Chapter 89

Chapter 89

“You know. There’s someone I’m curious about — how they’re doing.”

She rested both arms on the edge of the pond and spoke.

“Who is it?”

“His name is Luka. No surname. He was street-born.”

“Hmm… Any other information?”

“Luka was my manservant from the time I was young. Even after I married, I brought him with me into my husband’s household. I thought life there wouldn’t be any fun without him.”

“He must have been someone you cherished.”

“Yes. I loved him dearly.”

“…”

At that, I froze, my body stiffening. I couldn’t tell whether the love she spoke of was simple affection or something more — romantic.

“It’s nothing much. Just my one-sided feelings. I was already married then… So… That’s all it was.”

She let out a short laugh, as if she’d read my thoughts. I could only nod silently in response. Piecing it together, it was this: already a married woman, she’d fallen into a love that couldn’t be acknowledged — an unrequited love, directed at her own manservant.

“…So, you want to know if he’s doing well?”

I asked her hesitantly, my question feeling awkward — prying into a failed love story. For her part, she answered affirmatively, as if it were nothing unusual.

“Yes. I’m curious about him. I wonder if he’s happy now. I hope he is.”

It was a smaller task than I’d expected. And tracking down one person couldn’t be that difficult, really.

“Then… would you like me to look into it for you?”

“Really?! You will?!”

Her voice rang out, brimming with excitement at my words. It wasn’t exactly a monumental favor, but she was genuinely overjoyed.

“Thank you so much! I’d love to go find her myself, but I can’t leave the water… I suppose dying in it trapped me here. If I’d known, I’d have chosen to die on dry land. Picked the wrong option, didn’t I?”

She kept talking, and I caught something strange woven into her words.

‘Picked the wrong option?’

She spoke as if she’d had a choice in her own death. There was only one explanation for that.

‘Wait—did she kill herself?’

* * *

〈7/11. Heard Karina is dead. They say her own manservant murdered her. She was always kind and gentle to her subordinates. I’m confused.〉

My eyes widened as I read the unexpected entry in the Madam’s notebook. I traced the words at the top of the page again.

〈Karina Bandark〉

It matched the name of the pond ghost the Duke had told me. But that made no sense. Hadn’t she said she’d killed herself? A suicide couldn’t also be a murder victim. Two deaths for one life was impossible. That was only logical.

〈7/12. They said the manservant who killed Karina would hang in the plaza. I went to see him. Only then did I learn his name was Luka. There’s no way Luka killed Karina. Something is clearly wrong. I tried to stop the execution, but it was too late. In the end, Luka’s neck was hanged. And Luka’s soul attached itself to the Levan Bandark who was there.〉

*Luka? That’s Luka?*

I froze solid. At this point, I wondered if this man Luka might have been framed, wrongfully accused.

What’s more, according to the dates, he was executed just one day after news of Madame Bandark’s death broke. As was typical for commoners accused of crimes against nobles, he hadn’t even received a proper trial. Maybe he never even got a chance to clear his name.

〈7/13. Attended Karina’s funeral. Her body was there, but not her soul. She must have ascended. A relief.〉

〈8/22. Attended House Bandark’s event. It was surely just a ceremonial invitation, but I went anyway. While looking around Karina’s room, I saw her submerged in the pond. My God. She didn’t ascend.〉

〈10/2. The pond in the estate was finished.〉

〈10/12. Rain came down like a storm. The ground was flooded—today was the only chance. I said I’d left something behind during the event and went back to House Bandark. That was how I brought Karina.〉

〈10/14. Karina asked me to look into Luka’s whereabouts. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth.〉

I had to stop reading there. So this was why Madam couldn’t help her friend ascend. She simply couldn’t speak the truth to this friend who only wanted Luka’s happiness.

That was a damn awkward thing. If this was real, I wasn’t sure I could tell the pond ghost the truth either.

Knock. Knock.

That’s when it happened. A short rap of knuckles came from outside the study door. A moment later, the butler threw it open and stepped inside—but despite the late-summer heat, he had gloves on both hands and a scarf pulled up to the bridge of his nose.

