Chapter 154 – Side Story ４

Side Story 4

The next day, the two faced a new morning. After finishing their respective tasks, they met again late into the night. In the bridal chamber, they spotted a doll perched quietly on the windowsill. A doll with red hair and yellow eyes.

“?”

“…?”

There was no soul inside that doll. So it couldn’t have moved on its own. Then how had it gotten there? The inexplicable situation truly baffled them both.

“Wait, there’s something under the doll.”

Then Illiaje spotted a note beneath the doll. The note, written in neat script, said:

[This doll was found fallen in the garden. It must have been knocked from the windowsill. I’ve placed it back. —Handel]

So the butler had put it there this time. A considerate gesture, but one that was hardly necessary.

‘Exhausting.’

Illiaje and Laura thought the same thing at the same moment. Without a word, they picked up the doll, left the room, and walked to the manor’s central hall. Then they dropped it into the crackling fireplace in one corner. The cloth doll was instantly engulfed, blazing up. The two of them simply stood and watched as it turned to a handful of ash.

Don’t buy dolls anymore.

It was Laura who broke the quiet silence first.

…All right.

Illiaje replied in a subdued tone.

And so the small commotion over the doll ended with the doll completely destroyed. After confirming that two yellow buttons remained in the ashes, Illiaje and Laura trudged back toward the bridal chamber. They were utterly exhausted.

* * *

Long before sunrise, on a certain dawn, Benat woke from sleep and snapped his eyes open. He felt weariness layered over his entire body.

Ha….

He sat up and roughly scrubbed his face. For the first time in a long while, his younger sibling had appeared in his dreams. But the child’s face, playing with a wooden lion figurine, was merely blurry. In Benat’s memory, his sibling’s face was growing more and more distant. His sibling, who by unfortunate circumstance had never been an officially recognized member of the House, had died leaving not even a portrait behind.

Thankfully, he had heard that the child’s soul had shaken off all attachment to the land of the living and ascended. Perhaps for that very reason, the child couldn’t show its face clearly even in dreams. He couldn’t help but feel a bitter pang.

I’m tired.

He gave up on going back to sleep and got out of bed. A banquet was to be held today at the Imperial Castle. No matter how he felt, he had to attend.

Afterwards, he completed his early preparations with the help of servants and headed straight for the Imperial Castle. There, he busied himself appropriately until it was time to enter the banquet hall. Soon, people flocked toward him, eager to strike up a conversation. But instead of mingling with the crowd, he went to find the married couple, the Duke and Duchess, who were sitting on a quiet bench far off, conversing softly.

Is it all right for you to move now?

Benat settled into a seat across from them and asked Laura. In response, Laura stroked her slightly swollen belly with one hand.

This much is fine. I’m just a bit heavy.

“So when will we get to see the baby?”

“Hmm… she’s almost full-term, so it could be today or tomorrow, maybe?”

“…Then that means I shouldn’t be here… doesn’t it?”

Laura let out a round laugh at Benat’s obvious discomfort, as if she’d been teasing him. He responded with a hollow ha-ha, rubbing the back of his neck.

“But you came without a partner this time?”

Illiaje’s voice cut between them, quiet but pointed. Benat had attended banquets with his cousin for years, true. This time, though, he’d walked in entirely alone.

“Well, I thought I’d try to find a lifelong partner at this banquet. I inherited the marquisate ages ago—time I found both a mistress and an heir. My parents are hounding me about it. Real headache.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t see the former marquis and his wife. They’re not here?”

“Ah. They’ve gone south for a holiday.”

“Just the two of them?”

“You have no idea how close they are. They dumped the marquisate on me and spend all their time traveling.”

Benat shrugged as he answered. Illiaje didn’t press further and shifted the subject.

“What kind of person are you looking for as a partner?”

“By my parents’ standards, someone smart, proper, and demure enough to take over the marquisate.”

“And by yours?”

“…Nothing grand. Just someone I get along with, I suppose…”

As Benat spoke, his gaze snagged on a woman suddenly. Behind the ducal couple, wearing a blue dress, she stood glued to the wall, glancing around furtively. Her striking beauty made her impossible to miss—and yet, he’d never laid eyes on her before.

“Lady, do you know who that woman is?”

