Cardel trailed off. More precisely, he couldn’t complete the sentence. An absurd hypothesis had suddenly surfaced in his mind.

“Don’t tell me, Dame, you think the fanatic group is connected to demons?”

“That’s correct.”

What Basilica had said yesterday was likely not baseless nonsense. Though Evolaine didn’t know exactly what or who Basilica was, she sensed he was deeply connected to Kelic, the ability she possessed.

Moreover, the white dragon of Asdelica—she’d known him for ages too, so Basilica might also be a dragon.

‘Then is the origin of Kelic dragons?’

She couldn’t be certain he was a dragon, but at least it was clear that some transcendent being was connected to its origin.

And he had mentioned the existence of demons.

The group humans called a cult. The divine existence that group praised and obeyed absolutely—demons.

“The god that people you define as fanatics believe in is a demon. Even in illegal temples, they set up demons as their main deity instead of gods, bewitching and driving people mad. Demons have strong powers of enchantment.”

“So you’re saying Poli was attacked by a demon?”

“As of now, that possibility is high.”

If the god fanatics believed in was a demon, then Poli had been attacked by a demon.

Then what they’d tried to accomplish using Poli—what was that purpose?

“Dame, demons are beings that only appear in novels. There’s no case in actual history where they’ve been proven to exist.”

“Just because something hasn’t been proven until now doesn’t guarantee we can’t prove it in the future. In fact, Sir Poli showed abnormal symptoms and ultimately died in a fire. And his symptoms resemble those of fanatics.”

That wasn’t the only reason Evolaine believed Basilica’s words.

“You know it too, don’t you, Cardel? That spiritual beings definitely exist in this world.”

“…”

The white dragon he’d seen that day. She was the progenitor of the Duchy of Radelica.

Dragons had only appeared in history as legendary spiritual creatures. No one had ever claimed to see them directly.

But the Duchy of Radelica knew of the dragon Yutinne’s existence. Cardel and Ashili knew where her grave was.

And the two of them, along with Evolaine, had clearly witnessed Yutinne’s final moments.

“Demons are known to have strong powers of enchantment. Humans are vulnerable to that energy, so Sir Poli must have been affected by it too.”

“Then what they tried to accomplish using Sir Poli was?”

“That’s…”

Evolaine paused and surveyed her surroundings. As lunch time drew to a close, few students remained in the park.

Then a familiar face passed through the gap. A distinctive appearance her soul remembered entered her field of vision.

Light brown hair. Murky green eyes. And… a red-green academy uniform.

“Dame?”

Red-green was the Chemistry Department uniform. And at the entrance ceremony, Siana had said she was a fifth-year Chemistry student.

Hesion La Voletta. He was attending the same Chemistry Department as Siana.

With a face resembling the person she hated most in the world.

“That’s… the resurrection of a demon.”

Thump—

The sensation of her heart sinking. It struck the four people gathered here in completely different ways.

As fear, and as an object of revenge.

* * *

Even though the bell signaling the end of lunch had rung, Evolaine sat on the park bench like a stone statue.

Soli and Kale had hurried into the building for their next class. Hesion had long since left the park.

Only Cardel and Evolaine remained in the park, just the two of them.

“…There’s no guarantee that demons, known to people as legends, haven’t come to the human world before. So this speculation isn’t unreasonable either.”

“I know. It’s just shocking content.”

“…”

Cardel sighed and sat beside her.

Evolaine hung her head deeply and squeezed her eyes shut. Seeing Hesion earlier kept replaying noisily in her head like it was on repeat.

“What I don’t understand isn’t demons—it’s you sitting on a bench with a gloomy face even though the class bell rang.”

“…I see.”

“What did you see? Did you see a ghost or something?”

Evolaine shook her head. She wished she’d seen a ghost instead. Unfortunately, he was a person very much alive.

“…I saw someone I wanted to see.”

“Someone you wanted to see?”

“Yes, truly.”

The son of someone she wanted to kill right now.

If she were left alone with him, one of her revenge targets, Evolaine might kill him without mercy. But knowing he had enough use value that she shouldn’t, she swallowed her rage again and again.

“…I see.”

Cardel answered briefly and squeezed his eyes shut. The overcast sky resembled his mood exactly.

‘Did she have someone she liked?’

Had she known them from the orphanage? Had they coincidentally reunited at the academy?

