Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 107

Ramond continued his report with a triumphant look.

“If even his own blood is put in danger after the Duke of Kashimir, he will no longer be able to oppose Your Majesty.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor tapped the table again.

“Yes. If Aiden doesn’t die, then maybe Lily Dienta can still endure. It would be better to let her know her situation….”

He gave Ramond a faint smile.

“Can I leave it to you?”

Ramond answered, taking a loyal stance.

“It will be my honor to serve, Your Majesty.”

Saul could hardly breathe.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

Saul Oetz and Julia Midrof first met at the Academy.

They burned with competitiveness toward each other’s brilliant minds, competed, sometimes cooperated by chance, and finally came to acknowledge one another.

That acknowledgment turned into affection in an instant, and Saul found himself wanting to share not only knowledge but also life with her.

Magic had happened to her too. One could tell easily just by looking into Julia Midrof’s eyes.

When her eyes, which sparkled while flipping through books in the library, bent with the same light toward him, Saul instinctively knew their feelings were the same.

Then it naturally followed that their arms brushed while working on assignments, their gazes met between the shelves, or they stole time together under the excuse of discussion. And at last, they secretly exchanged rings….

One night, lying in bed, Julia Midrof said,

“When you leave the Academy, you’ll surely succeed. I know you’ll become someone so great even my father wouldn’t dare refuse you.”

It was too generous a blessing for the second son who had been driven out of his family.

But Saul knew Julia’s heart. Beneath her calm face, she hid a desperate wish for his success stronger than anyone’s.

And it was all because of Julia’s father.

Julia’s father, Johan Midrof, was born the son of a barely surviving provincial noble family.

Exceptionally intelligent from a young age, he immersed himself in study. He wanted to live leisurely in the paradise of scholarship.

So that’s what Johan did. He pulled on his family’s wealth and lived a well-off scholar’s life with no concern for the mundane world.

By luck, he even became a professor at the Academy, but got entangled in ridiculous factional strife and was expelled.

When he returned home, no wealth remained. His only income, the professor’s salary, was gone. Life suddenly became very difficult.

It wasn’t really about the ability to earn money, but about will. He refused to stain his hands with anything other than ink. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

Johan Midrof agonized.

How could he cast off worries and bury himself in letters as before?

He wouldn’t live in luxury like in the past. That way, he wouldn’t need enormous sums of money….

Soon Johan realized his daughter was good capital for household wealth. As her father, he had the right to choose her husband.

His beautiful, virtuous daughter would be given to a man who offered an appealing dowry—or someone who would support him regularly.

Knowing her own future, Julia begged and begged Johan until he allowed her to come here.

Just one year, no, even just one term was fine. She would handle tuition and living expenses herself. Let her taste only a drop of the nectar of scholarship from the place where her father once belonged.

Whether it was moved by her appeal to scholarship, or simply pride from her pleas, Johan granted Julia her final freedom.

Julia threw herself into study more desperately than anyone at the Academy. Cold and heartless, she even earned the nickname of a ghost of learning.

Ignoring the opinions around her, Julia ran desperately forward.

If she produced flawless, outstanding results, then someone in need of talent would pick her.

If that happened, she would not be bound to an unwanted marriage but could live her own life.

Julia attended the Academy clinging only to that hope.

Then she came to love Saul, and wished for him to be part of her future, but….

The man whose lips touched hers now could not be accepted by Johan Midrof. Johan would never allow their marriage.

“You have a future.”

Julia repeated as if trying to ingrain it into him.

“So you must send me a proposal letter. Until then, I’ll endure somehow….”

“Are you proposing to me right now?”

Wanting to cheer up his unusually somber lover, Saul—who rarely joked—tried humor.

But Julia, with not a trace of a smile, replied solemnly.

“You’re the only one I want to share my life with.”

Saul turned, caging her in his arms and gazing down at her.

Around Julia’s shining skin hung a necklace with a ring on it.

Saul had saved from the allowance his family sent him to buy it as a gift. Though he spent quite a sum, the ring on her radiant neck looked like a shabby piece of trash.

Saul caressed the ring.

