I Kidnapped the Hero’s Women

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 62 - Dark Magic Research (1)

"Hmm. No matter how I think about it, it's a vengeful ghost..."

Squish, squish.

As Charlotte walked towards the garden, she tilted her head repeatedly.

The spirit that Julia claimed to have seen, appearing as a girl.

It seemed suspicious no matter how she thought about it.

The fact that the spirit took on a human form was strange.

The fact that it chattered away was also strange.

Everything was odd.

"Spirits usually have poor vocabulary. Even the Great Spirit, Earthy, has a vocabulary like this!"

[What did you say?!]

It didn't seem like that was a Great Spirit, so how could it talk so well?

Julia appeared to be cautious, but she was surprisingly clumsy!

She often believed in things that were obviously suspicious!

"And my Super Strong Sword is saying it's a suspicious spirit!"

[Isn't that just your imagination...?]

Charlotte was certain that the girl Julia saw was not a spirit but a wandering ghost.

Julia was possessed by a ghost and was not in her right mind.

To save Julia, Charlotte was on her way to find a 'solution.'

"Knight sister’s exorcism tool!"

Charlotte proudly raised her hand.

At the tip of her finger was a silver rosary.

"When the knight sister holds this, the evil spirit will disappear!"

When she asked Silvia if there was a way to drive away the evil spirit, Silvia gave her this.

It was said that no matter how powerful the evil spirit was, it would all disappear when this was applied.

With this, she should be able to save Julia, who was deceived by the ghost.

Charlotte, with a bright smile, hurried towards the garden.

"Julia! I brought the exorcism tool…!"

She stopped.

Charlotte's body stiffened, and her voice trailed off.

In the distance, in the flowerbed.

Julia could be seen embracing Aslan.

No, rather than embracing... hanging on?

Anyway! They looked extremely close!

"Wow. Julia has become very bold…"

It’s true that I nudged her, but.

I didn’t expect Julia, who was so shy and timid, to become so daring all of a sudden.

Embracing Aslan so tightly!

I was also very embarrassed when I hugged Aslan last time!

How much courage did she muster up...!

Wow, wow, wow.

Charlotte covered her mouth as if her breath would come out.

She watched the two with a fascinated gaze.

"Whoa."

Julia briefly detached from Aslan.

"Whoa!"

Then she clung to him again, biting and clinging.

Wow! So clingy!

That must be really annoying!

But Julia is cute, so maybe it’s okay?

Charlotte, thoroughly excited, secretly observed the two.

The Great Spirit, Earthy, who had been watching all this time, suddenly had a question.

[Why are you just standing there watching?]

"Huh? I shouldn’t interfere."

[Shouldn't you interfere? Both of you clearly like that human man. According to human customs, one male should be with one female, don’t you have a sense of crisis?]

"Hehe. Earthy, you didn’t catch on? As expected, my acting skills are...!"

"...?"

Charlotte, suddenly placing her hands on her waist and looking smug.

Earthy's confusion only deepened.

"Did it seem like I liked Mister?"

[It’s obvious.]

"Hehe! That means my acting was perfect! I, um? I do have a bit of affection for Mister, but? Not like Julia, who is so in love that she doesn’t know what to do! Even Earthy must find it frustrating, right? Right?"

"..."

Earthy remained silent, not moving at all.

Seeing Earthy ignoring her while she shook him and demanded an answer, Charlotte’s cheeks puffed up.

She picked up Earthy and forcibly made him nod.

Only then did Charlotte's expression, which had been frowning, relax into a satisfied one.

"So I stepped in because I couldn’t stand it! I encouraged poor Julia to be honest with her feelings...!"

[...]

"Why the lack of reaction!"

[...]

No matter how much Charlotte shook and demanded a response.

Earthy only turned his head away from Charlotte.

'Do high-ranking spirits not know that the emotions of living beings are visible?'

The eyes of spirits, famous for being inherited by the empire’s emperors.

Through those eyes, it was clear that the emotions Charlotte had when looking at Aslan and those Julia had when looking at Aslan were very similar.

Although Earthy could not know exactly what these emotions were.

If it was true that, according to Charlotte’s claim, Julia was so in love with Aslan that she did not know what to do.

It meant that Charlotte also felt the same.

[It turns out that neither of you are honest with yourselves.]

"What do you mean by that...!"

No matter how much Charlotte demanded an explanation.

Earthy remained silent.

This was something that they had to realize by themselves...

