NOVEL NEXT Chapter 378
Coldon, Winterhome. The top floor of the Wizard’s Tower.
“So, to summarize…”
Catherine, who had been quietly listening to the words of Princess Alicia and the middle-aged ghost woman, Rosetta, tapped the table.
“The late Felwinter Duke—”
Rosetta’s head, standing upright, nodded slightly.
[With the titles getting longer and with a daughter-in-law, I’d prefer to be called something else.]
“Yes. Although the lady has succumbed and must go to the afterlife, because she was a devout believer of the nameless traveler during her lifetime, the Lord granted her wish.”
Catherine closed her eyes, stroking her chin as if to compile the information she had just received.
“That wish was for her to remain in the tomb until Lord Richard passed as well… correct?”
[Correct.]
“Doesn’t that just sound pitiful?!?!?!”
Alicia, who had been quietly listening, suddenly interjected.
“Without a body, she couldn’t eat those delicious, juicy dishes and could only smell them! Alicia cannot condone this horrible atrocity!”
Robin suddenly piped up.
“So, the idea that popped into the pig’s head-”
[Whoa there.]
The translucent Rosetta interrupted with a stern face.
[You shouldn’t call your sister a pig.]
“Ugh… Haa.”
Robin’s face, heavy with fatigue, grew even more tired looking as he faced the unassailable truth.
“Alicia’s idea was to possess Grandma with her own body to let her taste—”
“Eww. Sickly Robin is weird.”
“-to supposedly let Grandma experience the flavors.”
Robin continued, unfazed by Alicia’s mockery.
“Atanitas. Just for reference, did I try to stop it? No, more accurately, I didn’t even have the time to stop it.”
Catherine, Karem, and Mary, who neither saw nor heard what had happened at the time, seemed to have an idea of how things unfolded.
Robin laid out the facts; despite Rosetta’s attempts to intervene, he charged ahead and possessed her forcefully, leaving no room for anyone to halt it, leading to the current chaos.
“How could one know how dangerous possession is… right.”
Catherine, squinting her eyes tightly, pressed down her furrowed brow.
“Princess Alicia. If things had gone wrong, it could’ve been a real disaster. I can’t refrain from scolding you this time.”
“I told you, didn’t I?”
Aligning with Catherine’s serious tone, Robin puffed out his chest in triumph. Meanwhile, Alicia paid no mind to Robin’s display.
“But, you seem fine. Alicia is okay!”
“That doesn’t change the fact it was a reckless action.”
Catherine’s head began to throb at Alicia’s headstrong attitude.
“If the ghost that possessed you wasn’t Lady Rosetta, but some other entity, you could have lost your body or worse!”
“…But saying this does sound a bit strange, doesn’t it?”
Karem, who had been taking in the serious atmosphere, quickly grabbed a snack for Alicia and spoke up.
“I don’t know why, but I can’t shake the feeling that Princess Alicia would somehow not be in danger from possession.”
At once, Mary, Rosetta, Robin, and even Catherine, who had just been lecturing Alicia, unconsciously nodded in agreement.
With vitality overflowing, and her mental resilience as tough as iron, how could Alicia be deprived of her body or die just from being possessed?
Though it would be wise to check, Catherine instinctively felt that Alicia would be just fine.
The others, while silently watching Alicia munch on her snack, shared the same unspoken sentiment.
“Ah, no, that’s not right. Even if it’s not dangerous…”
Catherine regained her focus. However.
“Catherine, even if you explain it that way, do you really think Princess Alicia won’t indulge?”
“Ugh… Surely not.”
When Elizabeth had morning sickness and couldn’t eat properly, Alicia was up there every day, bringing her snacks meant for herself until she finally gave up.
Would someone like Alicia, who had been trying to regain her late grandmother’s joy of tasting food, giving up just because it had been years since Grandma could enjoy eating?
‘That stubborn food-loving girl? Yeah, right.’
