Chapter 129

Chapter 129

Back at Cuvershaiden, we sat at the table in the study with the Book of Souls spread open before us. Then we waited for the Madam to appear behind the Duke. Not long after, the sun outside the window began to sink. As more time passed, the crimson sunset was swallowed whole beneath the horizon.

I switched on the floor lamp by the sofa to light the darkened room. At the same moment, the Madam manifested as a faint, hazy form. She was now barely the size of a palm.

“Madam…”

I gazed at the tiny wisp of smoke and called out to her softly. She stretched her body into a long, slender shape and then dipped its tip, as if waving back in greeting.

“Mother… you’ve appeared?”

The Duke lifted his gaze from the Book of Souls and asked me. Regrettably, he still hadn’t noticed the dark shape hovering behind him. Come to think of it, it was always me who spotted the Madam first, before her own son. A bitter pang hit my chest. I glanced at the Duke’s expression out of the corner of my eye, then nodded silently.

“……Mother, I need to ask you something.”

Taking a brief moment to steady his breath, he pointed at the <Book of Souls> and opened his mouth to speak. And Madam stretched out long past the duke’s profile toward the table. She seemed to tap the <Book of Souls> lightly. It looked like an expression telling him to say what he wanted to say.

“Mother, while you were alive, you gathered many souls here at Cuvershaiden, didn’t you?”

At the duke’s ensuing words, the black smoke rippled faintly. It was a simple question that could have been answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but she drew out her response as if in deep thought. Then, with a body like a cat’s tail, she poked the edge of the <Book of Souls>. There, a binary answer was written: ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’

〈Yes.〉

Having pointed to the simple answer, she lightly lifted the tip of her tail. I followed that movement of Madam with my eyes.

“How did you bring the souls here? Was there another way to move beings that originally existed elsewhere to this place?”

Soon after, the duke’s question followed. His voice had already settled into a grave tone. I too held my breath tightly. The clue to making Madam ascend to heaven lay right here. Depending on her answer, we would be able to find a way to release the souls.

Huh? Wait a minute.

Then, suddenly, something felt strange.

If she knew how to move souls, why hadn’t Madam taught us that method earlier? Had she perhaps forgotten? No, that couldn’t be? It was something she had done for quite a long time while alive, wasn’t it?

She had wanted to send out all the souls in Cuvershaiden. It was because she worried about her son, who remained in the manor along with the souls. So much so that she ended up tethered to the land of the living because of it. Therefore, if there was a way to move the souls, she should have told us anytime. Yet, for some reason, she had never added any explanation about that part.

〈Are you… trying to move… the souls here… to another place?〉

Stammering, slowly but clearly forming sentences, she asked back.

“Yes, because if all the souls are sent out, Mother can ascend too.”

At her son’s words, the long form of smoke flinched to a halt over the <Book of Souls>. Then it tried to slip back behind the duke.

“Ah, Madam, why are you running away?!”

Startled, I called out to her. And at that moment, I realized that Madam had deliberately hidden the method of moving souls. For some reason I didn’t understand, she was stubbornly avoiding the situation where she could ascend.

“Why is that?”

It seemed the Duke had noticed something off as well, speaking with a note of perplexity. The Madam, pressed by her son and future daughter-in-law, grew visibly agitated, fidgeting and shifting her form. But then, as if resigned, she stretched out long and began to assemble the letters inscribed on the <Book of Souls>.

〈I… wish it were… so.〉

“…Are you telling me not to transfer souls? Why is that?”

〈Because honestly… moving a soul… onto a human body is… risky. The soul could… drain your energy… and if it turns into an evil spirit while bound… that’d be a problem. Besides… if the soul itself doesn’t want it… it’s impossible anyway… so there’s… little point.〉

“Then you brought all those souls by binding them to your own body, didn’t you, Mother.”

At that, the Madam could give no answer. And that silence was a clear affirmation. Yes. It seemed the Duke was right. But it was hardly a decent method. And at this point, a rough picture was starting to form. Probably, that was why she hadn’t taught Laura the soul-transfer method.

“You went ahead with something that could be dangerous, Mother.”

〈I thought… it would be fine… for me… I’ve always been… a lucky person.〉

Good heavens. Madam… why did you do that? That’s just reckless!

