The Strongest Magician Can Only Love His Dead Wife — After I Reincarnated, My Cute Younger Husband Turned Yandere - Chapter 26

In the Merkius Empire, magic that interferes with the mind is considered forbidden arts, and those who practice it are sentenced to immediate execution.

This is because there was once an evil sorcerer who used such magic and brought the nation to the brink of destruction.

So why is Count Fiero able to use such dangerous arts?

It can only be because he originally belonged to an organization called the Forbidden Arts Management Bureau.

As the name implies, the Forbidden Arts Management Bureau is an organization that supervises and manages magic that touches upon taboos.

Arts that intrude upon people’s hearts, corrode souls and even life itself. These are collectively called forbidden arts, and the bureau has strictly controlled both those involved and the books containing their formulas.

When he killed Rubia, he was stripped of his title and his qualifications as a sorcerer, but knowledge cannot be taken away.

Count Fiero must have been waiting for an opportunity to escape for years.

And after sixteen long years, he finally succeeded in transferring his soul into someone else’s body.

Arsenio could only think of one person for that “someone.”

(Did he use Jimena?)

Oblidia Prison has multiple layers of barrier magic both inside and out, strictly limiting who can enter and exit. However, these measures are based on the premise of restricting those “with magical power.”

Therefore, Jimena, who possesses no magical power, was permitted to visit Count Fiero regularly every month and hand him medicine.

If one had a “body without magical power,” escape would be easy. Count Fiero couldn’t have failed to notice that fact.

Arsenio had never heard of an art like “transferring one’s soul to another,” but the Count may have known of a similar formula.

And during his long imprisonment, he might have used rats and insects that left the cells to conduct research and complete the art.

Though the exact method is unclear for now, in any case, the Count must have taken over Jimena’s body and escaped.

(Probably to kill me this time.)

It was then that a high-pitched sound, like a bird’s cry, began to emanate from Arsenio’s chest.

“What is that, a magic tool?!”

Ignoring the startled Jeremy, Arsenio pulled a pocket watch from his breast pocket. Unlike a normal watch, its face had neither numbers nor hands.

This was a magic tool designed to alert Arsenio when Rubia was in danger.

It was linked to the ring he had given her and would indicate her approximate location.

(This place is the forest on the outskirts of the imperial capital.)

The ring was also woven with a magic formula to protect Rubia. For now, her life wasn’t in immediate danger.

But since there was no telling what underhanded methods the Count might use to harm her, he couldn’t afford to take his time.

“Jeremy, you stay here in case the Count returns.”

As Arsenio began drawing a magic circle for teleportation, Jeremy looked at him with a worried expression.

“I’m fine with that, but what about you?”

“…I’m going to settle things with him.”

In a low, cold voice, Arsenio activated the magic gate. The destination was the forest on the outskirts of the imperial capital where Rubia was.

Stepping into the gate, Arsenio’s body was instantly enveloped in light, leaving only Jeremy behind in the cell.

When she awoke, she found herself in an unfamiliar place.

Relying on the faint light filtering through the window, she peered through the dimness and saw decaying, broken tables and chairs, along with tattered curtains.

The room smelled of dust and mold, and it seemed to be an abandoned house no longer in use.

Rubia sat up on the bed where she had been laid and tried to think through her groggy head.

(I remember going with the servant to the inn where Jimena was staying. And then, I smelled something strange.)

She recalled the moment she opened the door, a suffocatingly sweet yet somewhat bitter scent striking her nostrils.

—But her memory cut off after that.

Had that been the smell of a sleeping drug or something similar?

(Did Jimena bring me here? And where is the servant who was with me?)

Ideally, she would want to search for the servant immediately. But not knowing the purpose of whoever had put her to sleep and brought her here, she should avoid rash actions.

As she was thinking this, the door opened with an unpleasant creak, and several figures appeared.

Just before the door closed, the sunlight that streamed in revealed that it led outside.

“Jimena?”

At the head of the figures was Jimena. Behind her were five or six men.

“So, it was you who brought me here!? No, more importantly, where is the servant I was with! Is he safe!?”

“The servant is safe. I only have business with you, after all.”

Her voice and appearance were exactly like Jimena’s. Yet her heavy tone was clearly not Jimena’s.

Trembling at the bizarre situation, Rubia desperately suppressed her shivers and questioned “Jimena.”

“Who are you? Why do you look like Jimena?”

In the darkness, “Jimena” seemed to laugh.

“Using a blood relative is the quickest way to borrow a body. It’s not the most proper method, but I’ve borrowed my granddaughter’s body for a while.”