Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“……”

“……”

“……You didn’t know?”

“……”

Well, that made sense. The smoke-ghost clung only to the Duke’s back — it was practically in his blind spot. Since he couldn’t see it, he couldn’t know it was there……

I gathered up all the papers he’d dropped and set them back on his desk. His expression was grim; he seemed to be steadying himself for a moment.

“Thank you.”

He took the documents from me with both hands.

“So leaving it as is means danger for you?”

“Yes. Yes, that’s right.”

I nodded vigorously.

“What about other methods?”

“I even tried salt, but it didn’t work!”

“Salt?”

“Uh… ghosts don’t like salt…”

Whether the roasted salt lost its potency, I couldn’t say, but that’s how it was. At my words, the Duke’s expression flickered with puzzlement. In my past-life memories, tossing salt in such cases was practically a custom, but here, with no such tradition, it seemed to strike him as strange.

“…Then I’ll have word sent to the temple. A priest will need to be summoned.”

After a brief silence, he spoke again.

“Huh? Why a priest?”

“Because I might not be able to force that soul out on my own.”

A priest to push out the soul… He was apparently thinking of calling in an exorcist again. But that would be a bit awkward.

“I’ve already been told by the priest never to let myself be possessed again. That puts me in a tough spot, doesn’t it?”

“If I summon him, he won’t have much to say.”

“Are you planning to use state authority, then?”

I stared at him, my expression clearly expecting an answer. But the Duke offered me no explanation at all.

The next evening, a priest visited the Ducal manor. It was the same priest I’d seen when Theo had burned up the wardrobe. But the moment he stepped into the study, he scrunched his features together into a sour, tearful face.

“Your Excellency. With all due respect, let me speak plainly. I told you clearly that I wouldn’t do this. How in the world did you sweet-talk the High Priest?”

“So. Are you going to do it or not?”

“……I will.”

I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed the Duke had pulled some strings with the Temple. If this was the result of state authority, I had a feeling it was closer to coercion than persuasion. The priest, having thoroughly twisted up his face, turned to look at me.

“I did say this was dangerous……”

“I’m sorry.”

I answered, staring at his potato-mashed expression.

“Could that possession thing be done by someone else instead? Can’t I take their place?”

That was when the Duke cut in.

“No. Come now, you told me it was dangerous……”

“You couldn’t do it, Your Excellency. The constitution for being possessed is something one is born with. And besides, you possess Divine Power yourself, don’t you?”

The priest again composed his face neatly and shook his head.

“Divine Power?”

“Divine Power inherently has a force that repels souls. And it’s a power that operates from within. So even if another soul tried to enter someone with Divine Power, it would ultimately be pushed right back out of the body. On the other hand, you, Madam Secretary, have no Divine Power, and seem to have a constitution that makes possession quite easy.”

“…….”

At the priest’s words, the Duke seemed to ponder for a moment, then soon opened his mouth again.

“……Simply exorcising that soul could be a solution too, couldn’t it?”

What? Huh? Excuse me? Wha— Wait. Hold on. What did he just say?

I had no choice but to drill my gaze into his face once more. The Duke clearly felt my stare, but simply pretended not to notice.

‘That maid hasn’t even become an evil spirit yet…….’

An uneasy feeling crept over me. Of course, just exorcising the soul would be a simple and clean finish. Even so, my heart hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Isn’t helping the soul ascend as much as possible the best way?

“According to doctrine, we must not exorcise a soul with no tainted energy. As one who follows the divine, I can never do what doctrine does not permit. That’s something I won’t do no matter how much Your Excellency coer— …ah, requests.”

The priest stressed the word ‘won’t’ with strong emphasis. Fortunately, he didn’t seem likely to yield any further than this. Thanks to that, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief inside.

“Understood.”

The Duke answered in a subdued voice. His expression, at a glance, was calm.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but it turned out well regardless. Now he would surely think that there was no other way but for me to be possessed.

After that, we waited until late afternoon when the ghosts usually appeared. I sat at the desk in the study, watching the sunlight die beyond the window. The moment the last of it bled out, the maid ghost materialized beside me.

“……Hello.”

I gave her an awkward greeting. She answered with a slow nod — just once.

“If… if you don’t mind, would you come into me and show me your memories? I want to help you ascend.”

This time, she tilted her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“…….”

I asked, but of course she gave no answer.

“I don’t think she understands you.”

The priest seated across from me said flatly.