I shook my head slightly, as if to express that she shouldn’t have. Then I stopped mid-motion. Come to think of it, I had done this before—deliberately binding a spirit to my body and transferring it. I’d taken Madam Bandark to the painting ghost, Luka. Of course, I knew it could be dangerous. But just as the Madam had said earlier, I felt it would be fine. Back then, I had a rather complacent thought: as long as the problem was solved, that was enough.

Right. That was it… It wasn’t Madam Bandark, but back then, I was possessed by Luka. Because Luka turned into an evil spirit, it got dangerous, and in the end, I was briefly kicked out of Cuvershaiden.

I felt a bit awkward and glanced up to read the Duke’s expression. His brows were tightly knitted, clearly quite angry.

〈Are you mad? I’m sorry… Son…〉

The Madam was already crafting sentences to soothe her son, who had gone stiff and sullen. And in an instant, I found myself saddled with the duty of mediating between my future husband and prospective mother-in-law. Judging by the Duke’s expression, he looked ready to lash out at his mother at any moment. Besides, since I had done something similar myself, I felt more than a little self-conscious.

“The Madam must have been quite moved by the souls’ plight! She must have wanted to help them reincarnate! It was done with good intentions!”

The words spilled from my mouth—an attempt to score points with the Madam while simultaneously defending myself.

“Yes. I know. Strange as it is, you and Mother are alike in this.”

The Duke pressed the bridge of his nose with his fingertips, then turned to look at me. When our eyes met, guilt stabbed through me, and I couldn’t add another word. I just bit my lip as he let out a short sigh and shifted his gaze back to the Madam.

“In truth, I expected something like this. Mother always managed to pull off astonishing things. She was always a little reckless, and free. Whatever she set her mind to, she found a way. So I thought the same might be true of the souls—if she needed to keep them close and watch over them, she’d bring them along, even if it meant carrying them on her body.”

The Duke continued speaking, and at his words, the Madam’s long, tail-like form twitched—a gesture like a nod.

“Did you bring all the souls like that? Carrying them on your body?”

He added another question right after.

〈Most of them… yes. But… the blonde girl… no. She… just… followed me.〉

The Madam replied by tapping on the Book of Souls. But suddenly, I caught something strange in her answer.

Hmm? The blonde girl—she must mean Shion. Wasn’t she an earthbound spirit? I’d never seen her leave the mansion… Could it be she just didn’t want to leave?

Puzzled, I blinked and snuck a sidelong glance at the Duke. His hand was stroking his chin, lost in thought. He seemed to find Shion’s behavior odd too. After a moment of weighing something in his mind, he spoke slowly.

“Where did you bring her from?”

〈Neo Street… probably… the 5th alley. She was… floating in the air there… holding a cat. She said… she’d brought the cat from… the 2nd alley on Neo Street. When I asked… if she wanted to come with me… she followed… without a word.〉

The Madam answered in halting, sluggish movements.

Neo Street… That was quite far from Cuvershaiden. An ordinary ghost couldn’t freely travel that distance. But Shion had done it. And that meant she was absurdly strong. Of course, I’d known Shion was powerful for a while. But every time I realized it like this, I couldn’t help being freshly astonished.

Shion truly seemed like a special child. So much so that I felt grateful she was a pure being, not an evil spirit.

“I see. Then perhaps I can send her away somehow. Persuading her will be a headache, but it’s possible. The real problem is the headless soul… I’ll have to think of another approach for that one.”

The duke spoke as if muttering to himself. That was the conclusion he’d drawn from his brief conversation with the Madam.

But what he called a ‘method’ remained nothing but a vague notion. The headless ghost wasn’t an evil spirit, so exorcism was out of the question—and sealing it posed its own difficulties. It seemed the Madam’s ascension was still a long way off.

‘Should I keep threatening to exorcise her if she doesn’t leave Cuvershaiden? She loves staying in the land of the living, after all. Maybe then she’ll break free of being an earthbound spirit and vacate the manor on her own…’

I furrowed my brow, sinking deep into thought. But then the duke reached out and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He pulled me close to his side. At the suddenness of his move, my mind went utterly blank in an instant.

Your Grace! The Madam is right here?!

Still, I didn’t refuse. Let well enough be well; I cautiously leaned into his shoulder, just a little.