Contrary to his expectations that she would be easily accessible, meeting 'that woman' was extremely difficult.
Benny's impatience reached its peak as he had not seen a single strand of the child's hair for half a day.
“If you have a sick child, shouldn’t you cure them? I’m just worried, so...”
The man guarding the door remained steadfast.
“The lady ordered everyone who approached the child or the child’s father to be repelled.”
It would be nice if he could somehow win their favor by putting money in their pockets, but even that was difficult.
Benny knew all along that the 'cure' he had discovered would not work on those who were both healthy in body and mind.
He didn't know why, but people who complained about their headaches to him and got relief were usually people who were weak-hearted or had a lot of worries and concerns.
At least the man in front of him didn't seem to fall into either category.
“I can’t help it since the Young Lady doesn’t permit it.”
Wood's eyes were cold as he looked at Benny, who turned around with his shoulders drooping and mumbling as if he was sorry.
The greed and longing that he tried to package with a strong sense of mission but could not completely erase were revealed in his eyes and voice.
“There will be people who try to approach you for no reason. Stop them.”
Even if something seemed out of the blue, there was no room for doubt if it came from Dorothea's mouth.
Benny, who had no choice but to back down after seeing Wood's firm refusal to follow his master's words, approached Aiden, who was training hard in the training grounds today as well.
He might have been thinking of changing his approach and going around, but he didn't know the man named Aiden Highclere at all.
“Huh? A therapist?”
Aiden Highclere frowned at the man who had crawled fearlessly toward him.
It was unpleasant for the therapist to go around claiming to relieve the aristocrats' headaches and cure their insomnia.
'If you can't sleep that well, why don't you just go to the practice room? If you're healthy, why would you get a headache?'
Doesn't relying on therapists and such just make you weaker?
Even Colin, who was struggling, refused to receive help from the therapist right in front of him.
Benny flinched for a moment, oppressed by Aiden's grim expression and displeased frown, then forced a smile and continued speaking.
“General, you have been on the battlefield since you were young, so you must have suffered many injuries, big and small. My treatment is also effective for chronic pain.”
“How can I be a true knight if I can’t endure even one of those things!”
The discomfort was clearly evident in the voice that was ringing loudly.
“Pain can only be overcome with spirit!”
Aiden, who thought he was being treated like the nobles who would rush to get medicine and call a therapist even if he was just a little sick, let out a murderous slur.
Did you really think that I wouldn't be able to endure this much pain?
Benny, who had turned pale, managed to stammer out what he wanted to say.
“I heard that your niece, Lady Highclare, suffered from frequent illnesses since childhood.”
It was valuable information that Benny had obtained by trying to please the nobles.
As a child, Dorothea Highclere was said to have been so secluded that she rarely left the mansion due to frequent illnesses.
As soon as he finished speaking, Aiden's eyes widened.
“Why Thea?! She’s sick!?”
“Shr may not be in pain right now, but just in case...“
Benny, who had been trying to muster up the will to continue the conversation in the anxious and rough atmosphere, was lifted into the air with Aiden's rough hand grabbing him by the collar.
Her nephew had barely recovered from a severe illness.
Now that she can finally go out as freely as other people, he worries that she might get sick.
Isn't this just a curse that says it's painful?
Aiden's eyes lit up with anger as he lifted up the therapist who had been squawking beside him.
“How dare you say something like that to our Thea?!”
“No! I, I just, meant it as a favor.”
Benny's face turned pale as he hung in the air.
He was just trying to catch a 'fool who can make a big profit', and he was knocked to the ground by her uncle, who was known as the 'mad bear' of the battlefield.
“Yeah, if you’re such a great healer, why don’t you try to heal yourself?”
“...”
All he got in return for his miserable failure was a cracked rib and a crooked nose with a bleeding nose.
At this point, Benny also started to feel angry.
'Lady Highclare, you are indeed no ordinary person.'
Even when he tried to break through the connections he had built up over the years by going in and out of the castle, everyone shook their heads.
Benny was even more upset.
'Even Count Jubel was said to be flustered and spoke loudly in front of the Lady Highclare.'
