Chapter – 86
“Isn’t that the village where ghosts are said to appear?”
“A ghost?”
Lamia, who had been absent both times the rumors about the ghost village came up while Solomon’s judgment was being recorded, frowned deeply and demanded an explanation.
“Well, you see, according to rumors that have been circulating in the capital lately…”
As Heidel began his story, Asilie felt her vision grow dim.
‘I’ll handle the Crown Prince. I’ve heard a rather interesting rumor, you see.’
She definitely remembered him saying that.
At the time, she’d only half-listened, thinking it was just some excuse to keep the Crown Prince occupied.
But hearing it now, the way the story had been told was so engaging that it was no surprise the Crown Prince had gotten hooked.
The real problem was that he hadn’t just been distracted—he’d become so absorbed that he now seemed ready to die of restlessness if he didn’t personally involve himself in the matter.
She’d wondered why, ever since the day they’d gone to the cliff, he hadn’t once tried to question or investigate where she’d been.
If he’d heard such an intriguing story, it made sense.
When Lamia finished listening, she tilted her head, her small head swaying from side to side.
“So you’re saying we should go catch this ghost? Why?”
Before Heidel could answer, the Crown Prince quickly cut in.
“Attending to the hardships of the Empire’s people is one of the essential virtues of an emperor.”
The moment he finished speaking, a heavy silence fell.
All eyes turned toward the Crown Prince. After a brief pause—
Heidel let out a hollow laugh, his expression utterly dumbfounded, and Asilie barely managed to grab the back of the sheer absurdity that was trying to pack up and run away.
Since when had the Crown Prince ever cared about things like that?
It was ridiculous—but the justification he’d given was so upright and proper that no one could easily refute it.
The Crown Prince tapped his chest lightly, then pointed at Ludwig.
“The Grand Duke can’t exactly avoid his duty either, can he?”
Judging by his confident expression and tone, it seemed he’d already forgotten everything that had just been said about the North.
Well, people like him were never known for remembering their own mistakes—or anything inconvenient.
Even when fault was obvious, he’d probably just waved it off as a “misunderstanding.”
Come to think of it, that had actually happened before.
He’d pushed Sebastian of House Bolsheik to the brink of death and dismissed it as nothing more than a “misunderstanding.”
Asilie swallowed the bile rising in her throat.
It felt as though all the fatigue she’d accumulated until now was crashing down on her at once.
She reached up and brushed against Ludwig’s hand, which was still covering her eyes.
As her fingers traced his thick knuckles, a lukewarm breath escaped her lips.
“Ludwig.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s rest. In that village.”
Arguing with the Crown Prince any further would only increase her exhaustion.
And claiming she was tired or that it wasn’t her problem wouldn’t work—the justification he’d presented was simply too solid.
Hearing the weariness in her voice, Heidel closed his mouth, which he’d been about to open again.
“Great! Then it’s settled.”
Though he received no applause, the Crown Prince nodded in satisfaction, pleased that his opinion had prevailed.
Whatever his true feelings might have been, he smiled brightly at Asilie—who had at least agreed—and offered what might have been meant as consolation.
“I know you’re tired, but once we resolve this ghost incident and see how happy the villagers are, you’ll feel completely refreshed.”
At that, Asilie was truly at a loss for words.
Did he really think that just because he said that, she’d feel that way?
Or was he trying to assert some kind of moral superiority—implying that if she didn’t feel refreshed, she’d be a terrible person?
Either way, she had no desire to engage.
Since the Crown Prince hadn’t ordered her to respond, Asilie decided to ignore him entirely.
She let out a long breath and rested the back of her head against Ludwig’s back.
The familiar warmth and scent gradually soothed her frayed nerves.
In a voice so small only Ludwig could hear, she whispered,
“Since he got his way, he’ll quiet down now, right?”
“…Hard to say.”
It was an ambiguous answer—and before long, she would understand exactly what he meant.
Because the Crown Prince didn’t stop talking after that.
“Not long ago, I saw a child, still so young, holding a dagger with yellow eyes…”
He began to endlessly recount the pitiful lives and suffering of the Empire’s people that he’d seen, heard, and felt after leaving the imperial palace.
He likely wanted to justify their journey to help a village no one welcomed—the “ghost village.”
