Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 63

Thank you Amy for the kofi^^

 

The body that awoke from a deep sleep at first was stiff like that of a dead person. There was limited movement, and every possible motion came with pain.

But Aiden used his body as if he didn’t know what pain was. He often tried to move on to the next step too soon, only to tumble down or fall, ending up with bruises all over his body.

Caught several times sneaking around alone at night, the attending physician eventually had to stay in the same room despite the patient having regained consciousness.

Driven to his limit, the physician seriously considered tying the duke’s body to the bedpost— But in any case, the steady training proved helpful.

Adding his natural resilience to the mix, Aiden recovered so quickly that everyone was surprised. At last, his body could endure a long journey.

“Is the departure preparation going smoothly?”

“Yes, Your Grace. I’ve confirmed everything so we’ll arrive as scheduled.”

“Well done.”

His hand tightened around the cane. Just a little longer and he’d be able to see her.

Compared to everything so far, this wait was incredibly short. Even so, he was burning with the desire to leave immediately. He wished he could open his eyes and be right in front of her…

Lily Dienta’s bold claim that feelings change had now been proven false.

It had been about a month since she left the castle, and Aiden’s heart hadn’t changed in the slightest— In fact, it was as if something had broken inside him, and now all he could focus on was reuniting with her.

It hadn’t been that way from the beginning. When he first received Lily’s letter, he thought it was all over.

And following her cold decision, he tried to throw her away— To throw away his feelings for her and return to being the old Aiden Kashimir.

Feelings with no one to receive them, no matter how grand or beautiful, were nothing but trash. They should be quietly discarded, not waved around in front of someone who didn’t want them.

But once the fever subsided and he had time to calmly think things through, Aiden realized the real issue. The root of all this was the fact that Lily Dienta was a coward.

At first glance, it seemed contradictory that the bold and daring Lily Dienta could be a coward. But it wasn’t exactly wrong.

She judged the future too quickly and rushed into a goodbye without even looking back. That’s consistent.

“Coward.”

Aiden thought with a trace of pettiness. Cowardly Lily Dienta. She liked him but had neither trust nor desire.

Once the problem was identified, the answer naturally followed. All he had to do was remove what she was afraid of. Once the obstacles were gone, she’d feel safe enough to return to him.

If she feared that feelings might change, he’d show her they wouldn’t. If she feared public opinion, then he’d change public opinion.

If their social status was an issue, he’d make them equal. If it was about money, he’d share his wealth—simple as that.

If only she had sat down and talked to him instead of leaving, She too would have easily reached the same conclusion.

Once they reunited safely, he’d make sure to tease her at least once— For getting scared over something so trivial and running away.

Of course, if the one whose feelings changed wasn’t him but Lily Dienta herself, then that would be a different story…

Aiden scoffed inwardly.

“As if she’d dare.”

She had to take responsibility. It was Lily Dienta herself who appeared before him and made him know who she was.

Even under that ridiculous curse, she made him laugh with joy, And through desperate effort, she saved him.

Yes. She had to take responsibility for saving him. If she didn’t mean to, she should have left the ancient tale’s spell to someone else.

Had she really done that, his recovery would’ve been far out of reach, and the House of Kashimir would have collapsed as well— But if she had no intention of taking responsibility, then she should have just let that happen.

“She dared to get greedy and now wants to walk away? She should’ve known from the office that such half-hearted decisions never end well.”

Aiden mocked the naive Lily Dienta inwardly. Then he slowly went over everything that had happened so far and his future plans.

He had prepared thoroughly.

His strength had returned, And he had analyzed every line in Lily Dienta’s ridiculous letter, ready to refute each one.

Now all that was left was to go to the capital and meet Lily Dienta. Not a mirage or a dream, but the living, breathing her…

Aiden swallowed a sigh.

He wanted to open his eyes and be right in front of her.

****

Turning time back a few days—to the day Lily Dienta accepted Mark Idyrins’ true identity and opened The Golden Magnifier.

That night, without caring how expensive candles were, she read the book all the way to the end.

“Because I can write it off as supplies… And honestly, what’s a few candles for fun? I literally saved a duke’s life.”

Blinking her sore eyes, Lily sluggishly got ready for bed. She had to get up again in a few hours, but she meant to close her eyes for a bit.

“That was fun.”

She yawned and stretched out on the bed.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t have survived. Especially taking the ring off the skeleton—that part was just ugh…”

She was really glad the spirits she dealt with showed up looking normal.

If they had shown up half-rotted, oozing, missing parts, or looking like bony soldiers, she definitely would have fainted.

Then the spirit, having recognized her ability, would wait in front of her unconscious body, and once she woke up and saw it again, she’d faint again, and the spirit would keep waiting in front of her…

Lily stopped her thoughts there.

Anyway, it was a relief that both Aiden and Julius had fully intact bodies.

She turned over in bed.

“The emperor… Still no news, huh?”

On her way to the townhouse, she had passed through several inns, But surprisingly, hadn’t heard a single rumor about the emperor.

She had expected the empire to fall with a bang— That it would provoke another country and start a war, hand over the empire to Solmon, or face a popular uprising due to unbearable exploitation.

But the empire was peaceful, and no one knew the emperor’s condition.

She wasn’t likely to hear anything useful here either. She was just a caretaker of an empty house. And a stranger from another region with no connections. Not the kind of person likely to pick up royal gossip.

“Does Grandma really not have any connections? She went to the academy when she was young, so someone must’ve made it big… Ugh, no, stop it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think!”

She twisted around in bed.

“They’ll figure it out on their own! It’s Duke Kashimir! He even knows how to return to his body, so what’s the problem? I’m done! What I need to do now is sleep!”

Lily forced her eyes shut. For a few seconds, the bedroom was silent enough to hear her own breathing. Then suddenly, she kicked off the blanket.

“But still…!”

Lily got out of bed entirely and began pacing around the room. She was too frustrated to stay still.

“The emperor and Aiden are totally different cases. That guy had his body taken. Aiden just had to put his soul into an empty body, but the emperor’s soul is still inside—so what do you do in that case? Would the same method even work?”

She had brushed it off as no big deal because she had wanted to get away from Aiden as soon as possible, But Lily knew the truth—it wasn’t that simple.

She had read every word of the translated manuscript Julia worked on. And in it, there was no solution for Julius’s case.

There were plenty of vague statements about how the soul and body were one, how to protect the body, and so on— But not a single method for driving out an evil spirit possessing a body.

“How does Aiden plan to solve this? No, what is he planning to do about the emperor in the first place? Just putting him back in his body feels wrong. Who knows when that thing might try to hurt him again? But leaving things as they are doesn’t make sense either…”

The bigger problem was that no one left could communicate with Julius.

Now that the one who had been the bridge to the spirits was gone, everything must have gotten even more complicated.

Aiden definitely still needed her. He must be desperately hoping for her help. Even aside from feelings…

At that moment, Lily grabbed her hair with both hands and screamed.

“Aaaagh! This has nothing to do with me! What right do I have to even worry about this?!”

Her scalp hurt as she shook her fist while still pulling her hair. Even so, Lily didn’t let go. She deserved a scolding.

She was the one who left. She had no intention of going back. And yet, here she was, thinking about all this—how could she be so shameless?

This was sheer nerve— And an insult to Aiden, who had tried until the end to hold onto her.