Requiem of Subdued Souls

As if relieved that the lid was opened, Princess Ara finally let out a breath.

“Phew…”

Tears welled up in her huge eyes. She had the same face as her mother, the Queen.

Zaha reached into the jar and pulled the Princess out.

“Princess! What happened?! What about Princess Ajin?”

“I don’t know.”

She shook her head.

“I was in the arms of my nanny, and when I realized it, I was in here. I want to ask what happened.”

Seol Young and Zaha looked at each other.

“Well, everything is fine now.”

He lifted up the Princess and hugged her.

“We need to find Princess Ajin soon…”

Seol Young looked around, and at that time, they heard the scream of a child from behind.

It sounded like Princess Ajin.

“We need to leave soon.”

They held the Princess and rushed to the place where the sound came from.

Meanwhile, Seol Young unfolded the last scroll while running.

‘Eight. The backyard of the Old Palace.’

It was the eighth ghost story.

“There are twelve pagoda trees in the backyard. When passing this place, be sure to count the shadows of those trees. Twelve shadows are fine, and it is okay if there are more than twenty-four. However, if it is between twelve and twenty-four, then go find a superior right away. They will get you out of the palace.”

The rules didn’t end there.

“Below is a piece of advice for the seniors. If the one who reports is still alive, get him out right away. If not, never leave his body and burn it to ashes.”

When he finished reading the full text, they arrived in the backyard.

There were trees under the moonlight.

Seol Young threw the first talisman.

Pat!

Two shadows rose in the blue light. The spirits of the children who were buried alive were now almost sealed.

There were just two left in this place.

“Kuak!”

The two spirits hit by the talisman bounced back. Zaha’s sword flew like the wind and attacked them.

“So simple.”

Unknowingly, Seol Young mumbled that.

Of course, they were all powerful spirits. However, after dealing with twelve, two seemed like a small number.

Puak!

A blue aura formed in the shape of a whip and struck the two spirits one after the other. And, unable to hold out any longer, they collapsed.

“Your history has already been revealed. You were the twelve children who were buried alive and died to cure the disease of a royal family member.”

Seol Young lowered his sword as he said that.

With this, all eight stories were revealed. The two souls that had lost their powers were sucked into the spirit-sealing plaque.

Then two dolls fell from the trees.

Then they saw a little girl lying on her stomach beyond that.

“Ajin!”

Princess Ara wanted to run to her.

“Put me down!”

“Wait, it is not safe.”

Zaha held the Princess tightly with one arm and raised his spiritual energy. A golden light shone, forming a glittering path that stretched into the Old Palace.

“…”

Seol Young nodded to him.

Now was the time.

“Put me down.”

Princess Ara said that again.

However, Zaha ignored her words.

“I asked you to put me down!”

The Princess demanded, making Zaha look at her and he said,

“I am going to carry you even if you are heavy. It doesn’t seem like there is just one person.”

“What do you mean?”

The Princess tried to free herself, but she couldn’t.

“Enough acting.”

Seol Young said coldly.

“I didn’t want to trust you from the start. You are identical twins, but one of you wasn’t possessed. Isn’t it clever to stay on the sidelines and be excluded from whatever is happening?”

“What are you talking about? I am the Princess! Speak in a way I can understand!”

Princess Ara twisted her body and shouted, but Seol Young looked at her coldly.

“Did you know I touched your soul through your shadow?”

“What are you talking about?”

“As the eight ghost stories were revealed, I’ve been looking at the state of their souls through their shadows. But it isn’t always accurate. As you know, there is a saying that ghosts don’t have shadows…”

“What are you talking about? Nanny! Where is my mother?!”

“After being possessed for a long time, the spirit acquires an aura very similar to the original owner of the body. I cannot figure anything out just by looking at the shadows. But why did I bother to use such a spell?”

“Enough nonsense! Put me down now! What are you doing to a Princess right now?!”

“To trick you.”

Seol Young said without hesitation.

“No matter how many decades old you are, you are a child. If you make them think they are playing on the top of an adult’s head, then children get drunk on it. The shadow spell was bait. Bait to make you believe we didn’t suspect you.”

“….”

“To put up with the pain of the spiritual energy and to enter the jar and hold your breath until someone comes. I will admit, it was truly something we would be fooled by.”

Seol Young said.

