Chapter 51:
Types of Love
Bella, lost in thought for a moment, seemed to make a decision and clapped her hands once to get Rydel’s attention.
“Alright. Let’s set up the plan ourselves first and try to draw out the mastermind behind this.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious. Rydel, you have at least one newspaper, right?”
“Just one, I suppose.”
Rydel laughed heartily as she answered. Honestly, she quite enjoyed cooperating with Bella like this.
No one had survived in the Prelode Mansion for so long, let alone survived while tracking down the very instigators who had harmed them. A daughter of a seamstress being able to bring down two counts was exactly the kind of talent Rydel imagined for the future.
“Spread a rumor. Say that Counts Treshi and Carl, who suddenly died from coughing up blood, had scars on their backs, as if wings had been torn off.”
“You really—”
“If we just keep getting dragged along, it’s unfair. We should at least try to draw them out once.”
Bella leaned back against the chair with a cold laugh.
She was angry at Chai, but felt the urge to vent her frustration somewhere harmless. She knew that if she saw Chai, she would inevitably soften again.
Exhaling softly, Bella closed her eyes.
Time was absolutely necessary—time to think, and time to watch Chai more dispassionately.
“Then I’ll spread the rumor and observe the reaction. Should I move quietly through the mansion windows?”
“…No.”
“Then how can I come here without being noticed?”
“You don’t need to come. I won’t be here.”
“You mean you’ll stay somewhere else? That’s a good method, too. My knights are guarding this mansion anyway, so it’s unlikely any ghost could harm you.”
“I’ll stay in the south, at least for now.”
“The south… the village where Baron Oshik is?”
“Yes. It seems my father doesn’t have much time left. I intend to stay by his side until the end.”
“That’s an incredible kind of love. I guess I’ve never really felt that. Seeing this, crises seem to make love even stronger.”
“Love… I don’t know. Whether I ever felt it for my father or not has now faded so much it feels unclear.”
“Do you know there are three types of love?”
“Three?”
“One is love that collapses together.”
“…”
“One is love that grows stronger together, influencing each other positively.”
“…I’m neither of those.”
“The last is love where you realize you cannot change the other person, so you cultivate yourself to be able to reach out when they stand at the edge of a cliff.”
“Just thinking about my father makes me so frustrated and angry… to the point that my rage reaches the top of my head… is this really what love is?”
“You get angry, sad, and frustrated because someone you love jumps into a fire. And you’ve been cultivating yourself so that whenever your father chooses, you can reach out to him, haven’t you?”
“…Yes. I needed a home. A place to return to, a place to show myself, a place to rest.”
“Go and take it all, love freely, and reach out as much as you like. I’ll come down as soon as I finish here.”
“Don’t come empty-handed.”
“Oh, so cold. When have I ever gone into your place?”
Rydel asked playfully, tapping Bella’s palm. Of course, Bella recoiled with a shiver.
“Chai.”
“…”
Only after Rydel left did Chai finally appear.
“I have something to say. For now, I—”
Bella saw Chai and stepped forward, reaching out her hand first.
“The living are always afraid of the dead. Yet the dead can’t really do anything to the living.”
But all she got in return was Chai stepping back, his voice wounded. Bella realized that he must have overheard her conversation with Rydel.
Chai was always quick to sense things.
Looking into his deer-like eyes softened her heart, but she had to steel herself.
“Chai, you told me I’m the most dangerous existence to you.”
“Yes. But you’re the one holding my leash like this.”
Chai deliberately squeezed his own neck with his hand.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“I’m dead, so I can’t show you my heart.”
“Even the living can’t show that.”
“Puh, Bella.”
Though he was right, Chai couldn’t help laughing lightly.
Bella frowned at him, feeling wary rather than amused.
“Don’t laugh like that. I won’t be swayed by ghosts anymore.”
“It’s unfair. I, a living person, am enchanted by you, yet you aren’t enchanted by me.”
His voice flowed slowly, rhythmically, elegant and composed.
Bella forced herself to shake off his lingering voice from her ears, making her expression even sterner.
“Stop playing word games, Chai. I’ll be away from the mansion for a while.”
“And I?”
Only then did Chai erase his feigned smile and ask with a dark expression.
How could she describe that expression as merely dark? What Bella read in his eyes was despair. She expected anger, but he was quietly wounded.
She quickly averted her gaze.
“Chai can manage. You stayed in the mansion even when I wasn’t here.”
“Is it that you can’t take me, or that you won’t?”
“Both.”
“You treasured this mansion so much. Yet you’ll leave… because of me?”
Chai muttered in a hollow voice, looking down.
Why? Bella and Chai weren’t poisonous to each other.
Bella, who dreamed of owning a home, protects and cultivates the mansion, living there.
Chai, who wanted to find those who had killed her, lives here with Bella.
…
Chai suddenly fell silent.
If he had the power to kill her, surely Bella could also harm him. Before, that wasn’t important. What mattered most were the events, revenge, and the physical body.
“So tell me, Chai. Is there a reason I shouldn’t know your name? Not a sweet lie, just the truth.”
“…”
But now she simply wanted to leave everything behind and live. Every time Rydel visited the mansion, her heart twisted. He was alive, able to touch her hand, shake hands, or brush hair off her cheek.
Chai couldn’t touch her at all.
“You want this body, don’t you?”
“Bella, stop.”
Her question was both provocative and cynical. Chai bit his lips and closed his eyes tightly.
Yes, if he could sense the vitality Bella radiated, the urge of a dead man to seize it was hard to resist…
“Then take it.”
“What?”
Chai’s head shot up in surprise at her words.
There had been times when Bella reluctantly let him use her body, but she had always feared it, feeling uncomfortable and hesitating for a long while. Yet now, she suddenly offered it.
“I said, take it. Tonight, I allow it. At dawn, I’ll be gone anyway.”
The last mercy before leaving, perhaps. If so, it wasn’t bad. Chai stepped forward and leaned over Bella.
His cold hand brushed through her hair. He couldn’t fully touch her, but the slight chill made the strands move.
“You hate me so much, yet you’re completely unguarded with me.”
“…”
“You know far too well that I cannot refuse your body.”
“Chai.”
Bella swallowed nervously and called his name in a dry, cracked voice.
More precisely, she used his false name.
Chai stared at her relentlessly yet tenderly, then finally kissed her.
Chai’s soul and Bella’s body merged, and his final voice scattered through the room.
“The truth is, I already revealed my name to you. I just judged that your soul isn’t ready to call me out yet.”
With that, Chai took over Bella’s body.
Pushed to the edge of her body, Bella curled up as tightly as possible. Normally, when Chai took over, her soul would lose consciousness due to his strong power. She had to endure this time. Luckily, Chai didn’t intend to suppress her soul.
Bella focused to locate Chai’s energy.
Soul recognizes soul. It’s easier for a soul to approach a soul than a body.
Thus, Bella gave her body and had to confirm one thing:
The scar on his back.
Chai’s tear mark was clearly visible in his soul. So if the scar existed, it would surely be imprinted in his soul as well.
