Ch.3131. Evil Spirit

“Hmm-hmm.”

The humming sound coming from inside the carriage was unexpectedly pleasant to hear, causing me to unconsciously look at Illuania sitting across from me.

She lowered her head bashfully and apologized.

“I’m sorry. Was I being noisy?”

She used to speak casually when she worked at the brothel, but now that she had become my maid, she started using formal speech.

Judging by how naturally she did it, this style seemed to suit her better.

“No, I was surprised by how sweet it sounded.”

“What? I used to sing lullabies for you often.”

“……”

Did she?

I pretended not to know by silently turning my head away. Illuania took the opportunity to start a conversation about something she’d been curious about.

“You’ve changed a lot in just a few months. You seem like a completely different person.”

“…I’ve matured. I’d like you to think of it that way.”

I told Deia the truth because she’s my sister, but there was no need to tell Illuania everything.

As I brushed it off simply, Illuania nodded while shyly wrapping her arms around her stomach.

“Since I’m no longer alone, I don’t think I can work nights like before.”

“Yes, I have no intention of asking that of you either.”

Illuania smiled, seemingly relieved by my words. In truth, my reason for bringing her along wasn’t really for her services as a maid, but for something else.

I carefully asked Illuania, who was smiling brightly.

“Do you know who the father is?”

Given her profession, wouldn’t it be difficult to find him? And even if she did, could they form a proper family?

I was worried about this, but…

“What? That doesn’t really matter.”

An unexpected answer popped out.

“Hmm?”

Her brown eyes were filled with sincerity. Her expression showed that she didn’t care at all about the child’s father.

“I’ve always wanted to have a child. I’ll give this child all the love I never received.”

“……”

A woman who, having never received love, was looking for someone to pour her overflowing love into.

In the end, even a spouse becomes a stranger when marriage vows break. What Illuania yearned for was family—an unchangeable relationship.

If that’s the case, then it’s fine.

I hope she lives a life filled with love.

[My, what a good mother.]

The gentle voice coming from beside me was one I had heard before.

A woman with half her face disfigured by burns, whom I had seen in the carriage heading to Norsweden after being dismissed from Robern Academy.

“It’s been a while.”

I naturally twisted the flow of conversation. Illuania looked at me and asked what I was talking about, but I casually rested my elbow on the window frame and placed my finger to my lips.

A gesture to keep quiet.

[It’s only been about a month. Hehe, our conversation back then was quite enjoyable, wasn’t it?]

“I feel the same way.”

[Are you on the run after having an affair with your maid? Is that child inside her yours?]

“No, that’s not the case. More importantly, how have you been?”

[I’ve been well. Then are you making a pregnant maid work for you?]

“I told you, it’s not my child.”

[Ah, right? I’m sorry. Then did you force yourself on her and now pretend not to know?]

I bit my lip hard.

I was deliberately trying to change the subject by forcing conversation, but the carriage was shaking from the overflowing resentment of the evil spirit.

Illuania mistakenly thought it was just the bumpy slope causing the shaking.

“The child is one she wanted. I will also support the child so it can grow up well.”

[Is that so? How nice.]

I thought I had spoken well, but…

[You’re saying exactly the same things I heard before.]

Not knowing her circumstances became a fatal mistake.

I had spoken to match her ladylike clothes and speech, but I seemed to have misjudged.

Whoosh!

One side of the carriage bursts into flames. More precisely, flames shot up from half of her face and began to burn the carriage.

[You still deny it! You lie! When that maid clearly has your scent all over her!]

Illuania was startled by the sudden situation. I tightly embraced her and used magic to break one side of the carriage wall.

The fierce wind whirled around us as if it would swallow us whole. The coachman, sensing that something was wrong, was urgently stopping the horses.

[You! My child too! Me too! You said you loved us all! But in the end! You killed everyone!]

“I am not the man you know.”

[Shut uuuup! There was no need to kill the child too! I said I would live quietly!]

All the souls in the mansion had found peace, so I had no souls I could use for magic right now.

“Hold on tight.”

“W-what?!”

I tightly embraced Illuania and jumped out of the carriage. Since the speed was gradually slowing down, using basic wind magic was enough to prevent injuries, but…

[My child! My child! My child!]

The carriage burns. The coachman quickly detached the carriage from the horses and jumped off.

The woman with half her body burning was approaching me with a menacing glare.

Ordinary women, especially those with children involved, harbor deep grudges.

Knowing this, I deliberately avoided using necromancy and tried to talk to her when I was in the carriage returning last time.

“This is troublesome.”

I let out a deep sigh as I watched the woman, whose grudge was so deep that she was beginning to materialize.

* * *

Step, step.

Step, step.

She didn’t know how many days it had been.

“Sob, mom. Sob.”

