Chapter 58 – Terms of the Deal
“I’m confused.”
“I understand.”
Chei pulled Bella into a tighter embrace. The warmth of his body pressed against her own, his low voice reverberating through her skin, echoing in her chest like a deep drum.
“I feel dizzy. Nauseous.”
“Do you want me to rub your back?”
Because she knew he was sincere, Bella grew flustered and quickly wriggled out of his arms. Chei let her go without resistance, his movements unhurried.
She rubbed her face roughly with both hands as though to straighten out her thoughts, but soon she was clutching her hair in frustration, overwhelmed.
“N-no, I mean… Chei died—or did he? Was it death? Or is it just a curse? But it’s been a hundred years…”
“Bella.”
“……”
Chei gently took her hand and pried her fingers from her tangled hair. Then he bent a little, meeting her eyes directly.
“I have a favor to ask. Help me find a way to break my curse.”
“……”
“If the curse is broken, I promise I’ll repay you—”
“And if the curse is broken, is there any guarantee you’ll live?”
Bella’s voice was cool as she looked up at him. Her violet eyes, ringed with stark whites, carried an unsettling depth.
“Bella?”
“Even before I knew anything about curses, someone relentlessly tried to hurt me. I nearly died.”
She let out a dry laugh. The only reason she hadn’t been paralyzed by fear when intruders attacked her house was because her anger had burned hotter than her fear. Otherwise, terror would have been her first reaction.
Watching her carefully, Chei whispered in a coaxing tone, sliding his hand to clasp hers.
“That’s why we need to investigate the curse. If we know who’s behind this, then we can fight back.”
Bella blinked at him innocently—then twisted her lips into a bitter smile and slapped his hand away.
“No.”
“Bella! Why not—”
Chei stared at his empty hand, eyes wide with disbelief.
“The risk is too great. Yes, I like you. But not enough to gamble my life.”
She shook her head and swept her disheveled hair back in irritation.
It was shocking enough that an ordinary human like her suddenly began seeing ghosts. But then to find out that this “ghost” hadn’t even died—that he was cursed, his soul wandering—and that the one who cursed him might be someone of very high status?
This wasn’t something Bella could accept just by following her heart. The sudden avalanche of events and information left her head spinning red-hot.
“Even if you pretend to ignore it, as long as you stay in that mansion, the threats will continue.”
“My deal with Ridel was to protect the ghost. It didn’t include following every order the ghost gives.”
“A deal, you said…”
Chei’s chest caved in. He had been so thrilled, believing Bella’s protection came from affection. But now—her words made it sound like she was only upholding a business arrangement with Ridel.
“I— I was terrified of breaking apart. That’s why I left my father and endured ten years in the capital on my own.”
“Bella. But you told me your name…”
His voice trembled pitifully. He couldn’t even reach for her properly, his fingertips quivering where they hovered.
“Well, of course. Living people always introduce themselves by name!”
“……”
Living people.
A line had been drawn—clear and merciless.
Bella realized immediately that her words had wounded him deeply. But once spoken, they couldn’t be taken back.
“It would’ve been easier if I’d just believed you were dead.”
“Bella!”
Chei cried her name with desperate anguish, but she turned away, cold and resolute.
“Don’t follow me. The face you’re wearing now isn’t my type.”
It was hard to tell whether her words were a joke or a warning. She started to leave the graveyard when Chei’s voice stopped her.
“You were right. I am a noble… or I was. That means I still have value. You can use me.”
“What…?”
Bella turned back, startled.
His face was pure resignation—no hope for her affection, no expectation of her forgiveness, no vision for his own future.
A duke who once rivaled the king in power, now trembling—voice shaking, eyes wavering, hand reaching out weakly.
Claiming he could still be of use.
“Make a deal with me, Bella. You help break my curse, and I’ll help your business.”
“H-how?”
“No one knows Prellod better than I do. I can help with your flower trade, your workshop. I know which flowers thrive, which are hard to grow, when the famines came, when the rains fell.”
“That was a hundred years ago.”
“Nature doesn’t change, no matter how much time passes.”
“……”
It made sense.
For Bella, who planned to run her business in Prellod, advice from someone who had once been its duke could mean fewer failures.
“Either way, whether you dig into my curse or not, they won’t leave you alone. So this offer isn’t to your disadvantage.”
“Ha, Chei…”
Seeing him shrunk down like a rain-soaked pup made her chest ache. Bella sighed deeply, pressing her fist hard against her tightening heart.
Her trust had shattered, but not her feelings. And as he’d said, he wasn’t in a position to control her with trust alone.
Rationally, the smartest choice was to use him—to exploit his knowledge.
But if that wasn’t the reason she wanted to take his hand, was she just being sentimental? Bella couldn’t make sense of her own heart.
“Just like that noble you trust… I can be useful too.”
“What are you doing?”
Chei caught her fingertips and lowered his forehead to the back of her hand. Startled, Bella froze, unable even to pull away, and asked in confusion.
He lifted his eyes slightly, smiling faintly.
“Call it courtship disguised as a deal.”
“…Courtship?”
While Bella sat frozen, eyes wide, Chei straightened his back. He lingered over her hand, stroking her fingertips gently before finally letting go.
“Think about it. I’ll be trapped in that mansion for centuries without you anyway. The choice is yours.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
Bella stared blankly at his retreating figure, then lowered her gaze to her fingertips—the ones he had held.
They were warm.
She flexed her hand open and closed several times, her thoughts churning.
At last, feelings she had tried to suppress rose to the surface.
More important than him being a dead ghost, more important than him being a cursed duke from a century ago…
“…That’s not what matters most to me.”
She laughed faintly, bitterly, at her own murmur.
What would happen to him once the curse was broken?
The question had been gnawing at her ever since she realized he wasn’t truly dead.
If the curse broke and led only to his disappearance? That was what frightened her most.
If he had simply been a ghost, she could live her life protecting him, then eventually join him in death. They could be together for eternity.
But it was a curse.
Which meant if she died, she wouldn’t remain in this world the way he did.
Surely Chei had thought of that too. That’s why he had made this desperate resolve—
Even if breaking the curse meant vanishing, he had decided to do it.
He had spoken of love with desperate eyes, but in his mind, he had already prepared himself for obliteration.
“……”
Bella lifted her head toward Baron Osik’s grave.
Her father had warned her to beware the royal family. To beware the cup offered by the crown.
“Father, I’m sorry.”
It seemed she wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.
