Chapter : 54
“Celly?”
Arcas, who had been away from the group, returned. He helped me up from where I was sitting on the ground and said,
“Did you fall? Are you okay? You don’t look so good…”
He looked worried, even though they must have ridden straight here from near the capital without rest to arrive at this hour.
I smiled faintly at Arcas and said,
“No, I was just tired, so I sat down for a moment.”
“Tired? Didn’t you sleep?”
“Just… maybe because I’m not at home?”
I dismissed it lightly and stepped out of the tent. Fortunately, Sirineu wasn’t in sight.
As long as Arcas stayed by my side, Sirineu didn’t appear. I felt relieved, but at the same time, I wondered what kind of expression Sirineu might be wearing.
After walking for about half a day, we came across a clearing where the Demon Lord was sealed.
“Only five people can enter here,” Noel said.
Eloi and Viviana stepped forward. I checked that my talismans and seals were secure in my pocket, took a deep breath, and crossed the boundary of the territory.
Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath me quake. I nearly lost my balance but managed to stabilize myself and look ahead.
From the outside, the clearing had seemed ordinary, but once I stepped in, a thick fog enveloped everything.
Then, pained groans echoed from all directions.
Since it was a small clearing within the forest, the sound carried even more. I was startled and looked around.
“Ugh…”
The groaning came from Eloi. I turned my head to check on her.
But it wasn’t just Eloi—everyone else seemed to be in a strange state too. The four others were frozen in place, staring blankly into the void.
“Is everyone okay?”
No one responded. Eloi clutched her head as if tearing at her hair, then suddenly collapsed to the ground.
“Eloi!”
I cried out in alarm. When I approached, Eloi was huddled on the floor, trembling uncontrollably. I sat beside her and held onto her arm.
At that moment, dizziness hit me, and an unfamiliar scene unfolded before my eyes.
“What… is this?”
The Eloi in front of me had disappeared. I stood up and rubbed my eyes. I felt trapped, as if caught inside a narrow pillar. I froze at the sight before me.
“Eloi?”
The disappeared Eloi stood a short distance away, head bowed. Before her stood a woman in a lavish dress, looking extremely angry. She raised her hand and shoved Eloi’s shoulder.
“Your kind came rolling in and tarnished our family name!”
“….”
“What will happen if my engagement is broken?”
Eloi lowered her head and didn’t respond.
“Eloi!”
I called out to her, but she seemed not to hear. Trembling with rage, the woman struck Eloi across the cheek.
“Gah!”
Before I could even calm my shock, the scene shifted as if the screen had changed.
We were now in a room with the curtains fully drawn. Candles burned on the table, and an older-looking woman sat on a chair. A maid holding a riding crop stood beside her.
“Disgusting.”
The woman’s gaze swept over Eloi, who stood with her skirt lifted, revealing red marks on her calves from lashes.
“You brought in this lowly girl and now she’s stealing?”
Eloi bit her lip and replied,
“Mother, no. I didn’t do it.”
The woman raised her eyebrows sharply.
“I told you not to call me that. Why am I your mother? You filthy girl.”
Seeing Eloi call her mother, it seemed this woman was the Baroness of Kalat. She gestured to the maid. The maid looked briefly sympathetic, but could not defy the Baroness’s order. She bit her lip and raised the crop. I screamed,
“No!”
Smack.
A loud sound echoed through the room.
“Stop!”
I tried to rush to Eloi, but my body felt as if blocked by an invisible glass wall. Eloi, enduring harsh lashes, gritted her teeth and held back a scream. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, blood forming on her bitten lip. The Baroness spoke coldly,
“If the Baron finds out, put a cloth in her mouth.”
While the maid went to fetch the cloth, the Baroness raised the crop again. Her eyes shifted between the crop and Eloi, and a sinister voice leaked from her lips.
“Would it be better if I hit her in the head and she died?”
Teeth gritted, she raised the crop high.
“Stop!”
I punched at the invisible wall, trying to break through. Then, dizziness struck again, and the scene vanished.
“Ugh!”
I quickly looked for Eloi. She was curled up, muttering apologies. The shocking vision left me breathless and trembling.
‘Are the others in the same situation?’
I looked around. Arcas appeared similarly distressed.
“Ugh…”
He muttered my name as if experiencing the same hallucination.
‘What should I do?’
I was confused about how to resolve this situation.
‘Isn’t there something…?’
I rummaged through my pocket for items I had brought. My bracelet began to glow.
“Huh?”
I touched it, and smoke started rising from a box in the center of the clearing.
“Finally…”
A deep voice spoke from within the smoke.
Could it be? Had the Demon Lord’s seal… been broken?
I hadn’t anticipated this. From what I’d heard, the seal shouldn’t have been ready to break yet.
I jumped to my feet. I had to stop it before the seal fully released.
I approached the box as the smoke thickened, carrying voices.
“I wonder what you think of the trap I prepared. Chaos magic is fun, isn’t it? Surprised, aren’t you?”
The Demon Lord chuckled.
“Oh, but there’s no one to answer me?”
The Demon Lord laughed loudly. The smoke began to condense, slowly taking shape.
‘It’s a human?’
I had expected a monstrous form, but the figure resembled a person—a handsome man with silver hair falling carelessly to his shoulders and shining golden eyes.
‘Where have I seen him…?’
But there was no time to think about who he resembled. I addressed the Demon Lord, who examined his body curiously.
“Are you the Demon Lord?”
He looked at me in surprise, probably expecting that no one would resist the chaos magic.
He tilted his head and muttered,
“Is there anyone without painful memories from the past? What…?”
I grabbed a talisman from my pocket and faced him.
He tilted his head left and said,
“How did you do that?”
I scoffed. “Do what?”
He paused, tilting his head right.
“It’s been a while since someone could resist my magic… We’d get along well, wouldn’t we? Want to be my subordinate?”
I frowned sharply. “We’d get along? I came to seal you.”
He looked puzzled. “Me? Why?”
“Because you’re evil?”
“Evil?”
While this absurd conversation continued, I held my talisman tightly, ready to attach it to him.
But the Demon Lord’s composure was flawless. He flexed his fingers, testing his control, eyes locked on me.
“You called me the Demon Lord. So… is magic evil? Whose standard is evil?”
I laughed bitterly. “You’ve killed many people. By any standard, aren’t you evil?”
The Demon Lord chuckled. “Still too young to understand, little lady?”
“What? Little?”
“In my eyes, you’re a child. You know, back then, both monsters and humans lived without leaving their territories.”
Before he finished speaking, an image appeared of monsters living peacefully in harsh mountains.
‘This is…’
It felt similar to the vision I’d seen with Eloi.
As I looked around, the Demon Lord continued,
“At first, we got along. We were comfortable in the mountains where our magic flowed. But the ones who first invaded our territory were the Empire.”
Before me, it was as if the Demon Lord’s story played out like a film.
So…
