NOVPUB“Didn’t I warn you?”
“To stay put.”
Ludger’s chilling voice coiled around Krolro’s entire being like a serpent.
“Or did my warning sound like nonsense to you?”
“N-no! Not at all!”
Krolro felt a terror unlike anything he’d known—a fear that he might actually die in this very moment.
His stiffened lips barely moved as he desperately tried to explain himself.
“A-at first I did intend to stay still. I really did. But that monster! That demon kept watching me!”
“Watching you?”
“It was watching me, observing me constantly, threatening my life! I—I just wanted to be left alone!”
“......”
“B-but look! Look now! I finally caught that demon!”
Krolro shouted at Ludger, his expression twisted in a mix of sobbing and laughter.
He pointed at the girl he had just been strangling, now collapsed and unconscious.
Ludger’s eyes widened when he saw who it was.
‘Joanna Lovett?’
There was no mistake.
The one who had been choked unconscious by Krolro was Joanna Lovett of the Black Dawn Society.
Ludger had thought Krolro had lost his mind, hallucinated, and attacked someone innocent.
‘That easily?’
No—more importantly, how had she been taken down by someone like Krolro Febius? Based on her abilities, that should’ve been impossible.
‘But that really is the real Joanna Lovett lying there.’
Ludger covered his mouth with his hand, processing everything in rapid thought.
Krolro glanced at Ludger, trying to gauge his reaction, then cautiously asked:
“W-what do you think?”
“I don’t need the details right now. First, let’s—”
Ludger had meant to say they should move the unconscious Joanna somewhere else.
But just then—
“Mr. Ludger!”
From the alley’s entrance, a panicked voice called out.
Selina was running toward them.
Ah—damn it.
Ludger suddenly became fully aware of the scene he was standing in.
A dark alley, Krolro Febius in a half-deranged state, a Seorn student unconscious on the ground—and Ludger standing right there with them.
To anyone, it would look exactly like a crime scene.
“Uh?”
Selina stopped in her tracks, having just witnessed the scene for herself.
Her eyes went wide as she covered her mouth with both hands, her entire expression frozen in shock.
‘She saw it.’
At this point, Ludger had no choice. He would have to immediately hit Krolro with magic and sever all connection to the situation.
That was the only way to put out the immediate fire.
But what came after would be the real problem.
‘Judging by Krolro’s current state, even if he’s arrested on the spot, no one would question it. Since it’s the middle of the festival, they won’t act on it right away—but they’ll keep him detained until it’s over.’
The problem was that such an incident would draw attention.
And once that happened, the goal of ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) resolving this quietly would go up in smoke.
Even so, getting through this current moment unscathed was the top priority.
“Miss Selina. This is, well—”
“Ah... ahh...”
Selina suddenly swayed—and fainted.
Ludger rushed forward and caught her before her body could hit the ground.
‘Did the shock make her pass out?’
Given Selina’s sensitive nature, Ludger found the idea entirely believable.
Maybe, in a way, this was for the best.
If he told Krolro Febius to disappear right now, the whole incident could still be swept under the rug.
“Ah... aaaah...”
But Krolro was acting strangely.
The man who had been ranting in joy just moments ago, claiming to have caught a demon, was now trembling and pointing a shaky finger at Ludger.
No—he wasn’t pointing at Ludger himself.
‘What the hell is he doing now?’
Ludger was just about to snap back at him when he noticed something off.
Krolro wasn’t pointing at him.
He was pointing at the woman Ludger was holding.
At Selina.
Why?
───!
Just as Ludger was about to ask, a wave of chilling energy ran down his spine.
His gaze instinctively shifted to the Selina in his arms.
‘Her presence... it’s changed?’
He had just confirmed moments ago that she was unconscious—so how could she suddenly be awake?
Before he could fully process what was happening, Selina’s right hand moved and clutched Ludger’s collar.
“Aaah. Really now...”
Her rose-colored lips parted—but the voice that emerged wasn’t Selina’s.
The cheerful, gentle voice had transformed—now it was sharp, venomous, like the thorn of a poisoned rose.
Ludger had heard this voice before.
To be precise—deep in the forest, in the dead of night, when he encountered Esmeralda.
“I was planning to stay quiet at least until the end of the festival. So why do you keep stirring up trouble?”
