Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Evil Spirit
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“Hmm~♪”
The humming coming from inside the carriage was surprisingly pleasant, so I found myself glancing at Iluania, who was sitting across from me.
She bowed her head in embarrassment and apologized.
“Sorry. Was I too loud?”
Back when she worked at the brothel, she’d spoken casually to me, but now that she’d become my maid, she’d switched to polite speech.
She did it so naturally that it actually seemed to suit her better.
“No, I was just surprised at how sweet it sounded.”
“Pardon? But I’ve sung you lullabies before.”
“......”
Had she?
I averted my gaze, pretending not to know with an awkward silence. Just then, Iluania seized the chance to start a conversation, saying she’d been wondering.
“But you’ve changed so much in just a few months. You seem like a completely different person.”
“......I’ve grown up. Think of it that way.”
I’d told Deia the truth since she was my little sister, but there was no need to go into that much detail with Iluania.
I brushed it off simply, and she nodded while shyly wrapping her arms around her belly.
“Now that I’m not alone anymore, I don’t think I can do night work like before.”
“Yeah, I don’t expect that of you anyway.”
Iluania smiled, looking a bit relieved at my words. Truth be told, the reason I was taking her along wasn’t so much for her to wait on me—it was for another purpose.
I cautiously broached the subject with Iluania, who was beaming happily.
“But do you know who the father is?”
Given her line of work, it wouldn’t be hard to track him down, but even if she did, could she really build a proper family with him?
That was my concern.
But...
“Huh? That doesn’t really matter.”
Her unexpected response popped out casually.
“Hm?”
Her brown eyes were sincere. She looked utterly indifferent to whatever happened to the child’s father.
“I’ve always wanted a child. I’m going to give this baby all the love I never got.”
“......”
A woman who hadn’t received love, seeking someone to pour her overflowing affection into.
In the end, even a spouse could become a stranger if their marriage vows broke. What Iluania longed for was an unbreakable bond—a family.
That would have to do, then.
I hoped she’d live a life filled with devoted love.
[Oh my, what a good mother.]
The soft voice from the side was one I’d heard before.
It belonged to the woman whose face was half-scarred from burns, whom I’d seen in the carriage on my way from Robern Academy to Northsweden after being expelled.
“Long time no see.”
I smoothly shifted the conversation’s direction. Iluania looked at me, asking what that was about, but I rested my elbow on the carriage window frame and pressed a finger to my lips.
A gesture to stay quiet.
[It’s only been about a month. Hehe, our chat back then was quite enjoyable.]
“Same here.”
[Are you running off after sleeping with the maid? And the child inside her is yours?]
“No, that’s not it. More importantly, how have you been?”
[I’ve been well. So, you got the maid pregnant and now you’re just making her work?]
“I told you, it’s not my child.”
[Oh, right? Sorry. Then you forced yourself on her and now you’re pretending it didn’t happen?]
I gritted my teeth.
I’d deliberately tried to change the subject, forcing a conversation, but the carriage was shaking violently from the overflowing resentment of the evil spirit.
Iluania just thought it was because of the steep slope.
“It’s the child she wanted. I’ll support her so the kid can grow up well.”
[Is that so? How nice.]
I thought I’d phrased it decently.
[You’re saying the exact same things I heard.]
Not knowing her backstory turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Her clothes and speech had made her seem like a noble lady, so I’d tailored my words accordingly—but I’d gotten it wrong.
Whoosh!
One side of the carriage burst into flames. More precisely, flames erupted from her half-scarred face, starting to burn the carriage.
[That maid reeks of you! And you still deny it? Liar!]
Iluania panicked at the sudden turn of events. I pulled her tightly into my arms and shattered one wall of the carriage with magic.
Fierce winds whipped around us as if to swallow us whole. The coachman sensed something was wrong and hurriedly reined in the horses.
[You people! My child! Me! You said you loved us! But in the end! You killed us all!]
“I’m not the man you think I am.”
[Shut up! You didn’t have to kill my child too! I said we’d just live quietly!]
All the spirits in the family had found repose, so I had no souls left to use with my magic.
“Hold on tight.”
“Y-Yes?!”
I hugged Iluania firmly and leaped out of the carriage. It was slowing down, so basic wind magic was enough to land without injury.
But...
[My baby! My baby! My baby!]
The carriage went up in flames. The coachman quickly detached the horses and jumped off.
The half-burned woman glared at me murderously as she approached.
Ordinary women hold deep grudges, especially when it involves their children.
That’s why, on the way back last time, I’d deliberately avoided using necromancy and played along with her.
“What a bother.”
Seeing her begin to materialize as her grudge intensified, I let out a deep sigh.
