Chapter 37 :

Chapter 37 - It Is Definitely a Trick (1)

Celos’ eyes were shining with a little suspicion and a great deal of hope.

“I heard that in a certain eastern country, they use animals when driving away ghosts.”

“An eastern country would be.......”

The Eighth Prince furrowed his brow for a moment as if recalling a memory, then simply closed his mouth as if something had occurred to him.

He must have realized which eastern country I was referring to.

That it was the homeland of Ran Abiran’s mother, whom he had insulted during our first meeting.

Perhaps the Eighth Prince also remembered his tyranny from that day, because he glanced at my reaction.

I had no intention of making him comfortable when he was feeling uneasy, so I ignored it and continued speaking.

“Among them, squirrels are especially small and agile, so I heard they do not fear things that are not alive.”

“Really?! Sir?”

The Eighth Prince asked urgently.

I nodded with a serious face.

“Yes.”

It was a lie.

A blatant lie.

How would I know how people in an eastern country got rid of ghosts?

In the first place, I did not even know whether such a thing existed.

But the Eighth Prince would not investigate in detail like the First Princess, and even if he did investigate and later complained that no such thing existed, I could simply insist that it was a story I had heard from my mother when I was young.

Once again, I offered my thanks and apologies to Ran Abiran’s mother, whose whereabouts I did not know.

Even for Celos, my sudden claim that a squirrel could drive away ghosts seemed suspicious, because he frowned and pointed at the squirrel on the desk with his finger.

“Something like that really drives away ghosts?”

“Yes, it is a story passed down in an eastern country. Otherwise, why would I raise a squirrel in a place like this?”

“Well.......”

Perhaps my words were somewhat convincing, because the guy relaxed his expression.

Though he had not completely erased the light of suspicion yet.

Then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, the Eighth Prince, whose eyes turned triangular, challenged me.

“No, then why did you not tell me yesterday?! Sir?!”

“I did not know it was a thing that would open the room door and come in.”

At my shameless answer, the corners of Celos’ eyes shot up toward the sky again, but I ignored him and continued speaking.

“In that sense, I will send that one starting tonight. It should be able to drive away the ghost. Perhaps the one who helped you last night was this creature, was it not?”

“Squeak?! Squeak squeak!”

Whether it understood my words or sensed that the atmosphere was strange, the squirrel began jumping around in shock, but that sight seemed to appear differently in the Eighth Prince’s eyes.

“......It certainly does look brave.”

“Does it not?”

“I thought it would at least have something to do with a crow.”

He had good memory in useless areas.

“So, do you need it or not? If you do not need it, you may leave now.”

When I took a posture as if to stand up, the Eighth Prince hurriedly grabbed me.

“No, I need it. For now, please send it secretly tonight.”

Perhaps because he had once been bitten, the guy made the request while casting a reluctant gaze at the squirrel.

“Where is my thanks?”

At my demand, the guy glared at me again, but I only shrugged.

The guy tightly shut his eyes and chewed out the words.

“Thank......you.”

“And?”

“Elder......broootheer.”

“Yes, your elder broootheer will send someone tonight.”

At my answer, the guy sprang to his feet, slammed the door shut, and left.

At that childish back, I grinned crookedly.

“Squeak! Kkwek!”

Though one creature, very angry, remained rampaging.

“Do not worry. I will not send you.”

Because there is one person here who can turn into a squirrel.

* * *

Jing descended the stairs while muffling his footsteps.

His face, flickering in the candlelight, was stiff.

For quite a long period, he had been living quietly so as not to arouse the suspicion of the Elder or Ratel, but the bizarre experience from the other day was something he could not help but doubt.

When the Elder handed him the book, Jing had clearly felt pressure.

A sense of fear as if his lifeline had been twisted in someone’s grip, the sound of his heart beating wildly, and guilt as if he had committed a great wrong.

They were sensations he could not forget even if he tried.

When he had first come face-to-face with the corpse of a tattered child on the streets of the capital, Jing had also suffered from this uncomfortable feeling for a while.

The problem was why on earth he had to feel the same thing in front of a mere paper book.

‘Why did I have to tremble in fear before a mere bundle of paper, as if the values of my entire life were being shaken from the roots?’

The more the question continued, the more the sense of duty that he had to go there as soon as possible urged him on.

In the end, Jing had no choice but to put it into action.

In other words, he had no choice but to secretly head underground at dawn like this.

Even when he was young, he had never thought of secretly leaving his bedroom at dawn.

Jing laughed quietly at himself, feeling as though he was going through a late rebellious phase, but he did not stop descending underground.

The door he reached was old and brittle.

It was a shabby door without any separate locking device.

As if proving that anyone could come and go, it was flimsy, and he clenched and unclenched his hand for a moment before turning the doorknob.

* * *

“Cough.”

Compared to how boldly he had entered, an unimpressive cough burst out.

Perhaps because of the shock from opening the door, fine dust rose inside.

‘I thought this last time too, but they really do not clean here.’

Jing leaned his body inward and looked around.

Nothing had changed.

It was still a small, dirty, and chaotic library.

A library that was so ordinary it was almost shabby.

‘Everything here is Amica’s books, huh.’

But as soon as he became aware of what kind of books surrounded him, his heart began pounding wildly again.

An alarm rang in his head once more. His heart was beating madly fast.

—Looking at Amica’s books is betrayal. Betrayal is rebellion. Rebellion is execution.

“Execution...”

Jing’s hand trembled violently.

Eventually, the ragged book fell from his hand.

Jing squeezed his eyes shut.

The sound of the book falling did not come.

“To come all the way here at this hour, your passion for learning is exceptional.”

