Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 121

Lily screamed as a ghost’s face suddenly burst through the tabletop.

The distance between their faces was barely a handspan. The ghost’s eyes were opened so wide it looked like they might fall out of their sockets.

The ghost roared, mouth gaping unnaturally.

[Lily Dienta—!]

“Kyahhh!”

Terrified, Lily hurled the ring out the window. Since all the glass was already shattered, the ring flew outside without resistance.

Julius’s spirit vanished instantly before her eyes.

“Hhhaaahh…”

Her strength drained, Lily collapsed flat onto the floor. She leaned her head back against the wall, gasping for air.

Her vision swam, and she felt she might faint.

Then—distant, angry footsteps. At that moment, Lily truly wished she could lose consciousness.

Of course, the owner of those steps was the cult leader.

He swept aside the overturned table with rough hands. Cloak draped over his shoulders, he looked far better than Lily did.

And that was thanks entirely to her—though he didn’t seem inclined to thank the one who had dragged Julius out.

The cult leader seized her by the collar and hauled her up.

“Urgh—!”

“Aiden Kashimir is alive, you say?”

“Y-yes! Perfectly alive and well.”

Lily gave him a sly grin. It would’ve been smarter not to provoke him until Aiden’s work was finished, but the situation was already beyond repair.

She had stalled as long as she could. By now, Aiden had surely reached the Imperial Palace.

Summoning every ounce of strength, she pulled herself onto her knees. Then she leaned close to the cult leader’s face, sneering.

“But the fact that I’m still here means… Manus, where do you think Aiden is right now?”

The cult leader’s eyes widened. He tried to fling her aside, but this time Lily clutched both his arms, mocking him as payback for all she had endured.

“Your Majesty, where do you think he is now? You killed him—twice! And yet Aiden Kashimir lives. So tell me, where do you think he is at this very moment? Think carefully!”

For the first time since she had met him, fear clouded the cult leader’s eyes. With a violent shove he tore Lily away and shouted to the knight:

“Ramond! To the palace—now!”

The cult leader staggered forward, but before he even crossed the hall, his body dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

Lily’s eyes flew wide as she darted about, searching—yet his soul was nowhere to be seen.

Aiden had done it!

“H-ha… hahaha!”

Laughter burst from her lips. Relief that she was alive, and the sheer joy that this long ordeal was finally over, overwhelmed her.

But—

“Your Majesty?”

The stunned voice behind her forced Lily to realize she had celebrated too soon.

“You wretch! What have you done?!”

The knight—Ramond—drew his sword, his face twisted with rage. His eyes burned with vengeance.

No, not this again… please, enough already!

Tears pricked Lily’s eyes.

In truth, this young knight was the most dangerous of all her enemies.

Julius could be dispelled with the ring. Manus only needed stalling until Aiden finished him off. But this knight—how was she supposed to deal with him?

Fighting him head-on was out of the question. Trying to lecture him that he was wrong was useless.

There was simply no way left.

In despair, Lily could only watch blankly as the knight advanced step by step.

Adjusting his grip on the hilt, he muttered:

“You destroyed my father’s only remaining hope…”

From that short confession, his reasons became clear. He must have wanted to give his ailing father a new body.

It pained her to crush such an earnest wish. But his dream was one that could never be realized.

The experiments to restore the cult leader’s powers had only just begun. Whether they would succeed—or, if they did, whether the fruits would ever be given to this knight—was impossible to know.

And regardless of success or failure, using others’ lives for personal desires was inexcusable.

It would have been kinder if he had never known such hope. Once you’ve glimpsed possibility, even rotten hope is hard to abandon.

Though she pitied him deeply, Lily’s eyes flashed. She had found a way to survive.

The usual platitudes would never work. Telling him “your father wouldn’t want this” or “accept fate and follow God’s will” would be meaningless here.

Lily kept thinking without rest.

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

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

After all, once today is over she’ll be questioned. She had been alone with him at the moment he fainted, so that’s only natural.

Even if there’s nothing obviously wrong with the Emperor’s body, people will still suspect something — and if there’s even a dent in his skull, it would be a disaster.

Still, Lily blindly trusted that Aiden would somehow fix things.

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

Then his gaze slid obliquely past her shoulder. Following it, she turned and saw a knight who had opened the door without a sound now standing right behind her.

Lily swung the hammer in a hurry. But the attack was uselessly blocked. The knight tapped her arm with the tip of his scabbard and pushed it away.

At that instant a pain like her wrist snapping shot through her and Lily dropped the hammer. The knight kicked it far away, and that settled the matter.

At the cult leader’s signal the knight picked up the hammer and handed it to him. Lily grabbed her throbbing right wrist and changed who she blamed.

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

Even as she made a scene, they didn’t lay a finger on her.

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

Putting the cult leader aside, she couldn’t understand why the knight stayed 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 slit in the knight’s cloak, a brooch she recognized.

It was the emblem 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’re so fearless. Do you believe in your irreplaceable worth? Indeed. You must stay well.”

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 very precious.”

Lily’s face brightened.

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

The cult leader’s smile deepened.

“You are the only thing I regret.”

He went back 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 planned to use only the power necessary — a hand motion suited to guide a soul. But my mind has changed. See the result of your stubbornness.”

That lunatic really intended 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 an instant it seemed her body would move, then in the blink of an eye their positions swapped.

Suddenly the knight was behind her, holding both her arms. No amount of struggling helped.

Headbutts and kicks that used up all her strength barely seemed to faze him. He only held her jaw so she would stare straight at the cult leader’s brutality.

Finally Lily was made ready to learn her lesson.

After wearing a satisfied smile, the cult leader raised the hammer much higher than before — so high it pointed almost straight at the ceiling.

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

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

Lily opened her eyes wide and activated her emergency move.

“Your wife is alone with Aiden right now!”