36. In Search of the Female Lead (1)

Walking down the corridor, she asked Darius something she had been curious about.

“Who are the enemies of the North?”

Darius looked at her with a strange expression.

“We have no enemies.”

This wasn’t to say that the North had pacified the country with outstanding knights and impressive military forces, or that they were getting along harmoniously with everyone like a flower garden.

The North simply had no enemies yet because it wasn’t remarkable enough.

‘Why fight a land that has nothing but stones? Let them be a barrier against barbarians.’ Something like that.

But you know.

‘In the original story, Anette was assassinated in the annex by Darius’s political enemy.’

Who is this political enemy that even the person himself doesn’t know about?

Wondering, she opened the door to Lady Ygret’s former room, now a crime scene investigation site.

Knights including Daniel and a priest summoned from the temple were waiting for them inside.

The elderly priest, who had been specially invited, examined Lady Ygret’s room and let out a somber sigh.

“The magic circle in this room itself isn’t much. At best, it’s a magic circle for summoning low-level monsters.”

“She controlled something like a large slime. It certainly didn’t appear to be a highly intelligent being.”

“Yes. The witch caught this time doesn’t seem to be a powerful one.”

The elderly priest’s face darkened despite saying she wasn’t a strong witch.

“This is an inefficient magic circle. To put it simply, since Lady Ygret lacked skill, she would have offered many sacrifices to fulfill her wish.”

“You mean……”

“I’m not sure whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate that a terrible witch appeared in the North. A skilled witch would have achieved the effect of killing ten people by killing one, but Lady Ygret……”

She probably gained magical power equivalent to killing one person by killing ten.

That’s why she had hidden this fact and always needed money to find new victims. Money solves many problems.

“Now that she’s run out of money and ominous rumors about people disappearing have started to spread, she was planning to leave the North.”

But I caught her before that happened.

“Just being in this room gives me the sensation of blood stench vibrating.”

The elderly priest shook his head. As if even with his long experience, he had never seen such a thing.

“To think we all respected such a person as the castle’s head maid.”

When the gentle Sir Daniel made a shocked expression, the elderly priest comforted him.

“From examining the magic circle, I found it was the type that attracts people’s favor. That’s probably why the people of the North liked that witch without suspicion.”

Lady Ygret wasn’t originally from the North. She married someone from the Inkheart family and became a relative of the Grand Duke’s family. Even her husband, who died early, might have died for suspicious reasons.

Minimum execution, maximum execution. No matter what, Lady Ygret seemed to have no way to avoid execution.

“The criminal is currently imprisoned in the castle’s underground dungeon. However, considering that she is a member of the Inkheart family despite being a heinous criminal, we plan to move her to the annex.”

At Sir Daniel’s words, she flinched.

Could the annex where they confine important people be the one from the original story…….

“What’s wrong, Anette?”

“Nothing. I thought it was a good idea. We have a lot to ask her, and she shouldn’t get tired easily.”

Goodness. Her husband was so sensitive that she couldn’t even be startled freely. If she showed surprise twice, Darius looked ready to tell her to go back from this dangerous place.

Sure enough, Darius whispered worriedly.

“If it’s too difficult for you to be here, you can go back.”

“Saying that won’t make my heart turn to Your Highness, so please stay still.”

When Lady Ygret, who falsified the ledgers, is imprisoned, that’s when we should investigate. When else would we examine the ledgers? Now is the perfect time while the enemies are confused, so why go back to the room?

* * *

Inside the gloomy annex.

Lady Ygret, who had just been moved from the underground prison to the annex, screamed angrily without losing energy.

“After all the time I’ve worked for the Grand Duke’s family, to believe that woman who just arrived recently….. Everyone has lost their minds!”

Her arms were tightly bound because she could draw magic circles again by using her blood.

“Sir Slut! You and I are not strangers! Listen to me!”

The knights had their backs turned to Lady Ygret.

They didn’t even pretend to hear no matter how resentfully Lady Ygret screamed. They all wore earplugs out of caution that they might be enchanted if they heard the witch’s voice.

Finally, it was Lady Ygret who tired first and collapsed.

‘Anette, Anette! If it weren’t for that girl! Everything started going wrong after that girl arrived!’

If only she had left this place just one day earlier without lingering, Darius and that girl would be the ones beating the ground with regret now!

