APIBAGS Chapter 71

"Melek?"

I'm a transmigrator. There wasn't a single speck of my own will in the transmigration—I don't know why it happened. On top of that, I don't know the source material and I'm making my way through on guesswork alone. Using the same method that brought me here to bring Ryder back?

Impossible.

But by some coincidence, there was another type of possessor right next to me. Melek—a ghost, capable of possessing bodies that were empty.

Melek was summoned immediately by Jelly. All I had left to do was persuade him.

"My lady, you called for me?"

"Melek, you see that child over there? Would you go inside his body for me?"

"What? But—I, I can't do something like that."

Melek was deeply flustered by the sudden request. Strange, really, how completely readable his expression was through that solid black blindfold.

Come to think of it—hadn't Melek said he didn't know how he'd possessed the body he was in? I don't know the method either, honestly. If you're a ghost, shouldn't you instinctively know how to get into a human body?

But that wasn't the only issue, apparently.

"How can my lady ask me to do that to a person. He's a child. Just—using someone's body like it's yours to take—that has to be a terrible sin."

Fair enough. He can't eat animals, he couldn't bring himself to kill a single rat, so for someone alive he'd give even more weight to life, treat it with more respect. It feels like he's been co-inhabiting his current body more by accident than anything.

Wait, though—wasn't that actually a high-level backhanded dig? Using someone's body without permission is exactly what I do. It wasn't intentional on my part, of course, but still.

Marchioness Toten looked at me with desperate eyes. I understood what Melek was worried about. He didn't want to treat the dead person's body as something he could use freely without permission—that felt disrespectful to the departed. So if I could make him see it wasn't like that, that was the thing to address.

"Melek. The child's mother wants this. If it goes on this way, Ryder will be remembered as having died cursed. No one will mourn him—they'll say good riddance. But if you take the trouble, Marchioness Toten can keep the marquessate. Ryder will be able to die without a disgrace attached to his name."

I said it, but honestly—that's textbook gaslighting. I've been in Evangeline mode for so long I just—floored it completely without meaning to. But apparently that was exactly what worked on Melek.

"Is that really true?"

"Look at that man right there. He's blood family and he still can't wait to swallow his nephew whole."

Diess had been straining with everything he had to force the door open while Melek and I were whispering. He didn't look like someone grieving an imminent death in the family—he looked like someone who was already counting down to the moment Ryder disappeared so he could claim the marquisate for himself.

"You rotten thing."

Melek directed his contempt at Diess. Blazing with righteousness, looking ready to enter Ryder's body that very second—and then something seemed to occur to him and he hesitated again.

"Lady Evangeline. But—how do I do child acting?"

"You don't really need to. Lady Toten knows the truth, and Ryder was a mature child for his age. You don't need to be a perfect match. What Lady Toten needs, ultimately, is someone who can carry the marquis's succession—so she can hold the estate together."

Melek seemed to steel himself. His body grew hazy. So this is what the ghost state looks like. The fact that it only appears as black smoke is probably because I don't have anything like spirit sight to see a ghost's complete form. Not having a spirit affinity was a bit of a bummer—but spirit sight is one thing I'm not envious of at all. Lucky me.

The black smoke surged and seeped into the child.

Melek had successfully possessed Ryder.

"The young master moved!"

Henna called out with sharp presence of mind, drawing everyone's attention. The moment her words landed, Melek began to stir and move inside the body. Diess went visibly pale watching it.

"What? Why is he alive?"

Diess asked, dumbstruck. So he'd known Ryder was dead. That's why he'd been so relentless. Right then, you rotten thing. Why is he alive, indeed.

Melek soon opened his eyes, looking around in confusion at his surroundings.

"M-mother…"

The awkwardness in calling her mother was probably because Melek had grown up in an orphanage.

"Lady Toten, move."

Lady Toten had been staring blankly, as though her dead son had somehow returned to her. I touched her shoulder and advised her to manage the situation quickly.

"Weder, open the door for him."

"Yes, yes. Of course."

The maid who had been holding Ryder grew flustered and opened the door. Oh—from her perspective, a dead person just came back to life. Lady Toten must trust her implicitly, given that she'd entrusted Ryder to her. I'd explain things to her separately later.

The door opened—split halfway through by an axe—and Melek, stepping down from the maid's arms, came to rest within Lady Toten's embrace.

"Did you sleep well…?"

Lady Toten's voice was heavy with tears. Even knowing it wasn't truly her son, seeing Ryder move and breathe again overflowed something in her.

"I finally managed to sleep deeply, and then some strange noise woke me up."

The complaint sounded exactly like a child that age. For someone who'd just said he couldn't do child acting—this was pure method. Wait—isn't he actually better at this than I am? Nobody here would ever suspect the soul had changed.

Well. Anyone except the one who'd been swinging an axe around like a lunatic.

"You're lying right now, aren't you? He was dead just a moment ago—clearly!"

Diess erupted. He looked around as though searching for the axe. For the record: when the axe rolled toward Lady Toten's feet earlier, I'd already signaled to Jelly to get rid of it. Even I've learned something since the Donau incident, apparently.

"What trick is this? Sister-in-law, don't tell me on top of everything else you've stooped to dabbling in dark practices?"

Unable to find the axe, Diess asked through twitching eyes. He was so worked up that spittle flew with every word.

