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Chapter 2
In the northern land of the Ekardia Empire, there existed a barren region where the wolf clan had settled.
The people of that land were known for their brave and aggressive nature.
However, there was something so frightening that even they, who were not afraid of battle, were fleeing in fear from the lord’s castle.
A being with no clear form, yet somehow still visible. When it appeared, the air turned cold, objects moved without being touched, and those who stayed near it suffered from nightmares.
That unknown terror, which brought fear to the North for the first time, was none other than Irene.
While the North trembled under spreading rumors, the capital was in a festive mood.
A victory banquet was being held to mark the end of a long war and the extermination of monsters.
It was a banquet to celebrate and welcome the return of the Emperor’s only younger brother, the hero who led the war and monster subjugation to victory—Calid Ernst.
The nobles kept stealing glances at the hero of the banquet with heated eyes.
“Duke… ah, you are now the Grand Duke. Congratulations, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
A man greeted him while looking at a handsome man with black hair like the dark night sky where the sun had set and the moon had risen, and golden eyes that sparkled like pure gold.
“Congratulations? I merely did what had to be done.”
“Your Highness. ‘What had to be done’? This was not something you had to do at all. This is all because of—”
“Luke Adler.”
The low voice calling his name was a clear signal that he would hear no more.
Luke Adler, despite his many things to say, quietly closed his mouth.
“Then. Have you checked the report sent from the castle?”
“Yes. It seems what the butler reported is true.”
“An invisible existence… a new type of monster with excellent stealth abilities?”
“That is what we currently assume. You should return to the castle as soon as possible.”
“Even if Sebastian has been managing things in my absence, there must be limits. I will return as soon as the victory banquet ends.”
“But, my lord. The victory banquet still has five days remaining. All important events are already over, and His Majesty the Emperor would surely understand the situation in your territory.”
Calid fell into thought.
Publicly, his relationship with the Emperor was known to be good.
If he returned now, the nobles would surely think of the Emperor as a generous ruler who understood his only younger brother’s circumstances.
But Calid could not do that.
Because the Emperor had ordered him not to leave the capital until the victory banquet ended.
Unable to disobey the Emperor’s words, Calid worried deeply about his territory but could not return.
Luke looked at him with pity as the silence continued.
“Luke. We return after the victory banquet ends. That is final.”
“…Yes, understood, Your Highness. I will prepare for departure accordingly.”
“Good.”
Calid gave a bitter smile.
He was frustrated at his own inability to disobey, yet he had already grown used to it.
That smile was closer to resignation.
Among the joyful nobles, he suddenly felt like a lone rock separated from everyone else.
Especially when he saw nobles approaching him with greedy smiles, trying to form connections with him, his disgust rose for a moment.
His hand instinctively reached toward the cravat around his neck as if it were choking him, but he could not bring himself to loosen it.
And then, from afar, a middle-aged man with a wide smile began walking toward him.
He was Marquis Odeli, the head of the noble faction, a man desperate to marry his daughter into the position of Grand Duchess.
‘…How tiresome.’
A deep sigh escaped Calid’s lips without him realizing it.
At that moment, he almost found himself missing the battlefield—where life and death were like two sides of a coin, and nothing could be predicted.
A month passed.
Irene, now fully used to her ghost state, was once again enjoying a peaceful day.
Without permission, she had already taken over the fourth-floor bedroom as her personal space.
Floating freely around the Grand Duke’s castle as if she were part of it, Irene noticed that the castle was unusually busy today.
‘Something’s going on in the castle? Oh! That’s Sebastian.’
By now, Irene had learned the names of the castle staff through her self-made sense of familiarity, so she could recognize them easily.
She also tended to talk to herself constantly out of boredom.
‘As expected, the butler is always busy. But Sebastian, who’s coming today? The castle is unusually—’
Sebastian, who had been giving instructions to the servants, suddenly stopped.
Then he stared intently at one particular spot.
At that moment, the surrounding servants also froze and turned pale.
“B-Butler Chief… why… suddenly….”
“…It’s nothing. Just pay extra attention today. And—”
Sebastian, who had been staring at one place, resumed giving orders as if nothing had happened.
‘Ah… I keep forgetting Sebastian is especially sensitive.’
He was an elderly gentleman with refined dignity and extremely sharp senses.
Most servants could not detect Irene at all, and only occasionally sensed something strange when she stayed too long.
But Sebastian was different—whenever Irene came close, he immediately sensed something off.
‘I’m clearly not visible… but it really feels like he’s looking right at me sometimes.’
Unlike Sebastian, there were people who never noticed Irene at all, even when she was right beside them.
One of them was Henry, the administrative aide of the castle.
He was extremely dull and never sensed anything Irene did.
On the other hand, the head maid, Mrs. Mary, occasionally seemed to notice Irene, but she was not particularly sensitive either.
‘Just in case, I should be careful around Sebastian. And the knights staying in the castle too.’
Over the past month, Irene had identified the people she needed to be cautious of and began studying what she could do as a ghost.
Her intangible body passed through everything.
Walls, floors, doors—she could pass through them all without restriction.
However, she could not touch people or objects at all.
Even the brief reflection she once saw in the mirror when she first woke up turned out to be meaningless, as she could not see herself at all anymore.
‘But I definitely looked similar to Irene from my previous life…’
No matter how hard she looked into mirrors, nothing appeared.
She spent about two weeks wandering the castle and observing the servants.
‘Ugh… I’m so bored. I want to read a book! But ghost hands can’t turn pages. I didn’t know being a ghost would be this dull.’
Every day felt the same, and Irene gradually began to feel lonely.
Not being able to talk to anyone also made her feel depressed.
But even as a ghost, she could not allow herself to sink into despair in this new life.
‘This isn’t the time to be depressed. Alright, I think I’ve explored the castle enough. Maybe I should go outside.’
Patting her cheeks lightly, Irene recalled the view of the territory she had once seen from the castle tower.
The servants she had seen in the castle all looked cheerful.
They seemed proud of their work, and they respected both the territory they lived in and its master.
That made her even more curious.
‘I wonder what the people outside the castle are like. This reminds me of the territory from my previous life.’
In her previous life, Irene’s father, Marquis Snowell, always put the people of his territory first.
‘That’s why our territory was said to be a good place to live, and more people kept moving in.’
People who always greeted her warmly and brought her gifts with both hands full.
She had liked that lively place.
‘Now I miss the bread from Laura’s bakery… freshly baked bread was really delicious…’
While lost in memories, Irene reached the first-floor entrance and spotted Sebastian giving instructions to the servants.
‘Sebastian, I’ll go outside for a bit!’
She obediently reported her “outing” to Sebastian and floated smoothly out of the castle.
“……”
For a moment, Sebastian flinched as he sensed something strange.
The servants beside him also broke into a cold sweat.