Was that it? Maybe this woman had lost both her ears and tongue in some accident during life.

I raised both index fingers and gestured between the maid and myself — come inside me. She still couldn’t grasp my intent. Frustration mounting, I made my motions bigger and bigger, until finally I was flapping my arms with all my strength.

“Pfft.”

I heard the priest snickering. I whipped around and shot him a sharp glare. He quickly covered his mouth with both hands and shook his head in denial.

Like that helps. I heard you laughing just fine…

The duke, seated beside the priest, had turned his face sharply away. His shoulders trembled faintly — he was definitely laughing at me too.

Damn. I’ve become a clown… I thought my life was a tragedy, but it’s a comedy.

I looked back at the maid ghost. Her eyes were wide as she met my gaze. Her reaction suggested my bizarre antics were more fascinating than funny.

Ha…

I raised my hand again, slowly, making the same come-here gesture. But the maid only tilted her head once more.

{──── ─── ──── ──

Then the duke’s voice cut in, saying something. I couldn’t understand him, but the maid ghost gave a faint smile. She leaned her upper body toward me and pressed close. Her forehead touched mine, and I felt a chill seep in.

My vision blackened like smoke billowing up. When I opened my eyes again, a middle-aged man with red hair was pushing me into a dark space. I… no, the maid ghost in her living days, cried out to him in a trembling voice.

{─── ────

…A foreign language.

A foreigner! I couldn’t understand a single word!

Judging by the pronunciation, that unrecognizable tongue seemed to be Krentis. And thinking back, what the duke had said before the possession was Krentis too. From context, he must have been explaining to the maid ghost that I was trying to possess her.

“Then you should have interpreted for me before sneering at me… I don’t speak Krentis!”

In my turmoil, I stared at the man before me. His face had sunk into a melancholy stillness as he pressed his index finger to his lips. The gesture flowed past my vision in slow motion.

Shh. Quiet.

That was what he seemed to be saying.

He slammed the door shut. The maid ghost was trapped in that cramped space where she couldn’t even straighten her body. She pounded the door with both fists, screaming something, then scraped at it with her fingertips. But it had become an unyielding wall, refusing to budge another inch.

She let her arms drop limp. It seemed she’d given up trying to escape. I could see moisture welling beneath her eyes.

Click—

Then footsteps. The sound of iron-shod boots striking the floor. She pressed her eye to a sliver of light escaping through the crack in the door. Before polished dress shoes, someone in armor strode into view. The owners of those two pairs of feet were locked in conversation—harsh, impassioned voices sharpening into blades that cut at each other.

The armored figure took a step back. Then came a whistling sound, like the air itself splitting open. A middle-aged man crashed to the floor with a heavy thud. His pallid face entered her field of vision. His unfocused eyes wouldn’t even close.

Sticky blood pooled around him, spreading outward. The armored figure nudged the man’s head with his toe, as if confirming he was truly dead. When the man didn’t move, he lowered his sword. A diagonal groove was carved into the blade’s edge. Blood dripped along that groove, falling to the ground.

Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart pounded loud in my ears.

The maid ghost stumbled backward. Her body trembled, her gaze shaking with it. She turned and crawled along the floor of that narrow space. After moving for a long while, she reached a space large enough to stretch out in, and after walking even longer, she found stairs leading upward.

She staggered up the steps, pushed open the small door at the top, and stepped outside. The night was deep and black, and the air smelled of damp grass, like rain had just fallen. Looking around, she was in a wide clearing. And in the distance, a massive mansion was engulfed in flames. That must have been where she’d escaped from.

The maid ghost stood staring blankly at the burning manor, then spun and ran. But her long dress hem snagged underfoot again and again, sending her sprawling. Each time she swallowed a sob, held her breath, and hauled herself back up.

Her outfit was impossibly cumbersome — elaborate, heavy with ornament, the sort of dress that marked its wearer as someone who had never been a maid. She must have been the young lady of that burning house.

She blinked, and the scene changed. Now she sat at a worn table, sewing. Hands that had perhaps never known hardship were covered in scars and calluses.

A sudden crash. She turned toward the sound. Two rough-faced men kicked the door to splinters and stormed into the room. The maid ghost flinched back, but they paid her no mind — they simply grabbed her by the hair.

“Aaaah!”

Her sharp cry didn’t stop them. They dragged her outside, shoved her into a carriage waiting before a shabby hut, and drove off without a word.