Chapter 54
Alice moved the black-clad intruder to the underground dungeon. The beaten man was slumped, bound to a chair in the basement.
When Gremory appeared, the man, who had regained some consciousness, grinned and assessed the situation.
“There are not just one, but two witches living in the Duke’s mansion.”
“So, you’re also a witch summoner. Did you summon a pretty strong witch? Because of the contract, I can’t see any darkness or anything from you.”
“I didn’t summon a witch. I summoned a demon.”
“A demon? They don’t like coming to the human world. Looks like the demon who granted your wish must have been really bored.”
Gremory grabbed the bloodied man’s chin and lifted his head.
“So, what was your reason for trying to kidnap Alice?”
“It was to use her as material to bring my lover back. My lover was a witch, but she died one day due to my mistake.”
The man confessed his purpose easily. He had judged that he couldn’t face two witches alone.
“Your lover was a witch? What was her name?”
“Ophensia. She was a witch with sharp eyes and about your height.”
Ophensia. When that familiar name was mentioned, Gremory’s brow furrowed. Wasn’t Ophensia the witch summoned by Severian?
‘Is he talking about the Ophensia I know? But she’s dead?’
Ophensia was definitely alive. Her nobleman lover had cheated on her, and she had planned to take revenge.
And she had also said this:
‘The Cerfelia family that betrayed me and poisoned me. Let me deal with them.’
Could this man be the ex-lover who poisoned Ophensia? But why was he saying that Ophensia was dead when she was clearly alive?
“What’s your name?”
“Felix Cerfelia.”
Cerfelia. It seemed that he was indeed Ophensia’s ex-lover.
“Tell me what happened between you and the witch named Ophensia.”
“Three years ago, I fell in love with the witch I summoned, Ophensia, and dreamed of marrying her. But my father pushed for an arranged marriage.”
“So?”
“I decided to elope with Ophensia. But on the day we decided to run away, my father handed me a cup of poisoned tea, telling me to sever my ties with Ophensia.”
“A witch can’t die from something like poison.”
“That’s what I thought too, but it wasn’t the case. My father pressured me to kill Ophensia, and I had no time to explain anything to her. I had to make her drink the poisoned tea. I thought she’d wake up quickly because she was a witch, but she just died and vanished.”
Gremory tilted her head as she processed the situation.
‘She didn’t vanish after dying. She probably faked her death and went back to the demon realm because her heart was broken.’
Felix rambled on.
“Then, determined to see Ophensia again, I summoned a demon. The demon promised to bring her back. So, I gathered the bodies of vagrants and unclaimed bodies to recreate Ophensia’s body…”
“Wait.”
Gremory cut him off, sensing something suspicious in his words. No matter how strong a demon or witch was, there were things that were impossible. Bringing back the dead was one such impossibility. Gremory knew this better than anyone, having tried every taboo to revive Lania.
‘But the demon promised to bring back someone who wasn’t even dead? This idiot’s definitely being played by the demon.’
Gremory untied Felix’s ropes. Felix, now freed, was startled.
“Why are you suddenly releasing me? Wasn’t I locked up here for the crime of kidnapping people?”
“I have something else to do first. Take me to your hideout.”
Gremory transformed into a black cat and followed Felix to where he went.
‘Cheshion is focused on this case, and there’s a strong demon involved. I should resolve this quickly. If left alone, the demon might cause even more chaos.’
They arrived at an underground ruin. When Felix pressed a hidden button, stairs leading down to the basement appeared.
In human form, Gremory followed Felix down the stairs. The air was thick with the smell of dirt and stone dust.
As they walked ahead, Felix warned Gremory.
“Ophensia is in a very fragile and sensitive state, so you should keep your distance.”
“I get it. Just lead the way.”
Felix guided her to the room where Ophensia’s doll was kept.
Felix whispered to the doll.
“Ophensia, we have a guest. I don’t think you’re too happy about it.”
The doll’s eyes slowly opened. Then, a string attached to the doll moved, but only visible to Gremory.
Gremory followed the string with her gaze. It continued to her back, where a demon’s finger was at the end.
The demon controlling the doll, with grayish skin, grinned.
“Hello. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Gremory was quite surprised. She, being skilled at detecting magic, hadn’t noticed the demon standing right behind her.
“Are you a high-level demon skilled in concealment? I acknowledge your ability, but I don’t know you.”
“No witch in the demon realm doesn’t know me.”
“I don’t know you. Anyway, what’s all this about? Are you torturing a poor human for fun? This person is completely insane.”
The demon casually cast a spell to block out the surrounding sounds.
“Oh, isn’t torturing a naive human to harvest their soul our job? Why are you getting so worked up?”
“‘Our job’? Don’t include me in your nonsense.”
“Why the sour face, Gremory? This is what we do! We feed on the disgusting side of humans!”
“What are you talking about? I don’t want to do that. I’m not…!”
“Stop pretending. Even though you’re supposed to live in hiding, you’ve been so quiet. Don’t you want to stir things up a bit? And making ‘Black Magic Stone’ for humans? Ugh, disgusting.”
Gremory’s eyes flickered. Yeah, this was what demons and witches did—feeding off human suffering to gain strength and survive.
But she was different. She didn’t want to become like them, ruining someone horribly like that.
“I’m not like you. Don’t put me in the same disgusting category.”
“What? You’re already one of us. You have a clear reason why you can’t live with humans.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve spread a plague in the human world before. I heard it killed a lot of people. Heh, you’re making ‘Black Magic Stone’ for humans after doing such an awful thing to them. How funny! I wonder what the humans would say if they knew who you really were?”
The demon studied Gremory’s expression closely. Seeing her discomfort, he laughed with satisfaction.
“You’re going to meet the worst end. You’ll be hated in both the demon realm and the human world. There’s nowhere left for you to stay.”
“Shut up. I didn’t spread the plague on purpose. It was the witches…!”
“Anyway, you were the one who spread it, weren’t you?”
“Shut up.”
A chain appeared in Gremory’s hand. It was connected to the collar around Ophensia’s neck. Gremory yanked it, and the chain rattled as it was pulled.
Moments later, an angry Ophensia appeared.
“Ugh, Gremory! You can’t just pull like that! I thought my neck was going to snap… Felix?”
“…Ophensia!”
Ophensia and Felix locked eyes.
Ophensia immediately slapped him.
“How dare you! How dare you poison me? How much did I love you! How much did I trust you! Do you know how betrayed I felt?”
“What? How are you alive…! Anyway, I’m sorry! Actually, I planned to run away with you as soon as you woke up! I’m sorry I couldn’t explain back then! Please, believe me!”
While Felix was desperately apologizing, the demon’s eyes glowed bright red.
“What’s this, Gremory? There are ethics even among demons. Why are you messing with someone else’s prey?”
“Who asked for your opinion?”
“I won’t just sit back. You know that. I always get my revenge.”
A cracking sound filled the air. It was the contract between the demon and Felix breaking. Since Ophensia was actually alive, the contract to bring her back was nullified.
With no more contracts left, the demon thought for a moment before turning to Gremory, grinning maliciously.
“I’ll be seeing you again. My name is Marbas.”
“I don’t remember.”
Raising her middle finger, Gremory calmly walked out of the ruins. Inside, the sound of Ophensia and Felix arguing in tears echoed.
