Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Sacrificial Lineage
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Rachel could now understand why Paris Emporus had hidden the contract from his own son.
It was because if he offered Rachel as the sacrifice, there would be no need to offer any more afterward.
But he died without being able to offer the tenth sacrifice.
The contract remained intact; only the person offering the sacrifice had changed.
In reality, nothing had been resolved.
‘Even if I kill Chris, the contract will pass to Mass, and if I kill Mass, it’ll go to Uncle Sari. In the worst case…’
It could even extend to Henri or Deyner.
“You can see it, but the Emporus family cherishes its daughters.”
In the midst of this, Abyss insensitively brought up something she didn’t want to know.
As he said, aside from the girls offered as sacrifices, no other daughters appeared in the lineage.
In each generation, there was exactly one girl born.
“It looks like they tried hard to have lots of daughters here.”
Abyss said quietly, pointing with his finger.
There was an ancestor in the middle who had married many times and had many wives. However, he failed to produce a daughter.
Instead, his younger brother had a daughter, and in the end, that niece was offered as the sacrifice.
“Many wives died young.”
He pointed out the names of wives whose birth and death years were within 25 years of each other.
As she looked at the genealogy, Rachel felt rage boiling up inside her.
“What a piece of work.”
Rachel pressed her forehead and ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek. She had felt relieved when Paris Emporus died, but it turned out there was no reason for relief at all.
She checked the record of the girl who became the ninth sacrifice again.
If she had lived, she would have been Rachel’s aunt, but she wasn’t the grandmother who bore Paris, Sari, and Henri’s mother.
The identity of her mother only came to light after applying a special solution.
But what was written there wasn’t a name—it was “pig.” And it was even plural.
“Is this a person’s name?”
As Rachel frowned, Abyss cleared his throat awkwardly and explained.
“It’s, uh, a vulgar term for women who sell their bodies.”
There was no birth year, but the death year was recorded.
It was one year before Rachel was born.
“It seems like since no daughters were being born, he got involved with whores.”
But that wasn’t what Rachel wanted to know. She was trying to check the year the ninth sacrifice was offered.
“Sixteen years ago.”
Rachel muttered, biting her nails.
For now, the only avenue Rachel had for tackling this was breaking the contract.
Normally, a contract between a demon and a human is broken when the specified conditions are met or when one party disappears.
The Emporus family’s contract shifted to a new contractor, making it hard for either party to vanish. Instead, they had to find and destroy the token connecting the two entities.
Alternatively, if the contractor’s family fell into ruin within 20 years of offering the sacrifice.
In other words, if the Emporus family went bankrupt within four years, the contract would automatically be voided.
With no token discovered yet, the latter was the only solution available.
“They have considerable wealth, though…”
There’s a saying that even a rich man takes three years to go broke.
The Emporus family’s finances were in a state that made it hard to go bankrupt even if they wanted to.
However, she had grit on her side.
‘Gamer’s grit!’
Her motivation, which had withered after Paris Emporus’s death, surged back to life.
She had to bankrupt the Emporus family somehow.
‘It’ll be relatively easy to make it happen while Chris is the family head.’
However, if she rashly got rid of Chris first, Sari Emporus would take that position. That would complicate things immensely.
Lost in thought, she unconsciously tapped her other arm with her fingers.
It was good to have motivation, but she couldn’t think of how to squander that fortune.
‘Framing him for treason won’t work since Chris is innocent.’
She didn’t mind at all wasting the family fortune, but killing him weighed on her conscience.
He was a cousin with no redeeming qualities, but he hadn’t committed a capital crime either.
Of course, it would be different if he were Paris Emporus.
“Is there no way to bankrupt the Emporus family within four years?”
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“Gambling. But if he’s getting help from a demon, he might even win money.”
“That doesn’t solve anything from the start. The illegal gambling dens are basically his property.”
At Rachel’s distrustful look, Abyss offered another answer.
“Or commit a major crime to strip the title and have the assets confiscated by the treasury. Or reveal that they’ve been black sorcerers for generations. You could submit this genealogy as evidence.”
“I knew it, but it really is impossible with a gentle approach.”
“It’s absolutely impossible with half-hearted resolve.”
He was right.
Money begets money—wealth flowed into the Emporus family on its own even if Chris did nothing.
Moreover, though Chris was dim-witted, he was supported by capable talents.
When Paris Emporus had overflowing wealth, he provided educational opportunities to promising talents and nurtured them.
Those who completed their academy courses with his support revered him like a god and worked for him in his merchant guild.
However, after Paris died, the faction split.
One side supported Paris’s son, Chris, while the other believed they should work for the Emporus family itself and backed the capable Sari.
In the end, Sari seized real power in the castle, and Chris was ousted, but ruining the Emporus family was a separate matter.
What they could do now was expose the human trafficking the Emporus family had committed, or the illegal gambling dens they owned—or reveal that the Emporus family were black sorcerers.
“But if we submit the genealogy as evidence, won’t it cause trouble for Father and me?”
“If you regularly visit the temple to confirm you’re not a black sorcerer, it should be fine.”
When Rachel’s expression didn’t soften at his explanation, Abyss added a few more words.
“If you’re still anxious, just tie Sari and Chris together with the human trafficking and illegal gambling dens and throw them to the Second Prince. He needs funds to check the Third Prince’s faction, so he’ll bite and tear into it nicely.”
The Third Prince’s faction had already suffered a huge loss losing Paris Emporus, their major funding source.
If the Emporus assets went to the treasury and the Second Prince’s faction siphoned off hidden funds, it would be ideal for Abyss, who opposed black sorcerers.
