The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 117

After finally driving Belial away, I slumped into my seat.

Just talking with him had left me this exhausted.

To calm my nerves, I grabbed the teapot and began chugging the tea straight from it.

The tea was still hot, but my insides were burning more, so I didn’t care.

Sher, who had been hiding behind the teacup while Belial was around, boldly walked out in front of me and said,

—My goodness, Lady Bella. Never did I think I’d live to see someone smack around the Lord of Lust like a bouncing ball.

“Looks like I gave you quite the show.”

—It sent chills down my spine. I’d heard rumors that the Demon Lords were lenient with you, Lady Bella, but—

“Hold on. Lenient? They simply respect my greatness.”

—Ah, yes…

Sher replied in a reluctant tone.

Hearing the disbelief in his voice, I smirked.

Of course, I was fully aware that the other lords were generally lenient with me.

That’s exactly why I could afford to act rudely.

But acknowledging that internally and admitting it aloud were two very different things.

Ugh, that insolent Sher.

If he hadn’t let Belial know he was here, we could’ve avoided that whole uncomfortable teatime.

When I snapped at him with that intention, Sher protested,

—There’s no way a low-ranking demon like me could hide from the Lord of Contracts.

“Fine. Anyway, do you know anything about someone impersonating an archangel?”

The information Belial gave me was useless.

He seemed to have noticed something, but didn’t reveal the imposter’s true identity and kept dodging the question.

Sher wriggled his tiny head before answering,

—Hmm. I didn’t even know someone like that existed. I just learned about it now from listening to your conversation.

“Aren’t you an informant? What a lack of ability.”

—That’s a bit harsh. Unlike you, Lady Bella, I have neither connections nor strength. Getting information is a tough job for someone like me.

“Excuses, excuses.”

I poked at Sher’s cheek.

“Useless Sher. Anyway, tell me more about what you said earlier. About the High Priest abusing the prince.”

What Sher had told me earlier continued to nag at me.

Sure, it was just a rumor, not confirmed information, but I was convinced there was truth hidden within it.

I always got a bad feeling whenever I saw that High Priest.

Sher tilted his tiny head before speaking.

—Um, Lady Bella? That’s still just a rumor, not verified information.

“No. The High Priest definitely abused that prince.”

—How can you be so sure of that?

“Let’s just call it intuition honed over centuries.”

—You? Intuition?

I paused and looked down at Sher.

Why did it feel like Sher was getting more impudent lately?

Honestly, I wanted to punish him right away, but he was in the form of a tiny mouse—there was nowhere to hit.

“You’d better be grateful you’re in a small, cute mouse form right now.”

Otherwise, he’d already be a flattened pancake.

I decided to just warn Sher and let it go.

—S-sorry! I’ll watch what I say, really!

After that, Sher began answering my question more sincerely.

—Crown Prince Kayden awakened his divine power at a very young age. He soon left the imperial palace and began living in the temple. Publicly, it’s said that the High Priest was the one who embraced the young prince separated from his family.

But there may be something hidden behind that gentle exterior.

—There are rumors that the High Priest wasn’t nurturing but rather treated the prince harshly. Under the guise of training, he committed acts that bordered on abuse.

It’s said he trained Kayden to become a holy knight by systematically eliminating all desire from a very young age.

Like forcing him to stay awake, making him copy scriptures until his hands blistered, bathing only in cold water even in the dead of winter, and so on.

—Of course, that’s just the rumor. I haven’t confirmed whether any of it actually happened.

As I listened to Sher, I clenched my fist without realizing.

Then I flinched at the pain of my nails digging into my palm.

The emotion I had just felt was undeniably rage.

Why was I feeling this way…?

No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t explain it.

It’s not like I disliked that prince, but I didn’t exactly harbor any fondness for him either.

He wasn’t a reasonably amusing human like Gabby, nor was he a descendant of any of my close friends.

Rather, he was closer to the type of human I still found distasteful, like the Duke. At least with the Duke, I had some reason to go easy on him out of consideration for Isabella—but with the prince, there was no such reason.

Maybe I was simply furious upon hearing the child had been abused.

