The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 66

Then what should I do now?

As my silence dragged on, Gabby scoffed and spoke, “You call that negotiation—”

“I’ll call you ‘Brother’ in front of the Duke.”

“—You’re good at this?”

Gabby immediately changed his tune.

“‘Brother’… It’s certainly a familiar title.”

After contemplating briefly, he continued, “So, the old man is ‘Duke’ or ‘Father,’ but I’m ‘Brother’? That—well, in the past, it might have been different, but for the old man as he is now, that would be quite painful.”

I had now grasped an understanding of what kind of person Gabby was.

Gabby wasn’t moved by trivial things like being called ‘Brother.’ What moved Gabby was defying authority!

“Make the condition more specific. Will you keep calling me ‘Brother’ from now on?”

“Ten times in front of the Duke. But I’ll say it as affectionately as possible.”

“…Alright. That’s a fair trade for both of us.”

I sealed the deal with a handshake.

“Wait a minute. I haven’t even asked about the terms of the deal yet. If it’s too unreasonable, I won’t do it.”

Gabby belatedly realized his mistake and spoke up.

“It’s not an unreasonable request.”

I told Gabby my condition.

“There’s somewhere I want to go tomorrow. But I don’t want Kayden to follow.”

I couldn’t take a temple lackey along when meeting with demon worshippers.

I was planning to have an honest conversation, and… a fragile temple brat might get startled if he saw it.

Gabby responded nonchalantly to my words, “That’s all? I can handle that easily.”

“What’s your plan?”

“The sun hasn’t set yet—so I’ll wear him out in the training grounds starting now. That way, he’ll be too exhausted to wake up tomorrow morning.”

Gabby spoke with overflowing confidence.

***

The next day.

I got into the carriage. Kayden wasn’t sitting across from me, but Gabby was there instead.

“I never said I wanted you to come along.”

“That guy… he’s too tough.”

Gabby looked more exhausted than usual.

“Even after I ran him ragged in the training grounds, he still woke up fine this morning… Ugh.”

Gabby sighed and patted his own shoulder.

“I had to insist that I’d escort you instead—yawn.”

Gabby finally failed to stifle his yawn.

Well, this wasn’t my original goal, but having Gabby here was still better than Kayden.

If I was going to visit the demon worshippers’ base, bringing someone who hated the temple and enjoyed defying authority was far preferable to bringing a temple knight.

Besides, if Gabby was with me, I could probably explain away anything I did at the demon worshippers’ base without much trouble.

Not because Gabby was simpleminded—I chuckled inwardly.

Actually, yes. Because he was simpleminded, he’d easily accept any excuse I made.

Gabby, looking exhausted, asked me, “So where are we going?”

“A bookstore.”

Yesterday, Belial had given me an address. It led to a bookstore—the demon worshippers’ base.

It seemed strange, but well. It was a convincing disguise.

Hearing the word ‘bookstore,’ Gabby raised an eyebrow and glanced at me.

“A bookstore? You?”

“That look is insolent.”

“You just don’t seem like someone who reads much.”

“Ha. What do you take me for? I’m someone who reads—”

Actually, I don’t.

In the Demon Realm, books were just useful objects to throw at Amon. Especially if I aimed the corners, it hurt him quite a bit.

In my six hundred years of life, I could count the number of books I had actually read on one hand.

Since I failed to finish my sentence, Gabby smirked at me. “See? You don’t fit the image of a reader.”

His condescending tone annoyed me, and I snapped back, “That’s not true. I read a book recently.”

Technically, that was true. Daphne’s diary barely counted as a book, so I’d ignore that.

‘I don’t remember the title, but it’s a book about a demon sucking human women’s blood like a mosquito.’

Basically, a trashy novel.

Gabby still looked skeptical. “You? What was it about?”

“It was about harmony between different races.”

I confidently answered Gabby’s question.

“…That sounds suspicious.”

Gabby continued eyeing me with doubt.

By then, we had arrived at the bookstore.

Getting out of the carriage, I saw a few low buildings nearby.

Though it was the capital, this area was relatively quiet, away from the bustling city center.

According to the address Belial had given me—

I strode toward the building listed on the paper. The bookstore was on the first floor.

