Chapter 23
Evangeline Bellegote.
Who was that bastard again?
“Hard to believe Kali’s younger sister is such a useless little bug. Every time I see you, I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
Like a poisonous bloom—strikingly beautiful on the outside, but rotting pitch-black within. The worst of the worst among the Bellegotes.
Liriope, timid as a child, had never even dared to look directly at the inner-tower mages. Their entire presence terrified her, and with how she had shrunk into herself during her Magetower years, she spent most of her days skulking with her head down, avoiding notice.
Evangeline openly despised those who came from outside the Tower, and so he treated children like Liriope as if they were invisible.
Thus, his arrogant, selfish nature, and his notoriety for using his handsome face to stir up endless rumors with women—none of that had anything to do with her. It was all just someone else’s problem.
“You know it too, don’t you? You must know how much of a bug you are. You have to. You’ve lived almost twenty years with that perfect sister right in front of you. Unless your eyes are carved out of rotten wood, you must’ve figured out your place early.”
But at some point, Evangeline began acting as though tormenting Liriope was a compulsion he couldn’t resist.
No one knew what triggered it.
She could only guess that the bug among bugs had become too intolerable to watch, and he’d simply felt a sudden urge to squash her like a passing whim.
“And why do you keep buzzing around me and Kali like some clingy little gnat? Hm? You keep flitting around, getting in my eyes, and it makes me want to smash you. You’re such a bug that one hit would make you pop like a grape. If you accidentally splattered under my hand, imagine how much Kali would……”
That Evangeline would one day become Kali’s lover was something Liriope still could not understand. By that time, the sisters had already grown distant—Liriope’s relationship with Kali had deteriorated to the point where all she could do was secretly watch her from afar.
So when she finally learned of their relationship, it was as if the sky had collapsed.
How could this trash be by her sister’s side?
How could her sister choose someone this vile?
“Ah, just talking about it pisses me off again. What do you think you are……! I’m so irritated, so today you can suffer until you’re half-dead, pest.”
They despised and detested each other.
But while Evangeline could kill her anytime he wanted, Liriope had no power to retaliate.
Strangely, however, he acted as though Liriope’s very existence brought him tremendous disgrace and misfortune.
The worst part of Evangeline was that he delighted in mentally torturing people—draining them slowly, killing them from the inside out.
He did the same to Liriope, in subtle ways that left no visible trace.
As Kali’s lover, he must have known that she no longer cherished Liriope the way she had in childhood.
And yet he never once allowed Kali to discover his cruelty toward her sister.
Even when Kali herself expelled Liriope from the Northern Magetower, Evangeline had pretended to restrain her—putting on an absurdly false front of concern.
He was filth—vile, two-faced filth.
A venomous insect worse than any pest.
That was the Evangeline Bellegote Liriope knew.
“Why aren’t you answering? The rest of these guys are insects, so your magic being this pathetic makes sense, I suppose.”
But why was it?
The Evangeline now before her—much younger—was not speaking with that twisted, sneering tone she remembered.
Maybe that disgusting way of speaking had been a habit he picked up later?
And—why?
It made no sense, truly none, but the boy before her radiated far greater menace than the young man he later became.
Like a small animal freezing before its natural predator, Liriope could not even blink as she helplessly stared at the boy’s beautiful face.
If even Liriope—armed with the memories and experiences of an entire lifetime—felt this way, then the terrified teenage children behind her stood no chance. They had never seen anything like this creature in their lives.
Jed and the others were crushed by the presence of the boy who appeared out of nowhere. He hadn’t even glanced at them, yet none of them dared to breathe deeply.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a familiar vibration shook the floor.
The giant insects—having heard the commotion—burst upward eagerly.
CRACK!
But in the next instant, they were swallowed by black mana and exploded before they could even scream.
Yet the boy’s crimson eyes—like jewels, not living flesh—remained fixed solely on Liriope.
As if nothing else in this room was worth even a flicker of attention.
As if only the two of them existed in this world.
“But that’s strange. The traces of your magic are even more worthless than I expected.”
The silver-haired boy hovered above the filthy ground, not letting his feet touch it. He looked down at Liriope with cold, inorganic eyes.
As she stood there, unable to look away, Liriope suddenly realized that his appearance was not quite the same as she remembered.
The Evangeline she knew was like sharp glass—excessively sensitive, dangerously sharp, cutting not only others but even himself.
But this boy—he looked like a mineral, unbreakable and solid, the kind that no tool could scratch no matter the effort.
But before she could dwell on the oddity, the boy tilted his head lightly and murmured to himself.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
FWOOOOOSH!
In the next moment, a massive surge of mana gathered again.
“Since killing you solves everything.”
RUMBLE!
Black winds howled and clawed at the air.
Lost in the chaos, Liriope’s instincts screamed in terror.
A stunningly intricate magic circle ignited midair, beautiful enough to be horrifying.
The killing intent rushing straight toward her stung her skin like needles.
And then she realized.
This boy—
he was genuinely trying to kill her.
“Wait, hold on—”
But why?
She had no time to ask.
The mana above her head writhed like a beast about to lunge.
And a terrible certainty gripped her throat.
She could not survive this.
There was no possible world in which she survived this attack.
This threat was beyond anything she had ever faced.
She instinctively sensed death.
But her mind could not accept it.
Was she really going to die here?
After obtaining a miracle and coming all the way here—only to die without even lifting a hand? So abruptly, so meaninglessly?
It was absurd.
But the world did not care whether she accepted it or not.
The black storm tearing through the air suddenly split in half like ripped paper.
And through that rupture, a brilliant spear of light—radiant and divine—fell like lightning.
KWAANG!
