episode_0057

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Long, long ago, there were foolish devils.

Greedy, indifferent, arrogant, and malicious.

Then one day, a divine punishment came down.

Numerous bright stars trampled and annihilated the demons.

After some time, a new demon entered the mansion.

Those who discern the devil are humans. And those who judge the devil are also humans.

Lastly, the one who selects humans is the one the young lady loves the most.

Punish the devil and face sin and truth.

-Reward: Old Key

-Special Reward: Star Fragment

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◇

Attila was a greedy woman by nature.

When I was working as a waiter at the tavern, I dreamed of becoming the Duke of Arkaden. And after I entered the Duke of Arkaden, which I had dreamed of, I coveted all the treasures that the nobles wore.

But she didn’t show it on the outside, because Bernacien, the most beautiful woman in the world, was just a maid.

Bernacien was a kind of desire suppressor.

When I remembered that even such a beautiful person was ultimately just a maid like me, my greed seemed to subside. However, the box that had kept Attila’s greed hidden was blown wide open when Bernacien was promoted to Duchess.

She stayed by Bernacien’s side and often received expensive gifts. She was promoted to head maid and wielded the power she had at her disposal.

Nevertheless, Attila was constantly tormented by thirst, as if a hole had been made in the corner of a jar containing his desires, from which happiness was leaking out.

As she watched Herais lovingly looking at the pregnant Bernacien, this time she desired the Duke. Originally it was supposed to be an impossible wish, but through a series of coincidences, fate gave her joy.

Although she was in name only a duchess’s representative, the authority she had inherited from Hereis made her Arkaden herself.

“Not enough…”

Attila chewed the nail on his thumb.

“Those foreign substances should disappear…”

Letia, she was the problem.

I only fed her one meal a day of thin soup to make up for it, but she survived. Letia was seven years old when Baekryeon discovered her, so I had to give her some credit for her tenacity.

“What should I do? How can I get rid of them?”

One surprising fact is that Attila never suspected Bernacien of infidelity from the beginning. Attila had always observed Bernacien’s character. It is not difficult to judge a woman who was once a friend objectively.

Letia was clearly the daughter of a duke and duchess. Attila was certain of it.

Black hair and black eyes made me believe that at least one of the two people’s distant ancestors must have had that appearance.

“Not yet… This family is not completely mine yet.”

Recently, Herais has been researching a paternity test device. Before this research can produce results, Letia must disappear.

If the rightful heir to the title disappears, Herace will also have to consider producing a successor.

If that were to happen, it was clear that Attila would be the first choice for the next duchess.

However, her wish is unlikely to come true for now.

It was because of the existence of the white lotus.

A mysterious man who is watched by even the head of this family and the most dignified people of the empire.

Since he took it upon himself to become Letia’s guardian, he has been unable to use any tricks. On the contrary, reports are coming in that Letia’s weight has been increasing.

That was when.

The sound of maids struggling could be heard from outside the hallway, through the crack in the door.

“Can’t you change it just for today? I really don’t want to go…”

“Do you know anyone who is good? I guess I haven’t heard of it?”

“Ugh… No matter what, at night… ugh…”

Attila’s irritation grew.

It is because in the midst of serious worries, insignificant people are disturbing me with insignificant worries.

So, Attila opened the bedroom door himself and glared at the two maids.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Ma, ma’am…!”

“That, that’s…”

“If it’s for a trivial reason, I’ll beat you, so know that.”

The maids’ faces turned pale at Attila’s announcement. Then they knelt down and bowed their heads to the floor.

“I’m so sorry, Ma’am! I just… It’s my turn to patrol the fourth floor tonight, and I’m so scared…!”

“… What?”

It was a ridiculous answer. They say it’s a patrol, but it’s a common courtesy to just take a quick look around to see if anything is wrong and then go back to bed.

As Attila’s brow furrowed, the maid bowed her head more and more cowardly.

“Oh, there’s a rumor going around…! At night, a ghost appears on the 4th floor… That’s the rumor.”

“A ghost?”

“Yes, yes…! It’s not just one person, there are too many witnesses…!”

“…”

Attila was silent. The longer her silence continued, the more nervous the maids felt, like balloons reaching their limit of inflation, ready to burst.

When Attila finally opened his mouth, the maids could not help but gasp.

“…… Go and see.”

“Madam…?”

“Tonight’s patrol will be limited to the 3rd floor.”

“Ah, I see…! Thank you for your mercy, Madam!”

