A few minutes have passed since the room was transformed into a labyrinth.
Still sitting at my desk, I looked at the crystal ball the size of a fist in the palm of my hand.
“Uh-huh!”
“Ahh!”
The crystal ball was a kind of image sphere that showed the inside of the labyrinth.
The two men in the crystal ball were being pursued by the demons who sharpened their teeth.
Thanks to my instructions, even if they were caught, they wouldn’t be bitten, but it seemed really difficult for them to run without knowing that.
I looked away from the crystal ball as one of them swore at me who wasn’t here.
“Are you crazy?”
Even an animal that can’t speak won’t do this.
Count Valentine has done something he shouldn’t have done.
The plan was to push the men into the room while his wife was asleep, pretend she had an affair, and then wake up to people gossiping.
The recent trend of the guild doing this kind of dirty work was unusual, and Leather was paying close attention.
‘I didn’t think you’d really do it.’
It was good to tell the knights guarding the mansion to let them go even if they felt an impure presence.
It was also a good choice to change the room where the countess and the maid stayed.
With this, I intended to push Count Valentine on the precipice of more than divorce.
“Oh, I’m tired.”
I rubbed my eyes and my clenched shoulders. However, my hand strength was weak.
Leather was good at this… When I tilted my neck from side to side with regret, there was a thud.
‘How long has it been since I opened the labyrinth?’
I didn’t have a watch, so I couldn’t tell the time. It seems like 30 minutes have passed. Shall we hold on for another 10 minutes and then close it?
Thinking about that, I covered my mouth and yawned. It had been a long time since I had opened a labyrinth, and it felt like my mental power was being uprooted.
‘I’m going to have a hard time for a few days.’
That’s why I hate this ability.
The descendant of the warrior who defeated the evil dragon, Labyrinth’s special ability was to use the mental power to open a labyrinth where evil spirits live.
The beings in my labyrinth could go out without my permission.
Hundreds of demons living in the labyrinth were each powerful enough to destroy a small estate, and they all obeyed my words.
If you look up to this point, it seems that I am the strongest in this world.
‘The ability penalty is too severe to be called the strongest in the world.’
The labyrinth could only be opened where there was a shadow, and while I was opening the labyrinth, I could not move in place.
In addition, if mental power is exhausted while the labyrinth is open, I could be eaten by evil spirits, so the original Ciela, whose mental strength was weak, never used it.
‘It is also because of this ability that Ciela’s body was weak.’
Ciela’s body was like a door between the labyrinth and reality.
Even when the labyrinth was not opened, the evil spirits of the labyrinth tried to get out of there.
It was a situation in which the body was blocking the riots of the evil spirits trying to escape, so naturally, the body had no choice but to weaken.
‘I don’t need this kind of ability, but I just want it to be strong.’
With that in mind, I cleared my voice and called the three-headed dog, the chief of the demons.
“Cerberus.”
– Yes!
Contrary to his cute tone, a dog with a terrible appearance appeared.
A ferocious monster with a body that looks three times my size, with blood dripping from its three mouths, lying flat under me and waving its tail softly.
Every time I see him, he tells me to change my look, but I don’t listen. I can change the appearance at will, so why insist on that look?
I sighed lightly and pointed to the two men in the crystal ball.
“Bring them.”
– What? Already? It’s only been an hour.
It’s been an hour. It felt like my head was going to explode somehow. I pressed my tingling temples.
“Bring them right now.”
– Heh.
“If you don’t bring them back within 5 seconds, you won’t be able to see the light again.”
Evil spirits trapped in the labyrinth long for the light of the outside world. It was the same with Cerberus.
Pls read only at pinkmuffintl.
At the same time as the seconds were counted, Cerberus disappeared. And two men who had been imprisoned in the labyrinth appeared, drooping like salted cabbages.
They breathed out of breath continuously.
It was very spectacular to see where the hood they were wearing to hide their identity went, and their face was glistened with saliva from their eyes, nose and mouth.
I removed the shadows, restored the room that had been transformed into a labyrinth, and opened my mouth.
“Who sent you?”
There was no reply other than a heavy breathing. I counted three seconds to myself and then threatened again.
“A late talker will go to the labyrinth one more time—”
“Count Valentine!”
“Valentine!”
Oh, they said it at the same time.
Anyway, the labyrinth cannot be opened any more today. If I open it with my current mental power, I will lose my body to Cerberus.
But they didn’t know that, so I pretended to be fine, adjusted my posture and folded my arms.
“Did the Count act alone?”
“Yes, from what I heard.”
“I don’t know since I’m in the lowest position!”
