The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 151

Right.

In the past—no. Since it happens four hundred years later, should I call it the future?

Anyway, Nigel had once told me about his actions over the past five hundred years.

He mentioned leading a cult of demon worshipers. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but looking back now…

It was a very good clue to finding Nigel’s whereabouts.

I asked Lenny, “That man. The one leading the group of demon worshippers. Where is he now?”

“That much I don’t know. But if he is also a demon’s contractor, wouldn’t you know better than I?”

He was right. The problem was that I wasn’t actually a real contractor.

I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head.

Forget it. I am a demon—what difficulty could there be in finding demon worshippers?

Now that I have some lead on Nigel’s whereabouts, I could track him down later.

“Bella, once you return to the past, come find me. As soon as possible.”

Nigel’s voice suddenly echoed like a hallucination.

Those were the words he had left me with at the very end.

But Nigel. Since when have I ever obediently followed anyone else?

So naturally, you should have expected me to ignore you.

I spoke inwardly to Nigel words he could not hear. Then I turned back to the three and said:

“Anyway, I am the contractor of the demon Isabella. She gave me a great mission.”

“What is it?” Lenny asked me with a voice full of curiosity. Even if they didn’t say it, Gray and Jerry seemed just as curious.

All three were waiting for my next words.

I steadied my breath for a moment, then opened my mouth again.

“It is… blasphemy.”

“……”

The three of them exchanged strange glances.

Meanwhile, I felt a little proud of myself.

For nonsense I had just made up on the spot, didn’t it sound convincing?

To make her contractor impersonate an angel in order to commit blasphemy.

It was exactly the kind of thing I would do.

Gray carefully chose his words, then spoke to me, “Isabella is quite… sincere about blasphemy.”

“Whether you mean the human or the demon, my answer is the same. Both are sincere about blasphemy,” I replied casually.

Gray blinked, then asked me, “Could it be that even your way of speaking comes from contracting with a demon…?”

“My way of speaking? It’s a very splendid way of speaking.”

“Yes. A unique manner of speaking you can’t find in anyone else,” Gray said, unable to hide the distaste on his face.

That insolent brat.

Noticing the feeling behind his expression and tone, I scowled.

But before I could snap back, Lenny spoke first.

“But Hyungnim, how is impersonating an angel considered blasphemy?”

To Lenny’s question, I replied, “Isn’t it obvious? Humans believe and worship what they think is an angel, only to find out it was actually a demon’s contractor. Could there be a more perfect blasphemy?”

It was several times worse than impersonating a saintess, a truly perfect blasphemy.

As that thought filled my head, I suddenly felt motivated. Originally, I had decided to impersonate an angel to draw out the impostor, but… didn’t this sound more fun than I thought?

Lenny tilted his head and said, “But, Hyungnim? If it later became known that you weren’t really an angel but a demon’s contractor… no matter how noble you are, your life couldn’t be guaranteed. Isn’t your life more important than blasphemy?”

“Don’t you think the life of a demon’s contractor would be harder to snuff out than others? If something happened to me, the demon would surely come and save me.”

“Well, it feels odd saying this to you, Hyungnim, but demons aren’t exactly reliable, are they?”

Of course this was his first time meeting a demon’s contractor, but he must have heard plenty of stories during his mercenary days.

I could roughly guess what he was referring to.

Looking at how other lords treated their contractors, well. They were basically expendable.

Hm. I cast Lenny a sidelong look.

No matter how much the temples preached about the danger of demons, humans still fell for them everywhere. And yet here was someone who grasped their true nature.

He wasn’t as stupid as I thought.

“That’s right. Demons are selfish beings, knowing nothing but themselves. They are not to be trusted.”

Hearing this, Gray rubbed his face.

“Uh, Miss Bella?”

“Call me Hyungnim.”

“Ah, yes. Hyungnim. But is it really okay to say things like that so freely? What if Lord Isabella hears you?”

