SWNOVELXO Chapter 53
[Wow, that one really looks just like me.]
Amy, the ghost of a female student, marveled at the specter standing beside Binter, a spirit identical to herself.
“Of course it does. It’s a manifestation of the people they killed,” Camilla explained casually, stroking the head of Luna, the black wolf and divine beast of the Sephra family.
Luna purred contentedly, a low growl rumbling from its throat as if relishing the attention.
The events that Binter and his wife had experienced were entirely due to Luna’s abilities.
The divine beast, a master of darkness, had the power to recreate the exact likeness of the deceased. Interestingly, it could not replicate the living—only those who had passed beyond this world.
Fitting for a beast of darkness.
It was a power perfectly suited for this task.
“You did great, Luna,” Camilla praised.
Luna wagged its tail furiously like a delighted puppy and nuzzled its head against Camilla’s hand.
Maybe this will only take a week,
Camilla thought, smiling faintly as she glanced at the collapsed Binter. Judging by his reaction, even a week might be unnecessary.
He’ll probably confess on his own soon enough.
Seeing Binter trembling on the floor, his pants soaked in fear, Camilla clicked her tongue. Amy wasn’t the only child he had killed.
And yet they adopted another child?
Children weren’t disposable objects.
The thought made her seethe with anger. Earlier, she had rescued a child from their attic—a frail boy around nine years old, emaciated and hollow-eyed.
The boy hadn’t shown any fear or distrust when she appeared. When she promised to take him out of that house, he had wordlessly grabbed her hand.
“Rotten bastards,” she muttered.
Camilla resisted the urge to kick the unconscious Binter couple.
“Just a few more days of work, Luna.”
As if understanding, Luna nuzzled Camilla’s hand again. Camilla stroked the divine beast’s head, feeling a strange calm.
****
Click.
“What are you thinking?”
Clack.
“What about?”
Arsion’s question was met with Sephra’s usual indifference. The duke’s gaze remained fixed on the chessboard before him.
Clack!
“You’re really just lending it out like that?”
Arsion moved a chess piece as he continued, “What makes you think that’s a good idea?”
“You.”
“What?”
“Checkmate.”
“Oh, come on, damn it!”
Arsion slumped back into his chair, grumbling.
Their chess games were part of a promise made to Camilla.
After Sier’s spirit had departed peacefully, Arsion and Duke Sephra had asked Camilla how they could repay her.
After some thought, she had said, “Spend one hour a day playing chess together.”
When they had asked why chess specifically, she had replied with a smirk:
“Would you rather sit in silence for an hour, staring at each other? That awkwardness might be amusing, but I doubt it would kill you.”
Neither of them had argued further, and so they had agreed. Now, they dutifully kept their promise.
Sier would be so happy to see this,
Arsion thought.
As Sephra reset the chessboard for another game, Arsion watched him silently.
Recently, Sephra had lent the family’s divine beast, Luna, to Camilla. Normally, the beast wouldn’t even acknowledge anyone besides the family head, but it had eagerly followed Camilla when asked.
“It hurt.”
“What?”
“The truth,” Sephra replied.
“The truth about what?”
Arsion’s confusion deepened as he stared at Sephra, wondering what on earth he was talking about.
Sephra recalled his conversation with Camilla a few days earlier.
“May I borrow the divine beast?”
“It’s not something I can lend out casually.”
“You’ve used its power for abuse. Why not use it to help abused children for a change?”
“That’s… a painful truth to hear.”
“Truth often hits where it hurts the most.”
And so he had agreed to lend it. The truth had struck him like a blow to the bones.
“How much longer until an hour’s up?”
“About ten minutes.”
“Enough for another round.”
Determined to win this time, Arsion narrowed his eyes and carefully set up his pieces.
—-
“It didn’t even take a week.”
On the fourth day, the Binter couple, half-mad, stumbled into the guards’ station.
Haunted by apparitions of the children they had killed, who screamed at them to face justice, they had finally broken down.
At the station, they confessed their crimes, pleading for forgiveness.
What’s the point of begging forgiveness from the dead?
It was far too late for redemption. The couple, now imprisoned, would face trial soon, and their sentence would almost certainly be death.
I love this world’s laws,
Camilla thought.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—murder meant execution.
Unless the victim was a criminal or a target of revenge, deliberate murder was always met with capital punishment.
That’s why I kept dying too.
Even attempted murder was treated as murder here. Every time Camilla had been caught trying to kill Ludville in her past lives, she had faced the guillotine.
“That boy’s name was Terry, wasn’t it?”
Terry, the last child adopted and imprisoned by the Binters, had found a new home of sorts.
The Shailen count and countess, who had recently conceived a child after years of trying, had offered to become Terry’s patrons.
Not adoptive parents, though.
Terry had strongly resisted adoption, scarred by his experience with the Binters.
Instead, the Shailens placed him in a care facility they sponsored, promising to provide full support until he reached adulthood.
“If there’s anything else like this in the future, I’ll gladly help,” Count Shailen had said.
Having been awed by Camilla’s “foresight” when she predicted Terry’s existence, the count had become one of her most fervent supporters.
“Now, the only thing left is…”
Camilla turned to Amy, who still lingered around her.
“Aren’t you going to leave?”
[Leave? Where to?]
Camilla pointed skyward. It was time for Amy to let go of her attachments and move on.
Her brother, the murderer, was dead, and the Binter couple, who had killed her, were about to face justice. Amy no longer had a reason to stay.
“Isn’t it time to go?”
Sier and Herschel had left once they had achieved closure. Why was Amy still here?
[I have something left to do.]
“What?”
[My dream.]
“Your dream?”
Amy’s face lit up with a bright smile.
[My dream was to travel the continent.]
“Travel?”
[Yes! Especially ancient ruins!]
Amy nodded enthusiastically. Even during her time at the Binters’ home, she had dreamed of exploring the world.
[My brother became a history professor because of me. He wanted to tell me the stories behind every place we visited.]
[But it stayed a dream in the end.]
Amy smiled wistfully, then grinned as she declared:
[Now I’m going to fulfill it. I’ll see it all!]
“That’s a great idea.”
Ghosts didn’t need travel expenses, after all.
[Thanks for everything.]
“I know.”
Amy laughed at Camilla’s nonchalant response.
[Well, I’m off.]
“Good. Let’s not meet again.”
[How cold!]
Though she pouted, Amy’s expression remained cheerful. Waving one last time, she faded from view.
“Please don’t come back,” Camilla muttered, waving back as she sincerely wished Amy a final farewell.