The spirit grabbed his right hand with his left, trying to stop himself from slapping his own face again.
“Sig…”
To Britia, watching Sig and the spirit fight for control over his body was strange and unsettling.
“Stay down and shut up!”
The spirit yelled, forcing his right hand down. Once he regained control, he breathed heavily, as if the struggle had drained him.
“Sig, are you okay?”
Britia asked cautiously, taking a step back. The spirit whipped around and grabbed her by the collar.
“Have you been waiting? Don’t worry, I’ll kill you now.”
The spirit sneered as his grip tightened, but suddenly a sizzling sound filled the air. Smoke rose from his hand, and the spirit screamed in pain, shoving Britia away.
It was as if his hand had touched fire, and his glove started to burn. He cursed loudly, clutching his injured hand, curling up on the ground in agony.
“Damn it, damn it! That woman—she’s the one who made this, isn’t she?”
The spirit trembled, cursing as he cradled his burned hand.
“Lady!”
As Britia started to approach him, Bippy grabbed her arm. Without a second thought, they turned and ran.
But panic set in as they didn’t know where to go. Sweat began to gather in Bippy’s hand as she held onto Britia. Esther had told them to run, but hadn’t said where. The only thing she knew was that they needed to get as far away from the Duke as possible.
Then, she spotted the vice-captain wandering around, holding a glass of milk.
“Vice-capt—!”
Bippy almost called out but stopped herself. Sig had been acting strange, and she couldn’t be sure the vice-captain wasn’t affected too. Was it safe to ask him for help?
“Oh, Bippy! And Lady Britia. I’m glad to see you’re both alright.”
The vice-captain smiled and waved, putting Bippy at ease. She ran over to him.
“Why are you running around with the lady like that?”
He scolded, noticing how breathless Britia was.
“Where’s Esther? Why did he let the lady be put in danger?”
The vice-captain looked around for Esther.
“Vice-captain, the Duke—something’s wrong with him!”
“What?”
“He suddenly started fighting us and attacking! Esther told me to run, but the Duke—he’s after us!”
Bippy struggled to explain what had just happened, her words all jumbled in panic.
“You’re saying something’s wrong with the Duke?”
The vice-captain frowned and glanced at the glass of milk in his hand.
“Yeah, he’s been acting strange. He never drinks milk, but suddenly he asked for some, and when I brought it to him, he disappeared.”
He wondered if Sig had gotten impatient waiting for the milk and gone to find Britia instead. Given how much Sig always talked about Britia, it wasn’t surprising.
Wait, didn’t Bippy just say the Duke had fought with someone?
“Are you saying the Duke fought with the lady?”
Bippy nodded quickly. The vice-captain looked at Britia, noticing her red, tear-filled eyes.
“Lady, did you have a lovers’ quarrel with the Duke? You’re not cheating on him or anything, right?”
At the mention of cheating, Britia’s shoulders flinched.
No way… Could it be?
The vice-captain sighed softly. If Sig had caught her cheating, it made sense why the ever-jealous Duke would fly into a rage.
“Go easy on him. Even if he’s a bit clueless sometimes, his feelings for you are nothing but sincere.”
Sincere? Clueless?
Britia glared at the vice-captain in disbelief.
“Sig’s the one who’s cheating!”
“…What?”
The vice-captain blinked several times before bursting into laughter.
“Whatever happened must be a misunderstanding. Sig rushed here early just because he couldn’t wait to see you. There’s no way he’s been cheating.”
He waved his hand, dismissing the idea entirely, as if it were impossible.
“He talks about Britia so much, my ears are about to bleed. I’m sure you must have felt your ears burning from all that talk.”
“And yet, when he sees me, he doesn’t even wag his tail?”
At the mention of a “tail,” the vice-captain, who had been laughing, blinked in confusion.
“There’s no point hiding it anymore. I nearly died by Sig’s hand. Look at his tail. I’m not crazy; I can actually see it.”
Britia revealed her secret with a sullen expression, saying that she could see tails—not just hers, but everyone’s.
“Sig always wagged his tail whenever he saw me. Like he was really happy. But today… not even a twitch.”
Not once. He wasn’t happy at all. In fact, he was trying to kill me…
As Britia’s face started to crumble, on the verge of tears, the vice-captain opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words. Sig had never mentioned her ability to him, but the vice-captain had his suspicions that Britia could see spirits.
But tails?
“And then he called Count Slanford ‘beauty’ and tried to flirt with him! Said he was going to leave me to go see him!”
Britia bit her lip, trying hard to stop her tears. She was furious that she was crying and even angrier at why she was crying.
Had she heard that right? Sig, who was always paranoid about Count Slanford, calling him beauty? That jealous, foolish Duke?
There’s no way. He had to be out of his mind, the vice-captain thought.
“It’s true. I heard it too,” Bippy added.
But the vice-captain still tilted his head in disbelief.
“Wait, wait. What do you mean by seeing tails? I always assumed you could see spirits, but you’re talking about tails?”
“I’ve never seen any spirits! There’s this rumor that I see dead souls or something, and people often misunderstand. I’ve never seen anything like that!”
As soon as Britia finished speaking, she realized something didn’t quite add up.
“You *have* seen one,” the vice-captain reminded her.
Then, it hit her. She had seen one, the first spirit she encountered. Its breath had been cold, and it had a tail.