Now he coveted the purse of the Marquis's granddaughter, which was high up and out of his reach, more than the purse of the nobles, which was within his reach.
It was different from the past when people barely managed to survive by telling small lies and deceiving those around them to fill their hungry stomachs.
His endless desire eventually drove him down an even more reckless path.
For example, going down a foolish path like tailing the young granddaughter of the Imperial Marquis.
It was a gloomy night.
The Lady Highclare, who had been avoiding going out, went somewhere with the child who was lying injured, leaving only a few confidants by her side, and Benny followed carefully behind them.
The group eventually arrived at an empty lot a little way from the villa.
At a quiet hour when no one was walking. Lady Highclare laid the stiff child on a flat rock in the open space and took out a stick with an iron bell from her bosom.
'What are you trying to do?'
Benny's mouth watered as he watched the extremely suspicious behavior.
The silver bells in her hand began to make a beautiful sound as the young lady shook them.
Chararang- Charang- Charararak.
From each drop, clear and beautiful sounds mingled and filled the quiet space.
Benny's heart pounded as if in response to the sound of the bell.
Not long after the headache began to fill his head with the sound of the bells, his breathing, which had been fine, began to get difficult.
“Ugh...”
The hair of Lady Highclare, who was holding the bell and shaking it, sparkled mysteriously as if it was emitting light of its own.
Benny craned his neck and watched her movements, completely absorbed in the mysterious scene, forgetting even to breathe.
That was the moment.
Dorothea, who had been repeatedly moving closer and further away from the child, suddenly turned her head and looked exactly at the spot where he was.
'Hey, did our eyes meet?'
As the eyes that had been holding a faint smile soon turned elsewhere, a sigh of relief escaped from Benny's mouth, which had been frozen in embarrassment.
'Yeah, you wouldn't have noticed.'
No matter how carefully he followed suit.
As Benny rubbed his numb legs and looked at Dorothea again, he heard something unique he had never heard before.
The words pouring out of the girl's small, red lips were in a language he swore he had never heard before.
Today, let's all give our sincerity and take the initiative.
I got bad luck without any intention and bad luck without any desire.
When you help us to live a thousand miles and create ten thousand miles,
Today is the day of the ancestor memorial service. Isn't it time for you to come and go?
It was a common trope that 'deified' terrifying diseases, such as smallpox, that often took children away.
The 'Demon that became a God' feeds on human fear and pain to increase its power.
In other words, it means that the kid is a 'guest God' whose existence can only be meaningful if humans exist.
So, only the guest God could help the child who had lost energy due to exposure to evil energy.
Did he like the singing (singing: sound set to a melody) that Dorothea sang?
The 'God' that had been hovering around landed on the child's body.
At the same time, the child, who had been unresponsive to any external stimuli as if he were a corpse, began to scream, twisting his whole body.
The eerie scream began as a low, deep growl far below the minimum human sound possible, but eventually changed into a high, grotesque sound that surpassed human limits.
"Ahhh...!"
It was Wood who caught the fidgeting child's father.
Wood, who had learned from experience that Dorothea should never be disturbed while she was performing her 'ritual', held the man in place as the child's struggles gradually subsided.
The last of the child's sobbing movements ceased as the beads of sweat on Dorothea's forehead fell to the ground.
Soon, the child who had been lying down began to breathe softly.
With a calm expression as if asleep.
'Oh, you're crazy. You're crazy...! I don't know what she did, but it must be some kind of evil curse!'
Benny, who was trying to crawl out of his seat like crazy on the grass, suddenly felt a dark shadow looming over him and raised his head.
Wood, who had clearly been guarding the young Lady's side until just a moment ago, grabbed the back of his neck with a rough hand.
Soon, Benny started being dragged somewhere by a violent hand.
“Please, save me!”
A sob came out of Benny's mouth as he was thrown into a corner of the room.
The poor creature, blinded by greed and not even knowing what he was coveting, walked into a trap of his own accord and fell down at Dorothea's feet, trembling.
Dorothea looked down at the trembling man with a bored expression, then turned her head and opened her mouth to face the man who was furrowing his brows.
“Colin, relax your expression.”
The face filled with discomfort, contempt, and disgust for the other person dripped down.
