Episode 82

I found myself rushing into the chaos, a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Rosalind’s voice echoed sharply as she shouted someone’s name. The name sounded familiar, too familiar.

Then I saw him—a man gripped by the collar, held firmly in Igon’s hand, who had now reverted to his original appearance.

The face was one I knew well.

“Ash.”

I thought I had spoken his name, my lips moving instinctively, but it wasn’t me.

It was Kenneth, standing beside Igon, who called out his name.

Despite the sudden appearance of Duke Rodore and a woman Kenneth had never met, he showed no sign of surprise.

I glanced between Rosalind, Igon, and Kenneth, realizing I might be the only one startled here.

“How dare you…” Kenneth growled lowly, his voice brimming with layered emotions—disappointment, anger, and betrayal etched onto his face.

Unlike Kenneth’s furious expression as he glared daggers at Ash, Igon wore an unsettling calm, almost amused.

Igon’s eyes roamed slowly over Ash’s face, his gaze heavy and deliberate.

“So,” Igon murmured.

“We finally meet.”

His lips curled into a cruel, twisted smile.

“Like the rat you are… today is the day you die by my hands.”

Rosalind’s voice cut through, sharp and venomous, carrying an unfamiliar malevolence.

“You filthy rat… you’ll die today!”

And with that, she swung her fist directly into Ash’s face.

The dull thud of the impact rang out, followed by Ash’s pained cry.

“Ahhh!”

But Rosalind didn’t stop there.

Her fist connected again and again, striking Ash’s face repeatedly.

By the time Ash slumped lifelessly in Igon’s grasp, limp like a rag doll, his groans had faded into silence.

I stared in shock, my eyes darting between Rosalind, her bloodied fist, and Ash’s unconscious form.

What in the world just happened? This was absolute madness.

* * *

“Did you really come here knowing nothing?” Kenneth asked, and I nodded.

We stood off to one side, watching Igon and Rosalind murmuring to each other and moving quickly. They had laid Ash down in a corner and were now tearing open bags of flour to draw a massive magic circle on the ground.

Their skill was remarkable. While Rosalind’s adeptness as a mage was expected, I hadn’t thought Igon would be so proficient as well.

“Duke Rodore surprises me every time,” Kenneth murmured, and I found myself agreeing softly.

But Igon’s magical expertise wasn’t the question weighing on me now. I tapped Kenneth’s arm and pointed at Ash, sprawled unconscious on the magic circle.

I needed an explanation for Ash’s presence here.

Unlike Rosalind or Igon, who were bound by the principles of causality and knew things they shouldn’t, Kenneth wasn’t subject to such constraints. It made it easier to ask him questions.

Judging from the situation, it seemed Ash was the one Rosalind had vowed to kill.

I couldn’t say what sins Ash had committed, but recalling the piercing light in Igon’s eyes earlier, it was clear their animosity ran deep.

And then there was Kenneth.

It appeared Ash had even betrayed him.

Deceiving one of them would have been difficult enough, but tricking both? Ash must have been no ordinary man.

“This morning, Duke Rodore and that woman came to me,” Kenneth began, pulling a cigar from his pocket. Unlike his usual behavior, he didn’t light it.

He handed me one, and I frowned as I took it only to give it back. Kenneth unwrapped the foil from the cigar instead.

On the underside of the foil, a tiny magic circle was drawn—faint and cleverly concealed where the layers overlapped.

“Someone clearly set this up,” Kenneth said dryly.

“They told me I’d been brainwashed.”

Brainwashed? Since when?

“Not for long, if it’s true. Perhaps it happened around the time I sent you the letter…” Kenneth trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief.

Still holding the unwrapped cigar, he placed it between his lips.

If it were me, I wouldn’t even touch something tied to my own brainwashing. But Kenneth lit it as if it were nothing. Standing there with one hand in his pocket, he looked oddly casual, a stark contrast to his noble status.

“…They say he’s nearly three hundred years old,” Kenneth said suddenly.

What?

If I could speak, I would have shouted in shock, but all I could do was widen my eyes.

“That woman—he was her lover. He was researching immortality and incurred the wrath of the gods. They were cursed to kill each other and start anew in their next lives.”

Kenneth gestured at Ash, lying unconscious on the floor.

“But Ash—or rather, that man—killed the woman and faked his death to escape. She alone bore the curse, repeating her life over and over again.”

Causality.

Kenneth muttered the word as I turned my gaze to Rosalind.

Could everything Kenneth had just said be true?

Had Rosalind, so cautious about causality, truly revealed everything to him?

I couldn’t be certain, but I began to piece together fragments of the truth. The curse Rosalind had once spoken of—’to kill the one you love’—seemed to have started with that moment.

The reason she was trapped in the curse stemmed from the unresolved events of her first life, continuing to haunt her even now.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I rubbed my arms as Kenneth spoke again.

