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Chapter 14
The Bell
Why was there a bell in my dress pocket?
I stared blankly at the small metal bell resting in my palm.
In shamanic rituals, bells were used to invite spirits or to drive away evil ones—tools meant to help a shaman focus solely on the divine presence within them.
Since coming to this world, I hadn’t heard spirits’ voices or felt malicious energies directly. Yet whenever I heard the bell ring, divine power surged through me, and visions would appear.
Maybe, as Lurvich had said, my karma was temporarily subdued, allowing me to concentrate more easily.
But since I hadn’t yet fully mastered how to control my divine power, every metallic sound caused energy to riot within me. The bell frightened me.
I was sure I had thrown it away that day. Did I unconsciously keep it—perhaps after receiving it from Prince Benjamin—and tuck it into my clothes?
I quietly clutched the bell so it wouldn’t ring and hid it deep in the bottom drawer of my wardrobe.
Then I asked Lyn to remove anything in my room that might make a metallic sound, just in case.
But something strange began to happen.
Each day, faint bell chimes started echoing near my ears.
Too often to be coincidence.
Especially when the wind blew.
The more I noticed it, the more I seemed to hear metallic echoes everywhere. It set my nerves on edge.
For the past few days, every time the sound came, nausea followed. I tried to meditate and suppress my power as Lurvich had taught me, but it wasn’t easy to do alone.
One day, as I passed the palace kitchen—
Clang! Clang!
“Bring those dishes over here!”
Clang—roll—!
Even the sound of knives chopping or trays rolling made my divine energy surge.
After struggling with it for a while, I sent a letter to Lurvich asking for advice.
I had expected a simple written reply, but instead, he came in person.
When I heard he’d arrived, I went to greet him. Feeling suffocated indoors, I suggested we take a walk around the palace grounds.
We walked beyond the gardens, to where the forest ended—near the knights’ training grounds beside the stables.
Clang! Clang!
“Again! Aim precisely at your opponent!”
The drill instructor’s voice rang out.
The metallic echoes were especially loud, with the knights training at full intensity.
Clang! Clang! Clang-clang!
Watching Sir Tristan instruct the trainees, I turned to Lurvich.
“See? Just from hearing those noisy swords, I get goosebumps all over and feel dizzy. There’s definitely something wrong, right?”
He glanced briefly at my arm beneath my sleeve before asking,
“These sounds you’ve been hearing lately—what kind are they?”
“I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but I keep hearing bells, or metal clashing… It’s like something’s making sounds near my room too.”
Lurvich’s profile twisted slightly, as if something troubled him.
Why? Is it worse than I thought?
“Does anyone know about these symptoms?”
“My maid Lyn… and my family, maybe. But my family only knows I don’t like bell sounds since I heard them when I fell off my horse. They don’t know the details.”
Lurvich frowned.
“Can your maid be trusted?”
“Lyn? Of course. She’s completely trustworthy. But she doesn’t know what’s happening either. I only asked her to remove anything that makes metallic sounds.”
“…”
When he fell silent, frowning deeply, anxiety crept over me.
“Sir Lurvich, am I… going insane?”
“Why do you ask that?”
I confessed my true fear.
“I’m scared that maybe I’m reacting to sounds that don’t exist. If I really am losing my mind, I don’t know what to do.”
There were no metallic sounds anywhere near my room. Was it just my body reacting strangely? Or was I actually going mad?
With my shaman mother gone, Lurvich was the only one I could rely on for things like this.
Understanding my fear, he spoke gently.
“Your divine power is entirely normal, Princess. However, energy that floats within you without being fully harmonized can harm the body. If someone knew this, they might deliberately use sound to disturb you. That’s something worth investigating.”
“Deliberately?” I tilted my head.
Could someone really know that the sound of metal triggered my power?
Unless they had overheard my conversation with Lurvich, no one should know. Impossible… right?
Clink—!
Ting—!
Ting—ling—!