'Well, I guess there's nothing I can do.'
As someone who had once been a God of death, it seemed that Colin was very displeased that Benny, who was merely a human, had looked into 'their world'.
'But it's because I can't control my facial expressions like that.'
It had been several years since Colin had taken on human skin, but it seemed he still had not been able to escape the confusion of his identity.
Dorothea slowly opened her mouth, looking down at Benny, who was still holding the wooden cane tightly in his hand.
“That cane...”
“Is this what you mean?! I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it to you, as much as you want!”
“Oh my, is that okay?”
“…l...”
“If you do that, you will never be able to ‘treat’ nobles again?”
She asked absentmindedly, caressing his worn-out cane.
'A peach tree that has the energy of a lightning-struck forsythia tree that has not borne flowers for a long time.'
Indeed, to this extent, even the most ignorant and untalented author would be able to do the job of a quack.
As if it were some great secret, the color drained from Benny's face as soon as he heard Dorothea's words.
“Oh, you knew...?”
“I see, so I must have ordered my precious bridge to block your approach.”
Wood's expression darkened for a moment at the name 'Precious Bridge', but Benny, who did not have the leisure to observe such trivial things, simply shut his eyes tightly without even wiping away the cold sweat that was pouring down like rain.
“Even if it was precious, would it be worth my life...?! Since I made a mistake by not recognizing the noble person, it is only natural that I should pay the price!”
“Hmm, you’re pretty good at thinking.”
Yeah, this kind of person is suitable.
A person who is timid, quick-witted, smart, and knows that his life is precious.
A fool who is always greedy and tries to cross the line that has been drawn.
“Don’t be so scared. I just saved a child, so why are you so scared?”
“Wow, wow, that’s great!”
Dorothea's voice, which had been blankly staring at Benny who was spouting flattery without meaning to, became quiet.
“Now that you have seen my ‘power,’ you will know that I can make this stuff into something even greater and more wonderful.”
"Yes...?"
Benny, who had been trembling at her words, suddenly raised his head.
“You said you wanted to be such a great healer and heal people. If you had more power, wouldn’t you be a better healer?”
Could this be the devil's smile that tempts angels?
Benny, who had been staring at the deep blue eyes as if he were possessed, watched with his mouth wide open as the Lady Highclare smiled at him and began to carve small words on his cane.
"Thank you, thank you!"
Benny, holding his cane in his arms, ran out of breath to his quarters.
The child's father, who had been watching this whole scene from behind, slowly approached with a haggard face.
“Don’t worry. He’ll wake up in a day or two and slowly recover.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The voice that expressed its sincere thanks trembled greatly.
Jude, who had already figured out that Dorothea disliked being overly mean, greeted her with a polite bow.
As he was about to head to the room where the child had been moved, he looked in the direction that Benny had run away from and asked cautiously.
“Would it have been okay to just let the therapist go? It was something that shouldn’t have been shown to others...”
“Ah, it’s okay. He probably won’t open his mouth again.”
Benny used the exorcist to fill his pockets without even knowing what he was doing.
He should have been surprised and scared by the miracle she had created in such an ignorant situation, but instead of protecting himself, he was busy seeking greater gain.
A man so faithful to his desires, so intoxicated by the great power he had acquired, he would never divulge what he had seen and heard.
“May I ask why you brought the therapist in today?”
“I told you I had to be the bait.”
“...”
“You said that was the price you paid for treating your child.”
"Yes."
“The same goes for the therapist. He was intoxicated by his own greed and was looking into areas he shouldn’t have. I gave him the power he wanted. So now he...”
A smile spread across Dorothea's face.
“It’s his turn to be my bait.”
She really hoped they take the bait she personally laid out in the castle.
“Don’t worry. As I said before, if you do as I say, there will be no danger.”
"Yes."
If that quack healer were to stop being ‘moderately’ greedy, he could enjoy the peaceful daily life he has so far...
Dorothea doesn't have to take responsibility if he gets hurt because he crosses the line in his greed.
A faint smile spread across Dorothea's face.
“Now that we’re fully prepared, we can face our pursuers.”
It will be a very enjoyable hunting game.