Once they began to open their mouths, they answered with great sincerity, since they were afraid of being dragged into the labyrinth again. Later, they even told me things that I didn’t ask.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. It’s a piece of cake.
I decided to give back what Count Valentine had done.
It means I decided to push the men into his bedroom.
~*~
(3rd person pov)
Count Valentine drank his wine today too.
It was not a high-end bar for the aristocrats, but a place selling cheap wheat beer for commoners.
“Hey, noblemen. If you drink like that every day, what does your wife say?”
For about two weeks, the bartender had memorized his face and gave him a hard time.
He said it out of concern for the health of his regular, but the Count of Valentine, who thought he was ignoring him, stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
‘How dare a commoner teach an aristocrat?’
The bartender, startled by the fierce gaze, turned to the customer sitting next to him. Then he grumbled to himself.
“You don’t have money, so you’re drinking here…”
“You bastard, do you know who I am?”
The enraged Count kicked the table and got up. At that vibration, the wheat beer from the customers sitting next to him overflowed.
Forgetting the dignity of nobility that his wife had emphasized so much, the Count pointed his finger at the bartender and shouted.
“I mean, I’m Count Valentine, famous for my gold mines, hah! If you say a word to me, you could go out on the streets right now!”
The bartender had never heard of Count Valentine. However, he was well aware of how greatly the lives of commoners like him are swayed by a single word from a nobleman.
He suppressed the rising of a thousand fires inside and endured the abusive language.
After shouting satisfactorily, the count spit and left the bar.
His staggering steps were that of a drunken man.
A man who had been secretly watching him from the corner followed him.
“Hah, damn it.”
Walking alone through the dark night streets, Count Valentine continued to swear.
Leila says she wouldn’t see him until he gets his wife back, and his wife doesn’t leave from the Labyrinths.
With his frustrated heart, he drank only alcohol until dawn for several days.
What came out was his stomach (tl/n: like being bloated) and the growing of sighs, and there was nowhere to lean on. He has a lover and a wife, so why was he in such a miserable situation?
‘Still, a lot will change tomorrow.’
The Count looked up at the crescent moon in the night sky.
He commissioned a guild to create an affair. And today was the day the guild said that it was going to happen.
Tomorrow, even in Labyrinth, his wife who committed the affair will be forced to return. When his wife returns, he will meet Leila. Then everything will be resolved.
He just has to survive today. Only today.
The angry feeling suddenly improved.
He went back to the hotel as it was, but he turned away, thinking that he shouldn’t go in until he gets one more drink.
He couldn’t go to that bar a while ago because the bartender was upset, and he thought that he should go to a new bar at this time.
The moment he was just crossing a dark alleyway.
“Hey, there. A nobleman who pretends to be noble.”
Someone called him from behind.
“What?”
Angry at the rude calling, the Count turned his back. And-
“Ouch!”
He received a heavy blow to his stomach and slumped. He didn’t even check the face of the person who called him.
He grabbed his aching stomach as he was getting hit in the back. The Count lost his center and fell to the ground.
Soon after, muddy feet kicked him from all directions. Judging by the laughs, there seemed to be at least three people.
The Count, who reflexively crouched down to protect himself, shouted.
“Are you doing this knowing who I am?!”
There was no reply returned. Instead, the kicks only got stronger.
“I am Count Valentine of the East. I mean, I’m not someone you guys should be careless about!”
After a while.
“Well, what do you want? Money? I’ll give you anything. I’ll give you whatever you want, so please stop now…”
Again, after a while.
“Ugh, please stop…”
Threats, conciliation, or plead were of no use. Their kicks did not stop.
Then it wasn’t until the Count lost half of his mind that they spat and disappeared into the darkness.
“I came here for a drink and saw all the dirty things.”
“You even had the guts to come here without an escort?”
They were regulars of the bartender who had been yelled at by the count a while ago.
It was also uncomfortable to sit at a bar where they went to get peace of mind, where a nobleman dressed in slick clothes was making a ruckus.
After the Count left, the shocked bartender declared a closure. The regulars who were there were angry.
No one with money would go to a bar like that. Besides, an escort was nowhere to be seen.
The regulars thought of the Count as a ‘little aristocrat pretending to have money’, and they stepped on him until they were relieved.
The aristocrats at the bottom were like “sacred commoners” so there was nothing for them to be bothered about.
“I hope the closure will be lifted soon.”
“Won’t that guy come back for revenge?”
“Tell him to find me then. It won’t end with just this.”
As the regulars who laughed and giggled at the Count disappeared, silence came to the dark alleyway.
But the silence did not last long. Someone’s footsteps were heard.
It was the man who followed the Count from the bar.