Chapter 5
The twins exchanged a startled glance, then, without anyone prompting them, nodded in unison.
Kezef wiped the smile from his face and asked,
“Are you certain?”
“I wasn’t, actually. But judging from your reactions, I guess I was right. Were you testing me?”
“It wasn’t a test. I only wanted to see whether you had the ability to solve the problem, Lady.”
Kezef inclined his head in apology, as though he hadn’t meant to be rude.
Adolph said something similar, didn’t he?
Isabel recalled the desperate undercurrent she had sensed in Adolph’s otherwise arrogant expression.
It seemed likely they had gone to countless soul handlers before her, trying to resolve their situation. And when no one could solve it, they had come all the way to her—a provincial detective.
“As you’ve guessed, His Majesty suffers from an illness in which his body is possessed by a ghost. We’ve tried every possible means to cure it, but nothing has worked.”
“…”
Isabel didn’t speak right away.
She’d handled many cases in the past, but possession by a ghost was a very rare one.
“As you’ve seen, His Majesty has too much pride to ever admit it. If he said something hurtful, I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
Now Isabel understood why Adolph had reacted the way he did.
He simply couldn’t accept that his body was possessed. Just as she had once been unable to accept that she was cursed.
“Lady Isabel.”
The polite address snapped her out of her thoughts.
“I’d like to officially request your help once more. Will you please exorcise the ghost possessing His Majesty’s body?”
“…”
Isabel was momentarily at a loss for words.
Up until now, she had only driven out ghosts that haunted houses or harassed people. A ghost possessing a living person was a completely different matter.
Possession usually involved intense obsession and fixation toward a particular person. Which meant that whatever was possessing Adolph was far from ordinary.
She’d faced something similar once before.
In Chapter 5 of the novel, The Ghost Beside Mrs. Chessor, Isabel had been approached by a client—the son of Mrs. Chessor—who asked her to help his mother, who seemed to see ghosts.
Mrs. Chessor refused all help, and the request fizzled out.
A short time later, she brutally murdered her new husband and took her own life.
It was such a big case it made front-page news.
Even now, people likely thought she had gone mad and killed her husband before ending her life. But Isabel knew the truth.
The real culprit was the ghost possessing Mrs. Chessor—her late husband.
Obsessed with his wife, he couldn’t bear the news of her remarriage, became a vengeful spirit, and possessed her to commit the murder.
A vengeful spirit that had lost its memories but retained only its obsession… their resentment was beyond imagining.
Isabel, who could see and touch ghosts but had no power to exorcise such spirits, had been badly injured then—broken ribs, a stab wound in her abdomen.
It had been the first time in her life she’d been so gravely hurt, and the first time she had truly felt fear.
“If you don’t help, His Majesty will not escape death. Please, save him.”
“What do you mean by that?”
While it was true a possessing spirit could become a vengeful ghost, the one in Adolph didn’t seem that far gone. At least, not from what she could see.
“I’m sorry, but I can only tell you the rest if you accept the request. As you know, this is a sensitive matter. I can’t reveal His Majesty’s flaws to someone I can’t trust.”
For a moment, Isabel’s brows twitched. She understood Kezef’s point, but there was something about his wording that didn’t sit right with her.
“Before I accept, I don’t understand why possession is being called a ‘flaw.’ This isn’t His Majesty’s fault, nor is it a shortcoming. He’s the victim. It’s not something he wanted.”
Her rapid-fire reply made Kezef’s eyes widen for a moment before returning to normal.
“…You’re right. That was poorly said.”
“I’m not asking for an apology. It’s just what I think.”
“You truly are thoughtful.”
A wry smile tugged at Kezef’s lips.
Then, as if he couldn’t wait any longer, he pressed,
“Lady, will you accept the request?”
“…”
There wasn’t much to deliberate on. Even if only to see the real ending of this unfinished novel, she had to take Adolph’s case.
As if I’d die from it, right?
Ignoring the unease gnawing at her, Isabel nodded.
“I accept.”
“…Thank you, truly!”
Kezef, looking tense moments earlier, grabbed both her hands in gratitude.
Even Hutman, who had been radiating irritation from the side, seemed faintly relieved.
“Haha… Now, if you could let go of my hands and tell me what’s going on?”
“Oh—my apologies.”
Kezef released her and cleared his throat.
“His Majesty has been ill since childhood. We only learned later that it was the work of a ghost.”
“What are the symptoms?”
Isabel picked up a notepad and pen from the table.
“He can turn aggressive, and on other days, cry all day. Then he’ll return to normal as if nothing happened. Sometimes, he speaks in several voices at once, holding conversations with himself.”
“…Several voices?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No. Nothing.”
There was something suspicious, but she decided to keep it to herself for now. No point in making things worse without proof.
As she jotted down the symptoms, a thought struck her.
“Come to think of it, His Majesty’s possession seems to occur suddenly—was there any common factor beforehand?”
“Perhaps it was around midnight?”
“…Yes, I think so. I remember hearing the clock chime.”
“Then that’s it. For some reason, he only loses control between midnight and dawn.”
Ah. So that was it.
Now she understood.
The one who had done those indecent things was the ghost in Adolph’s body. Which meant she had knocked out the intruder, not Adolph himself.
Perfect. That’s my excuse for surviving this.
Feigning thoughtfulness, Isabel covered her mouth to hide her smile. No way she’d let them see her grinning like that—it could shave years off her life.
“Lady, are you alright?”
“Sorry—sniff—I just suddenly thought of something sad.”
“My, you have a tender heart.”
Ugh, guilty conscience activated.
“Earlier, you said His Majesty might die. Could you explain why?”
“…”
Kezef hesitated, clearly reluctant to speak. That only piqued Isabel’s curiosity.
Then Hutman, who had been silently watching, ruffled his hair and cut in.
“I’ll tell her.”
“Hutman!”
“Be quiet. You hate bringing this up yourself.”
Shrugging Kezef’s hand off his arm, Hutman jerked his chin toward Isabel.
“Hey, you.”
“…What is it?”
And why are you speaking so informally to me?
From the moment they met, he’d been glaring, belittling her, and acting as though she were beneath him. What was his problem?
“Can you really cure His Majesty’s illness?”
“I can’t promise. But you came to me because you couldn’t find anyone else, didn’t you?”
Not wanting to back down, Isabel met his gaze squarely.
Apparently, she’d hit the mark. The ever-arrogant Hutman clicked his tongue and said something unbelievable.
“His Majesty’s body is practically a half-corpse already.”
“A… half-corpse?”
“Not everything is as it appears. Each time the ghost plays its tricks, his condition worsens.”
“…”
“He’s rotting away inside.”
Kezef rubbed his face and added,
“I’m sorry to say it, but it’s the truth.”
The words were almost too dreadful to listen to.
They told her he’d spent countless nights sleepless, feverish, plagued by nightmares. He couldn’t keep food down, vomiting nearly everything he ate.
The only reason he could even walk around was the ancient magic etched into his body, but even now, he was dying.
“I’m sorry you had to hear such unpleasant things. But since you’ve accepted, I thought you should know.”
“No… Thank you for telling me, even though it must be hard.”
Isabel, feeling a heaviness in her chest, clasped her hands tightly in her lap.
And for some reason, the image of Adolph’s pale, anxious face floated into her mind.