Dover Spencer's favorite hunting adventures and more.
Benny's impatience reached its peak as he had not seen a single strand of the child's hair for half a day.
“If you have a sick child, shouldn’t you cure them? I’m just worried, so...”
The man guarding the door remained steadfast.
“The lady ordered everyone who approached the child or the child’s father to be repelled.”
It would be nice if he could somehow win their favor by putting money in their pockets, but even that was difficult.
Benny knew all along that the 'cure' he had discovered would not work on those who were both healthy in body and mind.
He didn't know why, but people who complained about their headaches to him and got relief were usually people who were weak-hearted or had a lot of worries and concerns.
At least the man in front of him didn't seem to fall into either category.
“I can’t help it since the Young Lady doesn’t permit it.”
Wood's eyes were cold as he looked at Benny, who turned around with his shoulders drooping and mumbling as if he was sorry.
The greed and longing that he tried to package with a strong sense of mission but could not completely erase were revealed in his eyes and voice.
“There will be people who try to approach you for no reason. Stop them.”
Even if something seemed out of the blue, there was no room for doubt if it came from Dorothea's mouth.
Benny, who had no choice but to back down after seeing Wood's firm refusal to follow his master's words, approached Aiden, who was training hard in the training grounds today as well.
He might have been thinking of changing his approach and going around, but he didn't know the man named Aiden Highclere at all.
***
“Huh? A therapist?”
Aiden Highclere frowned at the man who had crawled fearlessly toward him.
It was unpleasant for the therapist to go around claiming to relieve the aristocrats' headaches and cure their insomnia.
'If you can't sleep that well, why don't you just go to the practice room? If you're healthy, why would you get a headache?'
Doesn't relying on therapists and such just make you weaker?
Even Colin, who was struggling, refused to receive help from the therapist right in front of him.
Benny flinched for a moment, oppressed by Aiden's grim expression and displeased frown, then forced a smile and continued speaking.
“General, you have been on the battlefield since you were young, so you must have suffered many injuries, big and small. My treatment is also effective for chronic pain.”
“How can I be a true knight if I can’t endure even one of those things!”
The discomfort was clearly evident in the voice that was ringing loudly.
“Pain can only be overcome with spirit!”
Aiden, who thought he was being treated like the nobles who would rush to get medicine and call a therapist even if he was just a little sick, let out a murderous slur.
Did you really think that I wouldn't be able to endure this much pain?
Benny, who had turned pale, managed to stammer out what he wanted to say.
“I heard that your niece, Lady Highclare, suffered from frequent illnesses since childhood.”
It was valuable information that Benny had obtained by trying to please the nobles.
As a child, Dorothea Highclere was said to have been so secluded that she rarely left the mansion due to frequent illnesses.
As soon as he finished speaking, Aiden's eyes widened.
“Why Thea?! She’s sick!?”
“Shr may not be in pain right now, but just in case...“
Benny, who had been trying to muster up the will to continue the conversation in the anxious and rough atmosphere, was lifted into the air with Aiden's rough hand grabbing him by the collar.
Her nephew had barely recovered from a severe illness.
Now that she can finally go out as freely as other people, he worries that she might get sick.
Isn't this just a curse that says it's painful?
Aiden's eyes lit up with anger as he lifted up the therapist who had been squawking beside him.
“How dare you say something like that to our Thea?!”
“No! I, I just, meant it as a favor.”
Benny's face turned pale as he hung in the air.
He was just trying to catch a 'fool who can make a big profit', and he was knocked to the ground by her uncle, who was known as the 'mad bear' of the battlefield.
“Yeah, if you’re such a great healer, why don’t you try to heal yourself?”
“...”
All he got in return for his miserable failure was a cracked rib and a crooked nose with a bleeding nose.
At this point, Benny also started to feel angry.
'Lady Highclare, you are indeed no ordinary person.'
Even when he tried to break through the connections he had built up over the years by going in and out of the castle, everyone shook their heads.
Benny was even more upset.
'Even Count Jubel was said to be flustered and spoke loudly in front of the Lady Highclare.'
Now he coveted the purse of the Marquis's granddaughter, which was high up and out of his reach, more than the purse of the nobles, which was within his reach.
