Chapter 20

“The Demon King Heathcliff is not fully revived right now. His resurrection is only half-way. There are two keys that Goddess Gremia used to seal the Demon King. One of them is…….”

“The Tears of Goddess.”

It was the same story I heard from Heath. My heart began to beat fast. The emotions running through my body now were insecurity. Anxiety trembles and forebears again. A hunch that I’ll hear something I don’t want to hear. But this kind of foreboding is bound to fit. I wanted to cover my ears, but Leo’s words continued.

“Yes, it is. Do you know what the second one is?”

“No, what’s the second one?”

Heath didn’t say the second one either. And what happens when he has the second key and he’s fully revived.

Furthermore, he didn’t seem to care much about the keys.

“It’s the reincarnation of the goddess.”

“What? But it’s…….”

The reincarnation of the goddess was just rhetoric to praise me. Heath seemed to be looking for it, thinking it was a treasure of the temple at first, but when I revealed it wasn’t, he was no longer interested.

“Yes, that’s Lady Julia.”

“Isn’t that a misunderstanding? How am I supposed to unseal the Demon King Heathcliff? If I had known a way, wouldn’t he have let me unseal it already?”

But Leo’s words that followed were even more surprising.

“The way to unseal it is to offer you as a human sacrifice.”

“What… What is it?”

“The cruel Demon King kidnapped Lady Julia to sacrifice you. He’s not sending Lady Julia back for ransom, he’s going to use you as a sacrifice.”

“……Lies.”

“This is all true. Come on, let’s go.”

Leo grabbed me again and tried to drag me away, but I stopped with my feet tightened. Leo looked at me curiously and reached out again. I intercepted his hand and said,

“I can’t believe what Sir Leo says.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust this Leo?”

Leo’s eyes looked very serious and sincere. His deeply sunk blue eyes seemed like the believers immersed in some absolute fact. Like he’d be shocked if I didn’t trust him. It’s burdensome. It’s incredibly burdensome. I said it carefully.

“It’s not that I don’t believe in Sir Leo.”

“Then, Lady Julia…….”

I remembered Heath. How sweet and kind he has been to me. He was more affectionate than anyone I’d ever met, and every time I touched him, I felt a warm, soft feeling.

Even if it had anything to do with the sealing key, it sounded like a lie to say that such a Heath sacrificed me. Heath, whom I had been watching all this time, was not that kind of person.

Maybe I didn’t want to believe it.

“But there is no evidence in what Sir Leo says. I can’t put Sir Leo at risk because of words without proof. Confirmation comes first.”

I retreated back. Leo scrutinized my movements but didn’t reach out straight away.

I glanced at the back of the corridor. If I scream and run, won’t someone come out? What the hell are the others doing?

“Heath… I’ll check with the Demon King, Heathcliff first.”

“Lady Julia!”

I cannot go back to the temple like this. It was just when I was about to run away,

“What are you doing here?”

On the other side of the corridor, the Grand Duke Keith appeared. Since when? Appearing silently, he approached. His cold 300-eye looks at Leo alternately.

Grand Duke Keith doesn’t like me, of all things. I frowned at his arrogant face and snake-like eyes. The last man I wanted to see appeared.

But even if I don’t like it, Grand Duke Keith is also a close confidant of Heath, so he won’t let me go.

I don’t like the fact that I have to ask him a favor, but the weight of the latter was tilted when I think of pride and the tragedy of returning to the temple.

“Grand Duke Keith, help me! He’s trying to take me away! Heath, where is he…….”

But Grand Duke Keith waved his hand at me. A black snake, made of magic, wrapped around my hand. The cold touch gave me goosebumps.

“Ugh! What are you doing? Let go of me!”

I twisted my body and tried to take it off, but the black snake only squeezed my hand more. Grand Duke Keith laughed and said to Leo.

“Hurry up and go. There’s not much time to stop the Demon King from noticing.”

“……What? Grand Duke Keith?”

“Don’t waste your time.”

Grand Duke Keith and Leo were old friends.

Even when Grand Duke Keith touched the wall where there was nothing, the wall in front of him opened with a sound. A cold wind blew over the wall. The wind smelt a fine smell of soil.

The passage to the outside of Demon Castle was clear.

Due to anxiety, I felt my heart beating fast. If this is the case, I’ll be taken away. I somehow twisted my wrist tied to the black snake and cast a divine spell. I threw a magic arrow of light at Grand Duke Keith, but he easily avoided it.

“Ugh!”

Grand Duke Keith grabbed me by the back of my neck. My feet are in the air and I can’t breathe. The cold eyes of the snake-like man shone dull in front of me. He recited.

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you myself.”

“Ugh….”

Then Leo grabbed Grand Duke Keith’s arm and shook it off. Grand Duke Keith immediately released his hand and stepped back, and the black snake also slowly disappeared into the darkness of the hallway. I fell to the floor and stuttered and coughed.

“Keuk, kek, kuhk…….”

“Don’t touch Lady Julia recklessly!”