Chapter 35

Chapter 35

True to his heroic reputation, a crowd gathered for Adrein’s funeral. I dropped a single white flower into his coffin, as was the custom. It fluttered down, brushed softly against his cheek, and settled there lightly.

Buried in flowers, Adrein looked utterly peaceful. The face that had been a ruin of blood had been wiped clean, his clothes changed into fresh ones. But his soul, frozen in the moment of death, still stood there drenched in gore, staring down at his own body.

It wasn’t yet time for ghosts to appear, but he stood there alone beside his own casket. His lingering energy must have been strong enough to make him visible to my eyes already.

I pretended not to see him, stepped back, and quickly fell in beside the Duke. Then I watched as the people lined up behind me dropped flowers into the coffin one by one. Adrein watched them too, in silence.

After a moment of quiet, he lifted his head and glanced across the distance at Sir Dylan, who stood in the mourner’s place. Dylan, meanwhile, stared back at his father’s empty shell, his face heavy with gloom.

And so the picture was set: the father’s soul watching his son, the son watching his father’s vacant body. They were looking at each other, yet neither could see the other. It struck me as terribly sad.

As the night grew late, other ghosts began to show themselves. Those who had clung to Adrein in life appeared one by one, filling the temple. But their number had dwindled from eight to four. Like the maid ghost, some must have been satisfied by Adrein’s death and ascended. Those who weren’t still lingered near him.

They fixed him with cold, hateful stares. He must have felt their eyes on him, but he simply ignored them.

Then, without warning, one of the ghosts lunged at Sir Dylan. At the same moment, the chandelier above Dylan’s head began to tremble. Strangely, only that single fixture among the many shook violently. Soon the iron ring holding it snapped with a crack, and the chandelier plummeted.

— Shatter —

The chandelier crashed to the floor just inches from Dylan. A flash of sparks erupted for an instant. Luckily, the fire caught nothing and died out quickly, but it had been a near miss—a disaster barely averted.

The sudden accident plunged the temple into a silence as chilling as a bucket of ice water. Sir Dylan didn’t flinch; he just stared down at the fallen chandelier. Priests scrambled toward him, flustered and apologetic.

{——— ——————

{———

Sir Dylan responded calmly as the priests stammered their apologies for failing to maintain the temple properly.

And I fixed my gaze on Adrein, standing behind Sir Dylan. That chandelier had clearly been meant to fall on Dylan’s head. But Adrein had drifted to his son’s side and altered its trajectory in the nick of time.

When Adrein came back into my view, his face was already spotless—not a trace of blood left. On top of that, he was dressed neatly in the white uniform Krentis knights wore, his sharp features carrying a heavy, dignified aura. It was the complete image of a general. Because of that, he seemed to radiate an aura that made you afraid to approach him.

The ghost that had tried to attack Sir Dylan, cowed by Adrein’s presence, could do nothing more. He glared coldly at the father and son, then quietly vanished.

That ghost’s practically become an evil spirit, hasn’t it? So his grudge isn’t satisfied with just Adrein’s death, so he’s going after his son…?

Even so, his revenge hadn’t succeeded right away. But if he had truly become an evil spirit with nothing but a grudge left, he would constantly try to exact his vengeance from now on.

“Do you understand what just happened?”

The duke, who had been watching the whole series of events with me, asked.

“Probably… Adrein has attached himself to his son and become his guardian spirit.”

I kept my eyes fixed on Adrein, who stood guarding his son’s back, and spoke. Yes. He’d attached himself to Sir Dylan. And he was blocking the resentment that should have been his own to bear.

“It seems he’s protecting the son who killed him.”

The Duke murmured in a low voice.

Huh? What the hell is he talking about?

“What?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“……No……. Why? Sir Dylan adored his father. He seemed so proud of him…….”

And a son killing his own father—how was anyone supposed to make sense of that…….

“I don’t know what was in his heart when he did it. But that poison Adrein drank—I recognize the kind. Taken steadily over a long time, it slowly weakens the body. When death finally comes, it can be passed off as a long illness.”

“So someone close to him…… must have been feeding it to him all along……?”

“Exactly. And the decisive point is that poison doesn’t behave like a normal one. On the surface, it shows no symptoms under ordinary circumstances. But when Adrein collapsed so suddenly, he said he suspected poison. There’s no other way to put it—he knew from the start.”

The duke’s brow furrowed slightly. Now that he thought about it, Sir Dylan had simply killed the maid who brought the teacup, without any interrogation. It seemed obvious there had to be a mastermind behind it all.