Though there was no signboard—well, putting up a sign for a demon worshippers’ base would be strange.

Ding.

When I pushed open the door, a bell rang to announce the arrival of a customer.

Gabby followed me inside the bookstore.

After a moment, a clerk quickly walked toward the counter.

“Oh, a customer—?”

At first, the clerk seemed welcoming, but after seeing Gabby and me, they hesitated.

The clerk looked at us suspiciously and asked, “Are you two siblings by any chance?”

Do bookstores normally ask such questions? Since this was my first time visiting one, I wasn’t sure.

However, judging by the way Gabby frowned, I could guess that this wasn’t a common question in bookstores.

“Yes.”

I answered the clerk’s question for now.

Upon hearing that we were siblings, the clerk’s expression grew even stranger.

“I think you’ve come to the wrong place—”

“Isn’t this a bookstore?”

“It is. It is, but…”

The clerk glanced back and forth between me and Gabby.

“You two seem to get along well as siblings.”

“Well, we’re not on bad terms.”

Gabby responded to the clerk’s remark. His arms crossed, his expression still hinted at annoyance.

“So, do you two share hobbies?”

“…You could say that.”

I answered this time. Well, Gabby’s hobby was unfilial behavior, and lately, I had developed a taste for it too, so I suppose it counted as a shared interest.

The clerk’s expression turned even stranger.

“A harmonious sibling relationship—perhaps? Anyway, follow me.”

The clerk led us to the back of the store.

“Hey, what is this place? It feels weird.”

“I agree. To be honest, I came here based on a recommendation.”

“From who?”

“Lia Green.”

“Hey! Of course, it’s weird! And didn’t I tell you not to get close to Lia Green?!”

We bickered as we followed the clerk.

From the outside, the building had looked small, but the inside of the bookstore was more spacious than expected.

Strangely, however, there wasn’t a single book in sight.

“Hey, where are the books?”

Gabby also noticed the oddity and asked the clerk.

“Oh, the books are downstairs. It’s just that—displaying them on the first floor is a bit…”

The clerk opened a door at the back of the store, revealing a staircase leading underground.

“Feel free to browse below, and call me if you need anything.”

With that, the clerk left.

Gabby and I exchanged glances. A suspicious bookstore and an even more suspicious staircase.

“Are you scared?” I asked Gabby.

“Hah? As if.”

Perhaps feeling provoked by my words, Gabby strode confidently down the stairs.

I followed behind him.

The stairs weren’t too long, so we quickly reached the basement.

Unlike the first floor, the basement was filled with bookshelves packed with books.

Gabby and I both let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

“So, it really is a bookstore.”

“Seems like it.”

Gabby pulled a book from the nearest shelf.

The moment he saw the title, his expression twisted.

After flipping through a few more books, he frowned even more and turned to me.

“Why did you bring us here?”

“Hm?”

“The First Night with the Archdemon, Melt the Coldhearted Demon Duke’s Heart… What the hell?”

Only then did I understand why the clerk had reacted the way they did earlier.

This wasn’t just any bookstore—it specialized in romance novels.

Apparently, when I had said that Gabby and I shared hobbies, the clerk had assumed we enjoyed reading these kinds of books together.

“This is more interesting than I expected. You should try reading one too.”

I picked a novel that looked amusing and placed it in Gabby’s arms.

Gabby recoiled and threw the book back at me as if it were cursed.

“Are you insane? You read it!”

Gabby let out an exasperated sigh.

“You call yourself a saintess, yet you’re reading trashy romance novels? And why do so many of these have ‘demon’ in the title? If the temple found out, wouldn’t you be in trouble?”

“At worst, they’ll just strip me of my title,” I answered nonchalantly.

But this bookstore… was it really a demon worshippers’ base? It felt a bit… ordinary. Was it ordinary?

The place was filled with romance novels, so calling it ‘ordinary’ felt wrong, but for a demon worshippers’ base, it seemed surprisingly mundane.

The demon worshippers’ bases I remembered were eerie places filled with sacrificial offerings.

‘Is this progress? Or regression?’

Since I liked it, it felt like progress, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the dignity of the place had regressed entirely.