Chapter 8
Section 2. The Exchange
“How unfortunate for you. I don’t need your help anymore.”
“I know how to stop the demon’s curse.”
Holdin added immediately.
“I tried to break the Grand Duke’s curse, but it was useless. However, I learned this as a result of that failure. This will surely be of help to you, my lady.”
“…….”
Holdin was right.
Opportunities to get what you want without a price are rare.
But could I trust their words?
As I pondered, Holdin added, sounding desperate.
“I won’t interfere with whatever you wish for after summoning the demon. I just want to find a clue to break the Grand Duke’s curse.”
“So, your proposal is this: I help you successfully summon the demon, and in return, I give you the chance to speak with it?”
“Yes. And you must let us live and return safely.”
“Hmm.”
“I am certain this is not a bad deal for you, my lady.”
Holdin was confident.
I pretended to think for a moment before asking Deyan.
“What do you think? Your subordinate has offered me a deal using your blood.”
“Honestly, I would like to refuse.”
I’m sure you would. You’ve been trying to persuade me to change my mind the moment you saw my face today.
However, it didn’t seem like Holdin had made the offer to me on his own.
“But looking at the Grand Duchess’s reaction, it seems you won’t give up easily.”
He meant it would be better to just take the mutual benefits from the deal.
“You saw right through me.”
I said it lightly and took the key from my pocket.
With the sound of metal interlocking, the dungeon door opened.
“Shall we move to a different location first?”
I led them out of the dungeon and headed toward the main building.
Deyan, who had been following me obediently, suddenly opened his mouth.
“I have one thing I would like to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“How on earth did you arrive at the conclusion of summoning a demon?”
“Let’s just say I realized my place early on.”
I glanced to the side, and Deyan was looking down at me.
“Is the information on the summoning magic reliable?”
“Yes. I confiscated it from the black market.”
As if I wouldn’t have verified it properly.
I smiled sweetly at Deyan, who still looked skeptical, and changed the subject.
“I would like to ask you something as well. How did the Nemanich family come to trade with demons for generations?”
“That is not a trade.”
“It is a trade.”
Deyan denied it, but I retorted firmly.
“If you only suffered losses, it would be a curse, but you gained the power of immortality, didn’t you?”
“Do you desire power?”
“No. I desire revenge.”
“What will you do once you find the culprit?”
“Well. I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
There was no need to tell him every little detail.
I brushed it off vaguely and quickened my pace. However, Deyan caught up to me with ease.
‘His legs are unnecessarily long, too.’
As I grumbled inwardly, he asked again.
“Is that your personality?”
“What is?”
“Smiling like that.”
“…….”
My, he talks a lot.
I kept the smile on my face and ignored his comment.
‘Asking about everything.’
As if I go around grinning all the time because I have a good personality.
Fortunately, we arrived at our destination, so the conversation didn’t continue.
The destination was, of course, the room where I had attempted the summoning magic.
I unlocked the door and let them inside.
“Here it is.”
“Hah. You’re quite serious about this.”
Holdin let out a remark that sounded like a sarcastic compliment and wandered around the magic circle.
“May I take a closer look?”
“Go ahead.”
When I gave permission, Holdin scanned the characters with a serious gaze.
After examining the magic circle for a while, he pointed to a corner.
“There is an error here. It seems the characters were erased because the material is old.”
After pointing out a few mistakes, Holdin corrected the magic circle himself and straightened his back.
I watched him closely.
“It’s done. You may begin.”
Soon, Holdin stepped back from the magic circle.
I took out the dagger I had prepared and approached Deyan.
‘All this for just a few drops of blood.’
Deyan’s shoulders were stiff with tension.
Knowing his own condition well, he must be sensitive even to small wounds.
“Are you okay?”
“……Yes.”
“May I?”
When I asked to confirm, he parted his lips, then held out his palm to me.
Deyan said in his characteristic low voice.
“I will do it myself.”
Meaning, give me the dagger.
“Hmm, yes. Go ahead.”
