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Bianca Belleli.

True to her title as The Witch of Desire, Bianca was a greedy, ruthless conqueror through and through.

Unlike her master who had zero charisma or presence, Bianca’s aura instantly drew Claire in.

And honestly, it seemed Bianca was curious about Claire too.

Claire was like a ship without a captain.

She needed someone to take the wheel—and Bianca had a thing for people who were broken in just the right way.

Eventually, they became more than just business partners. You could call them friends.

One day, Claire opened up to Bianca about everything—her past, her master.

It all spilled out in a drunken haze.

Bianca listened to the miserable past things Claire herself didn’t even know she wanted or why she’d said them and dismissed it with a scoff.

‘Your master was a total fucking bitch.’

In that moment, Claire felt something like a jolt of pure catharsis.

And at the same time, the ghost of Elizabeth—who she’d thought would haunt her forever—was shredded into nothing.

Claire admired Bianca. Craved her. She kissed her feet, wanting Bianca to rule over the rest of her life.

After they became lovers, Bianca taught her how to live.

She taught her how to fight witches, how to navigate the modern world, and most importantly, how to continue her magical research without drawing the attention of Duchess Keter. Under Bianca’s guidance, Claire founded a blood bank as a front to smuggle blood packs for her experiments.

Of course, none of it came free.

‘You still like being bullied, right? I love that scared little face you make.’

‘Can you cut me a deal? Money’s tight lately.’

‘I heard you came up with a new formula—mind sharing it with me?’

‘I wanna manage a plant myself sometime. Mind teaching me how it’s done?’

‘This looks good. I’m keeping it.’

Sometimes she wanted Claire’s body. Sometimes rare materials or research data. Sometimes shares in the business.

At first, Bianca asked for reasonable things. But it didn’t stay that way.

Eventually, she started grabbing massive profits, bleeding Claire’s resources dry bit by bit.

And still, Claire gave her everything.

As long as she could stay by Bianca’s side, she didn’t care about losing those things.

That was the only way Claire knew how to live.

Those days were like a dream.

Too good for the nightmare that hit her out of nowhere.

‘Sorry. I’m just sick of you. Nothing about you excites me anymore.’

Bianca had probably only taken interest in Claire out of curiosity, and then stuck around because she was easy to use.

She was the type who got bored of everything, fast.

When she decided there was nothing more to milk from Claire, Bianca declared their breakup.

‘Why are you doing this? I’ll be better! Don’t leave me! I’m sorry!’

Claire cried, begged, clung to her.

Even grabbed onto Bianca’s skirt and dragged herself like a wreck.

But Bianca didn’t flinch.

‘Claire, this is why you’re hopeless. How about you stop leaning on others and try doing something yourself for once?’

Even when she turned on her, the woman Claire admired and loved was just as cruel and cutting as ever.

With one last cold laugh, Bianca walked away without a second thought.

All Claire was left with were extortionate fees and mountains of debt.

Under such circumstances, Claire would have sufficient reason to resent and hate Bianca.

But deep down, she knew the truth.

Claire knew that from the very moment Bianca dumped her, she only fell harder.

It was because she was certain that the mocking smile at the corners of Bianca’s mouth and her cold gaze pierced her heart.

Bianca had been the only witch who could’ve stepped in for Elizabeth and taken control of Claire.

She was the only queen strong enough to keep Claire’s fragile, shaky ass from falling apart.

But Bianca was dead.

So now, who was she supposed to wait for? What reason did she even have to keep going?

Claire opened her eyes.

That sharp, stabbing pain all over her body dragged her back into consciousness like she was being ripped apart by needles.

Soon, she realized that this place was a dungeon and that her body was bound, unable to move.

“Ugh...!”

At the same time, old traumas clawed their way to the surface, drenching her trembling body in cold sweat.

She hated basements. They scared her.

Being tied up was something she hated too. It terrified her.

“L-let me go! You... fucker! Untie me! Let me go...!”

She flailed in panic, totally losing it, as the chains bit even deeper into her skin.

By then, nothing registered in her vision anymore.

Her heart pounded like it was gonna burst, and a full-blown panic attack slammed into her, nausea and a splitting headache hitting all at once.

Then, someone roughly grabbed her head.

Her breath hitched, chest heaving from hyperventilation, tears clouding her vision.

But the face in front of her wasn’t Elizabeth. It wasn’t Bianca either.

It was the Witch of Perfume, who had subdued Claire moments ago without her being able to lift a finger.

“Claire Asmodeus. You’d better answer my questions from now on.”

Her voice was cold enough to stop a heartbeat, her eyes like blades of ice.

“Where. Is. Shin Siwoo?”

