Chapter 145

Chapter 145

“Good morning, Father. A fine morning to you.”

I offered the priest a light greeting as he entered the room. But I could see exhaustion etched all over his face. He must have had a rough night, setting up the trap and summoning the soul. Even so, he maintained an utterly dutiful demeanor. Despite looking anything but a ‘fine morning,’ he returned my greeting all the same.

“Yes, good morning, young lady. It seems His Grace the Duke is out today.”

“He’s gone to the Imperial Castle.”

“Hmm… is that so…?”

“Yes, but why are you looking for His Grace? Do you have something to say to him?”

“I did intend to, but in truth, this is something I could just as well tell the Young Lady.”

He strode over to my desk and began speaking. I pushed the papers in front of me aside and looked up at him, as if asking what was going on.

“Well… that soul from yesterday—the ghost in the old man’s form—got caught in my trap.”

His voice sounded serious. So the scream I’d heard yesterday really was hers. In the end, she’d been trapped in the priest’s snare.

“Then, can you release it using divine power?”

I said it with a hint of hope. But the priest‘s reaction was nothing like what I’d wished for.

“No. I think we‘ll have to perform an exorcism. It was already turning into an evil spirit.”

“……Already turning into an evil spirit, you say?”

I’d honestly believed the soul hadn‘t become malevolent yet. I never imagined its energy had grown so foul that an exorcism would be needed this soon. After all, hadn’t she lingered in the land of the living without incident since the kingdom’s founding? Probably just wandering the Imperial Castle all that time. So the fact that she was suddenly becoming an evil spirit felt especially strange.

Yes, looking back, it was definitely odd. Why now, of all times? Why was she turning into an evil spirit at this exact moment, after coming to Cuvershaiden?

The more I thought about it, the more tangled everything felt.

“If we delay, the soul might escape the trap. So I plan to begin the exorcism tonight. It’ll be conducted only inside the room, so there’s nothing much to worry about. That’s what I came to tell you.”

The priest continued. I bit my lip, hesitating to answer. But in the end, I could only nod.

“Yes, then I‘ll inform the butler that you need everyone kept under control.”

After that, the priest bowed and left the study. I picked up the documents again, trying to read through the papers I needed to handle. But I couldn’t concentrate at all. My mind was too tangled.

‘Maybe I should rest.’

I pressed my temples and stood up from my seat. The view outside the window came into sight. But Shion was nowhere to be seen.

‘Couldn’t Shion stop the old man from becoming an evil spirit?’

The thought struck without warning. Shion had stopped Theo from nearly becoming an evil spirit once. She’d held Vandark’s widow down, too. The problem was that after the kid blocked something, there was no follow-through. I didn’t know how to make the old woman ascend. And she could turn evil again. Exorcism didn’t sit right with me, but I couldn’t just stall forever either—it was a real dilemma.

‘This is maddening. That soul would’ve been better off in the Imperial Castle… Why did it follow Shion here? Did it actually know her when she was alive?’

I was lost in thoughts like these when I noticed several carriages rolling into the garden in a line. My engagement dress must have arrived. Deciding to tend to my guests first, I stepped out of the study. At the same time, I pushed the ghost troubles to the back of my mind for a while.

* * *

“Unnie! It’s so pretty!”

“Unnie, you look like a princess!”

Lucia stared at me with both hands clasped tight. Roti spun around me in circles, her voice rising. Seeing me in the engagement dress must have felt quite strange to them.

“Wow, Laura. You look gorgeous!”

“I didn’t know you could pull off such a fancy design!”

The ladies-in-waiting who’d come to see the dress also crowded around me one after another. A strange embarrassment crept over me. But I decided to lean into it—what’s good is good, after all. So I spread both arms wide as if to say, ‘Take a good look!’ My friends burst into applause, cheering me on with enthusiasm. What can I say… I’d always known it, but my friends really are good kids.

“Oh, right, you haven’t picked accessories yet, have you? For a hair ornament, I think pearls would be lovely! They’d go great with the dress!”

“No way! If you go with pearls, you’d have to match the earrings and necklace too, and that’s not in fashion these days!”

They soon launched into a full-blown debate about my accessories. But sadly, I’d already decided on yellow ornaments. I always had to wear the Eye of the Sun, so I was planning to match the gem’s color. I didn’t bring that up, though. Instead, I just watched my chattering, laughing ladies-in-waiting from the sidelines.

“By the way, Laura, where did the priest go today? Do you know? I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

Suddenly, Sonia tapped me on the shoulder and asked a question.