He wanted to show this trash to the world. Instead of being hidden beneath her clothes, he wanted it to leave a mark on her slender finger.

One day, when she took the ring off, he hoped to see a pale circle left by the sun. He wished she would wear it that long.

That this graceful, wise woman would become his legal spouse….

“You must remember that. Don’t say something else later.”

Looking into her eyes, shining like morning stars, Saul said,

“You’re the only one I want to share my life with.”

A few more blissful nights followed, then Julia silently left the Academy, ending it all at once.

The whereabouts of the top freshman reached him from time to time through rumors. That she had been married by a scholar, unable to bear poverty, to some merchant. That she had borne a son. That when the merchant’s company failed, that Midrof had been forced to drift from one tutoring job to another….

When Saul heard the last rumor, he couldn’t resist the impulse to go to her.

He was no longer the green boy from Academy days. He was fully capable of helping her circumstances.

So Saul Oetz, wandering through unfamiliar streets far from home, finally found Julia Dienta holding a bag in one hand and the hand of a boy in the other.

In a single moment, he knew the boy was her son. Their eyes and noses resembled each other, and they were smiling and talking together.

Before Julia could look straight ahead, Saul hurriedly fled.

He hadn’t wanted to become a ghost of her past, suddenly appearing in front of her happiness. He had only wanted to help her out of misfortune.

But it was arrogant of him to think financial hardship would break Julia Midrof’s spirit.

Why hadn’t he remembered before coming here? She had always been someone who gave her all to her fate.

After that, he never again searched for Julia’s whereabouts.

But when unbearable longing swallowed him, he would hold in his hand the “trash” she had left behind.

And he would send up long, long prayers that in his dreams, at least, he might again see the woman he had once tried to share his life with—the woman who had made him cling to wealth, power, and a status everyone would recognize.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Lily waited in the guest room with Julia. As no news came even after lunch, she grew more and more anxious.

If there was no response from Saul today, she planned to proceed with the original plan before it was too late.

Julia too, with a face darker than when she had first arrived at the mansion, sat blankly without turning a single page of her book.

Just then, Wolfram came to them.

“Miss Dienta, do you have a moment?”

“Yes!”

Lily jumped up from her seat.

“I’d like to ask you to translate something.”

If he asked her to translate, it meant he wanted her to convey Julius’s words.

“Is there information to extract from that person?”

“No. Just as you did with the knight commander, I’d like you to pass along someone else’s words.”

Wolfram glanced at Julia, then quickly gave more precise information.

“Please approach the Empress as a counselor and deliver His Majesty’s words.”

“The Empress? She’s here?”

“Yes, we’ve rescued Her Majesty and the Prince from the villa and are keeping them safe.”

“Ah!”

Lily let out a cry of relief.
The question she hadn’t dared to ask, fearing Marie might be endangered for bringing them information, was finally answered.

“Regardless of whether the chamberlain cooperates, if you have her company and support, entering the Imperial Castle will be much easier. Please win the Empress’s cooperation.”

Lily was puzzled. That… wasn’t it just a matter of opening her mouth?

As husband and wife, the Empress must have noticed something was wrong with her husband. At the very least, she would have felt something off.

If they explained the reason and promised to defeat the cult leader, it shouldn’t be hard to gain her consent.

For that kind of persuasion, it would be better for the Duke of Kashimir to step forward than some stranger posing as a counselor.

They were both nobles, so they were bound to know each other, and if the Duke shared his own experiences, it would be all the more convincing.

“Uh, I did complain a little, but you don’t have to go out of your way to take care of me. I just wanted to know how things were going. For persuasion like that, His Grace—ah, he can’t come out now. Then it seems better for you, Counselor, to handle it….”

Unlike usual, Lily backed away. It was hard to adjust now that she was being treated in the exact opposite way from before.

“This isn’t about taking care of you on purpose. His Grace has already tried to meet her several times, but she’s been firmly refusing.”

“Why, why would she?”

“We don’t know the reason. Outwardly the two of them had no contact, but neither was their relationship bad. It was also the Empress who first requested the rescue. For those reasons, we think it would be better for someone in the role of counselor to approach her.”

Lily had never expected that her cover identity would be used for this long.