I Possessed The Worst Character In The Hellish Game
Chapter 35: Frozen in the Red and Blue Moonlight [1]

Chapter 35: Frozen in the Red and Blue Moonlight [1]

Mikael had finished his fourth dance with a polite bow as he murmured a few final pleasantries to the young noblewoman before him.

She curtsied in return with a soft blush spreading across her cheeks and looked a little reluctant to let the dance end -- clearly hoping he might ask for another round.

But Mikael pretended not to notice it and offered her a small, courteous nod before he retreated to the edge of the ballroom.

He moved briskly, hoping to avoid catching the eye of yet another noblewoman before she decided to approach him.

"Huu...."

He let out a deep sigh.

He’d learned the hard way that his good looks weren’t always an advantage.

They could sometimes be more of a curse than a blessing, depending entirely on the situation.

He was mentally tired after dancing with four different ladies in a row.

He hadn’t wanted to accept any of their approaches, but the social rules of this world were annoyingly rigid about such things.

A nobleman could refuse a dance if he truly wished.

However, rejecting every offer and approach would have attracted unwanted attention-- since his real purpose here was to slip away unnoticed and get his hands on that hidden item from the game.

So he had accepted some of the offers and danced with them.

’Or maybe I should have just faked a limp.’

Dancing itself wasn’t exactly the problem for him.

He wouldn’t claim to be exceptional at it.

But he was actually quite decent--enough so that even some of the women he’d danced with had been genuinely surprised and complimented his skill.

His mother had been a dance instructor in his previous life and used to run classes in a small studio.

She was quite strict about it and drilled him and his little sister in every style she knew from a young age, demanding they become every bit as flawless as she was.

Under the weight of all her expectations, he had never truly learned to love dancing.

But thinking about her now that he was not with her only brought a sad smile to his face.

He reached the refreshment table and picked up a glass.

He took a small sip of it and scanned the ballroom over the rim of his glass.

Jeanne was still trapped in conversation with a cluster of noble matrons, doing her best to keep her face neutral.

And no noble woman seemed to be eyeing him for another dance.

Perfect.

He set down his glass and slipped through the side door into the corridor beyond.

The corridor beyond was quite empty, lit by flickering wall sconces that cast long shadows across the marble floor.

Mikael frowned.

’That was strange.’

He’d expected more security, especially given that the entire royal family was present.

But the guards he passed seemed relaxed here, their postures casual.

Their attention was directed more toward the ballroom entrance than toward the side passages.

Perhaps the commander had prioritized the main hall and other areas, leaving the outer corridors thinly staffed.

’Well, whatever it is, it’s working in my favor currently.’

He moved swiftly as his footsteps were swallowed by the thick carpet running the length of the corridor.

Navigating the royal palace wasn’t a problem for him-- he already knew the routes from the game.

And luckily, the DLC hadn’t altered the layout of the palace.

It would also have been inconvenient for the developers since the design was already beautiful.

As he walked, he reached inwards towards the cool presence in his essence core.

"Liren? Are you mad at me?"

{....}

"Liren?"

{....}

She didn’t answer.

’....She’s really sulking.’

Mikael thought in quite disbelief as he let out a quiet sigh.

Earlier, during his third dance of the evening, things had gotten slightly complicated.

Lady Evelyn, if he recalled correctly. She had pressed herself a little too close to him, and her hand drifted a little on his neck.

Liren had nearly materialized right there in the middle of the ballroom.

He had felt the familiar chill surge through his core, the telltale prickle of her trying to come out.

It had taken every ounce of his willpower to push her back down, to keep her contained while maintaining the neutral expression on the outside.

Now she hadn’t spoken to him since.

"I wasn’t enjoying it, you know."

He tried again in a gentle voice.

"She was just... enthusiastic. And I stopped her before anything happened."

{....}

"I’ll make it up to you later, okay? Whatever you want."

Then, after a long pause, she replied in a faint voice.

{....You promise?}

He hesitated a little, but ultimately he said--

"Yes, I promise. Happy now?"

{She touched your neck.... I didn’t like it.}

"I know. I’m sorry for that."

{I wanted to bite her fingers off}

"T-That would have been.... difficult to explain."

{She’s lucky you stopped me.}

"Okay, Okay. Now, can we focus? We are almost there."

{Fine, but you still need to keep that promise}

"....Yes."

Did he perhaps make a mistake by promising whatever she wanted?

’Screw it.’

It was already too late to think about it now, since he had already promised.

Who would have thought maintaining a possessive ghost would be this difficult?

***

Mikael stepped through a side door and emerged into the palace gardens.

The night air was cool against his face as it carried a scent of roses and damp earth.

Moonlight spilled across the gravel paths, and the hedges rose on either side like walls.

After the noise and endless social maneuvering of the ballroom, this solitude of the night felt like a drink of cold water.

He walked deeper into the garden as he followed a mental map he had reconstructed from his memory.

The game had included a hidden item here, tucked away in a corner of the royal grounds that most players never thought to explore.

It wasn’t exactly a cheat item like one of the legendary artifacts or god-tier weapons that dominated forum discussions.

