The Duchess Who Sees Ghosts - Chapter 26 – Curse (10)

Chapter 26 – Curse (10)

Translator: Yonnee

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Julia stared at the tall stack of papers, briefly lost in thought. Leo likewise stared at it, then he spoke up.

“This is a summary of each of the academies’ situations, right?”

“Yes. The overall situation is the same for all three of them, so the contents are similar. Thanks to Your Grace’s help, it’s possible to control the number of people to this extent, but if another incident occurs, it may really be irreversible this time.”

“Let’s not think about that now. We’re here to prevent that, right? So, where should we start?”

The corners of Julia’s lips curled up as she crossed her arms while her eyes were slightly wide open. It was a habit of hers whenever she was worried.

Leo looked at her curiously. Once she was focused on something, Julia would start to disregard her surroundings. She couldn’t even feel his gaze on her.

“First of all, there are two ways to solve this case.”

“Two?”

“Yes. But the first is just an assumption.”

Julia sat down as she spoke, holding onto some documents in her hand and flipping through them.

“We need to find the progenitor of the curse. The reason the curse is happening is because the first person who did it passed it onto another student. In other words, the progenitor…”

“Could be the culprit of this case.”

“Right. But it’s practically impossible to find that person. Even if we look into all the information we have while investigating the students, there’s no clear lead as to who it is. The way they’re pointing at each other makes it seem like we’re stuck in a twisted mobius strip.”

“Mobi… what?”

Perplexed by the term, Leo repeated the words that Julia unconsciously said. She just shook her head slightly and continued.

“If we catch the progenitor, we can solve the curse, but that’s impossible, so we can’t use this method. Then, it’ll be the second method.”

“Is it more feasible?”

“At the very least.”

Julia looked worried for a moment, then she slowly opened her lips to speak.

“We’ll end the curse.”

“You’re going to end it?”

“Yes. Everything has an end to it, and so does this curse. In order to keep everyone intact, I wasn’t considering this method in the beginning, but now we have to do it. If we don’t end the curse, the only way left is to exorcise the spirits or naturally wait for it to end on its own. But if we do the latter…”

“The students would be harmed, right?”

“…Yes.”

Julia swept her hair back, her thoughts complicated.

“But there’s a problem with this.”

“Will it be dangerous?”

“Yes. When the curse will be transferred to the last person, it will be completed, and the curse will be invoked. Everything would be perfect if we could just get rid of it, but the possibility of that is too slim. It’s actually too complicated to solve a curse like this when it involves hundreds of people, so the principles and mechanics behind it have become so jumbled. That’s why…”

“That’s also not something we could do.”

Julia shrugged, leaning against her chair with a gloomy expression. She looked very tired.

Leo stared at her for a moment, then spoke.

“You didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

“……”

Leo looked at her disapprovingly when she averted her gaze and shut her lips tightly. He narrowed his eyes.

“You look exhausted. Why don’t you take a short nap?”

“…No thanks.”

Julia shook her head, a complicated expression on her face. She stood up, and Leo’s gaze followed her movements.

“We don’t have enough time. We still don’t know how we’ll save the students and the spirits. Even if we had a solution now, I can’t just sleep and wait in a situation where I may or may not be able to pull it off.”

She looked out the window, at the sunset. Her porcelain skin turned red at the illumination of the red sun. A beautiful sunset like that always seemed to shine a breathtaking light over women.

“…I can just sleep tomorrow evening.”

Since she had a god’s blessing coursing through her veins, not sleeping for a day or two wouldn’t kill her. She would only feel tired for a little while. Julia’s eyes glowed as she passed by Leo.

Leo was about to follow her out the door as she left without saying anything.

“Where are you going?”

“Let me organize my thoughts.”

But Julia replied like this as she left, and Leo could only sigh, staring at her retreating figure.

*

Julia went outside again and looked up at the sky. Towards the sunset-colored heavens, Julia’s eyes were still filled with nervousness.

They didn’t even know the cruel fate awaiting them, that they might be deprived of their chance to move on and be extinguished, leaving them with excruciating pain.

Julia gently closed her eyes.

[ Those who serve their god would receive more life than ordinary people, so you have nothing to worry about. And the dead don’t have the same concerns either. Do you know why? ]

It was Crone’s voice. Julia smiled.

[ Anxiety is something that only felt by the living. ]

The living. The living always felt nervous. If anything at all would happen, they would get nervous, anxious, then they would eventually forget.

It was a blessing for the living to be able to feel so strongly about anything.

[ You have to understand the dead in the same way that you understand the living. They’re not evil. They are more pure and transparent than the living. Just as children behave, the dead are much the same. If you truly understand and accept that they sometimes only do pranks, you’ll be able to save them. Can you do that? ]

“Of course, Crone.”

The calm voice was whisked away by the cold wind. When she opened her eyes, the sunset had already disappeared and what she saw was the dark night sky.

How long had she been standing there? Contrary to what she said earlier, she spent time immersed in her memories while thinking about the old days. It was already dark out.

Her clothes were cold, and that made her feel even colder. As Julia rolled her neck slightly, she felt stiff.

As she gently rolled it around, she warmed up a bit and she saw a spirit, which had only been high up in the air so far, slowly descending to the ground.

Seeing this, Julia cautiously approached the spirit with a dubious expression on her face, then she opened her lips and talked to the spirit.

“Excuse me…”

[ Huh? ]

The spirit turned around as she heard Julia’s voice. She was a girl who looked to be around her mid-teens, looking very young. The soul of a child who died far too early looked at Julia, then smiled brightly.