“Oh… the priest?”

The priest—he must be preparing for the exorcism. But I couldn’t tell her that story.

“Uh… he’s in secluded training, I heard.”

The result was that only a strange answer tumbled out of my mouth. In my head, it had seemed like a decent excuse, but once I actually spoke it aloud, I realized how suspicious it sounded. A priest staying overnight in someone else’s manor—let alone renting a room for training—where in the world did that happen?

“Well, I suppose it makes sense—you came here to bless the engagement ceremony, after all. It’d be hard to keep traveling back and forth to the temple for your training in the meantime, right?”

But luckily, Sonia seemed to buy it. The other ladies-in-waiting just nodded along, too. They didn’t quite understand, but they seemed to be going along with it, figuring it must be something like that.

“Mm… yeah, something like that.”

I mumbled a vague reply in turn. That naturally brought the white-haired old man to mind.

That soul… unless something goes wrong, he’ll be exorcised. I won’t have to face him again. Then, from now on, only Shion will really be left here.

And that thought led straight to Shion.

But where on earth did Shion go?

Strangely enough, I hadn’t seen her all day. Not in the garden, not inside the manor. When she was small, she used to dart all over Cuvershaiden, but ever since she took on her adult form, she seemed to have suddenly gone quiet.

She must be somewhere in the manor… but is she hiding somewhere?

One thought led to another, and I found myself recalling the glimpse I’d caught of Shion through the crack in the door last night. She had definitely been running toward the direction of the old man’s screams.

Could she be with that old man?

The thought crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head.

No… Shion hated that old man, didn’t she? There’s no reason for her to stick with him.

Probably just being capricious again. It’d be best to look for Shion after the old man’s exorcism was done. If I could have a long talk with her, I might find a way for her to leave Cuvershaiden too.

“Laura, want me to help you out of that dress now? Why did the boutique staff just leave without helping you take it off?”

As I was lost in those thoughts, Ann asked me a question. I snapped back to reality and quickly waved one hand.

“No, no. It’s fine. And I was the one who said I’d keep it on.”

“Huh? Why? What if it gets stained by accident? You should take it off and store it properly.”

“Well… I actually wanted to show it to His Excellency. But he’s at the Imperial Castle today, so he’ll probably be back late. So… I thought I’d wait a bit.”

But as soon as I said that, all the ladies-in-waiting fixed their eyes on me. I could only look back at them, bewildered by their inexplicable reaction. Then Ann walked straight over to me and whispered.

“Shall I take your younger sisters to sleep with me tonight? We should leave one of the guest rooms empty, right?”

“Huh? Why would my sisters…?”

I stared blankly at Ann, puzzled. She was barely holding back laughter, as if something amused her greatly. In that moment, I caught on to her intent—she was teasing me. My face flushed hot. I wanted to act unbothered, but I couldn’t manage it. So I gave her exactly the reaction she’d been expecting.

“Hey! No! There’s no need for that!”

I flailed my hands frantically as the ladies-in-waiting burst into giggles around me. But they just dodged each of my swipes, stepping back with a smirk. I wanted to grab one of them and smack their backside, but I couldn’t risk tearing my tight-fitted dress.

“Ah, we should clear out now. The duke will be here any minute, won’t he?! We’re going!”

“Aagh! Stop teasing me!”

While I floundered around helplessly, they scurried away to escape me. Only after I confirmed that all my friends had slipped out the door did I return to the bedside and sit down. Then I pinched the bridge of my nose with one hand.

‘Those girls really…’

They seemed to have taken a delight in teasing me. It looked like they’d keep at it with all their might until I married the Duke. Why? Was it because I kept giving them such amusing reactions?

“Unnie, unnie! What’s wrong? What did those older girls say to you?”

In the next moment, Roti came trotting over to me and asked.

“Oh, no… Unnie’s just a little tired. Those older girls didn’t say anything.”

I couldn’t very well tell a young child the plain truth, so I just tossed out a convenient excuse.

“Hmm…”

Roti narrowed her eyes as if she couldn’t quite believe him. But thankfully, she didn’t tack on another question. She just let out a short snort, then padded over to the ornament cabinet beside the bed. She pulled open a drawer, fished out the old jewelry box tucked in the corner, and set it on top of the cabinet. It was the ritual the fourth child performed every night before sleep.

Only after aligning the jewelry box perfectly flush with the wall did the girl circle back to my side. Then she crawled on all fours onto the bed, scrambling up.