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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Ten-Year Cycle
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“Well, anyway, you’re saying you’ve been friends with Ria ever since that day.”
[I couldn’t stay long because I was young, but you’d come by sometimes and tell me about the world. Looking back now, if it weren’t for you, don’t you think I would have gone mad long ago?]
“...What’s this? Why the sudden compliment?”
Kaizareu squirmed, embarrassed by the praise. But Ria was sincere.
His regular visits gave her someone to talk to, and the many gifts he brought from the outside world were a breath of fresh air in her monotonous daily life.
“It was nothing special, was it?”
Kaizareu’s earlobes reddened as he tried to look away from Lucian, but Lucian shook his head, his face flushed with excitement.
“No! It’s a super, super special thing! It means you were Ria’s first friend!”
“Ahem, I suppose so.”
“I wish I could have been there then, too.”
“Don’t be silly. You humans only live to be sixty, at best. It’s better that you met her now.”
“Why?”
“Because in five years, I’ll become an adult dragon! Once I’m an adult, all restrictions are lifted!”
For now, he hadn't yet undergone the coming-of-age ceremony, so he couldn't stay outside for long periods.
And if Kaizareu had met Lucian in his younger days, he wasn't sure they would have become as close as they were now.
The Kaizareu of back then was more arrogant and willful than he was now, and it was doubtful he would have accepted a mere human like Lucian.
“Oh, by the way. Don't you want the mansion anymore? Or did you find another villa?”
The whole reason Kaizareu had come to the mansion was to have his own villa. But now, this mansion was not his.
His regular visits were no longer to claim the mansion, but to interact with Ria. Hearing the question, however, Ria found herself curious as well.
“No, I don't have a villa. I'll have my own lair soon enough anyway, so I don't need one anymore.”
[Oh? Really? Since you stopped asking for the mansion, I thought you'd already found a new one.]
“If I asked, would you give it to me?”
[Of course not.]
“I knew it.”
Kaizareu clicked his tongue, muttering about how heartless she was.
“Back then, I was looking for a personal space, but on second thought, I realized I don't really need one. I'd probably only visit a villa once or twice every five years, and wouldn't people find it strange if I set one up in a human village?”
True, he could only stay for a month at most, and humans would surely find it odd if the mansion's lights were only on once every five years.
“And I found this out later, but this mansion isn't ownerless. It belongs to the Imperial Family.”
[Huh? Really?]
“Really?”
As Ria and Lucian reacted in surprise, Kaizareu gave them a sullen look, as if asking how they didn't know.
“Yeah. I gave up on it completely after hearing that. My parents told me never to get involved with the Imperial Family. Besides, there were times when humans would settle down here, right?”
[That's right.]
The frequency and duration varied, but someone would always move in every thirty to forty years.
“Come to think of it, what happened to all the people who lived here?”
[They died.]
“*Cough!* Really?”
Ria nodded at Kaizareu, who had choked for a moment. He shuddered, saying it was creepy.
“Thinking about it, the rumors about this place aren't baseless. It's true that it's haunted, and it's true that people die here. None of the humans who come here leave in one piece.”
[What are you talking about? I don't kill people.]
“That's not what I mean. Have any of the humans who visit here for fun ever walked out normally? They all faint or wet themselves.”
*Hmm… is that so? Maybe, maybe not.*
[Ah, come to think of it…]
Just then, something flashed through Ria's mind.
Seeing Ria's reaction, Kaizareu's eyes glinted.
“Why? Did something click?”
[Hmm… how should I put this? I don't think I've ever personally seen any of the humans who lived here die.]
“Huh?”
[Now that I say it out loud, it's strange. If I never saw them die with my own eyes, why did I always assume they were dead?]
A human who had been perfectly fine just the day before would suddenly vanish without a trace the next.
“Then maybe they didn't die, they just left the mansion?”
[That's not it… Usually, when people plan to go somewhere, they pack their bags. But there was never any sign of that. And all their belongings were left behind.]
