Chapter 12

Translator and Editor: Lea and Ishy

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Chapter 12

“It’ll be worth watching how ridiculously people would think of my father and our family when they hear this.”

‘I think my voice came out a little shaky.’

I didn’t sound like Olivia at all.

Even in my previous life, I was not familiar with using the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’.

The Viscount had an unpleasant expression, but he did not contradict me.

“It’s better to think it over. If rumors spread in the aristocratic society, it would be difficult for Father rather than for me.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Wouldn’t it have a big impact on the project you’ve been working on?”

Freeze.

His eyes shook, just as I expected.

But from my point of view, it made me upset.

It wasn’t fun when you figured out a man, blinded by desire, was trying to sell his daughter for his own gain.

I wondered if he noticed that too.

“My lady!”

All of a sudden, Michael knelt down on one knee and began to beg in a desperate voice.

“The moment I saw the lady, I fell in love with her and kept her face deep in my heart! Regardless of all my other interests, I truly love the lady!”

“No possible way,”

I chuckled coldly at the man who spoke of love so easily.

“I don’t know when your heart began to say that, but if you were serious about me, you would have stopped Marquis Velott from sending me a proposal.”

“T-That–! There was a reason for that!”

I guessed so.

However, his reasons were too shallow to cover up this situation.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to give up the successor’s position now that the lady hates me…”

Olivia’s gorgeous lips smirking at the actor must have stopped him from talking nonsense any further.

Anyone would have been able to notice that it was just his acting.

“Funny, aren’t you?”

Michael’s face was distorted.

He glanced at the Viscount, perhaps asking for help.

However, the Viscount slipped away from his gaze.

Perhaps, the Viscount calculated that this marriage would not benefit his tactics any longer.

Anyway, it was good for me.

Michael stood up, realizing that he had no way of turning around the situation.

“You will regret treating me like this.”

The man, who had been acting desperate like a heartfelt lover, was now glaring at me.

Thanks to him, I understood that I made the right choice.

Grabbing my skirt, I gently bowed down.

“Please take care on your way out.”

***

It was the dead of night, at the Island of Duke Kravant.

As usual, the duke’s office was lit, but the atmosphere was quite different than usual.

Nishir—Lennox’s adjunct and shadow—had just finished reporting his mission with a nervous look on his face.

“Sorcery?”

Lennox asked, narrowing his gaze.

It was an invention of an evil sorcerer which caused the uprising of a holy war on the continent a long time ago.

In the end, the technique was thought to have disappeared after a massive sweep of purification performed on the continent.

However, the story came out of the blue from the mouth of Suha, when Lennox sent his investigator to learn about the Qualum leaves.

“What kind of sorcery would someone do with the Qualum leaves?”

As he asked, Nishir took an old book out of his arms.

“This data has been found in the secret library of the imperial palace.”

That part of the imperial library was known to be strictly restricted.

Only a few of the imperial families were given access to the books found there.

However, as always, such a rule was meaningless for Lennox Kravant.

Whether it may be legal or illegal, there were countless cards he could pull.

‘They’ve hidden these records well.’

The method of performing such a kind of sorcery was abandoned when the temple rose.

It was to prevent evil power from harming people and disturbing the order of the world.

But it was only an official announcement.

In fact, the records of the method never disappeared from the world.

‘I myself would have tried to use it somehow,’

He smirked as he thought.

He knew the greediness in the blood of the royal family better than anyone else.

“Look at this, Your Highness.”

Lennox furrowed his brows at where Nishir pointed.

“The sorcerers performed it to make evil spirits?”

“Yes. And the essential ingredient for the magic was the Qualum leaves,”

Nishir replied, gulping down the dry lump in his throat.

This was because he knew well how sharply his master reacted to evil spirits.

“Maybe because of this, the Qualum trees were grown all over the kingdom of Shahar in the past.”

“Shahar…”

Shahar—the collapsed kingdom—used to be the last known base of the sorcerers.

That pesky little kingdom was purified by the temple and absorbed into the Empire.