“She is magnanimous. She doesn’t care about the petty words of humans.”

“…I see.”

Gray closed his mouth as if he had nothing more to say.

The plan full of blasphemy—impersonating an archangel—did not seem to interest the humans much. If they were demons, they would have agreed at once.

So I had no choice but to coax the mercenaries.

“In the end, my true identity will never be revealed. Once this matter is finished, I will return quietly to the capital.”

The angel Isabella who appeared on the battlefield, and Isabella Graham, noble of the Empire. No one would imagine that the two were the same person.

But then.

‘When I leave this body, will the real Isabella return?’

I thought back for a moment to the circumstances when I entered this body.

It hadn’t been a good situation. This Isabella too hadn’t seemed very well treated by her family.

A strange feeling came over me. The nature of demons was to ignore the suffering of others, or even to take delight in it…

Was it because she was a descendant of Daphne? Or because I had taken over her body?

Either way, the thought of Isabella being persecuted again after I returned left me with a sour feeling.

‘Before I go back, I should prepare things properly.’

While I was thinking this to myself, the mercenaries slowly mulled over my words.

“Hyungnim. But if the fact that you impersonated an archangel is never revealed, how is that blasphemy?”

To Lenny’s question, I snorted and answered, “Hah. You don’t understand the essence of blasphemy. Blasphemy isn’t done openly. It should slip in naturally, seep into daily life. Done so that even the victim doesn’t realize they are being blasphemed against. That is the true form of blasphemy.”

In short, even if I never revealed my identity later, blasphemy would already have been achieved.

Gray again made a sour expression and muttered in a low voice, “…I never knew there was such a philosophy.”

Of course not. I had just made it up.

The mercenaries fell into brief thought at my words, then began exchanging opinions.

“When else would we ever experience something like this?”

“Not exactly something you need to experience in life.”

Lenny looked excited, while Gray’s expression was far from pleased.

“To be honest… I’ve always wanted to try blasphemy. I don’t bear any grudge against the Celestial God, but I really hate the temple.”

Lenny admitted with a flushed face. At that, Gray and Jerry both shook their heads.

“There he goes again. Saying the temple persecuted your family. So you hate the temple. Lenny, how long are you going to keep up that ridiculous lie that you’re really a noble?”

“If he were a noble, it would be inconvenient.”

“Jerry, no need to worry about that. There’s no way that idiot is a noble.”

Hm.

Apparently those three had some kind of story I didn’t know.

I studied Lenny’s face closely. Come to think of it, it did look oddly familiar.

But I dismissed it as my imagination. After all, I had come from the future, so there was no way I had ever encountered Lenny of this era in the past.

Unless someone had an especially unusual appearance, to a demon’s eyes, human faces all looked much the same. That must have been why I thought he looked familiar.

***

As the conversation dragged on, I told them:

“Enough. If you really feel uneasy, then you don’t need to help me.”

“If you put it that way…”

“But my mood won’t be very good, will it?”

“……”

“This Hyungnim’s moods tend to cause incidents around her. For example, when I’m in a bad mood, things around me tend to explode.”

“Explode? What explodes?”

“Who says it has to be just objects?”

At that, the three mercenary brothers very obediently agreed to help me.

“Miss Bella?”

“Hyungnim.”

“…Hyungnim. But why are we the Three Mercenary Brothers? And obediently, you say…?” Gray asked me.

It seemed they had heard my muttering to myself.

Why call them the Three Mercenary Brothers? Simply because calling out all three of their names one by one was too much trouble.

I didn’t bother answering. I only shrugged.

Then I focused on the sight spread out below us.

Where we were now was the border between the Silveron Kingdom and the Serenia Kingdom.

From the battlefield crossing the border, the stench of death was thick in the air.

And on top of that, the heavy smell of blood.

Even though we were observing from a mountain some distance from the battlefield, the stench was still this strong.

I clicked my tongue.