* * *
Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap.
She didn’t know how many days it had been.
“S-Sniff. Mommy. Sniff.”
Meylin had been walking this long, dark corridor for days, yet she couldn’t reach the end.
She didn’t understand.
She had no idea why this was happening.
Her legs ached like they might snap, and her soles stung as if needles were pricking them.
Yet she couldn’t stop walking.
[Where are you going.]
Because of the man with the split face who kept chasing her from behind.
It wasn’t her first such experience.
She’d once encountered a skeleton warrior on the first floor of the central staircase.
But she’d clearly gone to sleep in her dorm—why was she trapped in this corridor? And why was that monster pursuing her endlessly? She had no clue.
“Eek! Hic! Hic!”
Tears kept flowing, irritating her eyes. Still, they wouldn’t stop.
[Come here.]
“Get lost! Leave me alone! Please! Just leave me alone!”
She couldn’t run.
She’d learned from experience that if she ran, the monster would charge after her like a madman.
Better to walk and conserve her strength.
“Hwaaaangh!”
The endless corridor stretched on mockingly, as if sneering at the girl to give up.
If she weren’t so stubborn like Meylin, she would’ve surrendered long ago.
[Come here.]
“Please! Pleeease! Somebody help meee!”
No matter how much she screamed, no reply came, no saving hand reached out.
In this near-infinite corridor, the girl could only drag her crumbling body onward.
* * *
A strange rumor was circulating on the third floor of the girls’ dormitory.
Every dawn, some woman left the dorm.
Creak. Creak.
Creak. Creak.
Creak. Creak.
The mattress springs—high-quality ones provided by the academy for the students’ comfortable sleep—groaned with bizarre intensity, shaking up and down.
The girl lying on it, pretending to sleep, deliberately kept her breathing steady and rhythmic.
Every night.
Someone came to the girls’ dorm, climbed onto a bed, and bounced.
A different bed each night, but tonight it was hers. Cursing inwardly, the girl squeezed her eyes shut.
Even when she reported it to the academy, they only asked her to wait a little longer.
If Robern Academy weren’t the kingdom’s top educational institution with such high entry barriers, the students would’ve fled en masse by now.
Of course, some were already running away.
The girl berated herself inwardly for not fleeing too, but with her family’s fading honor weighing on her shoulders, she could only endure.
Creak. Creak.
Creak. Creak.
What on earth was bouncing on her bed?
How could it jump so wildly without her feeling any touch?
Curiosities bubbled up, but fear overwhelmed them, so she kept her eyes tightly shut.
Then.
[Sleep?]
If she had to describe the voice, it was like poorly fired pottery. The pronunciation was slurred, as if the vocal parts were malformed, and it sounded heavy and echoing.
Her breath nearly stopped, but the girl continued pretending to sleep.
Creak. Creak.
Creak. Creak.
The mattress shook up and down several more times.
[You’re asleep, huh.]
Then, suddenly.
The wobbling mattress stopped.
The bed was utterly still and silent, as if nothing had been there.
Was it gone now?
She agonized over it in her mind dozens of times.
After what felt like an hour, the girl cautiously opened her eyes.
A woman with no hair, a hole pierced through her neck, was clinging to the ceiling, staring straight down at her.
[You’re not asleep.]
Hehe.
The woman’s lips tore into an unnaturally wide grin.
* * *
“Wah! Wah! Wah!”
Gideon Zeronia hadn’t slept properly for days due to the incessant crying.
If the dean hadn’t strictly ordered silence, he would’ve alerted the guards—or even the royals in the worst case—long ago.
But would reporting it change anything?
Two professors had already gone missing.
They’d all gone out at dawn, reacting to that baby’s cries.
Would letting things continue like this really improve anything?
Gideon couldn’t help but doubt.
‘Bringing back Deus will make it better? Really?’
He was also deeply skeptical about the dean and Kerun heading to Northsweden to reinstate Deus.
Could some visiting professor—who might not even fulfill his role—solve what all these tenured professors couldn’t?
‘No way.’
Besides, the necromancer he’d summoned before was a formidable one.
He hadn’t explained fully, but it was the infamous “Black Necromancer” that the kingdom was desperately hunting.
‘This academy is beyond saving.’
It was a place swarming with evil spirits strong enough to easily kill a Black Necromancer.
This land had once belonged to the old Zeronia family, so Gideon knew.
If the records he’d seen in the family and passed to Erika were true...
“The curse of these evil spirits will never stop.”
Convinced, Gideon sighed at the persisting baby cries, dumped sleeping pills into his mouth, plugged his ears with earplugs, and lay down.
Even so, the cries pierced through, keeping him awake for a long while.