“A few letters have arrived.”

He walked up to the duke and spoke. The scarf muffled his voice, making it sound quite hollow.

“Where from?”

The duke asked him in a flat tone. Unlike me, he didn’t seem to give a damn about the butler’s bizarre getup.

“Sir. One is from…”

The butler was acting like nothing was off, lifting both letters in his hands as if to read off the senders. But then the cat suddenly leaped up and burrowed into his chest. At the same time, one of the envelopes fluttered down to the floor.

“Huh?”

I got up from my seat and looked down at the fallen letter. I could just make out the imperial family’s seal stamped at the envelope’s edge.

“Ah, this must have come by mistake.”

The butler scooped it up in an instant. Then he quickly crumpled it and stuffed it into his breast pocket.

“No—that’s from the Imperial…”

I flinched at how roughly he handled a letter from the Imperial Family and blurted out.

“It came by mistake, that’s right. I’ll have to send it back.”

But the butler paid me no mind. He just handed the remaining letter to the duke, cradled the cat, and walked back to the door.

“Nabi must have been a nuisance. I’ll take her out.”

Then he left the room with the cat.

What the hell…?

I stood there dumbfounded. So I pointed at the door the butler had vanished through and turned to the duke.

“Your Grace—the butler just crumpled up a letter from the Imperial Family, didn’t he?”

“It came by mistake.”

“But the imperial seal was…”

“The Imperial Family must have sent it wrongly.”

The two of them seemed like they were hiding something from me. I had to wonder if that imperial letter contained something I wasn’t meant to know. But nothing else came to mind.

“Probably nothing,” I muttered. “What would the imperial family have to do with me anyway… It could just be a mistake.”

The butler’s awkward reaction had bothered me, I’ll admit, but I let it go. If they truly meant to hide something, they must have had a reason. So I didn’t press.

Meanwhile, the Duke tore open the envelope he’d been handed and slid the letter free.

“Laura. I had someone look into this man Luka. The report’s come in.”

He fixed his gaze on the thick sheet of stationery, speaking without looking up.

“What does it say?” I asked.

“He was hanged for the murder of Madam Bandark.”

“Ah. That’s the same thing the madam’s notebook said.”

I’d half-expected it, but still—nothing had changed. Luka had been framed and executed; that was the truth.

“I don’t know how to tell her this.”

I bit my lip, bitter. News this grim wouldn’t loosen the pond ghost’s lingering regret. It seemed all but certain that I couldn’t help her ascend.

“Just tell her we couldn’t find anything. There’s no other way, it seems.”

“Do you think that’s right…?” I asked.

“The truth might backfire on us.”

“I suppose… Still, I’m worried. If we handle it this way, she might never ascend…”

“…Laura. You don’t have to—no, don’t even think about ascending every soul in this place.”

That came out of nowhere. I blinked at him, puzzled.

“Why not?”

“As I’ve told you before, I didn’t hire you to ascend this manor’s ghosts.”

“But it’s something I can do. And it’d be better for Cuvershaiden to be free of them…”

This wasn’t just for the ghosts—it was for the Duke, too. If I could send them all on, he wouldn’t have to startle at spirits popping up out of nowhere anymore. The weary shadows under his eyes might even fade. This was as much for him as for anyone.

“I know. I know you mean well when you help them ascend. That’s why I haven’t stopped you until now. To be honest, I don’t want to say anything you might resent.”

His voice had turned earnest. I lifted my eyes to his face.

“But when you collapsed at the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet, it got me thinking. You don’t have to push yourself that hard. Don’t worry about the souls here so much.”

“…But if any of them became an evil spirit…”

“That old man in the Imperial Castle had been there since the founding, and he never turned. It doesn’t seem like ghosts always become evil spirits. No need to fret in advance.”

The Duke finished and flipped the letter in his hand, fluttering it at me like a casual wave.

“The investigation results came back exactly like this. So now that things have come to this, say that Madame Bandark had no information at all about that man named Luka. Or alternatively, you could lie and say he’s doing well… Just forget about it like that.”