2.

Albireo had cast the Poem of Confession on Claire while she was trapped down in the dungeon.

Here, where all autonomous defenses were stripped away, the spell would drag out the truth whether she wanted to speak or not—an ideal interrogation tool.

But something wasn’t right.

Even though Claire was already under the Poem of Confession, she didn’t say a word, despite her frantic thrashing during her panic attack.

For thirty minutes, Amelia grilled her about Shin Siwoo’s whereabouts, but Claire didn’t utter a single syllable.

Amelia clenched her jaw and stepped away, clearly about to lose her patience.

“What is going on?”

“I did cast the Poem of Confession. Maybe... maybe her body just naturally resists magic...”

Albireo cautiously added her own speculation.

Even if Claire’s powers were locked away in this dungeon, the blood running through her was practically pure magic.

Wounds on her skin were visibly healing, and her wrecked magic circuits were literally repairing themselves right in front of their eyes.

Furthermore, as a vampire who has reached the peak of all kinds of dark sorcery, she possesses innate defensive capabilities against mental spells.

“Isn’t there any stronger spell we can hit her with?”

Amelia’s voice was turning to ice.

Seeing the resolve harden on her face, Albireo realized something.

When it came to Shin Siwoo, Amelia wasn’t gonna stop—not even if it meant torture.

“.......”

The target was a criminal exile anyway.

If Amelia wanted to stretch her limbs out of their sockets or chop her into chunks, Albireo wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

They were only holding off because they thought Deneb might show up on her own.

But seeing Amelia growing more anxious, her conscience nagged at her to stop pretending she didn’t know.

Albireo pressed her eyes shut and let out a sigh.

“Ms. Amelia.”

“.......”

“Interrogating her won’t get you anywhere.”

“...What?”

Swearing to never forgive Deneb for forcing her into this humiliating confession, Albireo carefully revealed the truth she knew.

“Actually....”

Albireo’s face turned beet red as she blurted out a secret she’d sworn to take to the grave.

Of course, she’d already made sure this shameful little backstory wouldn’t reach Claire’s ears.

Basically, she admitted Siwoo and Deneb were together.

That the two had sex multiple times.

That Deneb had been ignoring all calls and hiding their whereabouts—so even Albireo had no idea where they were.

She almost spilled everything... except the fact they were feeling each other’s pleasure during sex.

“...So yeah, I really don’t think the Witch of True Ancestors is involved in any of this... Sorry I didn’t come clean sooner.”

Albireo lowered her head in front of Amelia, clearly feeling guilty.

If she’d just spoken up earlier, Amelia wouldn’t have had to suffer through all that.

“.......”

When she raised her head after a long silence.

She figured Amelia would be furious. Either at her or at Shin Siwoo. That would’ve made sense.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

But instead of getting mad, Amelia just looked suspicious. Like something didn’t sit right.

“It’s still weird.”

“.......”

Albireo had felt sympathy and a sense of shared misery.

She’d also wanted to deny it at first, back when she realized her own little sister was screwing around with Siwoo.

Amelia, who trusted Shin Siwoo, must have felt the same way.

“...Maybe the sex wasn’t even the goal.”

“Huh?”

Siwoo can replicate mana when he cums.

High-purity mana that doesn’t require a separate internalization process.

So, what if the two of them had fallen into some kind of crisis, and the goal was to keep recharging mana?

“.......”

Albireo stayed quiet and listened closely to Amelia’s theory.

Honestly, wanting to believe in her sister and son-in-law, she was all for Amelia’s wild guess—but yeah, they just didn’t have enough info.

They needed to dig in deeper and really figure it out.

Sex every eight hours, like clockwork.

Siwoo disappearing without saying a word to Amelia or any of his other girls.

Deneb blocking all of Albireo’s telepathic messages.

Sure, Siwoo was notoriously bad at keeping it in his pants.

But would he really vanish without warning, knowing full well how worried everyone would be?

And yeah, Deneb could be reckless and childish.

But was she so senseless as to sleep with her beloved twins’ lover without a good reason?

And then, at that moment, the criminal exile was caught.

Was her capture truly unrelated?

Albireo sighed, silently admitting to herself that her embarrassment over their shared pleasure link had clouded her judgment and had been so hung up on the awkwardness that she missed the bigger picture.

“I’m going to ask more questions. Even if I have to use rough methods.”

“Yeah, I’ll go back and take a closer look at what happened then.”

Her heart was a mess.

Albireo wanted to help Amelia, but she had something urgent to handle first.

It was about that time.

“I-’m gonna step out for a bit and come back. Keep investigating while I’m gone.”

With her thighs pressed tight together, Albireo darted off to her room.