Celeste has vanished. Her body remains, but her soul is nowhere in this world.
Before I possessed her, Celeste had lost consciousness in a carriage accident and lay still for quite some time.
At first, I couldn’t understand how I had come to inhabit Celeste’s body. I even felt guilty for taking over Celeste’s body after such a sudden accident.
However, she hadn’t just lost consciousness due to a simple accident. I first realized this when I was attacked by Franz, who came to see me as the Count. Was it really an attack?
It was more a reaction of Celeste’s body fueled by Franz’s anger.
So, why did Celeste’s body react? I couldn’t find the answer and often pondered it alone.
Did Celeste simply lose consciousness from the carriage accident? Was it merely coincidence that my soul entered her body at that moment?
I tried to avoid thinking about whether my soul occupying her body was why Celeste couldn’t return to her original self, but those thoughts occasionally plagued my mind.
Unable to find an answer, I unexpectedly discovered a clue in a surprising place. Franz’s cryptic words—his assertion that Celeste’s life hung in his hands—proved to be a crucial hint.
And this conjecture was confirmed today through Marina.
Celeste’s soul has disappeared. With only her shell left, devoid of a soul, her body couldn’t endure and began to fade, drawing in nearby souls to fill the void.
Coincidentally, my soul was adrift at that time after losing its body.
This sequence of events made sense. Yet, I still hadn’t determined why Celeste’s soul had vanished. Then, thanks to the hint from Franz, I could once again infer the reason.
In a dream, I recalled Celeste’s memories—her father, desperate to save his daughter, had sacrificed both their souls as collateral in a dark magic contract with Marina.
Perhaps this contract was designed to be unilaterally voided by Marina.
Of course, the other party could have also voided the contract, but that would require sacrificing their lives, which deterred any attempts.
It was shockingly revealing that the boastful Franz, who often claimed my life was in his hands, was genuinely issuing a warning.
However, because of that, I learned why Celeste’s soul had disappeared.
She knew what kind of evil actions Marina and Franz were committing.
Whether she had known and tolerated it for a long time or had recently discovered the shocking truth, she was aware that countless children had been sacrificed at Marina’s hands.
I guessed that perhaps that horrific act was the decisive moment that caused a rift between them.
In the original story, Celeste was betrayed by her ally, Franz, and lost her life to Duke Karl, whom she had loved in secret. The reason was that she committed an unforgivable evil act.
That unforgivable evil act involved committing murder through dark magic, specifically to steal people from the female protagonist, Laila, and torment her.
Recalling this, I wondered if Celeste’s dark magic murder might have positioned her more as an accomplice or someone complicit through inaction rather than as the main instigator.
I didn’t empathize with Celeste just because I occupied her body; my analysis of the situation wasn’t biased.
Franz is unaware that I have taken over Celeste’s body. He perceives me simply as Celeste, who has lost her memories.
Thus, he likely used words suggesting I was “never easy to deal with,” or was “arrogantly unaware of my place.”
Celeste must have known that her life was tied to Franz, yet she didn’t cooperate with him. This was because the level of evil acts committed by Franz, Marina, and their associates had gone too far.
At some point, Celeste would have found Franz detestable.
His anger likely fueled the chains binding Celeste’s soul, and as that intensity grew, perhaps her soul shattered from the strain.
This could have been a leap in logic. Yet, what remains certain is that Celeste’s soul is no longer present.
After being attacked by Franz, I fled to the Duke’s castle for healing magic, where the ministry officials primarily focused on whether I was under any curse.
After a long time, their conclusion was that there was “none.”
The cursed contract that bound Celeste did not apply to me.
This means that the curse Marina placed on Celeste was a contract formed with the soul, not the body, thus it lost its power over me.
While a part of Celeste’s memory lingered, the curse had only left faint traces, which ultimately lost their effect after undergoing several trials of Franz’s wrath.
This is why I could stand confidently before Marina, who threatened me about my soul.
Everything could be a simple assumption. It was a flawed hypothesis, and I could have lost my life here with just a word from Marina. However, even so, there was no turning back.
As Linke said, I had no choices left. Following his guidance, I had to use their magic stones to send Valerie back to where she belonged, binding them so they couldn’t cast any dark magic.
“Bring the magic stone.”
It worked. My provocation, to kill me if he could, had taken hold. Marina instructed the black-haired knight to fetch the magic stone. Perhaps she intended to end my life with it.
I closely watched where the knight was heading. One step, then another. He walked not too far from here.
After about ten steps, he stopped in front of a large door.
This space was too wide to simply be called a reception room, with two doors on each wall. Without hesitation, the knight opened the door.
And through the gap, a strange-colored light seeped out; I instinctively sensed the “energy of the magic stone” Linke had mentioned.
A murky light, like purple mixed with black, began to rise through the opening as if smoke were billowing out. Just looking at it made me feel suffocated.
Is that the illegally mined and processed magic stone without royal authorization? Or is there a different magic stone used for dark magic?
While I pondered these questions, the knight disappeared into the open door. Moments later, he appeared, holding a palm-sized magic stone.
Now’s the time. Before the man closed the door, I had to put Linke’s next instructions into action. Using Marina’s magic stone to return Valerie to her original state.
“……Lemetior.”
This time, I couldn’t afford to make a mistake. With urgency and desperation, I kissed Valerie’s forehead and whispered.
Please let Valerie return safely to where she came from. I wished with a longing deeper than ever. There could be no mistakes this time.
Please, please. I recited the spell with sincerity as Linke instructed and tightly embraced Valerie, shutting my eyes. Anxious, she began to squirm. No, Valerie. Stay still. Just for a moment, just for a moment…
“What, what is happening?!”
Marina’s piercing scream echoed, and blinding light flashed before my eyes. Even with my eyes closed, the brightness felt overwhelming.
Is it working? Did it connect? What I thought would fade away with my closed eyes only grew brighter. Unable to endure it with just my eyelids, I buried my face in Valerie’s shoulder.
The child who had been nestled in my arms felt like they were fading away little by little. Is it really disappearing? Valerie…!
“You, you wretched girl…! What have you done?!”
The sound of heavy footsteps followed. They seemed to be getting closer, and my body was roughly shoved.
“Give her to me! You little brat!”
She was struggling to pull Valerie away from me. I held on with all my strength. I strained so much that it felt like all the blood in my face was rushing to my head.
“I won’t let you get away with this… Aaaah!”
I closed my eyes and bowed my head, but the light that pierced my mind was inescapable. It seemed Marina felt the same, as a painful scream erupted from her.
Marina’s scream tore through the air, yet the light only grew brighter.
The arm holding the child felt lighter and lighter.
No, Valerie… As I prayed for her to disappear quickly, I also wished that she wouldn’t leave. The fading warmth of our skin contact brought both comfort and despair.
The strain in my legs was reaching its limit. I could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, at the moment of falling, I was holding nothing in my arms.
Valerie had vanished. It was truly a relief, no, it was a relief. Even in the brief moment of falling, contradictory emotions clashed violently within me.
“Valerie…”
Lying down, I gathered my arms around myself. I intended to hold the child, but my embrace was empty.
Valerie had disappeared.
In the end, she was gone.