“Sig’s breath was cold too. And he—he had an extra tail, a white one…”
The high priest had said something about that, hadn’t he? The scar over Sig’s left eye was a wound inflicted by a spirit, and if it wasn’t covered, the spirit would take control of him!
“Sig wasn’t wearing his eye patch earlier… could it be?”
Had a spirit possessed him? Was that why he was acting so differently?
“I told him to wear it, but he slapped my hand away. I can vouch for him—he wore that eye patch constantly until recently.”
He always said he was gathering hearts to make his wish come true. He even complained about his headaches. But suddenly, he said he felt clear-headed, asking for milk out of nowhere—all after he took off that eye patch.
“What do we do? If that’s really what’s happening…”
Britia’s voice trembled as her face paled.
Just then, they heard heavy footsteps approaching. The spirit-possessed Sig appeared at the end of the hallway, his face flushed red with rage.
“Britia!”
At the sound of his threatening voice, Britia flinched in terror. The vice-captain, seeing the murderous look in Sig’s eyes, realized that this wasn’t just some minor issue.
Had Sig really been overtaken by a spirit so easily? He didn’t want to believe it, but the man charging at Britia with intent to kill didn’t seem like Sig Turas at all.
“Because of that fool Duke, I might actually die for real.”
Damn it. He thought his only concern after the war was getting back to Heather. Could they win this fight? Could they at least hold him off?
The fact that he was already doubting their chances meant they had practically lost already. The vice-captain’s heart sank.
“Britia, what are you doing here?”
At that moment, Kyra’s voice came from behind. She stood with her arms crossed, holding a pair of fur gloves in one hand, eyeing the knights holding their swords with a puzzled look.
“Isn’t that Duke Turas? I thought he wasn’t coming until tomorrow,” Kyra asked, spotting Sig.
“Your Highness, it’s dangerous. You should leave with Lady Britia—”
Before the vice-captain could finish, the spirit-possessed Sig, who had been charging toward them, suddenly turned and fled.
“Did Duke Turas just get into a fight as soon as he arrived?” Kyra asked, raising a brow.
After all the fuss he made about her, now they’re fighting?
“Did he really just run away?” Britia asked, still shaken.
The vice-captain nodded.
“It certainly seems like he fled.”
Despite his earlier ferocity, he bolted the moment Kyra appeared. Both Britia and the vice-captain exchanged a glance before turning to Kyra.
“What? You’re not going to answer me?” Kyra asked, frowning at their stares.
‘That cursed woman must’ve made it!’
Britia recalled the spirit’s words. What it had mentioned was clearly the light yellow sweater she was wearing. And the one who made it was none other than…
“Are you going to tell me why you keep staring at me like I’m the reason you fought with Sig?” Kyra shrugged, clearly confused.
“Your Highness, Kyra, do you by any chance have some sort of divine power?”
“If I had something like that, don’t you think I’d be a priest? Why are you asking all of a sudden?”
“You don’t have some kind of power that repels spirits?”
Kyra gave her a deadpan look.
“Are you seriously trying to say that even spirits are scared of me because I’ve got a bad temper?”
She clicked her tongue, annoyed at being compared to Harty.
Usually, Britia would have dismissed Harty’s words as nonsense, but suddenly, something clicked. Maybe there was some truth to it after all.
Just then, the warehouse door creaked open, and Harty appeared, being supported by Brian, his face still sullen. Kyra wrinkled her nose at the sight.
“What were you doing in there? You smell like dust,” Kyra asked.
“I just had a rather shocking experience,” Harty replied, throwing a glance at the confused Britia.
“And Britia’s right.”
“About what?”
“Kyra does have some kind of power. I’m not sure if it’s the usual divine kind, but it’s definitely there.”
“I’ve always attracted weird things because I was too beautiful—creepy kidnappers, bugs, even ghosts.”
“Is that supposed to be a brag or a complaint?”
The look on Harty’s face suggested it was definitely the latter.
“And the ghost? That’s just something you hallucinated when you were feverish as a kid.”
“You’ve always dismissed everything I said as childish nonsense.”
“But ghosts really did appear before me all the time. The weird thing was, when Kyra was around, they couldn’t come near me.”
Playing with Kyra was annoying, but it also gave Harty a sense of safety. For the longest time, he thought it was just a coincidence. After all, Kyra couldn’t see the ghosts, and she wasn’t blessed with divine power.
“Then, one day, Kyra made something for me—like the eye patch Duke Turas wears…”
“Wait, you knew I made that for him?” Kyra interrupted, surprised.
“Duke Turas doesn’t sew that sloppily,” Harty replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Kyra’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“At the time, my room was filled with ghosts. They would poke me with their cold fingers, wishing for me to die. They even whispered curses in my ears. Everyone thought I was hallucinating because of the fever, but I knew it wasn’t just that.”
Harty’s voice trembled slightly as he recalled the experience.
“But whenever Kyra came to visit, the ghosts would disappear. They’d return when she left, saying no one could protect me, not even the goddess.”
“One of them even mocked the eye patch I was wearing. It touched it and then…”
Harty swallowed hard, and Britia followed suit, feeling the tension.
“The ghost burst into flames and disappeared.”
The others who saw what happened screamed and ran off, never to return. And as soon as they were gone, the fever that no doctor or priest could cure miraculously broke.
“So, Britia, you’re right. Kyra really does have that kind of power.”
