The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 32

By the way, the divine beast…

The last time I saw that beast was five hundred years ago. Though our first meeting had been terrible, we eventually got along quite well. You could even say we were friends.

After Zachary’s betrayal, I had no choice but to return to the Demon Realm due to my injuries. Since then, I cut off all ties with the middle realm.

If we hadn’t parted so abruptly, we might still be friends today.

I briefly recalled my memories with Fluffy.

At that moment, the crown prince asked, “Lady Bella, why do you refer to the divine beast as a flying creature? I’ve never read any records stating that the divine beast had wings.”

“Hmm? Fluffy originally had wings. That’s why I called it a flying creature.”

“……”

“It doesn’t have wings anymore.”

“Pardon?”

“I dislike wings, so I got rid of them.”

The crown prince’s face turned pale at my words. He seemed to have misunderstood something…

“You… you had such angelic wings, didn’t you? Seeing them always made me feel uneasy.”

[Argh! Did you just try to tear off my wings? Are you insane, demon?]

“It was a crime against the sensitive heart of a demon. We hate things with wings.”

[Wait a minute! Put that down—! I can hide my wings!]

Upon reflection, I concluded it wasn’t really a misunderstanding, so I decided to let it go.

I began to explain my plan to the crown prince. “I’m planning to bring Blackie instead of Fluffy.”

“Blackie? Who is Blackie?”

“My companion beast.”

“…A companion beast. Of course. Lady Bella is a demon, so it’s natural that you would have a companion beast.”

Though he agreed verbally, the crown prince shook his head in disbelief. After a moment, as if realizing something, he asked me.

“Did you name Blackie?”

“Yes.”

“Blackie and Fluffy… They sound quite similar…”

The crown prince looked at me suspiciously before asking, “Is the divine beast’s name really Fluffy?”

“…Yes,” I answered a beat too late.

Sharp fellow. How did he guess?

To divert his attention before he figured out the truth about the name, I spoke up, “Anyway, I have a plan.”

“……”

“Since I can’t summon the divine beast, I’ll bring a demon beast and pretend it’s the divine beast.”

“…That’s a brilliant plan. So brilliant that… I have nothing to say.”

“Human, do you think I wouldn’t notice your sarcasm? Watch your tongue if you value it.”

“…I’ll be careful.”

I glared at the crown prince. His impudent attitude annoyed me, but I needed his help for now, so I decided to let it slide.

“I have an order for you.”

“Don’t people usually say they have a favor to ask?”

“Nonsense. Why would I ask a mere human for a favor? This is an order.”

It would have been ideal to summon Blackie through a summoning circle, but I had no talent for drawing them. Moreover, to successfully summon, I needed an object belonging to the target, and I had nothing of Blackie’s.

So I came up with an alternative: creating a temporary portal connecting the Demon Realm and the Middle Realm.

With only about one-tenth of my magic power restored, I couldn’t open the portal on my own.

But what if I combined my power with the priests’ divine power?

I recalled the priests I had seen in the temple.

None of them possessed divine power significant enough to leave an impression. However, their numbers were overwhelming, and combining their divine power with my magic should be enough to open a temporary portal.

There was just one thing I needed to make merging divine power and magic easier.

“I need a magic stone. Get one.”

Magic stones were black minerals found in the bodies of magical beasts.

“That will be… difficult.”

The crown prince looked troubled at my request.

“As you know, magic stones are extremely dangerous—just touching one can instantly kill a human. That’s why they are usually destroyed on the spot after subjugating a monster.”

Furthermore, despite centuries of research, magic stones had proven to be utterly useless for humans, making them hard to find even on the black market.

“I can try to find one, but it will take at least a month.”

I frowned at the crown prince’s words. Judging by the priests’ attitude, they wouldn’t wait a whole month for me.

Well, there was no other choice.

“I guess I’ll have to catch a monster myself.”

***

When I returned to the ducal estate, Gabby was pacing in front of the main gate.

“Hey!”

Gabby rushed over as soon as he saw me.

“You said you were going to the temple, so where did you go? When I went to the temple earlier, they said you left with the crown prince.”

“I went to the crown prince’s palace. We had pudding together.”

Gabby’s face turned red at my words. “Are you out of your mind? Do you even know where that is?”

“What’s the problem? The pudding was delicious.”

