“……What is this?”

Taemi asked, looking at the black, thin things spilled onto Charlotte’s palm.

Though he didn’t know exactly what they were, just seeing them was enough to make his stomach churn.

Charlotte examined them closely, then sighed deeply as if trying to suppress her anger and shook her hand vigorously.

“Traces of a demon. They were inside this……”

Laine Hoperwell was completely dumbfounded. His expression showed he was at a loss, desperately trying to deny what he had seen with his own eyes. Taemi gripped his shoulder firmly and shook him to bring him back to his senses.

“Hey, who did you say gave this to you? Your aunt? Your great-aunt? Who was it?”

Laine answered.

“My, my aunt. But why would she do such a thing……”

Charlotte said.

“Maybe she was targeted first. Send her a telegram right away. And we need to remove that from Ben’s body immediately.”

The moment her words fell, suddenly a sharp wailing sound erupted from behind the three of them.

It was so loud that even Sella Hoperwell, who had run away crying earlier, came rushing in screaming.

“My stomach hurts! Mom! Dad! My stomach hurts so much!”

“Ben! Oh my goodness, Ben……”

Charlotte ran faster than Sella and tied the flailing child’s hands above his head with a sheet.

“What are you doing!”

“Can’t you see this?”

Sella’s eyes widened in shock.

Clear scratch marks were visible on the child’s tender stomach. Some were already swollen and red.

Charlotte said as she tightly bound his wrists.

“He’s doing this on purpose. Right now, your son, Ben’s consciousness is gone.”

“It hurts….. Mom, it hurts! My stomach hurts! Mom, my stomach!”

Sella tried to approach the child again. But Charlotte firmly blocked her.

“Don’t come near. Unless you want to tear open your child’s stomach with your own hands. If you have time to cry, go out and bring palm branches. If you have dried thyme, bring that too. Both of you, move quickly!”

Charlotte’s lime-green eyes flashed brightly.

At that moment, Sella and Laine wore blank expressions for a moment, then unlike before, became docile and ran out of the house.

Charlotte was quite surprised to realize she had unknowingly controlled their consciousness, but that wasn’t the important issue right now.

“Will it be alright?”

Taemi asked. He looked down anxiously at the young child who was panting with his arms tied, then went limp again.

“I understand what you’re trying to do, but isn’t it too dangerous?”

“Then should we just watch the child die? Hand me that paper.”

A sheet of paper gently landed in Charlotte’s hand as she snapped irritably.

She found a pen rolling on the child’s desk and carefully began drawing lines on the paper.

It was an ancient script learned from her mother who was a magician, a kind of talisman that prevented demons from moving and drew them in.

When Charlotte covered Ben’s face with the talisman, suddenly a large writhing was felt inside the child’s stomach.

Just as she thought that heavy, determined tremor was chilling, the Hoperwell couple returned.

They were holding what Charlotte had instructed, but the hypnosis seemed to have worn off as their expressions were anxious and distrustful.

“Give them here.”

Charlotte received the palm branches and bundle of dried thyme, then looked at the Hoperwell couple.

“This is the only way for now. But it could be dangerous. Ben will appear to be in a lot of pain. But that’s not Ben’s pain, absolutely not. It’s the pain of the demon parasitizing the child’s body. Do you understand?”

“I……”

As Laine Hoperwell tried to object, Charlotte raised her hand to stop him.

“There’s no time for questions. Will you do it, or should we just stop here? I’ve already told you what will happen if we stop. Decide.”

Laine’s lips quivered again.

He didn’t believe in sorcery. Things like magicians had nothing to do with him.

Recognizing that such people existed and understanding them on a human level were completely different matters, and Laine Hoperwell was inherently born as a person incapable of the latter.

In that respect, Sella Hoperwell was just slightly better than her husband.

Perhaps she wanted to grasp at even a straw……

She nodded urgently with her hands clasped tightly.

“Alright, I understand everything! Please save Ben. I’m begging you!”

Charlotte said.

“Once I start, don’t interfere with me at all. If we stop in the middle, I can’t be responsible for what happens after.”

An anxious atmosphere filled the room tensely.

Charlotte rather wished the Hoperwell couple would go somewhere else, but they stood firmly at the doorway.

She kept feeling on edge from the piercing gazes stabbing her back.

