The wisps have changed completely from where they were inside Flantica.
They went from simply being black lumps to nearly human-shaped.
I approach the one with the sharpest presence out of the bunch, or to phrase it another way, the one I feel the strongest hostility from.
ăHey. Can you hear me?ă
She doesnât answer and instead moans in a voice you wouldnât think a person could make.
Just when I thought her unstable shape had settled into a human-shape, she enlarges only the face portion to an abnormal size.
All I know is that her appearance is creepy and she has the strong presence of a curse, but somewhere in there is a girl in her twenties.
The moment I extend my hand, the wisp instantly turns into a human-shape and shrieks like a vengeful apparition.
What used to resound solely in my mind became actual noise that everyone could hear, causing the handsome men to scream and take a step back.
ăHis Majesty! Call His Majesty! Aah, it hurts. It feels like Iâm being stabbed! My face is hot like itâs being burned! My face is melting into an ugly mess! Aaah, why is His Majesty not coming!?ă
The ghost screams as she scratches her body.
Perhaps it was because she was thinking back to the time she was alive, but she briefly took a distinct human form where the skin on her body is beginning to boil and her old-fashioned but beautiful face is melting.
Considering her scream, I can understand why she became a vengeful ghost.
I forcibly hug her close to my chest.
ăYour Majesty, where are you? Damn that adulteress, she poisoned meâŚâŚjust because she was jealousâŚâŚaah, nobody is comingâŚâŚdoes that mean His Majesty knewâŚâŚYour Majesty, whhyyyy!!!!?ă
From that point on, she would continue wailing meaninglessly.
I donât like to lie to women, but right now she needs a kind lie.
I pull the cape off the handsome royal guard and wear it, then I gesture to the other handsome men to leave the room.
âŚâŚeveryone ran out. Man, they donât seem very reliable.
Anyways, I flip my cape and stand imposingly, and speak to her in as arrogant of a tone I can muster.
Iâm only wearing underwear, but it canât be helped right now.
ăWhat are you fussing about? I am here.ă
When she looks up, her face is already badly disfigured, her hair has partially fallen out, and her eyes are a cloudy white from her skin bubbling. This must be what she looked like in her final moments alive.
ăâŚâŚYour Majesty?ă
ăWho else do I look like? I came to see you.ă
I donât know if I look like the king in the past but a girl like her who has lost her reasoning likely wonât know either.
And I can imitate an arrogant king pretty well.
My experience acting as a tyrant with Mel and Lilian is paying off.
Tears of blood drip from her melting eye.
Although disgusting, I also feel sorry for her.
ăI didnât realize things got like this. Poor girl, if only I noticed sooner.ă
ăW-werenât you going to throw me away? You colluded with that woman to poison me, noâŚâŚ?ă
I bark out, calling her an idiot.
ăOf course not. I wouldnât abandon someone as beautiful as you, my beloved.ă
The girlâs face, which was warping into a monstrous form, returns to a more human appearance.
ăB-but my face is rotting from the poisonâŚâŚI canât show it to Your Majesty.ă
She takes out a hand-mirror from her bosom.
Itâs bloody, cracked, and doesnât reflect objects properly, but Iâm sure as a ghost she can see herself.
Itâs a matter of feeling, I guess.
ăW-what is this horrible faceâŚâŚalmost like a ghostâŚâŚoh thatâs right. I decayed alone in my bed and diedâŚâŚdonât look, Your Majesty! How could IâŚâŚ!ă
Her frenzy stopped when she learned her current state. Nowâs my chance.
ăCalm down, you donât have to hide your beautiful face. Come on, show me those blue eyes of yours.ă
Her whitened eyeballs regained their shine.
âŚâŚthey were green. Iâll have to press on and gloss over my mistake.
ăThat silky blonde hair of yours, you combed it everyday for me didnât you?ă
Her hair, of which more than half had fallen out, returned.
Her silkyâŚâŚit was black. Iâll also have to make an exaggerated gesture here to get past my error.
ăYour clear white skin, there wasnât a single blemish.ă
Luster returned to her damaged skin.
How prettyâŚâŚoh, itâs tanned.
Not good, Iâm getting everything wrong.
Well Iâm already this far, I can only keep going.
ăYou mustnât make such a scary or sad face. Smile, I like it when you do that.ă
Her face which was warped in negative emotions reverted to normal.
Phew, I got through somehow.
Anyways, sheâs quite pretty.
I guess itâs natural considering she caught the eyes of the past king enough for her to be invited into the inner palace.
Itâs too sad for a lovely lady like this to be smeared with ugly grudges.
I know my goal is to ask about the mechanisms in the palace, but if all of them are similar to her, I have to save them all.
The girl checks herself in the hand-mirror, which also seems to have been repaired to its pristine condition, and looks at me in surprise with a hand on her face.
Her voice which echoed throughout the room quieted down, and it can once again only be heard in my mind.
ďźYour Gracious Majesty. Please call my name.ďź
Oh no. Itâs finally come to this.