***

"Don’t... let go. ···"

It’s been two months since she started seeing ghosts and spirits.

She should be getting familiar by now.

So I thought she would calm down quickly after being a bit surprised.

"Don’t go away! Stay there...!"

"Yes, I’m here. Don’t worry."

"Make sure you’re holding my hem! Wave it to confirm"

"Haa…"

This is taking longer than expected.

Throughout the return to the mansion.

Even when going into the bathroom to wash her face, Julia continued to demand that I hold on.

"Ahhh! When I close my eyes, that ghost’s face comes back!"

Even when closing her eyes to wash her face, Julia burst into tears.

What could she have seen to be like this?

The fact that Julia, who at least pretends to be brave on the outside, was like this means she must have seen something quite horrifying.

She said that a ghost in the form of a girl suddenly charged at her with blood gushing out.

It was enough to be a trauma.

It must have been pretty creepy if I saw it too.

'In fact, she probably wouldn’t notice if I took my hand off?'

Julia kept asking me to hold onto her hem while washing her face.

But, honestly, she probably wouldn’t notice if I took my hand off, would she?

Out of curiosity, I slightly removed my finger.

[The Evil God, 'Kali' is glaring with a warning!]

Oh no. This won’t do.

I had momentarily forgotten there was another pair of eyes watching.

"Ugh. Soap got in my eyes!"

"Keep your eyes tightly closed."

So troublesome.

With Julia's eyes shut tightly and her whining, I made her put her head in the sink and scrubbed her face like washing laundry.

Is this enough?

Blink, blink.

Seeing her eyes, now clear of bloodshot, it seems to be okay now.

As soon as Julia opened her eyes, she desperately clung to my sleeve again.

"Have you finished crying?"

"I-I wasn’t crying out of fear! It was because my eyes hurt from the beginning, okay! Don’t misunderstand! I was holding on to you because I was afraid of bumping into something with my eyes closed!"

Maybe she’s finally calming down from the fear.

Suddenly letting go of my sleeve, Julia fumbled around.

A little disappointing.

I wish she had stayed clinging to me a bit longer.

Such an unusual pride.

"Well then, since your eyes are better now, I guess I’m not needed?"

"Ah, eh? Ehh?!"

"Then I’ll go, I have a lot of work to do···."

"W-wait!"

Tap.

As I turned around to leave pretending to be busy, Julia quickly grabbed my wrist.

I had just been waiting for Julia to grab it.

"What’s the matter? Is there some reason you won't let go? Like you don’t want to be alone or something..."

"Th-that’s not it! I just... was thinking of borrowing your hand to fall asleep..."

"At 2 PM? Really?"

"Y-yeah. I want to take a nap..."

Liar.

Julia doesn’t usually take naps, and even if she did, it would be after the 4 PM snack time.

I know your daily routine very well.

If I leave her like this, Julia will pretend to be asleep without being sleepy and lie next to me.

It’s a great opportunity to freely touch Julia’s cheek while she’s awake without being resisted by her.

But that’s a regular event every night.

For now, let’s have her do something that can only be done while she’s awake.

"How about postponing sleep a bit? Instead, why don’t we research dark magic together?"

"Y-yes! Haaumm…"

Yawning and pretending to be sleepy.

Suddenly, Julia’s eyes sparkled with interest at the suggestion.

Seems like she’s showing enthusiasm for a good excuse to stay close to me.

'Now it’s not just because of Irene’s nagging that we’re researching.'

The initial interest in dark magic was purely due to Irene’s pressure.

She would have really gone on a rampage if there was no progress.

But now that I have become the head of the family, Irene cannot touch me.

Attempting to harm me would be considered treason.

It would be legally possible to expel Irene from the family and raise troops to execute her.

So Irene must have quieted down recently.

However, even without Irene’s pressure.

[The Evil God, 'Kali' is still incredibly excited about dark magic research!]

Since Kali is eagerly waiting for the research on dark magic.

I can’t just ignore it.

Even if I continually ignore it, there will be pretty frightening warning messages like 'Demanding very strongly!' or 'Complaining!'

But so far, despite these warnings, nothing serious has happened.

However, no one knows what might happen if Kali truly shows extreme anger.

I don’t really want to find out.

Kali has waited a long time.

And now I’m curious about what dark magic actually is.

So I plan to explore its nature with Julia.

"Let’s go to the library, Julia."

"Yes! Hmm!"

Thud.

With a serious expression, Julia took a big step forward.

But why does she look so serious…?

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]