A Fortune-telling Princess [Novel] Chapter 285

Ghosts from every region had come looking for her, and if not for King, the whole house really would have turned into a ghost den.

“That was all your fault!”

It had happened because Amy, who had been wandering all over the continent to explore ruins, had spread the rumor that Camilla, who lived in House Sorpel, could see ghosts.

Ravi’s biological father came because of that too.

Jishua, Ravi’s biological father, had also come looking for her after hearing about her from Amy. In the end, he had even handed over the grimoire left by a dragon to his son.

Well, I’ll give you that much.

Since it had benefited Ravi, she could let that slide. Thanks to it, Camilla herself had also been able to cross into her former world and neatly settle the things she had not been able to finish.

But!

After that, all kinds of ghosts had kept appearing without end, saying they had been introduced by Amy and asking Camilla to resolve their grudges.

[There are so many wronged souls in the world. I just felt sorry for them. How could anyone hear stories like that and stay still?]

“Shut up.”

[Yes, ma’am!]

And you’re not a person. You’re a dead ghost. You can stay still.

Watching Amy grin nonstop and try somehow to put her in a better mood, Camilla eventually clicked her tongue lightly.

“You came back sooner than I thought.”

Surely she had not already looked through every ruin on the continent.

[Listen!]

At Camilla’s question, Amy answered in a voice full of excitement, as if she had been waiting for this.

[I found something incredible!]

“Sure. Congratulations.”

[It’s really, really, really, really incredible.]

“Sure. Really, really congratulations.”

[Aren’t you curious what I found?]

“……”

…Not really?

Seeing Amy’s eyes sparkle as if pleading with her to please be curious, Camilla had no choice but to ask with a face full of annoyance.

“What did you find?”

[A lair!]

“A lair?”

[A dragon’s lair!]

“Ah, sure.”

[…I said a lair. Not just anything—a dragon’s lair!]

“That’s amazing.”

[……]

“……”

…So what do you want me to do?

Amy kept pouting, clearly dissatisfied with Camilla’s lukewarm reaction. But wasn’t that obvious?

It’s not like I’m Ravi.

So what if it was a dragon’s lair? Was that important? Wasn’t it just a magic-using reptile? Wizards might lose their minds over it, but what sort of reaction was Camilla supposed to have when she knew nothing about magic?

[Do you know how precious a dragon’s lair is? Considering its historical value, this is an unbelievable discovery that has to go down in the records!]

“Sure, sure.”

Even at Amy’s excited words, Camilla’s response did not change.

Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to casually tell Ravi later.

While making him do a whole pile of necessary work for me. That man is still good at making magical items and things like that. Should I ask him to make a foamer for the café this time?

[And the lair was so huge!]

Even then, Amy kept talking.

[There were all those incredible books, and it was full of treasures and magical items, and even a magic circle that was definitely drawn by the dragon…]

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Camilla hurriedly cut Amy off. She felt like she had just heard something she could not ignore.

“What did you just say?”

[Huh? What part?]

“Treasure?”

[Ah! Yeah, treasure.]

“What kind of treasure?”

[Gold coins, jewels, things like that. There was a whole room filled with—]

Grab.

[……?]

Amy’s eyes went round when Camilla abruptly seized her hand.

“Our Amy, is there anything you want to eat?”

[…Huh?]

…Our Amy?

“Why don’t we eat something delicious and talk in a little more detail about that dragon’s lair you found?”

[Uh… huh?]

…What was this? What was with this sudden change? And why did the word “our” sound especially loud?

Amy could only stare in bewilderment as Camilla, now smiling brightly as if she had never been indifferent, led her away.

Chapter 3. The Soul That Had Ceased to Exist

“Have some tea.”

“Grr.”

Even as she watched Dorman set a teacup down in front of her, Camilla could not easily smooth out the crease between her brows.

“Why not just give up?”

“How am I supposed to give that up?”

She said there was a room full of jewels!

