Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Schemes in the Club
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‘At this rate, everything will fall apart!’
However, regardless of Viscount Noema’s feelings, the club’s atmosphere was rowdy.
Thick, hazy smoke billowed up. Even though Paris Emporus had vanished and opium distribution had halted, plenty of people were still mixing it into their tobacco to enjoy.
Scholars captivated by black magic followed Viscount Noema and argued fervently. On the other side, people played card games, while across from them, those drunk on liquor and drugs brawled.
The secret venue, now without its owner, had devolved into an uncontrollable hellscape. And this wasn’t limited to the location. It was the true face of Daimon.
“The administration is actually getting back on track.”
For over twenty years, Viscount Noema had poured effort into achieving his goals.
He had become the crown prince’s tutor to build influence, while corrupting bureaucrats from the shadows. In that regard, Paris Emporus had been his ace.
He had paralyzed various departments in the royal castle, delayed processing, made corruption rampant as if it were the norm, and slowly shaken public sentiment to exploit it whenever needed. Yet now, it was gradually being set right. After Paris Emporus’s death, the chaos he had sown was settling, centered around the administration.
“Peristera... should I try winning over that wench?”
He agonized.
The one who had normalized the administration was the girl the second prince had brought in.
She hadn’t stopped at denouncing Paris Emporus but had demonstrated her abilities and been officially appointed. She was an eyesore, like a thorn in his side.
He had considered assassination. But it had failed. He could try again, but with her guard up now, success was unlikely.
The best method was to corrupt her, just like the previous administrators.
“Things not going smoothly?”
At that moment, a hooded man sat down beside Viscount Noema. The viscount recognized him immediately.
“Hel. With the third prince absent, is it okay for you to wander alone?”
“He and I aren’t kids anymore. So, what’s the answer?”
“It’s none of your concern. I’ll make sure everything you want comes to pass. So no need to worry.”
Viscount Noema’s gaze toward Hel was nearly paternal.
The viscount glanced at the red hair peeking from under the hood, then averted his eyes.
“How could I not worry? I even raised the dead for you because you couldn’t sort out the royal castle mess. And now I hear one girl’s causing all this chaos?”
“I’ll pull her to our side. Since the second prince supports her so actively, swaying her would deal a major blow.”
“How?”
“I invited her father, Baron Iasis, for this afternoon.”
His face was hidden by the hood, but his lips pursed in admiration.
“I know him well. He’s cut from the same cloth as us. If he sees the dead rise, he’ll join Daimon of his own accord.”
“Indeed, even a girl called the cold-blooded witch couldn’t crack down on an organization her own father’s active in.”
In fact, Viscount Noema had used this method to make many overlook or cooperate with the Daimon organization.
Some had flatly refused, abandoning family ties, but those people had vanished.
Whether cursed by the black sorcerer, used as sacrifices, or collapsed from opium overdose—he no longer knew.
“Then I’ll expect results.”
Hel patted Viscount Noema’s shoulder and left. Viscount Noema gave a wry smile.
But once Hel was gone, he clenched his fist.
“I’ll make everything you desire come true.”
***
Evelyn was tailing her husband and Viscount Noema. They had left the royal castle and boarded a carriage, and she clung to the back of it.
She recalled the conversation she’d had with her daughter earlier that day.
‘You absolutely must not let them discover who you are!’
‘Of course.’
‘And you can’t kill just anyone!’
‘My, my. What do you take your mother for?’
‘A volcano?’
‘You say the wildest things to your own mother.’
She had told her daughter not to worry, but Rachel clearly didn’t trust her.
Evelyn wondered if she had done something to sow distrust in Rachel, but finding no such instance only saddened her more.
Children grow up so fast. Evelyn felt both proud and wistful that her daughter, who had always seemed so young in her arms, was now stepping out to handle big things.
Back then, she herself had been a girl who loved swinging a sword. The reckless type who acted first and thought later—thank goodness she’d been with the temple.
But Rachel, unlike her, was fragile yet already weighing everything carefully, growing into an adult.
That made Evelyn feel sorry, as if her protection had been insufficient.
Her daughter’s youthful face, so much like her own, was endearing, but dark circles shadowed her eyes. She only returned after sunset every day—Evelyn couldn’t imagine how busy the administration must be.
With such a face, Rachel had spoken firmly.
‘The place Father’s been invited to is dangerous. Protect him and rescue him if things get risky.’
Her daughter, who had taken half a day off, loved her family so much that she worried more about her father—who had lived twice as long—than herself, even instructing Evelyn on what to do.
There was no suspicion. Though her daughter had changed overnight last spring, Evelyn trusted Rachel.
Because the occasional pathos in her daughter’s eyes never seemed feigned.
‘After that, others will show up to handle it, so you must not get caught no matter what. Just get Father out.’
‘Okay, okay. How many times do I have to say it? You nag more than your own father.’
Evelyn had replied nonchalantly, but she could read her daughter’s earnestness and wanted to sigh.
Deep down, she was glad for her own strength. Otherwise, Rachel would have had to beg someone else for help.
