Late at night, someone knocked on Gerard’s door.

Gerard, who happened to be awake, immediately approached and opened the door. Miela was standing in front of it.

Despite the somewhat late hour of the visit, Gerard greeted her with a composed face, as if he had been expecting her to come.

“What brings you here at this late hour, Priestess Miela?”

“I came to tell you about the person related to the black magic array I mentioned this morning.”

She had mentioned someone related to the black magic array in the morning, but didn’t specify that it was Blair.

On the surface, she had evaded the issue, saying, “I might have seen wrong, so I’ll check to make sure,” but she had an ulterior motive.

‘If I slander that woman, surely the Duke will step in.’

She didn’t want to see Herdin being so captivated by such a woman. She also disliked the idea of him suffering because of her.

That’s why she had gone to see Blair during the day.

She hoped that before things got bigger, she would quietly leave his side first.

Because that would be good for her too, being pregnant.

But Blair ignored her goodwill, and Herdin, as expected, protected her. He must be thoroughly bewitched by that woman.

If that’s the case, now it was time to pass righteous judgment.

“The Duchess of Delmark has a black magic array inscribed on her body.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes, I’m certain. I confirmed it this afternoon.”

“Why would the Duchess dabble in such wicked magic…”

Gerard, who was the very person who had inscribed that black magic array on Blair’s body, feigned a sorrowful expression, pretending not to know.

Then, quickly composing his expression, he encouraged Miela.

“It must not have been easy to report someone’s wrongdoing, even if it’s the right thing to do. Thank you for having the courage.”

She’s a woman who wraps her own misguided emotions in plausible righteousness, deceiving even herself.

Such people are more likely to get drunk on their own sense of justice and often cross the line blindly pursuing it.

Gerard knew this type of person well. In a word, they were easy to manipulate.

As he expected, Miela smiled brightly, feeling relieved as if her actions were justified by a single word of praise.

“It’s nothing. I only did what I should as a priestess following God’s will.”

“We should think more carefully about how to handle this issue and approach it cautiously. It’s late now, so you should return for today.”

“If you need my help with anything, please call me anytime. I am both a servant of God and a hand and foot of Your Holiness.”

“It’s reassuring just hearing that.”

After sending Miela away, Gerard approached the window. Through the darkness of Nerha Manor’s garden, he could see the guesthouse where Herdin and Blair were staying.

Just then, Caligo was coming from the guesthouse towards the garden. He seemed to be out for a walk.

‘I heard the Duke will be returning to Libren soon.’

This afternoon, knights from Nerha had come to see him.

Believing Gerard to be a priest who came to eradicate black magicians as Miela had said, they asked various questions about the incident circumstances before leaving.

It was a story he had overheard from their conversation.

‘But it’s troublesome if he returns to Libren.’

Libren was a territory that belonged to Delmark, and there was a knightly order loyal to Herdin stationed there.

With the knights present, it would be difficult to push Herdin to the point of magical outburst.

Of course, if Blair were killed, there was a possibility he might lose control of his mana and go berserk with rage, but what if he didn’t even then?

Rather, with the death of Blair, who was disrupting his mana, the possibility of Herdin’s outburst might disappear completely.

Without the second constraint, Herdin, who had been trained since childhood as the heir to the family, was unlikely to experience mana outbursts.

Herdin wasn’t one to fall in love easily enough to take someone as a companion, so it took a long time just to create the imprint.

Black magic only made the second constraint possible; it couldn’t manipulate emotions.

If Herdin didn’t go berserk after killing Blair, they would have to wait until another subject for imprinting appeared to disrupt his mana.

‘So now, while in a distant foreign country, we must settle this here.’

Killing Blair was a method to be considered only as a last resort.

‘But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst case.’

Gerard, who had been watching Caligo stretch during his walk, put on his robe and left the room, heading for the garden.

Upon arriving at the garden, he saw Caligo walking alone not far away.

“Ugh, it’s going to be a forced march starting tomorrow. How long will it take to get to the Eliir Plains…”

As Caligo muttered to himself, mulling over Herdin’s orders, Gerard approached from behind and called out to him.

“Caligo, my faithful child.”

His eyes turned red, and an eerie voice unlike his usual one flowed from his mouth.

Then, a black magic array appeared clearly on the back of Caligo’s neck. At the same time, the focus disappeared from his eyes.

“If everything goes wrong, kill that woman.”

The chilling voice bored into Caligo’s mind like brainwashing.

* * *

At that time, Herdin was receiving a report from Luth in his office.

It was a report related to the guesthouse collapse incident that he had ordered him to look into this morning.

“The incident occurred yesterday, but due to the chaos from the undead attack, news of the accident only reached us yesterday evening. So we dispatched the knightly order this morning.”