Selina opened her eyes.
But they were no longer the soft violet they had been.
They were now blood-red—like twin rubies embedded in her skull.
‘Her eyes... changed color?’
And it didn’t stop there.
Her trademark pink hair began to darken from the tips upward, the color fading into black.
The transformation was clearly influenced by magic.
“At this rate, I feel like an idiot for patiently waiting for the promised time.”
Still in Ludger’s arms, Selina—no, Esmeralda—lifted her head and turned to face Krolro with a seductive smile.
Krolro trembled as though he had come face-to-face with a reaper rising out of hell.
“Y-you’re...”
“It’s been a while, Krolro Febius. Have you been well?”
“Y-yeah. That’s right. It was you! It was you all along! Esmeralda!”
“You remember me? I’m touched. Then I guess you also know what I’m going to do to you?”
“Hiiiiik! Please! Don’t kill me! I don’t want to die!”
Krolro clutched his head and screamed in pain, yanking at his own hair.
His mind, which had been barely holding together until now, collapsed the moment he came face-to-face with the one who had come to kill him.
Esmeralda pointed a finger at him.
Krolro let out a strangled noise, his eyes rolled back—and he passed out.
“I’m not killing him. Not yet.”
Ludger still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Miss Selina was Esmeralda? She was a First Order?
But until now, he’d never once felt anything suspicious from Selina.
That wasn’t something that could be hidden by acting alone.
Ludger reached a conclusion in that moment.
“You have a split personality.”
“Oh my.”
Esmeralda gave him a teasing smile, as if just noticing him now.
“That’s right—you’re here too, aren’t you? Nice to finally meet you, John Doe. This is our first direct encounter, isn’t it? Makes sense. You’ve been hiding your identity under Zero Order’s orders, and I’ve always stayed hidden too. Even during the First Order meetings.”
Meetings. Concealed identities.
Ludger engraved those details into his memory as he opened his mouth.
“I’m impressed. I didn’t expect you to replace an existing personality and create an entirely new one.”
To alter the very structure of her mana—changing not only her hair and eye color, but even her entire demeanor.
This wasn’t merely a mental illness like dissociative identity disorder.
It truly felt as though two completely separate beings coexisted within the same body.
“Incredible. You figured it out so quickly?”
Esmeralda sounded genuinely surprised—but her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Ludger maintained a composed expression as he fell into thought.
‘It’s not so strange. Even Quasimodo, the creature Esmeralda commands, is a fusion of human grudge and nature spirits.’
So the persona of Selina had been crafted long ago for the sake of hiding Esmeralda’s identity.
In other words, Esmeralda had lived as Selina while secretly transforming into herself during moments of revenge—killing off the Febius family one by one.
‘The name Selina definitely had a verifiable past. She must have been operating under it for years.’
But living a double life like that for so long—sooner or later, you’d leave a trail.
And yet, Selina had made it all the way into Seorn without arousing a single doubt.
‘Because someone was backing her.’
And of course, there was only one group that could do that.
The Black Dawn Society.
Esmeralda must have joined them in exchange for their assistance in her revenge.
‘Now the entire puzzle falls into place.’
Then, the unconscious Joanna Lovett lying there—she must be the third unknown survivor of the Great Fire of Roteng.
A Second Order in the Black Dawn Society—directly under Esmeralda.
Her hostility toward Krolro made sense—she had experienced the events of that day firsthand.
‘A grave mistake.’
To have a First Order this close the entire time—and not realize it.
Even knowing no one could have noticed unless they knew the future, Ludger still struggled to shake off the shock.
But while his mind reeled, his mouth moved on its own, almost mechanically.
“So, what now, Esmeralda? Are you going to kill him?”
Revealing herself like this meant she was ready to exact her revenge.
“Him?”
Esmeralda shook her head.
“I’m not killing him.”
“You’ve abandoned your revenge?”
“I told you. Not yet.”
That man—who had once lured and deceived the innocent girl she used to be.
Now broken, hollowed out, a shadow of his former self. And yet, her hatred for him remained.
“This awakening... I didn’t plan it. I didn’t expect Selina to faint in a place like this.”
“What, the two of you don’t share memories?”
“Well, obviously not. If we did, do you think poor little Selina would’ve been able to hide her true identity so flawlessly?”
