TAPGB - Chapter 5
The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride
I looked blankly at the little boy rushing up the stairs.
[Since when has this place been here?]
You let your guard down. Even if you can't see me. You should have been more careful.
Where on earth did I start seeing this? Since you were so weak, could you see my form? Are you scared?
All kinds of random thoughts filled my head, such as still having to eat.
For some reason, my whole body felt weak. My heart felt empty and the scared face of the little boy kept coming to mind.
Even though I know very well that he is afraid of me from the beginning, how does it feel to feel that once again?
[Strange.]
I lost all motivation. I was in a daze when I found a steak that had been grilled. Since I was in the middle of cooking, I finished it and put it on a plate. Even at first glance, it looked appetizing.
I cleaned up everything except the plate containing the food so that no trace of me was left behind.
[If you're hungry, you'll come down.]
You're probably very surprised by now, so you won't come out right away.
I waited for Lucian to calm down and come out.
So 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour. 2 hours..... And the day dawned.
The steak that had been left out for almost half a day had already hardened and lost all of its juice, and the vegetables, which had been fresh as if they had just been picked, had lost all of their moisture and became mushy.
I looked at the cold food for a while and then put it in the trash can.
[Yes, I guess he can last until dinner.]
I guess he was more surprised than I thought. He must have woken up by now, so he must have felt less scared than yesterday.
I immediately prepared a new breakfast.
But Lucian did not come down until after 9 o'clock.
So I threw away breakfast and made a new lunch, and then threw away lunch and made a new dinner.
I waited all day for Lucian to come down, but he never came down. I even caught a fox passing the border between the forest and the garden in case he was hungry, but my sincerity did not get through to him.
[No, when has it ever worked?]
He simply mistook me for a person, and I misunderstood that he was looking after me as a whole.
After watching him for nearly a month. I thought I got to know him and became close to him, but it was all just a one-sided relationship.
To Lucian, I am just a ghost bride, a scary ghost that he unintentionally married. Nothing more, nothing less. Rather, he is in a situation where he is hated even more than the people who sent him here.
Kurrung- flash!
The dark night sky flashed, and two seconds later, the sound of thunder was heard. And immediately it rained heavily. I left the cold dinner behind, left the kitchen, and went outside.
If I were a person, the rain would have been enough to get me wet a long time ago, but the pouring rain passed right through my body and had no effect.
Tha tha tha
I felt like I wanted to pour out whatever was empty in my heart, but I didn't know what to do. If I were human, would I cry? But I am a ghost.
I cannot smell, feel texture, taste food, or cry like normal people.
For a long time, I stood at a distance in the pouring rain, trying to soothe my empty heart.
All through the rainy morning like that.
***
Growling~
"Hungry..."
Lucian, who had not come out of his room since seeing the ghost bride, lingered in front of the door, clutching his hungry stomach.
He wanted to go to the kitchen but was scared that the ghost bride he saw back then was still there.
"Oh, no. Maybe it's not a ghost bride, but a person."
He didn't see the ghost bride. Things were just floating in the air. If it is truly the work of a ghost, why would she keep quiet and not come to catch him?
"Could it be a benefactor?"
Seeing as how she has cooked for him, cleaned his room, and done his laundry, it is clear that she is doing me a favor.
What if the benefactor used magic or something because she didn't want to show herself to me?
"Let's check it out."
Lucian carefully headed to the kitchen with a small container. As expected, breakfast was on the table. But as time had passed, everything had cooled down.
Lucian poked at the French toast on his plate and took a bite. Even though it was cold, it was delicious.
"As expected, she was a benefactor."
Yes, a ghost bride is ridiculous. In the first place, how do ghosts hold things and how do they cook?
He felt sorry for getting scared and running away. Lucian cleaned up his belated breakfast and went to the sink to wash the dishes.
At that time, the lid of the food trash can next to the sink was slightly open. Lucian, who was about to close the lid due to the creeping stench, stopped when he saw the full container.
When he opened it carefully, he found that all the trash that had once been food had been thrown away.
Lucian was momentarily speechless.
"... I should apologize."
While he was scared, his benefactor continued to serve him three meals a day.
Lucian closed the lid, washed the dishes, and wandered around the clean kitchen.
Hee hee hee-
An unfamiliar sound caught his ear. It was the sound of a horse neighing.
Lucian raised his head and looked around. Then, he saw someone approaching the mansion outside the window.
It was the first person he had seen in about a month since he came here.
At that moment, Lucian ran outside, forgetting about his benefactor, his ghost bride, and everything else.
"Ha... Really, why am I doing this?"
James, age 18. He lamented as he pulled his cart using one of his ponies.
James was one of the lowest-ranking people who had entered the imperial palace just about a month ago, so he was in the position of running errands at the ghost mansion.
The cart contained items to be transported to the haunted mansion. A small amount of money, food ingredients, and clothes.
Why on earth would something like this be needed in a haunted mansion where it is obvious that no one will be there?
The haunted mansion was well known as a ghost story among the imperial palace staff. No one knows when the mansion was built or what its purpose was. As it is located in the middle of a forest not far behind the walls of the imperial palace.
