Chapter 100
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: What Did You Call Me For?
I had never seen Axel's face in person, but I knew his handsome features from the portrait very well. Thanks to that, I recognized him easily.
The deeply sunken eye sockets, the bulging cheekbones, and the arrogant red eyes gleaming between them. I swallowed hard as I stared at him.
“First time meeting, huh, Sien Mirmod.”
“……What did you call me for?”
‘In truth, I wasn’t called here—I was kidnapped.’
I bit my lip tightly and looked at Axel. He grinned and let out a creepy laugh.
It was the first time I’d seen someone whose cheeks puffed up and cheekbones rose like that yet still looked terrifying.
“First off…….”
As his words trailed off strangely, he raised his hand and slapped my cheek.
With a sharp smack, my face whipped to the side, and the flesh inside my mouth tore. Luckily, I’d clenched my teeth, so my jaw didn’t dislocate, but the adult’s force made my cheek feel like blood was flowing from it.
“Shall we start with a beating?”
I shot back at him with a drained expression.
“My cheek’s already burning, and you want to hit me more?”
“Yeah, that’s the only way my anger will cool off.”
A few more crisp smacks followed.
Before the pain could even dull, he started choking my neck a little.
“Guhk.”
My fingertips curled tight, and the shock of not being able to breathe hit my throat—no, my whole body.
By the time his hand loosened, I mumbled in a hoarse voice.
“Why are you going this far?”
No answer came to my question.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I looked at the madman before me.
In that instant, my mind sharpened. Seeing the madness in his eyes, I felt like I might die here today.
‘The answer is simple. Keep my wits about me and get hints from what this place is to how I can escape.’
The place was dark and pitch-black, without a single window or any light coming in.
I was curled up in this dark, gloomy space that felt like it could drive me insane, facing off against Axel.
I took a deep breath in and out, then looked at him.
“What do I have to do to cool your anger?”
“Simple. You, the one Matthias Mirmod loves, die here. Then that bastard will drop dead too.”
At those words, I blinked my lashes as I stared at him.
He didn’t seem particularly pleased saying my death out loud.
“Quite the ambiguous expression, Sien Mirmod.”
“So this is my grave?”
“Well…… yeah, you could say that.”
“Not bad. A temple as my tomb.”
At my words, he burst into mad cackles. He laughed so wildly that spit flew onto my face.
“You must be curious what this place is. Thinking it’s a temple? But don’t bother racking your brain. Even if you’re about to die, I have no intention of telling you.”
Axel spoke to me affectionately.
“But you’ll make good bait, so I’ll put you to sleep for a bit. To make it less painful.”
In that moment, I caught the distinctive herbal scent wafting through the space and froze. Watching me, Axel tilted his head, then brought his hand to me again.
A blindfold covered my eyes.
After that, it was pitch black again.
I think I heard a whisper in my ear: ‘When you wake up, you’ll see something even more fun.’
***
I had no idea how much time had passed.
My stomach was already growling, and my eyes were still covered by the blindfold. But as my senses slowly returned, I pulled myself together and thought it through.
Axel hadn’t told me outright, but I knew this was inside a temple.
It was simple how I knew.
No matter how briefly they block your sight, they can’t block your sense of smell.
The place seemed like a vacuum, but there was a faint herbal scent coming from Axel. It was the smell of the medicinal herbs commonly used in temples.
I knew because when I had stomachaches as a kid, one of the village aunties would often get herbs from a nearby temple for me.
‘Back then I hated it, but who knew it’d help now. This is definitely a temple.’
I’d trained myself to run away whenever I smelled those herbs because I hated the porridge they made with them. I never imagined it’d save me in a crisis like this.
‘Exactly which temple? The Central Temple? And underground or above?’
If this was the basement of the Central Temple……
‘It means they really intend to eliminate me without loose ends. Only the Pope can enter there.’
Mirmod’s eyes were everywhere in the world.
On top of that, I was widely known as the child who received the Duke of Mirmod’s favor. Killing me openly would be a huge risk for them too.
So the only place Mirmod’s eyes couldn’t reach was one spot.
The extradition zone where even the Emperor needed the Pope’s permission to enter.
‘A bit risky, but they dragged me to the temple basement. So they can kill me without repercussions.’
They clearly hadn’t even considered the risk.
After all, if they killed me without leaving a body, that’d be it.
“No, what the hell are you doing?”
The moment I said that, the blindfold over my eyes was roughly yanked off.
“What do you mean, what?”
Axel was the one who answered me.
I looked at him as he chewed on his bloodless lips. He looked deeply uneasy. I could tell from how he kept glancing at the door.
‘He’s definitely hiding something from me.’
In that case, I had no choice but to play along.
