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Chapter ‌‌3
Hilderd, the Holy Empire, stood as a city-state under the blessing of the Holy Sovereign, governed by ‌‌‌‌Holy Priests and Holy Knights.
It was also a nation granted extraterritorial rights, exempt from the laws of all other continental powers.
This was because the ‌‌nation had been founded in the name of God.
The reason the ruler was called the Holy Sovereign rather than the Holy King was to signify their position beneath God.
Hilderd took upon itself the duty of correcting the order of the continent.
To punish heretics who strayed from God's path, they employed any means ‌‌necessary without hesitation.
In particular, the Heresy Inquisitor—a position granted only to the most exceptional Holy Knights—was a figure so feared that even crying children would fall silent ‌‌‌‌at the mention of them.
Every noble on the ‌continent, even the imperial family itself, measured their words and actions carefully before the Heresy ‌‌Inquisitor.
None wished to incur their displeasure.
But Chesa stood ‌as an enemy to the Heresy Inquisitors.
As ‌‌‌‌‌‌the daughter of a corrupted fae, she had been born with twisted power.
She was, in essence, the very embodiment of ‌‌‌heresy itself.
Even living ‌‌‌quietly would have been insufficient; yet she committed countless incidents and transgressions, making her a thorn in the side of the Holy Empire.
Chesa recalled the man who had pursued her so relentlessly.
The man with blazing blue eyes, who always gazed at her with unwavering directness.
His words, whispered in that glacial voice of his, remained vivid in her mind.
"How far do you intend to corrupt me, you witch?"
The sound of pale chains rattling echoed like a phantom in her ears.
Chesa wrinkled her nose and rubbed her ears vigorously with her palms.
'It's ‌‌‌about time he ‌‌came looking.'
She had been quiet for a month, cooped up in the Orphanage.
Under normal circumstances, she would have caused a couple of incidents by now, and he would have come searching, ‌‌‌suspecting some scheme of Lichesia's.
'Though I didn't expect him to set up ‌‌‌checkpoints like this.'
It seemed that Lichesia's month of hiding ‌‌without leaving a single trace had made quite an impact.
'Just wait a little longer, you bastard.'
Once she dealt with House of Basilian, she planned to cause some spectacular trouble.
The thought of tormenting the Holy Knights and Priests already brought her joy.
It was then that Chesa smiled wickedly for a moment.
"The witch Lichesia, was it."
Kieran murmured, lightly stroking his chin with his long fingers.
"Now that I think about it, things have been ‌‌quiet lately."
The Underworld was a neutral territory with extraterritorial status, though of a different kind than the Holy Empire.
A place where those abandoned by the world gathered.
What transpired in the chaotic disorder of the Underworld often rippled outward to affect the outside world.
Thus, the witch Lichesia was a figure whose name had become quite well-known across the continent. ‌
Yet there was something laden with meaning in Count Basilian's murmur.
'He speaks as if he knows her quite well.'
As Chesa pondered this peculiar curiosity, the Holy Knight made a polite request.
"Pardon me, but might you show me your identification papers?"
Kieran answered with a bright smile.
"You don't like it?"
.... ‌‌‌
Both Chesa, who had been fidgeting, and the Holy Knight conducting the inspection fell silent in an instant.
He descended ‌‌‌‌from the carriage at a leisurely pace.
The Holy Knights, sensing something amiss, placed their hands on their sword hilts.
Regardless, Kieran grasped Chesa with both hands and hoisted her high into the air.
"Isn't she adorable? She's my daughter."
At the absurd display, someone let out a ‌‌deflated, hollow laugh.
Hearing that sound, Kieran's eyes curved into crescents as he smiled.
"But I'd prefer it if the fact that I've adopted a daughter remained secret for now."
A strange light swirled above his crimson eyes, and his subdued voice burrowed deep.
"I'd like you all to forget about it."
Like a serpent slithering into the ear ‌‌‌canal, it was an unsettling yet profound whisper.
The eyes of ‌‌the Holy Knights who had been about to draw their swords grew clouded in unison.
Just like ‌the Orphanage ‌‌‌‌Director and the children I had ‌‌seen at the Orphanage moments ago.
Chesa recalled an old memory—where she had witnessed a scene like this before.
And immediately, she was ‌‌‌‌seized with dread.
'The Count of House of Basilian is a dark sorcerer?!'
As she reeled ‌‌from the shock, Kieran snapped his fingers with a sharp click.
Black shadows erupted from ‌‌beneath his feet in all directions.
Complete darkness engulfed Chesa.
