Chapter 208
“……”
Yulian stared at Christian with a hardened expression.
Perhaps it was because she realized he had uncovered her true identity.
There was a tension now that hadn’t been there before.
‘Will she obey quietly?’
Yulian was hiding her true power.
If she revealed her full strength, even Christian might find it difficult to handle her.
‘But she won’t do that.’
Unleashing her hidden power would mean tearing off the mask she’d so carefully worn until now.
Yulian, who had so thoroughly concealed her true self all this time, wouldn’t throw that away so easily.
“Haa…”
As expected, Yulian showed no intent to resist.
Christian quickly took out a bracelet and clasped it around her wrist.
It was a relic that sealed demonic energy.
“No matter how high your rank as a Grand Duke, if you go this far…”
“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. As I said earlier, this is purely for your own comfort. I sincerely hope you don’t take my goodwill the wrong way. Once you’ve had enough rest, I’ll escort you back to the estate.”
Yulian furrowed her brow and glared at him.
Christian simply shrugged and clapped his hands.
“Mari, make sure my sister is treated well. Handle her gently, alright?”
[Ohoho, understood. Since she’ll be my sister-in-law once I marry you, of course I’ll treat her with care. I’ll serve her with the utmost sincerity. Now then, if you’ll come this way.]
Mari guided Yulian into the building.
Soon after, a small group of magic soldiers under Melin’s command arrived.
“Keep an eye on Lady Yulian.”
“Understood. But… will this really be okay?”
Melin asked with concern.
“Even if she’s suspicious, this feels too much like imprisonment…”
“It’s not imprisonment. I’m giving her a special vacation.”
“……”
Melin gave him a look that said ‘are you serious?’
Christian shrugged again.
“I know this is pushing it. But it had to be done.”
Melin’s eyes changed.
“Did you discover something?”
“To some extent, yes.”
That’s right.
Christian hadn’t locked Yulian away without reason.
Throughout their outing, he’d been analyzing her—every little action.
And when he pieced it all together, the conclusion he reached was chilling.
‘The Yulian standing before me isn’t the real one.’
Christian swallowed hard and mentally repeated the answer he’d arrived at.
‘There’s another soul inside Lady Yulian’s body right now.’
An unbelievable notion.
But the signs had always been there—Christian had known for a while now that something was off about Yulian.
A soul being completely replaced?
As unbelievable as it sounded—it was the truth.
“During the recital earlier…”
There had been many signs to raise suspicion, but the decisive moment was during the piano duet.
As previously mentioned, even children of prestigious families in the Magus Empire receive basic education in the arts, even if they’re Magi.
But it’s never at a truly high level.
Yulian was the same—she’d only learned the basics of music.
In fact, during the duet, Yulian had merely accompanied him at the level of a novice performer.
And yet, Christian noticed something off.
“She was a beginner… but also not a beginner.”
Her body clearly responded like that of a beginner.
It wasn’t as if she were deliberately holding back her true skill.
“But her mind wasn’t that of a beginner. It was clearly the mind of a skilled, experienced performer.”
It reminded him of his own state right after he regressed.
A dissonance between a high-level mind and a body that hadn’t yet caught up—creating subtle, yet undeniable mismatch.
That exact disconnect had appeared in Yulian’s performance.
It was faint. Almost unnoticeable.
Yulian had clearly tried very hard to suppress it—to make sure she didn’t come off as skilled.
But Christian was no ordinary observer. He was a musician who had reached the level of a true master.
There was no deceiving his eye.
In fact, he noticed even the effort she was putting into hiding it.
“To think it was someone else’s soul entirely…”
It sounded like madness—something no one else would ever believe.
Because by all natural laws of the world, it should’ve been impossible.
And yet—it wasn’t.
There was a way to make it possible.
A devil’s authority.
“Yulian is a devil contractor. She must have received a devil’s blessing and possessed that body through it.”
The real question was why.
Why had this 'Yulian' taken over that body?
What was her goal?
“I have to find out who the real Yulian actually is.”
Christian already had a few guesses—thanks to the clues he’d picked up during their outing.
