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1.

Bianca Belleli leaned back on her sofa, shaking the wine glass in her hand with an elegant gesture.

In front of her was a crystal ball, showing a scene of Jack, covered with blood, being dragged away by a witch.

“Huh? Is that it?”

Needless to say, Bianca was a strong witch.

From her self-essence magic, her battle prowess, to the countless artifacts she had…

There weren’t a lot of witches who could be her match in any of those regards.

The number of witches she had buried and stole artifacts from were easily in the double-digits.

But, the most terrifying thing about her was that she would always try to prepare herself thoroughly to face her opponent, even if they were a helpless witch that was significantly weaker than her.

Also, she normally wouldn’t risk her life to do the job.

Instead, she’d use someone else’s life.

Even if her opponent wasn’t a grand witch, but a male witch who had just turned into a witch, she would never let her guard down.

She’d analyze her opponent thoroughly before starting her hunt, just in case that she was blindsided by some kind of ‘miracle’ that would only occur once in a ten thousand chances.

That was why she gave that slave named Jack a sealed orb that contained a Homunculus in it.

The Homunculus was capable of possessing someone’s body and taking control of their consciousness.

While it wasn’t as strong as other notoriously-named Homunculus, Bianca thought that it would be decent enough to take care of things

But, Shin Siwoo was significantly stronger than she expected.

Seeing the way he moved, she could tell that Duchess Tiphereth had trained him.

“He’s stronger than I expected.”

“Uu…uuu…uuu…”

Nearby, Ea was also staring at the crystal ball, her eyes were full of hatred.

Even though her reasoning had turned clouded, and her intelligence deteriorated to the point that she could only act like an obedient pet dog, she still couldn’t get her eyes off the man reflected on the crystal ball even for a moment.

She can only drool around like an idiot usually, but it seems like she hadn’t given up her hatred towards that man.

Her hatred runs deeper than I thought, hm~

“Ea, you’re dirtying yourself again. Come here.”

“Uu…uuu… M-Master…”

Bianca took out a handkerchief from her bosom before wiping the drool that flowed under Ea’s chin.

The latter instinctively hugged Bianca before clinging to her, refusing to let go.

In truth, Bianca found this particular circumstance unfortunate.

Not long ago, the witch called Ea Sadalmelik was completely ruined by her.

Her red eyes that once shone with venomous glint had turned cloudy as if she was inflicted with Down Syndrome, and she had turned into a vending machine of lust that would spurt out all the juice with a single press of a button.

Maybe I shouldn’t have taken away her freedom and injected all those aphrodisiacs into her…

Oh, how I miss her angry look…

Sigh… Whatever, there are still things that I could enjoy from her.

Seeing her like this excites me too anyway, albeit in a different way…

“Although, if I grow sick of her later…”

I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

Now, about the male witch.

He’s quite strong for his kind, huh?

I need to collect more data about him, that’s for sure…

But first, I’d need to drag Duchess Tiphereth away from him, or else I wouldn’t get anywhere.

After that… It’s going to be fun, hehe…

“Ea, come here. Why don’t we go to bed together now?”

“Y-Yesh… Master…”

Bianca grabbed Ea’s wrist and went to the bed with her, carrying a syringe with her other hand.

2.

The incident that happened today blew up a little.

It went without saying that the daily newspaper, Canard, covered the incident from the beginning through the end under the headline ‘The Rebellion of Jack the Cutter’.

The outline of the incident that was reported went as follows;

‘Jack the Cutter, taken over by a Homunculus, slaughtered his colleagues, the Ten Foremen. He assaulted the apprentice of the Yesod Family in the process, but he was promptly vanquished by Countess Yesod herself.’

There were a few things that were different from what actually happened.

First, the newspaper didn’t say anything about the thug’s attempted gangrape towards Diana.

Second, the countess was the one who was credited instead of Siwoo.

The reason for the first one was simple.

‘Can we keep this a secret from mom…?’

‘Huh? Are you sure?’

‘…I don’t want my mom to turn into an Exile because of me…’

‘Ah…’

Because Diana told Siwoo to keep it a secret.

After all, if the news about the attempted gangrape were to reach the countess’ ears, there was a huge chance that she’d turn the whole Border Town upside down out of anger.

In fact, when Siwoo handed Jack over to the countess, her expression immediately turned into one that would appear in his nightmares as she threw the thug into the dungeon.

She told him that she would do anything to unearth the mastermind behind this incident.

The face she made as she murmured ‘Those administrators, just wait…’ quietly while gritting her teeth wouldn’t leave his memories anytime soon.

Aside from that, Siwoo also thought that having the word ‘attempted rape’ attached to Diana’s name would only have negative impact on her mental health.

Hence the two agreed to pretend that the ‘kidnapping and attempted rape’ part of the incident never happened.

As for the second one, it was something that Siwoo personally asked of the countess himself.

‘Please keep the fact that I was the one who resolved the situation a secret.’

Him being a male witch already attracted enough attention, he just didn’t want more of that.

Besides, he was already satisfied to find out that his training wasn’t in vain, and that he could dispatch a seventeen-eyed Homunculus confidently now.

He also acquired a strange-looking katyusha as a drop, so he really didn’t need anything else.

In any case, from this incident, it was safe to assume that it was a prelude to something bigger.

Countess Yesod canceled all of her schedules and went to Diana’s bedroom to soothe and comfort her baby daughter.

The tears that flowed out of her eyes then was probably enough to fill up half of the bathtub in her private bathroom.

“Huu…”

Putting everything aside, Siwoo couldn’t be passed off as completely innocent in this incident either.

The incident was an accident, that was for sure, but…

While the security of the Border Town was atrocious, in reality, if you were a witch, no one would dare to bother you at all.

