Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 118

“Your Majesty, please—please wait. Please reconsider.”

Lily spoke desperately, but slowly enough for him to understand.

“Forgive my rudeness, but Julius Sheawartz said that Your Majesty lost the ability to handle souls. Then what use is this? It would be a meaningless killing!”

The cult leader stared at her blankly.

“Have you forgotten your promise of obedience?”

Lily stopped breathing. One wrong move and she’d be out of favor. In fact, she’d already angered him enough.

She was certainly acting improperly. She shouldn’t defy him. She needed to flatter him and above all protect herself. Still, she couldn’t just watch this happen.

She clasped her hands and cried out.

“Your Majesty, how could you doubt me! I was only worried that Your sacrifice would be wasted. There’s nothing certain—this is reckless. It’s meaningless. Please regain your senses. Julius Sheawartz’s body has no ability!”

The cult leader put down the hammer.

‘Has he given up?!’

Lily brightened and followed his movement with her eyes.

He took out the jar of red ink again and handed it to Lily.

“Hold it.”

Puzzled, Lily took the jar and brought it close to her nose.

Among the strange smells there was a faint metallic tang.

The cult leader whispered right next to her ear.

“My blood is mixed in there. The blood of my original body.”

Lily’s hands began to tremble. He took the jar back and put it in its place.

“I wonder. Will collected blood exert a magical effect? Can it induce the soul to float? Could I regain the art of soul control?”

He murmured with his eyes closed.

“If that happens, I will be reborn many times. Free from the limits of this borrowed body…”

Then he opened his eyes and looked at Lily.

“This is an experiment. I have waited long for you to arrive. As you said, we must not let this become meaningless. Watch carefully with those eyes. Then tell me what you see.”

“If—if it has no effect? Then we would have killed someone for nothing.”

“It will be fine.”

He took Lily’s wrist and guided her to a chair.

“I have prepared enough while waiting for you. I could prepare more, of course. Enough to continue experiments. Change the incantations, change the induction method, wait for different constellations if needed.”

Lily forced herself into the chair. Still, his hand did not release her wrist.

He ran his thumb over the bluish veins at her wrist.

“If it still fails, we will use your blood. I would like your blood to be blessed, like your eyes.”

She bit her lip. Words didn’t reach him. He intended to swing the hammer no matter what. What could she do…?

Suddenly Lily opened her eyes wide and grabbed the returning cult leader.

“A talisman! Master, a talisman! This person’s soul must be attached to something there!”

Lily tried to smile like a sycophant, but her lips trembled so much it failed.

Still, she kept talking somehow.

“First, have them fetch that. It must be there. Before you hammer the poor man to death, check that first.”

The cult leader rummaged through a cabinet and produced a rosary, shaking it so she could see.

“This is his talisman. And you did not see the soul.”

He dropped the rosary back into the box with an expressionless face.

“Now be quiet. I grow tired.”

Lily wanted to tear her hair out.

Did she really have to wait like this? Stand by while someone’s head was struck?

The cult leader raised the hammer.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

Aiden sat with his arms folded, staring at the floor of the carriage.

There were two people inside the carriage, but it felt as quiet as if no one were there.

Aiden and Themis had never really spoken much. Even though he came to the capital so often, he had only met Themis a handful of times.

Even if they had been close, they still couldn’t have talked in a situation like this.

He was almost losing his mind with worry for Lily. He’d never felt this anxious, not even before the most dangerous battles.

The cult leader wouldn’t hurt her. He needed Lily.

That made sense to his reason, but his anxiety wouldn’t fade.

The carriage seemed to move as slowly as if it were carrying a funeral. Maybe it would have been better to leave sooner, even if being noticed as following them…

When they were about halfway to the palace, the carriage suddenly stopped. Outside, Gray Payne was on horseback.

Why was he here?

Aiden remembered the role he’d assigned to Payne.

To bait Saul Oats, he had asked Payne to move quickly and leak Julia’s arrival to Lamond.

Lamond was a young royal knight who had joined the cult leader’s secret meetings.