‘Still, isn’t it risky?’
Rachel stroked her chin in thought.
‘Losing the Emporus family means the Third Prince’s side loses a funding source. Would they really accept this quietly?’
Rachel raised her head to suggest deciding more carefully.
But she immediately saw his smiling face. His handsome features, usually suppressed into a smirk or blank expression, now burst into a full smile.
Rachel blinked up at his face, forgetting what she was about to say.
“I was wary of you at first, thinking you were a black sorcerer, but now I see you’re the goddess of luck.”
He looked at her with an expression like he was going mad with adoration.
The gaze felt so awkward that Rachel quickly lowered her head and asked,
“You thought I was a black sorcerer?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a hacker. Plus, I sensed the typical black sorcerer vibe from you. But if you were one, you would’ve reacted when I splashed holy water on you.”
“I see. So if I’d been with a priestess, you wouldn’t have suspected me?”
“Yeah.”
In previous rounds, Peace the priestess had acted as an intermediary, preventing any misunderstanding as a black sorcerer, but meeting him without a priestess always led to suspicion.
“How picky.”
Even when Paris Emporus was alive, meeting without a priestess got her treated like an assassin, and now with him dead, no priestess meant being suspected as a black sorcerer.
‘Must always bring a priestess.’
As Rachel reaffirmed this to herself, Abyss continued.
“And if you’d shown up before us any later, I wouldn’t have listened and would’ve attacked.”
“Why?”
“Because the sense of déjà vu would’ve been stronger. I’d have judged it was definitely a black sorcerer’s doing and stabbed you with my knife the moment it became clear you were a hacker.”
“You’re really hard to get on the same side as.”
“That’s why it sparks the challenge, right? It’s not easy.”
“I don’t want to risk my life just to befriend you.”
Rachel snorted and glanced at Deyner, who was still rummaging through the crates. Junk was scattered around him.
“If it’s as written here, the designated altar is likely the token.”
Rachel hadn’t completely ruled out the option of finding and destroying the token.
“I’ll have to stay in this castle for a while and look for a way.”
“He’ll welcome it.”
Chris was currently indicted, so he had to attend the trial.
If Sari Emporus appeared at Harpa Castle in the meantime, there’d be no one to respond, so Chris was in a position to ask Henri for help.
“Fortunately, the judge who came this time isn’t affiliated with Daimon, so he’ll be released right away.”
“Ah! I was curious about that. I heard it’s rare for the military police and judges to travel together—what’s the story?”
“Another noble under Daimon tampered with the military police, and Jesty caught wind of it and chased after.”
Rachel realized through context that the judge she’d shared the carriage with earlier was named Jesty.
“He sent a Daimon-affiliated merchant to prison. That’s why he got on the bad side of the higher-ups.”
Abyss continued his explanation.
Jesty the judge, from a fallen noble family, was capable and diligent—a promising talent.
But he had bad luck. He tried a merchant whose crimes were heinous and sentenced him accordingly.
That merchant belonged to an organization symbolized by papyrus, which included high nobles.
Once that high noble learned of the trial, he targeted Jesty and blocked his promotions.
Not content with dooming him to no advancement, the imprisoned merchant bribed the noble, got out, and broke the law again.
This made Jesty despise the papyrus-symbol organization and target them exclusively.
“After that, he sent quite a few Daimon merchants to prison. They can’t help but hate him.”
“No wonder he was so polite in front of him.”
Afterward, Rachel and Abyss went to Deyner’s side, inspected the crates more thoroughly, confirmed there were no suspicious items, and only then returned to the office.
***
Jesty the judge diligently collected evidence materials at Harpa Castle.
Normally, it wouldn’t take just one day, but Abyss and Rachel helped enthusiastically.
The next day, Chris departed for the capital with the military police.
His relative Henri decided to accompany him as his guardian, and Chris, preparing for the possibility of Sari appearing while he was away, entrusted the castle to Evelyn.
“I leave it to you.”
After introducing Evelyn to the servants and repeatedly instructing them not to let Sari in under any circumstances, Chris still couldn’t hide his anxious eyes.
Worried for him, Evelyn hugged him and patted his back.
“Don’t worry too much. Everything will be fine.”
Chris shed tears. It seemed like he was reminded of his late mother.
“We’ll guard the castle well. Just come back safely, Brother.”
Rachel spoke while hiding her complicated feelings.
If no token was found, she’d have to tie Chris and Sari together to ruin the Emporus family.
She hoped they could find the token while he was gone.
After noon, when the rain had lightened a bit, Chris and Henri left the castle.
After Chris departed, Rachel wandered the castle searching for the token.
“If only it were sunny!”
The rain had lessened, but it was still pouring heavily.
She couldn’t send a messenger pigeon because of the rain, so she couldn’t contact the temple.
“If only Enoch were here, finding the token would be quick!”
Rachel sorely missed having Enoch by her side right now.
Hearing her grumbling, Abyss muttered softly.
“Enoch?”
“Yeah. You know him?”
“From the Lux Church?”
“You do know! As expected of an information merchant! Your intel-gathering is no joke.”
“You’re close with an unexpected person?”
Abyss spoke ambiguously and shut his mouth. Rachel wondered if him knowing she was close to Enoch was surprising.
“You probably already know, but our mother grew up in the temple as a child, right? So it’s not that surprising.”
“Yeah. One piece of advice: stay on good terms with him.”
“Oh, so even you acknowledge Enoch’s skills? I already knew that much!”
Abyss stared at Rachel with his amethyst eyes.
“Why! Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You seem clever at times, but then so pure.”