But for someone in Mikael’s position, it might as well be a cheat for him.

Essentia Cistern.

That was the name of an item.

Or also known as—Essence Vault.

It was a simple-looking bracelet, but its function was invaluable.

It could store the essence quantity of a Mid-Tier 1 awakener.

It was like a backup essence tank, and for someone like Mikael, whose essence pool was barely 0.86 currently, the ability to carry extra reserves could mean the difference between life and death.

The pond came into view as he rounded a curve in the path.

It was a large, oval-shaped body of water surrounded by weeping willows whose branches trailed into the water like curtains of pale green silk.

Red, blue moonlight rippled across the surface, broken by the occasional flash of gold and white as koi fish drifted lazily beneath the surface.

And inside the stomach of one of those koi fish lay the ’Essentia Cistern’.

He didn’t know the full lore since players had to piece together hidden items and scattered clues on their own.

But he had once come across a post on a discussion forum that explained the fragmented lore that--

Years ago, a high-tier mage had accidentally dropped the bracelet into a lake, where it was promptly swallowed by a koi.

And that very fish, by some twist of fate, had later been purchased and introduced to the royal palace garden pond.

Mikael knelt at the edge and reached into his inner coat pocket.

Earlier that afternoon, before leaving Thornhaven, he had asked the innkeeper for some stale bread—ostensibly to feed the ducks that gathered near the city fountain.

The innkeeper had been happy to oblige, and Mikael had tucked the crumbs away without explanation.

Now he scattered a handful across the water’s surface.

The koi responded immediately as their sleek bodies swirled upward in a rush of gold and white.

They looked beautiful, their scales catching the moonlight and throwing it back in tiny sparkles.

He watched carefully as the fish swarmed the bread crumbs.

He scattered more bread crumbs at different places as the koi followed them.

Most of them moved with the quick, darting speed.

’Ah. There you are.’

But one fish, which was slightly larger than the others, was lagging behind.

While the rest of the koi swarmed the bread crumbs in a frenzy, this one moved slowly as its fins beat with visible effort.

It was trying to reach the food but couldn’t compete with its faster companions.

He pulled out the second tool he’d prepared--

A thin thread with a small hook at its end, to which he’d attached a tiny, low-grade essence crystal that glinted faintly.

The koi that had swallowed the Essentia Cistern had developed a taste for essence-rich things-- a side effect of the artifact it carried in its belly.

The breadcrumbs had only been a distraction.

Without them, he would have needed to wait far too long for the larger koi to take the bait on its own, and there was also a chance that other koi might take that bait.

He carefully threw the hook into the water directly in front of the slow-moving fish.

It hesitated for a moment, its dull eyes fixed on the crystal, and then it bit into a crystal.

The hook caught, and Mikael pulled the fish out of the water in one smooth motion.

The koi flopped once in his grip as its tail slapped against his wrist.

But he held it firmly and worked the hook free from its mouth.

"Sorry about this."

He reached into the fish’s throat with his other hand and felt for the bracelet.

His fingers closed around something hard as he pulled it out quickly.

He dropped the koi back into the pond.

It swam away with considerably more energy than it had shown before, disappearing into the dark water with a flick of its tail.

The bracelet was slimy with pond scum and fish saliva, its original milky-white color faded to a dull, lifeless grey.

Three tiny opal gemstones were set into the band, clouded over and barely visible.

It was heavier than it looked.

’No wonder the Koi wasn’t able to swim properly.’

Mikael crouched at the water’s edge and rinsed the bracelet in the pond as he scrubbed at it with his thumb until the slime was gone.

Then he slipped it onto his right wrist.

The fit was snug but comfortable, the cool metal settling against his skin.

A translucent grey window flickered into existence before his eyes.

— ◈ [ Item: Essentia Cistern ] ◈ —

Type: Accessory (Bracelet)

Grade: Elite

Effect: Stores up to essence equivalent to a Tier 1.5 Awakener’s full capacity. The reservoir does not regenerate on its own and must be refilled manually by the wearer.

Current Reservoir: 0.7/1.5

Note: Essence stored within the Cistern cannot be accessed by anyone other than the wearer. The bracelet must be in physical contact with the wearer’s skin to function.

— ◈ [ Item: Essentia Cistern ] ◈ —

Mikael read the window carefully.

It was exactly as he remembered it from the game.

Even after all those years, it still had 0.7 essence.

This bracelet wouldn’t exactly solve his curse or increase his base essence pool.

But it would give him a reserve to draw on in emergencies, a hidden tank that might keep him alive when his own meager reserves ran dry.

He pushed himself to his feet and was about to head back toward the palace when suddenly his nose scrunched up.

Fish.

He lifted his wrist to his nose and immediately recoiled.

The bracelet reeked of a fishy, pungent smell.

’Maybe I should clean this properly before wearing it.’

’Yeah, that would be ideal.’

He didn’t want to go back to the palace smelling like a fish.

He reached out to remove the bracelet when suddenly....

A grey translucent quest window appeared in front of him, making his eyes widen.

Following that, a woman’s scream tore from somewhere nearby.

******