Chapter 22: 22

Episode 22: The First Appearance of Black Magic (II)

 

Eristella stared at them sternly, but the Azurdi couple did not notice her glare at all.

“I know the princess will be, at the very least, laughing if she sees this now.”

At Heinricion’s cold ridicule, Count Azurdi and his wife were greatly shaken.

Impatient, they shouted at Heinricion.

“Your Excellency, are you suspicious of us? This is an error. Something’s wrong…”

“It looks absolutely wrong.”

If Eristella wasn’t in the form of a fox now, she wanted to watch this while having a bag of peanuts next to her to munch on.

“You must not doubt us! Don’t you know? We’re close friends with the former Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Adelasia!”

Count Azurdi raised his voice, complaining of injustice.

Upon hearing the next words, the faces of Heinricion and Eristella were subtly hardened.

“You don’t know what the princess has done! I’m sure this was designed to harm someone!”

Countess Azurdi, whose eyes were turned over, exclaimed. Then Count Azurdi nodded his head and spoke desperately.

“Your Excellency, Grand Duke Adelasia! Have you already forgotten what the princess did to the former Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Adelasia?”

‘……!’

“Your Excellency, don’t you abhor her? She is a princess who only believes in her own great power and behaves as she pleases. It’s not unusual for her to do anything but harass others.”

“You have to trust us…! Rather, we should investigate the princess’s whereabouts!”

The couple of the Count of Azurdi seemed to be getting more and more intoxicated by the sophistry they had created.

They tried to persuade Heinricion that it was true.

‘You don’t believe that, do you?’

It was when Eristella turned around. Her eyes met with Heinricion’s.

‘…….’

Eristella’s heart sank at his gaze as she awaited his answer.

‘Do you believe in that nonsensical lie?’

Cracks started to form in Eristella’s strong heart.

The death of the predecessors, the former Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Adelasia, was also the turning point in the relationship between Eristella and Heinricion.

Hence, it was a sensitive matter for both of them.

When Eristella was about to look carefully at Heinricion…

Countess Azurdi suddenly started coughing.

“Keuk, keuk…!”

“Keu! Keuk, keuk”

The cough didn’t stop and got progressively worse.

“…Blood, keuk…”

In the end, red blood smeared on both their palms. Each time they coughed, their palms became bloodier.

Their faces quickly turned to fear.

“Your Excellency, please save us. If it is your power… can you spare us?”

They fell down at Heinricion’s feet and began to beg. But Heinricion didn’t raise even an eyebrow. He just stared at them as if they were worms struggling.

The condition of the couple was rapidly deteriorating by the minute.

“Y-You are not going to let us die like this, are you…?”

“I think so.”

Everyone could see that Heinrich meant what he said.

“W-We have to live! T-There’s a lot to gain for letting us live!”

“Well. I’m not really curious.”

Heinricion glanced at Eristella with a smirk.

He was more curious about Eristella than the Count and Countess of Azurdi.

When Heinricion did not budge, the two frantic people rolled their heads to pull out a weapon that could convince him.

They needed something he couldn’t tolerate without asking them.

At that moment, Count Azurdi’s eyes lit up. As the focus became clearer in his hazy eyes, there was even a faint smile on his lips.

“Aren’t you curious about the death of the former Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Adelasia?”

Heinricion’s eyebrows twitched with displeasure.

Because the death of his parents was a painful memory for him.

As he was about to warn Count Azurdi for his presumptuous behavior, Count Azurdi hurriedly shouted the following words:

“Well, I know why…! How he suddenly died, and how the princess is related! So if you save me…!”

As his death approached, Count Azurdi opened his mouth without hesitation. The more he did, the more complicated Heinricion’s face became, and the more Eristella’s mood became ferocious.

‘You’re out of your mind.’

It was when Eristella ran towards Count Azurdi with a terrifying force.

The count couple, who had been struggling to the end, collapsed and vomited blood.

Along with having several seizures.

The trembling of their bodies, which was intense at first, gradually subsided, and then they stopped moving.

