CH 10

He struggled to extinguish the fire, but the flames burned more furiously. No matter what he did, they didn’t go out.

“Isabelle, what have you done? Did you sign a contract with the Devil?”

“If that was the case, the saints wouldn’t have left me alone.”

Isabelle was well aware of her skill level.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make a flame bigger than my finger nail.

Instead, even if it was deflected, the flame would cause fatal damage.

The original plan was to fire several small fireworks.

Usually, it stings like a spark, but then it disappears… Why did it get stronger?

Strange, the flame that should have been extinguished, became a huge fire and devoured Matteo alive.

The priest screamed from the burning hair and flesh.

“Ahhh! You… you… you!”

Father Matteo rushed to Isabelle, who’s fierce momentum weakened.

She tried to step back, but soon her back touched the wall.

‘This is it.’ She closed her eyes tightly.

“Kuhyeok…!”

Father Matteo let out a death scream. There was a slitting sound, followed by Matteo’s heavy body tumbling to the floor.

Isabelle was about to open her eyes to try to understand what happened, but recoiled at the unexpected voice.

“Don’t open your eyes yet. It’s disgusting to see a man melted down.”

“We’ll clean it up, so please wait.”

Two people just spoke. There no seems to be an unknown number of people buzzing about ever since.

I’m glad you saved me, I think this is better. I felt like I was in a big crisis.

‘Let’s take a look.’

Isabelle opened her eyes.

Then an incredible sight unfolded.

Reapers were using their whole bodies cleaning blood stains on the floors and walls of the temple basement.  

‘They’re reapers.’

Isabelle realized that things were seriously wrong.

A reaper is a harbinger of Duke Cardiego using shadow magic*. T/N – From here on out, we will be changing ‘underground power’ to ‘shadow magic’. 

Barely out of Father Matteo’s clutches, but besieged by Cardiego’s men.

Being surrounded by reapers meant one of two things.

Either it’s almost time to die, or the Monster of Cardiego sent them to catch her right now.

Isabelle was in the dark.

Although she memorized all kinds of impure novels, God was the first thing she thought of. 

With her eyes wide open, she began to pray.

‘Goddess Isis, please answer my prayers…’

That was when a reaper popped his face into view.

Isabelle hardened and couldn’t scream.

“Madam, please refrain from praying to the earthly Goddess. It makes our skin itchy because we belong to the underworld.”

“Ah….”

Isabelle nodded desperately, feeling her vision blurring.

The reapers, who realized that it was fear-induced tears in her sky-blue eyes, were contemplative.

The Duke of Cardiego, their Master, did not remember their names even though he used them as elite troops.

Because it was annoying.

The reapers all had pretty names that came from the underworld, but the Duke simply called them by one-letter or syllable nicknames such as Alpha and Beta…

‘My Lord uses all three syllables for this woman…’

‘If we get caught, we’re done.’

If the news that they, who are only called by one letter for convenience, made the three-syllable girl cry, the end was obvious.

I’ll die in the name of sword training.

Reapers are immortal, so ‘until death’ was an eternal word for them.

‘…What is it?’

Isabelle stared blankly at the shivering reapers in contemplation.

They soon smiled brightly, perhaps conscious of her gaze.

The reapers are laughing. Isabelle had a hunch that her life would end now.

“Madam, do you have anything to say…?”

It was clear when she was even asked for her will. Isabelle scattered tears dripped down to her hands.

Today is an extraordinarily long day, but I didn’t know it would end like this.

When I thought I was going to die, I missed Maria, who was just like a mother to me.

I wanted to see my friends and the saints who were coming back from the neighboring village in a few days.

But there was one face that intensely came to mind.

“I miss Riggs. Please let me see him one last time.”

Riggs.

The reapers quickly placate Isabelle after noticing that she used a pet name for the Lord. T/N: Riggs’ first name is actually Felix which is written as 펠릭스 while Riggs only uses the last two 릭스. This is why Riggs is considered a ‘pet name’ or a nickname.

“Lady, we’re not such wild dead men.”

“Once you’re comfortable, we’ll take you to Duke Cardigeo.”

“To the Duke….?”

This is how it ends up.

Isabelle lost her mind and collapsed.

Several reapers, who recalled the master’s angry face, also collapsed.