Wasn't that why she had decorated the rooms with themes based on the humans who had lived there?
“Ria, you don't sleep, right? Were there any strange signs before they disappeared?”
[Well…]
As Lucian said, Ria was a ghost, so she didn't sleep.
She was conscious twenty-four hours a day, yet for some reason, her memory of the days the humans disappeared was hazy, as if a dark cloud had settled in her mind. Just then, Ria spoke without realizing it.
[…There are times, once every ten years, when I lose consciousness.]
This was something she had never even told Kaizareu. It made sense, as she had only discovered this fact a mere thirty years ago.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean, you lose consciousness?”
[It's just as it sounds. Once every ten years, my entire consciousness just… disappears.]
At a certain moment, her consciousness would vanish entirely, like a puppet with its strings cut. Then, at dawn, she would return to normal.
The process was so seamless that even Ria was unaware of it, which was why it took her so long to notice.
[Ah, wait.]
Something struck her. She rose from her spot and headed to her room.
She could feel Kaizareu and Lucian's confusion, but she didn't have time to look back at them.
As soon as she entered her room, Ria rummaged through her diaries. She had started keeping them around her hundredth year of living in the mansion.
As she went through the dates when the humans who lived there had died, one by one, she found a common thread.
[Ha, haha… this is insane…]
Her spirit trembled. To think she hadn't realized something so important all this time.
Year 137, 187, 207, 217, and so on…
These were all the years the humans had disappeared.
They all ended in ‘7’. The intervals were irregular, but that wasn't the important part.
[The cycle of my consciousness disappearing is ten years… and the years it disappears are…]
The last digit of the year is always 7.
The times Ria's consciousness vanished and the times the humans disappeared overlapped perfectly. Realizing this shocking truth, Ria clenched her fists.
Even if she only wrote two short lines, she never skipped a day in her diary.
Then one day, while organizing her diaries, she discovered she had skipped a day.
When she tried to remember why she had skipped it, she realized she couldn't recall what had happened that night at all.
That was how she realized what she'd stumbled upon by chance wasn't a mistake, but a clear pattern.
For a few days before her consciousness disappeared, she would find herself spacing out more often, becoming like the other ghosts who lacked self-awareness.
Eventually, as darkness began to fall, she would finally lose consciousness, and when she opened her eyes, dawn would be breaking outside her window.
It was strange, but she hadn't paid it much mind. Being a ghost wasn't normal to begin with, so losing consciousness for half a day didn't seem like a big deal.
But things were different now. Lucian was living with her.
What if something unfortunate happened during that half-day she was unconscious?
[What year is it today…?]
Year 315. There were two years left until the last digit was a ‘7’.
[Damn it, that's not much time.]
Why had she been so complacent about this? If she had been more suspicious and dug deeper, she might have been able to come up with a good plan.
Ria—! Where did you go—!
Hey! Where'd you suddenly go! What's going on!
As she clutched her head in anguish, she heard the voices of Lucian and Kaizareu.
*Right, this isn't something I can figure out on my own.*
Besides, it wasn't happening this year, but in about two years, so she could ask Kaizareu for help.
Deciding to ask for their advice, Ria came down from her room and headed to the living room where they were.
As Ria descended from the ceiling, the two of them hurried over.
“What's wrong all of a sudden? You look pale.”
“Hey, a ghost's face is always pale.”
“Ah.”
Ria tuned out their banter and told them what she had discovered.
Upon hearing it, Lucian buried himself in Ria's arms, saying it was scary, while Kaizareu, realizing this was no small matter, crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on the table.
“Are you sure? About this ten-year cycle?”
[I told you. Those were the only times I didn't write in my diary.]
“And you know when it started?”
[Well, it's been happening ever since I started keeping a diary. I started writing after my hundredth year here, so it's been almost two hundred years.]
“It's been happening for that long?”