When the shadows that had obscured her vision finally lifted.
The surrounding landscape had been completely transformed.
Just moments before, it had been nothing but an ordinary road.
But now, a pitch-black castle loomed before Chesa's eyes.
Flags fluttered across the fortress, its pale gray stone exterior crowned with a black roof.
The black flags bore the ouroboros ‌insignia—a silver serpent coiled around a greatsword, its tail clasped in its own mouth.
The castle, emanating an ominous aura, stood formidable.
It ‌‌seemed to permit neither the intrusion of outsiders nor the escape of those within.
Before the massive castle gates stood dozens of uniformed knights in formation.
They knelt on one knee in unison, offering their respects.
"We celebrate your return, Count."
Kieran brushed back his disheveled hair lightly and smiled warmly.
With that radiant smile, he spoke to Chesa.
"Welcome to the Castle of Serpents, my daughter."

*** ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
"Gasp, huff...!"
The man ran in blind panic.
Sharp twigs and thorny brambles tore at his limbs mercilessly, yet he felt no pain.
It was because of the chain sound that clung relentlessly to his ears.
The ‌‌‌‌sound that never grew ‌‌distant no matter how far he fled ‌‌gnawed away at his mind with terrifying speed.
The man fleeing like a madman suddenly widened his eyes.
"Ugh!"
A pristine white chain seized the man's ankle.
The man, sprawled across rotting leaves and wet earth, crawled desperately across the ground.
But it was already too late.
The white chain bound him and lifted him into the air.
The man thrashed and clawed at the chains coiling around his body.
The man, drooling profusely, let out a shrill sound.
"Hik...."
A figure in a pristine white uniform so pale it was almost bluish approached with measured steps.
A blue cloak draped over one shoulder fluttered in the wind.
The man, watching the slowly approaching judge with bloodshot eyes, opened his mouth in desperation.
"Ugh, huff, p-please forgive...!"
His desperate plea never reached its end.
The man crumbled into fragments of light.
The chain, having annihilated its target, returned to its master with ‌a sharp sound.
The chains that had filled the surroundings vanished without a trace.
The Heresy ‌‌Inquisitor standing amid the scattering light fragments glanced to the side.
"Hailon!"
The Holy Knights who had ‌‌‌caught up late ‌‌gazed at Hailon with eyes full of reverence.
Hailon spoke coldly.
"Clean it up."
"Yes, sir!"
The Holy Knights began purifying the place where the man had died.
Holy light erased the corpse and blood.
After watching their purification work for a moment, Hailon moved slowly forward.
He posed a brief question to his adjutant, who followed quietly behind.
"The sorceress?"
"Still nothing. Despite conducting interrogations, we've received no information whatsoever. We simply cannot find any trace of her...."
Hailon's straight brows furrowed. ‌
He sent his adjutant, who was gauging his mood, toward the Holy ‌‌Knights and ‌‌‌walked on alone.
He walked through the forest shrouded in desolate darkness, caressing the bracelet on his wrist.
The simple ‌‌‌‌white bracelet was a holy relic of the Holy Empire's Hilderd—the "Chain of Judgment."
The power of the chain, which only Hailon could wield, ‌‌‌was straightforward.
Pursuit, restraint, and annihilation.
The Chain of Condemnation had never missed its mark since it ‌‌‌‌fell into Hailon's hands.
Save for ‌‌‌one ‌‌‌‌exception.
"...."
Hailon bit down on his lip.
A warm heat had kindled near the nape of his neck.
Hidden beneath the stiff fabric of his uniform, invisible to the eye.
Above his straight collarbone, a crimson floral mark had been seared into his skin.
A pattern that seemed almost sinister—no, seductive—utterly at odds with his pristine form.
It was a mark left behind by the enchantress Lichesia.
The mark she had left to declare him her prey occasionally flared ‌‌with warmth, announcing its presence.
As a Heresy Inquisitor of the Holy Empire, she was an existence he must eradicate.
And yet....
"You are ‌‌‌my prey, Hailon."
Her crimson eyes gleamed like a luscious rose.
Lichesia had swept back her radiant golden hair ‌‌and ‌‌‌smiled with seductive allure as she branded him.
"So don't you dare die on me."
That was why I could not die.
Even in moments when death should have claimed me, I survived. ‌‌
Hailon twisted his lips into ‌‌a bitter smile.
I know not what scheme she plots, but I will find her regardless.
And this time, I shall cast her into the underground dungeons....
And make her ‌exist only before my eyes.

---------------
Brought to you by Valir ‌‌‌‌Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------