I couldn’t understand Gabby’s reaction.

I felt that I had spent quite a productive time at the crown prince’s palace. I had found a way to solve the divine beast issue, and, above all, the pudding had been excellent.

Gabby stared at my face for a moment before sighing. “When young men and women stick together like that, rumors are bound to spread. Rumors are something we can deal with, but if you two actually fall for each other… Listen, you must never become the crown princess. Got it?”

Gabby made it clear that while he could manage an unruly family member at home, an unruly imperial family was beyond his abilities.

Did he seriously think there was a chance of something romantic between the crown prince and me?

I inwardly scoffed.

Leaving aside the fact that the crown prince was Dantalion’s contractor, he was human.

In the past, when I was young and naive, I had been betrayed. But I wasn’t foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.

“I have no interest in sharing what’s already owned by others.”

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“The crown prince already has a master. There’s no way I’d be drawn to him.”

“…You know what? Just stop talking. Every time you speak, I feel a headache coming on.” Gabby shook his head.

I tried to head to my room, but for some reason, Gabby started trailing behind me.

“They say you can summon the divine beast?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe it. Do you know how absurd that sounded when I heard it? What, summoning a beast just to be recognized as a saintess? Why would you need to summon that creature just to become a saintess?”

I stared at Gabby when he called it a beast.

Gabby and I had similar thought processes. Annoyingly so.

Without noticing my gaze, Gabby continued, “Anyway, I can’t stand those priests at the temple. How do they expect you to summon a beast that disappeared five hundred years ago? It’s probably been dead for ages, not even bones left. What are you, a necromancer from legend?”

Gabby grumbled, complaining about how ridiculous the temple’s demand was and questioning whether they had all lost their minds.

Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he paused.

“Ah. Could it be because of bloodline?”

“Bloodline?”

“What, did you forget? After all that fuss?”

“Explain properly. Bloodline—what do you mean?”

“I’m talking about our mother’s side of the family. Mother’s from the Graham family.”

“Graham?”

The name sounded familiar. As I tried to recall, Gabby spoke again, “Daphne Graham. The family that produced the saintess.”

“Ah.”

Now that he mentioned it, Daphne was indeed the daughter of a count from the Graham family.

“So, you’re a descendant of Saintess Daphne. Do you really not remember?”

“Well, maybe,” I answered vaguely. “Saintess Daphne was the last person to know the whereabouts of the divine beast, so perhaps the temple thinks her descendant could find it?”

Gabby tilted his head in confusion. “Still, even though we are descendants of the saintess, it’s complicated. The Graham family is practically extinct now.”

Gabby explained that the Graham family, which had always been small, officially ended a few years ago when the family head passed away without an heir.

“Because of the family’s symbolic importance as the one that produced a saintess, the title still exists, but since there are no surviving family members, the imperial family will probably reclaim it soon.”

Gabby shrugged as he continued, “Mother could have become the heir, but she gave up the position to marry Father. I still don’t understand why she gave up a perfectly good title to marry that old man.”

He muttered that being a count would have been better than a duchess.

“Anyway, since we have Dunkeld Castle, we’re technically not considered descendants, but with no direct heirs left in the Graham family, we’re the closest blood relatives.”

It felt strange to think that Isabella was a descendant of Daphne.

Daphne and I hadn’t been close, but we were comrades who had faced life and death together.

Especially considering how things ended between Daphne and me…

“Bella! Zachary’s gone mad! We have to run now!”

The memory, soaked in blood, made me shudder.

Gabby’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You really don’t remember? You used to visit the Graham mansion often.”

The mansion, now without an owner, had been inherited by Gabby and Isabella as the last surviving descendants of the Graham family.

Unlike Gabby, who had no interest in the mansion, Isabella often visited and even stayed there overnight.

So, it made no sense that Isabella wouldn’t know she was a descendant of the saintess.

I hesitated for a moment and glanced at Gabby.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem suspicious of me.

“Ah, our idiot troublemaker was already dumb, but now she seems even dumber after all her hardships. I guess your memory’s gotten worse.”

While I was relieved that Gabby wasn’t suspicious, his words were highly irritating.

“Who are you calling dumb—”

“Never mind that. You need to eat lots of meat to get smarter. Have you ever had lamb?”

“Lead the way.”

With Gabby, I left the estate and went to the dining room.

The meat was delicious.