A fortune-telling princess

“Oh my…”

“Two young ladies?!”

“This can’t be real!”

The onlookers were thrown into chaos, staring at the two identical figures standing before them.

“What on earth is going on…”

Even Duke Sorpel and Ravi were visibly shaken by the scene.

“Hah.”

“Where have

been all this time?”

Only Arsion and Petro let out sighs of relief. The turbulent energy radiating from the two dissipated almost immediately, their tension visibly easing.

“Th-this woman is a fake!”

But their calm didn’t last long. The impostor, dressed as Camilla, suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.

“She’s a fraud trying to steal my place!”

Tears welled up in her eyes, falling pitifully down her cheeks. She was trying to gain the upper hand by acting first.

“Please… Don’t let her fool you!”

Seeing some people appear moved by the imposter’s fake tears, Camilla clicked her tongue in irritation. There was no time to waste.

“You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“What kind of moron tries to impersonate me?”

Camilla shook her head, her expression full of disdain.

“Don’t you remember what you said yourself?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

“You said I was protected by the divine beast, didn’t you? That it would make taking over my body difficult. You were the one who said that, and yet…”

Trailing off, Camilla reached into her coat and pulled something out. Small enough to fit in her palm and not yet fully grown, it nevertheless radiated power.

[ROAR!]

“You forgot about

didn’t you?”

It was King, the divine beast.

“Ahhh!”

Thud!

The impostor collapsed to the floor as her legs gave out. Her entire body trembled uncontrollably as she was overcome by King’s roar.

Her heart felt like it was going to stop. She shook violently, her head pounding as though it would split open.

She had heard of its ability to purge malevolent forces, but experiencing it firsthand was beyond her imagination.

Her organization had targeted the Sorpel family precisely because it was the only one of the three great houses without a divine beast. But recently, King had returned. She had rushed to establish her position before the beast fully awakened, yet even now, its half-grown power was overwhelming her.

[Growl…]

King snarled, his massive form looming closer as if ready to pounce. But Camilla gently stroked his head, and the beast calmed immediately, his growling ceasing like magic.

“It’s all lies! Lies, I tell you! I’m the real Camilla! Me!”

The impostor’s voice wavered as she desperately screamed, her body trembling violently. But by now, no one believed her words.

“That divine beast is fake too! Fake! Please, you have to believe me!”

As her cries grew more frantic, Camilla took another step toward her. Leaning down, she softly whispered a name.

“Arya Hillen.”

“…!”

At the sound of her true name, the impostor’s eyes widened in terror. Camilla didn’t stop there, locking eyes with her and saying the name again, louder this time.

“Arya Hillen.”

“No! No, stop!”

“Arya. Hillen.”

Thud.

With the final utterance, the woman collapsed completely.

This was the parting gift Havel had left her: the true name of the spirit inhabiting Rania’s body.

[Ack! No! Stop!]

Just as Havel had said, the spirit responded to her call.

As had happened with the old man’s soul earlier, the foreign spirit was forced out. This time, it took the form of a woman in her early thirties.

The spirit screamed, realizing she had been ejected from Rania’s body. But her cries didn’t last long.

[Aaaaah!]

As always, the end for those who sinned was the same. Countless dark hands emerged, dragging the spirit into the abyss.

“L-Lady Rania?”

The body left behind returned to Rania’s original appearance.

But in the next instant, her body began to age rapidly, as though time were fast-forwarding. It decayed in seconds, crumbling into dust.

“……”

Camilla wasn’t particularly shocked. She had already seen something similar happen to Dennis’s body earlier.

Still, it left her with a heavy heart. That had truly been Rania’s body, after all.

“Eek!”

“Ah!”

“What… what was that?”

“My God…”

The others were not as composed, recoiling in horror at the sight.

Letting out a soft sigh, Camilla turned her gaze.

Standing frozen in place, Duke Sorpel stared silently at the spot where Rania had disappeared. His expression was unreadable.

Another sigh escaped her.

The thought of untangling this situation was already giving her a headache.

“So, Rania has been dead for three years?”

“Yes.”

Camilla nodded solemnly in response to Ravi’s question.

