Chapter 3: This Princess Becomes a Ghost

A frigid wind blew, scattering the darkness and revealing a wide clearing dotted with juniper trees. The grass was gray with morning frost, and birds chirped softly from the treetops. A small creek gurgled as it ran downhill into the surrounding forest.

Grand buildings with finely sloping eaves spanned the clearing, further than Aeli could see in either direction. The building closest to her appeared to be a residence, surrounded by a large courtyard with a well-manicured garden and even a small pond. The smoky smell of cold air joined the sound of muffled voices as a pair of servants walked past.

“Where is this?” Aeli wondered, watching an elderly servant sweep away the fallen juniper needles. “A nobleman’s estate?”

“Correct,” a voice spoke beside her. Aeli turned to see that the little flame had indeed followed her to this place. Though its appearance was bright, it remained somehow cooler than the surrounding air.

Aeli looked down at herself, relieved to see her body once again. But as she examined her hands, she noticed her skin had a distinct blue hue. It seemed even her hair and robes were tinted in the same way. Not only that, but she could even see straight through her feet to the ground below!

“What happened to me? Am I a ghost?!”

The flame seemed unsympathetic. “Something like that. Your spirit is all that remains now. Your body was left behind at the moment of your death.”

Aeli shook her head, trying not to remember that moment.

“So no one can see me?” she asked, stepping in front of the elderly servant and waving her hand in front of her wrinkled face. “Or hear my voice?”

“Correct.”

This realization was somewhat depressing, and a deep feeling of loneliness settled on Aeli’s shoulders. As she wandered around the estate, no one acknowledged her presence at all. One male servant even passed right through her, giving her an odd ticklish sensation.

A strong gust of wind blew, and Aeli wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

“Why does it seem like it’s already winter? Spring had just arrived when I—” She paused. “...When my grandmother had her birthday banquet.”

“Actually, it’s currently the middle of summer,” the flame responded. “This is about as warm as it gets in the northern lands.”

The northern lands? Why had she been brought here of all places?

“In fact,” the flame continued, “over two years have passed since your death. The journey to and from the realm of the afterlife is quite long. About a year each way.”

“Two years?!” Aeli’s heart froze in her chest.

After two years, the world had certainly already moved on without her. Her engagement had surely fallen through, and her fiance might even have already wed another woman. And her grandmother, who’d been in poor health for years. Had Aeli’s death burdened her with too much grief to bear?

Was she even still…?

Aeli began to tear up but quickly wiped them away.

“Grandmother would tell me not to cry,” she sniffled.

“You’re still hanging on to that old woman?” The flame chose this moment to speak up. “Did your killer not say it was the empress dowager herself who was behind your death?”

“No!” Aeli glared at the flame. “That’s not true. It couldn’t have been her.”

The flame didn’t comment further. Instead, there was a light chime sound before the flame announced, “Mission one has been assigned.”

“My first mission!” Aeli hopped in place. “Bring it on! What is it?”

“Find the target: a woman named Tabre. Mission reward: 2 points.”

Aeli stopped hopping. “Points? What are those for?”

“These points represent your progress towards redemption,” the flame explained. “When you complete a mission, you receive points according to the difficulty level.”

“Ah, I get it!” Aeli snapped her fingers. “Points! Like in a game of pitch-pot!”

The flame: “...This isn’t a game.”

Aeli ignored this comment. “So how many points do I need to complete my redemption?”

“One thousand,” the flame answered.

Aeli: ???

One thousand?! Wasn’t this a bit unreasonable?!

Well, there was no point in dwelling on how far she had to go. She was just going to have to take it one mission at a time. At least this first mission seemed easy enough!

“Okay, so where can I find this woman?” Aeli asked impatiently.

“That’s up to you to find out.”

“Can you give me a hint at least?”

“No.”

“...Fine. I’ll just do it on my own!”

Aeli stomped off towards the nearest residence, the flame floating lazily behind her.

This estate appeared to belong to a very wealthy family, the furnishings and architecture quite similar to those Aeli grew up with in the palace. But why was such a modern estate here in the northern lands?

Aeli had heard many stories of the nomadic tribes who inhabited the northern lands. They were said to live in shabby tents and eat raw meat and wear no clothes at all! So how could such a civilized estate exist in a place like this?

After eavesdropping on the servants’ conversations, Aeli was able to glean a bit of information. It seemed most of the servants spoke a strange language that Aeli had never heard before, but there were a few who spoke the Iovran language. These servants seemed to serve in the main residence while the foreign servants worked in the kitchens or the fields on the south side of the estate.

So Aeli found herself hanging around the main residence, listening in on these whispered conversations. It seemed this estate belonged to the Marquis of Erovrad, a retired general who fought in the war against the northern tribes of Great Ljor. After the war, he was awarded a vast territory of land in the north, and his estate had only just finished construction a few months prior.

“Ah, I remember this!” Aeli thought back to her early in her seventeenth year, when her uncle invited all the top military officers to the capital to celebrate the end of the war. She remembered it clearly because just a month prior, her engagement to the prime minister’s son had been announced. At the military celebration, Aeli had begged her uncle to let her attend so she could see her fiance, but he’d refused. She’d been so upset about it that she’d refused to eat for several days.

“This Marquis of Erovrad must have been one of those great generals,” Aeli said, tapping her chin. “I wonder if this Tabre woman is his wife!”

But this turned out not to be the case. Aeli stumbled upon an altar in the marquis’s quarters dedicated to the late marchioness, who’d passed away the year prior. Perhaps Tabre was one of his daughters then?

This, too, was proven wrong as Aeli overheard the servants talking about the marquis’s beloved only daughter, who was currently away visiting relatives in the capital and wouldn’t be back until the end of the month. Besides that, the marquis seemed to have three other children, all sons who were married and living on their own outside the estate.

“Who could this woman be!” Aeli sighed, plopping down on a daybed in the marquis’s daughter’s bedroom. But instead of landing lightly on the plush surface, she fell straight through and landed on the floor! She lay there stunned as the flame lingered nearby.

“You’ll need to practice your ghostly skills,” it remarked. “Great focus is required for you to touch things without passing through them.”

Aeli stood up and glared at the daybed as if it had greatly offended her. She reached out to grab one of the pillows, but her fingertips disappeared inside the fabric. She tried for several minutes to move the pillow, only managing to ruffle the tassels hanging off the side.

She turned her glare to the flame. “It would be much easier if you gave me some advice!”

“If I explained every little thing to you, we’d be here another two years,” it said flatly.

Frustrated, Aeli swatted the pillow harshly and actually managed to toss it across the room!

Right at that moment, a maid entered holding a bundle of sheets. The woman froze as she witnessed a pillow suddenly fly off the bed and hit the opposite wall with a thud. Before Aeli could react, the maid screamed and ran out of the room, abandoning the pile of sheets at the doorway.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Aeli’s eyes brightened. “Maybe Tabre is one of the servants!”

The flame: “...I must warn you against attracting too much attention to yourself.”

Aeli exited the room with a skip in her step. “Huh, why is that?”

“Well, for example,” the flame started, “If the marquis calls upon a priest to perform an exorcism, I can’t promise it won’t be successful.”

Aeli: ?!?

“Okay, okay! I’ll be more careful!”

---

Author’s Note:

Aeli: What happens if they do an exorcism???

The flame: Why don't we find out?

Aeli: If I'm going down, I'll be sure to snuff you out first!

---

Check out my Ko-fi for early access to the latest ten chapters!

Previous chapter | Next chapter coming soon!