Surviving in a School of Ghost Stories

Huh.

He gasped and fell to the second floor. For a moment, he felt like he had been to hell.

All the memories of his life on the verge of death flashed through his mind.

“To become the crown prince of the kingdom, you must maintain your dignity.”

“A crown prince shouldn’t say that.”

“I should control my diet starting today for my health. The crown prince position is not a position where you can eat or do whatever you want. It’s a position where you have to endure.”

Joshua had always lived a life of moderation and patience. Because he was the crown prince. However, his firm belief was gradually crumbling.

“Aren’t the king and crown prince of the Brandon Kingdom just puppets anyway? The real king is in the Vatican. All the people of the kingdom are crazy about the Vatican.”

“Walk lower than the Pope.”

“At the 100th anniversary celebration, try your best not to go against the Pope’s wishes.”

He was a puppet. A crown prince who can do nothing.

What have I been enduring and restraining myself for? This is the meaning of human life, where I could die in an instant.

Joshua raised his head to catch his breath. Then he saw a familiar face. Black hair and red eyes. It was Noah Eugene Eglinton.

‘Noah, didn’t that guy have blue eyes?’

While he was frantically trying to figure out the situation, unidentified people began to surround them. There were even more of them than before.

“Get back.”

Noah blocked Joshua’s path and said.

Whoosh-

A woman with platinum blonde hair came in and sprayed a liquid like water at the gathered people.

“You descendants of Abaddon will not be able to receive the salvation of Kritovan without the help of the believers of Clutha.”

She muttered those words and pressed the cross to the foreheads of the people one by one.

Joshua realized that the prayer was familiar.

‘Is it the liberation prayer?’

Joshua vaguely remembered the prayer because, although he did not believe in God, doctrine classes were required as a member of the royal family.

He saw the bodies of the ghosts burn and disappear into ashes.

Joshua watched the scene absentmindedly.

The woman who was holding the cross and catching her breath finally turned to Joshua.

Her platinum blonde hair waved and her clean face was revealed. He felt a strong and solid spirit over her fresh and beautiful appearance.

Joshua was momentarily speechless when he saw her face.

The aura she gave off was so holy that he thought she was a saint.

She approached Joshua and held out her hand to him.

“Are you okay, Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Ah.... Thank you.”

He stood up holding her hand with a bewildered expression.

I don’t know what the hell happened. Joshua couldn’t continue speaking due to shock.

He blamed himself for having laughed just a moment ago, saying that there was no such thing as a ghost in this world.

Joshua stood up holding Melody’s hand with a dumbfounded expression and asked.

“Are you two people?”

“Yes, you are. We need to find a way out, so get up first and come to your senses.”

Joshua, who felt embarrassed belatedly at her cold answer, kept washing his face dry to hide his reddened cheeks.

At that moment, Melody hurriedly put on a mask over her face. It was a fierce, red mask with horns growing from her forehead.

‘Where did you get that?’

“Oh. I found this prop from an opera actor. It was perfect timing. They can’t see the color red.”

Melody added in a flat voice.

“It’s scary, too. Isn’t it a bit threatening?”

The emerald eyes visible through the gaping eye sockets looked too fragile and kind to be threatening.

However, Melody seemed to firmly believe that she was a threat.

That seemed even more trivial, but Joshua couldn’t bring himself to remind Melody of reality because of her desperation and remained silent.

“We’re caught up in a ghost story right now. We need to find a medium to escape this space.”

“A medium?”

“There’s no time to explain, so just follow me.”

Melody cut Joshua off and answered.

He looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.

“You’re the first woman to interrupt me.”

“If we don’t find a way out of here during that time of admiration, we’ll be eaten by evil spirits.”

Joshua shut his mouth at Melody’s cold remark. Until then, Noah had been looking around silently.

“Come to think of it, your eyes turned red. Weren’t they originally blue? You’re right, they’re blue.”

Joshua scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he watched Noah’s eyes turn back to blue.

It seemed like he had mistakenly thought that he had seen red eyes.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, someone spoke to them.

Joshua, startled by the sudden call, turned around and saw a person who seemed to be an opera house employee holding a memo and looking at them.

“We’re checking seats. Please take your seats. The show will start soon.”

The employee looked them over, narrowed his eyes, and held out his hand.

“Can I see your tickets?”

Joshua tilted «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» his head.

The stage had clearly started a little while ago, but they were checking tickets as if the play had never started.

Above all,

“You asked me to show you the ticket?”

He was the crown prince.

An individual whose identity was proven by his presence alone.

Not only did the employee not recognize him, but he also seemed to be saying that he would kick him out if he didn’t have a ticket. It was refreshing.

“Yes. Show me the ticket.”

The employee now urged him in a voice that sounded a little annoyed.

Joshua looked at him with a puzzled face and then looked at Melody with eyes asking for help.

Melody sighed and handed something to the employee.

‘This opera ticket wasn’t that one, was it?’

The ticket she handed over had a picture of a woman in a black nun’s habit shedding tears of blood.

The ticket for this opera performance had a portrait of Sister Gloria, not a ticket with a bizarre nun like that.

While Joshua was expressing his doubts, the employee nodded while checking the ticket and returned it to him.

“Confirmed. Please take your seats.”

Melody dragged Noah and Joshua back to their seats at the staff’s words.

Joshua followed her and turned around, but was startled. When he turned around, the VIP seats on the second floor were full of people.

The nightmare from earlier came to mind.

“Pretend like nothing happened. Act naturally.”

Melody said with a calm face and sat down. Noah also sat on the seat to Melody’s right.

Joshua also noticed and quietly sat on the seat to Melody’s left.

The second floor had VIP seats with separate rooms on the left and right, and the center was the regular seats. Of course, the seats were made of slightly more luxurious fabric than the first floor, so most nobles sat in these seats.

Joshua, Melody, and Noah’s seats were right here in the center.

At that moment, an unknown woman sitting next to Joshua spoke to him.

“Don’t you think the opera <The Black Nun> will be so much fun? Kicking.”

He started giggling to himself as he said that, wondering what was so funny.

It really gave me goosebumps.

I thought it was an evil spirit, but no matter how I looked at it, it seemed like an ordinary person.

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t see a single familiar face.’

At this point, I should have seen at least one familiar face, whether it was the Pope or the Duke and Duchess of Eglinton, but there were only innocent faces.

“Don’t forget to act naturally.”

Melody warned me again from the side. Somehow, hearing that made me even more nervous.

“I’m sorry. I’ll pass.”

At that moment, the man who showed his ticket and apologized to Joshua, Melody, and Noah and walked past the seats also looked too ordinary.

The man passed them and sat down next to Noah.

Ding-ding-ding-

“The play will start soon. Please take your seats.”

The staff rang the bell to get their attention, signaling that the show was about to begin.

As everyone who had been wandering around took their seats, the theater filled up and became quiet.

Even the seats on the first floor that he looked down on were full. Joshua tilted his head, wondering why he felt creepy looking at that sight.

He thought the ghost story was over.

He watched the curtain rise, thinking that after he finished watching the opera, he should go see the Pope and ask him some questions without being too conscious of his feelings.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, the man sitting next to Noah lowered his body and whispered to them.

When Noah, Melody, and Joshua saw the man, he looked around and asked.

“Do you smell human?”

It was a question that made the back of his neck shiver.

Joshua froze and forgot to act naturally and stared at the man stiffly.

Then his eyes met the man’s.

Then the man said,

“It’s a human.”