Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 120

Lily kept turning things over in her head without a break.

Maybe it would be better if she used the hammer before Aiden completed his mission.

Really, harming the Emperor’s body wasn’t a very good idea.

After all, once today is over she’ll be questioned. It’s only natural since she was alone with him when he fainted.

Even if there’s nothing obviously wrong with the Emperor’s body, she’ll still be suspected—if there’s even a dent in his skull it would be a terrible situation.

Still, Lily blindly trusted that Aiden would manage somehow.

She glared at the cult leader until her eyes hurt. His face was hardened. With that sly smile gone, he somehow looked both smug and chilling.

Then his pupils shifted obliquely over her shoulder. Following his gaze, she turned and saw a knight who had opened the door soundlessly now standing right behind her.

Lily swung the hammer in a hurry. But the attack was futilely stopped. The knight flicked the tip of his scabbard against her arm and shoved it away.

At that instant a wrist-splitting pain shot through her and Lily dropped the hammer. The knight kicked it away, settling the situation.

At the cult leader’s signal the knight picked up the hammer and handed it to him. Lily clutched her throbbing right wrist and changed the target of her blame.

“You call yourself an Imperial knight? Fine, those people in the basement chose the Solomon faith of their own will. But what crime did this man commit? Did he sign up to be put into a coma and used as an experiment subject? Huh? Did he sign a contract?!”

Even while she made a scene like that, they didn’t so much as lay a finger on her.

The cult leader inspected the cloth wrapped around the hammerhead while the knight watched Lily quietly. It felt like shouting at a wall.

The cult leader aside, she couldn’t understand why the knight remained so calm.

Isn’t this an utterly bizarre sight? Any sane person would be shocked to see the Emperor in such a state.

Then Lily noticed, through the split in the knight’s cloak, a brooch she recognized.

It was the token from the secret meeting she’d seen at the needlework circle. Strange—so they’d been in league from the start!

“Lily Dienta, now I know why you are so fearless. Do you believe in your irreplaceable worth? Indeed. You must remain healthy.”

The cult leader had regained that eerie smile.

“If the only one with open eyes is harmed, it would be a catastrophe. If you die or lose your sight… truly, you are a very precious being.”

Lily’s face brightened.

“Th-then please listen to me. I’ve seen souls many times in my life. If we look around a bit, we’ll surely find a suitable body. No need to take a living person. Shall we leave together now?”

The cult leader’s smile deepened.

“You are the only thing I regret.”

He returned to the man and picked up the hammer. Then he tapped his own palm with the hammerhead.

‘That madman.’

A chill ran through Lily. The cult leader looked into her eyes and spoke clearly.

“I intended to use only the power necessary. A hand motion suitable to guide a soul. But my mind has changed. See the result of your stubbornness.”

That lunatic was actually going to crush a person’s skull!

As soon as she realized his next move, Lily lunged.

But the knight was a step faster and blocked her. For a moment it seemed her body would move, then suddenly their positions swapped.

The knight was behind her now, holding both her arms. No matter how fiercely she shook, it was no use.

The knight seemed barely bothered by her headbutts and kicks—he only held her jaw so she would stare straight at the cult leader’s brutality.

At last Lily was made ready to receive a lesson.

After wearing a satisfied smile, the cult leader raised the hammer far higher—so high it pointed vertically toward the ceiling, higher than he had shown it before.

He measured the man’s head one last time and prepared to instruct.

“If you do not be quiet, I will do it as many times as needed…”

Lily opened her eyes wide and activated her emergency attack.

“Your wife is alone with Aiden right now!”

While the cult leader froze, Lily shouted at a ridiculous speed.

“Did you think Aiden was dead? Too bad for you! He’s perfectly alive! By the way, weren’t you dying of curiosity because you couldn’t enter the guesthouse today? Want to know why? The Empress begged me. She said she can’t stay with scum like you anymore! She’d rather live under the Duke’s patronage than live with a coward who has not an ounce of manliness — you fool!”

[Lily Dientaaa!]

Julius, who’d been enjoying Lily’s humiliation up to now, howled.

Every word was carefully chosen to land like a blow, and Julius was nearly berserk. The mansion began to break apart without warning.

A wheeled shelf flew at Lily. If the knight hadn’t held her and dodged swiftly, she would have been crushed between the wall and the shelf.

Lily didn’t back down and shouted even more fiercely.

“You pitiful, small-minded worm. It’s shameful that you were called emperor for so long. No wonder the late Emperor cherished Aiden more. You loser! Pathetic child! Useless man even your wife abandoned!”

[Shut that mouth!]

“Why should I? I’m glad my lover is Aiden. I’m not a bundle of jealous inferiority like someone else—ugh!”

All the glass objects shattered. The knight threw Lily aside and covered the cult leader with his body.

Items from the bookcases flew everywhere. The knight threw his cloak over the cult leader’s head.

Taking advantage of that moment, Lily opened the door and ran into the corridor.

At this rate, the man on the surgical table would die from the wreckage rather than the cult leader’s hammer.

She ran toward the living room. Glancing back, Julius was crashing through the house with a racket and chasing after her.

It felt like a day from a long-ago, illegally extended leave.

She could vividly imagine how frightened the servants must have been when the main building of the Duke of Kashimir’s estate was half-destroyed…

Julius blocked the entrance with heavy furniture as if to make sure she wouldn’t escape.

Then sofas, shelves fixed to the walls, decorations, candlesticks and the like were flung by unseen force.

Lily was too busy dodging them. A few hit her. Again, the sound of cracking glass rang out!

She raised her arm to shield her face. She didn’t fully block it; heat and pain spread across not only the back of her hand but also her cheek.

Her arms and legs were bruised, and her clothes were starting to tear. Luckily, no bones were broken.

[How dare you mock me and think you’ll get away with it!]

Julius shouted like a demon.

Lily wanted to answer back, but she had to roll on the floor to avoid a table.

The scale of the disaster Julius caused exceeded Lily’s expectations. If this continued, she’d be crushed under the furniture before the cult leader fell.

She had already thought of an emergency escape plan using nearby items: throw the ring out the window.

That would pull Julius’s soul outside with the ring’s movement.

First, she had to move to the window through this chaos…

Lily set a nearby table on its side and used it as a shield. Crouching behind the upright tabletop hid her body fairly well.

She took hits from things flying from behind and pressed her back to the wall. That made her rear safer.

Unfortunately that wall had no window. She’d need to move sideways to reach the windowed side.

Objects kept pounding the table top. Sometimes things fell from above, but she dodged them by inches.

She gripped the table leg and edged forward in a duck-walk.

[Keep talking then, Lily Dienta! Let’s hear that noisy mouth of yours!]

Julius yelled in anger, but she ignored him. She had already angered him enough.

Finally under the window, Lily pulled the ring from her inner pocket with shaking hands.

Tempted to throw it away then and there, she held back. If she threw it too soon, she’d have to confront the cult leader again.

She bit her lip. Just a little longer, she told herself…

Suddenly the mansion grew still. Things stopped moving, doors that had been banging creaked once and went quiet.

Only the pounding of her heart filled her ears.

‘Has he come to his senses already?’

As she hesitated about whether to peek out, a voice roared.

[I will absolutely kill you!]

Julius’s head suddenly shoved into the gap between Lily’s face and the tabletop.