Benat gestured with his eyes alone. Laura immediately followed his line of sight.

“They say she’s the young lady of a count’s house from the south. She was in poor health, so she’s only now making her belated debut.”

“Ah.”

“She’s alone now—why not ask her to dance? I’ve seen her before; she seems like a decent sort.”

“You think so?”

Honestly, it didn’t matter who she was. He was old enough that he just needed a suitable marriage partner. Besides, the dream he’d had that morning had left a foul taste in his mouth. He wanted something to do—something to drown out the thought of his younger brother.

He walked straight over to the woman in the blue dress and asked her for a dance. She nodded without a word and took his hand.

They walked straight into the central hall and began to dance to the slow music. Benat’s gaze soon fell on her face — neat features, long lashes, large eyes. She was pretty enough, but it stirred nothing in him. And she seemed just as indifferent to him, lips pressed tight, focused entirely on her steps.

‘A complete miss…’

She probably hadn’t come to the banquet looking for marriage anyway. If that was the case, the dance itself held no real meaning. When the music ended, he’d excuse himself politely.

“Ah.”

Then it happened — suddenly, she misstepped and pitched toward the floor. Benat reached for her instinctively. But her face flushed scarlet as she scrambled up and fled on the spot. Benat’s hand was left hanging in empty air.

‘What? Did she just ditch me?’

A man of his rank and face was almost never refused this way. It threw him, but he kept his composure and withdrew from the central hall. Plenty of other women to approach. Yet oddly, he didn’t want to. So he just made small talk with whoever was around, then drifted back toward the Duke and his wife.

“What’s this? Where’s the young lady in the blue dress?”

Illiaje spotted Benat trudging over and raised an eyebrow.

“She ditched me and ran.”

“…What did you do?”

“Nothing…”

A flicker of suspicion crossed Illiaje’s face. But it passed quickly. He helped his wife up from her seat.

“We should go. The souls will start appearing once the sun sets.”

“Then I’m coming too. Tonight’s not much fun anyway…”

“Not looking for another partner?”

“No. No. I’m tired.”

Benat followed the ducal couple out of the Imperial Castle. But as they walked toward where the carriages were waiting, he spotted the woman he’d danced with, curled up on a bench in front of the garden. She looked desperately lonely in the dark shadows.

“There’s a child clinging to that woman’s leg,” Laura said, staring at her.

But Benat saw no child.

“You don’t think… a soul is attached to her?”

“Hmm… Since you can’t see it, Marquis, it must be a soul.”

In that moment, the memory of her stumbling during the dance came back to Benat. And somehow, it all felt connected to a child’s ghost.

“Then… can a soul trip a living person?”

“If the energy is strong, that can happen, can’t it? Why? Did that woman fall?”

“Yes. Quite loudly.”

“Then, seeing as it could be dangerous, should I warn her?”

Laura listened to Benat and, out of habit, started to step toward the woman. But Illiaje immediately blocked her path.

“Enough. Let’s just go.”

“But she doesn’t give off a very dangerous aura. I think we could even talk to it.”

“…Fine. Alright, then. Let’s go together.”

Illiaje could never win against his wife, of course. The argument didn’t even last long. In the end, they both turned back toward the woman in the blue dress. Benat followed behind them.

“Wh-what is this?”

Suddenly surrounded by three people all taller than her, the woman was flustered. Without any explanation, Laura cut straight to the point.

“Young Lady. Do you often fall?”

“Excuse me? What do you mean?”

“There’s a child clinging to your left leg. Bluish hair, eyes close to violet. Around seven or eight years old—judging by the clothes, which were in fashion about ten years ago, they likely died around then.”

“…What? How could you possibly know that? Can you, Madam, see something?”

“You seem to know who it is?”

“Yes. My… younger sibling.”

The woman’s lips trembled, and she dropped her head. Then, as if steeling herself for a moment, she lifted her gaze again.

“So you’re saying my little sibling has been tripping me all along?”

“…….”

“Well, I suppose my sibling can’t help but resent me for taking their place.”

As she continued speaking, the ducal couple kept their eyes fixed in the direction of the ghost. Meanwhile, Benat, who couldn’t see ghosts, met the woman’s gaze. Naturally, she began pouring out her story to him, as if confessing everything.