Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 65

“Anyway, it’s definitely a heretic sigil.”

At that thought, Lily was so shocked she dropped her crochet hook. Countess Contania was planning to turn a heretic protective sigil into a brooch and hand it out to guests!

“Is she out of her mind?”

Lily picked up her hook and jabbed it through the loop of yarn as she thought.

“Does the countess even know what that is? If she did, she wouldn’t openly ask others to make it like this, would she? Then what does she think it is? No one in the Empire uses symbols like that!”

Her heart pounded wildly. Was the countess a heretic? Or had she been tricked by someone? All the heretics had been wiped out—so who had shown it to her? And why?

Lily swallowed and decided to talk to Dona directly.

“But it’s really unusual, isn’t it? The brooches from the capital, I mean.”

Catching Dona’s attention, Lily continued.

“I’ve only ever seen floral embroidery before. If that’s the trend in the capital, I’ll have to get one too.”

“Not really.”

Dona answered while moving her needle with stunning speed. Embroidering and talking at the same time—how impressive.

“This was a special request from my lady. Even in the capital, people don’t wear brooches like this.”

“She’s right. If you wore something like this around, everyone would just stare at you, confused.”

Gloria added with a laugh. Lily groaned.

“Ugh, fashion is so hard. Then I guess it must hold some special meaning for the countess. Enough to give them to people she’s close with.”

“She does love giving gifts to her friends. And well, we just do as we’re told, right?”

“Lily! Hey, focus, will you?”

Gloria put down her embroidery frame and came over. She stared at Lily’s tangled yarn for about two seconds before decisively unraveling all of it.

“Alright, wrap it around your fingers again. There you go—ah, but this part’s gotten a lot better. Now, what do you do next?”

In the end, Lily had no choice but to focus back on her own work, without getting anything new. From the looks of it, there was nothing more to gain from Dona.

But still, it had been an incredible discovery.

A heretic charm circulating among the Empire’s elite? How long had it been since the high priest’s execution, and someone already dared to do this?

Thinking rationally, the answer wasn’t hard. Who else but the Emperor in the royal capital?

Unsatisfied with all his wealth and power, he now seemed to be aiming to revive the old religion.

“Should I tell Aiden?”

She thought, undoing the lace she’d messed up again.

“Maybe it’s pointless. Maybe he won’t want to hear it. Still… it doesn’t matter. I’ll write to him, say I found out by chance. He might be annoyed at first, but in the end, he’ll admit it’s useful. Knowledge is power, after all.”

Even though she had thrown everything away with her own hands, she still wanted to help somehow. If she kept her feelings out of it, wouldn’t that be fine? Just act as a voluntary informant and pass on what she knew.

“I’ll use a fake name. Change my handwriting too, so he won’t know it’s me. Simple enough.”

Her heart ached in a small, stabbing way, but she tried to stay positive.

From then on, she focused hard on her stitches, making sure not to miss a single loop. For the first time, she made progress—a lace length about the size of her finger. She was just stretching her sore shoulders when one of the members called out to her.

“Lily, come to think of it, didn’t you say you used to work at Duke Kashimir’s estate?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“They say Duke Kashimir is coming to the capital soon. Who knows, maybe you’ll run into someone you used to work with.”

“D-Duke Kashimir is?”

Lily dropped her embroidery tool.

“Yes. I heard things are really busy at the duke’s mansion. It looks like he’s finally well enough to come pay his respects to His Majesty.”

At that, another member chimed in.

“I’m so glad he’s recovered. I was worried the Empire was about to lose one of its pillars.”

“Seriously. If we had lost him, it would’ve been such a tragedy. He’s way too young to die. He still has so much to do for the country.”

The topic changed again before long. But Lily was too shocked to even think about picking her crochet hook back up.

Aiden’s coming to the capital? Aiden? To the capital?