It was different from the past when people barely managed to survive by telling small lies and deceiving those around them to fill their hungry stomachs.
His endless desire eventually drove him down an even more reckless path.
For example, going down a foolish path like tailing the young granddaughter of the Imperial Marquis.
***
It was a gloomy night.
The Lady Highclare, who had been avoiding going out, went somewhere with the child who was lying injured, leaving only a few confidants by her side, and Benny followed carefully behind them.
The group eventually arrived at an empty lot a little way from the villa.
At a quiet hour when no one was walking. Lady Highclare laid the stiff child on a flat rock in the open space and took out a stick with an iron bell from her bosom.
'What are you trying to do?'
Benny's mouth watered as he watched the extremely suspicious behavior.
The silver bells in her hand began to make a beautiful sound as the young lady shook them.
Chararang- Charang- Charararak.
From each drop, clear and beautiful sounds mingled and filled the quiet space.
Benny's heart pounded as if in response to the sound of the bell.
Not long after the headache began to fill his head with the sound of the bells, his breathing, which had been fine, began to get difficult.
“Ugh...”
The hair of Lady Highclare, who was holding the bell and shaking it, sparkled mysteriously as if it was emitting light of its own.
Benny craned his neck and watched her movements, completely absorbed in the mysterious scene, forgetting even to breathe.
That was the moment.
Dorothea, who had been repeatedly moving closer and further away from the child, suddenly turned her head and looked exactly at the spot where he was.
'Hey, did our eyes meet?'
As the eyes that had been holding a faint smile soon turned elsewhere, a sigh of relief escaped from Benny's mouth, which had been frozen in embarrassment.
'Yeah, you wouldn't have noticed.'
No matter how carefully he followed suit.
As Benny rubbed his numb legs and looked at Dorothea again, he heard something unique he had never heard before.
The words pouring out of the girl's small, red lips were in a language he swore he had never heard before.
Today, let's all give our sincerity and take the initiative.
I got bad luck without any intention and bad luck without any desire.
When you help us to live a thousand miles and create ten thousand miles,
Today is the day of the ancestor memorial service. Isn't it time for you to come and go?
It was a common trope that 'deified' terrifying diseases, such as smallpox, that often took children away.
The 'Demon that became a God' feeds on human fear and pain to increase its power.
In other words, it means that the kid is a 'guest God' whose existence can only be meaningful if humans exist.
So, only the guest God could help the child who had lost energy due to exposure to evil energy.
Did he like the singing (singing: sound set to a melody) that Dorothea sang?
The 'God' that had been hovering around landed on the child's body.
At the same time, the child, who had been unresponsive to any external stimuli as if he were a corpse, began to scream, twisting his whole body.
The eerie scream began as a low, deep growl far below the minimum human sound possible, but eventually changed into a high, grotesque sound that surpassed human limits.
"Ahhh...!"
It was Wood who caught the fidgeting child's father.
Wood, who had learned from experience that Dorothea should never be disturbed while she was performing her 'ritual', held the man in place as the child's struggles gradually subsided.
The last of the child's sobbing movements ceased as the beads of sweat on Dorothea's forehead fell to the ground.
Soon, the child who had been lying down began to breathe softly.
With a calm expression as if asleep.
***
'Oh, you're crazy. You're crazy...! I don't know what she did, but it must be some kind of evil curse!'
Benny, who was trying to crawl out of his seat like crazy on the grass, suddenly felt a dark shadow looming over him and raised his head.
Wood, who had clearly been guarding the young Lady's side until just a moment ago, grabbed the back of his neck with a rough hand.
Soon, Benny started being dragged somewhere by a violent hand.
“Please, save me!”
A sob came out of Benny's mouth as he was thrown into a corner of the room.
The poor creature, blinded by greed and not even knowing what he was coveting, walked into a trap of his own accord and fell down at Dorothea's feet, trembling.
Dorothea looked down at the trembling man with a bored expression, then turned her head and opened her mouth to face the man who was furrowing his brows.
“Colin, relax your expression.”
The face filled with discomfort, contempt, and disgust for the other person dripped down.
'Well, I guess there's nothing I can do.'