[ Why are you here, Sister? ]

“What’s… your name?”

[ Me? I’m Leah! ]

“Leah?”

Julia searched her mind for the name she knew she heard before. Then, her eyes widened.

“Count Kalia’s…”

[ Huh? You know my father? ]

Julia stared blankly at the child who looked back at her with an innocent smile. What’s going on here?

“…You… Why are you here…?”

[ I don’t know either. One day, when I opened my eyes, I was already here. ]

“When? Since when?”

When Julia urgently asked, Julia tilted her head to the side and thought for a moment.

[ About a day? ]

Julia moistened her dry lips as she listened to the girl’s ambiguous answer.

“Who summoned you here? Who?”

[ Summoned? ]

Julia felt her heart throb heavily when Leah looked back at her as if she hadn’t realized yet. The poor soul didn’t know that she had already passed on.

This was evidence enough that her death was something that she didn’t want.

[ What do you mean by summon? I’ve always been here. ]

And Julia had a duty to persuade souls to move on. Calmly, Julia faced Leah and said to her.

“…You’ve passed away.”

[ What are you talking about. Why would I… ]

At Julia’s words, Leah burst into laughter and waved her hand as if what she said was impossible, then she suddenly stopped, her expression hardened.

Julia looked at her nervously. Usually, when it was said straightforwardly like this, the deceased would react in one way or another.

They would either leave in anger or come to terms with this truth quietly. It was a natural instinct because it hadn’t been long since they were still alive.

Julia observed Leah as she stood frozen, nervous that she might run away. Leah looked back at Julia, then soon smiled bitterly.

[ …Right. I’m dead. ]

“……”

Julia bit her lower lip tightly. The girl had a desperate expression as she calmly accepted that she had died. Julia felt as though she was about to cry. It was hard to inform someone as young as this girl that she had died.

And the dead’s feelings were inadvertently conveyed to Julia as well, so she knew how Leah was feeling now. The abandonment of life, all her sorrows, the deep regrets she carried.

It was natural for shamans to be in touch more with the emotions of the deceased rather than their own feelings.

“Are you alright?”

[ I’m okay. Actually, I already vaguely thought this was the case, but I realized it clearly when you told me, Sister. I remembered why I died, how I died… ]

As Julia listened to her, Leah grinned as she touched her lips.

[ Are there a lot you want to ask? I have a lot of questions, too. So… Can you tell me about my family? And tell them about me, too… I regret that there are so many things I didn’t tell them. ]

“…Of course. I’ll tell you as much as you want, so…”

Julia couldn’t stand it any longer, and she inevitably shed tears. Leah’s feelings had flowed into her like a stream of water. More transparent and clear than a living person’s emotions, Julia felt the essence itself—of regret, grief, sorrow.

Would it feel like this if she was submerged in an ocean of tears? Pressing down on her own mixed feelings, Julia covered her lips and continued to cry.

As she wept so silently that her sobs couldn’t even be heard, Julia looked up. Her eyes were full of tears and, as she spoke, her voice was full of grief.

“…Count Kalia, your father is…”

Julia gradually said the words that the girl wanted to hear. What she heard during the investigation, how the Count was feeling.

When she delivered the news with a shaken heart, Leah listened to it all calmly. Then, she smiled as she nodded.

[ I feel apologetic to my Dad… ]

“…Do you have anything you want to tell him?”

[ There is, but you already know. ]

Julia nodded. She felt the girl’s emotions clearly, even if Leah didn’t explain. There was only one thing that came to the girl’s mind as her emotions were received like that.

[ Thank you. ]

It was only those two words. Julia smiled sadly as she looked at the girl, and Leah looked up at the sky as though a burden was lifted off her shoulders.

[ I think it’s time. ]

“What time…”

[ Yup. I feel like it’s time. We’re packed like sardines here. I could feel the frustration in the air, like something’s about to burst. It’s all throughout the place. ]

Julia looked around the academy. Leah walked towards her and stood next to her, looking around as well. Then, she spoke.

[ There’s a lot I want to say. I want to tell you why and how I died, but… ]

Julia shook her head. It was something that she didn’t want to ask a soul who died at such a young age. She didn’t want to ask such a thing towards a child who hadn’t passed away that long ago.

“It’s okay. Just wait a little bit, Leah. I’ll help you.”

[ You’ll help me? ]

“Yeah.”

Julia smiled gently. She will help. So, just wait. Julia said this with a firm voice as she looked up at the sky.

[ Then look forward to it, Sister. ]

Leah beamed as she looked at the sky together with Julia. Then, Leah’s body floated up and headed to the sky as well. As Julia watched her ascend, Leah said.

[ Do you know why those people can’t go outside, Sister? ]

“Huh?”

Julia was confused by Leah’s words. Then, Leah glanced at the sky and quietly spoke.

[ It’s waiting. ]

“Waiting?”

[ Yes. I told you earlier, it’s full here. It’s waiting for it all to explode. And it’ll be soon. ]

“Explode…? What happens if it explodes?”

[ I’m not sure, but while waiting for it to explode, there’s someone else that it’s waiting for. I don’t know who that is. However, we’re all just waiting. So… ]

Leah reached out to Julia slightly as she continued to ascend, and said these last words.

[ Don’t be late. Please don’t abandon us. And please remember… ]

Her eyes met Julia’s gaze.

[ We were people, too. ]