I can only bet on my luck.
ăHahaha, what are you saying? How can I forget the name of my wife, Seraphine?ă
ďźHohoho, Your Majesty is always excellent at telling jokes.ďź
What other noble-sounding names are there?
Not good, at this rate sheâll turn back into a vengeful ghost.
Time for a battle of numbers.
ăClerian! Geneliva! Mercotte! Kiara! Pess! Pochi!ă
Iâm not getting it. Why?
ďźThat is the name of the toxic woman who poisoned me, Your Majesty.ďź
My misfire went in the worst direction.
Now that itâs come to this, I have to talk to her body.
Just as I put a hand on my cloak, I see the girl shaking.
Looking closer, I see she isnât mad. Sheâs actually giggling with a hand over her mouth.
ďźItâs Neisha. Your Majesty is a liar.ďź
ăWas it that obvious? Sorry.ă
I first apologize and then adjust myself into sitting cross-legged, observing Neisha who is now maintaining a stable human shape.
She is still translucent because sheâs a ghost, but her bright green eyes, black hair and tanned skin compliment her high nose and slightly thick red lips.
Her height is around 150 cm and she has a modest chest and ass, making her barely distinguishable as an adult.
On the contrary, the beauty of her narrow waist and slender limbs stand out.
Her unique outfit and decorations are unlike the clothes of Goldonia, and are similar to those of the southern empire I traveled to before. Of course, what Neisha is wearing is far more gorgeous.
Sheâs been in the inner palace for quite a long time though, so the year in which she was alive is unknown. The culture back then was different than what it is today.
Neisha lowers her head and averts her gaze when she makes eye contact with me, covering her mouth with a paper fan.
ďźNow that Iâm calm, you donât look alike at all. The king I knew was radiantly beautiful and shorter than me. Fufu, you are someone I have to look up to and a savage with bulging muscles, you canât pretend to be His Majesty.)
Itâs impossible for me to disguise myself as anyone under 160 cm.
ăHmph. Well it doesnât matter how beautiful he was, anyone who lets a lady like you die canât call himself a man. You should get over him for me. Look how manly I am.ă
I remove my cape and highlight my muscles.
Neisha shrieks and hides her face in embarrassment of my nakedness. What an innocent reaction.
ăI know itâs too late to say this, but Iâm the one who resents all of you becoming ghosts. If I was alive during your time, I could have saved you. Why was I born after a worthless king who let such beautiful girls die?ă
Neisha looks as if she wants to object by glaring at me, but covers her face when I emphasize my muscles again.
ďźI-it has already happened. Are you seducing the dead?ďź
ăGhost or spirit or whatever, a woman is a woman and a pretty girl is a pretty girl. You are truly beautiful.ă
When I kneel before Neisha, she reflexively offers the back of her hand to me.
As expected of a consort, her movements are automatic.
I give the back of her hand a kiss, but I donât stop there, I pull her in by the arm toward my chest for a hug and even kiss her on the lips.
She immediately makes a sound that isnât in my mind.
Oh so she can choose how to use her voice.
ďźMy lips! How dare you steal the lips of a queen! No matter the age, it is unforgivableââah.ďź
Neisha rages in my mind, but when she looks down at her body and realizes her shawl and headdress are gone, she crouches.
Ghosts are like bare souls without a body.
Their appearance depends largely on mental state and can vary from that of a crumbling vengeful ghost like earlier when overwhelmed by resentment to a duplication of their former life when calm.
Excluding weapons and magic that can exorcize demons, their shape is not affected by physical stimuli but rather change by their own soul and mind.
Casie can be flattened and dyed, but sheâs probably an exception.
ăIn other words, your clothes disappeared becauseâŚâŚă
I circle in front of Neisha and show her more of my body.
ďźStop! S-such disrespect!ďź
Her bellow is fruitless as the cloth around her waist comes undone.
Neisha is getting closer to being naked when she sees my body.
That means she is yearning for a man.
Iâm wearing a single pair of underwear and Iâm sweaty from that romp of a fight.
I continue to approach her.
ďźAah, you must not. That practically naked body covered in sweat is so barbaric.ďź
Her outer garment disappears like a white mist, causing her to cover her humble breasts with her hands, but her skirt disappears next.
I squat and lift the curled-up Neisha by the back and legs, and then her underwear disappears.
The fully naked Neisha slumps her shoulders and conversely becomes calm.
ďźHow are you able to carry a ghost?ďź
ăI donât know the logic, but Iâve been able to touch ghost since I was young. Thatâs why I can also carry them.ă
I say as I toss the translucent body onto the bed.
ăA man who murders his wife is not a husband. You belong to me now.ă
I declare, climbing onto the bed.
ďźTo begin with, didnât you have an important reason for returning me to my senses?ďź
ăI do. But I want to lay with you first. We can talk after.ă
Black wisps surround the bed like a fog.
They arenât clamoring much, it seems they just want to watch.
ăNow letâs make love, woman of the past.ă
I stand imposingly and get naked.