As someone who had once been a God of death, it seemed that Colin was very displeased that Benny, who was merely a human, had looked into 'their world'.
'But it's because I can't control my facial expressions like that.'
It had been several years since Colin had taken on human skin, but it seemed he still had not been able to escape the confusion of his identity.
Dorothea slowly opened her mouth, looking down at Benny, who was still holding the wooden cane tightly in his hand.
“That cane...”
“Is this what you mean?! I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it to you, as much as you want!”
“Oh my, is that okay?”
“…l...”
“If you do that, you will never be able to ‘treat’ nobles again?”
She asked absentmindedly, caressing his worn-out cane.
'A peach tree that has the energy of a lightning-struck forsythia tree that has not borne flowers for a long time.'
Indeed, to this extent, even the most ignorant and untalented author would be able to do the job of a quack.
As if it were some great secret, the color drained from Benny's face as soon as he heard Dorothea's words.
“Oh, you knew...?”
“I see, so I must have ordered my precious bridge to block your approach.”
Wood's expression darkened for a moment at the name 'Precious Bridge', but Benny, who did not have the leisure to observe such trivial things, simply shut his eyes tightly without even wiping away the cold sweat that was pouring down like rain.
“Even if it was precious, would it be worth my life...?! Since I made a mistake by not recognizing the noble person, it is only natural that I should pay the price!”
“Hmm, you’re pretty good at thinking.”
Yeah, this kind of person is suitable.
A person who is timid, quick-witted, smart, and knows that his life is precious.
A fool who is always greedy and tries to cross the line that has been drawn.
“Don’t be so scared. I just saved a child, so why are you so scared?”
“Wow, wow, that’s great!”
Dorothea's voice, which had been blankly staring at Benny who was spouting flattery without meaning to, became quiet.
“Now that you have seen my ‘power,’ you will know that I can make this stuff into something even greater and more wonderful.”
"Yes...?"
Benny, who had been trembling at her words, suddenly raised his head.
“You said you wanted to be such a great healer and heal people. If you had more power, wouldn’t you be a better healer?”
Could this be the devil's smile that tempts angels?
Benny, who had been staring at the deep blue eyes as if he were possessed, watched with his mouth wide open as the Lady Highclare smiled at him and began to carve small words on his cane.
***
"Thank you, thank you!"
Benny, holding his cane in his arms, ran out of breath to his quarters.
The child's father, who had been watching this whole scene from behind, slowly approached with a haggard face.
“Don’t worry. He’ll wake up in a day or two and slowly recover.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The voice that expressed its sincere thanks trembled greatly.
Jude, who had already figured out that Dorothea disliked being overly mean, greeted her with a polite bow.
As he was about to head to the room where the child had been moved, he looked in the direction that Benny had run away from and asked cautiously.
“Would it have been okay to just let the therapist go? It was something that shouldn’t have been shown to others...”
“Ah, it’s okay. He probably won’t open his mouth again.”
Benny used the exorcist to fill his pockets without even knowing what he was doing.
He should have been surprised and scared by the miracle she had created in such an ignorant situation, but instead of protecting himself, he was busy seeking greater gain.
A man so faithful to his desires, so intoxicated by the great power he had acquired, he would never divulge what he had seen and heard.
“May I ask why you brought the therapist in today?”
“I told you I had to be the bait.”
“...”
“You said that was the price you paid for treating your child.”
"Yes."
“The same goes for the therapist. He was intoxicated by his own greed and was looking into areas he shouldn’t have. I gave him the power he wanted. So now he...”
A smile spread across Dorothea's face.
“It’s his turn to be my bait.”
She really hoped they take the bait she personally laid out in the castle.
“Don’t worry. As I said before, if you do as I say, there will be no danger.”
"Yes."
If that quack healer were to stop being ‘moderately’ greedy, he could enjoy the peaceful daily life he has so far...
Dorothea doesn't have to take responsibility if he gets hurt because he crosses the line in his greed.
A faint smile spread across Dorothea's face.
“Now that we’re fully prepared, we can face our pursuers.”
It will be a very enjoyable hunting game.
Dover Spencer's favorite hunting adventures and more.
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