I stared at them blankly and tilted my head slightly.
“Got it, then……. Hey, I’ve got something I’m curious about.”
“You think I’ll tell you?”
I twitched my eyebrow at Axel, whose eyes flashed.
‘No, I don’t think he will.’
Axel Mirmod clearly wasn’t in his right mind.
I considered buttering him up and wheedling the info out of him, but he didn’t seem like he’d understand subtlety.
So I decided to drop the high-society lady talk. Instead, I asked sharply.
“It’s nothing big. Why did you kidnap me?”
“To kill you.”
Axel cackled again. I glared at him steadily, undeterred by his mockery.
“Doing this because you want to be Duke Mirmod? Why go this far?”
At my words, he, who had regained some sanity, ground his teeth. His face flushed red, and veins bulged at his temples.
I could see him roughly undoing his shirt buttons around his neck to calm his rage.
I tilted my head and looked at him again with eyes full of doubt.
“Sien Mirmod. You really don’t know a thing. Pretending to be so innocent.”
I could see his anger building slowly.
And then, it happened in an instant.
Axel, who seemed to have gone mad from ten years trapped in the demon realm, glared at me, raised his hand, and choked my neck.
My windpipe narrowed in a flash, and I couldn’t breathe. I tried to move my body without air, but Axel crushed my throat like a worthless bug.
“Ugh, kghk.”
I curled up wildly and tried to claw his arm, but failed.
Axel showed a demeanor utterly unlike his crazed appearance. I gasped desperately, mouth wide open for air, but couldn’t open it further.
He really seemed about to kill me.
***
At the same time.
Matthias Mirmod ground his teeth as he stared at Sien’s empty spot.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, softly illuminating Sien’s bed.
Where Sien should have been sleeping, mumbling cute sleep-talk as usual, only rumpled white sheets lay.
As he walked outside following Sien’s traces, Ted followed close behind.
“I’ll gladly accept my punishment.”
“Even if you take your punishment, nothing good comes to me.”
“…….”
Matthias snapped back sharply.
“You overestimate your worth.”
Matthias’s expression turned icy in an instant.
As Ted’s face twisted in agony, Matthias spoke in a cutting tone.
“Even if you died and vanished, it wouldn’t undo Sien’s disappearance.”
“……I know my life is worthless compared to Lady Sien’s safety.”
It had only been a few hours.
But in that time, Matthias Mirmod’s mind had shattered to pieces.
He could fully read the ominous atmosphere surrounding Sien.
‘Daddy! I’ll protect you!’
The sweet voice from his childhood echoed like a hallucination.
Matthias furrowed his brow, covered his ears, then uncovered them.
Sien was gone, and he had no time to indulge in sentiment. Now was the time to be cold.
“Go to the imperial palace.”
“…….”
“Then, Lord Matthias…….”
He traced the spot where Sien had vanished with his fingertips.
In his hand was a small thimble. It was a magic tool that let him sense traces of power.
Through it, remnants of holy power flowed in.
“Go to the temple.”
Matthias tossed the thimble from his finger with a displeased look.
Ted, staring at his stiff expression, suddenly spoke up.
“Which…… temple do you mean?”
“The Central Temple. You go to the imperial palace.”
Ted bowed deeply, meeting his gaze.
“Understood.”
Matthias looked down indifferently at Ted’s trembling voice and hunched shoulders, then spoke lowly.
“I’ll go to the Central Temple, so only a few should follow.”
Ted’s face, who seemed ready to accept every word humbly, went pale.
That wasn’t all.
The fierce-looking aides and retainers behind Matthias also looked at each other in panic.
Even though the Mirmod family had committed all sorts of evils, there were unwritten rules they didn’t touch.
One was ‘Don’t touch places formed as extradition zones.’
They might rampage through the capital and commit all kinds of atrocities, but they never touched the imperial palace. They might antagonize the temple, but they never seized the Central Temple by force.
It was the same context as how the palace and temple antagonized Mirmod but never directly raided the mansion.
So Matthias’s words now—‘I’ll go to the Central Temple’—meant nothing less than breaking the tacit agreement between the palace, temple, and Mirmod family.
Everyone gathered there couldn’t help but shiver at his words.
“Lord Matthias. What you mean is…….”
Matthias, as if short on time, tilted his head crookedly and fiddled with the gloves on his hands a few times. In his hand was a teleportation magic tool with severe side effects.
“Why, is there a problem?”
At the question, posed as if ready to leave at any moment, Ted bowed his head deeper instead of advising against it.
Flames rose in Matthias’s eyes—no one could stop him.
“Understood.”
It was just as Matthias moved to go.
From afar, a blue light began to flow. Everyone narrowed their eyes and looked into the air.