Hakushaku to Yousei Vol 4 Chapter 4

P. 122

Even if Teresa fell asleep, it seemed like this body wasn’t able to return to Lydia’s control until the sun came up.

And she had the dazed thought.

She should have known that, but when she remembered how she witnessed him use his techniques and charm to win over Teresa, she sort of became depressed. At the same time, she became furious.

But another thing that was made clear to her was that Edgar was still holding himself back and going easy on Lydia. 

P. 123

He was thinking that he could make their engagement certain and carry that into marriage anytime he wanted, and so he was enjoying himself as he was half joking around by flirting with Lydia. 

In comparison, inside the house, it was overly quiet. 

“Maybe the police haven’t arrived yet.”

The one who said that was Nico, who appeared from out of the dressing room.

“I did come, but I’ve been hiding because I don’t want that ghost girl that’s in you to chase me around.”

“It looks like things have gotten out of our hands.”

Like one would to a little child, Nico patted Lydia’s head with one of his small front feet.

He would act only on whim and was self-centered, and would disappear when it was dangerous, and she could bash at him every day that he was such an unreliable fairy cat, but he was still her best friend and she did depend on him.

“But, what do you mean about the police not coming?”

When she went over to the window to look out to the sea, she saw the white waves splashing up against the rocks and roll and twist violently.

“A seal……? Could it be a selkie.”

“Timing?”

He was right, if we couldn’t contact with the mainland, then this was the perfect situation for the culprit. So Ulysses might have controlled the selkies and making them do this. 

Nico stood on his hind legs and crossed his arms as he thought.

“You’re saying that he knows of a way to evade being rebelled against?”

Selkies are a fairy that is close to humans. Their spiritual nourishment is their communication with humans and they feel happiness the more they’re able to maintain a good relationship with them. Especially, the feelings of love from a human who holds a selkies’ heart brings peace and prosperity, and that’s why selkies protect the safety of the people whose lives are supported by the sea.

P. 126

The human who obtained the heart would have the power to control the selkies’ destiny, so it would only be restricted to those who could be trusted from generation to generation.

“Well, there also is the case that the person concerned wasn’t the one who received.”

So it might not be someone who was the legitimate owner. If in case the one who hand the heart had evil purposes, then that alone would cause pain to the souls of the selkie clan, and they would become poisoned from the anxiety of not being healed. 

“Anyways, I have to focus on their coats than the heart. It probably would be difficult to try and carry a whole number of them at once, so I think the coats would be hidden somewhere in this estate. Nico, you wouldn’t be eyed as suspicious not matter which room you’re in.”

“Of course, I’ll look for them too, but I have to pretend to be Teresa during the day, and I won’t have any freedom at night.”

The one who came into the room was Suzy the maid. 

She lowered her head, and then she noticed Nico.

“Oh, that’s all right. I love cat anyway.”

“Oh, is that so. Um, to tell you the truth, last night, something terrible happened….”

“Oh, my, then Miss. Carlton, you must have also witnessed that sight.”

“But, um, I would like to ask you to please not let the lady of the house know about that. The young lord Oscar has also made sure that the servants wouldn’t let that slip either.”

Indeed, this might be too much to handle for the mental unstable Mrs. Collins. 

The thing Suzy handed out was a letter.

P. 128

It seems like the thing he wanted to let her know was the last few lines at the end of the letter.

Since there was that kind of incident last night, Edgar was trying to quickly categorize those who were he could trust and those who were suspicious. 

So he would be able to keep Lydia at a close enough distance where he could see her always. 

However, even if she was able to guess Edgar’s intention, it still was a letter so embarrassing that she couldn’t let anyone read it. 

More importantly, the thought of ‘that big fat liar’ was whirling around inside Lydia’s head.

P. 129

She thought, losing her coherence. 

In other words, this was a strategy and not a problem about becoming enamored or not. 

“The viscount must be a good acquaintance of Miss Carlton.”

Lydia somehow managed to show Suzy a twitching smile.

That was not true. However she thought about it, he was enjoying making moves towards Teresa.

Like I said, that’s not right. 

Lydia, who was a fairy doctor, was needed in order for him to continue to be the Earl of Ibrazel.

If I was to build up a relationship of trust as an ally or friend, then Edgar would respond without thought for his own life. 

And that wasn’t just for show, but he was real about it, so it was difficult to deal with.

