A New Life After Divorce - Chapter 114

“Verita, didn’t you really know Devon would hurt me? You were the one who helped me escape after the wedding.”

Verita hastily wiped away tears, nodding repeatedly.

“I really didn’t know. I just did as Devon told me because he said he could go back to his old relationship with you, Sister.”

Her sparkling eyes were sincere. The ceaseless tears were speaking for her innocence.

Ah. I let out a pitiful sigh.

‘What should I do with this child?’

This child who, as always, was trying to rationalize her sins and gain sympathy. This child who was deceiving even herself.

Now, it was beyond resentment and even pitiful.

Where did it go wrong? Was it because her father, the root of it all, was a convicted fraud? Or because she was abandoned? If she were a transmigrator like me, if she remembered her past life, wouldn’t she have lived a different life?

I gave a bitter smile and looked at Verita with pity. Someone flickered over the face of the woman I once considered my younger sister.

It was a bob-haired girl like a spring flower, running towards me with a bright smile.

“Verita, you’re even deceiving yourself.”

“Yes…?”

“You knew I was in danger. That’s why you came later than the time Baron Lofrato had predicted that day.”

“That, that day I…”

“Now, be honest with yourself.”

Verita froze at my confident assertion. Her shadowed eyes flickered like flames.

“Stop pretending to be naive and using your background and appearance to gain sympathy. It’s eating away at your heart. You have to pity yourself too in order to win favor, don’t you?”

“…”

Verita looked at me in dismay, then let out a sigh, “Ah.” With that death rattle-like groan as a signal, she collapsed endlessly.

She brushed away tears, groping at her face, and then, meeting my eyes, lowered her head as if ashamed.

I sighed softly and handed her a handkerchief. Verita’s eyes widened at the sight of it. Thud, thud. Futile tears welled up and fell.

“Verita, innocence and cowardice are distinctly different.”

“…”

“Don’t live cowardly anymore.”

I stared straight at her and said clearly.

Verita picked up the handkerchief with a bewildered expression. Soon, she buried her face in the handkerchief and sobbed, then gasped and made a wet sound.

“But, but I was sincere. I wanted to, hic, get along with you, Sister, like before, that alone…”

“…Okay, I’ll believe you on that alone.”

“Really… hic, I’m really sorry.”

Her apology left me feeling empty and drained. I had no intention of forgiving Verita, but it was as if I had heard a sincere apology for the first time.

I stared at the tearful Verita for a long time with complicated feelings. It seemed I wouldn’t be able to ask about the Marchioness’s cause of death today.

‘I’ll have to visit next time.’

Just as I was about to get up,

“S, Sister! Just a moment!”

Verita, who had stopped crying in the meantime, wiped her eyes with her dirty sleeve and raised her head abruptly.

Her bloodshot eyes and haggard face were full of determination. It was something I was seeing for the first time in her, I swear.

“I’ll tell you. You said you were curious about the Marchioness’s cause of death, right?”

I sat back down in my chair and gestured with my chin.

Then Verita hesitated and gestured with her eyes, as if wanting the knights and the warden to leave.

I gestured to the knights. Then, one of the experienced knights handed a wad of money to the warden. The warden, after clearing his throat, took it and said he would give us five minutes before leaving with the knights.

I gave the knight a knowing smile, meaning I would repay him double later, and then gestured to Verita.

After hearing everything, I pondered and stroked my chin.

In short, to summarize, a capricious man named “Lunox,” who lived for amusement, heard about Marchioness Dien’s story and asked to meet her.

After they met, a demon appeared in Buell Territory, and Marchioness Dien died of a heart attack.

Lunox confessed his sin only to Verita at the funeral, and she had been silent all along due to the guilt and pressure that Marchioness Dien had died because of her.

The circumstances roughly matched, but the cause and effect were not established.

This Lunox was said to be the mistress of a Gentry. And he did it even for fun.

What kind of absurd reason was that?

That point was somewhat unbelievable, and I narrowed my eyes. Verita shouted with a face that looked like her heart had dropped.

“I, it’s true!”

Certainly, since she had just given a sincere apology, there was little chance that she would lie to me. I put away my suspicious gaze.

“Then how did that guy summon the demon in Buell Territory?”