—“Is this... Ramo tea?”
Ramo tea was exceedingly rare.
In the Magus Empire, most hadn’t even heard of it.
Even within the Confederation, only one particular group was known to drink it.
Then there was—
—“I don’t like meat.”
—“Oh, a Yale tree. I love those.”
Ramo tea. Vegetarian preference. Yale tree.
On their own, they didn’t stand out.
But combined with the way Yulian had acted throughout the outing… all signs pointed to one possibility.
Christian swallowed hard.
“She’s an elf.”
Come to think of it—Yulian had always shown signs resembling those of an elf.
Her talent in archery, the crisp and serene atmosphere unique to elves—it all made sense now.
Until now, Christian had dismissed it as just a feeling.
But if an elven soul had truly possessed Lady Yulian’s body?
Then the problem was, why?
Why would an elf possess the body of a noblewoman from the Magus Empire?
And to do so by even making a pact with a devil, offering up her soul?
Even for that, he had a guess.
“…Melin, are there any elven settlements near the territory of the Dark Demonic House?”
“Hmm?”
Melin thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers as if recalling something.
“There was one. To the southeast—near the grey zone bordering the Confederation. But I heard the village was wiped out a few years ago by a magical beast raid.”
“A few years ago?”
“Yeah… five or six years, maybe?”
Christian narrowed his eyes.
That was exactly around the time Yulian’s behavior had changed.
‘The original Lady Yulian was known as a cruel and ruthless woman, but about five years ago, after suffering from a severe fever, her personality suddenly became gentle and kind.’
There was something off about it.
Something with the unmistakable stench of blood.
“Can you investigate what exactly happened to that elven village?”
“Yes, understood. But it might take some time. It wasn’t within our territory, after all—it happened within the Confederation’s lands. And especially the grey zone… it’s riddled with places like the criminal city of Fugitive Haven, so getting reliable intel won’t be easy.”
The grey zone referred to the territory between Gold Cross and the Karn Empire.
As Melin said, it was a lawless area filled with minor factions, too busy fighting among themselves to oppose devils.
Even the Dark Demonic House paid it little attention.
“No need to look that far.”
“Pardon?”
“Investigate our own House.”
Melin looked confused at first—then her eyes widened in shock.
“You don’t mean…?”
“Yeah. That’s what I mean.”
Christian nodded solemnly.
“It was probably our Dark Demonic House that destroyed that elven village.”
Her—
In other words, the current 'Yulian'—
The one who had bargained her soul with a devil to possess the body of a noblewoman from the Dark Demonic House.
Her purpose was likely revenge.
‘First, I need to find out if our House truly was involved in the massacre of that elven village in the grey zone.’
But even after digging, nothing concrete surfaced.
In the end, Christian decided to consult his aunt, Merian.
As the Commander of the Black Shadow Knights—who served as the House’s Inquisition Division—she might know something.
“The elven village in the grey zone? As far as I know, our main House was never directly involved.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. That area has never been a focus of the main House to begin with. Although—there is one possibility.”
Merian lowered her voice.
“It was my brother.”
“!!”
Christian’s face stiffened.
She meant Marquis Langham.
“Five or six years ago… that was when my brother was wandering outside the territory, looking for a way to surpass his current rank.”
“……”
“He even went off with his close aides for an extended period, but no one knows exactly what he did during that time. It’s possible… he sacrificed the elves to gain more power for himself.”
Merian’s expression twisted into one of open disgust.
“It’s an open secret, after all—that my brother committed all sorts of atrocities behind the scenes in his desperate attempts to break through his limits. He’s meticulous to a fault, so I’m sure he didn’t leave behind a single shred of evidence.”
It was more than plausible.
Christian could now piece together the whole picture.
Because of Marquis Langham’s insatiable greed, an elven village had been destroyed. And one of the survivors had made a contract with a devil, possessing the body of his daughter—Lady Yulian.
There was no proof yet, but Christian’s instincts told him it was very close to the truth.
‘This isn’t good.’
This wasn’t just some distant issue that could be chalked up to Marquis Langham’s sins.
