The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 138

My face gradually filled with confusion.

A destined death? What was this guy even babbling about?

“Don’t talk nonsense. I… I didn’t die. I’m alive and well like this! What are you saying right now?!”

In the end, I couldn’t control my emotions and shouted.

Because my instincts were telling me.

That what Gabriel was saying to me right now was by no means nonsense.

“The Lord of Contract dies while stopping the Demon God. This is the future Silia saw, a foretold prophecy.”

I flinched at the unfamiliar name Silia.

It was the first time I’d heard it, but I had a good guess who she was.

The one behind the prophecy. The one with the power to reveal the future.

She must be the “Chieftain” that Nigel often referred to.

I immediately retorted. “But I’m alive, aren’t I? Then that prophecy is wrong, isn’t it?”

“…There’s no way the prophecy is wrong. It just hasn’t come to pass yet. That’s why you must die.”

For the first time, Gabriel’s eyes wavered as he said those words.

What kind of emotion was Gabriel feeling right now?

Among the many overlapping emotions in his eyes, I caught a foreign one.

It was guilt.

But the moment I sensed it, it vanished.

Hah?

I couldn’t hide my disbelief.

He dared feel guilty? After ruining my life for such a pathetic reason?

I had often wondered why Gabriel harbored such murderous intent toward me.

At first, I thought it was because I symbolized the death of Uriel, the previous bearer of the power of contract.

But even if I died, Uriel wouldn’t return.

So I had occasionally questioned his baseless hostility.

But this was the reason.

A prophecy? That’s all it took?

“Still spewing nonsense. A prophecy? What does that have to do with me? And what does it have to do with you in the first place?” I shouted, filled with rage.

Prophecy had never meant anything to me. A predetermined future? I didn’t believe in such things.

I sealed the Demon God purely by my own will. Not because of some prophecy.

And look. I am alive, unlike what the prophecy said.

Yet Gabriel spoke of that prophecy as if it were absolute.

Even more baffling was how obsessed Gabriel was with it.

As if no matter what, I had to die.

What could he possibly gain from my death?

“Even if the prophecy doesn’t come true, what does that matter to you?”

“It does matter. There’s no way it wouldn’t.”

Gabriel withheld his words. He had no intention of explaining why he was so obsessed with the prophecy.

After a brief silence, Gabriel asked me, “What if I told you that because you didn’t die, someone else’s fate was distorted?”

I answered immediately, “So what? That’s none of my concern. It’s not even my fault to begin with.”

And even if it was, my stance wouldn’t change. Should I die for someone else’s sake?

Once was enough for that kind of decision.

“And who is this person you’re talking about?”

“…Forget it. This conversation ends here.”

Gabriel firmly refused to answer my question.

I couldn’t suppress the fury rising from deep inside.

Gabriel wanted me dead. For a reason that made no sense.

And Zachary stabbed me in the heart. Nearly succeeded in killing me.

I had no intention of denying the connection between the two.

If Zachary wasn’t acting on his own, but was driven by Gabriel…

“So… what did you do?” With a trembling voice, I asked Gabriel.

Unlike me, Gabriel answered calmly, “I didn’t think you wouldn’t know.”

“Speak properly. From the beginning to the end, leave nothing out. Say it now!” I shouted at Gabriel.

Gabriel wore a strange expression and opened his mouth. “Humans are fragile beings. Though… your contractor was a human with a stronger will than most. But even the strongest can break with the slightest crack.”

“A crack? What are you talking about?”

“Sin. In the end, all humans commit sin. My power is to judge that sin.”

Gabriel’s Power is the power of judgment. It is also sometimes called the power of the soul.

His Power grants him the power to judge the souls that have committed sin against him.

But sin, he says.

“Sin? That’s impossible.”

I spoke with a voice full of conviction. Zachary was the most upright and virtuous person I had ever seen among humans.

That he would commit a sin?

He was someone who could even give up his life to save others.

Seeing my disbelief, Gabriel continued, “Your contractor was anxious because of you. Anxious about your strength. About his position, which meant that if you ever decided to abandon him, he’d have no choice but to be discarded. That feeling festered into something ugly.”

“……”

“You could call it jealousy. Or perhaps an irreverent feeling toward his master. That’s what your contractor felt toward you.”

“That can’t be.”

“Do I have any reason to lie to you at this point?”

“……”

“Your contractor would often imagine it. What if you weren’t a demon, but an ordinary being? He wanted to drag you down to be the same as him.”

“So the sin you’re talking about is…”

“The sin of desiring something he should not have coveted.”

My mind felt like it had gone numb.

I wondered why Zachary harbored such feelings toward me, and at the same time.

‘Was it because of me?’

A mere human. Just a human.

Those were the words I had often said to Zachary, perhaps more often than I realized.

It had also been my excuse for why our relationship could never be more than that of contractor and demon.

I had a vague idea of the reason now, but I wanted to turn away from the truth.

My mind was beginning to go blank.

Toward me, who was lost in confusion, Gabriel said, “Well, that’s usually what happens to humans who’ve been toyed with by demons. They dream foolish dreams, unaware of their place, fooled by the sweet illusions demons show them.”

“It wasn’t a game. I… I was always sincere.”

I blurted out my true feelings without even realizing it.

Gabriel looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“I don’t understand what you mean by sincere.”

As I said, I had always been very interested in you.

I know well how you spent your time with your contractor, and what your relationship was like.

Was there sincerity in it?

Gabriel added those words.

I didn’t know how to judge the truth Gabriel had just told me.

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. At the same time, my clenched fists drove my nails into my soft flesh.

“In the end, that day. It wasn’t Zachary who stabbed me, it was you.”

I spoke as if spitting out the words.

“Those who have committed sin can be judged by my power. I merely made your contractor’s thoughts into reality.”

In the form of a nightmare. And at the same time, it was also the punishment given to Zachary.

My heart began to beat faster and faster.

In the end, what Gabriel was saying now was that he used Zachary to try to kill me.

That he manipulated Zachary with his power to stab me.

I said harshly, “You should’ve killed me yourself. You could’ve done it, couldn’t you? You had the power, so why go through all that trouble?”

“…Because you look too much like…”

Gabriel muttered in a small voice. His pronunciation was so distorted that I couldn’t even begin to interpret its meaning in my current state of mind.

“Nonsense. Were you just too much of a coward to do it yourself?”

“You… know nothing. You don’t know how I felt when—!”

For the first time, Gabriel yelled at me. His eyes blazed with intense anger and murderous intent.

Look at that.

He says he doesn’t hate me? That’s a lie.

Those emotions were pouring out of him, and I was supposed to believe otherwise?

At that moment, I sensed movement from behind.

Inside the cathedral, where time had stopped for everyone—

Only Kayden was moving.

There was no life in his eyes. Though he was moving, it didn’t appear to be by his own will.

At some point, Kayden stood before me.

His arm slowly rose. The sword at his waist had already left its sheath, reflecting the sunlight streaming through the windows.

Perhaps time was flowing differently for me, for the blade drew a slow arc as it came toward me.

I stood frozen in place.

The shadow of the blade closed in on my heart.