Kasel shouted in frustration.

“I don’t care! I didn’t know!”

He vehemently denied it, as if he were a person caught red-handed committing a crime.

“Why is that my fault? Why is it my fault for the things a parasite who abused my favor did? I didn’t even know what was here!”

Kasel was desperate. He forgot even to beg for his life as he tried to justify himself.

“Yeah, you didn’t know.”

So Ibi willingly agreed. However, within that agreement, there was no comfort or sympathy.

“Because you didn’t know, you never once questioned where the salt was flowing. You didn’t care how it was used, as long as you didn’t know. You probably didn’t think deeply about paying a monthly fortune from the poor South. After all, gold coins are all the same, so why bother knowing whether the money earned is from hunting people or something else.”

“No, I really…”
“But now that you know, do you want to protect your conscience?”

Ibi’s words cruelly penetrated Kasel.

Kasel, who was about to speak, turned pale and froze. Then, with trembling eyes, he looked at Ibi.

Initially, Ibi appeared as an angel, then a devil, and now, once again, began to feel like something new.

Having accurately pierced through his fear, Ibi had silently transformed into a fearsome judge.

“Do you suddenly find it disgusting to pass on dirty work to lower nobles and just enjoy a well-prepared table? But now you being shocked here is even more conscienceless. You’re punishing someone in your subject, and absolving someone else’s sins?”

Kasel had no words, not even if he had ten mouths.

As Ibi’s words suggested, he didn’t know how the lower continent operated. Although he had heard about dealing with humans—buying and killing them as a spectacle, he thought it was unrelated to him.

Then, when he realized that this dreadful place was connected to him, he desperately denied it. It wasn’t his fault, not his responsibility. So, he drew a line by criticizing and blaming the nobles here, covering up not only responsibility but also relieving himself of emotional burden.

His cowardly intentions were fully exposed. Kasel felt ashamed and miserable, unable to open his mouth.

“You were also dying just like me.”

Ibi personally reprimanded such Kasel.

“Last month, those people I generously spared, too. But how dare you ask me to spare you now? Are you insane?”

The scolding was more painful than a storm for Kasel.

“I didn’t know, of course, you wouldn’t have known either. Because you didn’t know what it’s like for a person to die, you smartly drew the big picture.”

At that moment, Kasel’s mind recalled the words he had said.

If you’re going to play the role of a saint there, it won’t work.

Once the people of the lower continent start sticking to you, how persistent they are.

Kasel recalled what he had said, and his chest felt tight and shattered.

“So I didn’t know either.”

Ibi declared coldly to Kasel, who could barely breathe.

“Don’t feel unjust. Everyone should have a chance, but every moment for you was an opportunity that others didn’t have. If you have a conscience, don’t feel unjust and just die.”

With that, Ibi turned away.

As she took a few steps, something sparkling rolled towards her from Ibi’s foot.

It was a ring. Montara’s seal, the signet ring with Kasel’s authority.

“Just once…”

As Ibi stared at the ring, a faint voice came from behind.

“Just one more chance… I’ll do it properly now…”

When she turned around, Kasel was covering his face with both hands.

“Please… I beg you…”

And he was crying.

Kasel was terrified. And he regretted it.

If he had known it would come to this, he wouldn’t have said such things.

The fact that a single word brought him down here was bone-chilling.

In the end, Kasel couldn’t hide his tears and cried out loud.
In the end, Kasel couldn’t hide his tears and sobbed aloud.

Ibhi, watching him, picked up the ring. Then she turned to him and said coldly,

“So, apologize to me properly.”

“S-Sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“For playing around with the position of the saint.”

“Again.”

“For setting fire to the mansion…”

“Again.”

“…For not being able to resist and tormenting me.”

“How did I torment you?”

“You pointed out my clothes, made fun of me for not knowing ancient languages, fed me perfume-laced drinks, took off my shoes, and threw them to the dog…”

“…You’re really.”

“I’m really sorry.”

As Ibhi’s voice became more ominous, Kasel begged desperately, almost groveling.

Although his pitiful appearance could elicit sympathy, Ibhi flicked his shoulder and lifted him up.

“Kneel down and apologize properly.”

“Sorry…”

“In formal language.”

“I apologize…”

“Apologize to the whole world.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Apologize to the pig too.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Apologize for ridiculing unrequited love!”

“I apologize!”

Kneeling hesitantly, Kasel sobbed and apologized. Then, soaked in rain, he lay down on the wet ground, waiting for the judgment.

“Now that I’ve heard it, I’m really annoyed. Hey, just die.”

At Ibhi’s harsh rebuke, Kasel looked at her with a lost expression.

For a while, he shed tears with a pure face, but soon he began to wail, pounding his head on the ground.

Seeing his pathetic state, Ibhi coolly remarked, “It’s just a joke; I’ve already purified you, so stop overreacting.”

“H-hu, hoo, huh, …What?”

Kasel stared blankly at Ibhi, his tears and mucus flowing. Ibhi seemed to find him quite ridiculous and chuckled as if saying, “You’re really hopeless.”

“So, just sit there like a fool.”

Come to think of it, Kasel was sitting perfectly fine. Just a while ago, he couldn’t even move a finger.

Contrary to Kasel’s one-sided distress, Ibhi couldn’t afford to waste time dealing with someone who was already completely purified and recovering from the toxic fog. In addition, there were many others affected by the poisonous mist, and she couldn’t waste time on this one guy. So, the purification had already been completed quite some time ago.

As Kasel realized that he had been thoroughly played, his pupils shook violently. The overwhelming grief on his face quickly turned into anger.

“Y-you…!”

Enraged, Kasel rushed at Ibhi. However, he was still immature, and Ibhi kicked him with her foot, sending him sprawling.

“Look at this. I saved you with great difficulty, and instead of being grateful, you show your temper.”

“Give me back my ring!”

“When did I take it?”

“You…!”

“Nope.”

As Kasel, who was lying down, vented his anger, Ibhi teased him with her tongue, then stepped on his palm that touched the ground and whispered,

“Call me Lady Ibhi, you son of a pig.”

Shocked by Ibhi’s cruelty, Kasel stared at her blankly. Then, tears welled up in his eyes again.

Despite being synonymous with innocence, Kasel Montclair, who became a wreck both physically and mentally due to meeting someone even worse than himself, began to sob uncontrollably.
So, Ibhi felt a bit better about Kasel.

To see a handsome man in his thirties crying while making pig noises and getting wet in the rain, it was quite something. If he continued to stay like this, they might be able to resolve their past grudges and get along well.

Meanwhile, Zion, who was watching from a distance, had complex feelings no less than Kasel.

“…Harsh.”

To make a nobleman ten years older than herself cry so miserably. Ibhi, who was lively and cute in the last memory of the fortune teller, has grown into what kind of human?

Watching Ibhi enjoying the rain, Zion felt a bit melancholy and quietly covered his mouth.

He remembered what Ibhi said with a pitiful face earlier.

“I hurt my knees, so I can’t get up.”

For someone who claimed to be unable to get up due to a knee injury, she walked and kicked quite well.

Zion realized that Ibhi Aria Te had exaggerated her injuries, and he felt quite satisfied in the midst of it all.

Amidst this, although it seemed out of place, he was feeling a considerable sense of victory for the first time regarding Ibhi.