Technically speaking, having a ghost possess someone is pretty dark, so he wasn't entirely wrong. Lady Toten was too busy crying to offer any defense, so I had no choice but to step in. Having agreed to help, I might as well see it through to the end.

"What makes you so certain?"

Diess, who'd been focused on Melek, looked at me and went quiet. Was he scared of me? Even for a common bully like him, Evangeline's reputation apparently still has its uses. At times like this I'm almost grateful to be possessing a villainess.

"You—who are you even. This is a family matter, outsiders should stay out!"

"I'm not an outsider. Lady Toten is my chaperone."

Not the polished, sociable smile I'd learned from Dolly—this time I gave him the raw villainess one, for the first time in a while. This smile had subdued Donau, sent the household servants fainting, and given even Gabriel—absorbed in me as he is—a moment's pause.

"You didn't personally confirm his pulse had stopped. You weren't close enough to see clearly. So how exactly were you so certain the young Toten lord was dead?"

"Well…"

"I just assumed he was asleep."

I laid out the logical gaps one by one, and a few of the watching servants sided with me.

The person with the most certainty here narrowed down neatly to two possibilities. I turned to address that precisely.

"There are only two people who could have known for certain. The maid who was holding the young lord—closest to him throughout. And the person who was desperately waiting for the young lord to die, and finally moved to ensure it himself."

What was her name again? Lady Toten had said it a moment ago.

"Weder, was it?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Was the young Toten lord dead? Did his heart stop and then start again—or is there a puppeteer here who strings corpses on wire and makes them walk? You were holding the young lord the entire time, so you can answer this."

"No. The young master was simply tired and had fallen asleep."

Weder hadn't been told a single thing, yet she read the room with exactly the clarity I'd needed and gave me exactly the answer I was looking for. Lady Toten must trust her enormously to have entrusted Ryder to her. And so it turned out: give her an inch and she took the mile perfectly. For me, she'd rank alongside Kanna, Henna, and Daisy.

Now I turned the arrow back.

"And what made you so certain he was dead, Sir Diess?"

I'd thought this might be enough to pin him—imply he knew because he'd arranged it—but the butler cut in before I could press further.

"That was me."

"Butler!"

"I don't mean that I did anything to bring about the young lord's death. I only told the master that the young lord had been notably weaker of late, and that there might be some cause for concern. The master appears to have misunderstood."

"R-right. The butler told me, so I just—I believed him."

He seemed to be absorbing all the blame himself to protect Diess. And in doing so, the charge against Diess had become considerably lighter. What had nearly been conspiracy was now just an unfortunate misunderstanding born of miscommunication. That old man's rhetoric is genuinely extraordinary. No wonder I was completely taken in by the kindly face and impeccable manners when we first met!

"Insolent."

I'd been turning over how to respond when a sharp, flat voice cut into the butler with that single word. It came from Lady Toten. It was the kind of high-handed, cutting reproach that seemed impossible to believe from someone who was always courteous and considered in her dealings with others.

"A mere employee, and you presume to predict the little marquess's death? And not only that—to go spreading the rumor? What a disappointment. Butler, why did you conduct yourself with such presumption?"

"For the sake of the Toten marquessate."

"You seem to have forgotten your place. Your loyalty was owed not to the marquessate in the abstract, but to me. And to my son."

The Marchioness tightened her hold on Melek's hand and stood straight. 

Her appearance was far from its usual perfection, but she looked more dignified than anyone in that room.

World—everyone—please look at this! This woman is my chaperone!

"Lock the butler in the basement. Three of you to watch him—whoever performs their duty most conscientiously will be given the butler's position."

The servants who'd been hesitating and reading the room all shot their hands up the instant the word "butler's position" was spoken. Marchioness Toten pointed at roughly three of them and had the butler taken away. It looked like a casual selection, but surely there was deliberate intent behind it.

"The nanny and Diess are to be confined to rooms for now. They are persons who may have intended harm to Ryder. Anyone who renders them assistance before my return will be treated as an accomplice."

The nanny, grasping her situation, was led away quietly. Diess raged and fought it with everything he had.

"Get your hands off me. Do you think I'm the same as servants like you? You dare try to lock me up?"

It took four grown adults charging him at once to finally subdue Diess and drag him out.

Marchioness Toten finished with those two as well, and then at last looked at the maid who remained.

"Weder. You've worked hard. I said I'd give you a reward, didn't I? Tell me what you want."

"I—is it really all right for me to say what I actually want?"

Weder's eyes lit up—as though she hadn't genuinely believed Marchioness Toten would give her anything. The curly hair lifted with the flush of the moment.

Why the surprise? Does Marchioness Toten tend toward stinginess? Then she should make the most of this moment. Marchioness Toten had wagered her house on me—don't hold back, go big!

Weder held the worn hem of her apron and worked her chapped hands together, hesitating. She thought it over for a long time, and when she'd settled on what she wanted most—she drew a breath, steadied herself, and spoke in a resolute voice.

"I—if the Marchioness would allow it, I would like to stop being a laundry maid."

Weder had protected Ryder even at the cost of injury to herself—and then made this modest wish. I would have asked for gold and jewels. Was it just how loyal maids were? Our household's girls also found it unbearably uncomfortable when I pressed gold coins on them. Though Kanna had accepted happily enough.

Marchioness Toten, who seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing, looked puzzled and repeated the question.

"Is that enough for you? Not gold or jewels? You—my son—you..."