Even if a child is mistreated out of sheer malice, it’s still unforgivable. Let alone if it was for the purpose of making him a holy knight serving the Celestial God. That might explain why I was so angry.

If the Celestial God still existed, he would’ve detested such acts rather than rejoiced. Even if it had been the Celestial’s will, abusing a child of the same race just for a god—

I tried to rationalize it that way.

Even as I faintly realized that wasn’t the only reason behind my fury.

Then I asked Sher, “Why do you think the High Priest abused Crown Prince Kayden?”

—Inferiority complex, maybe?

That was Sher’s conclusion after some thought.

“Inferiority complex? Well, the High Priest would have reason to feel inferior to the prince—status, appearance…”

—Um, I’ve seen the High Priest’s face from afar a few times, and I wouldn’t say his appearance was bad? If anything, he looked rather kind.

“I’m someone who sees past the surface to the inside.”

I repeated the same claim I’d made for years.

“Bella? You care about appearances plenty too.”

Was that Nigel’s voice I was hearing in my head? Must’ve been my imagination.

It pricked at my conscience a little, but demons don’t really need something like a conscience anyway.

Anyway.

“To my eyes, which see the inner self, he’s someone with a very dirty impression.”

—Well, if you say so, Lady Bella. But the inferiority complex I meant was about something else.

“What would that be?”

—His status. More specifically, the High Priest is also a descendant of one of the five heroes said to have sealed the Demon God… but unlike the prince, he’s not a member of imperial family.

Huh?

Hearing something I’d never known before, I widened my eyes.

“Explain that in more detail.”

—You didn’t know the High Priest was from House Haywood?

“How the fxck would I know that? It’s not like people walk around with their surnames stamped on their foreheads,” I grumbled in reply.

Haywood, huh. The familiar name made me mutter a curse under my breath.

—Goodness. Lady Bella, you can curse? I thought you’d done all sorts of outrageous things, but never actually cursed.

Sher sounded genuinely surprised, speaking rapidly.

Hah. I must’ve picked up Gabby’s bad habits.

I sighed several more times inwardly and returned to my earlier thoughts.

“So you’re saying the High Priest is a descendant of that Nikolai Haywood?”

—Yes. A direct descendant.

That explained why I’d always felt uneasy whenever I saw the High Priest.

Nikolai Haywood.

One of Zachary’s companions on the journey to seal the Demon God.

If he hadn’t been Zachary’s companion, he would’ve died by my hand long ago.

Sher continued speaking.

—The Haywood family has long held a grudge. They’re direct descendants of a hero who sealed the Demon God, but the current imperial family descends from a collateral branch of the first emperor.

“So that blood didn’t just vanish, huh.”

Even back then, Nikolai was full of greed. Never content with what he had, always coveting what belonged to others.

Especially when it came to Zachary—his inferiority complex overflowed.

He repeatedly placed Zachary in danger on purpose.

Every time, I was the one who saved Zachary’s life.

When I finally couldn’t take it anymore and tried to get rid of Nikolai, Zachary said,

“Lady Bella, I’m sure this is a misunderstanding. Nikolai wouldn’t have done that on purpose.”

“Are you brain-dead? Or do you just enjoy getting hurt?”

“…I don’t want to cause division. I’ll be fine.”

I really contracted a total fool.

Even recalling that conflict proved how incompatible Zachary and I were.

A demon and a perfectly good man. Oil and water would’ve mixed better.

Sher kept chattering on.

—The imperial family’s always had a distaste for House Haywood and has tried many ways to suppress its power. It’s still a prominent house, but due to the imperial family’s opposition, it doesn’t hold as much influence as it used to.

“Really.”

I gave a vague reply to Sher and sank into thought.

It seemed like it was time to deal with the High Priest.

Just the fact that he was Nikolai’s descendant gave me enough reason.

Of course, even at that moment, a certain silver-haired figure came to mind.

‘Of all things, he had to resemble him so much.’

But I pretended not to notice.

Whether five hundred years ago or now—

For a demon well-versed in lying, covering up her emotions with a lie was nothing at all.