Chapter 41

Chapter 41

“Ah, no! It’s final. You can’t just change your mind!”

“…….”

I quickly waved my hands. He just stared at me silently, without giving a clear answer.

Wait, wait. Why are you like this…

“You need me, don’t you? I could still help send all the ghosts in Cuvershaiden into ascension…”

“What?”

“Like with the headless ghost—if they can’t speak, reading their memories is the only way.”

“Laura. Hang on, just a moment.”

At my words, he pressed a hand to his forehead as if his head was starting to ache.

“I told you clearly earlier, didn’t I? That you need to be careful enough. So I said we should avoid any possession, didn’t I?”

He had said that, but wasn’t that only because Ren was standing right there in front of us?

“But still… then how am I supposed to help them ascend…?”

“You don’t need to. You weren’t hired to ascend them in the first place.”

Of course, that was true. I had nominally come in as his secretary. But that didn’t mean I actually did secretary work either.

“……But they could turn into evil spirits.”

“What if a spirit possessing you, like when you were young, turns out to be an evil spirit? What would you do then?”

“I could stop it before that happened…”

“Now I see exactly why your younger sibling worries. You’re certainly stubborn.”

“Then will you just let them become evil spirits?”

“That’s none of your concern. I won’t have you doing anything dangerous.”

Ah… so what exactly is the reason I’m needed? Is it just that I can see ghosts?

Of course, the Duke had hired me solely because I could see ghosts. I would sit idly by his side, spending tedious hours, and whenever a ghost appeared, my job was to be scared along with him.

It seemed to serve him as a kind of sedative, but my position was different. I didn’t welcome the time passing by like that; it was boring. It also made me uneasy, as if I was receiving a huge monthly salary for work that wasn’t worth that much.

So only after I started helping ghosts ascend did I finally feel that my work had gained proper meaning. Helping souls reincarnate and preventing evil spirits from attaching themselves to the Cuvershaiden estate—wasn’t that quite significant?

But to the Duke, the fact that I could see ghosts might have been all that really mattered…

“What’s wrong?”

The Duke asked. It seemed my complicated feelings had leaked onto my face.

“It’s nothing…”

“Are you sure?”

“……I know you’re worried about me. I understand everything.”

Anyway, I knew he was concerned for me. So I couldn’t stubbornly insist that I absolutely had to go through with the possession. I would just faithfully play my role as his sedative, as he wanted, and that would be that.

“By the way, your younger sibling must still be angry.”

The Duke seemed to study me for a moment, then quickly changed the subject.

“Don’t worry about Ren. He’s a child who usually listens to me well.”

I shook my head as I answered.

“Still, have a long talk with your sibling. Since you’ll have to go back, you need enough conversation.”

“Yes. I will.”

After that, we exchanged goodnights and parted ways. I walked down the corridor to return to my room. Then, on a whim, I changed direction and decided to go find Ren. As the Duke said, it would be good to talk things over with him.

“Ren.”

I called the second child’s name as I opened his door. But Ren wasn’t there. I began to look around the room more carefully. Soon I spotted a silhouette outside on the terrace attached to the room. It was Ren. The kid hadn’t answered my call; he just sat there on the terrace, sulking.

Honestly. Such a cute brat….

“Ren.”

I called him again as I opened the terrace door.

“Hey. Look at me.”

But my second brother still didn’t turn around. He just sat silently on the bench, staring out at the garden. I shrugged at his petulant behavior and walked over to stand beside him.

“I don’t like that Duke guy.”

Ren said it flatly.

“They say you can curse a king behind his back, but the Duke is literally inside our house right now?”

“Noona. Are you really going back to the ducal mansion? With the ghosts there? And not just one of those smoke-like ghosts, either. You said so yourself. Then I’ll be so worried I won’t sleep a wink. Your little brother might just collapse from it, you know?”

“That’s a pretty cute threat.”

I laughed softly and reached out with both hands, messing up his hair like I was petting him.

“And besides, I’m the one who wants to stay at the ducal mansion? The Duke just said he wouldn’t fire me carelessly. So what’s this about you not liking him?”

“But… I can’t hate my own noona…”

“What? Honestly. You’re ridiculous. …Hey. Ren. I’m not going to do that possession stuff anymore. So don’t worry. That thing from when we were kids isn’t going to happen again. It was just that one time, right?”

“…….”

“And even if I did get possessed, the Duke can pull the ghost out of me. Actually, he has a trace of divine power too.”

“I hate that ‘even if’ talk too. It still assumes it could happen, doesn’t it? Is it because the ducal house pays a lot? We could just pool our money and live together even if you earned less — there’d be no problem. Can’t you just quit that place?”

Ren said it with a pout. Looked like this little heart-to-heart wasn’t working to ease his feelings.