Meirin had been walking through the long, dark corridor for days but hadn’t reached the end at all.

She didn’t understand.

She had no idea why this situation had happened.

Her legs felt like they would break, and the soles of her feet stung as if being pricked by awls.

Yet she couldn’t stop walking because…

[Where are you going.]

…of the man with a face split in half who kept chasing her from behind.

It wasn’t like she had never experienced something like this before.

Meirin had once encountered a skeleton warrior on the first floor of the central staircase.

But she had clearly gone to sleep in the dormitory, and she didn’t understand why she was trapped in this corridor or why she was being chased by such a monster.

“Hic! Hiic!”

Her tears kept flowing until her eyes stung. Yet the tears wouldn’t stop.

[Come here.]

“Go away! Go away! Please! Please leave me alone!”

She shouldn’t run.

From experience, she knew that the moment she ran, the monster would also run madly toward her.

She needed to conserve energy by walking, but…

“Waaaaaah!”

The endless corridor seemed to mock the girl, stretching out as if telling her to just give up.

If she weren’t as stubborn as Meirin, she would have given up long ago.

[Come here.]

“Please! Pleeeease! Someone help meeeee!”

No matter how much she screamed, there was no answer, no helping hand.

The girl had no choice but to continue walking through the seemingly infinite corridor with a body that felt like it would collapse at any moment.

* * *

There was a strange rumor circulating on the third floor of the girls’ dormitory.

A bizarre rumor that a woman roamed the dormitory at dawn.

Creak, creak.

Creak, creak.

Creak, creak.

The mattress bounced up and down. The spring sounds of the premium mattress, prepared by the academy for the students’ comfortable sleep, resonated strangely violently.

The female student lying on it, pretending to sleep, was deliberately breathing rhythmically.

Every night.

Someone visits the girls’ dormitory and jumps on the beds.

It was a different bed every night, but unfortunately, today it was her bed. The female student cursed inwardly while keeping her eyes tightly shut.

Even when they reported it to the academy, they only got responses asking them to wait a little longer.

If Robern Academy weren’t the kingdom’s premier educational facility with a high difficulty of admission, students would have fled en masse by now.

Of course, many students were already fleeing.

The female student bitterly cursed herself for not running away, but remembering that the fate of her crumbling family rested on her shoulders, she had no choice but to endure.

Creak, creak.

Creak, creak.

What on earth was jumping on her bed?

How could it jump so passionately yet she couldn’t feel any touch on her body?

Various questions arose, but fear was greater, so the female student kept her eyes tightly shut.

Then.

[Are you asleep?]

If one had to describe it, it was like a voice from a half-formed pottery. As if something responsible for vocalization wasn’t properly made, the pronunciation was slurred, and the voice was heavy and resonant.

For a moment, her breath almost stopped, but the female student continued to pretend to sleep with her eyes closed.

Creak, creak.

Creak, creak.

After the mattress shook up and down several times…

[You’re sleeping.]

At some point.

The wobbling mattress stopped.

The bed was silent and motionless, as if nothing was there.

Has it gone now?

After pondering in her mind several times.

After what felt like an hour had passed, the female student carefully opened her eyes.

A woman with no hair and a hole in her neck was stuck to the ceiling, staring down at the female student.

[You’re not sleeping.]

Grin.

The corners of the woman’s mouth stretched unnaturally wide.

* * *

[Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!]

Gideon Zeronia hadn’t been able to sleep properly for days due to the loud crying sounds.

If the headmaster hadn’t strictly ordered him to keep quiet, he would have long ago notified the guards or even reported to the royal family, but…

Would anything change if he reported this?

Two professors had already gone missing.

All of them were professors who had responded to the baby’s crying sounds at dawn and went outside.

Would things really improve if the situation was left as it is?

Gideon couldn’t help but wonder.

‘Will bringing Deus really make things better? Really?’

He was also very skeptical about the headmaster and Karen going to Norsweden to reinstate Deus.

Could a visiting professor of questionable capability solve a problem that many full professors here couldn’t?

‘That’s impossible.’

Moreover, the necromancer he had summoned was a considerable expert.

Though he didn’t explain properly, it was a necromancer known as the infamous “Dark Spiritmaster,” whom the kingdom was desperately searching for.

‘This academy is now beyond hope.’

It’s a place where evil spirits capable of easily killing the Dark Spiritmaster gather.

This land used to belong to the Zeronia family, so Gideon knew.

If the records he had seen in his family and given to Erika were all true…

“The curse of evil spirits will never stop.”

Convinced, Gideon sighed at the baby’s crying sound that continued to echo, took a sleeping pill, put on earplugs, and lay down on the bed.

Despite all this, the baby’s crying penetrated through, preventing him from falling asleep for quite a long time.