Chapter 25: Bansy Harbor in the Wind

Chapter 25: Bansy Harbor in the Wind

Donna’s body jerked backward. Her pupils contracted violently, her mouth half open, a scream already at her lips.

If she had not previously seen the “messenger,” she would certainly have lost control, staggered up in terror, and not cared whether the tables and chairs were overturned.

Fortunately, she was no longer the little girl who had first boarded the White Agate and understood nothing of the sea. Her voice merely rose slightly in pitch as she pointed outside the window and stammered, “There—there’s a living corpse!

“A living corpse with no head!”

She used the most common living corpse from folk legends to describe the terrifying thing she had just seen.

Cecile shot to her feet and reached Donna’s side in two steps. Puzzled, she looked out into the wildly howling wind beyond the window and carefully examined it for several seconds.

“There is nothing there,” she said truthfully.

Donna shrank back. Summoning her courage, she cautiously leaned forward and drew closer, only to see trees swaying outside, miscellaneous objects flying about, and not a single pedestrian anywhere.

“There really was something just now. He—he was wearing a black cloak. He had no head, and his neck was bleeding!” Donna spoke while gesturing, trying to make the adults present believe her.

Her father, Urdi Branch, braced one hand against the table and stood. Walking to the window, he stared outside for a while, then said, “Donna, you are not allowed to read that Collection of Bansy Horror Stories again tonight!”

“But, but…” Donna wanted to argue, aggrieved.

At that moment, Cleeves reached the second floor and approached them.

“What happened?”

“Donna says she saw a living corpse outside, a headless living corpse,” the other bodyguard, Teague, explained with a light laugh.

Cleeves was silent for two seconds. Then he nodded at Donna.

“It is all right. It will pass.

“The wind outside is strong. It is even more dangerous out there. We will leave once it settles down.”

In Donna’s eyes, Uncle Cleeves’s words showed that he believed her and had chosen the safest solution. But to Urdi, Teague, and the others, this was a clumsy trick meant to comfort a child.

Seeing that Donna was still somewhat tense, and that the true employer was also not very satisfied, Cleeves pulled out a chair and sat down, saying steadily, “Bansy Harbor has a peculiar custom. On nights when the weather changes violently, do not leave the building, and do not answer any knocking.”

“If you open the door, will that living corpse take you away?” Denton, who had also seen the skeletal messenger with his sister, asked in sudden understanding.

“You may understand it that way.” Cleeves picked up his glass of water and took a sip.

So that’s how it is… Donna calmed down, believing that as long as she did not leave the restaurant, she would not encounter that terrifying living corpse from earlier.

It was only then that she realized the other diners had long since turned their gazes toward them because of the commotion.

Under one stare after another, Donna felt uncomfortable all over. Instinctively, she wanted to lower her head and hide from everything.

I did nothing wrong! I really saw it! Donna stubbornly straightened her neck and looked around.

She saw gentlemen in tailcoats and ladies in beautiful dresses withdraw their gazes. She saw them lower their heads, pick up soup spoons, and scoop dark-red blocks of blood mixed with several spices from porcelain bowls into their mouths.

Their lips were stained with a trace of blood-red. Under the illumination of the crystal chandelier, their faces appeared rather pale. The two colors formed a vivid contrast, inexplicably stirring within Donna an emotion called panic.

She hurriedly turned her head forward again and waited for dinner, secretly praying to the Goddess that the gale would soon stop.

…

Bansy Harbor Telegraph Office.

Elland and his first mate had just finished sending the…