But that was a feeling that was difficult for Lydia to understand. It was just too self-centered and forceful. 

Because if she were to marry, she was thinking she wanted it to be someone who both of them would feel love for each other, just like her father and mother. 

It seemed like Suzy seriously thought so.

Lydia grew more and more furious about Edgar.

In result of Oscar imposing everyone to stay silent about last night’s incident, the servants were very loyal and kept their mouths shut.

“Oh, Teresa, wasn’t all of the guests fabulous gentlemen?”

As the two of them were having breakfast together, Lydia was imaging how she was going to need to pretend like she and Edgar were deeply in love with each other and that made her melancholy. 

She did have feelings of anger and irritation towards Edgar, but in a logical sense, she still was aware that his idea needed to be prioritized in this situation. 

If she were to go on an outing with the fake earl, she wondered if Edgar would be jealous. But Lydia panicked at herself for even thinking something like that for even a second.

What was important right now was that they didn’t make any openings or weakness for the enemy. This wasn’t the time for her to be thinking about something so stupid.

“Oh, with the viscount? He is indeed a fine, handsome gentleman, but you might want to spend more time and make your decision after you learn what kind of people all other men are?”

“It……it looks like the both of us have fallen in love with each other at first sight. We had a conversation after the dinner, and the viscount said that this was a fated meeting himself, and I also had the same feelings. I don’t think I’ll ever have a love like this.”

If he were to have written and sent her that letter with that in mind, then he surely was an unbelievable man.

P. 133

“He had said that he wanted to have a straight talk to you about this. He said he would come here sometime around after our meal.”

What if she opposes?

“Then, he should be coming pretty soon,” said Mrs. Collins who glanced over to the clock stand. At just the perfect timing, Suzy came into the morning room and asked them if she could lead the viscount in.

Mrs. Collins offered him a seat, but Edgar wanted her to first listen to his story and in a casual manner sat down next to Lydia. 

“Oh, well, Lord Viscount, I did send out the invitations with the hope that one of you would marry my daughter. And if you would say that….”

P. 134

Lydia became worried, but Mrs. Collins opened her mouth to say something unexpected.

It was the lady of the house that brought up this marriage match with the goal of buying a noble’s title with a dowry. But she had been worrying if her daughter would be loved more than anything else. 

“It is true that my family is not well-to-do. And it is true that was why I participated in the spiritual ritual, but right now, I would gladly welcome her just by herself.”

She was probably picturing Mrs. Collins like she was her mother, and could be imagining how it might be if her mother was still alive. 

She wondered if it was a mother’s eye when, like Mrs. Collins, she would try to determine if the man had feelings that he truly loved her daughter. 

“If I were to be opposed by you, then I’ll slay her and run away.”

And then, she softly hugged Lydia.

At that moment, Lydia felt like she really was hugged by her mother and was under the strange feeling like her mother had accepted Edgar.

Even if her mother knew of all the lies that he made till now, and that he was the kind of person who will continue to make lies, she felt like her mother said to her that you shouldn’t decide that even his proposal was a lie?

But I can’t figure that out. 

When Lydia left the room with Edgar, Mrs. Collins made a satisfied face as she sat down in her chair. 

P. 136

“Oh, yes, Suzy. The weight has gone off my shoulders. If that girl is happy, then I don’t have anything I have to worry about.”

“Oh, yes, Suzy, there still was something else I needed to do. I have to marry you off.”

“You are even like a daughter to me. I thank you so much for being by my side all this time. I don’t want you to marry feeling ashamed just because you lost your parents as I’m going to make all the preparations in place of your parents, so you have nothing to worry about.”

She was her ma’am she cared for so much. That’s why, even though she thought it was an unforgivable act of reviving her daughter Teresa, Suzy wasn’t able to stop her. 

If true, Suzy should have tried to convince Mrs. Collins to not do something like a spiritual ritual for her sake. 

“I’m sorry, ……I’m just so happy at madam’s words.”
That was her true feelings as well. But for now, she didn’t know what she should do and quickly left the room.

The spacious front garden of the estate continued off to a grove of mixed trees and down to the seashore. 

The fog was thick but there were no signs that rain was going to fall. The damp sea breezes periodically shook the tree leaves and that noise mixed along with the unnatural sound of the sea waves, which made it feel like a notice before a storm. 

“Of course they would be.”

