“Can we talk for a bit?”
I led Ian to the drawing room to discuss his grand plan to announce our engagement. Well, I tried to.
“Oh, don’t be so formal. Riley, go up to your room,” Natasha interjected.
“I’ll do that, Mother-in-law,” Ian replied without missing a beat, snatching up Natasha’s awkward suggestion as if he’d been waiting for it.
And so, we ended up in my room, standing awkwardly in the center.
“Fascinating interior design,” Ian remarked.
Though my room was full of exorcism tools, I’d hidden them well enough that ordinary people couldn’t detect them. But Ian clearly wasn’t ordinary—he saw right through it.
“It’s my style.”
“I’ll let my butler know.”
“Why your butler?”
“You haven’t forgotten that we’ll be married once all of this is over, have you?”
Ugh… Hearing it said out loud made the reality hit even harder—soon, we might really be living together.
“And can you please stop calling my parents ‘Father-in-law’ and ‘Mother-in-law’ already?”
“Would you prefer ‘Father’ and ‘Mother,’ then?”
“No, but technically, we’re not even engaged yet…”
“Then perhaps ‘future father-in-law’ and ‘future mother-in-law’ would be more accurate.”
…Another lesson learned: don’t try to out-talk this man.
“Anyway, what’s this about a grand announcement?”
“There will be rumors regardless. We’re simply getting ahead of them. Rumors tend to get twisted—making an official announcement is the best way to prevent that.”
Fair point. I had to admit that.
“But if we’re making it public, there’s really no difference between this and an actual engagement.”
“It’s not too late to change it to a wedding. I’d be thrilled, by the way.”
That was where I ended the conversation—for the sake of my mental health.
Just as I was about to recover my energy with some snacks after Ian left, there was a knock at the door.
“Young Lady, you have a visitor.”
Startled by the news, I shoved a cookie into my mouth and headed to the drawing room.
“Eris!”
I had been waiting—she’d promised to come but hadn’t shown up until now.
“Lady Riley.”
Eris stood from the sofa and bowed.
“Welcome. You came at the perfect time. I was just getting my bearings again.”
“Did you have a visitor?”
“Yeah. Well, more like a… habitual chaos-bringer.”
I took Eris’s hand and led her to my room. The snacks were still out, and it was the perfect setting for catching up—though Anna clearly disagreed.
As soon as she saw Eris, Anna quietly stepped aside.
“Then… I-I’ll go… prepare some tea…”
And with that, she slipped away.
“I see a lot of the items I sent you,” Eris said, scanning the room without sitting.
“Yeah. They’ve been really helpful.”
“Do you mind if I take a closer look?”
“Huh? Oh, sure.”
The room wasn’t very big, so there wasn’t much to “look around.” Still, Eris slowly made a circle, mostly glancing at things—until she came to where the exorcism tools were hidden. There, she paused and examined them closely.
“Are the demons still bothering you?”
“Yeah, kind of…”
As I replied, a sudden chill crept over me. I couldn’t finish my sentence. Something was off.
Was it Eris’s unusually cold demeanor today? Or the fact that Anna hadn’t returned with the tea yet? Or maybe it was that the demons, who usually lurked nearby, were keeping their distance. Wasn’t that thanks to Eris?
I looked around, trying to figure it out—when suddenly:
“Animum tuum mihi offer. Ego dominus tuus ero.”
Eris was floating midair, chanting in an unfamiliar language. I recognized it—it resembled the curse I’d seen before.
“Te destruam!”
Why was she casting a curse now? As she continued chanting, the demons outside grew agitated and frenzied.
“Eris?”
When I called out to her, she turned to me with hollow, icy eyes and conjured a dark sphere in her hands. A bitter wind blew, and dark smoke filled the room in an instant.
The temperature dropped so rapidly, I began shivering uncontrollably.
Then, a sharp shadow darted through the air. I tried to dodge, but twisted my ankle and fell.
Bang!!
Thankfully, the shadow missed me by a hair. It struck the floor and exploded, scattering debris everywhere.
“Eris! Stop!”
Boom! Crash!
“Anima subigere!”
“Eris!!”
Her body jerked and twisted unnaturally, as if she couldn’t control it.
“No, Eris!!”
I had realized the moment she created the dark sphere—she was being possessed. Still, I called her name desperately, hoping she might break free. But she didn’t respond. She just kept attacking.
Bang! Bang!
More and more shadow blades erupted—piercing like spears, whipping around like swords. I was driven back until I was cornered.
My heart pounded violently, my limbs frozen and useless.
If I knew I’d die like this, I wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble. I’d have just played with Anna and enjoyed my last days.
I couldn’t die yet. I refused to die like this. I wanted to live. Fear wrapped around me like a vice.
So much left undone… So much I wanted to do. I had worked so hard to survive.
“If I die like this…”
It just felt too unfair.
“You didn’t really think I’d let my fiancée die that easily, did you, Lady Riley?”
The world around me turned white. As I slowly lifted my head toward the voice, I met a pair of glowing golden eyes.
“Duke…?”
“How long has it even been since I left this house? And you let something this dangerous inside already?”
Ian smiled gently, despite the anger burning in his eyes. The moment I saw him, the breath I’d been holding burst out, forming mist in the cold air.
“I, um…”
With a trembling hand, I pointed toward Eris.
“You just sit here and enjoy watching your fiancé be awesome,” he said as he gently lifted me and set me on the bed.
Then he turned, face cold and determined.
“Melbor, stand down.”
Ian spoke the name—presumably the demon’s—in a low voice.
Eris hesitated momentarily, then resumed her chanting. Ian raised his hand, creating a protective barrier just in time to block a barrage of shadow blades.
Rumble. BOOM.
The house shook violently.
When Eris paused briefly, Ian conjured a blue flame and charged toward her. The flame transformed into a massive light, hurtling at her—but Eris evaded it by shooting up through the ceiling.
Ian immediately leapt after her and fired another blue flame. Eris countered with her dark smoke.
Crash!!
Their magic clashed violently, swirling like a vortex of fire and darkness—it felt like the heart of hell itself.
After a fierce battle, Ian’s light finally grazed Eris, and she crashed back into the room. She was breathing heavily. Ian, who landed gracefully, looked perfectly calm—as if he hadn’t even used his full strength.
“Do not interfere.”
A voice that wasn’t Eris’s emerged from her lips as she stood up.
“Why do you interfere? You too…”
“That’s enough.”
Ian threw a white mass of light at her. It wrapped around her body like a binding spell. Even as she twisted and thrashed, the light held firm. Blood trickled from her lips as the pressure increased.
“Leave that body.”
Only then did I realize Ian wasn’t using his full power to avoid harming her.
“Aaaagh!!!”
The light binding her must have been suppressing the demon. Her screams occasionally broke into Eris’s real voice. She must have been fighting back from within.
As the demonic energy began to fade from her eyes and her irises regained their original color—
“Aperi porentiam tenebrarum!”
Eris shouted desperately. Her body floated, and cracks formed in the barrier. I looked at Ian. His brows furrowed, but he didn’t strike. He was waiting.
Clang! Crackle!
The light finally shattered, and Eris vanished into the darkness.
“Lady Riley, are you alright?”
As soon as Eris disappeared, Ian rushed to me and knelt beside the bed.
“Why didn’t you go after her?”
“She’s not worth leaving you alone for.”
“But… Eris…?”
“Eris? Ah, so that was her name? That woman has already made a contract with the demon.”
Of course. She wasn’t just being controlled.
But I can usually tell humans apart from demons. Why didn’t I sense it this time?
“Is this your first time encountering a high-ranking demon?”
…Ah. A high-ranking demon.
