Carlothian Denavez has always had a bad reputation.
Rumors swirled around him, from the sinister tales related to his sword, Deathrotea, to accusations of being a murderer, a battle maniac, or even suffering from madness.
‘You are neither a murderer nor a battle maniac. You’re just Carlothian Denaves.’
When everyone turned their backs on him, it was Dorothea who cared for him. Carlothian Denaves will probably never forget her.
Even if she became another man’s wife forever… that was his setup.
‘To be honest, using ‘forever’ sounds a bit old-fashioned, doesn’t it?’
I thought as I shook the red liquid in the glass bottle.
The blood I had collected little by little over the days was now sloshing around.
‘How I collected it… I’ll just leave that part out.’
I’m preparing to use dark magic to kill Carlothian. But do I know how to use black magic?
No, not at all!
I don’t know how to use black magic.
So the conclusion is:
‘It doesn’t have to be black magic; it just has to look like black magic!’
Since Duke Carlothian is famous as a swordsman, unlike a priest, there’s a good chance he knows little about black magic.
‘It doesn’t seem like he has any association with black magic.’
If Dorothea isn’t around, it’s easy. There are plenty of ways to make black magic seem vicious and murderous to the average person.
‘For that, writing a hexagram with blood would be the best.’
I stood up from my seat and looked around the room—the crimson bedding, the canopy, the luxurious furniture, and the large window overlooking the outside.
A sofa and a table were on one side, with a bare wall on the other.
‘That looks like the perfect spot. Painting it with blood would make it look really impressive.’
I saw myself reflected in the window, wearing a sinister smile.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
“Kaaaaaak-!”
A scream echoed from the annex. Startled servants rushed towards the source of the noise.
“T-There!”
A maid crouched in front of Ariadeline’s room, pointing inside.
The servants turned their heads in the direction she pointed, gasping in disbelief.
“Ugh…”
“Guh.”
“G-good heavens…”
A large hexagram, drawn in blood, covered the wall.
The blood streaking down the wall had turned brown, and large, unrecognizable characters were carved into it inside the hexagram.
“Oh, devil’s script!”
‘Great! Their reactions are good.’
I nodded approvingly from the side.
By the way, the characters inside the hexagram are written in Korean.
‘Congratulations; it’s my death day.’
Since no one would recognize it anyway, it didn’t matter.
I used the blood from the bottle as paint, using my hands as brushes and my whole body to paint the hexagon. As a result, the convent robe I had been wearing was now drenched in blood.
Ah, I truly look like a proper minion of the devil, and it feels good.
Satisfied with my handiwork, I smiled contently, causing the servants’ faces to pale. Someone shouted.
“The Duke! Go and inform the Duke!”
‘Good. Good. Go tell him! Hurry!’
“Th-then, seize the witch!”
However, no one dared to approach me rashly. Fear of black magic, I suppose.
I stood with my hands behind my back, leisurely waiting for Carlothian.
My heart pounded in my chest at the thought of him cutting me down with a single blow.
How long had passed? I heard the murmurs of the servants.
“What’s all the fuss about?”
“The, the Mistress. No, the sinner used black magic!”
“Black magic?”
Carlothian raised an eyebrow, speaking in a low voice. That dreaded sword, Deathrotea, was still hanging by his waist.
‘Good. If he swings that, it’ll be over in one fell swoop.’
The sword was long, and since his legs were also long, it didn’t drag on the ground. Wow, a tall and handsome man like him—what a waste!
“What is the meaning of this?”
Carlothian’s brow furrowed as he surveyed the room.
“You’ve been up to some strange antics.”
‘Yes! I’ve been up to strange antics! So hurry up and kill me!’
I suppressed my giddy excitement. Then, with wide eyes, I looked at him.
“Why did you do such a stupid thing?”
‘Huh, something seems a bit off.’
“I don’t sense anything. Have you forgotten how to use black magic?”
‘What?’