Considering her track record, she would probably possess Rosetta every time she wanted to eat.
Then, there was only one way to solve this.
“I’ll report this to His Grace and the Duchess.”
“Wait! No way!”
Alicia, startled, dropped the snack she was eating and rushed forward, while Mary quickly snatched it up. Wiping her hands of any grease, she placed the snack back on the ground to allow Catherine to move again.
“Give it up! No matter how you look at it, I can’t overlook such a big incident!”
“But, but! If that happens, wouldn’t it be miserable for Grandma, who could only smell food all this time?!”
The righteous opponent here isn’t evil but rather another righteous entity altogether.
The fierce debate between the two, armed with their own logic, echoed loudly within the office.
‘…She seems like a saint, though.’
Rosetta’s eyes, which had been quietly observing, turned toward Karem. Honestly, she had a lot to say to him. So much.
How could someone as precious as the firstborn of the esteemed Felwinter family be allowed to eat oats?
She had intended to interrogate him about it whenever the opportunity arose.
‘…Maybe there’s a reason behind it?’
To someone like Rosetta, who had passionately wielded divine power even as a layperson, thoughts on divine powers were anything but strange.
However, the gentle spiritual aura of divine power and blessings coming from the cook who fed their firstborn oats…
‘Maybe there’s something to it.’
In reality, she would have been furious if she knew it was because he wanted to lose weight, a reason that defied her standards, but Rosetta was still unaware.
“Countess Rosetta? May I ask just one question?”
Karem, who had been quietly observing the situation, pulled Rosetta back from her thoughts.
[Countess?]
“Yes. Your Grace is now a marquis, after all.”
Surely, the Your Grace referred to here couldn’t be Alfred. Rosetta gulped, overwhelmed by the aura of divinity.
[Of course. Your Grace.]
“Uh, well, wait a minute. Your Grace?”
[Then, might you not be a messenger of the three divine beings?]
“No. No. I’m not a priest; I’m just a cook. Feel free to talk casually.”
As he waved his hands at the rarely heard honorific, Rosetta nodded, though doubtfully. After all, the man himself had said he didn’t like it.
[Then, please go ahead with your question.]
“Did you enjoy the dishes?”
Robin, who had been silently listening, stumbled for a moment.
“Is that really the only question you can ask right now!?”
“How important of a question this is!”
While she wasn’t worried about Alicia’s condition due to possession, she honestly couldn’t imagine Alicia’s body deteriorating from only a few possessions.
Especially considering her overflowing stamina and appetite so immense that it lived up to her nicknames “Little Bear” and “Little Ogre,” it was clear the ghost possessed would have been the one tossed around.
And this was also undeniably true.
During the past three days where she possessed Alicia, Rosetta had only shared what Alicia saw and felt, without being able to move.
She did feel a tad guilty for possessing her granddaughter, though.
[Overall, it was quite spicy.]
Rosetta’s words were completely unlike what Karem had anticipated.
[The flavors were surely there, but compared to the dishes I ate when I was alive, they were far too spicy for me to indulge.]
The term “when I was alive” made Karem nod in agreement.
Food, in those days when even the nobility grappled to fill their bellies, could hardly be spicy without proper spices.
Salt and sugar aside, they probably had no spices at all, other than maybe a sprinkling of pepper or cinnamon, if they were lucky.
Thus, it was only natural that his tongue would fatigue quickly.
“So, having only two Texas Twinkies and stopping there was—”
[Ah, that’s a bit different.]
Rosetta’s lips parted after a brief silence, as if carefully choosing her words.
[Setting aside that it was, in fact, poisonous, it was too spicy for my mouth.]
“What? What do you mean… Ah.”
The spiciness of the Fire Witch’s Finger had only recently been acknowledged as sweetener rather than poison. It had been less than 10 years, probably even 5.
In Rosetta’s lifetime, the Fire Witch’s Finger was indeed poisonous.
