Villain Path

Chapter 75. Some more of the family ties

Shen opened his eyes and stared at the dark ceiling. Soon, he realized that he was freezing. Shen sat up and saw that the blanket which he had covered himself with earlier had been carefully folded over the edge of the bed. No, that was already out of all bounds!

He got up, threw on his outer robe, and went out of the door of his chambers.

"Al? Annis?" he called softly.

No one came to answer the call, apparently the disciples were still sleeping in their beds. Then what was it? Some crazy ghost? Or was he himself in a state of sleepwalking?!

Shen wrapped himself more tightly in his red outfit and rolled from toe to heel a few times, thinking about what was happening. The crisp, frosty air had knocked the last of sleep out of him, though he wasn't exactly feeling rested.

In the distance, the baby was crying again. Pity on Ker and his wife. He would surely need to go visit them during the day and ask how they and the baby were doing.

Shen heard footsteps on the wooden floor. They seemed close enough, but he looked left, then right and saw no one. He froze, realizing that the footsteps were coming from behind him. He turned around slowly, but the terrace, drowning in the gloom of the night, was empty.

He turned back. And came face to face with a maid. Shen staggered back, almost falling. The maid stared at him blankly, her pupils dilating to fill the irises. Her peachy skin was gray and faded, with dark purple veins showing, her lips were cracked. Soon, before him, Lord of the Cursed Peak saw the same ghost that appeared to him in front of the mirror and grabbed him by shoulders.

Not that Shen had ever been seriously afraid of ghosts, but such horror stories terrified even him.

"Why are you scaring me?"

The ghost opened her lips with difficulty, her jaw seemed to be barely working. It looked like the maid was trying to say something, but only a groan came out her mouth.

Why is she doing this? feeling his heart pounding, Shen thought. She was speaking normally yesterday!

"B-b-b-b-bria... The bra-acelet! Give it back! It's mine!"

What "briacelet"? Shen pondered for a moment. Oh, the red bean one?..

"You died here?" he decided to ask the ghost.

"Bra-acelet!"

"Who do you want revenge on?"

"Bra-acelet!" with every groan, the ghost took a step closer to him.

Taking another step back, Shen hit the thin doors of his chambers.

"Bracelet! Give it back!"

The ghostly maid grabbed his forearm. Shen felt that searingly cold touch even through his clothes. He felt his arm going numb as she still didn't release it a few moments later. It hurt so much that he was about to put his fingers together in a driving gesture and summon his immortal sword. But he didn't do it, realizing in time that the consequences of such extravagance could be more dangerous for him than meeting a ghost.

"Okay! Okay! I'll give it back!" he hissed.

The ghost squeezed his hand even harder, Shen squeaked in pain.

"It was here somewhere, wait..." he said irritatedly, starting to search his pocket with his free hand. "Somewhere he-e-ere..."

He threw two candies and a beautiful stone that he picked up on the way to the capital at the ghost. The candy and the stone flew through the ghost as expected, causing her no harm. Shen watched them bounce off the floorboards and fall from the terrace to the ground.