Ludger nodded. It made sense—and in that moment, he understood the nature of the relationship between Esmeralda and Selina.
They shared the same body—but they were completely separate beings.
Call it dissociative identity disorder or what you will, but the two of them did not share memories.
‘That’s why... they could command different spirits.’
Selina used intermediate wind, earth, and water spirits.
But Esmeralda controlled Quasimodo, the twisted spirit of fire.
Their ability to form contracts with entirely different spirits was possible only because they were fundamentally distinct entities.
“She doesn’t know anything. And because of that, she’s pure. She’s... lovely. Just like I was, back then—before I knew anything.”
Esmeralda murmured as if recalling the days she spent in the village of Roteng. Her eyes then snapped toward the unconscious Krolro, flaring with cold fury.
It was clear—she wanted to kill him. The bloodlust rolling off her was suffocating.
But her reason barely held her back.
Watching this unfold, Ludger slowly clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘Now. Is it possible?’
His eyes scanned rapidly.
Esmeralda was completely distracted. Her focus was entirely on Krolro. She was completely open.
If he launched a surprise attack now—he could kill her.
Could he?
Just for a moment, Selina’s face overlapped with Esmeralda’s.
If he killed Esmeralda here, Selina would die too. They shared the same body.
Esmeralda was the Black Dawn Society’s First Order. Definitely an enemy.
But Selina?
Was she really his enemy?
‘Make a choice...’
He had to decide. If not now, there would be no second chance.
But even as his mind screamed at him to strike, his body refused to move.
Ludger closed his eyes and let the tension drain from his shoulders.
Even if he tried to kill her now, there was no guarantee it would work.
From the moment Esmeralda had opened her eyes, Ludger could sense it—she was fully aware of him.
‘She’s been watching me.’
That unwavering gaze.
While Esmeralda appeared to be fixated on Krolro, the one truly watching Ludger was someone else.
Quasimodo.
The twisted spirit of fire and grudge.
‘That thing... it’s wary of me.’
It hadn’t forgotten what Ludger had done to it at the banquet hall.
For now, it remained still—likely because it was under Esmeralda’s control.
But the silent heat and pressure emanating from it screamed a clear warning: Do not try anything foolish.
If Ludger made a move now, this alley—and everything around it—would become a sea of fire.
With the festival nearby, crowds of people filled the streets. The aftermath would be catastrophic.
Many would die.
‘No choice, then.’
At least Esmeralda didn’t intend to kill Krolro right away.
And this incident in the alley—if handled carefully—could still be kept secret.
But only four days remained.
Within that time, Ludger would have to decide.
“I’ll be going now.”
Right on cue, Esmeralda finally spoke.
“Going? How?”
“Take good care of Selina. Judging by her reaction, she doesn’t seem to dislike you.”
Saying only what she wanted, Esmeralda suddenly staggered to the side as though her body were giving out.
Ludger caught her naturally, stopping her from collapsing to the ground.
Her once-black hair had returned to pink.
‘The original Selina is back. Even seeing it, it’s hard to believe. First, I need to move her.’
But what to do about the unconscious Krolro Febius and Joanna Lovett?
Transporting all of them with magic would take time—and if anyone witnessed the scene before he finished, it would cause complications.
He needed another pair of hands.
Luckily, there was someone perfect for this kind of job.
Ludger immediately took out a portable communicator.
“It’s me. I’ll send you the coordinates. Come right away.”
Roughly three minutes passed.
Then, a figure appeared at the mouth of the alley.
“Y-you called for me!”
Sedina Roschen came rushing in, panting. In one hand, she held a freshly grilled sausage. In the other, a lollipop.
She even had a headband on her head.
“...I see you’re enjoying the festival.”
She had insisted she wouldn’t go when he told her to take the day off from the faculty office.
But now that the festival had begun, it seemed she was enjoying herself after all.
And honestly, seeing her like this—she looked very much like the student she was.
“Ah!”
Sedina hurriedly dropped the food in her hands and pulled off the headband in embarrassment.
“S-sorry.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I told you to enjoy the festival.”
“But... why did you call for me...?”
Without a word, Ludger pointed at the unconscious Krolro Febius and Joanna Lovett.
“Clean those two up.”
Assistants really did come in handy at times like this.
