NOVPUB"..."
"..."
An uncomfortable silence filled the basement.
Even the ominous energy saturating the place seemed awkwardly hesitant, as if unsure how to act.
The demon worshiper, Kella, who had cornered the young lady.
The commander of the knights, Kairen, who sought to protect her.
And in the midst of their fierce standoff, something that should never have happened... happened.
The young lady came back to life.
With her mind fully restored in a glorious resurrection, both the demon worshiper who had wielded her as leverage, and the knight commander who’d burned with hatred at that threat, now stood awkward and out of place.
The topaz that made up Verdandes’ Eye sparkled obliviously.
Of course, they weren’t just anyone.
They swiftly regained their composure, and once again the suffocating tension returned.
Even the ominous presence thick in the air seemed to amplify, feeding off the resumed tension.
Fwip!
It was a sudden strike—
like a flow of sand cascading down a dune.
A drawn blade pierced the demon worshiper’s body. The movement unfolded in one seamless arc.
Before anyone realized it, the commander of the Moonshadow Knights stood before her.
With an unusually shaped dagger embedded in her side.
It was already a lethal blow, and with just a bit more force, it would tear through her core and lead to certain death.
Some call the Moonshadow Knights by a slanderous nickname: assassins.
It stems from a mix of awe and resentment toward their unreasonable yet precise secret techniques.
The death blow, executed without sound or fanfare, was eerily dry.
The Moonshadow Knights’ secret technique—Sand Step—had been unleashed.
"...!"
The demon worshiper had already shed most of the physical constraints of her body.
Wounds and the pain that followed them held little meaning for her now.
Yet her expression held a clear trace of shock.
Fragments of humanity she had yet to fully discard stirred within her—reminding her of the fear of death.
Had she not received a share of His power,
she wouldn’t have dared raise her head before this man.
She would have surrendered her life to him without resistance.
Before becoming a demon worshiper, she had been a Dark Elf.
And now, face to face with the famed commander of the Moonshadow Knights, she trembled anew.
What an absurd strike this was.
What an absurd force he wielded.
And again, she trembled—
This time, at herself.
At the fact that she could now face such a man as an equal—perhaps even as his superior.
At the one who had granted her this power.
She had absorbed only a fragment of the strength sealed within Verdandes’ Eye—
And even that had made her this strong.
If she were to accept the entirety of the being sealed within Verdandes’ Hand—
If the full force, dulled by the seal, were to be restored—
Haa.
The demon worshiper’s face lit up with anticipation for what lay ahead.
"Getting nervous?"
The knight commander, who had clearly established his upper hand through brute force and was steering the exchange like an interrogation, had just opened his mouth when the demon worshiper cut in, stealing the momentum.
With a voice not of pain or fear, but brimming with exhilaration and pleasure.
"...!"
Kairen was momentarily overwhelmed by her grotesque delight.
And Kella didn’t miss the opening in his emotions.
Kella’s hand touched the one gripping Kairen’s sword.
Gently at first, then forcefully—
like a snake coiling tighter and tighter, she yanked his hand toward her with all her strength.
Fwuuk!
Just like that, she drove the remaining blade deep into her own body.
"Haa..."
A melting sigh escaped Kella’s lips.
She was thrilled to prove she could withstand a man like Kairen—
and thrilled to declare it aloud.
"I understand. You had no choice but to rush."
Her tone shifted.
She shed all remnants of the Dark Elf hidden under the shadows of Kehlin and the Moonshadow Knights—
and now stood as the envoy of a great being, facing a pitiful mortal.
"You still don’t know anything, do you?"
"..."
The fact that the Sand Step strike hadn’t resulted in death was surprising,
but not enough to throw Kairen into confusion.
The moment he entered the basement and felt the ominous energy crawling across his skin,
he had already begun considering every possibility.
Even now, he could have easily thrown off her grasp and torn that defenseless body apart.
He felt the urge to test it—
Would she really feel no pain?
Could she still run her mouth so smugly?
But the reason he couldn’t bring himself to do it—
was because Kella was right.
He didn’t know.
What rippled through the calm lake of his heart wasn’t the demon worshiper’s power—
but the unknown threat endangering the young lady and the young master.
