The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 121

The room fell into silence for a moment.

Then—

“My cute youngest one.”

Lilith finally opened her mouth.

She looked at me with a strange expression.

“You’re not really asking a question right now, are you?”

She was right.

I was already certain that Lilith was Isabella’s contractor.

“Belial told me. He said I’d gone off on an errand for you.”

Just hearing how she’d made excuses for my absence to the other Lords made it obvious.

“Ah, yes. That’s right, I did.”

Lilith admitted it without hesitation, as if she saw no reason to lie.

Sigh.

Seeing her like that, I felt somewhat deflated.

Thinking about everything I went through in this human body…

Getting slapped by the Duke the moment I entered Isabella’s body.

Learning things I hadn’t known—about Zachary’s death, and Daphne raising a child on her own.

And the one responsible for all of it was Lilith.

I’d suspected as much, but now that I had confirmation, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted.

I asked Lilith, “Why did you do it?”

“Who knows.”

She responded ambiguously to my question.

I bit my lip slightly. I didn’t have the nerve to press her.

Even if Lilith treated me gently, she was still the de facto leader of the Demon Realm in the Demon God’s absence.

I gnawed on my lip as I stared at her.

Then Lilith raised one corner of her mouth and said something unexpected.

“Bella, you’re far too soft for a demon.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Soft? Me?

I’m the very definition of a proper demon.

‘Soft’ didn’t suit me at all.

Reading my expression, Lilith looked like she was holding back laughter.

“Is it because of your origin?”

“Origin?”

“…The Power of Contracts is a neutral Power, after all.”

Somehow, it didn’t feel like that was what she originally meant to say… but I let it go.

Lilith continued, “To be thrown into such disarray for five hundred years over the betrayal of a single human…”

I didn’t quite understand what she meant by ‘such disarray.’

I thought I’d lived fairly well in the Demon Realm these past five hundred years.

Sure, I kept my distance from the Middle Realm to avoid memories of Zachary, but still…

Lilith spoke again, “Any other demon would’ve found it pathetic.”

“Lilith!”

I shouted in protest, but she chuckled softly and added, “Well, it’s fine. Maybe any other demon would’ve thought so, but our youngest is an exception. You were kind of adorable.”

She went on, “A wounded beast tends to lash out. Just like our youngest one.”

She approached me and tapped my cheek with her index finger. “That tone of yours—while cute when you say it—it also makes you seem a bit dim. A defense mechanism, maybe? For something to last five hundred years… that’s…”

“……”

“If you were truly a demon, you should’ve taken revenge. If a human betrayed you and left you wounded, you should’ve brought calamity upon humanity.”

She continued, “Is it kindness? Or foolishness?”

For a demon, being called ‘kind’ was never a compliment. Nor was being called foolish.

Lilith had always chosen only the kindest words when speaking to me.

But this was the first time I heard such a backhanded remark from her.

I took a deep breath, calming my nervously pounding heart.

“So the reason you contracted with Isabella… was it because of me? For my sake…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence. I still didn’t understand Lilith’s intentions.

She gently stroked my cheek as she said, “If I said it was to let our youngest, who thought the world was nothing but the Demon Realm, get a bit of fresh air…”

“What?”

“—you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”

I let out a stunned laugh.

Of course I didn’t believe that. Just for that?

But then again, Lilith always had a mischievous streak.

I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously.

She chuckled softly and rubbed my forehead with her index finger. “Of course I was joking. You really think I did it for something like that?”

As I continued to look at her skeptically, she went on, “At first, it was out of curiosity. Someone asked me to make a contract with Isabella Dunkeld.”

Someone asked her?

I focused in on that.

“Who asked you?”

“Isabella did.”

“Lilith, I’m not in the mood to play word games—”

“More precisely, it was a hundred years ago. Isabella Graham came to me with the request.”

“…What are you talking about?” I asked.

Isabella Graham?

Graham was Daphne’s family name. So this Isabella Graham must be one of Daphne’s descendants.

I recalled the portraits I’d seen in House Graham a few days ago.

All of them had the name Isabella.

One of them must have been the Isabella Graham Lilith was referring to.

