Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 7

When Lily opened the side door for her morning shift, the ghost was there, as always.

[Good morning, Lily.]

Ever since she’d told the Duke about the side door she usually used, he had waited for her there every morning.

At first, she’d been so shocked to come face-to-face with a translucent spirit the moment the door opened that she’d forgotten to breathe.

But after it happened a few times, she began preparing herself for it. Now, she just opened the door expecting him to be there.

“Did you rest well through the night?”

[Thanks to you.]

It had been a week since Lily Dienta had become the Duke’s attendant, interpreter, conversation partner, and key handler of information related to the governance of the duchy.

The office had become noticeably cleaner, but the situation surrounding the Duke was anything but bright. Neither the cardinal nor the physician had been able to detect that the Duke’s soul had left his body.

[I didn’t expect this to be resolved easily.]

The Duke spoke calmly, but he had to be troubled deep down.

It had already been four weeks since he collapsed. Rumors were spreading that his body, still lying in bed, had grown severely weak. Some were even saying he was close to death.

Duke Aidan Kashimir had no heir, not even a fiancée. If he passed, the ducal estate would need a new lord.

An unfulfilled promise reduced to an empty check, a shaky chance at reemployment, and the chilling fact of being the last to have interacted with the soul of a dying man…

Lily swung her dust cloth in hopes of shaking off the unease.

Not long after she finished cleaning, Wolfram arrived for work. After greeting the Duke, he handed Lily a silver tray with its lid closed.

Pushing aside her gloom, Lily brightened and accepted it. When she lifted the lid, a tart with a shiny, dark surface was revealed.

“No way. Chocolate. I’ve never had it before!”

Overflowing with excitement, she moved the contents onto a plate she’d prepared in advance.

It was all thanks to a command the Duke had given to Wolfram—through Lily—on her very first day as the office maid:

“Since I miss the sweetness I once tasted as a human, a new type of dessert is to be placed in the office every day.”

Preparing food he couldn’t even eat just because he wanted to see it—nobles really had creative ways of wasting money.

But when Wolfram first brought the dessert, the ghost had only given it a glance, said he was satisfied, and told Lily to eat it. He didn’t want it to go to waste.

That’s when she realized the dessert had been meant for her all along.

These days, she actually looked forward to seeing what snack Wolfram would bring. Life was tough enough—why give up little joys just because things weren’t going well?

With a delighted expression, Lily moved the plate to her desk. The ghost watched her with satisfaction, then turned at the sound of Wolfram’s voice.

“The informant sent a letter declining the request.”

Just like that, her joy over the dessert was cut short by grim news again.

[Even though I said we’d pay any price?]

“Even though he said he’d pay any price?”

They had agreed on a few cues for convenience. For example, if Lily spoke informally to Wolfram, it meant she was quoting the Duke word for word.

“Yes. But as a gesture of apology, he advised you to be careful of your friends.”

If it was a “friend” of the Duke, there was only one person that could mean—Emperor Julius Scheiwatz. Considering the Duke’s symptoms, this had to be the work of heretics. Could the Emperor really be involved?

Lily found it hard to believe. The Emperor had been working to root out heresy even before ordering Duke Kashimir to lead the purge.

There was another reason it didn’t make sense. She ended up voicing her opinion without thinking.

“But why would His Majesty do that? He’s so close with Your Grace. I even heard the Empress was jealous of your friendship.”

[On the surface.]

“You don’t need to know.”

The Duke’s curt response came with a cold warning. Wolfram didn’t even look at her as he continued.

“In that case, we’ll have to investigate using internal members of the house only. We’ll proceed as discreetly as possible, but it will take some time…”

In the end, they gained no real progress, and decided to continue looking into it later before moving on to their regular tasks.

There weren’t many documents to review today. If things went well, Lily might finish in the morning and get a longer break than usual in the afternoon.

While the Duke sat at his desk reading, Lily steeped some tea and served it to Wolfram.

Normally, enough time would’ve passed for the Duke to give a signal that he was done reading. But he remained silent.

Maybe the content was complicated. Lily was just about to set her pen down and reach for her dessert plate when—

[Lily, could you ask Wolfram how the search for a Solmon translator is going?]

That’s right—there was that matter.

“Um, sir, His Grace is asking how the search for a Solmon translator is going.”

Wolfram lifted his head from the papers. He gave Lily a brief glance, then spoke toward the center of the desk.

“There are very few applicants, so we’re still waiting for more.”

[How many?]

“How many?”

Wolfram looked at her for longer than before.

“One. Just one applicant.”

Even accounting for the fact they weren’t in the capital, it was far too few.

Solmon. A mysterious land to the east, across the sea, where the sun rose.

Despite the vast ocean separating the continent from Solmon, there had always been people whose blood stirred at the thought of foreign culture—whether for scholarly reasons or commercial ones.

The two nations had worked hard to maintain periodic exchanges every few years, and being familiar with Solmon’s language and culture was once considered part of a noble’s refinement.

But now, with the issue of heresy, people were avoiding any association with Solmon like the plague. That likely explained the lack of applicants.

[I’d like to hurry this as much as possible.]

The Duke murmured.

Lily thought back. There was still no news of any remaining Solmon cultists being captured. Then why did they need a translator so soon?

If they truly needed one no matter what, there was someone she could think of.

She asked cautiously.

“Your Grace, why do we need a Solmonic translator?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Wolfram cut in instantly. He still didn’t like sharing information with Lily. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he preferred to maintain strict confidentiality.

Because she and the Duke moved as one, he was the one taking all the stress.

[You’ll find out eventually anyway.]

There it was. Whether Wolfram liked it or not, the Duke was clearly on her side.

[We’re requesting a translation of a forbidden text.]

“A forbidden text?!”

[We managed to smuggle out a few volumes from the cult leader’s belongings. We may never find the right spellcaster, so we’re planning to study them ourselves.]

Lily’s mouth dropped open in shock. Seeing her expression, Wolfram sighed in frustration.

“Your Grace, you shouldn’t say such things to a maid…”

[Wolfram’s always been suspicious.]

The ghost said, not even sparing Wolfram a glance.

[But I trust you. We each have something we want, and you’ve been doing your best to help me.]

His pretty smile, paired with his comforting words, was reassuring. That contract-first personality of his made it easy to trust him.

But Wolfram’s expression went beyond mere suspicion. It clearly showed that he was evaluating what to do about a maid who now knew a top-level secret.

Lily clung to the only person on her side.

“Of course! I only want to do whatever is most helpful for Your Grace. Please keep trusting me. If it bothers you, I won’t involve myself in the translator matter anymore.”

As Lily took a step back, Wolfram stopped staring and spoke to the Duke instead.

“If there are no further applicants by two days from now, I’ll summon the one.”

[Do that.]

“Do that.”

They each returned to their tasks. But Lily’s mind remained tangled.

It was shocking enough that they’d smuggled forbidden texts, but to let an outsider read one? That was unthinkable.

She wanted to ask out loud: “Is there some kind of security measure? What if the translator turns on us?”

But even she knew that was a step too far.

Sometimes she forgot, thanks to the Duke’s kindness, but Lily was still just a maid. It was no wonder Wolfram bristled at her overstepping.

After all, the Duke hadn’t asked her to solve his problems—only to help him communicate with the outside world.

So she couldn’t let herself become too emotionally involved in the process of getting the Duke back into his body. Even if she wanted to say more…

[You don’t look well. Is something wrong?]

Since the Duke asked first—this one’s fair game!