He hadn’t missed the chance to earn favor and reported the information to the cult leader. That was why Saul visited the mansion last night.

When Aiden gave him the task, he’d briefly told him today’s plan as well.

So Payne should have been in the palace watching the chamberlain and the emperor’s movements.

Aiden opened the door at once.

Payne was sweating more than necessary. His posture in the saddle looked uncomfortable and stiff.

“Where’s Lily? Has something happened to her?”

“I should be asking. Where is Miss Dienta now? Is she safe?”

Payne panted.

“The Emperor is nowhere to be seen in the palace. The chamberlain hasn’t made any preparations either. Something’s off.”

“Ah…”

Themis sighed behind them. Aiden couldn’t even make a sound; he froze.

He couldn’t breathe.

He had let her fall into danger. She had fallen into Manus’s hands, and he didn’t know what state she was in or where she was.

What if he never saw her again? If he failed to get her back…

Fear for Lily’s safety, the shock that the plan had been ruined, and his anger at Saul Oats churned inside him.

Aiden clenched his teeth. He forced himself to control his emotions. For Lily’s sake, he had to be colder and clearer-headed than usual.

In a hard voice he asked,

“What is Saul Oats doing right now? Do you think he betrayed us?”

“He didn’t betray us. The chamberlain is waiting in the palace for the two of you. But he noticed something before I did.”

Payne continued.

“But he didn’t want to tell Your Excellency. He forced me to wait, and that disagreement delayed our departure.”

And that disagreement was likely more than a simple argument.

Aiden finally understood why the knight captain had seemed uneasy.

The chamberlain must have ordered other soldiers to stop him. If he’d given instructions to detain anyone who resisted the imperial command, it would explain the scene.

Trying to stay calm, Aiden pieced together the information Payne had given.

Strictly speaking, the chamberlain hadn’t betrayed them. As long as Saul still wanted to save Julia, he would cooperate as much as he could.

Saul simply thought nothing had gone wrong with the plan.

Lily Dienta would distract the Emperor by going to him. Saul Oats would wait in the palace, and Aiden Kashimir and the Empress would bring the Emperor to his bedchamber.

If the decoy had not been Lily, Aiden would have thought the same as Saul: there’s no big variable to stop the plan; everything is proceeding smoothly.

Payne asked,

“What do you want me to do?”

Aiden had only one order to give: go and rescue Lily.

But where should they rescue her from?

If Manus only wanted to talk with Lily, meeting in the palace would have been fine. Instead, he sent people to take her elsewhere.

Aiden needed to know why. What did Manus want from Lily besides talk?

He wants Lily’s ability. He knows she can see souls and plans to use that.

After deciding, Aiden told Payne,

“Captain, tell Wolfram to attack the western woods. Say it like that and he’ll understand immediately.”

The cult leader’s secret meeting place was in the western woods. It was also linked to the disappearances of the poor.

If Manus decided to use Lily’s ability right away, that place was the most likely destination.

“Understood.”

Payne set off at once. Aiden watched him go with his fist clenched.

He wanted to head to the western woods too. He wanted to join the search party and save her as fast as possible.

He felt he could only breathe properly if he held her in his arms and felt her warmth.

[No, you mustn’t!]

Lily’s voice popped into his head like an auditory hallucination.

[I’ll handle things here, Aiden. You go quickly!]

It sounded exactly like something Lily Dienta would say. Aiden couldn’t tell if he’d made it up himself or if her spirit had really whispered to him.

He shut his eyes tight, opened them again, and ordered the coachman to head for the palace as fast as possible.

The door closed, and the coachman obeyed. The carriage picked up speed like a racehorse and jolted over every bump in the road.

He steadied the Empress, who swayed, by holding her. She shrugged him off and braced herself alone.

Themis’s gaze fixed on him. Her eyes, which had been full of fear for Lily, slowly turned to mild displeasure.

For the first time since boarding the carriage, she spoke to Aiden.

“We should go look for her, shouldn’t we?”