That did not mean someone’s sarcastic voice was any better, though.

* * *

Golden eyes flashed in the darkness of the library.

“I believe I told you that you need the Elder’s permission when entering the library.”

Ratel spoke while looking down at Jing, who was still panting and unable to raise his head.

The content was rigid, but the tone was not scolding Jing.

“What is this? What on earth is this? Is there some strange device in place that drives the reader insane? Does everyone who reads it become like this...”

“How was it?”

From the shadow created by the bookshelf beside the doorway, another pair of golden eyes was quietly watching Jing.

When did he come in?

Even while Jing was surprised that he had not noticed the priest approaching right nearby, no matter how out of it he had been, the Elder slowly approached with his long beard fluttering.

He took the book from Ratel and opened it.

“How was it? Did it feel as though you were breaking the laws of the world?”

The sound of yellowed paper turning was like the sound of blades clashing.

Even knowing he looked ridiculous, Jing could not stop flinching.

At that sight, the old man smiled until his beard rose.

“Still, you somehow even thought of coming all the way here. It would have been even better if you had the courage to open it.”

But you still could not open it.

He muttered and smacked his lips as if regretful.

“What did you do to me?”

Even before Jing’s fierce eyes, the old man remained leisurely, as if watching a cat act cute.

On the other hand, Jing’s breathing was becoming so ragged that it was hard to tell whether he could not control his increasingly fast heartbeat or whether he could not control his excitement.

“Rather than saying we did something to you, we merely stimulated the side of you that had something done to it.”

“I have wanted to fix that habit of yours of talking in circles for a long time.”

Ratel grabbed Jing’s arm as he approached threateningly.

“You seem too excited. For today, let us stop here.......”

Ratel’s words could not continue to the end.

Thud!

Because he collapsed to the floor with a sound like his skull had been broken.

“I did not know your leg had fully healed.”

“There are many things you do not know.”

The Elder gazed with slightly surprised eyes at Ratel, who had been laid flat by Jing’s hand in an instant, and at Jing’s right leg, which Ratel had aimed for.

His right ankle, which had moved without difficulty, was pressing down on the unconscious young man’s right leg.

“Since when was it an act?”

“I do not think that is important right now.”

Shrring.

“I have been asking why I am like this since earlier.”

At the sight of Jing drawing the sword hanging at Ratel’s waist and pointing it at his neck, the Elder raised both hands to express surrender.

“You are not sick. It is not something we did either.”

Jing glared at the calmly speaking Elder with eyes full of suspicion.

“It is simply that you were bewitched.”

“I believe I just said it. If speaking in circles like that is a badly learned habit, I am willing to fix it regardless of age.”

The old man, who alternated his gaze between Jing and Ratel with a hum, eventually sighed and opened his mouth.

“Have you ever experienced the world turning upside down, Jing?”

“What kind of nonsense is that now?”

“The feeling that everything you have believed until now is overturned in an instant. The kind of experience where things that were common sense until yesterday are no longer common sense.”

“I have never......”

Jing’s words, spoken with a frown at the philosophical rhetoric that had begun again, slowly stopped.

“It seems something comes to mind.”

Even because the confident voice was annoying, Jing wanted to say there was no such thing, but a past memory had already flashed through his mind.

The unease when he opened a book in the study, the sound of his heart beating wildly.

And the face of a blood-soaked child drawn in his mind.

“That, that was a completely different matter. That was just.......”

Jing, who continued speaking haltingly, looked unstable.

In truth, inside his head, the past that had surfaced and the self telling him he must not go any deeper were fighting.

His head and chest felt as if they were boiling.

The Elder slowly lowered his hands without taking his eyes off him.

“Jing, this is still too early a matter to discuss. You need time to accept it.”

At the words that he needed a long time, Jing’s lowered head flinched.

One thing came to mind in his complicated head.

“I really am a fool too.”

Jing raised his head with a self-mocking laugh mixed in. His eyes were bloodshot red, but they were not clouded.

“Let me out of here. Right now.”

From the beginning, he had only one goal.

To escape this place and return to Plin and Tollin.

Whatever that person wanted to do, that was the only thing important to him.

As strength entered his loosened fingers, the sword once again threateningly aimed at Ratel’s neck.

“You are more extreme than you look, Jing. As an agent of God, I have a responsibility to test you.”

At the Elder’s answer, mixed with a sigh, Jing laughed.

“I have met some of those called gods in the empire, you see. They do not actually need messengers. They are not very interested in us.”

He thought his cynical answer had provoked the Elder to some extent, as he acted as an agent of the god who served Amica.

He was right.

Though it seemed to be in a direction different from what Jing had expected.

The old man smiled more brightly than ever.

It was a refreshing smile from him, who had only shown gentle smiles until now.

“With that much, it might be all right.”

Jing asked back in disbelief.

“What?”

“It means I entrust that child to you from now on.”

What does that.......

The flustered Jing could not even open his mouth.

Even though the Elder did not move a single fingertip, a light as bright as the sun burst from him.

A mass of light wrapped around Jing and Ratel.

“Damn it.”

Through Jing’s blurred vision as he spat out a curse, he saw the Elder’s mouth, still smiling brightly.

“That child’s name is Ratel, Ratel Roera. He eats whatever he is given, so do not worry too much!”

“Are you insane?!!”

“How cold-hearted.”

Even in this situation, Jing shouted at the Elder, who was spouting nonsense, but it probably did not reach him.

Even knowing the other would not listen in the slightest, Jing did not stop shouting out of sheer indignation.

I am worried to death because I do not even know how my son is doing, so what child are you talking about?