[That's the minimum, not the maximum. It might have been happening even before I started the diary.]
It was so long ago that it was a shame she couldn't remember anything about that time.
[There are two years left. It would be a relief if nothing happens, but with Lucian here, I'm really worried.]
As Ria hugged Lucian, Kaizareu stared intently.
“It's definitely suspicious. Once you disappear, you should be gone forever. What kind of thing vanishes and then just reappears?”
“Ria's going to disappear? No! Ria can't disappear!”
As Lucian shed thick tears, she gave a non-explanation that she wasn't disappearing for good.
“Who knows? This time, you might really disappear forever.”
“Waaaaah! Ria's going to disappear…!”
[Lucian, that's not it. Kaizareu, why are you making the kid cry!]
“Am I the one who made him cry? If you think about it, it's your fault for hiding it.”
As Ria glared at him while comforting Lucian, Kaizareu feigned ignorance and turned his head away.
It took some time to soothe Lucian. Once he had calmed down a bit, Lucian, sniffling with a red nose, looked at Kaizareu with teary eyes.
“Big brother, you're a dragon. Don't you know a way to stop Ria from disappearing?”
“How would I know? She said it took her a long time to even notice it. It'll be hard to find the cause unless I witness it myself.”
Lucian's face fell at the firm reply.
“Okay, I get that it happens in years ending with a seven. What about the timing?”
[Timing?]
“Yeah, I mean, do the dates overlap, not just the year?”
She hadn't thought of that. Ria went back up to her room and checked the dates she had marked in her diary.
And then she found something surprising.
[It always happened in the summer. From late June to early August.]
“So we should expect it to happen around July. Exactly two years from now…”
Kaizareu pondered deeply, but unable to find a clear solution, he ruffled his hair in frustration.
“For now, I'll come back in two years, around this time. You said there are warning signs, so we should be able to prepare somehow. If we're lucky, we might even find the cause.”
[If it looks like something dangerous is going to happen, you must prioritize Lucian. He has to be safe.]
“Hmph, who do you take me for? That goes without saying.”
He might grumble, but he had a good heart. It was a relief that Kaizareu agreed so readily.
“Anything else strange? Though I doubt anything could be more surprising than this.”
Kaizareu grumbled that they needed to gather every last crumb of information. Now, the only thing left to hide from him was…
“Ah! The basement! Ria, don't you think there might be something in the basement?”
…*There is. There is something.*
“What basement? There's a basement here?”
Since she usually kept the basement locked, it was no surprise that Kaizareu didn't know it existed.
Lucian recounted what he had experienced when he went to the basement before.
Hearing this, Kaizareu looked dumbfounded.
“Seriously, why are you only telling me this now! That's the most important clue!”
[…I forgot about it too.]
“Right, that says a lot about your memory.”
She was irked by his sarcastic tone, but since he was the only person—no, dragon—who could explore the basement, Ria could only tremble with frustration.
“Lead the way. I shall check it myself.”
Ria led him to the basement. Lucian, traumatized by the basement, trailed behind, clutching the hem of Kaizareu's clothes.
Spotting the small door in a secluded corner, Kaizareu raised an eyebrow.
“So that's why I never knew. I thought it was a storage closet and never even considered going in.”
“It's dark, so take a lantern. And whatever you do, do not! Absolutely do not! Go into the room I told you about!”
Kaizareu took the lantern from Lucian and patted his head.
[Alright, I'm opening it?]
*Shhh-rack—*
The magic circle she had previously placed there was revealed. As she dispelled the magic, a series of clicks from unlocking bolts echoed.
“Brother, be careful.”
[If anything happens, shout. Got it?]
“Hmph, as if anything in this world could scare me. Besides my mother, there is nothing in this world to be afraid of.”
Kaizareu tossed his hair with a confident air.
Ria and Lucian gripped each other's hands tightly, watching Kaizareu descend the stairs.
*He has to find something…*