“When she kidnapped me, she confessed everything. She said the real Rania died three years ago, and that she had taken on her form to infiltrate this household.”

As before, Camilla mixed truth and fabrication skillfully to weave her explanation. She glanced to her side, where the ghostly figure of Rania stood quietly, her presence barely perceptible.

After being freed from possession, Rania’s spirit had regained her consciousness and shared the grim truth about her life and death.

[“Mother originally approached Father under someone else’s orders,”] Rania had explained.

Her story was nothing short of shocking.

[“It was all part of a plan to plant an operative from their organization within the Sorpel bloodline.”]

She hadn’t been told much about the organization itself. Even her mother had kept the details secret, claiming it was too dangerous for Rania to know.

[“The plan was to possess the body of the child once they were born, just like they did to me…”]

The organization’s ultimate goal was the second-born child of the Sorpeh family. The first-born, Ludville, was out of reach because the heir was always protected by the divine blessings of their family’s sacred beast.

[“When Mother discovered she was pregnant with me, she fled.”]

Falling in love with Duke Sorpel and their unborn child, Rania’s mother had chosen to betray the organization and run. She couldn’t bear the thought of her child being used as a tool by such a monstrous group.

[“We never stayed in one place for more than two months.”]

To evade the organization’s relentless pursuit, they lived a life of constant movement, never settling anywhere.

[“But three years ago, they finally caught us.”]

It was only then that Rania learned the truth about her mother’s past and the life of fear they had been forced to lead.

[“They killed my mother… and me as well.”]

Beyond that, her memories were blank. She had no recollection of what happened after her body was taken over.

“She was killed?”

“Yes…”

“Who dared to do such a thing?”

“I don’t know.”

Seeing the sorrow and rage building on Duke Sorpel’s face, Camilla knew better than to reveal the harsher truths. Telling him that his late wife had originally approached him under false pretenses would only add to his pain.

“Ha…”

Rubbing his forehead, the Duke let out a deep sigh, his gaze heavy with guilt as it settled on Camilla.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you? I’ve been too preoccupied to check on you properly.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Camilla had fabricated an explanation that she escaped during a lapse in her captors’ vigilance. There was no way she could tell him the truth about the Reaper Havel’s intervention.

“That’s good to hear…”

Despite deploying soldiers to investigate the house where Camilla had been held, they found nothing but ashes. Both that house and the one Rania had supposedly been living in were completely burned to the ground.

It was far too coincidental for both locations to catch fire at the same time.

Camilla couldn’t help but shudder at the implications. Whoever these people were, their influence and preparation spanned years, possibly decades.

“This is unsettling,” she muttered to herself, recalling how the organization had planned for someone to infiltrate the Sorpel family. To think they had been scheming in the shadows for so long, waiting for their chance.

“Take some time to rest,” the Duke finally said, standing up from his chair. His steps were heavy, his shoulders drooping as he left the room.

Camilla thought, watching his retreating figure. Learning that Rania was an imposter and that his real daughter had died years ago would be a lot for anyone to process.

***

“You’re really not hurt?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s something.”

Arison and Petro had stayed by Camilla’s side until the situation was resolved. She couldn’t help but marvel at how they had known all along that the woman impersonating her was a fake.

“How did you figure it out?” she asked.

Apparently, both men had been certain from the start that the imposter wasn’t her, never even entertaining the possibility.

Ravi, however…

“What’s with that look?”

“How could you not recognize that she wasn’t me?” Camilla snapped, glaring at her brother.

“Hey! I did think something was off!” Ravi protested.

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s true!”

“Fine. What was off?”

“She was…”

“…?”

“She was polite.”

“…Polite?”

“Her tone and behavior were way too respectful. That was a huge red flag.”

“That’s it?”

“Do you think

being polite to me would make any sense?”

Camilla rolled her eyes and turned away, biting back a string of curses.

Camilla’s gaze shifted toward Rania’s ghost, who stood silently, staring in the direction the Duke had left.

The longing in Rania’s expression was unmistakable—she wanted to follow him.

Camilla wondered, watching her thoughtfully.

Rania had suffered enough. Perhaps it was time for her to say a proper goodbye.