“Well, fathers, yes. But don’t worry, I’ll convince him. Don’t you think it’s about time he let him know?”

She told that to him so many times, but Edgar only let that go by with a grin.

“That was just an act!”

“…..We are deceiving Mrs. Collins, aren’t we. She just believed that Teresa will be happy if she were to marry you.”

“Eh, what do you mean?”

“The needlework she did on her handkerchief had the initial M. And besides, do you think that a daughter who passed away at five years old would be able to do needlework just because she thought it up. Lydia, are you good at needlework?”

“Most likely, the ghost that was called out was a different girl than Teresa who was good at needlework.”

“Ghosts don’t remember about their life before death. I heard from someone who was an expert in that area, but in the land of the dead, souls are able to stay at any age they like unrelated to the age they died at, but if that were so, then wouldn’t that mean that the ghost that the spiritualist called out could be anyone?”

“If there was something that we could do, then it would be to stop Prince’s scheme and put everything back to normal. The soul of the deal back to the land of dead, and you back to me. There’s nothing for you to be worried about,” he said, cajoling her as he made a smile.

Because she remembered the smile he showed Teresa last night. At the same time, the irritated, angry emotions towards Edgar resurfaced inside her. 

“You’re my fiancée.”

“I’ll keep on saying it. Once you get used to it, then you’ll start to think it could have been so.”

Shouldn’t I trust him? I would do no such thing.

“I don’t want to have a marriage where there’s no love.”

She was irritated herself, so Edgar must have thought she was living in a dream.

“No, it isn’t.”

“You’re being paranoid.”

“Does that mean there isn’t any love on your side? It’s all right; you’ll be able to love in no time.”

“There isn’t any from you either. I had a nice inspection of how you seduced Teresa last night. It really is so easy for you to make a girl fall into your hands and do as you say. You can say whatever you like that you don’t mean what so ever, and use any forceful means…..”

“Do you perhaps, have consciousness even while you’re possessed by Teresa?”

Hmmm, he replied, putting his hand on his forehead. It wasn’t like he was troubled, but just a pose he was taking.

P. 141

“I know that. It’s for the sake of my well-fare.”

“It’s not like I’m upset.”

“I feel like you’re angry.”

“But you also threw yourself into my arms….”

“Then it wasn’t you who I touched.”

Lydia took her steps faster as she grew more furious.

“I…..If it was me, I would have hit you.”

“I thought so. I wanted to try other things while I wouldn’t be hit.”

“I’m glad I reframed myself.”

“Or, should I have not held back? Oh, I know, if we went to the very limit to our relationship, then that might convince you that all that’s left for you is to marry me.”

“But, it could have been a chance for us to become intimate. If it were Teresa, she wouldn’t run off. But with you, you have your own consciousness. If we spend a romantic time together, then you might come to understand my feelings not just with your mind but also your body.”

Blood rushed to Lydia’s head which made her stopped in her tracks.

“Stop it, this isn’t the time to be joking! I will not forgive you if you do as you please to do something improper!”

“Then, let’s test it right now.”

“I think you’ll be able to near the feelings between lovers.”

Then, she felt a warm hand touch her cheek. When she looked up, right in front of her was Edgar’s ash mauve eyes. 

He looked with the same kind of eyes at Lydia, no Teresa last night. 

Oh, my goodness, was I a woman with such loose morals?

She couldn’t fight back against his gentle voice which sounded like a spell.

She could nearly take that seriously. If she were to believe him, then something might change. Even if she thought that, from the bottom of Lydia’s heart, there was a voice that rose out in denial.

P. 144

“Please believe me, my kiss than my words,”

Oh, that’s right. He always does as he pleases and tries to make things go as he wants. 

Lydia gently opened up her eyes. Edgar had narrowed his eyes and appeared a little saddened. 

Edgar inspected the shadow of the trees and said “Whose there?”

He thought he saw the white face of Ermine that took an instant look towards him. 

“Lydia, return to the house.”

The figure that wore a black male coat but definitely had the feminine curve of a woman rushed up the hill. Edgar followed after the person, but had the feeling like he had been lured out. 

Eventually, with the inclined slope of the sea against her back, the women dressed like a man stopped her run and turned around. 

She was a woman that Edgar knew well.

“Lord Edgar.”

“It has been a long time.”

“I, right now, am the servant of Ulysses. I cannot go against his will.”