Then why had he killed her? The duke couldn’t find a motive. The man had genuinely seemed to love his father.

“Anyway, I wonder if my son knows that his own hand killed me.”

The duke spun on his heel as he spoke. Normally a man who kept his emotions tightly leashed, this time his tone was unmistakably laced with distaste.

“No need to drag things out here any longer. I’ve attended the funeral—I’ll head back before it gets too late. Tell the people of House Krentarion to pack your things.”

“Yes….”

I nodded in response to his words.

Not long after, the carriage of House Cuvershaiden arrived outside the temple. We decided to board it at once and return straight to Luision.

“It must have been sudden. Thank you for filling in on such short notice.”

Sir Dylan had come out to see us off, his tone courteous.

“Yes. We have matters to attend to, so we’ll take our leave now.”

“Travel safely, Your Grace. And you, young lady, take care on your way back. I look forward to seeing you again.”

He turned his gaze to me this time as he spoke. I glanced briefly at Adrein, who was radiating a weighty presence behind Sir Dylan, then looked back at Sir Dylan.

“Yes… I look forward to seeing you again, too.”

With that, we turned to head toward where the carriage was waiting. But then the Duke faltered for a moment, looked back at Sir Dylan, and slowly opened his mouth.

“But why did you do it?”

“……Do what, exactly?”

Sir Dylan asked back.

“It doesn’t make sense. You loved your father. That your policies differed from his was never an issue. After all, as his only son, wouldn’t you naturally inherit his position in time?”

The Duke was questioning Sir Dylan. But it wasn’t really a question for him. Through Sir Dylan, he was letting Adrein know what he had done.

‘Your own son killed you.’

Whether the intent landed or not, Adrein, who had been standing silently, furrowed his brow sharply and glared at the Duke.

“Why did you do it?”

A sudden chill cut through the air. I shrank back and lifted my head slightly. There, right in front of me, was Adrein’s face, twisted in fury.

“……Ha… Hah.”

Sir Dylan let out a hollow laugh, then quickly glanced around. Confirming no one was nearby, he turned to us and smiled broadly.

“I figured you might have caught on, but I didn’t expect you to put it so bluntly!”

His usually immaculate politeness unraveled like a loose screw.

“…….”

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I truly am terribly saddened by my father’s death. But it couldn’t be helped. Everything I intend to implement once I become Marquis will take time. A lifetime might not even be enough, you know? And I’ll need to undo all the wrongheaded policies my father left behind.”

He continued in a voice like a whisper. And Adrein, who must have heard every word of our conversation, was radiating a terrifying aura, as if ready to devour. I grew anxious, afraid that in his rage he might turn into an evil spirit.

“Well, I understand your sense of ethics, Duke. Yes, that’s the usual way of things. So I imagine you don’t approve of me, but I trust you’ll keep public and private matters clearly separate. You want Luision to move in a better direction too, don’t you?”

He stepped back and dipped his head in a bow, composing himself with renewed formality.

“Next time, I’ll visit Luision as the Marquis of Krentis. Well then — I mustn’t be away from my post too long, so I’ll take my leave now. Miss Highen, I look forward to seeing you again.”

Sir Dylan turned as if to go. I quickly glanced at Adrein. His face was dark. He looked furious.

Right. It made sense — his own son had killed him…

But even so, Adrein wasn’t doing anything. Instead, he was gradually calming the dreadful aura that had been swirling around him.

Knowing everything, he still lingered behind his son. It seemed he intended to remain as his guardian spirit.

Even though the boy had killed him…

I stood dumbly, watching Sir Dylan head back to the temple and Adrein guarding his back.

“But even so — what wrong did he do to make him kill him?”

“In his youth, Adrein eliminated the Crown Prince’s faction for the imperial family. Then he elevated his father to Emperor. The Crown Prince had done nothing wrong. It was simply necessary. Dylan Krentarion was the same. Necessary.”

The Duke answered calmly.

Murder for the sake of an end, cascading down. A sickening burn coiled in my gut.

But even so, he was still a father.

“…Either way, that’s still a son, isn’t it? Adrein stayed as his son’s guardian spirit.”

“Unfathomable. Killed because of him, and yet he guards his side.”

He murmured it to himself.

“Let’s go back now, Laura.”

The Duke turned and climbed into the carriage. I hurried after him. Then I caught a flicker — black smoke of a ghost rippling behind his back.