Badin’s story sounded like wordplay at first glance, but Eustar understood it—surprisingly for Badin.

While still not fully believing his words, a part of his mind knew that the devil before him was speaking nothing but the truth.

“By the way, my name is Badin.”

His tone had become indifferent again. Eustar felt a strange sense of deflation at the sudden change. At the same time, the tension left his body, and the sword blade that had been pointing at Badin all along drooped slightly downward.

“Badin, you say.”

“That’s right.”

“Should I introduce myself as well?”

Badin raised one eyebrow slightly. He looked like a cunning merchant about to start haggling.

“If you wish to do so.”

Eustar realized that he already knew about him. Well, why wouldn’t he? Devils peer into people’s minds, their memories.

Picking out the most vulnerable and easily wounded spots, sprinkling sugar and ash on them to extort souls, that was their job and their food.

Eustar, staring intently at Badin, said,

“Now that you put it that way, I don’t really feel like doing it anymore.”

“I suppose not. You foolish descendant of Hyanmorik.”

Eustar gave a hollow laugh.

“I heard similar words from a devil I eliminated before. Have I become quite famous without knowing it?”

Badin made an “Ah” sound and nodded slowly. It was an elegant and flawless gesture worthy of the finest theatrical performance.

“You’ve been a celebrity since the moment you were born. We’re one step ahead of you when it comes to loving gossip. But that’s all in the past now.”

“What do you mean…”

Badin raised his hand to stop Eustar’s words. As no one but Laila and Ord had ever dared to cut him off like that before, Eustar laughed hollowly once more.

“As I told my daughter, this place belongs to me. You seek human souls here, but it’s futile. You’ll end up wandering an endless maze, eventually reduced to eating your own shadows.”

“So, do you intend to show us the way out?”

“Haven’t you noticed that there’s something strange about this house? This house was built on desire. No, one could say the house itself is a mass of desire.”

“Speak plainly.”

Badin’s lips curved upward crookedly.

“This house was built by an old human. After a lifetime of building houses for others, he was finally able to build his own house with the money he had saved. He took a wife young enough to be his granddaughter, and fearing that his young and beautiful wife might run away from his old and ugly self, he created a maze inside the house.”

Eustar frowned. Badin’s matter-of-fact attitude, as if he were discussing the weather, while telling such a nauseating story was unbearably unpleasant.

However, Badin had no interest whatsoever in Eustar’s likes or dislikes. Naturally.

“As the old man had thought, the woman tried to run away not long after. But it wasn’t because he was old, as he had worried. It was because she could no longer bear that desire, that endless desire and the increasingly desperate suspicion. She circled the mansion trying to escape, got trapped behind a door that wouldn’t open, and afterwards, the old man, satisfied, hanged himself.”

“Satisfied, you say…?”

“He was satisfied. Why wouldn’t he be? His only concern was that his wife would leave his side and be happy with another male. But now that she was dead, he had nothing to worry about anymore.”

“What an ugly story.”

Badin slightly lowered his chin, as if finding it amusing.

“Humans are inherently ugly.”

Eustar wanted to refute his words but didn’t want to waste time beating around the bush. When he kept his mouth shut, Badin, as if he had expected it, paced a couple of steps from where he stood, making those characteristically brisk shoe sounds.

“This house swallowed the satisfaction and desire that old man spat out as he died. Since then, countless humans have died here. Husbands killing wives and wives killing husbands, parents killing children and children killing parents. This house is an unsatisfiable desire, the very embodiment of what you call sin. It accepts the most greedy as its master and waits until he destroys all the humans around him. If there was one thing it didn’t expect, it was how foolish a human with strong greed could be. Who would have thought they would dare to summon a devil?”

Badin laughed softly as if it were a joke. It was a chilling sound, like one’s spine being pulled out.

“In the end, this monster fell for its own trick. Like the human of old who wished everything he touched would turn to gold. Now that I have taken possession of it, no human can set foot in this place anymore.”

“Then, what did people see in this house? Why are those souls, those who died, still lingering here?”

“Those devoured by this house are like prisoners sentenced to life. Unless the prison crumbles, they can never escape. They are eternally ruminated upon. With nothing new to chew and swallow, they can only vomit up what they’ve eaten to forget their hunger.”

Eustar said,

“So according to you, we must destroy this entire house.”

“That’s right. But as I said earlier, this is my possession.”

Eustar felt a strange ominousness at Badin’s words. He belatedly realized that there must have been a reason for the nonchalant attitude he had maintained all along. Then he wondered how he had only just thought of it now.

