Chapter 83
In a street renowned in the capital for its cluster of luxurious mansions.
Theo, standing before the gate of the most expensive one among them, felt himself shrink a little.
It was because he had hunched his entire body.
“Um, is it really okay for us to go in here…?”
Theo, rolling his eyes in anxiety, looked as if he wanted to flee to somewhere else right this instant if possible.
Karha didn’t want to enter for a different reason.
“This place… it’s that place!”
She had recognized it as the private residence of the Heresy Inquisitor, where Chesha had stayed for a week.
Her lips jutted out like a duck’s at the fact that they had to seek help from Hailon.
But there was no other choice.
With her face puffed up in dissatisfaction, Karha shook the bell attached to the mansion’s iron gate.
The servant who opened the inner front door was startled the moment he saw Chesha.
Soon after, all the servants in the mansion came rushing out to welcome her.
“You’ve finally come!”
“We’ve been waiting anxiously for when you’d return.”
“Miss, I missed you. Do you remember playing ball with me?”
Chesha was flustered by their fervent welcome.
The servants courteously ushered the two people and one fairy into the mansion.
Seated in the drawing room, Theo and Karha let out sighs of relief.
“For now, we’ve set aside our immediate worries. But whose mansion is this, exactly…?”
“You don’t need to know, Captain. If you did, you’d wish you could go back to not knowing.”
Though her reply was curt, Karha’s words were the truth.
No one wanted to get entangled with the Heresy Inquisitor.
The Inquisitor’s identity was treated as classified information, so once you learned anything related, the chances of being executed for even a minor offense skyrocketed—all in the name of maintaining secrecy.
Even if you were deemed innocent and survived, you had to swear a vow of silence about the Heresy Inquisitor.
Break that vow, bound by divine power, and it was straight to the execution grounds.
That’s why everyone pretended ignorance even if they knew, and avoided involvement at all costs.
Though Hailon had made an exception for the Basilian Count family.
“It should be safe here, so relax.”
“Yes! Thank you.”
Watching Theo offer his thanks, Karha clicked her tongue.
Honestly, Theo didn’t have to get involved at all; he’d just been unlucky enough to get dragged in.
He had every right to resent it, yet there wasn’t a trace of that in him.
Theo was busy admiring the house as he looked around.
“But this house is really nice.”
“Captain, you need to get your eyes checked.”
“Huh…? How do you get your eyes checked?”
“……”
Karha, who had been grumbling, was left speechless by his innocence.
Unused to the innocent, bear-like type in her surroundings, she seemed unable to adjust.
‘They’ll get along just fine on their own.’
Even if she stepped away for a moment, there was no need to worry about Theo and Karha fighting.
“I’m going to rest! I’ll go upstairs and sleep for a bit.”
As any baby would, she slept at all hours.
When she boldly declared she’d go nap in her own room, a vein bulged on Karha’s forehead.
“They even made a separate room for the baby? That thief…!”
She was in an uproar, ranting about who he thought he was to prepare a room for the baby.
“Please hold back, Lady Karha!”
“Let go of me!”
While Karha and Theo bickered back and forth, Chesha quickly headed upstairs.
The servant who had been so handy for carrying her around during her stay at the mansion was waiting in front of the drawing room and promptly transported Chesha to her room.
As she set Chesha down inside, she whispered.
“Come often. The master is waiting for you.”
“…Huh?”
“He frequently visits the room where you stayed. It’s not like him at all.”
The servant spoke as if confessing, her face flushing a soft pink.
“We’re all waiting just for you, too.”
She’d only stayed at the mansion for a week, so why were they all acting like this, as if some deep attachment had formed?
The welcome earlier had already been overwhelming, and now this near-confession made it all the more bewildering.
Still, Chesha responded graciously.
“I’ll come again!”
“Yes. I’ll contact the master right away. He’s at work, but he’ll be here before sunset.”
“Okay.”
The door closed.
Finally alone in the room, Chesha clenched both fists tightly in excitement.
The Skaya Kingdom was wealthy.
It was thanks to commanding pirates and collecting tributes from them.
So, they must have hired only the most skilled mercenaries.
The fact that they’d fled here would soon reach Itar’s ears.
When Itar arrived, leading his mercenaries.
To ensure complete safety, Hailon needed to be at the mansion.
Chesha’s plan required Hailon’s presence to come to fruition as well.
‘Otherwise, coming all this way would be pointless.’
Thus, Chesha intended to make Hailon drop everything he was doing and rush over.
She slowly drew up her power.
Flowers and butterflies bloomed forth.
Chesha created a large, ornate butterfly.
The butterfly, tinged with an eerie red light, was unmistakably that of a witch.
She first sent the gracefully fluttering butterfly toward Hailon.
Then, she sent another one to Itar.
Flutter, flutter—the red butterflies vanished toward their targets.
“Good, preparations are complete.”
With the bait cast, all that remained was to set the trap.
Chesha giggled as she drew up even more power.
The space warped.
Chesha’s illusory realm began to unfold.
“Whoa!”
In the expanse where a black-and-white checkered board stretched out endlessly, the small baby who appeared let out a deep breath.
Flowers bloomed wildly, enveloping her body.
Soon, in the spot where the flowers vanished, the witch Lichesia emerged.
Slowly lifting her closed eyelids, eyes as red as roses were revealed.
Curly golden hair cascaded down like a waterfall of gold.
Chesha lightly waved her hand to summon an axe.
Freely moving her lithe limbs, she swung the axe with refreshing vigor.
A chess piece floating in the air struck the axe’s blade, cracking with a snap before splitting apart and scattering into flower petals, then vanishing.
Chesha let out a throaty laugh and cried out.
“Ah, an adult body is the best!”
With another swing of the axe, a massive pile of flowers bloomed up from the floor.
Chesha settled lightly atop it.
“Shall I wait at my leisure?”
The witch’s prey would arrive soon.
Itar loathed everything prefixed with “holy.”
A mansion frequented by holy knights, no less.
It was a luxurious estate beyond what a holy knight’s salary could afford, so perhaps he was the hidden offspring of some noble family.
In any case, Itar wanted nothing to do with anything holy if he could help it.
But right now, he had no choice.
It was a baby resembling the witch Lichesia.
Itar desperately wanted to possess it.
“Head to the mansion.”
Leading his mercenaries, he boldly made his way to the mansion where the baby was hiding…
“…?”
Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.
The Holy Knight Order had surrounded the mansion.
The overwhelming presence of the heavily armed elite knights instantly made Itar’s mercenaries look pitiful by comparison.
“W-what is this?”
The mercenaries murmured, their spirits deflated.
The man who appeared to be the knight commander, standing with the order, turned his gaze toward Itar.
The moment their eyes met—those blue eyes.
Recognizing the man’s identity, Itar suddenly longed to turn around and go home.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly.
“…You.”
Just as he began to speak.
A butterfly tinged with red appeared in his field of vision.
Unconsciously reaching out toward the otherworldly butterfly, he heard the clank of chains.
“Keuk!”
Bound at the limbs by pristine white chains that extended from somewhere, Itar let out a pained scream.
“Don’t touch that.”
A low, chilling voice issued a cold warning.
But on the forehead of the writhing Itar, the red butterfly gently alighted.
The instant the red butterfly lightly brushed against his skin.
His vision flipped entirely.
The everyday became the extraordinary, reality transformed into fantasy.
At the grotesque landscape unfolding before him, Itar widened his eyes in shock.
“T-this is…!”
It was the illusory realm of the witch Lichesia.