I hesitated for a moment, then turned the handle.
As I pretended to hand the dagger to Deyan, I quickly checked on Holdin.
He was watching us with an expressionless face, but he couldn’t hide the way his Adam’s apple bobbed.
‘Why are they so nervous…….’
I suppressed the urge to sneer.
Why was I so bothered by the wide window behind Holdin and the straight line between him and Deyan?
‘Just as I thought.’
Indeed, one should not trust people easily.
Especially not a knight from an enemy nation.
‘To think they’d underestimate me!’
I gripped Deyan’s wrist while simultaneously turning the handle in my hand.
*Slash!*
And without hesitation, I sliced the inside of his palm.
“Argh……!”
In an instant, his skin split, the muscle tore, and bright red blood spilled out.
Deyan hurriedly tried to shake me off.
‘I won’t let go.’
I dropped the dagger and clung to his hand.
“Giselle!”
Deyan’s blood dripped onto the floor, but the magic circle did not react.
Holdin had pulled a cheap trick.
“Take care of Holdin!”
“Yes!”
“Argh! Don’t come near me!”
Holdin made a huge fuss, dodging Giselle’s sword.
“A trade, you say?”
What a joke! Neither they nor I had ever intended for such a thing from the start.
‘That’s why you pulled a stunt like this!’
I didn’t loosen my grip on Deyan.
As I clung to him desperately, Deyan’s face twisted, and anxiety clouded his expression as he looked at the fleeing Holdin.
“Grand Duchess!”
“You were the one who betrayed me first, so why are you angry at me?”
If I could just get the blood, these people were unnecessary.
I dug my nails into Deyan’s palm, where the wound was already trying to heal.
“Ugh!”
‘This is my country.’
The only piece that should be able to move freely on the board I’ve set is me.
As I applied force and gouged his wound, thick blood seeped out.
Deyan, his eyes dyed deep red, glared at me.
‘So what?’
You were the ones who tried to deceive me with petty tricks first, weren’t you?
I simply didn’t let my guard down until the end.
“Let go!”
He roared like a beast and half-threw me aside.
I stood up abruptly, clutching my blood-stained fist. Then, I bolted toward the door.
“Giselle, kill that bastard and get out of there! It doesn’t matter if you let that man escape!”
I ordered Giselle and slipped out the door.
As soon as I wedged the bar I had prepared into the door handle, the door began to rattle violently from the inside.
“Grand Duchess, please give up! The demon will not be controlled by your will!”
Did he really think I hadn’t considered even that?
I lightly ignored Deyan’s warning.
‘What I’m about to do isn’t for my own good.’
Revenge. What a sweet resonance.
There is no demon who dislikes that.
Even if the demon destroys me, if I can grab the culprit by the hair and fall into hell together, that place is my heaven.
“I’m sorry, but if I were going to give up at those words, I would have done so long ago.”
Leaving that one quiet remark behind, I turned around.
‘That’s it. It starts now.’
The most important ingredient was on my hands, and everything was prepared.
‘If only I can succeed in the summoning……!’
That was when it happened.
*Crrrk.*
The sound of the door behind me being ripped off its hinges caught my attention.
“What kind of human strength is this……!”
Deyan was breaking the door to catch me.
“Grand Duchess, please, listen to me!”
Through the gap in the broken door, I met his eyes, which were stained red.
‘I have to get to the magic circle quickly.’
I ran down the hallway, possessed by the single-minded goal of summoning the demon.
With a terrifying sound, the door was finally smashed, and Deyan began to chase after me with frightening momentum.
I increased my speed accordingly.
“I will cooperate instead! If your goal is to find the culprit and take revenge, I will……!”
Whatever Deyan was pleading from behind, I couldn’t hear a word of it.
I ran, looking only forward.
‘The magic circle.’
The magic circle. The magic circle. The magic circle!
Success was right before my eyes.
I couldn’t fail so pointlessly here. I ran with only that thought in mind.
0 Comments