.

“Hey—hey?!”

On reflex, I shot up to follow him. I was about to chase after the ghost—but in that instant, the Duke yanked me back by the arm.

“Hold on, Laura. Don’t you go charging out alone.”

“Ah… Oh. Right.”

Only then did my mind snap back into place. I’d nearly let my body leap ahead of my brain again.

“You were planning to follow that soul, weren’t you? Come with me.”

The Duke led me right out the door. I trotted along behind him like a tagalong. But maybe we’d wasted too much time—the headless ghost was already gone. All that remained was an empty corridor, stale and cold.

“That soul—it got away fast.”

I turned to the Duke, feeling awkward. He gave a small tilt of his head, as if he hadn’t expected this either.

“I can’t fathom why it’s running. It’s not as if we wronged that soul.”

He was right. I couldn’t make sense of the headless ghost’s behavior at all. A soul lingers in the land of the living because of some attachment. And here we were, offering to release it—what reason could it have to balk? Shouldn’t it be thanking us?

“Hmm… I’m not sure what’s going on, but let’s try to find that soul for now. It’s an earthbound spirit, so its range is limited. We should be able to track it down quickly.”

Either way, we couldn’t just stand still. We had to get him out of Cuvershaiden no matter what. Only then could we help Madam ascend in turn.

After that, the Duke and I started scouring the manor from end to end. But as the night wore on, we couldn’t find a single trace of the headless ghost. It seemed he’d made up his mind to avoid us entirely.

“Hmph. Like I’d just give up that easily! I’ll find you, you headless soul!”

“Your Grace. Shall we try this way this time?”

I pointed toward the corner of the corridor, shouting. That was the direction of the room formerly used as his study. The headless ghost always used to appear in front of that door. So I figured I’d take another look that way. But the Duke stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

“Laura. It’s too late for today. Let’s stop here. Go in and rest.”

“Sir…? But…”

“At this rate, we’ll be up all night.”

He had a point. I’d already wasted too much time chasing after the ghost. Besides, there were things I absolutely had to do tomorrow. And since the Duke always started his day early, it would be better to let him get to sleep sooner.

“Yes. I understand…”

In the end, I nodded and forced out an affirmative answer. Then I stole a sidelong glance at the duke. Perched neatly on his shoulder sat the Madam—but sadly, she had shrunk noticeably since the last time I’d seen her.

My heart felt heavy. She would only shrink more from here. And at this rate, I couldn’t tell when—or at which moment—she might vanish entirely. It was just a matter of time. Gazing at her, a wisp of a cloud, I made a resolute vow: tomorrow, I would catch that headless ghost for sure.

* * *

From old tales, it was said ghosts hate salt. Salt was used to drive them away too. I’d put that to use, scattering salt in a circle before the old study. Crude as it was, this was my trap—a plan to snare the headless ghost the moment he passed this way.

Heh heh. Just you try stepping into it.

I crouched behind the door, swelling with pride, waiting for the ghost.

“Is this really going to work?”

The duke’s voice came from behind me a moment later. I looked up and found him gazing down at me.

“Honestly, I’ve never tried this before, so I don’t really know. I’m just giving it a shot.”

I answered truthfully. Naturally, I’d never once caught a ghost this way. I’m no exorcist, nor a medium, am I? I only have the ability to see them.

“Is that so?”

At my words, he smiled faintly. For some reason, he seemed in a rather good mood. I felt a bit baffled. I couldn’t fathom what had pleased him so much. So I just blinked, staring at him. The duke was gazing back at me with his blue eyes. For a moment, I etched his neat smile into my memory.

“Aaaah!”

Right then, a scream rang out from the doorway. I flinched, tore my gaze from the duke, and yanked the door open. There was Shion, stomping her feet and shaking off a pile of salt she’d accidentally stepped in.

“Shion?”

“Unnie! What is this?! Why would you leave something like this on the floor?”

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to— I didn’t mean to catch you…”

“Catch me?! Are you gonna grab me and throw me away just because I misbehaved?!”

The girl’s voice trembled, tears welling up. Flustered, I waved my hands frantically as she threatened to burst into sobs. I had to calm her down before she started crying for real.

“No! No, it’s not that! You know that headless ghost, right? I need to talk to that soul, but it keeps avoiding us. That’s all.”

“…”

“It’s true! I swear! And I have no idea how to capture and throw away a soul! Even if I did, I wouldn’t do it to you!”

I mustered every ounce of sincerity for my defense. Relief washed over me as Shion seemed to understand—she stopped crying and nodded. Then she glanced up, looking back and forth between me and the duke. She bit her lip hesitantly before speaking again.

“You know… Unnie, Oppa. I’m sorry for screaming and running off earlier. I won’t do it again. And I’ll stay close to Unnie too. So… please don’t hate me.”

Her voice was so small and careful. I let out a soft laugh and answered, “Of course not. I won’t hate you.” A shy smile flickered across her lips. Then, in a flash, her eyes lit up as she looked at me.

“Oh, Unnie! You said you were looking for that headless oppa, right? I saw him earlier!”