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Chapter 65
“Hmm? Why is that, Cecilia?”
“Father.”
Cecilia pointed out something that had been nagging at her.
“Doesn’t he look a bit gaunt now? It’s been a while since he’s been out and about, hasn’t it?”
The Baron of Broneu had been pale and weak back when he was running around trying to secure funds. After moving to the capital he seemed to have regained some health, but now—
“He definitely had some weight on him before. Now he’s starting to look like he did when he was always out and about.”
Looking more closely, she could see the weight had slipped back off; his facial bones were close to standing out. He’d deliberately layered clothes and even lightly powdered his face to give it some dimension so it wouldn’t show. He wasn’t someone who normally put anything on his face, so Cecilia guessed he must have asked a servant to do it.
Only then did other small signs around her father become visible. The powdered face couldn’t hide the faint shadows under his eyes, the thin sheen of cold sweat at the nape of his neck that made him look oddly anxious. Cecilia clicked her tongue without meaning to.
“How could I not have noticed this when he tried to hide it… I must be losing my edge.”
Guilt colored Cecilia’s voice before she could stop it.
“I should have noticed first and told you.”
“Don’t say that.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…”
The Baron of Broneu suddenly began looking around as if checking who might be listening.
“You hungry? It’s nearly mealtime — let’s go to the dining room for now.”
Cecilia felt a long-dormant instinct wake up.
‘Eyebrows are lifted, breathing’s a bit quick.’
Having seen her father anxious so many times, she could judge the seriousness of trouble from his expression alone. She quickly concluded it was probably a moderately minor problem.
‘But why is he like this? If it were a small problem, he’d shrugs it off — he’s been through worse and usually laughs it away.’
Cecilia followed him patiently. A persistent gaze stuck to the back of the baron’s head. Feeling it, he entered the dining room and answered in a slightly trembling voice.
“I don’t want to worry you, but—”
“Don’t hold back. Say it. Talking about it helps resolve things.”
“It sounds absurd.”
“What is it? What happened, Baron?”
Plyer, Julin, and Margaret, who had arrived earlier and were already talking among themselves in the dining room, were all looking over. The baron’s face flushed.
Cecilia pressed once more.
“So?”
“Well, in this house…”
“In the house?”
The baron squeezed his eyes shut and said,
“…It seems a ghost is appearing.”
Silence followed. It was the kind of silence that meant no one knew how to reply. The baron, face red as if burning, whispered in a small voice.
“I know it sounds ridiculous. Of course — who believes in ghosts? But lately I keep seeing things. At first I thought I was just tired or misseeing, but it’s become harder to ignore.”
Still embarrassed, his voice uncertain, he continued.
“When we were repairing the house, there were traces in the garden like a magic ritual….”
“A magic ritual?”
“There was a large stone in the garden with what looked like a magical inscription on the back. The workers broke it by accident while excavating. Since then, those phenomena have been appearing more and more.”
Cecilia thought of the back garden that had been unceremoniously dug up. No wonder — it wasn’t that he was gloomy because of some intractable problem; he was troubled by the ritual traces found there.
“Come to think of it, this house in the capital was cheap… maybe it was on the market because of a ghost….”
The Baron of Broneu added in a voice barely above the floor and then fell silent. The dining room grew quiet again. Cecilia merely shrugged.
“That’s possible.”
“Eh?!”
“It’s not absurd. You said the ritual traces were in the garden. It could be related to that.”
Cecilia spoke slowly on purpose, giving him time to accept and calm. She herself had already seen specters in the vaults.
‘There are all sorts of supernatural things in the world — spirits, monsters — ghosts could exist too.’
By the way, the estate broker had conveniently left that out. She wondered whether she should send a complaint. While thinking that, Plyer leaned in and asked cautiously.
“Cecilia. Could someone have cast a curse on the estate?”
It was a realistic question. Cecilia had been thinking the same.
‘Timing’s suspicious.’
Since she’d recently refused the crown princess, someone might well be retaliating in some way. There would be people uneasy about Cecilia — the capital’s recognized hero — and hiring someone to trouble her wouldn’t be unthinkable.
‘Of course, of all things, a ghost scare.’
Staging apparitions or causing hallucinations — indirect harassment — were methods associated with curse-mages. While not legally sanctioned, they were sometimes hired by nobles. It wasn’t impossible someone would hire such people to harm the Broneu household.
Cecilia whispered to Plyer.
“I’ll consider it.”
Then she faced the baron again and asked calmly.
“You said you saw visions. What exactly do you see?”
“Hmm… I’ve never looked closely. I turn away startled each time I encounter them.”
“So it’s not a recurring spirit with a distinct face?”
If this were the work of a curse-mage, the repeated spirit might show the mage’s face. Magic users often leave traces in their mana, and curse-mages’ magic leaves similar marks.
The baron shook his head slightly.
“I don’t think so. I haven’t studied them carefully, but by impression they show up as when they were children, as a young adult, as an old person… like that.”
“Is that so?”
“…Ah. There is one I see particularly often. It feels like a boy around your age, but again, I haven’t looked closely.”
“That’s been very helpful.”
Margaret added, serious-faced.
“Oh! I saw something odd earlier too.”
“Really? What was it?”
“It looked like a flying lizard….”
Cecilia’s eyes rolled.
That Yotun — no, the dragon — really. If word got out the guardian dragon had moved, that would be a problem.
‘That dragon usually appears only when the country has trouble. I woke it, but people who don’t know that would panic.’
Margaret continued, earnest.
“I’ve never seen such an animal. It looked like a winged lizard and made a chirpy sort of sound.”
“That actually sounds kind of cute.”
“It sounds like a small dragon…”
“Oh, there’s a fly.”
“Ouch!”
Smack. Cecilia lightly smacked Julin’s back just as he was about to bring up the dragon; she tried to laugh it off, but Margaret shook her head.
“Besides that… if we stay until evening, we hear strange noises from somewhere.”
“I heard that too.”
“You did?”
Julin joined in. They visited the Broneu household more often than Cecilia did. Cecilia’s expression turned a little serious.
“Sometimes there are sounds like an incomprehensible foreign language. Not plainly spoken, but echoing in the air. Before realizing this, I thought it was servants speaking in a foreign tongue, since the baron employed some foreigners.”
These were not trivial things to ignore.
‘Could it actually be a curse?’
If so, they needed to identify the male child ghost around Cecilia’s age that the baron mentioned. That spirit’s face would likely be the curse-mage’s face.
‘If it’s a competent mage, the Tower would have a registry and it should be easy enough to check.’
If not, things could get complicated. Cecilia told Plyer,
“Can we stay here tonight? Please tell the count nicely.”
“If you do, may I stay as well?”
“You want to, Plyer?”
“Yes. It would be better to have one more person.”
Seeing the eager light in his eyes, she couldn’t refuse. She nodded.
“As you wish.”
“We’ll help too.”
“Right. The baron has always treated us kindly; we should return the favor.”
“Thank you all.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll help too.”
“You should sit this one out, Father. If you see a ghost once more you might actually faint.”
The Baron of Broneu sagged as if demoralized. Julin patted his arm in a playful manner. Margaret nodded encouragingly.
“Take care of your health, Baron!”
“Right. First you must regain your strength!”
“Decision made. Father will rest in his room, the four of us will investigate.”
Cecilia tapped the ferriot at her waist and shouted,
“We’ll search properly after sundown — ghost or no ghost.”
A confident smile spread across her face.
“We’ll wipe them all out.”
