Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 25

Part 4. When Divine Blessing Reaches a Mortal

Lily approached calmly and bowed her head.

“I am Lily Dienta, the maid assigned to the Duke’s study. I’ve come to retrieve some items at the request of the scholar staying in the mansion.”

The knight with a scar on his chin, whose rough appearance made him look fierce, replied sternly.

“Access for external personnel is restricted during His Majesty’s stay.”

It was almost laughable how they acted like they owned the place, just like Angela said. Calling the mansion’s own maid ‘external personnel’!

Lily replied naturally,

“I have His Majesty’s authorization.”

She showed them the ring she held in her hand. Once they saw the name engraved inside the ring, they opened the door for her.

“Be quick about it.”

She had been half-doubting it would work, but thank goodness it did! The Emperor’s name, after all, usually carried overwhelming influence.

As Lily stepped inside, her mind began to race. If Aiden was still trapped in the main building, then his soul-bound item must still be here.

When she had helped dismantle the main building before, she had explored almost every corner, but she hadn’t seen anything glowing strangely.

That meant she needed to head where she hadn’t properly explored yet: the fourth floor. The problem was, most of the fourth floor’s rooms were locked.

Lily made her way toward the storage room. Aiden was still there, standing just as she had instructed him. With a cool, almost statue-like expression, he widened his eyes when she entered.

[Lily, didn’t you say you wouldn’t be able to come for a while?]

“I need Your Grace’s help.”

[Wait.]

Aiden’s gaze shifted slightly past her.

[Julius?]

Lily turned her head. The Emperor’s spirit had apparently followed her or rather, followed the ring all the way here. She had marched straight to the main building without looking back, so she hadn’t noticed.

[Aiden…]

Even Julius recognized Aiden.

[What you said was true. It seems Julius was trapped the same way I was.]

While Aiden calmly assessed the situation, Julius reacted much more dramatically.

[A—ah, ahhh!]

With a face as if he had seen something truly horrifying, he let out a scream and turned to flee.

‘I really can’t figure out what’s going on anymore,’ Lily muttered inwardly as she urged Aiden.

“First, please follow me. We need to find something before the fake Emperor gets here.”

Lily and Aiden hurried to the fourth floor. The sound of their urgent footsteps echoed up the staircase.

[I have a lot of questions.]

Aiden spoke in an unwavering voice beside her, even as Lily was panting from the rush.

[I feel more and more overwhelmed every time you come to see me.]

“I swear I’m innocent! Before I started serving Your Grace, my life was peaceful itself.”

[Hmm. Was it, really?]

It truly was. Lily had been living a perfectly quiet, proper life as a maid. Everything had started going wrong only after she was assigned to the main building.

If Aiden wanted, she could even ask her friends to testify how demure and well-behaved she used to be.

But for now, she had to endure this unfair treatment.

[I just asked you yesterday not to get involved in anything dangerous. I begged you not to act impulsively.]

“You call that begging? That’s a bit much, Your Grace!”

[Yet here you are, dragging along another ghost. I seriously don’t know what to do with you anymore.]

His tone was like a caretaker dealing with a runaway colt. It was so unfair! She hadn’t done a single thing on purpose!

[What happened with Julius? You said he was following his own body.]

“Well, last night I ran into the fake Emperor, and after helping guide him—”

[Lily!]

Aiden cried out her name, sounding horrified.

“Ugh, well, a bunch of things happened, and it couldn’t be helped. Anyway, he gave me the ring as a gift.But it turns out His Majesty’s soul was bound to it.”

[A ring that binds a soul… To accept such an ominous thing…]

“I threw it away immediately! But then I thought it might be a clue to solving Your Grace’s problem, and—ah!”

At the last step leading to the fourth floor, Lily tripped and fell. She banged her shin hard against the edge of the stair.

Tears welled up from the sharp, throbbing pain.

[Are you okay?!]