“Are you the head of those children?”

Silence passed.

Princess Ara glared at Seol Young and Zaha like she wanted to kill them.

And…

….she burst into laughter.

“Right.”

Another voice came out of the mouth of the Princess. It was the voice of a clever girl.

“I had possessed Princess Ara since she was a child. I rode on the body of a maid who didn’t know the rules of the Old Palace.”

Holding onto the child, Zaha asked.

“Where is the soul of Princess Ara?”

“Stuck down.”

She pointed to her chest.

“That girl is stupid and doesn’t know anything. I can put her down whenever I want and call her out whenever I want. The Queen didn’t know this and was fooled. Even when I was acting, she thought I was her daughter without another thought. Stupid woman.”

The spirit snorted.

“Well, living like that wasn’t bad, but I promised to give the other kids the body of the Princess. After all, they were twins. That’s why it worked.”

The spirit laughed.

“Fools! The eight ghost stories of the palace give us strength, but at the same time, they bind us! You, people, didn’t know about it and broke the ghost stories. You made a huge mistake!”

Darkness flickered in the eyes of the little girl. It was an expression of madness taking over her.

“We are finally free! I can finally get my hands on what I want!”

Seol Young was cold.

“Is that even going to happen?”

“We are twelve, and we are one! We can work perfectly fine! The Queen didn’t even doubt her daughters. Even if you claim we are fake, no one will believe you, right?”

The body of Princess Ara began to rage.

In Seol Young’s arms, the plaques began to move and float in the air as if they were alive.

The next moment, dolls appeared. There were twelve children’s dolls in colorful clothes.

They wrapped around the body of Princess Ajin, who was lying on the ground.

The spirit laughed.

“Do you know what we will do now? First, we will annihilate the soul of Princess Ajin! Then, Princess Ara’s soul too! And we will occupy the bodies of the two Princesses forever!”

The air shook. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

[Om—]

The mantra began to ring.

Princess Ara’s body, which was being held by Zaha, suddenly vanished and appeared in front of Princess Ajin. The spirit raised a powerful force with both hands and slammed it down Ajin’s back.

Rumble.

A black thunderstorm erupted. It was such a powerful force that it lit up the entire dark space.

However…

Something unexpected happened. The mighty power that was about to attack the soul of Princess Ajin missed her and spread all over the place.

Therefore, the body of Princess Ara, which was in front, was hit by the attack.

“…?”

The evil spirits were startled and fled.

Because they were quick, they were able to avoid being hit. However, its aftermath was too much even for their spirit bodies. They felt paralyzed.

Why?

Princess Ara’s eyes went wide. Her mouth was stunned, unable to move, but her mouth seemed to be saying something.

‘Why, why…’

“Why?”

Seol Young said coldly.

“As planned, the eight stories were broken, and Princess Ajin was about to receive a surprise attack. But why didn’t it work?’

Princess Ara’s body trembled. With her eyes wide open, she glared at Seol Young, but she couldn’t speak.

“You should have done the math right.”

Zaha clicked his tongue and said,

“Count correctly again. How many dolls do you have now?”

One, two… twelve.

There were twelve dolls around Princess Ajin’s body.

“…?”

In an instant, Princess Ara’s face turned pale.

They were too excited to notice.

But they weren’t just twelve dolls.

“Do you get it now?”

Zaha asked.

“Twelve children. Among them, since you are inside the body of Princess Ara, only eleven souls should be there in the dolls, right?”

“….”

“Isn’t that troublesome? If we weren’t here, you would have had time to check which was the right doll. However, since we are here and you have to fight us, you couldn’t afford to do that….”

“….”

“Why are there still twelve?”

Princess Ara’s eyes were burning in anger, and her eyes were fixed on one doll.

“You….”

The evil spirit tried to speak.

“Who are you?”

“Who is it?”

Seol Young recalled with a smile,

“You must have forgotten because you were busy paying attention to your friends. There was a little soul that hid to avoid being noticed by the eleven spirits. You wouldn’t have cared about what or where the kid was. That was your mistake. A very huge one.”

“Who are you?”

The spirit yelled, but the twelfth doll just stood still.

Seol Young said at the end,

“The play is over. You can speak.”

The doll cheerfully said,

“It is me!”

The voice was clear and confident.

The owner of the voice was Princess Ajin.