“There were no survivors, I suppose. Even if there were, they would have fled.”

“No. Three bodies were found, and miraculously, one survivor was rescued. They say it’s a priest belonging to the Empire’s central temple.”

A priest from the Empire’s central temple.

At those words, Herdin’s hand holding a cigar paused, and he frowned. There were more than a few suspicious points.

“Why would an Imperial priest be here?”

“They say he was passing through on a mission and was caught up in the incident while pursuing a black magician.”

“Did the Imperial priests receive some kind of oracle to collectively go to Nerha?”

At Herdin’s sarcasm, Luth shrugged and continued his report.

“Anyway, it seems the Lord of Nerha is investigating this incident based on that person’s testimony.”

“What are they trusting from him? Shouldn’t they first suspect and investigate someone found at the scene of an incident as the perpetrator?”

“I heard the priestess who went with the knightly order vouched for his identity. His holy power was also confirmed.”

Herdin’s eyes narrowed.

The priestess who went with them must be Miela. She’s the only Imperial priestess currently in Nerha.

She was involved in every matter related to him. Suspiciously so.

The fact that of all places on this vast continent, the place she came to on her mission happened to be Nerha, where he and Blair were.

The fact that the only survivor rescued from the source of the black magic array that seemed to target Blair was her colleague.

And now she even knew about the existence of the black magic array inscribed on Blair.

‘As for knowing about the black magic array, I suppose she found out because I asked her to treat Blair…’

Any priest would immediately recognize a black magic array that conflicts with holy power.

So, setting aside that issue, there were too many problems entangled with her to be mere coincidence.

‘If I could meet the survivor of the collapse accident, I might be able to learn more about anything.’

Be it the identity of that suspicious ‘priest’, Miela’s true intentions, or clues to uncover the identity of the black magician.

However, in a situation where Raymond, the lord of Nerha, was reluctant to let an outsider like Herdin intervene, it was difficult to contact that priest without any justification.

Holding the cigar in his mouth and pondering for a justification, Herdin suddenly looked at the clock and spoke.

“Good work. You may go now.”

“Have a good night.”

Just as Luth opened the door to leave the office, he encountered a knight who was about to knock on the office door.

“Ah, Sir Luth. Your Grace.”

Both Herdin and Luth looked at him with questioning eyes. It was a somewhat late hour for a knight to seek his lord.

The knight, who hurriedly entered the office, said with a pale expression.

“I have an urgent report to make.”

When Herdin nodded towards Luth, Luth closed the office door.

Soon, Herdin’s eyes sank coldly as he listened to the knight’s report.

* * *

The next day, Gerard came to a villa in the suburbs. It was a place hastily prepared by contacting other subordinates the day before.

Herdin and Blair were scheduled to leave for Libren tomorrow.

So he only had today.

The golden opportunity to complete his revenge.

There was no one in the villa when he arrived. He had learned from past experiences that even if someone was there, they wouldn’t be much help.

Gerard went down to the basement. In the basement lit by a few torches, there was a huge black magic array drawn, similar to the one that had been under the collapsed villa.

He immediately stood in front of the black magic array.

By now, Miela should have gone to Raymond to report that the undead attack incident from a few days ago was planned by Blair.

If he summoned the undead again now, Raymond, panicked by the situation of his devastated territory, would seek out Blair and interrogate her.

Or, unable to think rationally, he might try to kill her.

And then…

‘War will break out.’

Since Herdin wouldn’t be willing to hand Blair over to them, he would have to fight those trying to capture Blair. Alone.

To face the onslaught of undead legions and the knights of Nerha who had lost their reason, he would have no choice but to go berserk.

That was the picture Gerard had painted.

He smiled with satisfaction as he began to cast the black magic array.

But for some reason, the magic array didn’t activate.

Feeling strange about this, Gerard examined the magic array and found that one part of it had been erased, as if someone had rubbed it out with their foot.

‘Did those fools make a mistake?’

As Gerard clicked his tongue at his subordinates’ mistake and approached the magic array, suddenly, from the unlit darkness of the basement, a presence was felt and a chilling voice was heard.

“It seems something isn’t working well, Your Holiness.”

At that, Gerard’s footsteps halted. Soon, the person who walked out of the darkness revealed himself.

Gerard’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Herdin.

“How… are you here…?”

“You should explain first, Your Holiness.”

Herdin, holding a sword, approached Gerard with slow, deliberate steps. Even in the darkness, the sharply honed blade was clearly visible.

“Why are you, the Pope, using black magic? No, rather…”

“…”

“Why did you kill my parents?”

At last, his blue eyes, fully revealed outside the light, were flickering with killing intent.