If Lady Yulian were only targeting him, perhaps the situation wouldn't be so dire.
But could that truly be the case?
‘No. If she were only after him, she would've struck already.’
Yulian had hidden herself for over five years—right inside the very household of her enemy.
That meant she wasn’t just planning to take down Marquis Langham, but something much darker.
‘She might be planning to drench the entire Dark Demonic House in blood, just as her village was slaughtered.’
It wasn’t an uncommon kind of revenge.
Especially in Christian’s previous life, he’d seen many individuals form pacts with devils out of vengeance.
And those who gave up their very souls to demons didn’t settle for merely killing their enemy.
They shed blood so brutally, it was as if they themselves had become demons.
‘I have to stop her.’
If Lady Yulian truly intended to spark a massacre within the Dark Demonic House, as Christian feared—
He could never allow it.
Just then—an urgent interruption.
“My lord! It’s an emergency! Lady Yulian has disappeared!”
“!!”
Christian’s face darkened.
“Disappeared?”
“Yes. Lady Mari and our magi were monitoring her closely, but she suddenly vanished.”
Melin dropped to her knees.
“Forgive me, Lord Christian! I failed to carry out your command!”
“…No.”
Christian shook his head.
‘She definitely used a devil’s power.’
Otherwise, there was no way she could’ve escaped.
They had even deployed artifacts designed to suppress demonic energy, and dozens of magi and Mari herself had been watching her every move.
She hadn’t escaped by stealth—she’d vanished as if swallowed by the sky.
‘This is bad.’
Christian bit his lip.
The fact that Yulian had gone so far as to use a devil’s authority to escape meant there was a high chance she would act soon—and dangerously.
“What’s wrong?”
Merian, who was with him, asked with a puzzled look.
Christian hesitated, but then made up his mind to explain the situation.
This wasn’t something to keep secret just to “consider” Yulian.
“Actually…”
After listening, Merian’s eyes widened.
“Are you serious? Yulian’s a devil contractor—and not even the real Yulian, but a fake with a replaced soul?”
“It’s certain that she’s made a contract with a devil. As for her soul being fake… it’s just my guess, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
“Haa… I did think there was something strange about that girl.”
Merian accepted Christian’s words without much suspicion.
Because it was Christian who said it.
She had always trusted him, but ever since receiving instruction through the soul stone, her trust had grown deeper.
She had originally been a 6-star Mid-Rank, but in less than a month, she had ascended to the realm of a 6-star High-Rank.
What was even more shocking was that after her lesson with the soul stone, Christian personally checked her progress and gave her additional advice.
If she followed it, even reaching the 7-star realm didn’t seem out of reach.
It was unbelievable—but real.
At this point, Merian was fully prepared to trust Christian completely and assist him however she could.
‘Of course, I still haven’t forgiven him for making me eat that illusion cookie just because he didn’t want to bake real ones.’
“I’ll deploy the Black Shadow Knights to track down Yulian’s whereabouts.”
“Yes. Please.”
But no matter how hard they searched, Yulian was nowhere to be found.
Christian’s expression darkened, and Merian slowly shook her head.
“It’s like she’s completely vanished from the House’s territory. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to hide this thoroughly.”
“……”
“Still, don’t worry too much. Even if your guess is right, it’s not like she can pull off anything major.”
Merian spoke to reassure him.
“Even if Yulian really is a devil contractor, there are limits to her power. She’s just one person—there’s only so much she can do.”
It wasn’t a wrong statement.
What could one person truly accomplish?
And yet, Christian couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling creeping over him.
As if something terrible was about to happen.
‘At this point, all I can do is trust the trap I laid.’
There was at least one thing he could take solace in.
When he had imprisoned Yulian—
Christian hadn’t just sealed her magic with an enchanted bracelet.
He had also secretly branded her with a faint, black magic mark.
‘Of course, it’s so subtle that she wouldn’t notice. It only has a very minor effect.’
Still, if the worst-case scenario occurred, it could serve as a hidden trump card.
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’
Christian looked up at the setting sun, his expression grim.
And as if on cue…
The day of the Rank War was drawing near.