The purification was also led by the then ruler of Kravant.

In particular, the Rutoru forest—which occupied the middle of the kingdom’s territories—was the site of Shahar’s royal palace in the past.

“It’s not a false story.”

A few of the Qualum trees still grow naturally in the Rutoru forest infested with evil things.

Lennox gently closed his eyes.

He didn’t know why, but there was something that kept bothering him.

“…Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Is there an issue with the investigation?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Lennox remained silent for a while.

He needed to find out more about it later.

Having finished thinking, he stated,

“Call in the shadows. Leave only a minimum number of subjects on the land.”

“But Your Highness, there have been reports of unusual movement of evil spirits in the woods of Rutoru.”

“They’re all headed for the dark spirit.”

At Lennox’s affirmation, Nishir’s eyes went wide, but soon he complied without a word.

‘If my master says, so be it.’

‘Especially when it included evil spirits.’

“I’ll send them your words right away.”

Lennox, after he received Nishir’s answer, glanced down at the old book.

[The culinary sorcerers used to rehabilitate evil spirits by feeding them with Qualum leaves in water.]

Was it just a coincidence?

“I thought something else was mixed with the tea leaves in my drink, so I wanted to find out what it was.”

The face of the speaker he met a few days ago came to his mind.

The woman who unknowingly lured in the evil spirits towards her.

Lennox leaned his back against the chair.

‘It’s not like me to think like this.’

He thought he heard her name to be Olivia Brienne.

It seemed like his discussion with the careless woman was in vain.

He didn’t even seem to know what her abilities were worth.

“Could Your Grace do me a favor?”

Her voice was cheerful and kind of high-pitched.

Those glistening eyes of hers, so full of enthusiasm even after being chased by evil spirits down the street.

Lennox closed his eyes slowly.

The soft and warm touch of her hands.

It was so vivid that he could still recall the feeling clear as day.

Just thinking of it made him clench his fist around the armrest of his chair.

‘Is it because she’s an Epure?’

It felt like the grime filling his body was being washed away at once. He had never felt that way before.

He couldn’t even breathe properly.

‘…She was impossible to resist.’

The power of purification he experienced in person was overwhelming beyond imagination.

He felt helplessly dragged in.

Epure. Purifier. Promised sacredness.

The savior of the cursed blood.

His black eyelashes trembled under his closed eyelids.

A warm breath flowed out of his lips.

“There’s no way something like that would happen again, right?”

He recalled he couldn’t answer the question she asked just before they separated.

Why?

It was just a simple question.

Even though he knew the answer.

“Nishir.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Even though he was sure he wasn’t being himself, Lennox acknowledged this incomprehensible urge.

“I wish to visit somewhere for a while tomorrow.”

***

Everything peaceful that I knew about my life in this house was taken away.

[Olivia.]

Now, I was facing a very serious and critical challenge in my life.

[Hey, are you okay?]

“Do I look okay?”

[No.]

Ash landed on the table, walked next to me, and wrapped its wings around my restless mind.

“It’s spinning.”

I sighed, glancing at my closed door and window one by one.

My room was now a mess, as if it had been visited by a storm.

“I should’ve known from the moment the lamp broke.”

It was noon when the first incident happened.

I never touched it, but one corner of the wall lamp flew away with a small explosion sound.

At the time, I thought I could just ask Mary to replace it later when she came.

Then, in the late afternoon, I felt something strange when the shadows began to droop long under the sun.

It was when the canopy of my bed broke down.

Next, I was rolling around on the bed and enjoying a leisurely afternoon when I heard it.

Creak!

An unpleasant sound, as if something was forcibly trying to cut through a hard surface.

Then came Ash calling in through the window.

[What are you doing!? You have to get out of here right now!]

‘What?’

[This energy, it’s the same as the ominous beings you’ve encountered outside! The entire mansion is filled with that energy!]

I woke up to the cry of the bird that swooped into the room.

But it was already too late.

As if they were waiting for Ash to come in, the window and the door were closed and shut tight.

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