Chapter 25:
What Should We Do Now?
“Huk. Huk.”
The place where Leche, who lowered her presence with cognitive manipulation abilities, arrived was in front of the tower of Lordwick Castle.
It was the notorious prison of the Lordwick family, with outer walls piled high with high-grade minerals and windows that were no bigger than a child’s fist.
“This time, she’s gone in again.”
Leche gasped for breath as she looked up at the tower.
The energy of Hikanka was detected here. It was clear that he had possessed Phillip, who was trapped in the prison.
“Is this really okay for you?”
Pythonis questioned Leche in an incredulous tone.
This monstrous contractor had once again committed a monstrous act.
“To detect the energy of the stars faster than me. Are you really okay with this?”
Detecting stars was the most unique ability of Pythonis.
It meant that there was no star superior to him in terms of that ability.
But even though they had made a contract, using that ability constantly and sensing the presence of stars faster than himself? It was suspicious.
“You’re really suspicious. Are you human? Not a star? Did a fool secretly give birth to a child? Is that you?”
Pythonis pressed Leche to reveal her identity, sticking close above her head.
Ignoring such nonsense, Leche broke the lock of the tower with Pythonis’s ability and opened the door.
“Huh, now you’re just using it recklessly? Fine, go ahead. Use it all you want. Your ability is my ability, and my ability is yours, right?”
His heart raced because of the guard standing right next to him, but he yawned, not even knowing Leche was there, and stretched.
The lock could be repaired when they left. Leche applied cognitive manipulation to the broken lock and entered inside.
Leche and Pythonis followed the sensed energy and looked upward.
“Pythonis.”
“Yeah, it’s about time.”
The tower, with a hole from the ground to the ceiling in the middle, had floors at regular intervals.
Leche climbed the massive spiral staircase in the center of the tower.
Prisons with barred windows installed along the inner perimeter of the tower were visible.
All of them were empty except for one.
“Kuk, kuk.”
A prison near the staircase on the third floor. As Leche approached it, laughter flowed out, as if someone had been waiting.
A bed behind the barred window with a lock. There was Phillip sitting there.
Although she had heard he hadn’t woken up yet, seeing him like that.
“It’s Hikanka, right?”
Phillip raised his bowed head.
His golden right eye stared at Leche. He smiled brightly, squinting his eyes.
“You’re here. Leche.”
“… ”
Leche stared silently at him.
Hikanka chuckled and stood up. Pythonis perched atop Leche’s head, asserting dominance over Hikanka.
“Why have you come again? I told you there’s a guardian here, didn’t I? Don’t waste your strength and go back to your grave to sleep. The contract between us can never be terminated.”
“That measly contract. Isn’t it over if I put you to sleep?”
“Huh, you’re going to put me to sleep? Who? Me?”
Pythonis snorted arrogantly.
That brat. What can he do to someone like me who’s at the peak of their career?
Pythonis swiped his fist through the air outside the bars. It cut through nothing but air, not reaching Hikanka at all.
“Or…”
Hikanka stood tall right in front of the barred window. He crouched down, whispering to Leche as he brought his face close to hers.
“I could manipulate Lutium and make him leave you to make a contract with me.”
“I won’t do it.”
Leche spoke with a firm tone, clearly opposing the enemy, which seemed to satisfy Pythonis as he nodded approvingly.
“Is that so? Think about it a little more. You’re still young, and you have a lot of life ahead of you. I’m patient, I can wait for you. If you make a contract with me, I’ll give you the world. Honor, wealth. What else do you want? Revenge? Conquest?”
“Contractor. Don’t believe his words. He’s cunning with a silver tongue. He’s as sly as a snake.”
Pythonis warned Hikanka, furrowing his brow.
Leche, not trusting Hikanka’s words either, stepped back and distanced herself from him.
“I don’t want anything, and I have no intention of making a contract with you. So leave now. Don’t ever come back.”
Hikanka looked at Leche straight in the eye as she spoke.
This time, Lutium is quite charming. I’d like to swallow him whole, from head to toe.
Hikanka reached his hand out through the bars. Pythonis swiftly intercepted his hand, which was heading towards Leche, changing its trajectory. Then he grabbed Pythonis’s hand and pulled it back inside through the bars.
“Damn!”
“Pythonis!”
But Hikanka wasn’t aiming for Leche. He swiftly changed the trajectory of his hand as if he had been waiting for this moment and caught Pythonis. Then he reached his hand back inside through the bars.
“Son of a…!”
“For Pythonis to become a squirrel and be caught in my hand. It’s something that couldn’t have been imagined a few hundred years ago. Isn’t that right?”
Pythonis squirmed in Hikanka’s grip. Hikanka laughed as he watched him. Before long, Pythonis’s body went limp.
A small, round light resembling a firefly floated above Pythonis’s motionless head.
Leche grabbed onto the bars and shouted.
“What did you do to Pythonis?”
“It’s nothing. I simply extracted Pythonis’s consciousness and turned it into a specter. Isn’t it lovely? It’s my unique ability.”
Hikanka took out a small glass bottle from his pocket and contained the round light within it.
Pythonis’s specter thrashed about as if throwing a tantrum, but it couldn’t cause any impact on the glass bottle.