The maids kept bowing to show their respect, but Attila returned to his bedroom without even looking at them.

Attila sat on the finest wine-red sofa, stroking his chin and lips.

“Hmm…”

I got a feeling.

The beginning of a cataclysmic change that could break the current deadlock may be…

It might have been located quite close.

◇

It was dawn, long after midnight.

Attila climbed the stairs in his robe.

The lanterns flickered, illuminating the stairs.

‘… Was the air originally this cold?’

When I was a maid, the darkness and temperature of the mansion were no threat, but now the night air feels particularly cold.

The originally huge mansion seemed unusually spacious today.

After a while, Attila reached the fourth floor and muffled his footsteps. He had to confirm the truth of the rumor.

‘I wish I could find some ominous signs…’

The only residents on the fourth floor were Letia and Baekryeon. If they found anything suspicious, they could use that as an excuse to kick them out of the mansion. They had a vague hope.

Since they are the owners of black hair and black eyes, it would be easy for them to spread strange rumors.

I’d rather have a real ghost come out. There’s no better excuse than that.

It was around this time that Attila was walking around the fourth floor.

Chop, chop, chop.

A peculiar tone lingered in my ears.

Attila instinctively guessed that it was footsteps.

It felt like that was exactly the kind of sound that would be made if you walked barefoot on a marble floor.

‘Who is it?’

Attila’s pace quickened. He felt no fear. He knew deep down that no one in this mansion could harm him.

It was when the hurried steps reached the other side of the corner.

Attila sensed a small mass touching his knee.

puck!

Immediately afterwards, there was a sound of something falling to the floor.

Bang!

“What, what is it?”

Whoosh!

Attila hurriedly held the lantern forward, revealing the shape that had hit her knee in detail.

Black hair that falls slightly to her shoulders and frowning black eyes.

Pure white and transparent skin, like Bernacien.

Pajamas with a somewhat lacking design.

It was Letia.

“Why is this here…”

Just as I was about to ask the question, Letia touched my face. To be exact, she focused on my nose.

Knock, knock.

The nose was bleeding. Letia had hit Attila’s knee right on the bridge of her nose.

“Ouch. Ugh…”

Tears welled up in the little girl’s eyes, perhaps because the pain had come too late.

“Tsk, what bad luck.”

Attila clicked his tongue.

That was all.

Phew!

Her lamp was instantly swallowed up by darkness.

I was so surprised by the sudden change that I took a step back.

“Whoa?!”

However, Attila fell backwards as if he had tripped over a threshold. Naturally, there was no obstacle behind him.

Kick kick.

From somewhere, a blatant laugh could be heard.

It wasn’t one direction, it was all directions.

Gulp.

The warm liquid touched his lips. It tasted bitter. Only then did Attila realize that he was bleeding from his nose.

“This, this is why…!”

I clearly fell backwards and got a nosebleed. They say if you’re unlucky, you’ll break your nose even if you fall backwards… But even so, this is…!

What puzzled Attila more than anything was the constant laughter.

At that moment, the lamp that Attila had dropped began to float up. Then, the lamp spontaneously combusted, lighting up the surroundings.

“Ugh, ah… ahh…!”

Attila’s mind went blank.

The object of the light is Letia, who is shedding tears.

And, behind Letia, there were hideous spirits that ridiculed her from the depths of her stomach. All sorts of monstrous figures stayed by Letia’s side.

“Ugh… Ugh…!”

My breathing becomes ragged. Common sense is being completely denied and my mind is being eaten away.

No matter how many times I blink, nothing changes.

My heart races with the chills running down my spine and the fluff on my head.

Soon, a dozen or so of them stretched out their hands toward Attila.

“Ugh, ugh, euaaa …

Attila crawled on all fours, then somehow found his balance, got up on two feet and ran away.

Clang!

The sound of a lamp breaking sharply tore through the darkness of the mansion from where they had hurriedly left.

Attila threw open the bedroom door as if he was going to break it open, not even realizing that his slippers had come off along the way.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The beating heart did not calm down. Instead, it was beating wildly like a punk, and cold sweat was pouring out all over its body.

Attila looked down at the bloody palms of his hands.

At the same time, it brought back memories of a superstition that had long been forgotten.

“Black is…a symbol of misfortune and death…”

Attila’s eyes turned to the desk.

A fountain pen and paper were neatly arranged on the desk.

Gulp.

It only took a moment for greed to drive out fear.