“Take a seat. This is going to be a long story.”

Lilith guided me to a seat as if it were her own home.

The room, likely once used as a parlor, had a comfortable sofa and a table set in the center.

I sat on the sofa and waited for Lilith to begin her story.

“So, about a hundred years ago, I met a very arrogant human in the Middle Realm. Isabella Graham. She asked me not to kill her descendant if they summoned me a hundred years later, but to make a contract instead.”

Like the other demons, Lilith would occasionally visit the Middle Realm for amusement. A hundred years ago, she met Isabella Graham.

Even though Lilith was disguised as a human, Isabella Graham saw through her identity instantly.

Intrigued, Lilith listened to her story.

“That human even gave me counseling.”

“Counseling?”

“I wanted to be a good guardian, in my own way. To you, Bella. For someone who’d been nursing the wounds of heartbreak for years—”

“It wasn’t heartbreak. It was just an ordinary relationship between a contractor and a demon.”

I deliberately cut her off.

Lilith shrugged and continued, “Well, if that’s what you say, Bella, then so be it. Anyway, that human said the way to overcome such pain was not to avoid it, but to face it head-on.”

She said she talked with Isabella Graham for quite a while.

And during that time, Isabella Graham made her request.

“At first, I didn’t plan to agree. Isn’t it impudent? For a mere human to ask something of a demon. So I completely forgot about it.”

Lilith echoed a phrase I often said.

A mere human, daring to…

Well, looking down on humans was second nature for demons, so it wasn’t strange that Lilith thought that way.

Still, hearing it from another demon’s mouth left me with mixed feelings.

To be honest, I didn’t feel great about it.

But I chose to stay quiet.

“But when I actually met Isabella Dunkeld, I became intrigued. How could someone from a hundred years ago know their descendant would summon me?”

I nodded at her words.

Humans don’t have the ability to foresee the future. So how could she predict something like that?

Before I could resolve the question, Lilith muttered to herself, “Now that I think about it, maybe everyone named Isabella is just that arrogant. Ah, of course, that includes our youngest one.”

She said that and patted my head.

I let her hand stay there and muttered quietly, almost to myself, “I can’t understand what that Isabella was thinking.”

In the end, Isabella Graham from a hundred years ago had a significant influence on Isabella Dunkeld’s contract with Lilith.

I bit my lip. Every time I learned something new, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was connected.

If I could, I wanted to go back in time and ask that Isabella directly. Just what had she been thinking?

But that’s impossible… right?

Even if I’m a demon who can make contracts with causality, turning back time is impossible. I wouldn’t be able to pay whatever price that would cost.

I asked Lilith another question I’d been wondering about.

“Lilith, what exactly was the contract Isabella Dunkeld made with you?”

“Isabella wanted her family to regret everything. Must’ve been hard on her all that time. In return, I took her soul.”

“…Where is Isabella’s soul now?”

“I’m keeping it safe.”

“Can you give it to me?”

“Well… that’s not a hard request. If our youngest one wants it, a human soul is nothing.”

Thankfully, Lilith agreed to hand over Isabella’s soul without resistance.

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

I’d been worried the demon who took it might have already destroyed it—or would refuse to return it. That concern was lifted.

I asked Lilith again, “There’s still something I don’t get. Why did you involve me in the contract with Isabella?”

At first, when I didn’t know who had sealed me into this body, I assumed the culprit had fulfilled their contract and, as a bonus, sealed me inside Isabella’s body just to mess with me.

But if Lilith was the one who did it, that changed things. She had no reason to go out of her way to cause me trouble.

Lilith slowly began to speak.

“Well, first, I thought our youngest one flailing around in a human body would be kind of cute.”

“Lilith. Don’t joke with me.”

“Hm? That wasn’t a joke.”

Lilith’s playful tone made it hard to tell whether she was serious or not.

“Well, it’s not like that’s the only reason. There’s someone in the Middle Realm you need to meet. I wish you didn’t have to, but you absolutely must.”

Her words sparked a question in me.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Hm? I’m sure you already met them… Wow, is our youngest one really that clueless?”

Lilith muttered something I couldn’t quite understand.