‘But what will you be doing?’
‘I’ll stick by Enoch.’
Evelyn, who had worried this might involve Rachel in danger again, felt relieved at the mention of staying by Enoch’s side.
During the Paris Emporus incident, she had said she’d be with a youth named Abyss, but before long, she was at the epicenter, witnessing the truth and denouncing it herself.
How shocked Evelyn had been to hear about it later? She wanted Rachel safe and protected.
Rachel was weak. Like her father, both in body and strength.
She was quick and clever, advantages for escape but not for fighting others.
Yet Rachel had confronted Paris Emporus and exposed his crimes in detail.
Evelyn had an instinctual feeling that her daughter wouldn’t live long, which worried her.
Still, she couldn’t clip her daughter’s wings just because it was unsafe. It was easier to eliminate all the threats in her path.
‘I’ll smash every danger blocking Rachel’s way.’
Evelyn had smiled brightly before her daughter. Rachel, oblivious to the reason, smiled back.
And so, Evelyn now arrived at a place that gave her an unpleasant vibe.
The carriage stopped on a certain street. Even for the capital’s outskirts, it was eerily devoid of people.
Evelyn cautiously leaped off the carriage and hid between alleys.
Soon after, her husband and Viscount Noema disembarked from the arriving carriage. She sensed many presences in a particularly large building, and Viscount Noema led her husband there.
“A club?”
Women usually held tea parties for gatherings. This was due to restrictions on women’s activities.
The nobles of Cudas viewed women active outside negatively, naturally confining women’s pursuits to their estates.
Men’s activities, however, were free. As boys, they formed bonds at the academy; as adults, they met for banquets, clubs, business, and more.
Clubs were popular spots for male nobles. And simultaneously, places women could neither enter nor use.
Evelyn watched from the alley, eyes fixed on the entrance her husband and Viscount Noema entered. Soon, a man appeared and blocked the entrance as if forbidding passage.
“For a staff member, he’s awfully burly. And...”
Her sharp senses detected something off about the man. He wasn’t breathing. No heartbeat either—like a corpse.
“These black magic scum are up to something weird.”
She couldn’t detect black magic. But years in the temple had honed her instincts.
She might miss cursed items, but she wasn’t so dense as to overlook massive fraud.
“Knock three times when you arrive at the suspicious place.”
Evelyn tapped three times on the crudely designed brooch Rachel had given her. It was an artifact, she’d heard, that transmitted the wearer’s location to its paired counterpart.
Evelyn unrolled the cloth strapped to her back. She gripped one of the five swords.
She prayed briefly and sprinkled holy water on the blade. Then she approached the building’s entrance where her husband and Viscount Noema had gone.
At once, the non-living thing blocked her path.
“Those without permission cannot pass.”
Evelyn, sword still sheathed, rested her chin on her free hand.
“You speak better than expected.”
On temple missions, she often encountered mysteries. Once, in a forest, she’d seen moving trees radiating fresh energy.
In contrast, the things before her now emitted a stinging, odd smell that prickled her nose.
“Their eyes are gooey like they’ll burst any second, skin unnaturally pallid. Let’s see.”
As Evelyn didn’t retreat but moved her hand, they finally stirred to attack her.
But Evelyn stepped back, uncorked a vial of holy water, and splashed it on them. They collapsed limply.
“Zombies made with black magic, as expected!”
It was Evelyn’s first time seeing zombies up close. Since they were already dead, even a normal person stabbing or slashing them wouldn’t stop their movement.
Confirming the zombies, Evelyn dashed straight into the building.
Powerful black magic required many sacrifices. Considerable lives must have been taken to raise even one such zombie.
How dangerous must a place using them as guards be?
Evelyn’s lips curved up at the crisis sense tingling on her skin.
“This might be tough to infiltrate without getting caught. Wonder if Rachel will nag me again?”
Her lips twitched as she pursued her husband’s presence.
***
“It’s an honor to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine.”
Henri was busy with greetings. The club’s basement, where Viscount Noema had invited him, was filled with many people. He didn’t know all their names or titles, but they were scholars he’d seen around the royal castle. Among them were academics as renowned as Viscount Noema and doctors Henri respected.
“Your hair color’s changed.”
“The contract’s completely severed, so...”
Henri seemed oblivious to the murmurs amid the bustle, but Viscount Noema heard every word.
Henri didn’t know everyone here, but they knew him.
Some from his connection to Paris Emporus, others from his recent ennoblement.
Some even from Peristera in the administration.
“She seems different in personality from the cold-blooded witch.”
“They don’t even cross paths in the castle. Maybe they don’t get along?”
Viscount Noema clicked his tongue at their chatter.
Intellectuals were curious by nature. He had gathered only them today to sway Henri, and they were even chattier than usual.
“I invited you here today not just to introduce these folks, but because there’s something I want to show you.”
“Something to show me?”
“Do you believe in God?”
“Yes, of course.”
“But God merely created us—He doesn’t care for us. Have you never felt doubt watching those fighting plagues?”