Camilla anxiously bounced her leg. She was worried that someone might find that lair at any moment and clean it out completely.

“Why won’t he give me permission?”

Even so, the reason Camilla could not leave for that place immediately and was stuck anxiously waiting in her room like this was because the Duke of Sorpel had not given his permission.

“Because he’s worried about you, of course. You were caught up in a murder case not long ago, my lady. I imagine he means for you to stay quiet for a while.”

“I know that.”

You don’t need to remind me again!

“And the location is a problem too.”

“Grr.”

Dorman was right about all of it. The dragon’s lair Amy had found this time happened to be in the Gracia Empire.

Worse, it was located deep in the mountains, in a place that had been covered in ice for long years and where human entry had been strictly blocked.

Naturally, it was full of dangerous demonic beasts. Since humans had not entered for so long, what better environment could there be for demonic beasts to live in?

“But she said there aren’t any demonic beasts.”

That was what Amy had said. Strangely, demonic beasts did not approach the path leading to the lair at all.

And even if there are demonic beasts, what’s the problem?

She had Xeno. She could bring King or the other divine beasts too. If things really seemed impossible, she could ask for help from the Duke of Esclara or Jayner, the head of the assassination organization Khan.

“I may be obsessed with money, but I do know my life is precious.”

I’m saying I’ll go because it’s worth going.

[To me, she looks like the type who’d risk her life at least once for money.]

[Why is that girl so obsessed with money every time when she already has plenty?]

[It is because our young lady is overflowing with talent for making money.]

[No. That’s just her nature. Her nature is being obsessed with money.]

Gathered to one side, the chef ghost Perol, the butler ghost Derin, and Xeno all shook their heads at the same time. They felt this every time, but… that girl really did love money.

“Would those of you who have never been poor please keep your mouths shut?”

Camilla stared hard at them. Honestly, people who knew nothing of poverty were always the ones who treated people who liked money as shallow.

Have you ever gone more than a week without eating because you had no money? I have. Money is something you have to earn as much of as possible while you can!

How do I persuade him?

The Duke of Sorpel, that was. When she said she wanted to make a brief trip to the Gracia Empire, he had immediately slammed down a flat refusal.

I didn’t even say I was going treasure hunting.

Naturally, she had not said anything about going to a dangerous region to hunt for treasure. She had merely said she missed her younger brother Dive and wanted to visit for a short while.

It had been an excuse, but while she was at it, it would not be bad to actually see Dive.

But…

“Stay °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° in and reflect for a while.”

“I’m only going to see Dive. There won’t be anything dangerous at all.”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That things don’t always go the way people intend. Just as you said, danger does not appear only when one schedules it.”

…That damned brother of mine even tattled about that?

“But Father…”

“Reflect.”

“…Yes.”

Faced with the Duke of Sorpel being even firmer than usual, Camilla could not say anything more and had no choice but to quietly withdraw.

He had already been anxious from watching her get swept up in all kinds of dangerous incidents, and it seemed that her throwing herself into yet another murder case had finally made everything he had been holding back burst out.

For a while, the right answer really was to stay quiet…

“Then what about my jewels?”

“…Have those jewels already become ‘my jewels’?”

“Grr.”

Was there no good way? A way to persuade the Duke of Sorpel and leave for the Gracia Empire. It did not seem like Ravi would help.

I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get in the way instead.

Should I ask Brother Ludville?

“The tea has gone completely cold. I’ll bring you a fresh cup.”

Meanwhile, Dorman cleared away the cold teacup and brought in newly brewed tea. Camilla stared at him.

“By the way, Dorman.”

“Yes?”

“Where have you been going lately?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

He had hardly been staying at home recently. She had no idea where he kept wandering off to every day.

If it had only been a day or two, she would have let it go, but for half a month now, he had been leaving at the same time every day and only returning when evening was nearly over.

“Where would I be going? I go to the shop to help with the work, of course.”

“The shop?”

“Yes.”

“……”

“Ha ha…”

“……”

“…I’m sorry.”