28. Bread and Circuses
“It’s strange. The soul, I mean.”
Bella murmured awkwardly as she fidgeted with her bracelet.
Who would have imagined being able to have a conversation with something that wasn’t human? A soul was technically just a person who had lost their body.
To her eyes, it just looked like a vintage piece of jewelry, but she could hear a voice and even feel a slight chill from it.
“Tell me how I look through your eyes. I’ll keep my eyes closed and behave while listening.”
With his gentle and soft voice, Bella cautiously began to speak.
“Hmm… You have wavy platinum hair and blue eyes.”
“……”
No response—perhaps he truly had his eyes closed.
Describing the image of Chei that came to her mind, Bella began to slowly wash herself.
Though Chei was now inside the bracelet, and technically Bella was alone in this space, she couldn’t shake the sense of being watched. Her earlobes flushed red, and she licked her dry lips out of habit.
“You look like a beautifully raised prince. Your skin is so pale it’s almost translucent, but that’s part of your charm.”
“……”
Who would’ve thought she’d ever find herself complimenting a ghost’s looks while bathing?
Bella’s hand movements slowed down and then stopped altogether. She’d reached her embarrassment limit.
“Aren’t you going to respond? I’m showering you with compliments here.”
“…Bella. I made a mistake. Just finish washing up and get dressed.”
After a slight pause, Chei spoke gently but with a restrained tone.
Agreeing, Bella let out an embarrassed laugh, gripped the sponge firmly, and scrubbed herself more vigorously than ever.
“…Right? Just bear with it for a second. It’s not like I’ve ever been naked in front of a strange soul before.”
Why did she feel so awkward when it was just a piece of jewelry? Bella, face burning, kept dunking her head into the hot water, finally managing to finish the shower.
Fully clothed in an instant, Bella flopped down onto the bed. Only then did Chei speak again.
“Bella.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Even if I’m a ghost… don’t you think you’re being a bit too carefree?”
“I’m being carefree?”
“At least tie your robe… Bella…”
“Chei, you must be really kind.”
“Me?”
“You must’ve kept your eyes shut tight.”
“……”
“If you had them open, you wouldn’t be saying I was too carefree.”
With her blunt statement, Bella silenced him and pulled her robe tighter around her.
“By the way, Chei, the image I see of you—was that how you looked when you were alive? You look young.”
She turned slightly and propped up her chin.
“I was young. When I died.”
Chei’s voice trembled slightly at the end.
“Did you have any family?”
“No.”
“Even nobles can have no family?”
At Bella’s innocent question, Chei let out a faint laugh.
Bella felt like he was whispering right in her ear, and she brushed at her ticklish earlobe.
“I don’t know which house I worked for, but there are all kinds of nobles.”
“What happens to people without family when they die?”
“What do you mean what happens? Bella, I don’t have a grave.”
“…You don’t?”
Bella sat upright in shock.
She’d never really thought about what happened after death. It always seemed like something far off.
But listening to Chei, a chill sometimes ran down her spine.
A mysterious murder, an unjust death, and a corpse that was never recovered.
They say the dead don’t care what happens after, but Bella found the idea that no one would remember her after she died terrifying.
“Bella. Death comes for everyone. The only uncertainty is when.”
“Yeah. I’ve never even tried imagining it.”
Sensing the shift in her mood, Chei tried to comfort her with a warm voice.
“I’m just saying… don’t recklessly throw yourself into danger. Be a little more careful. I don’t want you to die.”
His words were kind—like the concern or nagging of a close friend.
But something in his tone carried subtle emotion, enough for Bella to sense a tinge of strangeness.
“Why don’t you want me to die? In books, ghosts hurt people. Are you trying to turn me into a ghost like you?”
“I like you alive.”
Chei’s words sounded oddly intimate, but Bella brushed it off as her imagination.
“So you wouldn’t like me if I died?”
She asked teasingly, and Chei answered in kind.
“If you die, you’ll have to live in the mansion with me.”