“Ren. I don’t think we can live well just by ourselves. Besides, we can’t stay here forever. Eventually we have to live out in society. I’m planning to send all of you to the academy. You can learn to paint in the art department. Then instead of drawing small portraits like now, you could take commissions from noble houses and paint big pieces. Lucia’s smart, so if she studies, she could become a tutor. If you broaden your knowledge that way, your world will expand too.”

“I’m too old to enroll in the academy anyway.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t go. If I save up more money and get you in soon…”

“I’m not going. Not with money you earned from the ducal house.”

What the hell. This brat.

I raised my hand and smacked Ren on the crown of his head with my palm heel. As the eldest daughter, I have a duty to regularly straighten out my younger siblings’ attitudes.

“I’m slaving away as your guardian, and you can’t even do this one thing for me?”

“No… I mean. Stop slaving away, then.”

“But it’s my wish. Why not just grant it?”

“Don’t have wishes like that. Do something for yourself, not for us.”

Ren muttered back, avoiding my gaze.

“Ren. It’s not like that. I like Cuvershaiden. The Duke is a good person, and everyone in the ducal house is kind. I’ve been happy lately because of it. So this is for me too.”

“……”

“Got it? Then stop complaining.”

“……”

“Hey. Enough of that. Let’s talk about something else. How have you been? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

I perched my hip on the armrest of the bench and draped my arm over my second brother’s shoulder. But Ren just pouted with a dissatisfied expression.

“The others are okay, right? Has Roti learned all her letters yet? Is Lucia still catching colds often? You’re making sure you all eat every meal?”

“…We manage. I take care of the kids. I’ll be an adult soon anyway.”

Mmm…

At that, I smacked his crown again with a *thwack*.

This little brat’s getting cheeky.

“What was that for?”

Ren grabbed his head with both hands and said in an annoyed voice.

True to someone who said they’d be an adult soon, he didn’t cry. When he was little, he’d always burst into tears at times like this. Somehow, I found myself missing that.

“You know? When you were about five? Six? You were really cute back then.”

“What the hell.”

“But to think you’d grow up like this… How did this happen…”

“What did I do?! No, forget it. Instead, talk about yourself. How are things at the ducal house? You said everyone you met there was nice?”

Ren lowered his hands from his head and propped his chin on them, looking up at me with a crooked gaze.

“Mmm… There’s a very dapper butler at Cuvershaiden. He always keeps his beard well-trimmed. He exercises regularly, so he’s in good shape for his age? And he’s built. The ladies-in-waiting are all pretty lively too…”

I started to tell him about the connections I’d made at the Duke’s manor. I deliberately left out the stories about the ghosts I’d met there and the incident where I was possessed. I didn’t want to argue about something that would only make him worry.

Ren must have felt the same way, because he stopped asking about ghosts. He just nodded along and listened to my stories.

We talked that way until very late. It had been such a long time since we’d seen each other that our words wound on and on, chasing each other’s tails late into the night.

*Creak—*

But then, a sound like the floor groaning under pressure echoed from outside the corridor.

What was that?

It was a strange noise, one that shouldn’t have been heard at an hour when everyone was asleep.

“Ren, didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Uh… nothing. Guess I misheard.”

Even if she hadn’t misheard, wooden floors could shrink and expand with temperature shifts. It might’ve just been the boards knocking against each other.

“You’re being silly. It’s late—go to bed, *noona*. We’ll be up all night at this rate. I need to sleep too.”

Ren yawned long as he spoke. I’d napped in the carriage earlier, so I wasn’t sleepy yet, but it seemed best to let him—still growing—get some rest. I nodded and stood up.

“Good night.”

“Yeah. Sleep well. See you tomorrow.”

After exchanging goodbyes with Ren, I slipped out of the room and into the corridor, already swallowed by darkness. The unfamiliar gloom made me feel my way along the wall with one hand as I shuffled slowly toward my room. Then, suddenly, my thoughts drifted to the Duke.

Truth was, he was the kind of man who’d be treated like royalty wherever he went. Why wouldn’t he be? He was a Duke of the Empire. But he’d ended up visiting our house full of bratty kids and catching nothing but grief because of it.

Ryan had thrown up on his clothes, Roti had acted rudely, and Ren had even demanded he cut our older sister loose. All my siblings were good kids, but they had zero tact.

‘I’ll have to make him a killer breakfast tomorrow…’

I touched my chin, mulling over what decent menu I could offer to make up for the kids’ mistakes. And then it happened. A flash of light blazed through the corridor window.

‘Ah. Lightning.’

A rumble of thunder followed close behind.

‘Why’s the weather so bad today? Will the Duke even be able to return to Cuvershaiden tomorrow…?’

I threw a glance at the torrential rain hammering the window and quickened my steps. With each movement, the floor groaned and creaked underfoot.

Flash.

Another streak of light cut through the dark corridor, then receded. And in that instant, I caught a glimpse of something—a figure, like a person—out of the corner of my eye.