For an instant, she lowered her eyes. She didn’t respond to Edgar’s question.

“Lydia had also been worried about you.”

“She had even forgiven me even though I was deceiving her.”

“Lord Edgar, ever since you brought back Miss Carlton without harming her, I had a feeling like something was going to change. She was so honest and had such passionate devotion and is so kind and soft-hearted that it could amaze you. If there was someone who could save you, then I thought it would be someone like her.”

He wondered if she really was Ermine. He was still half in doubt, but at the same time he wanted her to be her.

“Are you saying you’ll trust a traitor?”

Prince was the one who used the weakness of her heart that had feelings for Edgar and used it for his advantage. 

“Kill me, huh.”

She was so swift and fast in her movements and had a light frame of body and experienced with weapons, so if she felt like it, it would be possible for her to kill Edgar.

“Prince has given up his hope for you. It is too late now; you have become too famous as an England Earl. If you cannot serve him any use, then I was told to torture and give you pain through and through and then kill you…”

Edgar didn’t pay any attention to that and reached his arm out to touch Ermine.

Like he thought, he couldn’t feel any determination from her.

“I’m sorry, for this.”

The brand of a slave that was painfully burned onto her white skin was nowhere to be seen.

P. 148

“Who in the world are you?”

“Why do you talk like you know everything about Ermine?”

She lifted herself up and swiftly stood up and attacked him.

Perhaps the secret that Edgar just found out right now was something that could have painful tormented her. 

If she were to be in dismay about being an imposter, then he wondered what that meant.

Just then, there was a dark shadow that cut in between her and Edgar.

“Wait……Raven.”

P. 149

P. 150

would be no one who could win against Raven one-on-one. 

Raven, who had an immeasurable high level of combat skills, set out with just the intent of killing his enemy.

The woman wobbled back weakly. She tried to build a distance between them. 

Raven didn’t change his expression at all and when he walked over to her, he reached out his arm.

“Stop it!”

“That’s enough; you don’t have to kill her.”

Raven didn’t show any emotions and yet at the same time, he carefully avoided Edgar and reached out to her.

“Please stop…”

Oh, no, thought Edgar. It was difficult for even Edgar to try and stop Raven. There was no way that Lydia could do it. 

He tried to move as quickly as possible to protect Lydia, but it was too late.

The one who reached her arm out to her as she was close to tumbling down the slope was the woman who looked just like Ermine. 

When they finally managed to stop near the middle of the slope, the woman wobbled up onto her feet. 

She was laid down onto a bed, and she could sense that he was peering down at her worryingly and didn’t seem like he was going to go, so she opened her eyes as casually as she could.

“…..Yes.”

“I’m fine, there’s nothing wrong with me.”

It was because she just remembered how she was nearly kissed by him earlier. But it wasn’t because of her guard towards Edgar, but because Lydia didn’t have any faith in herself as she might have actually accepted it. 

What if she felt like that again. And when she became worried like that, her heartbeat increased rapidly and Lydia took deep breathes. 

Raven was standing straight right behind Edgar, and said his apology with his head titled down. For him who didn’t normally show any emotions, he appeared like he was quite depressed.

“I made a fetal mistake.”

“I have every intention of accepting any kind of punishment.”

“Your duty is to protect Edgar, so you don’t have to drive yourself into a corner about me.”

Wife? Lydia made a furrow in between her brows and looked over at Edgar.

“Well, of course, I would need to let my most trusted valet know about this.”

“It’s naturally since I am serious.”

Because of that, Raven is anxious and worried sick. 

“He doesn’t seem to be convinced. That’s why, yes, could you hit him once yourself. Then I think he would be satisfied.”

“I’m always close to being hit.”

“Raven, you should try and do some sort of joke. And then, just like you wish, Lydia says she would hit you.”

“Some sort of joke, my lord?”

She wasn’t able to figure out how Raven, who was the especially serious type, took in Edgar’s practical joke and when Lydia timidl turned her head eerily over towards to Raven, she met his eyes which were looking straight at her.

“I cannot, Lord Edgar. Please forgive me.”

With a sigh, he replied “Yes, I understand.” She wanted to say why they would come to that, but regardless, it seemed like Edgar was able to make the stubborn Raven withdraw.

As she shook her head, Lydia noticed that there was some sort of sparkling grain of sand stuck on her hair.

