Transmigrated as a Ghost

Chapter 181 - 180 Nothing To Be Done

With anger welling up inside him, the air around Marcus began to rapidly decrease in temperature, and frost even began to form around him and was spreading.

It was not long before even those that were engrossed in Bianca's singing noticed the sudden chill in the air and the ice that was now spreading across the table.

"Lady Irene what is going on?" Viscount Skalbeck said with worry.

Hearing the distress in the viscount's voice, Marcus finally noticed that in his anger his chill zone ability had started to go rampant and the area around him was now covered in ice.

'Fuck, I lost control of my emotions. Damn think quick I need to explain this away somehow.'

Racking his mind Marcus swiftly said, "Sorry about that everyone, the viscountess' song was beautiful, but it made me remember a painful experience that happened not too long ago where my and Lilia's parents were killed, and I seem to have lost control of one of my abilities."

Quickly covering up his blunder, Marcus managed to get the others sympathy and direct their attention away from his icy outburst and onto a sad moment from his past.

"My that certainly was a surprise though, perhaps you have a bit of ice elf blood in you Lady Irene, since when my wife is either sad or angry, she can affect the temperature as well, though not quite to this degree." 

After Marcus' freezing disaster, the group moved to another area as the table they had been sitting at was now covered in frost and ice and many of the desserts were ruined.

Marcus apologized fervently and luckily no one seemed to be holding it against him too much since it was just a minor disturbance.

"Still to think that you could affect the temperature to such a degree without using any magic. Would you mind telling me what skill that was." Baronetess Brenato asked with genuine curiosity.

"I am afraid I do not know what it is exactly, it is not a skill perse but maybe some ability I have, possibly from some latent ancestor."

With no better option Marcus decided to play on what the viscount had said earlier about him possibly having ice elf blood, since under no circumstance, was he going to come right out and say he was a ghost.

A number of questions later and a huge pile of bs, Marcus had managed to satiate the curiosity of the nobles that wanted to know more about his strange ability, and they all sat down at a new table where more desserts were brought out.

While eating the desserts half heartedly now that he had calmed down, Marcus began thinking about how to deal with the current situation with Lilia and the nobles that had set their sights on her.

'Why are they so interested in Lilia? It cannot be for her status; she is only my sister, and my rank is the second from the bottom. Their family is well cemented in the kingdom and are even dignitaries from the Ice Elf City, so they have far more political power than I do. Lilia may be strong for her age and level, but it is still not enough, and as strong as I have gotten, I doubt they see having a relationship with me as that vital. Maybe if this had started after I became Thabon's apprentice I could understand it slightly, but this has been going on for a while.'

Thinking long and hard Marcus could not come up with a credible reason for the Valorre family to be so interested in Lilia or him by extension.

Unfortunately, Marcus did not know that blessings were often passed down hereditarily and that they were hoping to add the blessing of iron to their bloodline.

Of course, Lilia actually had no relation to the blessing of iron since it belonged to Marcus from before his fateful encounter with Irene.

If the Valorre family knew this, they would never have targeted Lilia and would have made a push for Marcus even if he would have been a harder target.

Nevertheless, because neither side hade a grasp of the full picture the current situation was how it was.

'Do I just forbid her from seeing this boy Alaric. No that is unlikely to work, as far as she is concerned, he is her hero. She has already become infatuated with him to a certain degree and the two are currently pretty close friends. She may do as I say and break ties with him, but it will probably make her unhappy and she could fall back into a depression. There is also the possibility she would just pretend to do as I say and still see him in secret and when she becomes an adult run off. Should I just have him meet and unfortunate accident, a quick possession and a fall from the roof of a building and then it is done. But I am not sure exactly how close they are and worst-case scenario I could cause a Romeo and Juliet situation.'

As Marcus considered a number of possibilities for how to get out of the situation Lilia had fallen into without causing her harm, Marcus began entertaining ideas of killing everyone here, then the boy Alaric, or he could chain Lilia up at home and never let her out.

However, Marcus knew as much as he wanted to, their was probably no situation in which Lilia did not end up sad. He also wanted her to live life the way she wanted, but he was still angry from the manipulation that was going on around her.

'Damn what am I going to do, even if I tell Lilia that her friendship was because of noble meddling what would it really matter. This is why I did not want to have this stupid title in the first place. If it was just me, I could brush things like this off without much worry, but Lilia is a preteen girl and is still incredibly fragile from the slavers killing her family and kidnapping her.'

With no immediate solution coming to him Marcus decided to at least have a "talk" with Bianca Valorre and ask why they are so interested in Lilia.

After dessert had been finished and everyone began some idle chatter, Marcus approached the viscountess and said, "Lady Valorre would you mind if I talked with you in private for a bit."

At the same time Marcus exerted his phantom pressure for a fraction of a second, causing the viscountess to go pale and nearly fall out of her seat onto the ground.

The viscountess with a tinge of fear in her eyes could tell that Marcus was not going to take no for an answer, and not wanting to feel whatever force had been applied to her again, agreed since she also had much to discuss with Marcus.

Walking to another room within the green house that was filled with rare flowers, Marcus began to have it out with Viscountess Valorre.

"Why are you and your mother so interested in marrying your son to my sister. I am sure that you have better options than the sister of a bottom tier noble with few connections like me. In fact, your mother has been at this from before I was even given this title so what is it you are after."

Looking at Marcus with cold eyes for a moment Bianca sighed and said, "Listen I just did what my mom asked and told Alaric to try and get close to your sister. She told me that you have the blessing of iron and that even if your sister does not, any children she has will likely have a good chance of obtaining it because you have it. Now I understand why my mother wants to do this but frankly other than telling Alaric to get close with Lilia I did nothing else. What happened between the two of them was not some elaborate plot on my or my mother's part. I understand that you are angry that things seem to be manipulated towards something you did not want, but what of it. You said that you were going to let your sister make her own choices so if she and my Alaric develop feeling for each other that is fine. I have not told him to try and court her just to try and be her friend, whatever happens is between them."

After giving her impassioned explanation Marcus stood there with a conflicted expression.

A part of him really wanted to kill the woman in front of him for having a part in toying with the one person on this world he really cared about, but he was certain that would not solve any problems.

'Is there anything I can do to alleviate this situation. Do I just go on pretending I do not know and let Lilia continue getting close to this boy? There is the saying ignorance is bliss… no Lilia may still be young but keeping this from her would be wrong. I will just have to tell her what is happening and make sure she is strong enough to take care of herself. Of course, what Bianca said could have been a lie as well or even if it is the truth the mother could still be scheming with Alaric.. There are a couple of days left before I am going to leave with Lilia for the Cordelia Depths Dungeon, during that time even if it might be an invasion of privacy, I think a little ghostly reconnaissance is in order.'