It was that very threat that had driven him to abandon his principles and infiltrate the enemy’s lair so recklessly.
He had tried to act first.
But truthfully, it was already far too late.
The battle had begun long ago—
when that demon worshiper, Kella, first approached the defenseless young master.
How many moves had she made since then?
He had no way of knowing.
But one thing was certain—
that this grotesque and wicked worshiper had thoroughly entangled the young master.
And perhaps even the young lady as well.
Kairen’s energy waned. He instinctively shifted into a more defensive posture.
Kella smiled with satisfaction and gently stroked his chin.
"A wise choice. As a reward, I’ll tell you one thing. Drian—his true condition.
Your young lady must have used some kind of method, and yes, he’s regained consciousness for now.
But don’t get comfortable.
Because at this very moment, he’s in the same state as me—just with a different degree of corruption."
"You can't mean...!"
Kairen’s face contorted in horror.
Kella twisted into a delighted, monstrous grin.
"That’s right. He’s become, just like me, a part of Lord Verdandes.
Sure, he might be putting on a calm face right now—
but inside, he’s rotting from the presence of the demon his ancestors sealed away."
***
"Mmm..."
The Dark Elf sat perched on the windowsill, lost in thought.
Bathed in golden sunlight, he truly looked the part of the Sahila family’s beloved heir—
Drian.
"I feel like I’m forgetting something..."
He examined his current state closely.
Trying to figure out how he’d awakened in this strange yet welcoming place.
But in the end, he could recall nothing.
His body was far too clean—
too spotless for him to even begin piecing things together.
It felt like all the filth that once clung to him had been washed away—
along with the memories of it.
"Well... guess it doesn’t matter."
And so, Drian felt nothing but peace.
Feeling hungry, he stepped out of the bedroom.
A grand dining table came into view.
The living room—neat and warm.
And Drian immediately understood.
This meal had been freshly prepared, again and again, every single day—
for whenever he might finally awaken.
He felt the warmth of that care fill his chest.
He smiled.
Drian was happy.
***
"..."
Hearing Kella’s words and imagining Drian’s current state, Kairen’s face twisted in agony.
She wasted no time in digging deeper into the fracture in his heart.
She pressed her body against his, whispering close to his ear—
"And when she finds out... how do you think Katria will react?"
"..."
"True despair only comes after hope. Just watch."
She showed him Verdandes’ Eye, gleaming brightly in her hand.
"You’ve seen how poor the young lady’s condition has been lately, haven’t you?"
Of course.
Those lifeless, deadened eyes.
Kairen remembered her precarious state clearly.
She had been standing on the very edge.
One more step, and she would’ve collapsed.
"And in that state...
what happens when she learns her brother has become part demon?"
"..."
"What happens when she realizes...
that for the sake of the family, she has to kill him with her own hands?"
Kairen’s eyes trembled.
Kella stared directly into them and said—
"It’s hard to accept.
But you’d better start.
Because the only one who can save ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) your young lady... is me."
***
Katria let out a scoffing laugh, one step short of bursting into a full smile.
The expression of resignation and defeat she had worn only moments before vanished without a trace.
She had tried to hold it in.
"Saebaekryeon... So that soup back then had Saebaekryeon in it? But it was delicious!
And it was poison?"
But after seeing the look on Lisir’s face as he answered—
she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
That serious face, saying something so ridiculous—
it completely shattered the weight of her own guilt and resolution.
So Katria had no choice but to laugh.
And to question her own ears.
"Lisir. Is that really the reaction you think fits this situation?"
Meltas seemed just as baffled. He asked with a troubled expression—
"Honestly, I’m confused too. What am I even supposed to feel here?
I want to feel betrayed, but the Saebaekryeon was so sweet.
I want to be grateful, but then again, you fed me literal poison."
"From a normal human’s perspective," Meltas said,
"focusing on the intent usually helps in times like this."
"Intent... That’s a good one."
Lisir turned to Katria.
Intent.
His look was as blank as if asking for water.
"..."
Katria was at a loss for words.
She had never intended to explain her actions.
It was a defense mechanism—born from the fear that she’d never be forgiven.