“Give him back!”
She needed to save Pythonis. Leche tried to break the lock to enter the prison, but nothing happened.
She couldn’t use Pythonis’s power.
“Why…”
Hikanka shook the glass bottle in front of the bewildered Leche.
“You can’t use your power? Even though this just looks like an ordinary glass bottle, it’s a substance that blocks interference with your world. Regardless of whether your contract with Pythonis is valid, you can’t use his abilities.”
“…What do you want?”
Leche glared at Hikanka. Whether he found her gaze pleasing or not, Hikanka smiled and said to Leche,
“Lutium. Let’s make a deal.”
“…A deal?”
“If Pythonis remains in the bottle for a long time, he’ll lose his strength and fall asleep, even if he won’t turn into star fragments. He’ll be forced back into his grave for centuries. Do you want to save him? He’s your precious star.”
Leche’s eyes wavered as she looked at the glass bottle containing Pythonis’s specter.
“If you fulfill two of my requests, I’ll return Pythonis to normal. And I won’t come to Lordwick again while you grow. How about that?”
“…How can I trust your words?”
Leche questioned Hikanka warily. Her mind was preoccupied with finding a way to save Pythonis.
Since Pythonis said Hikanka’s body was still asleep, he wouldn’t be able to possess Phillip’s body for as long as last time.
‘I just need to wait for the possession to be lifted.’
She could ask Blake or others to open the prison door. Then, if she could bring the glass bottle containing Pythonis’s specter and the body of the squirrel…
‘Then I can save Pythonis.’
But Leche was so shocked by Hikanka’s subsequent actions that she couldn’t even catch her breath or think.
The glass bottle, only two fingers wide, went into Hikanka’s mouth. More precisely, into Phillip’s mouth.
Gulp.
Hikanka, who swallowed Pythonis’s specter, laughed at Leche, who was drowning in despair, and asked,
“What will you do now? Lutium.”
***
“Haaa…”
The sentry guarding in front of the Lordwick Prison tried to stifle the creeping drowsiness with a yawn.
It was just a prison where you couldn’t get out once locked in. But since the prisoner was accused of attacking Miss Leche, who was bestowed with the name of the Duke, they had to guard it so diligently.
“It really was something Philip did, huh…?”
But it was still strange. He was someone blessed by the Duke himself.
He had come in at the age of twelve and served as a squire for five years, finally receiving the title of knight, which he had been so happy about.
Considering Philip’s usual behavior, it was something that could never happen. Most people around found it hard to believe.
But with the victim still unconscious and witnesses present, there was no denying it.
The sentry looked at the tower where Philip was locked up with a sharp eye.
“Huh…?”
Then, his heart pounded as he looked at the entrance to the tower next to it.
The lock that should have been securely locked with an iron latch was broken, lying on the ground.
“W-what’s going on.”
Cold sweat broke out. Did someone break the lock and intrude?
But he hadn’t seen anyone. He had never left his post. He might have yawned a few times, but there hadn’t been anyone around.
“P-Philip!”
The sentry hurriedly opened the door and ran up the stairs of the tower.
Reaching the third floor, where Philip’s cell was, he rushed to check inside, then collapsed on the spot as his legs gave out.
Philip was lying on the bed, fast asleep.
“I…almost lost it.”
The knight murmured with a face that seemed to have aged ten years. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the distraction, a small figure slipped out of the tower.
It was Leche.
She restored the broken lock on the ground with star fragments and, holding the limp body of Pythonis, hurriedly walked away.
“Leche?”
Then, a surprised voice called out to Leche.
It was Blake.
“Dad.”
“Why are you walking alone? Why are you crying?”
Blake knelt in front of Leche, wiping the tears from her cheek with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket.
“… ”
Her sobbing intensified at his touch. In Blake’s eyes, he saw the warmth of empathy reflected from her teary eyes.
She had been gradually purifying Blake, trying not to get caught by him. Recently, she had been able to purify about two days’ worth of aura, and the accumulated aura had started to decrease. Perhaps that was why Blake’s complexion was gradually improving.
But now that Pythonis was gone…
Could she purify Blake’s aura alone?
“He’s probably dead. The power of Lutium extends from the heart. So, the curse energy that entered your body must have burst your heart.”
In her past life, Duke Gerwehr waited until she turned nine.
This life wouldn’t be much different.
To purify Blake alone, she needed at least two years. That way, her heart wouldn’t burst. But Blake’s life…
[If you leave him like this, it’ll take two years.]
Hikanka’s request could only be fulfilled three years later.
In two years, either Blake or herself would have to die.
“If I had known this…”
If she had known this, she wouldn’t have dreamed of freedom.
She should have just revealed that she was Lutium and purified all of them.
Then, even if she was captured by Duke Gerwehr, she could have saved her father.
Or, when they first met at the market, she should have purified Blake’s aura. When she was nothing to Blake.
If she had done that, her father wouldn’t have to mourn her death.
“Dad, I’m sorry, s-sorry…”
Her heart felt like it was tearing apart. Unable to hold back the surging emotions, Leche cried uncontrollably.
Blake, taken aback by his daughter’s tears, hugged her close, waiting patiently for her sobs to subside.