It’s not like he was coming to see her, and nobles visiting the capital was the most normal thing in the world—yet Lily couldn’t calm her swirling thoughts.

How could he do this? If he was going to come so soon, he never should have let her go to the capital in the first place. It would just be awkward if they ran into each other—why now, of all times?

It was extremely unlikely that Lily Dienta, who walked everywhere, would just happen to bump into Duke Aiden Kashimir, who traveled by carriage. They went to places that were worlds apart.

But still, Lily was so uncomfortable she could scream. She could forget about getting any sleep from now on.

She already had trouble falling asleep, but now she could clearly picture herself tearing at her hair with all kinds of frustrating thoughts and messy lingering feelings.

“Ugh! I wish I never heard that! It’s not like we’ll even meet, but now I know this stupid thing!”

Seriously, why did Duke Aiden Kashimir have to come to the capital? Sure, it was to handle matters with the Emperor—but still. Why now? It was too cruel!

That day, Lily left the embroidery shop with her basket looking exactly the same as when she came—no progress at all.

“Hmm… Don’t worry, Lily. If you keep practicing, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon.”

Gloria tried to cheer her up, but Lily wasn’t so sure.

From now on, she would use every sense she had in that embroidery group to catch any news related to Aiden.

And if something came up, she’d hang on every word. If nothing came up, she’d just sit there out of it. She might even be the one to bring up the topic of the duke herself.

“Pathetic! Ugh, I’m the worst!”

Worrying over a man she couldn’t even really call an ex—it was just embarrassing.

And yet, she had no intention of quitting the embroidery club.

She had no choice if she wanted information. Whether it was about the Emperor or some high-ranking noble, it didn’t matter…

Lily returned home, tormented by her tangled thoughts.

 

 

****

 

 

 

As expected, Lily was too worked up to sleep properly. As a result, by around noon the next day, she was in a terrible mood.

“Hmph, why isn’t he coming here? This is his house too, isn’t it? He could just come here instead. I’ve been sweeping and polishing it spotless all this time. Why bother making the servants clean a new place from scratch? This place is all ready—he just has to walk in. Wouldn’t that be way easier for everyone?”

With eyes full of resentment, she went about cleaning every corner of the townhouse.

A few hours later, there was a knock at the door. When Lily opened it and saw who the visitor was—Aiden Kashimir—she immediately called upon her deity.

“Lord Lumion! I lied! I didn’t mean it! I swear I didn’t mean any of it!”

She wished she could go back in time and smack herself in the mouth. People always said words had power—what had she been thinking, spouting nonsense like that?

But regrets couldn’t change reality. And in reality, Aiden was still standing at the door.

Behind him were Wolfram and a few knights, but Lily saw no one else—only Aiden.

He looked very different from the last time she saw him. Gone was the weak and shabby man who couldn’t even lift an arm from his sickbed.

Aiden’s features were sharp, but he didn’t look scrawny or frail anymore.

His neatly combed black hair looked like the night sky, and his skin, now smooth with a healthy glow, was nothing like the dull pallor it had before.

With his elegant, noble-like presence—and now dressed in much finer clothes than when he was a spirit—Aiden Kashimir looked every bit the high-ranking noble he was.

Lily stared at him in a daze, breathing in the fresh, crisp scent that hung in the air. It took her a long moment to even realize she hadn’t bowed.

“I-I greet the Duke of Kashimir.”

Only then did the man, who had simply watched her without saying a word, give a light nod.

“It’s been a while, Lily.”

Aiden’s voice hadn’t changed at all. It was familiar and sweet, like honey. His graceful, smiling eyes were the same too.

He was certainly a man of flesh and blood, yet to Lily, it felt like she was standing before the spirit she had longed for.

As if there had never been a goodbye between them…

But Lily clearly remembered what she had done. She had severed their relationship like it was a game, as if she were toying with him. She had thrown him away without even looking back.

She couldn’t bear to look at that beautiful face, and lowered her head.