And also from guilt—
the guilt that maybe, just maybe, he would forgive her.
But Lisir’s attitude right now—
wasn’t accusing, nor reproachful, nor pleading.
It was just... pure curiosity.
Katria had prepared herself for every possible reaction from Lisir—hatred, resentment, disgust.
But this?
This, she hadn’t imagined at all.
And before she realized it, her mouth had already started moving on its own.
“So?”
It flowed out.
“Oh. And then?”
It flowed even more.
“My goodness, really? And then what happened?”
On and on and on.
“...So that’s what happened.”
“...!”
Oh no.
By the time she came to her senses, she had already spilled everything. Every last thing.
Lisir, having heard it all, began to mutter to himself as he moved his hands like he was solving an equation.
“I get it. Tia had every reason to misunderstand. Her brother had been sold as a slave—no way she could think straight. I’d probably feel the same if it were my little sister. And you did try to make it right.”
Finally, he nodded and said,
“Well then, shall we pretend none of this ever happened?”
“I—”
Katria was so stunned she tried to say something.
But she was too stunned to get the words out properly.
“I tried to hurt you...!?”
What came out was a dazed, ridiculous tone.
Her voice cracked sharply.
And it sounded eerily similar to when she was pretending to be a cheerful maid.
“It’s fine. Seems like I’m the type who doesn’t get hurt by that sort of thing.”
“...”
It wasn’t bravado.
It wasn’t boasting.
Just a plain statement of fact.
Katria stared blankly at Lisir, dumbfounded.
“Lisir... Just so you know, Clouded Truth is one of the deadliest poisons on the continent.
There’s no known cure.
Anyone who drinks it meets a horrible end.”
“How horrible, exactly?”
“It turns the drinker into a shell—only responsive to specific commands.”
“...Ah. Sounds kinda familiar.”
“Familiar?”
“There was a friend who tried something similar on me once.”
“...! What happened to them!?”
“Turned out they were a pretty good person.”
“...?”
“We cleared up the misunderstanding. We get along well enough now.”
“...You’re... what should I even call you—unbelievably magnanimous. Excessively so.”
“Ayoo, magnanimous? That’s a bit much.”
Lisir chuckled awkwardly.
This man...
He was actually embarrassed.
After all the absurd things he’d gone through—
he blushed at being called “magnanimous.”
“...”
“...”
Katria and Meltas stared at Lisir with stunned faces.
...It was winter.
***
The incident that should’ve turned everything upside down passed by without incident.
Katria was still reeling in disbelief when—
“Oh, right. Tia.”
Lisir suddenly addressed her, as if something had come to mind.
“Oh.”
Katria, too, seemed to remember something.
“It’s Katria.”
“Hm?”
“My real name. It’s Katria.”
It was late, but she finally told him everything.
Showed him her true self for the first time.
And in doing so, she felt a strange mix of relief and joy.
That maybe now, they could finally build something real between them.
“...!”
Lisir was the one struck speechless this time.
“Kar... tia...? No, Katria...? So you’ve been lying to me this whole time...?”
“...?”
Katria was bewildered.
She’d given him Clouded Truth, made him drink Saebaekryeon, possessed him with a demon—and he had laughed all of that off.
But this was where he felt betrayed?
“Lisir...? I’m sorry...”
“...Yeah, well. I guess that happens.”
Lisir gave a bitter smile.
Katria started to feel guilty...
and then suddenly didn’t.
She felt too indignant to feel guilty anymore.
If he was going to feel betrayed, he should’ve felt it then, not now.
“Anyway, what I was going to say—Katria. Should I give it back?”
“Give back...?”
“I mean, Clouded Truth and Saebaekryeon are already digested, so too late for that.
But Verdandes... that, I might be able to return.”
“...?”
Katria was struck by intense cognitive dissonance.
He was talking about hosting a powerful demon as casually as returning a borrowed wrench.
“Return it? How exactly...? No, more importantly—are you really okay!?”
“Again? Ah, you mean Verdandes? Don’t worry. That guy, actually—”
Ah. Right.
Now that she thought about it, the one who sealed Verdandes had been a hero of the Dark Elves.