The way he said it—in that low, alluring voice—made the afterlife seem not so bad.
Bella cleared her throat awkwardly to shake the strange dryness in her mouth.
“Chei. Just so you know—no matter how long you lived in that mansion, it’s mine now.”
“I know.”
“Still, death doesn’t seem as scary anymore. Living as a ghost with you might not be so bad.”
Bella chuckled and flopped back onto the bed.
“Do you really think so?”
“Well… if it’s you, Chei…”
Maybe it was the warm water, but her body felt soft and relaxed.
She blinked heavily a few times but eventually surrendered to sleep. Soon, her even breathing filled the room.
Chei, watching her deeply asleep, whispered gently:
“Sleep well, Bella.”
It was an unusually quiet night.
Steady breathing beyond his ghostly senses, the pulse from her wrist, her warm skin, the occasional rustle of fabric.
“…Do you really think living as a ghost isn’t so bad?”
Of course, no answer came from the sleeping Bella.
Chei gave a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“Bella, you have no idea.”
Living as a ghost was more horrific than being erased.
He had been trapped in solitude for a hundred years before Bella came. Whenever the living saw him, they screamed, cried, or cursed.
He had to use all his energy just to stir a light curtain.
He desperately wished for time—just one day to be given back to him.
The worst part was what he had become: a monster.
He lost control whenever he saw the warm flesh and blood of the living.
He wanted to steal it.
He wanted to live again.
He wanted to find the ones who killed him and ask why… and take his revenge.
But in this form, he could do nothing.
Bound to the mansion, he could only watch time pass and the house decay.
“You have no idea what it takes for me to keep you alive.”
Chei buried his face in his knees—if you could call them knees or even a face. He was nothing but an unseen soul.
Listening to Bella’s heartbeat pounding from her wrist, Chei closed his eyes.
Would Bella understand?
The feeling of a wild dog baring its teeth beside a deer, whispering, “We’re friends.”
Perhaps it was better that she never knew.
For both Bella… and for Chei.
* * *
“Ungh…”
As the pale blue morning sun rose, Bella stretched and slowly sat up in bed.
Last night felt like a dream. She quickly pulled out the notebook she had organized the day before. It had detailed information: where and when the gambling ring would open, and who the targets were.
Now it was a matter of how to use that intel.
One plan was to infiltrate; the other was to smash the ring down one target at a time. But brute force wasn’t an option for Bella alone.
“I need solid evidence to link Count Treshy directly.”
“Bella. It’s noisy outside.”
“I noticed too.”
Dressed and ready, Bella headed downstairs and greeted the innkeeper with her usual pleasant expression.
“Seems lively today, doesn’t it?”
Her casual comment was met with a friendly response.
“They say a lot of strange animals were brought from overseas. Everyone’s going to see them. There’s a festival today.”
Recently, newspapers had buzzed about exotic animals, and it seemed like even here they were doing performances with them.
Bella had never seen such shows—she couldn’t understand why people would go to the trouble of shipping such creatures overseas.
She sat at a table, and the innkeeper served her stew and beer for breakfast.
“A festival?”
The confused Bella asked, and the innkeeper looked surprised.
“You’re not here for the festival? Oh, the nobles built a huge arena so common folk like us could enjoy some fun too. There’s a festival there every month.”
A festival? That hadn’t existed in the village Bella grew up in.
It used to be a farming town, but agriculture had declined. Trade and tourism seemed to be the new trends.
With that realization, Bella smiled softly and took a sip of beer.
“Thanks. I’ll have to check it out.”
Chei, who had been listening silently, slowly froze.
More festivals, more arenas. Roaring crowds. And a giant gambling ring targeting southern lesser nobles.
“Bread and circuses.”
“Huh?”
Bella looked down at the bracelet at his murmur. Chei, deep in thought with a grim face, shook his head.
“No, nothing.”
This wasn’t Count Treshy’s doing alone.
There was something—someone—behind him.