“Ah! My head’s going to split open!”
The sound reverberated inside my skull. I sat up from bed, clutching my hair, sobbing.
Then suddenly, a vision appeared.
The outskirts of Llewellyn—dark and desolate.
A man cloaked in black.
He was being dragged somewhere on horseback, his body smeared with blood.
Why? Was he injured?
I could even smell the blood.
“Ah, my head… please, make that sound stop…”
No matter how much I screamed, no one came.
Of course—they were all asleep. It was still pitch-black before dawn.
I staggered from bed toward the window.
The faint ringing began again.
It seemed to come from there… or maybe not?
Where was it coming from? If it wasn’t a hallucination, then show yourself!
I threw open the window and inhaled deeply as the cold air filled my lungs. The ringing kept hammering inside my head.
When the wind calmed, the sound vanished again.
“It’s not from here… then where?”
I turned back inside and opened the door to the corridor.
It was still dawn—silent, empty—yet the sound echoed from somewhere.
Ting… ling! Ting… ling!
With each step, the ringing grew louder. The faster I ran, the more violently it resonated.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
“Stop it!!”
I screamed—and the noise abruptly ceased.
Trembling, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small bell.
“Wh… why is this here…?”
Why was this thing in my clothes again?
Pain burst through my head, and I sank to the floor.
I’m scared. I can’t move my body.
. . .
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
How much time has passed?
The ringing was gone, and my divine power had calmed.
Then, a soft, gentle voice called to me.
“Princess, what are you doing here?”
Silver-grey eyes looked down at me. His wavy hair was tousled, as if he had rushed here.
“Sir Lurvich?”
He held my arm firmly and helped me to my feet.
“How did you—”
“I was inspecting the palace grounds with Prince Lucas.”
“N–No, I mean, how are you in the palace?”
“I asked Prince Lucas for permission to stay here tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because something strange is happening to you, Princess.”
Hearing that, I remembered and searched my pocket.
“There was a little bell inside my clothes.”
I patted my nightgown—but it was gone.
What? Was it a hallucination?
Lurvich turned slightly, then took something from his own coat.
“Are you looking for this? You dropped it just now. I picked it up.”
I exhaled shakily, relieved.
So it was real. I thought I was losing my mind.
“Yes, that’s it. I don’t know why it was in my clothes again. I told Lyn to put away everything that makes noise.”
“Someone must have known you were suffering… and planted it there intentionally.”
“What? Who would do that? No one but you knows about my power…”
It couldn’t have been Lurvich.
The symptoms had begun before he arrived—and he had just helped me.
Then… who? Lyn? No, that made no sense. Why would she?
Seeing my confusion, Lurvich offered to escort me back to my room.
He guided me to the sofa and had me sit. Then he left for a few minutes and returned holding something.
“Prince Lucas and the knights found this. It was hanging from the terrace above your room.”
It was something like a dreamcatcher—with small bells dangling from it.
So that’s why the sound kept ringing whenever the wind blew.
“Prince Lucas discovered it hidden on one of the terrace pillars. It seems someone around you has been tampering deliberately.”
My expression must have darkened, because Lurvich sat beside me and rested a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
Seeing how shaken I was, he seemed to decide that helping me came before anything else.
“I performed purification last time, but from now on, we’ll need an intensive cleansing. Shall we begin?”
I nodded and closed my eyes. His hand rested on my forehead, and I slowly steadied my breath.
Lurvich—one of the most gifted high priests of the kingdom’s grand temple—
From his palm flowed the strongest, most stable energy I had ever felt.
He was pouring every ounce of his power into purifying me.
Since we couldn’t rely on the temple’s sacred energy here, he had to do it all on his own.
As his divine power guided mine, I began to instinctively understand my own body—and how to handle my power.
He drew me deep into a meditative realm of the spirit.
And within that sacred stillness, I heard his voice—clear, resonant, echoing inside my mind.
—Can you hear me, Princess?