“That man deceived me,” Kenneth spat, his voice sharp.

“He deceived Count Duran as well.”

My brow furrowed. Ash had ties to the Count?

“That man is the creator of the monster in the Count’s estate.”

My jaw dropped.

Was Ash—no, ‘that man’—truly the one behind the dangerous beast that had plagued the Count’s home?

“I’m not denying my uncle’s crimes, but there were some suspicious aspects to them,” Kenneth said, his voice tinged with a faint bitterness, as if lamenting his inability to protect something precious.

The acrid smoke from his cigar made me step back a few paces.

“Lily.”

I turned at Igon’s voice.

He was brushing the flour off his hands, calling to me with a gentle smile.

Kenneth let out a low chuckle, shaking his head as if in disbelief. Then, he grabbed my arm as I moved toward Igon, leaning in to whisper in my ear.

“Don’t judge the Duke by his outward appearance and think he’s a kind man. You seem like someone who gives your heart away too easily.”

It sounded like he was mocking Igon for quickly shifting his affections from Evelyn to me.

But… both of them are me.

I suppressed my words with an awkward laugh and approached Igon.

As I drew closer, Igon pulled me into an embrace, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“What did he say to you?” he asked.

Though his lips curled into a smile, his eyes burned with a ferocity that sent a chill through me. I lightly tapped his arm, signaling him to calm down.

“Damn it,” Rosalind cursed, breaking the tense moment.

She had been preparing the magic circle when her curses began pouring out in a stream.

“It’s just an empty shell,” she said, shaking Ash’s body, which wobbled lifelessly like a rag doll.

“He escaped.”

I had wondered why Ash, supposedly unconscious, wasn’t showing signs of waking up—now it made sense.

Rosalind buried her face in her hands, while Igon remained silent.

‘Is he disappointed?’

I didn’t know why, but it seemed Igon had been earnest in his search for Ash. To lose him now, after finally finding him, must have stung.

“Go to Kenneth,” Igon said, gently pushing me away.

It was clear he wanted to speak with Rosalind alone.

I hesitated but eventually turned toward Kenneth, glancing back at Igon.

That’s when things took an unexpected turn.

Igon looked between Ash’s body and Rosalind before suddenly grabbing her by the neck and slamming her to the ground.

“Ugh! Ugh!” Rosalind choked, coughing violently as she struggled beneath him.

But Igon’s expression remained cold and detached as he held her down, his grip unyielding.

“Duke!” Kenneth shouted, realizing the situation was spiraling out of control.

Igon didn’t move, his piercing gaze fixed on Rosalind.

“Foolish creature,” he growled in a low voice. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice you slipping in there?”

“Get out,” he commanded.

Rosalind, pinned beneath him, twisted her body desperately. Then, she looked at me, her voice frantic as she cried out.

“Lily, something’s wrong with the Duke! I think Ash has possessed him!”

Help me!

Her plea was urgent and sincere, her face etched with panic.

I turned to Kenneth in confusion, but he looked just as shocked as I felt.

If Ash had entered Rosalind’s body, when had it happened?

How had Igon realized something I hadn’t?

And if Rosalind’s consciousness wasn’t in her body, where was it?

Questions flooded my mind.

“Help me! If I die here, you’ll never be able to catch Ash again!” Rosalind cried.

Her familiar face, the hands that had helped me before, reached out toward me.

I stepped closer to them.

“Don’t come any closer. Stay where you are,” Igon commanded, barring me from entering the magic circle.

I saw his grip on her neck tighten.

“Cough! Cough! …He’s lying! He doesn’t want you inside the circle because it would disrupt the magic!”

One of them was lying, and I knew who it was.

Of course, it wasn’t Igon.

I waited just beyond the magic circle, hoping for the situation to resolve.

Rosalind—or rather, Ash—finally gave up struggling and escaped in their own way.

A gasping sound burst from Ash’s body, as if he had surfaced from underwater, while Rosalind’s body rose to its feet.

Igon offered his hand to her, but she didn’t take it.

“Always causing chaos until the very end…” Rosalind muttered hoarsely, her voice raspy from being choked.

Before Ash could regain his composure, she activated the magic circle.

Chains of light sprouted from the ground, wrapping tightly around Ash’s body.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Ash screamed, thrashing against the glowing restraints as they began to sap his vitality.

His youthful face rapidly aged, wrinkles deepening until all that remained was bone.

Even then, his skeletal remains wailed in despair before disintegrating into dust, scattering into the air.

It was over.

Though I hadn’t done anything, an overwhelming exhaustion washed over me.

My legs nearly gave out, but Igon caught me, lifting me into his arms.

“It’s over. Now we can all come down from this,” he said softly.

Come down? From where?

“Finally, finally,” Igon murmured, repeating the words as though overwhelmed with emotion.

He rested his head against me, and I wrapped my arms tightly around him.

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