Naturally, every story ended with how he had saved them.
Even good things lose their charm when repeated too often.
Forced to listen to one dull, uninteresting, and emotionally empty story after another, Asilie suddenly realized something.
So this was why protagonists in novels, movies, dramas, and games always went out of their way to get involved in trouble.
“I think my ears are going to start bleeding.”
At her muttered words, a faint vibration ran through Ludwig’s body.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious—my ears hurt.”
With the hand not holding the reins, Ludwig gently rubbed one of her ears.
Leaning her cheek into his large, dry palm, Asilie let out a deep sigh from the bottom of her heart.
She might not have been the protagonist, but if someone kept talking like that beside her before taking on a job, she’d probably accept it as quickly as possible just to shut them up.
Realizing the mindset of a protagonist she’d never wanted to understand, Asilie swallowed a hollow laugh.
After all—
Though the fact had grown hazy over time, wasn’t that Crown Prince the protagonist of this novel?
Ah… so because he was the protagonist, he was destined to charge headfirst into every incident?
It was a surprisingly reasonable explanation for the way his eyes gleamed madly as he insisted they had to stop by that village and uncover the truth behind the ghost.
“No way.”
Asilie shook her head with an uncertain expression.
This world being a novel had only mattered up until the moment she’d met Ludwig in her dreams.
Now that the world she once thought was fiction had become the reality beneath her feet, she couldn’t simply assume things would continue to follow the novel’s plot.
If everything really was proceeding according to the novel, then what was she?
Why had someone who wasn’t a character in the story suddenly ended up here?
“How stupid.”
Though the thought reached that far, Asilie soon shook her head again.
Thinking about it wouldn’t give her any answers.
If it was the will of a god, she wouldn’t know until that god chose to speak.
If it was fate, searching for a reason would be laughable.
And if it was coincidence, then there was no reason to find in the first place.
Asilie closed her eyes.
“I just want to deal with this ghost or whatever as quickly as possible and go home.”
The word home that surfaced behind her closed eyelids was the Calient Ducal Estate—and by now, she didn’t even feel the slightest sense of discomfort at that.
* * *
At the very moment the Crown Prince began talking about the “ghost village”—
Another piercing scream echoed through that very village.
“AAAAAH!”
This time, it was a boy who had gone to store straw in the warehouse. His face pale as a sheet, he came tumbling out as if rolling along the ground.
Flailing his arms wildly, the boy shouted,
“A ghost! A ghost!”
After calming the boy, who was far too shaken, the villagers soon gathered and headed for the warehouse together.
—Creeeak.
The grating sound of rusted hinges scraped at their nerves, but only one out of the five even flinched.
—Step. Step.
—Rustle.
Footsteps and the dry sound of crushed straw echoed chaotically as they searched the warehouse.
“Hey, you find anything?”
“Nothing!”
The one who’d flinched at the door shouted with a scowl, and an answer came from somewhere farther away.
“Nothing here either!”
The man who shouted “nothing” quietly picked something up from the floor and slipped it into his pocket—but no one noticed.
“There’s nothing at all.”
Another voice rang out as its owner casually brushed away faint traces on the floor, erasing them completely. No one noticed that either.
“Guess the ghost ran off while we weren’t looking?”
The man who muttered that lightly covered a pile of straw with clear impressions pressed into it with fresh straw.
Again—no one noticed.
Before long, the five left the warehouse empty-handed.
The one who had flinched earlier glanced back at the building and spat out a curse.
“Damn warehouse. We should just tear it down.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Do you know how hard it’d be to tear it down and rebuild?”
“Why would we destroy something we’re using just fine?”
The harsh responses to his frustrated remark left him staring blankly at the others.
“I just meant… since a ghost keeps showing up…”
“Enough. Let’s just go back.”
Before he could finish, the other four walked off, leaving him behind.
After a moment, he shook his head and followed.
He never noticed anything strange about their reactions.
The story of the ghost the boy had seen spread through the village in an instant.
“Again?”
“Yes, this time it was the kid from the house behind…”
“Some people see it, some don’t.”
“That’s the thing…”
Whenever villagers gathered, they whispered about the ghost—but nothing was ever certain.