And Katria was likely that hero’s descendant.
Lisir nodded to himself.
Truth wasn’t always what mattered.
There was such a thing as a white lie.
To protect the pride of the Dark Elves,
Lisir was happy to tell one.
“He’s actually a monstrously powerful demon, right?”
“...He is, isn’t he?”
“Honestly, it still gives me chills thinking about it.
How cruel he was—
but I got lucky.”
Lisir pulled a black orb from his hand and offered it to Katria.
“...What is this?”
“Verdandes.”
“?”
“...or... what used to be?”
“...?”
“Anyway, he said this is his core.”
Katria instinctively took the black orb in her hand.
“I’ll return what’s still inside—once I figure out how.”
Lisir tapped his own head.
“...Okay!”
A bright and cheerful answer!
Katria gave up on trying to understand.
Meltas looked on with great satisfaction.
***
All things considered, the outcome couldn’t have been better.
Everything was resolved.
Drian and Lisir were safe and sound.
Now the only thing left was to properly reward their savior.
“Kairen!”
Katria returned to Lady Reisha’s estate with spring in her step.
She wanted to share all that had happened—the joy of it—with her knight.
“...Kairen?”
He was there.
“My lady.”
With her.
Kella.
As Katria laid eyes on the woman, her thoughts scattered.
Then came the shock.
Then came the hostility.
“You’re the one who—Drian’s—”
The clues clicked.
She saw the full picture now.
Kella responded with a monstrous smile.
“You figured it out right away? How clever.
That’s good. Saves me the trouble of explaining or convincing.”
Kella gave Kairen a look.
And Kairen spoke.
“My lady.
Please.
You must hand over Verdandes’ Hand to her.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“My lady, I beg you. If something goes wrong, I’ll take full responsibility—”
The demon worshiper may not have taken full control of the knight commander’s will,
but she had succeeded in burrowing deep into his confusion.
Her power had limited his thinking to an extreme degree.
I must protect the lady and the young master.
I must protect the lady and the young master.
I must protect the lady and the young master.
I must protect the lady and the young master...
He could no longer consider what might happen if Verdandes’ Hand fell into her possession.
What mattered now—
was protecting them.
“Kairen...?”
Katria immediately realized that something was off.
The ominous energy surrounding the place seemed to invade her own mind.
Despair.
The word carved itself into her thoughts.
“My lady!”
Before she could even brace herself, Kairen rushed toward her.
His once-polite hands now tore at her belongings.
“Kairen! No!”
Despite her protests, he took her subspace pouch—the one holding almost everything she had.
“This is all for you and the young master!!!”
He dumped the contents onto the table.
Clatter.
The topaz bracelet—Verdandes’ Hand—fell into view.
Kella reached for it with a satisfied smile.
But then—tap.
Her gaze shifted.
To a black orb that had rolled out of the pouch.
“...!”
Her expression twisted in shock.
Then, in an instant—transformed into joy.
What she saw before her was the crystallized essence of power—
a force that had lost its master.
What could be better than receiving the favor of a demon by breaking its seal?
Becoming that demon itself.
“Incredible...”
How had someone separated such immense power from their soul?
It was unimaginable—
a stroke of fortune beyond belief.
Like someone entranced, Kella picked up the black orb.
And without hesitation—she swallowed it.
Hehehehehe.
Kekekekeke.
Kyahahahahaha!!!
Laughter boiled up in ecstasy.
The demon worshiper—
no,
the one who would soon be reborn as a demon—
twisted in rapture.
“Khuk...!”
Then something clawed up her throat.
“Uwoooogh!!!”
A flood of black-red blood erupted from her mouth like a waterfall.
“Why!?”
Kella writhed.
Seized not by pain—
but by an unbearable clarity.
The fog cleared from Kairen’s eyes.
He blinked, confused.
Even the dark glow in Kella’s eyes flickered and died.
She too was lost in confusion.
“..."
But Katria understood.
She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
A certain man’s face came to mind.
The immense demonic power that the great Sahila family had failed to destroy and sealed away for centuries—
was gone, just like that.
“Wow...”
It was the sigh of Lady Sahila.
A breathless little exclamation.