Evolaine’s reaction was far from ordinary. Seeing how confused she was, it was clear she must have known them for a long time.

“You’re still my escort knight. Don’t get distracted by other things.”

“Yes…”

At Evolaine’s lukewarm response, Cardel grew more troubled. He felt he needed to find out who this bastard Evolaine had seen was.

* * *

Near the end of lunch, Hesion headed to the garden, avoiding people’s eyes. He was there to receive the ‘product’ he’d paid for.

However, Siana, who’d been waiting in the garden for a while, was irritated. Having carried what should be secretly delivered while avoiding people for so long, her nerves were on edge and she couldn’t help being annoyed.

“You’re a bit late.”

“I’m sorry. The professor ended class a bit late…”

Thanks to that, hadn’t he blown his entire lunch on assignments, and been late for an important appointment? Nothing had gone right all day.

“What you promised to give me…”

“I brought it. I had a bit of a headache hiding because you came late.”

“I’m sorry. Because of me…”

“No need for apologies. Take it quickly. If we drag this out more, we might get caught.”

When Siana held out a brown envelope, Hesion quickly took it and tucked it inside his outer coat.

“The wrapping is different today?”

“Changed it for a change of pace. Security issues too.”

“Security issues?”

“Some runt almost ran their mouth.”

When Siana spoke sharply, Hesion laughed awkwardly. She sometimes used words he couldn’t understand.

“Haha, I didn’t know runts really existed. How fascinating…”

“…”

No answer came. Siana was just smiling sweetly at him as always.

But sometimes, Hesion couldn’t shake the feeling that she was creepy.

“You should watch your mouth too. For all our sakes.”

You can’t betray your family’s expectations with a druggie title, can you? At Siana’s words, Hesion reluctantly nodded.

The moment these drugs he’d purchased were discovered, he’d truly face the worst ending he didn’t want to imagine.

His mother and Verit’s feelings then would be devastatingly miserable beyond description.

“Well, our business is done, so let’s dismiss. You leave first today.”

“You’re not leaving first like usual?”

“Yeah, I have something to do.”

She looked suspicious smiling brightly at a tree, but Hesion hurried his steps.

Her pupils turning red also bothered him, but his situation was too urgent to worry about such things.

“Then I’ll go first.”

“Go carefully.”

Siana didn’t even glance until Hesion left the garden. It was like her not to care about her surroundings once something of interest caught her eye.

‘What’s behind that tree…’

But wasn’t human curiosity endless? Though he’d struggled for a while unable to obtain drugs, Hesion suddenly wanted to check what Siana had been looking at.

Hesitating at the garden entrance, he eventually turned back and moved carefully, stealthily.

And what was in the direction Siana had been looking was none other than Evolaine.

“…Evolaine?”

Why was Evolaine at the academy? And with the young master?

The two wore different clothes, not uniforms. Evolaine wore a white uniform, and the young master wore a black uniform.

The only department at the academy that didn’t wear uniforms was the Swordsmanship Department. He’d heard there was an entrance ceremony recently—had they started attending that day?

‘Why didn’t Mother tell me?’

If she knew Evolaine was attending the academy, she would surely have thrown a fit.

A bastard child sprinkled on maternal love that cherished family terribly. To the marchioness, Evolaine was a disaster itself.

‘But why was Lady Siana looking at Evolaine?’

As far as he knew, Siana and Evolaine had no connection. They were probably seeing each other for the first time…

As Hesion puzzled over this, Siana began approaching his direction.

Knowing it wouldn’t end with just a warning if caught, Hesion quickly left the garden.

“…”

Confirming Hesion had scurried out, Siana finally smiled brightly.

“Like a thieving cat.”

A man who was cute but sometimes had a stupid side. The marchioness worried about her son, fragile and delicate as glass, yet forced the duty of heir upon him.

“How stupid.”

He couldn’t become the heir. He was just a foolish human lacking both virtue and qualifications.

“How pitiful…”

Walking forward with difficulty on a thorny path forced upon him, yet only darkness awaited at the end.

A foolish mother and son, both foolish.

Rustle—

Then the tree she’d been staring holes into swayed slightly.

“Quick on the uptake, aren’t you?”

“Weren’t you watching me first, Lady? If I’d stayed a bit longer, my head would’ve been drilled through.”

“Ahaha! What an amusing joke!”

As Siana burst into laughter, Evolaine scratched her cheek and straightened her clothes.