‘I need to focus.’

Charlotte sighed and trimmed the palm branches Sella Hoperwell had brought, placing them at the child’s head.

The talisman covering his face trembled. It seemed like it would blow away with a breath, but the paper clung tightly to the child’s face without moving.

“That which has stolen a place and broken the rules, come out beyond the line.”

No sooner had Charlotte’s words fallen than Ben’s body bounced up as if springing upward. A piercing scream that seemed to split the ears rang out.

The talisman remained as it was, but Charlotte gritted her teeth seeing the child’s stomach was still flat.

“Those who break the rules can’t join the game! Come out beyond the line and sit in your place!”

“Ahhh—! No, save me! Mom, Dad! It hurts, it hurts!”

“Taemi, hold him down! Hold his legs!”

Taemi, who firmly pressed down the child’s legs as he thrashed and kicked at the air, let out a groan.

It was unbelievably strong for a young child’s strength. He could barely restrain it even using all his might.

‘Damn, right. There were also ones like this.’

Taemi thought. For a moment, the scent of dry sand seemed to brush his nose. And smoke…..

“Charlotte, are you really going to do that?”

“Be quiet, Taemi. I’m concentrating.”

Charlotte tied the dried thyme with thinly drawn silver and placed it on the child’s stomach.

She could feel something struggling deep inside, but she paid no attention and struck a match.

“What are you doing!”

Laine Hoperwell, who had been watching them with an expression mixed with anger and confusion, shouted and rushed forward.

However, Charlotte had already dropped the match onto the thyme before his hand could reach, and Sella screamed.

But contrary to what they thought, the dried herbs did not suddenly burst into flames on the child’s body.

The spark moved very slowly along the silver, burning the herbs like a tiny red ladybug crawling on a leaf.

Charlotte, who blocked Laine Hoperwell who was twice her size, said.

“I told you not to approach or interfere with me.”

“The child is suffering! Are you really treating him?”

“Then do you think I’m a crazy pervert torturing your child?”

“What the!”

Taemi interjected.

“This isn’t just treatment, Mr. Hoperwell. We’re trying to extract the demon that’s settled inside the child’s body. Heat makes the cocoon tear faster. It will come out in an immature state. That’s what we’re trying to catch……”

At that moment, the child vomited blood.

Seeing that, Charlotte immediately ran over and wiped the blood with her finger. The demon hadn’t come out yet.

But it would soon. Charlotte was examining the mucus that had started to flow from the corners of the child’s mouth when she was about to strike another match.

“Stop! Please stop! The child will die at this rate! Honey, make her stop!”

As Sella Hoperwell cried out, Laine Hoperwell tried to pull down the bundle of herbs on the child’s stomach.

Charlotte threw her whole body to push him away, then hastily struck matches with a rapid tapping sound.

She could feel the movement getting faster and faster.

It couldn’t stand the heat. If it became an adult, it would be over. They had to pull it out in an immature state and catch it.

“Taemi, hold that person!”

Without time to think, Taemi let go of the child’s legs and rushed at Ben.

As Charlotte dropped another match, the child screamed in an eerie voice.

“It’s hot—! Damn it, it’s hot! You damn human woman—! It’s hot! Hot, hot, hot! Take it away right now! Take it away—!”

“Cut the crap and come out.”

Charlotte growled.

At that moment, the child’s chest heaved and a grayish mucus flowed from his mouth.

It’s coming out. Charlotte hurriedly grabbed the glass bottle she had prepared in advance and slammed it down over the mucus that had spilled onto the floor with a thud.

Like living things, they writhed this way and that as they were sucked into the bottle.

‘Just a little more… just vomit a little more. It’s almost done. Good, you’re doing well. Child, you’re doing well……’

“Stop now!”

It was when the bottle was half filled with the mucus the child had vomited.

Even thinking back later, Charlotte couldn’t clearly perceive that moment.

You know how it is? In circus performances, when several flexible people come out and move slowly on one side and quickly on the other, at some point your vision overlaps and your body feels like it’s floating…..

The moment Sella Hoperwell pulled the bundle of herbs off the child’s stomach, the silver thread Charlotte had tied snapped.

The child, who had been vomiting the unpleasant mucus while flailing his bound arms, grinned widely.

“Well done, Mom.”