P. 155

“It looks like I don’t have a scratch on me. It’s probably because Ermine had protected me. Even though she was the one who had the more worse injury.”

Because it was Ermine who ran into betrayal because of her feelings towards Edgar, he was saying that she shouldn’t be able to end Edgar’s life. 

“She herself said that she couldn’t go against Ulysses. He apparently was ordered by Prince to inflict as much pain on me and then kill me. Instead of just killing me, the woman who looked just like Ermine seemed like she had appeared before me because she was ordered to do so.”

At the arbor in the garden, she had said to the old woman that she was surely going to die. 

If it turned to a situation that he was going to let Ermine die. Then Edgar could not go on without blaming himself.

P. 156

If it was for the sake of tormenting him who shouldered the pain of surviving through the sacrifices of so many of his friends, then it truly was a cruel plan.

“You’re right….., there was no brand of a slave that should have been on Ermine.”

“Then, why did you try and stop me? At that time, you should have made the final blow.”

Just when she thought that Edgar made a stale, deflated reply like it was someone else’s business, then he made a serious frown. 

“But that brand isn’t something that can’t be taken away that easily.”

P. 157

That was right. The brand of a slave that was burnt onto Edgar’s body was taken away by the merrows.

“In my case, it just happened to be so because of special circumstances. I wonder if there could be such a chance for that kind of thing to happen to Ermine as well. And another thing, it’s just a strange a mystery that she is alive just as much as the disappearance of her brand.”

As Lydia was thinking about that, she focused her attention on the little objects that were sparkling like tiny shades of glass. 

Not blood, but clear crystal-objects came falling out of her hair and clothes. 

What if she wasn’t a human?

Selkies were embodiments of those who died at sea. And so Ermine was……

It must have sounded like something completely out-of-the-blue. Edgar and Raven turned to look at each other.  

“That sort of thing is possible…. Can you do that as well?”

Like he was trying to organize what Lydia had said in his head, Edgar pressed his temple. 

“I think there were instances like that. A fisher who had died at sea had arrived back at his house, but since he was a selkie, he would bid farewell to his family and return to the sea. Humans who become the residents of the fairy realm would come to forget about the human world, but Ermine is still,”

“Lydia, if it were like you are imagining, then why does she, as well as the other selkies, have to submit to the wishes of Ulysses?”

P. 159

“Then, as long as we’re able to find the coats that he has hidden, there the situation of Ermine being held under control would end.”

Lydia held back on her answer, because if she still had the memories of when she was a human, Lydia was worried if she might still be carrying the after effects of being under the influence of Prince.

“If she was forced to return as a fairy, then my sister has indeed died. The one who is here is the servant of Ulysses, and even if the control over her was taken away, she is only an existence that was revived as Prince’s tool.”

“Most likely, it’s just as you say. But, Raven, she’s your sister.”

Even if he understood the words of being a family, he didn’t know what kind of feelings he should have. 

However, Edgar was thinking about the feelings of Ermine than her betrayal. If she was still under the curse of Prince, then he wanted to rescue her out of there.

“Because she isn’t human? Haven’t you ever thought that you would like to meet those you lost even if it was a dream? Even if it was a ghost or anything else, have you ever wished that you could exchange words with that person one more time?”

Because he possessed such a specially high combat skills, he grew up as a man-killing tool, and wasn’t able to develop feelings as a human being, was finally able to open up his heart only to Edgar. 

And yet, Edgar still continued to speak like he tried to talk him into it. 

That was the same feelings that Mrs. Collins had that made her call back the ghost of her daughter. It was the same how Lydia felt towards her mother.

“Ermine had saved me. It wasn’t like she was ordered to do so, and yet she saved me by her own decision. I think that her heart still stands in a position where she is your friend and ally.”

P. 161

When everything turned silent so quickly, there was a small sound that came from outside the door. The three of them that were in the room immediately turned their attention to that. 

Just when they thought that, Lydia felt a cold shiver run up her spine, and cradled her arms in a crouch. 

“I just feel a little unwell…”

As she watched as Raven stepped over to the door without making any sound, Lydia thought that this was just like last night. 

“No…., help me….”

“It’s all right, I’m here with you.”

Raven opened the door with great force. But he remained standing in that spot. 

P. 162

“No. But the person might have heard what we were talking about.”
As she heard those words, Lydia lost her consciousness.

Chapter end