‘They must be dead.’

Eristella actually wanted to find another connection through the Count of Azurdi couple, but they died before she could figure out anything.

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‘Now, where should I start?’

She looked down at the couple who were no longer moving.

And her gaze went to the object that was still in their hands.

Their lives were on the line and they begged to live, but the two did not let go of the object.

Greed that could not be given up even at that moment.

Uncontrollable desires and impulses.

Those were some of the side effects of black magic.

It was a pain caused by injecting black magic into the object. If they had dropped it out of their hands immediately, they wouldn’t have died like this.

Black magic was dangerous.

At first, someone might dabble in it a little to satisfy his desires, but as time went by, he would become dominated by black magic.

Then, he would lose control over himself, and his reason would become clouded without knowing what he was controlled by.

In addition, those who were addicted to black magic show their traces after death.

Soon there would be changes in the bodies of Count and Countess Azurdi.

—Evidence of obvious use of black magic.

But Heinricion had been quiet for a while. It bothered Eristella a lot, but she couldn’t look back at him.

She was a little scared of what kind of face he was making.

‘Certainly, Heinricion didn’t listen to what Count Azurdi had said before he died…?’

It was a taboo subject between Heinricion and Eristella.

‘Is he agitated?’

‘Is he confused and unable to shake off what they had said?’

“What’s all this about?”

That was when Rowen’s confused voice was heard from behind.

“Why did Count Azurdi suddenly…”

‘Since when have you been here? Don’t tell me you heard it all…’

“What do Count Azurdi’s last words mean?”

He must have heard what Count Azurdi said before he died.

Eristella could see Rowen’s eyes slowly getting colder.

“Your Excellency. What I’m seeing now…”

“First, we have to sort things out.”

Heinricion cut off Rowen’s words with a dry voice. It was an instruction to put off the questions and make a cool judgment on what must be done right now.

Rowen’s face momentarily crumpled, but with a bit of struggle, he was soon able to find his composure.

“What should we do?”

Since this happened during the imperial banquet, the death of the Count and Countess of Azurdi could not be hidden.

“We can’t hide it, so we have to make it known.”

“Then I will call the guards.”

Heinricion’s gaze turned to the lips of Countess Azurdi, which were gradually turning black.

Lips. Fingertips. And although he couldn’t see it, she was probably turning black from her toes.

After Rowen went away for a while, the guards arrived. After that, the nobles who heard the news gathered.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I heard someone died…”

Nobles flocked to the Imperial Palace and snooped around to check the situation.

“Isn’t that Countess Azurdi over there?”

“Beside her is Count Azurdi! Then the people who died…”

“How the hell did this happen?”

In a chaotic atmosphere, the nobles rushed to and fro. Among them, there was one from a wizard lineage; he noticed something strange in the bodies of the Count Azurdi and his wife, and shouted with a trembling voice.

“Oh my, it’s black magic! That is definitely the mark of those who used black magic!”

Viscount Maverick was considered a promising wizard. Everyone was shocked and horrified by his remarks.

“What is this…!”

“Your Excellency, Grand Duke. Is what Viscount Maverick said true? Really, Count Azurdi…”

Attention was focused on the most reliable, Heinricion. Everyone was waiting for his definitive answer.

“That’s right. Immediate darkening of the skin and sudden dryness after death are indicators of black magic.”

Heinricion explained in a calm manner.

“How could such a terrible thing…”

“Oh my gosh. To think that Count Azurdi and his wife were involved in black magic. That could have been a disaster.”

Even in the midst of the chaos, Knight Commander Austin, who was in charge of guarding the Imperial Palace, stepped up.

“Your Excellency the Grand Duke. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Of course.”

Heinricion spoke about the situation without withholding anything. Except for the part that they lost their lives by touching Princess Eristella’s belongings.

Ame: I want some salted caramel popcorn.

AP: It’s foxception. I’m watching the fox eating popcorn who’s thinking about watching the couple eating peanuts. 

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