After all, it was still a town in Gehenna. Unlike the Modern World, no Criminal Exiles or Homunculi were roaming around the place. This was what Siwoo had believed as well.

But, that complacency was the thing that led to this incident. If he didn’t bring Diana to the Border Town, none of this would happen.

He let out a deep sigh, worried that the countess’ wrath might befall him soon.

3.

“Baby… Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”

“Yes, Mom, I’ll be okay. Besides, you can take a look at me yourself, I’m unharmed.”

“Sob… Uhuhu… Sorry Mommy wasn’t there for you…”

“Really Mom, I’m okay. There’s nothing for you to feel sorry about.”

When she first heard about what happened, Countess Yesod’s anger soared through the sky.

Like a mother dragon losing her baby dragon, her outburst caused the roof of the building where she was working to be blown away.

Just as what Diana feared, the countess was about to unleash her wrath upon the Border Town’s administrators and eliminated the existence of the town itself. Although, now she was just hugging her daughter while crying.

“Let’s sleep together tonight.”

“…It’s okay, Mom. Can I sleep on my own? I’m a little tired today.”

“Are you sure, my baby? You don’t need mommy to stay with you?”

“Yes, nothing’s gonna happen anyway. I’ll be okay.”

“Alright… My baby is so brave!”

Diana barely managed to calm the countess down and send her away by telling her that she needed some time alone.

Only after confirming that her mother had left did she let out a sigh of relief.

Her mother’s embrace felt heartwarming on her neck, but at the same time it hurt her because it was too tight of an embrace.

“…”

I…almost died today… Multiple times…

Thinking back, her future as a witch was almost robbed by the thugs. She also was about to be stabbed in the neck, and was about to be torn apart by a Homunculus.

She could still remember the thugs’ stinky hands that were holding her down the cold and rough floor, their snickering yellow teeth, and the disgusting stench of their lusty desires.

Not only that, she also remembered the sight of the Homunculus he had only ever heard of—one with seventeen eyes at that—trying to take her life.

It went without saying that she was scared out of her wits.

She was a scaredy cat in the first place; back when she was younger, she could never fall asleep unless her mother was sleeping by her side, and even now, she still had trouble sleeping if she were to hear the thunder’s roar.

This was something that she knew very well.

Given that nature of hers, normally, she would be feeling more terrified than she was right now.

Because the experience she had just gone through was significantly scarier than all the other events in her life.

Normally, she’d be struggling with anxiety and fear, bawling her eyes out while desperately trying to look for her mother’s embrace.

But…

“…”

Strangely enough, her heart felt calm.

Thanks to the man who had saved her life in that moment of crisis.

Shin Siwoo…

Right before she was about to cross the river of no return…

He appeared like a knight in shining armor and defeated the group of vicious thugs effortlessly.

It was truly an unexpected turn of events.

She also came to know that his brand wasn’t located in the normal place—the womb—but his left eye.

A mere rookie who hadn’t inherited a brand (yet was somehow proficient in Witch Board).

That was her first impression of him.

And that was why she had expected him to get into the same predicament as her the moment he tried to step in.

“…”

Diana recalled what happened back then.

The situation was pretty much a blur because she was panicking, she couldn’t remember all the details, but…

She could recall the words that he said the first time he came into that warehouse…

‘What are you guys doing?’

‘Lay a finger on the young lady, you will all fall before my magic, you filthy maggots…’

Huh? Did he say that?

…Should be close enough, no?

After that, she remembered some brutal things happened as blood splattered everywhere.

Then, she was being held hostage by the most vicious thug of them all.

She remembered him saying…

‘Trust me, Ms. Diana. Even if I have to give up my life, I will save you.’

Yeah, that one should also be close enough.

After saying that, he used his magic to save her from the vicious thug.

Then, the vicious thug turned into a Homunculus.

And that terrified Diana to no end.

He could beat those thugs with his magic for sure, but it was a different story when it came to the Homunculus.

Then, out of nowhere, a beautiful-looking black armor enveloped his body.

It wasn’t the crude and rustic armor that one often saw in books or illustrations.

But rather a refined-looking armor that fit his body perfectly, as she could see him moving his joints in such a natural way.

When he heard the vicious thug try to threaten her with dirty words, he immediately snapped back with some gallant lines.

‘She isn’t interested. Why not worry about your head that’s about to be lopped off your neck instead?’

‘Is that all? My turn.’

After that, he dispatched the Homunculus with a dazzling set of movements.

Well, actually, she could only see black flashes and the Homunculus got blown away so suddenly, but she could tell that his movements were dazzling.

It was simply unbelievable.

A man who she thought of as nothing but a rookie witch swung a large spear around and beat up a seventeen-eyed Homunculus with ease.

“Huu…”

Then she remembered how she started to cry like a baby in his embrace after everything had ended.

Thinking back, it was quite embarrassing, but she remembered how all of her fears and worries disappeared when she did that.

After she was done reminiscing about all the twists and turns that she had experienced today, she could feel her eyelids turning heavy.

It was quite the long day, she was exhausted both physically and mentally.

“…”

What happened to her was terrible.

It was the first time in her life that she was exposed to such thick malice directly like that, and also the first time she had ever been in such a dangerous situation.

For the first time, she learned how ugly and scary the ‘sexual desire’ in someone’s eyes could be. She still could feel the stinging sensation in her skin.

But she wasn’t afraid of it anymore.

Because she knew that beyond her closed eyelids, there was a huge light that would dispel the thick darkness for her.

Even if she were to have a nightmare, he would come and save her.

Before long, only the sound of Diana’s peaceful, rhythmic breaths could be heard from her bedroom.