“It hurts…”

Her voice and body shook. She couldn’t even bring herself to lie and say she was fine.

But more than the pain, she was simply baffled. It had been ages—since childhood—that she had last fallen down the stairs.

She rubbed her shin over her skirt. It was definitely going to bruise later.

Still, now wasn’t the time to be dawdling. Lily stepped into the hallway with determined steps.

“Anyway, I think Your Grace’s soul must also be tied to something. We have to find it before the fake Emperor does! If he uses it for something terrible, or if he takes it away somewhere else, Your Grace’s soul might be dragged along too—just like what’s happening to the real Emperor.”

Lily headed first to Aiden’s bedroom. When she tried the doorknob, it was, of course, locked.

[So… that’s why you had to act in such a rush. I owe you even more than I thought…]

Aiden said something, his face showing complex emotions, but Lily let it go in one ear and out the other.

Right now, her entire focus was on solving the problem at hand.

“Your Grace, please open the door.”

[You want me to open it?]

“Yes, it’s locked.”

[There’s no time to fetch a key, I suppose.]

Lily nodded.

Wolfram, as a proper noble, had his own private residence. Even with his usual early starts and late nights, it was still far too early for him to have arrived.

And it wasn’t as if she could ask the head maid for help. What reason could she give for wanting a door on the fourth floor opened?
That area had nothing to do with her duties. Angela wasn’t someone she could fool with a flimsy excuse.

So they would have to rely on Aiden’s “special abilities.”

“I heard that before I started working here, you could open locked doors at will. Please, Your Grace.”

[It’s not something I can just do at a whim.]

“But it’s powered purely by the mind, isn’t it? I believe in you, without a shred of doubt. So please, do your best—let’s go! You can do it!”

Lily clenched her fists and cheered him on before hiding behind a distant pillar. Still, she couldn’t help peeking out to watch.

Aiden was still looking at her. When their eyes met, he let out a small sigh and then turned his gaze to the door.

After taking one deep breath, he slammed his fist against the door. With a deafening boom, the door opened as limply as a sheet of paper.

It wasn’t a new sight—and she had asked him to open it herself—yet somehow, it was still a little frightening. Ghosts really were…

Then he looked back at her and beckoned softly. It was the same Aiden as always. Relieved, Lily scampered over.

“What were you thinking about just now?”

[I was remembering the time you ran away.]

“O-oh… I see. Anyway, let’s head inside.”

Avoiding his gaze, Lily quickly moved past him.

The neatly kept room had already gathered a slight stale smell from being unused for a few days.

Lily swept her eyes across the room, searching for any glow similar to the ring’s shimmer— a faint flicker like a tiny flame, or a sparkling mist like fairy dust.

They had to find it quickly. The loud noise earlier might attract someone.

‘Please let it be here in the bedroom…’

She looked around nervously, but nothing immediately stood out. Would she have to search every drawer, every chest, every bookshelf?

Lily bit her lip.

‘Can we even finish before someone shows up? If we’re caught, it’ll look exactly like a burglary.’

She sighed helplessly. The owner of the room asked,

[What exactly are we looking for?]

“Good question…”

Lily answered awkwardly.

“Since it was a ring for His Majesty, I’m guessing it must be some kind of accessory… but it’s hard to say.”

[Do you have the item with you? Show me.]

Lily pulled the ring from her pocket. Aiden studied it and then nodded.

[I think I understand.]

“Understand what?”

He explained immediately upon seeing the ring—despite it not being his own.

[That ring was the protection item Julius received at the temple for his coming-of-age birthday. The high priest himself prayed over it.
Mine should be inside that drawer.]

Aiden pointed to the nightstand drawer. Inside was a porcelain box, white with vine patterns around the lid, small enough to fit neatly in one’s palm.

Lily carefully lifted the lid.

Inside was a rosary, strung with tiny pearls and gemstones.

“Ah…”

Lily let out a gasp.

A shimmering, mystical light danced over the rosary.