The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 130

At those words, the princess stared at Kayden’s face for a moment.

The longer she stared, the more fury filled her eyes.

As if spewing her rage, the princess lashed out at Kayden.

“Someone like you dares.”

“……”

“If it weren’t for you, that child could’ve lived peacefully. Lived a life of blissful ignorance, never knowing pain or suffering.”

Kayden couldn’t even begin to guess who the child the princess spoke of was.

But for some reason, he felt pity for them.

“I don’t know who this child is that Your Highness is referring to.”

“That’s exactly why I hate you even more. The fact that you forgot that child is infuriating, and if you remembered, I’d hate you even more.”

“…But judging from Your Highness’s words, that child seems truly pitiful.”

“What?”

It seemed Kayden’s words provoked something in the princess.

The atmosphere instantly turned chilling, and her expression was no longer ordinary.

She was a precious guest of the temple.

And the High Priest was currently eager to show her the teachings of the Celestial God.

As a servant of the High Priest, there was nothing to be gained from angering her.

Even so, he couldn’t stop his mouth from moving.

“A life without pain is ultimately a life without understanding happiness.”

He was speaking to himself as much as to her.

Living as a servant of the High Priest, Kayden had chosen a life numb to pain.

He stopped reacting to the little things. He accepted the High Priest’s incomprehensible anger without question.

Over time, Kayden had lost the ability to feel pain.

And with that, he forgot what happiness was.

Kayden continued, “That child Your Highness treasures. Surely, you wouldn’t want them to live a life without knowing happiness.”

After those words, silence fell between them.

The princess gazed at Kayden with a complex look in her eyes.

After a long pause, she muttered in a low voice, “You’re quite the talker. I used to enjoy cutting out the tongues of arrogant men like you.”

“……”

“Haa. I should’ve killed you back then after all. Even if that child had resented me for a while… in the end, they would’ve understood. That my choice was right.”

It seemed nothing Kayden said would convince her.

He sighed inwardly and opened his mouth again. “Once again, I must say, I don’t know who this child is that Your Highness is referring to.”

“Of course you don’t. But someday, you’ll remember. You always did, in every life.”

Kayden mulled over her words.

She was definitely a heretic. The temple’s teachings denied the concept of reincarnation.

Each human was given one life. If they lived that life following the doctrine of the temple, they could go to the Celestial God after death.

As a faithful servant of the temple, Kayden naturally dismissed her talk of multiple lives as nonsense.

Of course, at that moment—

He recalled the red-haired woman who often looked at him in his dreams, but he deliberately ignored it.

The princess sneered. “Pain is necessary for happiness, you say? It’s laughable, hearing that from someone like you.”

“……”

“You don’t remember now, but you will. All the pain, all the deaths you’ve endured. If you weren’t human—if you weren’t the human I despise—I might’ve applauded your perseverance.”

“……”

“So how much more pain can you endure?”

Zachary.

Say it with your own mouth.

Lilith whispered to Kayden.

Her voice was quiet, but it carried through the still dawn air.

Enough for Bella, who was walking from over there, to hear.

***

At dawn, I woke the half-asleep servants of the ducal house and had them prepare a carriage.

Then I immediately headed for the temple.

Perhaps because it was still early, there were few guards at the temple gate.

The guards who recognized my face let me in without much inspection.

As soon as I entered the temple, I walked straight ahead.

By the time I came to my senses, I found myself wandering the garden.

And then…

At the sound that reached my ears, I froze in place.

Zachary?

What did Lilith just say?

It felt like all the blood drained from my body.

I slowly blinked. With every blink, Kayden’s face came into sharper focus.

He really… looked exactly the same.

I’d always thought so, but I chalked it up to an uncanny coincidence.

But now… he was the same person?

So the prince was Zachary reincarnated?

…That couldn’t be. That must not be.

I barely managed to ask Lilith, “Lilith. What did you just say?”

My voice echoed through the garden, and the two who had been talking turned their heads simultaneously.

Kayden looked a bit surprised to see me.

In contrast, Lilith looked completely unfazed. As if she had known I was there all along.

“Saintess, at this hour… why are you—”

Kayden didn’t finish his sentence.

Snap!

Lilith snapped her fingers. Immediately, black smoke rose from her body and enveloped Kayden.

As the smoke seeped into his body, he collapsed to the ground.

Startled, I exclaimed, “What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry, Bella. I just put him to sleep for a bit.”

Once I confirmed that Lilith wasn’t lying, I let out a sigh of relief.

I took a deep breath to calm my rapidly beating heart.

Then I slowly opened my mouth. “Lilith. Say it again. What did you just say?”

“I didn’t plan to tell you this way. But oh well, nothing to be done.”

Lilith shrugged as she spoke.

Her overly nonchalant attitude made me shout.

“Say it’s a lie. Say it’s a lie right now!”

“Will the truth change just because I say it’s a lie?”

“……”

“Bella. If he looks exactly the same, you could’ve suspected it at least once. Our youngest is still so oblivious.”

How could I have suspected?

Zachary was someone from five hundred years ago. Humans couldn’t live that long like we could.

But now she’s saying that man in front of me is Zachary.

To be more precise…

“How can a human be reincarnated?” I asked Lilith.

“You’re the Lord of Contract. Don’t you know? Nothing is impossible in this world. Depending on the circumstances and the power at hand, anything is possible.”

Power?

That word caught my attention. What Lilith wanted to say to me right now was…

“Power. Someone used Power.”

After all, power could make the impossible possible.

But whose power was it?

The first thing that came to mind was my power—that is, the Power of Contract.

But I quickly dismissed the thought. I’m the owner of that power. There’s no way it could’ve been used without my knowledge.

Then…

“Was it Gabriel, perhaps?”

To my question, Lilith silently nodded.

At that moment, Kayden, who had collapsed on the ground, began to stir.

“I’m sure you two have a lot to say. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Wait, Lilith. I still have more questions.”

“That’s not the urgent matter right now, is it? It’s your reunion after five hundred years.”

You can ask your remaining questions later when you come find me.

Leaving those words behind, Lilith walked away without hesitation.

I wanted so badly to stop her, but my hands didn’t move.

I just stood still and waited for Kayden to come to.

“Saintess?”

Soon after, fully awake, he looked around and rose to his feet.

I stared at the man in front of me.

He really did look exactly the same. Until now, I thought it was just because he was a descendant, that we shared blood.

Because I never once believed I would meet Zachary again in this life.

The only difference between Zachary and Kayden standing before me was the way he looked at me.

The heat I used to feel from Zachary’s gaze was gone, replaced with a distant look, as if seeing someone he didn’t care for.

“Why was I on the ground—”

“—Why are you alive?” I cut him off and asked.

A reunion after five hundred years. I had too many feelings inside me for it to be just touching.

My head started to spin.

At some point, the man in front of me no longer looked like Kayden, but perfectly like Zachary.

“You should’ve died. It would’ve been better if you had!” I screamed at him.

I still didn’t know exactly how Zachary had come to be reincarnated.

But I could tell this hadn’t happened under normal circumstances.

What on earth had happened to him for him to be reborn as a prince named Kayden?

“Tell me. Who did this to you?”

I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear the name from his own mouth.