[POV Liselotte]

The atmosphere in the academy’s basement had grown heavy, thick with the metallic scent of blood and the residual ozone of suppressed magic. With the demons gone, the hum of the magical inhibitor began to fluctuate, losing its steady tone and allowing the world’s natural mana to flow again in small, erratic currents.

I wiped the sweat from my brow, feeling my muscles loosen after the strain of battle—but my guard did not drop even a fraction.

Elliot, his armor dented and his face smeared with soot, climbed the final steps of the platform with a slow, menacing pace. Varek Valerius was crumpled against the wall, his once pristine silk robes now torn and filthy. There was no trace left of the arrogant young noble who had scorned “foreigners” in the dining hall just hours before.

“Get up, traitor,” Elliot ordered, grabbing Varek by the collar and lifting him with one hand. “It’s time you tell us exactly how you managed to bring this filth beneath the foundations of my home.”

Leah and I stepped closer, flanking the prince. The remaining black-cloaked guards formed a perimeter, keeping Varek’s groaning followers at bay. Maya and Elina still lay unconscious on the operating tables, but their breathing was stable thanks to the cold I had used to seal their circulation.

“I… I only wanted what was best for Whirikal,” Varek stammered, eyes wide, voice breaking. “My father… he said King William was leading us to ruin. That we were losing our identity because of the heroes… and people like her.”

He pointed a trembling finger at me. Elliot struck him across the face, snapping his head to the side.

“Don’t you dare use my father’s name or the good of the kingdom to justify this abomination,” Elliot hissed, his face inches from Varek’s. “How did this start? Who gave you the schematics for the inhibitor? Who gave you those demons?”

Varek swallowed hard, darting his eyes around in desperation, searching for an escape that did not exist. When he saw Elliot’s blade brushing his throat, his will finally shattered.

“It was a merchant,” he confessed at last, tears streaking through the grime on his face. “He appeared months ago at our summer estate. He introduced himself as a trader of rare relics from the Eastern Lands. He gave me a message… a sealed envelope with an emblem I didn’t recognize, but his words were like music to my ears. He told me there was a way to reclaim control—to purge all enemies of the kingdom and the parasites feeding on our magic.”

“And you believed him that easily?” Leah asked, her voice laced with disbelief and disgust.

“He was convincing,” Varek replied, his voice growing feverish. “He had proof. He showed me fragments of ancient texts claiming that the Valerius lineage was destined to purify Whirikal. He said King William was a usurper of divine will. Blindly… yes, blindly, I believed him. I followed all his orders. He gave me the plans for this laboratory, taught me how to corrupt the convoy soldiers’ mana… he said it was the only way for us to become strong enough.”

I crossed my arms, a knot forming in my stomach. “No one gives that kind of power for free, Varek. Not even to a useful noble. What was his price?”

“He asked for nothing at first,” Varek whispered. “He only wanted to ‘witness the rebirth of the true Whirikal.’ But then… when there was no turning back, when I had already sacrificed the first soldiers and my family’s hands were stained black… he revealed himself. He wasn’t a merchant from the Eastern Lands. He was a demon. A demon capable of wearing human skin with terrifying perfection. His eyes… his eyes weren’t red like those beasts down here. They were… empty.”

Elliot tightened his grip. “Tell me his name, Varek. If he’s a high-ranking demon in disguise, we need to know who he is before he moves against King William at the front.”

Varek opened his mouth to answer. His lips trembled, and for a moment, it seemed the truth would finally come out.

“H-he was called… his name is—”

Suddenly, Varek’s body stiffened unnaturally. His eyes widened so much that the veins in his eyelids burst, staining the whites of his eyes a violent red. A strangled sound escaped him—not a scream of pain, but the wheeze of air escaping a broken bellows.

“Varek! Speak!” Elliot shouted, shaking him.

But Varek was already gone.

The young man began convulsing violently, so intensely that Elliot had to release him to avoid being dragged down. Varek collapsed to his knees, his back arching at a grotesque angle as his spine cracked audibly. Thick black smoke began pouring from his ears and mouth—smoke that smelled of burnt flesh and something far older.

“Lotte, do something!” Leah cried, stepping back and covering her mouth.

I rushed forward, channeling ice mana to try to freeze the process—but my magic rebounded off Varek’s body. This wasn’t a normal barrier. It was a soul-sealing curse triggered by a key phrase. By trying to speak the merchant’s name, Varek had activated his own death sentence.

The convulsions stopped as abruptly as they had begun.

Varek went still, seated on his heels, head hanging forward. The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the drip of liquid from shattered tanks.

Elliot approached cautiously and, with the tip of his sword, lifted Varek’s chin.

The guards’ horrified gasps echoed through the chamber.

Varek’s eyes were completely empty.

Not blind. Not dead in the usual sense.

His irises and pupils were gone, leaving only a milky, glassy white that seemed to stare into absolute nothingness. His face was frozen in an expression of eternal shock, and though his chest still rose and fell—proof he was breathing—it was clear that the man known as Varek Valerius no longer existed.

His mind had been erased.

Burned away from within by the secret he tried to reveal.

“A failsafe…” I murmured, a chill of pure dread running through me. “The merchant didn’t just give him power. He put a trap on his tongue.”

Elliot stepped back, his sword trembling slightly in his hand. “He’s… empty. There’s nothing there. No memories, no consciousness… nothing.”

Leah wrapped her arms around herself, trembling. “Is that what awaits us? An enemy who can erase someone just for naming him?”

I stared at Varek’s hollow shell.

The scope of the conspiracy was far greater than Elliot or I had imagined. This wasn’t just a rebellion of disgruntled nobles—it was a surgical infiltration, a puppet game where even the traitors were disposable pieces.

The “merchant” was in the city.

Perhaps even in the court.

And he had just silenced our only witness in the most brutal way possible.

“Elliot,” I said, my voice like steel against stone. “Get your sister out of here. Get the girls and the prisoners out. This place is cursed.”

The prince nodded mechanically, still in shock from what he had just witnessed. The guards began evacuating the underground laboratory, carrying bodies and the remains of the experiments.

But as we climbed the spiral staircase, leaving the garden of aberrations behind, I couldn’t help but look back one last time.

Varek Valerius—the heir of one of Whirikal’s most powerful families—remained there in the darkness, an empty shell amid the ruins of his own ambition.

The traitor had been punished.

But the true monster still walked among us—hidden beneath human skin, and a name no one could speak.

The battle for the academy was over.

But the true war against the shadows had just claimed its first high-ranking victim.

And this time… not even ice could repair what had been lost.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep