Chapter 50. What Is Etched into the Soul
“Lady Ridel, are you doing this on purpose?”
“No. I’m serious. You killed a high-ranking noble? How? And if you’re asking about how to dispose of a body… that means the body is… here?”
Ridel wrapped her arms around herself and whispered very quietly. Bella tilted her head toward her and replied in an equally secretive tone.
“Yes. They’re resting nicely… right under your feet, Lady Ridel.”
“W-What? Really?”
Ridel jumped in alarm, lifting her feet one after the other.
The image overlapped with the way she used to act all high and mighty as the head of a merchant guild, and Bella couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Of course. In fact, there are two of them.”
“Two? I didn’t hear anything about that.”
Ridel grumbled, looking as if her pride was wounded.
Apparently, Sean hadn’t passed the information to Ridel yet. Either that, or he hadn’t been tasked with it in the first place.
“Don’t your knights tell you anything? Or should I call you Count Bonart?”
“How do you know that?”
Ridel asked in shock.
Bella shrugged as if it were nothing to be surprised about, and replied nonchalantly.
“Your 4th Vice-Captain was kind enough to tell me. Said you’re a knight of House Bonart.”
“Oh, heavens. What was he thinking? He’s not the type to make that kind of mistake.”
Ridel rubbed her face with both hands and swallowed a groan.
But this wasn’t something she could fault Sean for—Bella had already figured out much of Ridel’s true identity.
“For someone who revealed her face and her name as ‘Ridel,’ that’s a bit rich, don’t you think?”
“Miss Bella, we’re in the same boat now.”
Ridel slung an arm around Bella’s shoulders, pretending to sob like they were the closest of friends.
Bella, of course, wasn’t playing along—she gave a sweet smile and swiftly flung Ridel’s arm away.
“Spare me the insincere terms of endearment.”
“Then you can drop the fake respectful titles too.”
“Fine, Ridel.”
“That actually sounds a lot better than I expected.”
Ridel blinked in mild surprise, then grinned. No one had ever called her by name so casually before—she’d wondered what it would feel like, and it turned out to be much better than imagined.
“So, Ridel—what’s the news?”
“How much are you paying?”
Ridel wiggled her fingers with a cocky look on her face. She really didn’t look anything like a dignified Count of Bonart right now.
“Aren’t you just going to tell me?”
“I’m a merchant who trades information. Ever seen a merchant give away goods for free?”
“Wow… how much do you want?”
Bella was about to pull money from her pocket when—
“Your trust.”
Ridel’s voice was unusually serious. She genuinely seemed to want to walk the same path as Bella.
Bella felt a bit awkward. She was, in a way, being forced onto a similar path, but she would never trust another human being—not in this lifetime.
“…Sorry, but I’m not the trusting type.”
“Then let’s call it cooperation. What’s the term these days… a work partner?”
Ridel extended her hand with a bright expression. After a moment’s thought, Bella took it, shook twice, and then quickly dropped it like it was something gross.
“Our goal is to clear the stain on House Prellrod’s name and restore the Duke’s honor, right?”
“For now.”
“That ‘for now’ is not very reassuring. Anyway, do you want to check the bodies first?”
“…Me?”
“Yes.”
Ridel’s expression became strangely hesitant.
“Uh… I’ll leave that to the 4th Vice-Captain.”
“Sean.”
“Who?”
“Bonart’s 4th Division Vice-Captain is named Sean.”
“Since when?”
Instead of answering, Bella pushed the door open and stepped inside. Ridel followed her in, sitting on the opposite sofa only after Bella had taken her seat first.
“Since I said so. He told me I could name him, and I did—Sean.”
This was another thing to be shocked about today. Ridel knew Sean’s personality well. Having worked with him for nearly ten years, she knew the man had a stubborn quirk—he never allowed anyone to give him a nickname. That’s why even Ridel only ever called him “4th Vice-Captain.”
But Sean? And such an oddly plain name at that?
“Are you using black magic or something?”
Ridel asked in genuine suspicion, and Bella’s face immediately twisted.
“Don’t say something so horrible. Do you even know how many innocent women were executed a hundred years ago because of accusations of black magic?”
“You talk like you actually lived back then.”
“It’s like how you’re in tune with the life and deeds of the Duke of Prellrod.”
Bella looked around the room disinterestedly, ignoring Ridel’s comment.
Che wasn’t here this time either. For some reason, unlike before, a small flicker of unease crept into her.
“So who did you kill?”
“I didn’t kill them. They died on their own.”
“What, they killed themselves in front of you or something?”
“Sigh… since it’s about the mansion, I’ll share.”
“…?”
Bella let out a quiet sigh and finally turned her gaze to Ridel.
“It was a curse. The moment they said a certain word, they spewed blood and died.”
“A curse? What kind of blasphemous—”
“I saw it with my own eyes. Anyway, Count Tresy and Count Karl suddenly coughed up blood and died right here in the mansion, so I had no choice but to store the bodies in the cellar.”
“A curse… Bella, didn’t you say that veiled woman acted like she knew something?”
“Yes. Did you find anything?”
“That woman is from the temple, but there’s absolutely no record of her. Usually, if someone studied to be a priest or was adopted by the temple, there’d be traces.”
“You’re saying she’s definitely from the temple, but there’s not a single record of her?”
Bella asked in disbelief, and Ridel nodded with a grave expression.
“Exactly. We’ll have to keep an eye on the temple for a while.”
At Ridel’s words, Bella, who had been thinking hard, spoke up quietly.
“Then… should we look into black magic?”
“Leave me out of that. I’m a fairly devout believer.”
“I heard there’s a neighborhood where astrologers live in clusters. I want to take Che there. Maybe they’d know something.”
“Well, it’s worth poking around. I’ll find out where it is and let Sean know. But Bella, are you sure the ghost you see isn’t the Duke of Prellrod?”
Ridel looked around the empty room for no reason as she asked.
“…No. I asked him directly, and it didn’t seem like it.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Bella finally gave her answer.
“But if he’s not the Duke of Prellrod, why would he be staying in this mansion?”
Good question. If Bella could see spirits, she should be able to see others too—not just Che. So… was Che somehow special?
“…A curse?”
The word slipped from Bella’s lips almost without thinking.
“Hm? Why bring that up again?”
“The ghost told me he drank from a cup, and then died coughing up blood.”
“That’s what I heard too.”
“Count Tresy and Count Karl also died coughing up blood.”
“But anyone poisoned would cough up blood.”
“Count Tresy, who killed the new owner of the Prellrod mansion. Count Karl, who came to exorcise the ghost when I didn’t die. The temple woman who came with Karl. And the two nobles who died the instant they uttered the word ‘curse.’ You see the pattern?”
Bella leaned forward slightly, speaking in a low voice. Ridel, tense, leaned forward too until their heads were nearly touching.
“You mean, if we unravel the curse, we’ll find the one behind all this?”
“Ridel, you said you’re a fervent supporter of the Duke of Prellrod, right?”
“That’s right.”
Bella’s lips felt dry, and she wet them with her tongue.
This question wasn’t purely for the sake of the plan. There was a slightly personal motive behind it, which made her a little nervous.
“Did the Duke of Prellrod have any distinguishing marks on his body? A birthmark, a scar, anything.”
“Ah. According to the maids who served him, he had a scar on his back.”
“Do you know what it looked like?”
“They said it was as if his wings had been torn out—slashes across both shoulder blades.”
“Do many people know about this?”
“No. I know because I’m a merchant dealing in information. After a hundred years, only a handful of people would remember.”
Bella didn’t think Che had withheld his name from her out of kindness. She was certain there was a deliberate reason.
At first, she hadn’t even thought to ask—Che had told her plainly, “I don’t remember being alive, only my time after death.”
But that had been a lie. Che did remember being human. He remembered, and still chose to hide it from her.
After last night’s conversation, Bella couldn’t tell whether she was disappointed, hurt, betrayed, or angry.
What she did know for sure was that Che was starting to feel… unfamiliar to her.