As she was gnawing her lips with belated regret and resentment, suddenly there came a thud, thud sound.

“Huh?”

The knights guarding Lady Ygret had all lost consciousness and collapsed.

Lady Ygret’s eyes shone with joy at the sudden bloom of hope.

‘I don’t know what’s happening, but I must seize this opportunity!’

Just as she was struggling to untie the knots on her arms—

“I put a human in place to avoid detection from the strong demonic energy, but to think they would be this useless.”

A woman appeared suddenly without any presence.

“Wh-who are you!”

“Look at that frightened appearance. Humans are indeed trivial. Like insects.”

“Even insect-like humans have performed their duties quite well so far. Thanks to them, we’ve collected many human souls, right? Lady Lilith.”

A man appeared next. There was no sound when he appeared either.

“The prophecy says a descendant of Inkheart will kill the demon king. Because of that prophecy, we demons cannot directly touch Darius Inkheart. He is our natural enemy sent by the heavens.”

“If not for the restriction that no demon can take Darius Inkheart’s breath, I would have killed him when he was still wrapped in swaddling clothes! Not using such trivial humans in this scheme, but with my own hands directly!”

Lilith lamented that she couldn’t kill Darius directly. What better way could there be to show loyalty to the demon king?

Only the demon king was destined to be Darius Inkheart’s opponent. Therefore, demons other than the demon king could attack Darius Inkheart, but could not inflict fatal wounds that would endanger his life.

Inevitably, the demons chose to attack Darius indirectly.

His mother, who passed away shortly after giving birth to Darius.

The previous grand duke of Inkheart , who suffered from illness before passing away.

They tried to torment him by removing the people Darius loved from this world.

That’s why they had Lady Ygret infiltrate into the North.

A spy to inform them about the North’s situation, and someone who could stab Darius in the back when needed to cause him trouble. A human witch who was better because she wasn’t a demon and wouldn’t be hindered by the prophecy.

This witch had more or less fulfilled her duties so far. Though she failed to finish properly and got caught by Darius.

“You’re demons?”

Lady Ygret focused only on those words.

They weren’t in the amorphous form like the monsters she originally possessed. They were high-ranking demons with beautiful human appearances.

She didn’t know why they appeared, but there could only be one reason they appeared to her, a witch!

“Make a contract with me…… ugh!”

“Oh my, after hearing so many inferior words, my hand moved on its own.”

Lady Ygret looked at her chest in disbelief.

Blood gushed from her chest as if a knife had been stabbed into it.

‘I’m going to die.’

Ah, no.

With the clear sense of impending death, Lady Ygret tried to crawl away from Lilith with her arms still tied.

“Shall we become one?”

Lilith flicked her finger with a beautiful smile.

The blood flowing from Lady Ygret didn’t drop to the floor but moved toward Lilith.

“Such tasteless blood.”

Lilith frowned. Then she took out her monster.

“Here, this will be your last meal from your master.”

The slime-type monster that her had controlled began to suck up Ygret’s blood in a much smaller form. It was about to recover from the injury inflicted by Darius’s attack.

“Nooooo!”

The slime-type monster eagerly sucked Ygret’s blood, just as it had sucked the blood of various sacrifices.

Until Lady Ygret let out her final death cry, no one noticed her death.

Only two demons and one victim were awake.

* * *

Lady Ygret, who had been confined to the annex in preparation for interrogation, died. The guard captain who brought the news had a somber expression.

“I apologize. I deeply regret that such an incident occurred before she could be formally brought to trial.”

“What about the culprit?”

“There were stab wounds. Her heart was thoroughly pierced. Judging by the remaining traces, it seems to have been done out of grudge against Lady Ygret. Probably someone who lost a daughter.”

The guard captain glanced at me and refrained from detailed descriptions. He seemed to think it would be impolite to talk about blood and such in front of a noblewoman.

“Are you reporting to me that knights’ security was breached by a single civilian?”

Darius rebuked with a fierce face, but what was done was done.

It had been several days since Lady Ygret was dragged away by the knights. Rumors were circulating in the castle that Lady Ygret was the cause of the maids’ disappearances.

Someone whose daughter disappeared and was consumed with grief might have gone mad after hearing that Lady Ygret was the culprit. Perhaps what the knights were saying wasn’t the whole truth, and someone among those knights had collaborated.