Rebirth: Enchantment at the Golden Summit

Chapter 13: Doing What You Know Is Impossible

Ge Sihan stood in the garden. She was still growing, while Adit was quite tall. They were standing very close together, so she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze.

She looked at him for a moment, hesitating slightly, but eventually relented: “...Thank you, Pi Chai Lop.”

　　Calling Adit “brother” could only be to her advantage, “but…”

　　Adit said calmly, “There are no buts. I’ll tell Grandma.”

　　Ge Si-han pressed her lips together and bowed her head slightly, offering a wai: “Thank you, Pi Chai.”

　　Adit’s lips curved into a faint smile. He raised his left forearm to glance at his watch: “Let’s go. It’s almost time for dinner.”

　　“Yes.”

Since she’d already called him that, Ge Sihan didn’t plan to dwell on it any further. She smiled and obeyed, turning to walk with Adit toward the main house.

She looked up and, almost by chance, caught sight of the glittering golden attic at the very top of the main building with its golden roof.

…Wait, wait a minute!

Had she forgotten something? Like…

　　There’s a corpse in the attic of the golden-roofed building…

　　Like…

　　The golden roof… it’s real…

　　There is!

　　A ghost!

　　Ah!

　　Ge Si-han froze in her tracks.

　　Adit kept walking, then immediately realized what was wrong and stopped, turning to look at her. Seeing her face suddenly turn deathly pale, he furrowed his brow slightly: “Saengkea?”

　　Ge Si-han stared blankly at him, momentarily at a loss for words.

Adit paid no heed to the distance between them or the inappropriateness of the situation; instead, he placed one hand on her back and gently touched her forehead with the back of his other hand.

Having walked in the sun, and given his robust build, his body temperature was naturally slightly higher than Ge Si-han’s. He detected nothing unusual, and yet…

“Are you feeling unwell?” he asked.

Ge Sihan froze for a moment before realizing what Adit was asking.

She couldn’t gather her thoughts just yet; her mind was in turmoil because she wasn’t ready to accept this reality—

namely, that if she really was in the TV series *Golden Peak*, then the truth was… she lived in Golden Peak, and hidden in the attic of Golden Peak was a corpse that had been brutally starved to death!

　　And there was a ghost—invisible and intangible, yet undeniably real—that wanted to take the corpse’s soul away!

Ge Sihan’s face went pale, her breathing became rapid, and her limbs grew weak; she could barely stand.

If she hadn’t been out in the sun, Ge Sihan felt she would have fainted again.

　　Fainting once a day—wasn’t that a bit much?

　　And the main point was, Ge Sihan thought in a daze, how was she supposed to handle this? Was this even something she could handle?

　　Clearly not, because the attic had already been sealed shut. What right did she have in this house to tear down a door? Besides, hadn’t the old lady declared this place off-limits?

　　In the end, she’d definitely have to ask Adit for help. The problem was, how on earth was she supposed to bring it up with him?

Adit let her lean against his chest, reaching out to touch her jaw—only to find his hand covered in cold sweat. “You’re all cold sweat. What’s wrong? Can you walk?”

Ge Sihan swallowed hard, struggling to speak. After a moment, she managed, “Y-yes…”

“Then let’s go back first.” ” he said, gentlemanly supporting her shoulder with one hand and holding her slender arm with the other, giving her strength.

　　Go back? Go back where? Back to that house with a corpse hidden in the attic?

　　Ge Si-han suddenly jolted awake, her mind clearing completely.

　　She took a deep breath, gathered her scattered thoughts, looked at Adit, and forced a smile: “Um, “Khun… uh, no, Pi Chai Lop,” she was so frightened she was losing her mind. Who could stand feeling like she was about to faint every other day? She could only come up with a flimsy excuse: “I feel quite comfortable in the garden. I’d like to walk around a bit more before going back…”

“So, you weren’t feeling unwell just a moment ago?” he asked again.

He couldn’t detect any fever on Ge Si-han’s forehead, and besides…

　　And this girl was deathly pale, her face etched with fear—she was clearly terrified.

　　But just a moment ago, she’d been fine.

　　So, before Ge Si-han could answer him—or rather, before she could hide the truth from him—Adit stared at her. His deep, unfathomable eyes, set beneath high cheekbones, fixed on her as he calmly warned, “A word of advice, Saengkea: don’t lie to me.”

　　He hated people who weren’t honest with him. If Ge Si-han lied to him, he would regret having to dislike her.

Ge Si-han froze.

Her mind raced frantically.

　　The Golden Summit had become somewhat terrifying, and the sudden sense of pressure Adit brought was also terrifying, but she had lived at the Golden Summit for five years without incident. However, if she angered Adit, she would immediately be in serious trouble...

　　From a practical standpoint, compared to a ghost that couldn’t harm anyone, Adit—who actually had the power and would follow through on his words—was clearly far more frightening; Emotionally speaking, she respected Adit and didn’t want to upset him… Besides, she couldn’t possibly stay in the garden forever; she still had to go back inside the house.

So, when it came down to it, Adit was still the scarier one.

After weighing her options for a moment, Ge Sihan gave in.

But she couldn’t tell the truth—the kind of truth that would enrage Adit, the kind she had absolutely no way of knowing… So in the end, she made something up.

Ge Sihan just hoped her improvisation would sound somewhat plausible: “Um, actually, the reason I didn’t want to go back just now was… I, I heard a sound.”

“What kind of sound?” Adit asked.

“Um…” Ge Sihan was torn, and could only stammer, “ “I—I can’t really explain it… a woman’s crying… like she was in terrible pain… I was a little scared…”

Adit furrowed his brow and stated, “I didn’t hear a thing.”

A thought struck Ge Sihan, and she mustered her courage to turn the tables: “Th-that’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you! You wouldn’t believe me anyway!”

　　Adit looked down at her, his expression giving nothing away: “So, besides the crying, was there anything else?”

Ge Sihan wasn’t sure if she should say anything more or if she was doing the right thing, but she knew that the moment she hesitated, she’d miss her chance. She could only shake her head: “It’s hard to say… I’m not even sure myself. It was just… a really pitiful cry…” She was practically pleading now: “ “Kh… Pi Chai Lop, I really don’t want to go back right now. Please let me just walk around the garden for a bit. I want to soak up some sun, okay?”

Adit raised an eyebrow at her, then turned to look at the golden roof, which glowed even more brilliantly in the sunlight. He was skeptical, yet amused by the strange turn of events: “Fine, have it your way…”

　　Ge Si-han bowed her head in a wai: “Thank you…”

　　He finished his sentence slowly: “…We’ll eat in the garden.”

　　“But,” he narrowed his eyes slightly at Ge Si-han’s wide, surprised gaze and added, “Are you planning to sleep in the garden tonight too, Saengkea?”