Chapter 271: A Small Misunderstanding
The corridor stretched on longer than it should have.
Every few steps, I caught movement from the corner of my eye, books shifting on shelves, shadows pooling in places that should have been lit, the faint impression of something watching from the gaps between volumes. But whenever I turned to look directly, nothing was there.
Just books and dust.
Even now, the illusion magic hasn’t stopped.
The thought alone made me shudder. Just imagining the formula he had to solve to create something like this was enough to make me lightheaded.
Trish walked beside me, her hand still loosely intertwined with mine. She hadn’t let go since we’d left the throne room, and I hadn’t tried to pull away. The warmth of her fingers was grounding in a place that seemed designed to make you doubt your own senses.
"How far do you think this goes?" she asked.
"No idea."
We passed another bookshelf, and I noticed that the titles on the spines had changed since the last time I’d looked. Before, they’d been in a language I didn’t recognize, angular script that reminded me of the divine letters in the cavern. Now they were in common, clear and legible.
A History of Unnatural Deaths.
The Anatomy of Fear.
How to Survive Your Own Demise.
"Cheery," Trish muttered, noticing the same thing.
"Maybe the archmage has a sense of humor."
"Maybe he’s just mocking us."
"He really doesn’t have anything else to do, huh?"
The corridor took a gentle curve to the left, and the bookshelves fell away, replaced by walls of bare stone. The lighting changed too, no longer the soft glow that had followed us from the door, but something harsher, more angular. Torches, I realized. Actual torches, mounted on iron brackets and burning with flames that didn’t flicker.
Another entirely new setting, huh?
From a forest, to a garden, to a horrific throne, and now to a dungeon.
"Think Kevin and Vivianne should be somewhere ahead?" I said. "The archmage’s word seemed to hint we’d find them."
"That was before we told him our life story. Who knows how long we were in that room?"
"You make a good point. I just hope they don’t get themselves killed."
Trish frowned. "Don’t say things like that..."
"Oh?"
"Your students dying. I don’t think you should joke about that, Cael."
"Did I hurt you?"
"No, it’s not that... it’s just, well..." Trish sighed. "I don’t want to see you blaming yourself again for my death."
"What do you mean?"
"I know you still regret your deal with Beelzebub. You think three souls living in one body isn’t a good way to live. So let me remind you, it isn’t your fault that I ended up this way."
"Trish..." I said, my voice coming out more strained and weak than I intended.
"See? Cheer up. I don’t blame you at all. In fact, I’m glad you’ve finally found someone to connect with."
My heart tightened at her words. She was supposed to be my first connection, too, if she hadn’t died, and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react to that.
But...
"Yeah, I love Evelina."
"I know you do, Cael."
We walked in silence for a while longer. The stone walls eventually gave way to something else, wood panelling, then tapestries, then windows that looked out onto darkness. Not the darkness of night, but the darkness of somewhere that had never known light.
Through one of those windows, I saw something move.
I stopped.
Trish stopped beside me, her hand going to her choker. The succubus’s crimson glow flickered beneath her fingers, responding to her unspoken alert.
"What did you see?"
"Not sure."
I stepped closer to the window, peering through the thick glass. Beyond, shapes shifted in the void. Tall and thin, like the creature from the throne room, but different. More solid. More real.
And watching us.
"We should keep moving," I said.
"Agreed."
We walked faster.
***
The corridor ended in a door.
Not a grand door like the twin thrones or the entrance to the garden. Just a door, wooden and slightly warped, with a brass handle that had gone green with age.
I tried it. Unlocked.
Behind the door, a circular chamber. Smaller than the throne room, smaller than the banquet hall. Just a round room with a high ceiling, a stone floor marked with faded runes, and at its center, two figures slumped against each other.
Kevin and Vivianne.
"Shit," I muttered, crossing the room in a few quick strides. I dropped to my knees beside them, already reaching for their pulses.
"Healing magic," Trish said, kneeling across from me. "Now."
"I know."
[Darkfire Recovery]
[Major Healing]
"M-Master?"
Kevin woke first, which wasn’t surprising considering his injuries were lighter than Vivianne’s. In fact, they barely looked like wounds from a fight at all, more like the aftermath of some unfortunate accident.
"W-Where did you come from?"
He let out a nervous laugh before quickly turning to check on Vivianne. Relief crossed his face the moment he saw her being healed.
But that relief didn’t last.
The instant he noticed the woman tending to her, his expression changed.
"W-Wait... that isn’t Lady Evelina...?"
In a flash, he was on his feet, magic flaring violently around him as he aimed at Trish with enough force to blow the entire place apart.
"Relax, Kevin."
"You really didn’t teach them any discipline, huh?" Trish chuckled. "I expected better from my former master."
"I was busy, okay?"
"Wait... former master? Are you cheating on Lady Evelina—?"
I flicked him on the forehead, cutting him off before he could finish that utterly heretical thought.
"Of course not, you idiot. Look at her again."
Kevin obeyed at once, studying the woman healing Vivianne more carefully.
The way she carried herself, the smile that concealed something dangerous beneath it, the eyes that seemed capable of piercing straight through him—those were all unmistakably Evelina.
And yet, something about her was different.
Something far more... assassin-like, he thought.
"It’s me, Illinalta."
"Lady Evelina!?"