***

Riggs didn’t leave the office until after midnight.

He couldn’t sleep because of Isabelle’s situation.

It was not a regular assassination unit, but the reapers who were sent, yet there was no news.

‘What’s going on?’

Patience was the pride of the Cardiero lineage.

Even when the Emperor was elected from Pilsburg for 350 years, Cardiego’s leaders held their breath and persevered like predators waiting for their prey to show their weakness.

In exchange for centuries of perseverance, this Felix Cardiego became the most powerful Emperor candidate in the Empire.

It was Cardiergo’s victory.

‘Why haven’t I heard from you?’

But right now, Riggs wants to run to the temple, not sit back and persevere.

How many reapers did I send? Why haven’t we heard from them yet?

He was fiddling with the necklace Isabelle gave him for a wedding dowry.

Riggs eventually couldn’t resist and flicked his finger.

Like ink, the underworld forces of Sakaman spread into the air.

“Al. Report right away.”

There was no warmth in Riggs’ voice.

Reaper Al, who was forcefully summoned from the temple, began to mumble.

“Boss, I’m sorry for the late report. As you ordered, Father Matteo was dealt with, but…”

“But, well….”

“By the time we got to Father Matteo, he was already half dead.”

Riggs’ forehead crumpled.

If Isabelle used magic, something inexplicable happened.

“I know your captain is gone, but isn’t he too disorganized?”

“Well, it looks like somebody broke in first before we arrived.”

An intruder. A deep shadow of anger was cast over Riggs’ face.

“She’s vulnerable…”

Riggs couldn’t even jokingly say Isabelle was vulnerable.

Anyway, Isabelle must have been surprised.

“The current situation.”

“We’ve secured her safety perfectly. The saints visiting in the next village are returning to the temple as soon as possible. We immediately set up a pursuit team to track down and identify the intruders.”

The day after tomorrow… Riggs changed his mind.

I’ll go tomorrow and bring Isabelle to the Duchy right away.

Even though I decided so, I didn’t feel comfortable.

The reaper, which was bowing down politely, sneaked a glance at his master.

He was obviously thinking about whether to kill the reapers now or later.

‘If I hide this, I’ll be in trouble.’

The reaper hesitated, then pulled a paper note out of its pocket.

I picked it up while investigating the temple, but it seemed to have been dropped by the intruders. The contents were unknown.

“Your Highness, I found this, but I couldn’t decipher it.”

Riggs’s face, which glared at the reaper, opened the crumpled paper and rapidly warmed up.

It’s not a code. It’s like the writer’s personality. It was Isabelle’s free-spirited handwriting.

[Riggs, I’ll feed you every meal, so don’t worry]

Riggs covered his mouth for no reason other than to hide his laughter.

I don’t know how Isabelle ended up writing this note, but I was happy that she thought about me.

It’s even cute. Who’s going to feed who?

“Al. Who found this note?”

“Dell found it.”

“The other reapers will have to wait till the ceremony is over, but Dell is on vacation as a reward.”

“…yeah?”

Reapers get vacations too? No, I haven’t heard of that in all of my 186 years of experience as a reaper.

The reaper blinked as if it were stupid.

Riggs continued coolly, gazing at the prospect of memorizing the note.

“Ten days and nine nights. And I’ll pay for it.”

“·······”

Al was dumbfounded and forgot to answer.

Riggs gestured with his chin for him to go, then pulled a thick file out of his desk drawer.

It was a handmade wedding checklist.

‘There’s a lot I want, and…’

Raised in the attic of the temple, Isabelle had so much to pick up on about love.

I also had strong tastes when it came to proposals, wedding dresses, newlywed houses, as well as quirky couple stories.

Riggs wanted to protect her as much as he could.

‘I’m the only one who can do all this.’

That’s why I have to live with her.

Having reached a satisfactory conclusion, Riggs sighed quietly as he carefully reviewed the checklist.

Isabelle was worried. Although the reapers said they had secured her safety, he was not satisfied.

‘…I’ll just watch you sleep.’

I wanted to look directly at the traces left by the intruders.

It’s even better to find out what kind of bastards they are. Al reported he didn’t know the reason for the intrusion.

To Riggs, it could only be one thing.