I urgently grabbed it. It was slippery, but as I pulled with all my might, the lump of mud started to come out little by little.

[You wretched girl…!]

As I thought I had pulled out enough, I stabbed the dagger into the lump.

A scream that seemed to scrape the soul echoed, and at the same time, the water that had trapped me poured down to the ground.

“Everyone stop! I’m alive!”

Even while being swept away by the water, I tried hard to stop the two male leads. And, as expected, Shahar’s nagging followed.

“Why do you always take risks? I’ve repeatedly told you that there is nothing more precious in this world than your safety.”

“But it wasn’t that dangerous this time.”

“Humans are fragile, so you must not be careless.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

I half-heartedly agreed with Shahar’s words while looking at Ines. She was lying on the ground, vomiting a foul-smelling lump of mud. The sticky, gooey lump kept coming out.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Finally, after vomiting out all the mud, Ines collapsed. I approached to check her condition and found that she was barely breathing.

‘When is the priest coming?’

I looked outside anxiously.

[It’s not over yet.]

The mud that had come out of her body clumped together and elongated. It looked like a giant snake or worm.

It had a simple yet grotesque appearance. Its long body was covered with numerous eyes. Black, blue, and green eyes mixed together, forming a horrifying sight.

The mud snake lunged straight at me.

With nothing to hinder him now, Shahar immediately slashed at the snake’s head. However, the severed head soon reattached to the body.

This time, Iscallion stepped forward. He began to pummel the snake with his fists.

[I need a body, a body…]

Realizing that it couldn’t handle the three of us, the creature turned its head towards the others.

Unfortunately, the closest target was Duke Poel. The snake slithered towards him and coiled around him.

“No, no… Father…!”

Ines screamed with a voice that was almost gone.

To be able to hold on to her consciousness in such a state was truly a testament to her villainous tenacity.

“Leon, catch this!”

I threw Gined’s dagger towards Iscallion. He deftly caught it and sliced the snake in half. Thousands, tens of thousands of resentful spirits burst out, screaming.

Shocked by the horrific scene, I instinctively hugged Ines tightly to protect her. Shahar immediately expanded his shield to cover me and the others.

The spirits, unable to find a body, made one last desperate attack on Iscallion. A massive chunk of the soul remnants poured down on him like a waterfall.

Iscallion remained unfazed. His confidence stemmed from his skills.

The fragmented spirits were no match for him. With each swing of the silver dagger, the spirits disappeared in droves, accompanied by terrible screams.

[Aah, how lamentable. But this is not our end…]

Finally, all the spirits were annihilated, and the rain that had been pouring down like a torrent began to subside.

And just at the right moment, the priests arrived. Though stunned by what they had witnessed, they quickly began tending to the people.

The most critical patient was, of course, Ines.

Despite several priests pouring holy power into her, her limp body showed no signs of movement.

Meanwhile, people began to regain consciousness one by one.

“Huh? What is going on here…?”

Still somewhat dazed, Duke Poel looked around with bleary eyes. Then he spotted me.

“Dronay? Were you invited to the banquet too? But why are you dressed like that, and who are these priests?”

“Watch your mouth, old man. Take care of your own child first.”

Iscallion snapped harshly, irritated by the Duke’s condescending tone.

“What? You insolent brat!”

“Your Grace! We have a problem. The young lady…”

A maid, crying her eyes out, ran over and knelt before the Duke.

The Duke frowned.

“Yes, Ines. Now that you mention it, where is she?”

“Your Grace, the young lady is…”

“Stop crying and tell me properly. What did Ines do?”

“Look over there.”

Unable to explain in words, the maid pointed at Ines.

Seeing her collapsed in a wretched state, Duke Poel jumped to his feet.

“Ines! What happened? Why is my daughter like this?”

“Please wait until the treatment is finished, Your Grace.”

The priests blocked the Duke’s frantic approach. He slumped to the ground in despair.

I watched Ines from a short distance away.

Despite the priests’ efforts, her face grew paler by the second. If not for the faint movement of her chest, she could easily be mistaken for a corpse.

She was clearly dying. The faces of the priests surrounding her gradually filled with despair.

“We are sorry. There’s no hope.”

After a while, one of the priests, drenched in sweat, stood up and shook his head.

“What do you mean! How can this be? Save her, now!”

The Duke, having lost his composure, screamed.

Setting aside the bad feelings between our families, seeing the Duke about to lose his daughter was not pleasant.

Suddenly, a way to save Ines came to mind.

Taking advantage of the chaos, I ran to a secluded place and quickly rode Shahar back to our house.

Seeing me drenched and covered in dirt, my mother was shocked.

“Lou, what happened!”

“There’s no time, Mother. I’ll explain later.”

Passing by my mother, I rushed to my room and roughly opened the drawer. Inside was the narcissus elixir that Shahar had given me. As soon as I found the elixir, I headed back to Duke Poel’s residence.

In that short time, deep sorrow had enveloped the Poel estate.

The Duke was sitting on the floor in a daze, and the Duchess had fainted and been carried out.

“Move aside!”

I pushed through the crowd and approached Ines.

“What are you trying to do!”

As I knelt beside Ines, the Duke shouted.

“I’m going to save Ines.”

“You…?”

“Yes. I will. So if you chase me out now, you’ll regret it.”

The Duke looked confused. But soon, like a drowning man grasping at straws, he pleaded with me.

“Please, if you save my daughter, I’ll give you anything.”

“Step aside first.”

As I opened the elixir, an otherworldly fragrance filled the air. Even the Duke had a dazed expression.

I let a drop of the shimmering liquid fall between her lips. Ines took a deep breath. Another drop brought color back to her pale face. With the third and final drop, she opened her eyes. Her twisted bones and joints returned to their proper places.

“Lou…? Where am I? Is this heaven? It smells so good…”

“After committing such sins, you expect to go to heaven? How shameless. Unfortunately, you’re at your home.”

“My father… what about my parents?”

I gestured towards Duke Poel.

The Duke, who had been staring at Ines in disbelief, hurriedly ran to hug her. Then, he knelt on the spot and prayed.

“Oh, Sun God, thank you!”

I saved her, but it was the Sun God who received the thanks.

“It’s all my fault, Father. If it weren’t for Lou, I would have made an irreversible mistake.”

Ines, in her father’s arms, whispered in a weary voice.

“Thank you. Truly, thank you, Lou. If I ever wronged you, please forgive me.”

Finally, Duke Poel, with tears streaming down his face, apologized.

If he had been handsome, it might have moved me, but the tears of an ordinary middle-aged man did nothing for me.

“It’s fine. Just take good care of her. Let’s go, Leon.”

“As expected, you are great, strong, noble, wonderful, cute, lovely, and charismatic, sister.”

Leon followed behind me, showering me with praises.

It would have been better if he had quietly followed, but still, it was a rather impressive exit.

***

Fortunately, the water ghost summoned by Ines was dealt with quicker than expected, preventing a major disaster.

Considering that most of the attendees were children of high-ranking nobles, it was an incident that Duke Poel would have to endure for at least 50 years.

Thanks to most of the attendees not remembering what happened, the water ghost incident was publicly announced as a prank by a reckless noble lady.

Of course, Duke Poel had to know every detail about what Ines had done.

Despite the joy of his daughter’s survival, the Duke was deeply shocked.

Those who knew the full story strongly insisted that Ines should be executed, but thanks to my opposition, it was dismissed. Instead, she was demoted to a commoner and permanently exiled from the family.

The night before she left Arcadia, she quietly came to see me.