MBOMEN 20

Chapter 20. The Prince of Searow (7)
Lyla snapped her head up in shock. The movement was so abrupt it made a cracking sound in her neck.

“Eustar?”

「Lyla, what’s wrong? Where are you right now?」

“Where are you speaking from?”

「From the ring, Lyla.」

The ring? Lyla looked down at her right hand in confusion. The sapphire glinted vividly in the light.

She stammered, “This… this is a magic tool, isn’t it?”

「That’s right. It was originally just a ring, but I made a few adjustments just in case something happened to you.」

She wanted to scold him for not telling her earlier, but now wasn’t the time. Lyla spoke quickly.

“I’m trapped in some strange place, Eustar.”

There was a pause. Faint static buzzed through. Alarmed, Lyla took off the ring and shook it wildly.

“Eustar?”

「I’m here. What do you mean you’re trapped? Where are you right now?」

“I don’t know where this is. I was walking down a corridor and… I saw something strange. A woman—or no, she must have been dead. There were busts…”

「Busts?」

Lyla nodded as if Eustar were standing right in front of her.

“Yes, busts. Five of them. All of the same woman with her hair tied up.”

After a moment, Eustar responded in a lowered voice.

「I think I know where you are. I’ll come to you.」

“Wait! Eustar! You won’t be able to come—there’s a wall…”

But no sound came from the ring after that. Lyla lowered her hands helplessly and stared into the air. A hissing sound came from around the corner—where the woman had disappeared.

Frowning, she stood up. She slid the ring back securely onto her finger and gathered the trailing hem of her cumbersome dress.

The closer she walked, the sharper the hissing became—like a window that wasn’t properly shut.

I can’t do anything. Lyla thought bitterly. She didn’t have Eustar’s abilities. Though she was a spirit medium, that didn’t mean she could exorcise spirits.

That required training—and Lyla’s mother had never taught her such things. Because she wasn’t a medium herself.

So blindly barging in was out of the question. It would be reckless and dangerous. But still…

I can overlay. On my own.

To see the essence of the dead. From a few experiences, Lyla had come to understand the importance of what Eustar called “overlaying.” He hadn’t explained it in detail, but she understood it instinctively.

Everyone has something they don’t want others to know… well, most people do. A secret they carry to the grave.

What if someone—someone unknown—suddenly knew that secret?

They’d panic. Lyla answered her own question. Panic breaks logic.

For the living, they’d ramble incoherently. Sweat, get angry, blush out of embarrassment and fear.

But for ghosts, it was different. They lacked logic in the first place.

Some retained faint consciousness, but they couldn’t sweat, couldn’t blush. They simply unraveled—walls crumbling like sand.

Lyla realized she could disarm spirits that way. No matter how well-hidden a secret was, her eyes could pinpoint and drag it out.

As she reached the corner, the hissing sound grew clearer. She suddenly felt a hand brush her shoulder—cold and clammy like ice on bare skin.

“Lyla!”

Just as she was about to turn the corner, a strong force yanked her backward by the wrist.

“Ah!”

A short scream escaped her lips as something solid pressed against her cheek. Warmth. A scent. Not a wall… a person. A living human’s warmth.

She looked up. Eustar was looking down at her, panting.

“Are you all right?”

Lyla stared at him in disbelief, then quickly looked around.

The mysterious wall that had appeared before her was gone.

The number of busts hadn’t changed, and the eerie sound and creepy feeling had disappeared. In their place were calm scents and the usual quiet background noise.

Eustar studied her carefully.

“You’re not hurt?”

She nodded, her eyes lingering on the busts. No change. None of them were smiling anymore.

“I saw this woman,” she said, pointing at one of the busts. “I swear it was her. There were more busts. And her expression… she was smiling, but that smile…”

“Seemed cruel, didn’t it?”

Lyla inhaled sharply and nodded. That was it—cruelty. As the bust’s smile had slowly twisted, it had become grotesque, radiating malice.

It wasn’t something still sculpture could capture. It was a vicious expression only a living, breathing human could show.

Eustar said, “I didn’t expect you to make it that far. I should have warned you sooner. Let’s get out of here.”

He gently wrapped her hand with his. Lyla looked down at their joined hands, then silently followed him.

He led her outside. The cool air was real—not the sinister hiss but the breeze of the world outside. Her mind began to clear, and her racing heart slowed.

Lyla said, “You didn’t expect me to get that far… that means you knew something was there. Right?”

Eustar exhaled deeply after searching for the right words.

“Yes. I encountered her when I was a child. I was lucky to escape, but… that hallway is technically off-limits, Lyla. But we can’t exactly tell the staff that something ‘appears’ there, so it’s an unspoken rule. Sometimes people who forget that rule… go missing.”

It was a chilling story. Seeing her expression, Eustar gave a bitter smile—he knew what she was thinking.

“I know how absurd it sounds. We tried to block access in many ways, but nothing worked. Magic didn’t help. We couldn’t even station guards nearby—they’d be lured in, too.”

“Then… who is that woman?”

There was a storm of emotion in Eustar’s eyes.

“That woman… was my grandmother. A former queen of this land. She came from a noble family—and she was a magician. She wasn’t particularly powerful in life, but… after death, everything changed.”

Now it was Lyla’s turn to be shocked. That woman—the one with a spirit that seemed to embody all malice and bloodlust—was Eustar’s grandmother?

“What happened to her…?”

Eustar quickly shook his head and cut her off.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I can’t see their ‘core.’ I only escaped because someone else helped me. Otherwise, I’d be trapped in that maze too.”

“Then let’s go back and check again.”

Lyla said firmly.

“I can overlay. I can see her core. Then you could—”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Lyla looked confused.

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous. Especially for you. All I know are the rumors from the palace about how she died. But Lyla, believe me—it was horrific. And she… she killed many people in horrible ways as well.”

“But—”

“No,” Eustar said again, more firmly.

“That spirit is dangerous. The malice she held in life is only amplified by the resentment gathered in her death. I can’t let you face something like that. You could break.”

Lyla’s throat felt parched. She swallowed reflexively, but it did nothing to quench her thirst.

After a moment’s hesitation, she asked,

“Then… you’re just going to leave it be?”

Eustar answered calmly,

“For now, that’s the best option. I’ll inform the area’s overseers again. Warn them to keep everyone away.”

It still felt wrong. But Lyla fell silent. This was the seat of Searow’s king. There wasn’t much she could interfere with here.

Eustar spoke in a lighter tone.

“I’m just glad you’re safe. Shall we take a walk?”

“…Okay.”

Lyla nodded, glancing once more at the palace corridors.

Young servants, likely still apprentices, were laughing and chattering as they crossed the hall. It was a peaceful scene—but the stain in her heart remained, unmoving.

At dinner that evening, Eustar, Lyla, and Marquis Himierd were seated together. While Eustar and the marquis casually discussed politics, Lyla found little to say.

She simply listened with one ear and absentmindedly ate the extravagant, nameless dishes before her.

“What is your hometown like, Miss Lyla?”

She was chewing a piece of meat slowly when she suddenly raised her head.

“My hometown?”

The marquis nodded with an elegant gesture.

Lyla glanced at Eustar. When he didn’t show any particular reaction, she answered,

“It’s a place called Rizicus. A very small village.”