~Chapter 92~
[What are you?! What in the world are you?!]
The Gatekeeper Ghost screamed desperately, but the two standing over her gave no reply.
[Say something, anything! I’m scared to death here!]
The woman with blood-red eyes frowned.
“You feel fear too? Yet even knowing that, you still tormented people?”
The mannequin curses had told them where the kidnapped people were being held.
But they also said there were others bound elsewhere too.
When Damien and Rubiana went to the place the mannequins had pointed out, they found people tied up, their eyelids glued open, forced to endure endless haunted house horrors.
Even the curses who ran the haunted house tricks were exhausted, endlessly repeating jump scares.
[Torment? I only put on a show.]
The Gatekeeper Ghost ground her sharp teeth.
[You humans used to scream that I wasn’t scary enough, that I needed to be more terrifying!]
With fangs bared, she lunged at Rubiana.
But it was pointless.
Damien’s hand moved faster than light, gripping the ghost’s neck.
“You.”
His cold voice fell as the Gatekeeper Ghost struggled and hissed.
“Return the people you’ve hidden, submit to me, and live quietly. Do that, and I’ll spare you.”
The ghost froze.
[……Really?]
“Yes. This is your last chance.”
The strength drained from her body.
Rubiana didn’t take her eyes off the ghost and gave a warning:
“Lead us to the people. If you try anything, I’ll erase you on the spot.”
[Fine. Just let me go first.]
Damien released her.
Coughing and choking, the Gatekeeper Ghost played weak.
Rubiana opened the heavy wooden door, sunlight spilling inside.
“Let’s step out fir—”
But before she could finish, the ghost suddenly leapt, fangs gleaming like a shark’s, lunging for Rubiana’s throat.
[Even if you’re fearless, the pain of torn flesh will make you foam at the mouth!]
For a moment, the ghost felt delight at the thought of victory—until she noticed Rubiana wasn’t looking at her at all.
She was looking past her.
At Damien, who stood behind, radiating an inhuman killing aura.
Crash!
Before the ghost could reach Rubiana, Damien’s curse slammed the wooden door shut.
The ghost, airborne, smacked pitifully into the door and tumbled to the floor.
Then she saw him.
“Wasting your chance after all.”
Black curse tendrils spread, covering the room like a cube.
The silver-haired man stepped closer, his violet eyes glowing in the dark like ghostly flames.
[S-spare me…]
This was no human.
This was a curse itself—greater than she was.
Who could possibly mistake him for a man?
From outside came the sound of knocking.
“Damien, are you alright?”
His eyes stayed fixed on her as his lips curved into a chilling smile.
“You will become a meal… for my beloved wife.”
Crunch.
The black tendrils devoured the Gatekeeper Ghost without mercy.
When it was over, only small black fragments remained.
Damien quietly absorbed them—leftovers for Rubiana to consume.
The exit of the haunted house was now an open hole where the ghost had been.
Placing a ladder there, they led everyone out into the real world again.
The kidnapped people were rescued and treated for exhaustion.
At last, they too returned.
“Ugh, you scared me when you suddenly slammed the door!”
“Forgive me,” Damien said sheepishly, scratching his cheek. “That thing went for your throat…”
Truthfully, Rubiana had also expected the ghost to attack again, so she’d kept her power active.
Sure enough, the Gatekeeper Ghost had lunged.
Before entering, she and Damien had already agreed—if talks failed, they would erase the ghost together.
When the door shut, Rubiana panicked, thinking Damien had been trapped. She’d smashed the doorknob with a broom to force it open—only to find Damien standing calmly alone.
“I thought the curse had tricked you and locked you inside!”
“I could hear your worried voice outside. Sorry for acting without warning.”
He really did look apologetic. His eyes, cold to others, looked so pitiful now—like a drenched kitten.
“…Ugh.”
Looking at that face, she felt like she could forgive anything.
“Don’t worry too much. I’m not weak against curses.”
And indeed, when she broke inside, the Gatekeeper Ghost was already gone without a trace. Devoured.
No curse, no matter how strong, could win against Damien—who not only wielded but also housed a supreme curse within himself.
“So then, Ruby, where should we head next?”
Only about an hour and a half had passed in reality, though it had felt like five or six inside the ghost’s space.
“I’m fine, but if you’re tired, we can go home.”
“I’m not tired,” Damien said, clasping her hand.
“I’d like to spend more time looking around with you.”
She smiled, her eyes trembling with anticipation.
“Me too.”
He returned her smile warmly.
“Then… hm.”
He glanced toward the haunted house, but the entrance now carried a sign: “Closed for Today.”
With so many exhausted victims suddenly emerging, the organizers had shut it down temporarily.
‘Hopefully this won’t hurt business too much…’
The staff had already sent the victims to the hospital. Thanks to Damien and Rubiana’s first aid, their health should recover.
“Well, since the haunted house is closed, we can’t go again.”
Damien’s gaze shifted to another store.
“How about that one?”
“That boutique? You won’t find much for yourself there…”
“I’d just like to see you in new clothes.”
“…Huh?”
He was trying to buy her clothes again.
She shook her head quickly.
“You already bought me some before. No more.”
“Why not?” Damien pleaded softly.
“It’s the same as you always giving Ruhy new cloths and wrappings.”
“That’s not the same—”
As they bickered, whispers arose around them.
“There she goes.”
“How strange, acting all high and mighty before…”
“Must be her punishment.”
A noblewoman raised her fan and sneered.
“She tried to sell her own sister to an old noble, then even tried to blind her.”
Rubiana stopped in her tracks.
That sounded… familiar.
“Look at those worn-out clothes.”
“She only ever wears that one dress.”
“And her husband? That broke old noble who lost his business.”
Without realizing it, Rubiana turned her head.
There—she saw those familiar green eyes that had always glared at her spitefully.
One eye was now covered, lost as punishment. She wore a faded dress, standing beside her husband—the very old noble who had once tried to buy Rubiana.
As soon as she noticed Rubiana, shame twisted her face.
“…Cecilia?”
Standing next to that old man who had tried to claim Rubiana, was none other than Cecilia—her own sister.