Did Carlothian actually know how to distinguish black magic? There was no such mention before!
I should have been informed about this crucial detail in advance!
‘Damn it!’
I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. What is going on? All my effort over the past few days has been for nothing!
“It’s nothing; don’t make a fuss. She seems to have some mental issues.”
Carlothian, with a furrowed brow, approached me as I was frantically messing up my hair. He then abruptly grabbed my wrist.
“Ah……!”
Ouch!
The wounds that hadn’t yet healed began to throb. Carlothian clicked his tongue and said,
“Treatment first. Summon a healer.”
“Yes, yes!”
‘Ah! Why is this happening?’
I looked up at him with a distressed expression. I had been holding out hope for him, and this is the outcome?
He stared at me for some reason, then grabbed my wrist and started dragging me away.
‘Where are you taking me? If you’re not going to kill me somewhere secretly, I don’t want to go!’
Above all, his grip on my wrist was excruciatingly painful. If you’re going to grab me, at least grab the one that doesn’t hurt!
As I twitched my hand a few times, Carlothian turned to look at me.
‘Oh, it hurts.’
Recognizing my lips’ movement, he sighed and released my hand. His palm was stained red. He looked down at his own hand.
“You dislike pain this much, yet you did such a thing. I don’t understand.”
‘Well, that’s because I thought you would just kill me!’
Isn’t that right? If I die, I won’t feel the pain anymore!
But regardless of whether he knew my true thoughts, he took me to where the healer was and insisted on having me fully treated.
He even treated the bruises on my face while he was at it. Haha, how diligent of him!
“The bruise on my neck still hasn’t disappeared.”
I laughed—a hollow, liberated laugh.
Carlothian quickly returned to his office when he saw that my wrist wounds had healed.
And I was bathed and placed in a new room by the servants.
The maids’ expressions were not very pleasant, perhaps because they were burdened with this troublesome task. But there was no help for it.
Only when he kills me will this be over.
‘I have to use a different strategy!’
I blinked my eyes, my face buried in the bedsheet.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
Thud.
The maids watched Ariadeline, who had buried her face in the bedsheet instead of wrapping it around her body, and cautiously stepped out of the room.
“Did you clean up all the sharp objects?”
“Yes.”
“And you took away the knife earlier, right?”
“Yes…….”
“Sigh…”
The maids sighed in unison. They were taken aback when she drew eerie patterns on the wall using blood!
It wasn’t a secret that she had cursed the saint with black magic.
In the maids’ eyes, it seemed that the mistress who returned was trying to use black magic again.
‘That’s nothing. It’s just a painting done with blood.’
When the Duke said that, I was skeptical. The Duke isn’t a priest.
However, when the maids washed Ariadeline, who had been covered in blood, they could tell that the former mistress was not in her right mind.
“She has wounds on her body…”
“Even the bruises on her face were startling. But the ones on her neck and all over her body—what on earth happened to her?”
“There were also so many knife wounds. What kind of ordeal did she go through outside the capital?”
The maids could not answer that question. A criminal who had been stripped of her noble status and exiled from the capital.
No one had ever pitied her, but seeing her in a pitiful state, they couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“To be honest, the mistress only caused trouble in her room and never raised her hand against the servants.”
“She even made sure we received treatment when we sustained injuries while cleaning up a broken vase.”
Ariadeline used to be sensitive and irritable, but now she’s become so active that calling her insane might not be an exaggeration.
Maybe she had already lost her mind from exhaustion.
“While she’s here, let’s take good care of her.”
“Yes…….”
The maids said so and guarded Ariadeline’s room.
Little did they know, her antics were far from over.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
Crash!
“Kaaaah!”
A loud scream echoed through the mansion. It came from the annex. The servants working there raised their heads in surprise.
‘Not again.’
“It’s Miss Ariadeline.”
“Has she caused an accident?”
🕴Thank you your work is *ho ho ho ho* very much so appreciate. Je te remercie!!!!