“According to Lunox, he made a contract with the demon in the Purification Stone with the power he obtained from Marchioness Dien’s soul.”

I frowned.

Obtain power from the soul? And with that power, he summoned the demon imprisoned in the Purification Stone?

“Then what was the reason for Marchioness Dien’s death?”

“He said that as the demon died, Marchioness Dien’s heart, which was bound by an invisible chain, also stopped…”

Verita glanced at me and hesitated before opening her mouth.

“And…”

“And?”

Verita paused for a moment and rolled her eyes, trying to remember.

“Lunox said that desperate wishes have great power.”

Desperate wishes, huh.

In other words, it wasn’t possible for just anyone, but only the soul of someone with a wish could gain power?

In the case of the Marchioness, it could be exemplified by the desire to kill me.

Edmund said that the appearance of demons in the Duchy and Buell Territory was self-unsealing. I also thought so. If any action was needed for that, and that was a soul filled with wishes, then that hypothesis was certain.

‘Then who exactly is this Lunox who uses that power?’

I wondered if he was someone who held a grudge against me and thought about it carefully, but no one came to mind.

Verita read my expression and spoke first.

“Lunox only knew that the place where the demon appeared was Buell Territory after Marchioness Dien died.”

“Really? Then who hid the Purification Stone in the supply cave of Buell Territory?”

“Maybe…”

Verita glanced at me and continued.

“It would be Marchioness Dien. Because she hated you so much that she wanted to kill you. Lunox has no ill will towards you. He’s not interested in anything other than having fun in the first place.”

“What else do you know about him? His origin, status, or even acquaintances.”

Verita shook her head, apologizing for not being helpful.

“I don’t know where he came from or what he did.”

Ha, I swept back my hair and organized my confused thoughts. Then, suddenly, a hypothesis that pierced my mind like lightning made my eyes widen.

If the incident in Buell Territory originated from Lunox, then the tragedy in the Duchy could also be his doing.

In other words, it meant that Lunox was likely a demon living hidden as a human.

“Verita, didn’t that guy have any other Purification Stones besides the one he gave to Marchioness Dien?”

Verita widened her eyes and rolled them around before swallowing hard.

“I, I don’t know about Purification Stones, but he was wearing a necklace made of a rough stone.”

Ha! I let out a breath mixed with joy and lamentation. Then, I covered my mouth and froze like a stone statue.

‘It’s definitely the Purification Stone that wasn’t found in the Mipedian Duchy.’

To be more certain, I called a knight of the Duchy through the communication device. I had heard from Edmund before about why they had come to the capital.

They were there to track him down with the portrait of the humanized demon in Edmund’s nightmare. Unless they had forgotten their duty, they would always carry the portrait with them.

“You called?”

The knight who appeared soon whispered, asking if I had the demon’s portrait. He retreated as a defensive measure as if surprised, then took out an artifact from his chest. Knowing the relationship between Edmund and me, he acted sensibly.

I had never seen the portrait. I thought it was polite not to pry into his nightmares unless Edmund suggested it first.

“Here it is.”

The knight handed over the portrait. I received it with a trembling heart and sighed. It was because he had a completely human appearance. He was also handsome enough to catch the eye.

I spread the portrait on the table and showed it to Verita.

“Look closely, is this the Lunox you’re talking about?”

Verita’s eyes widened immediately. She stared at the portrait as if she would bury her nose in it, then looked back at me.

“T, that’s right. It’s Lunox. But why is Lunox here…”

Thump, my heart fell to my feet. A chill ran from my spine to the back of my head.

It was certain that he was the demon Edmund had been looking for so desperately.

I opened my mouth urgently.

“You said you last saw this person at the funeral, right? Didn’t you hear where he was going?”

Verita, flustered by my excited words and actions, quickly shook her head.

“I, I don’t know. He just disappeared…”

“You really don’t know?”

Verita was frightened by my cold gaze and cowered.

I calmed myself and rubbed my face. I had come one step closer to the demon living hidden among humans.

‘It’s a big harvest.’

I was about to jump up, thinking that I had to tell Edmund this news right away, but I stopped.

I turned back to Verita, who was looking at me in dismay, and left a word.

“I won’t forgive you.”

“…”

“But thank you.”

Immediately after, I quickly left the interview room and headed to Edmund.

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