Chapter 359: Chapter 359
The ground beneath the snow was uneven and pockmarked, demanding careful steps. Jenkins wasn't worried; he moved with the same agility as the cat nestled in his coat. Miss Mikhail, however, shifted her weight slightly, leaning closer to him.
Strands of the woman's golden hair escaped the lace trim of her velvet hat, brushing against Jenkins's face. He considered the sensation for a moment and decided he preferred the feel of Chocolate's tail flicking across his cheek.
The night air was crisp and cold. A few withered trees stood starkly in the cemetery, their charred branches reaching out like gnarled, monstrous hands. The scene added a layer of eerie gloom to the graveyard.
One of the young noblewomen walking behind them, he wasn't sure which one, bypassed her own male companion and instead gripped Jenkins's left arm, the one holding his cane.
He glanced back. A girl with delicate features offered him an apologetic smile.
He shrugged and said nothing.
Miss Lindsay must have made preparations in advance, because the inside of the stone hut, despite a hole in its roof, was surprisingly free of dust. Thɪs chapter is updated by novelꞁire.net
Servants, moving with practiced ease, carried several chairs and a small table from the wall to the center of the room. Another lit the stove.
The hut was too small to accommodate everyone. Once everything was arranged, only the young people participating in the "game" remained inside, along with three maids who stood by the wall to tend the fire.
The dazzling yellow light was close. For a second, Jenkins froze, thinking there might be some precious artifact left behind in the hut. But when he looked again, he realized the glow was coming from inside the cloth-wrapped bundle Miss Lindsay was holding.
He swallowed hard, a knot of unease tightening in his stomach. Tonight was going to be trouble.
"The Ouija board for tonight... it's not yours?"
he asked the blonde woman seated beside him in a low voice.
A moment earlier, when the women had taken their seats, Jenkins had considered how cold the chairs must be in this weather, and how the careless servants had forgotten to bring cushions. He'd discreetly rubbed his hand over Miss Mikhail's chair for a few seconds, warming it with a touch of flame.
This small gesture had, for some reason, rendered the woman speechless; she hadn't said a word to him since.
He was beginning to suspect he'd inadvertently stumbled over yet another social taboo.
In the flickering firelight, Miss Mikhail's face was faintly flushed, though it was likely just a trick of the light.
"That Ouija board... was it also bought from that old shop you mentioned?"
The corner of his mouth twitched. He had assumed they would be using Miss Mikhail's board. It seemed he would have to find time to visit that shop himself soon.
The Ouija board Miss Lindsay produced looked identical to the one Miss Mikhail had asked Papa Oliver to appraise. But the aura emanating from this one—from the board, the small statuette, and the teardrop-shaped planchette—was exceptionally potent.
Since Papa Oliver hadn't identified Miss Mikhail's board as a numbered item, this one was likely a new creation, something not yet discovered by the Orthodox Church.
Since it wasn't a Cursed Item, Jenkins couldn't help but feel a flicker of possessiveness.
Miss Lindsay had begun to speak, and all the young people turned their attention to her.
"Thank you all for coming out so late to join our game. We are all pioneers in the pursuit of the mysterious and the unknown. Seances, divination, prophecies—these are the things we delight in exploring, and..."
She went on with her little speech, and Jenkins listened with half an ear, wondering just when this group's reckless curiosity would finally lead them to disaster.
He had already decided to tell Hathaway about this and have her warn Miss Mikhail to stop associating with this crowd.
From their conversations, Jenkins gathered they had done even crazier things in the past. Miss Mikhail had only recently joined them, and this was her first outing. For years, these young nobles had been dancing on the edge of a precipice; perhaps the next time, they would all fall.
The planchette wasn't large, so only the eight young ladies would participate in the seance. The men either sat to the side or leaned against the walls, watching. Soon, only the eight women remained at the round table.
"Ah, Mr. Williams, are you also a believer in the great Sage?"
The man standing with Jenkins inquired. Jenkins recalled from the introductions at dinner that he was a pianist—a rather famous one, in fact. The elder Mr. Williams had once taken the whole family to one of his concerts. The man had accompanied one of the ladies here, but he seemed to have little interest in the proceedings.
he replied, tracing the Sage's holy symbol over his chest. In truth, his attention was fixed on the table, where Miss Lindsay was explaining the rules—for instance, their fingers could not leave the planchette until their invited "guest" had been properly dismissed.
Jenkins knew next to nothing about abilities like spirit channeling, nor did he understand how the Ouija board in their hands was supposed to work. But since none of them were Enchanters, just playing around with it probably wouldn't cause any real danger, would it?
"I'm a believer in the Sage as well!"
Mr. Kevin, the pianist beside Jenkins, continued.
"Oh? I would have thought a musician such as yourself would choose to follow the God of Music."
"Actually, the Sage's divine domain includes aspects related to music as well,"
Jenkins was aware of this. In fact, there was a great deal of overlap in the divine domains of the gods, particularly between the Righteous Gods and the Pseudo-Gods. It was one of the many things he found perplexing.
Mr. Kevin seemed to want to discuss literature with Jenkins, as he knew who he was, but the ladies' game had already begun.
Following some strange procedure they had learned from who-knows-where, each woman placed her right hand on the planchette and her left hand on the shoulder of the person next to her.
"Spirits of the departed, wanderers on the edge of the world, we ask you to answer our call..."
As Miss Lindsay led the incantation, the other girls began to repeat the words. Some closed their eyes in devout concentration, while others giggled and furtively watched the reactions of their friends.
Jenkins watched the scene warily, but for the moment, he saw no sign that the item in their hands had been activated.
After the call was finished, the eight ladies began to chant the name of the ghost they were trying to summon: Margaret Stephanie Verlitte. She was a famous female malevolent spirit, a figure who appeared in legends all across the continent. But Papa Oliver had told him that the powerful evil entity with that name had been sealed away in a dimensional rift during the last epoch.