According to rumors, it has been around since before the Empire was created, so that means it has been at least 300 years. It is widely rumored that there are ghosts here, and it is said that sometimes people who show off their courage go here to train their courage.
It is said that there are countless people who go in excitedly and faint or foam at the mouth.
"... Should I just go?"
When he arrived right in front of the fence, he immediately had the urge to go back.
No one came with him anyway, and he is far away from the imperial palace, so even if he go back like this, no one will know.
It looks like they have a lot of money in it. James quietly put the money bag in his arms.
"Hey!"
"Oh, I didn't touch anything! It's true!"
James' heart sank at the sound of words coming from somewhere, and he hurriedly made an excuse. He looked back and saw no one.
"What, is there no one here? Then the voice I heard was...?"
"Hey, man!"
"Wow!"
This time, a voice came from right in front of him. James and Lucian looked at each other in horror. After a while, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's a surprise! Who are you?!"
"S-sorry...."
"If a person pretends to be popular or appears from nowhere, for a moment..."
After a while of grumbling, James noticed a familiar face Lucian in front of him.
It was the noble face he had glimpsed just two days ago, bowing his head.
James' face instantly turned pale and he hurriedly bowed his head.
"Please look at my rudeness, Your Highness! I dared to make a mistake!"
"Yes?"
"Well, I never thought I'd see you here... Please spare my life!"
Lucian was embarrassed when James suddenly started crawling on the floor and fidgeting.
"Excuse me... Please raise your head."
"How can I see His Highness the Crown Prince's face?"
"I'm not the Crown Prince."
"Yes?"
James lifted his head in confusion. But no matter how he looks at it, the Crown Prince is right in front of him. As he lowered his head again, he felt something strange and checked Lucian's face again.
"Then who are you?"
"Lucian."
"Lucian? Who is that?"
"Well?"
Both people only left question marks in a conversation that didn't lead at all. In any case, James was deeply relieved that it was not the Crown Prince.
However, his striking resemblance to the Crown Prince and his golden eyes, a symbol of the royal family, caught his eye. So, even if he is not the Crown Prince, this kid is still part of the royal family.
James couldn't figure out why the royal child was in a place like this where no one was around.
Suddenly, he remembered what the chamberlain had said just before Ilhe came here.
'No matter what you see there, you didn't see anything.'
"Yes? What do you mean by that?"
"Literally. No matter what you see there, don't even think about going somewhere and talking about it. I'm saying this all for your benefit."
At the time. James thought the chamberlain meant to scare him, but now he thinks the Chamberlain meant to tell him not to tell anyone that he saw this child.
"Uh! It's food!"
James suddenly came to his senses at Lucian's shout.
"Yes, I was told to leave it here."
"Uh? Then are you from the imperial palace?"
"For now, yes."
Lucian's expression brightened with anger.
"Then uncle! Do you know who works here?"
"Who lives here?"
"Yes?"
"Do you live here?
Lucian nodded awkwardly at James' shocked expression.
"Hey, so by the way, may I know who works here?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything."
"Ah."
"I've never heard of anyone living here. To begin with, this is an abandoned mansion and will not be maintained. It's a place where people don't even come."
Lucian's face turned pale. The sight of the little child shaking was so pitiful that it made me feel uncomfortable.
"For now, I came to deliver this, so I'll leave this alone."
Originally, he was only going to leave it on the side of the fence, but since he was facing Lucian, James had no choice but to move it inside.
James led the pony to the entrance of the mansion. After that, Lucian walked slowly with a blank expression. Looking at his thoughts, James placed his luggage one by one at the entrance to the mansion.
"Okay, this is the last one."
When he finally put down the cloth box, he felt a heaviness on his chest. This is money that was secretly stolen.
At that moment, there was a conflict about whether to return it to its original state or not.
[It would be better to leave everything behind.]
A that time. James heard a strange voice that seemed to ring in his head rather than his ears.
Out of fear, James raised his head and saw something floating without feet in the distance not far away.
"A scary virgin ghost lives there. There is a rumor that she sucks out all the men's vital energy."
Why does he suddenly remember something a colleague said before? James couldn't even breathe and was shaking as he put the money bag in his arms on top of the clothes box.
Then, the unidentified bridge that he was visible just a moment ago disappeared.
"Wow, is this all mine?"
James, who was in a daze, took a quick breath and grabbed his heart which was pounding like crazy.
'I have to get out of here quickly.'
"Well, I'll just go! I'll come back in a month!"
"Oh! Wait!"
Before Lucian could catch him, James had already disappeared into the distance with the pony.
Lucian, who was left behind, watched the back of James slowly disappearing and then looked down at the boxes.
"There is no one."
There is definitely a benefactor, but there is no one here except himself. He tried to deny his words, but he couldn't. Because.
"I've never seen anyone but myself."
It just appears like a ghost and disappears like a ghost. Lucian stood up in a daze and went upstairs helplessly. The boxes were left untouched at the entrance. It's been about 3 minutes since Lucian disappeared like that.
A ghost bride appears.
She looked at the stairs where Lucian had disappeared from afar and began to pack up her belongings one by one.
Eventually, her afterimage disappeared, and the entrance remained empty, with all the boxes removed as if it had never been before.
Sigh-
The wide open door closed, filling the mansion with silence.
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