For someone accustomed to only a sprinkle or two of pepper during her lifetime, of course, filling her mouth with cheese and barbecue would lead to such a reaction.
‘Even the fried udon cup ramen are said to be too spicy for foreigners.’
Many claimed it was too spicy with just a sprinkle of pepper and dried chili garnish. Even if it were the jalapeño form rather than the original, one couldn’t say it wouldn’t feel spicy.
In fact, the sudden release of Rosetta’s possession was partly due to the spiciness she had never felt before.
“Fix your outfit!”
Catherine, who had dressed herself up again, shot a stern glance at Alicia, whom Mary had affectionately hugged.
“I cannot gloss over this matter! I’m heading to report this right now!”
“Kitty! That’s so merciless!”
“Possessing a ghost, and even if she is a Countess, it’s far too dangerous!”
Catherine turned her head swiftly to look at Rosetta.
“I would like you to accompany me, Countess.”
[Very well. Lead the way. Try not to be startled, even if you can’t see me.]
Rosetta’s translucent form melted into the air, dissolving away.
*
*
*
Naturally, the fate that Alicia would be scolded had become inevitable.
Unless she had been forcibly possessed by a ghost.
To think that the daughter of a renowned duke family would so foolishly allow herself to be possessed by a ghost, no less, and charge straight ahead!
Yet, Alicia’s true misfortune wasn’t that.
The really unfortunate aspect was that Alfred happened to be in the office with someone else at that moment.
“I can’t live like this. Absolutely not!!!”
Elizabeth was furious.
The concern of a parent worried about their rightful child, the opposite ire of a troublesome child making a world of trouble, and a fearful parent imagining how it could have turned out if the ghost wasn’t Rosetta but some other undead monster.
Fueled by three types of emotion, Elizabeth lit a double blaze, snatching Alicia from Mary and preparing to turn her over her knee.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Love’s punishment.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Elizabeth’s palm crashed down onto Alicia’s behind.
“I clearly said! To consider everything carefully before acting! And to pay attention to your ladylike conduct!”
“Uwaaaaah! B-but it’s just so sad for Grandma—! Ugh! Ack!”
The sound of love’s punishment echoed loudly.
It was so fierce that one wondered if someone who had just suffered morning sickness could do that, but it was actually helping that, having recovered properly with a good meal after morning sickness, she had no issues at all.
Better yet, physical activity was something encouraged for expectant mothers.
“If it’s that important of a matter, you should discuss it with your mother and father first!”
“Ugh! Sniff! Uwaaaah! B-but I can’t!”
Though yielding to anger isn’t good either, no one in that room could soothe Elizabeth’s rage.
No, it was a scolding stemming from a mother’s concern for her child.
Shouldn’t it be family or someone close enough to have such discussions?
Of course, Robin, who received such a look, vigorously shook his head.
Would he jump into the flames, crazy?
More importantly, there was actually someone far better suited to cool Elizabeth’s anger.
[Yes, our son. My proud son.]
“Mother.”
[You had to have worried about Richard so much. You must have been through a lot.]
The problem lay in Alfred being too busy with other thoughts.
As the head of the family, he couldn’t show tears in front of his family.
However, it seemed he couldn’t suppress his emotions, as Alfred was silently weeping in the arms of the translucent Rosetta.
Mary, who stood five paces away, muttered softly, “This is a mess.”
“Shh!”
Karem scolded her, but due to Alicia and Elizabeth’s noise, it was unlikely the three people—and one ghost—would hear it.
“Tsk, I knew the pig would end up like this.”
Robin, shaking his head in dissatisfaction, slowly edged back and whispered to Karem.
“…Can I leave now?”
“…Wouldn’t it be better to wait a bit before going?”
“Alright. Then I should leave before I get in trouble.”
Although not as much as Alicia, Robin certainly didn’t feel entirely innocent either.
“Before you go, just one thing.”
The only one who could potentially resolve the situation stood solely on one person.
“Please summon Elder Iona from the temple.”