“So you’ll have to deal with both this hungry monster and me, its owner.”

Eustar let out a short, dull sigh at Badin’s words, which drove home the wavering ominousness.

Laila, who had been engrossed in the contents of the notebook, forgetting why she had come here or even where she was, only lifted her head when she saw the ink stain blurred on the last page.

‘This can’t be true.’

As the chilly air filled her lungs, that was the first thought that crossed her mind.

Laila flipped through the other pages of the notebook, looking for the owner’s name or any remaining signature. Between the back pages that were stuck together for some reason and the cover, she could see a faintly scribbled name.

Solena Persher.

The ghost Laila had successfully drawn out and made contact with had said her name was Giselle Persher. Undill Heights was her uncle’s house, and she had come here with her mother for recuperation…

—Mother’s health also deteriorated after she quit her job.

The owner of this diary, Solena, was apparently Giselle’s mother. And also, very surprisingly, she seemed to have been Eustar’s nanny…

No, she certainly was. Unless this Solena Persher person was a severe paranoid.

The notebook vividly depicted life in Sierow Palace. Names of gardens, corridors, and cloisters that Laila knew appeared frequently, and the days spent as a nanny were faithfully recorded.

Reading Solena’s notebook, one could vividly imagine what Eustar was like as a newborn.

However, what surprised Laila the most was not the records about Eustar, but the content about the King and Queen of Hyanmorik, and the other children they had borne.

‘There was a reason for the large age difference between Eustar and King Hyanmorik…’

Laila felt the blood in her entire body turning cold.

The King and Queen of Hyanmorik sacrificed all the children born after their eldest son, Ord, as offerings to summon devils. Two girls and one boy.

It was clear that they didn’t grieve for long even when the summoning failed and the baby died. Instead of mourning, they would have made another baby to use as the next sacrifice…

“Ugh…!”

Laila, hunching over, suddenly retched. A bitter bile rose up and her eyes hurt as if they were about to pop out. She realized her hands gripping her knees were trembling. The moment she realized this, tears fell.

‘If it had failed, Eustar would have…’

Suppressing another wave of nausea, she tightly closed her eyes. Then she snatched up Solena’s notebook that she had dropped and stuffed it into her pocket.

She had to find Eustar. Find him and first solve the problem entangled with this terrible house, then return to Sierow Palace to meet King Hyanmorik.

She needed to know what glory the previous King and Queen had sought by killing three of their own children. Without knowing that, she would never find a clue to free Eustar from the Deceptor.

“I told you there was no need for that.”

It was Badin again. Laila no longer felt great fear even hearing his voice. Rather… annoyed would be a more accurate description.

Laila turned her head and stared at Badin.

“What do you mean there’s no need?”

“Didn’t I tell you that you don’t need to get involved in that human’s contract with the Deceptor? I said you can’t get involved either.”

Laila suppressed the anger boiling up from deep inside her stomach and yanked her jacket sleeve to straighten it.

“I don’t recall saying it was any of your business.”

“You worry about him even knowing how foolish those with Hyanmorik blood are?”

Laila, gritting her molars, exclaimed in an angry voice.

“Just because the parents were crazy doesn’t mean the child has to be. You wouldn’t know since you’re not human.”

“Bloodline is neither diluted nor changed. Even if it appears so, it’s nothing more than a shallow deception. Do you know the word ‘wick’? Just as the wick of a human who willingly mated with a devil exists in your body and flowing blood under the name of the first witch, the wick of the foolish Hyanmorik exists in that human male’s body as well.”

“You seem to really dislike that I care about Eustar. Feel free to interfere with me. No matter what you do, I won’t end up like my mother.”

A strange look appeared in Badin’s eyes.

“Are you saying you’ll end the witch’s bloodline with your generation?”

Laila replied without hesitation.

“That’s right. So you’d better not even think about trying any tricks on me.”

“Are you planning to swallow your tongue?”

Laila let out a loud scoffing sound.

“I’ll cut off your tongue instead.”

At this, Badin frowned with a strange expression. It was as if he had licked a toad.

“At least I can see one thing you and that human male have in common. You both have no manners towards me. And as far as I know, human parents put ill-mannered children across their knees and spank their bottoms.”

At that moment, Laila felt as if the ground beneath her feet was giving way.

Her heart sank, and when she instinctively looked down, she realized her sensation wasn’t a mistake. There was no floor where it should have been beneath her feet. Only a gaping darkness.

As Laila fell, she heard Badin’s voice above her head.

“While I go find a rod to spank your bottoms, why don’t you two write some reflections?”