I Sought Out the Tragedy's Scheming Mastermind

“I caught you, so now I’ll have to kill you without a trace, right? He’ll probably understand.”

“If I die, Hera will be suspicious of him.”

“Ho? How did you know that this guy would be in trouble if you died? I’m getting curious.”

Based on the Hanev’s curious expression, it seemed he wouldn’t spare her.

Her only choices after being discovered were death, being killed, or being murdered.

“You’ve made eye contact with me before, haven’t you? Now that I see it, the color of your soul is different from other humans.”

“Color?”

What kind of nonsense was this?

When Eliana responded, the Hanev ran his fingers through her hair, still with a curious expression.

He seemed to be contemplating whether to explain or not.

“You shine on your own.”

“…” 

“Your soul looks very delicious. Can I eat it?”

The Hanev licked his lips with his tongue.

It looked like he was going to eat her up. Eliana felt a chill run down her spine and shut her mouth.

“Why aren’t you answering me? Are you permitting me to eat it?” He said, wrapping his hand around Eliana’s neck.

She was used to the cool touch, but it felt unfamiliar because it was not Verkley.

The Hanev’s expression was peaceful. As if he had delicious food placed in front of him.

It was so bizarre that Eliana’s voice quivered when she asked, “Do the Hanevs eat humans, too?”

“It’s because you look a bit tasty. Do you think I’d rather eat you than him?”

He pointed at himself with his other hand and laughed aloud.

His voice was thicker, not like Verkley’s.

Once again, Eliana said nothing, and he ceased his laughter.

“But you, how did you know I was a Hanev? He doesn’t even know that.”

He was still pointing at himself.

‘I guess not much is known about the Hanevs mark. Did Rube know because he’s the Priest?’

Eliana rolled her eyes and answered him.

“There’s a mark on your eye. I’ve heard that you guys follow it.”

“You know too much about me… I’ll have to kill you, too.”

His eyes turned cold instantly, and he climbed atop Eliana’s body.

Then, revealing his discomfort, he applied pressure to the hand wrapped around Eliana’s neck.

“Urk.”

Eliana started to panic as the tightening force blocked her airway.

The Hanev’s expression remained calm even as he killed people. As if he was playing a fun game.

‘I don’t want to die… ugh!’

It was the moment she realized she didn’t want to die like this.

Suddenly, the Hanev fell back with a scream as he felt a charge of electricity shoot into him.

Eliana choked as her lungs flooded with air at once.

She didn’t know what happened, but she recognized she was about to die.

Dread, fear, emptiness, etc.

Eliana gasped and burst into tears, mixed with all these emotions.

The Hanev asked a question as he backed far away.

“Who are you?”

There was a look of caution painted on his face.

Eliana couldn’t even understand what he meant.

He just tried to kill her, but he didn’t know who she was?

Is that a question you ask someone who almost died?

It didn’t quite make sense to her.

More than that, if they continued to stay near each other, he may try to kill her again.

‘Then I’ll really die.’

Eliana didn’t know what was going on, but when she saw that the Hanev was confused, she quickly conjured a knife out of ice and cut the bonds tying her down.

Eliana shouted as the Hanev approached her, thinking she was going to run away.

“Don’t come near me!”

“Who are you?!”

At the same time, he shouted loudly, and she felt his blood thirst penetrating her whole body.

For a moment.

The force that had been restraining her quickly disappeared.

Eliana’s eyes widened as it disappeared, almost like she absorbed it.

To her surprise, the Hanev looked the same.

He was nervous and infuriated.

“What’s wrong with me?!”

Then he outstretched his hand to kill her, but his power did not reach Eliana.

The two stared at each other from a distance.

Only exhausting himself, he angrily shot back at Eliana, “What did you do to me?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“So then why won’t my power work on you?! Argh! So frustrating!”

He couldn’t resist his anger and began to smash things around him.

Eliana frowned at the sight of Verkley’s face, raging in the face of evil.

“How long are you going to pretend to be Verkley?”

It was obvious that he would continue to run wild before Verkley regained consciousness.

While Eliana trembled as she confronted him, the Hanev responded with a snort.

“His body will be mine anyway. What does it matter to you? He’s my contractor.”

“Give it back, that body. It’s not yours.”

“Even if you say that, I’ll be back anyway. So answer me, who are you?” He approached slowly.

But Eliana no longer avoided him.

Because she’s already seen his inability to kill her several times.

‘The relationship’s been reversed.’

Eliana calmly arranged the situation.

The Hanev tried to kill her but failed. No, it was more like it was impossible to kill her.

And now, his face showed he was severely terrified of being touched.

‘Verkley acts the complete opposite from the Hanev.’

Unlike the Hanev, Verkley wanted to keep touching her.

Come to think of it, this was full of strange things.

It was suspicious how he expressed his favoritism even though she didn’t do anything.

It was also strange how his headache died down after maintaining a close relationship with her.

At the time, she thought he was just adapting to the power, but she was suspicious of the Hanev’s overreaction.

Verkley lost control of his body to the Hanev because of his inability to fully control his power.

‘The Hanev’s power doesn’t work on me?’

Eliana reached a conclusion in her head.

She didn’t know what it was, but she believed she could block the Hanev’s power.

It was worth a try if anything.

Eliana came to her decision and spoke to him with confidence.

“I’ll tell you if you come closer.”

“How can I trust you?”

“If you’re not curious, then why don’t you just stay still?”

“Oh, you’re crazy.”

The Hanev quickly fell for Eliana’s provocation and strode to her in rage, stopping when their noses almost touched.

Then he looked down at her as if waiting for her to say something.

Eliana didn’t miss a beat and grabbed him by the face.

And before the Hanev could bite her surprise, she kissed him, just like that.

He tried to shove Eliana away in distress.

Eliana wound her arms around his neck and tightly pulled him against her.

She tasted a hint of metallic on her tongue because of how hard they smashed into each other.

His strong movements and resistance were getting weaker and weaker.

A moment later, Verkley collapsed and fell forward onto Eliana.

‘I wasn’t sure of it, but my theory was correct.’

Verkley wants to touch her, but the Hanev avoids her.

She didn’t know exactly what power it was, but that wasn’t important right now.

Eliana dragged Verkley onto the bed with him in her arms.

Then she turned on the bedside lamp and examined his complexion.

She immediately checked his eyes.

Fortunately, they were back to blue.

Eliana sighed deeply. “Where are we, by the way?”

This was not Verkley’s bedroom. Eliana frowned, not knowing where the Hanev had taken her.

Besides, after that kiss, a strong sense of fatigue overcame her.

She, too, felt like her body was losing its strength.

The moment Eliana decided to lay beside him exhausted…

Someone burst through the door.

Startled by the ruckus, Eliana sprang up and turned in the door’s direction.

It was difficult to keep her eyes open as a strong light poured in.

Eliana was blinded by the sudden light and shielded her eyes with her hand.

“Shh.” 

There seemed to be no sign of harm, and when she carefully lowered her hand, the sudden uninvited guest pushed a finger against his lips, warning her.

As he quickly closed the door, only the lamp light shone dimly in the room.

Eliana stared at him with a bewildered face.

The first thing she noticed was the color of his hair, which was definitely silver.

“Rube…?”

Rube smiled softly at the sound of his name.

He drew closer to Eliana.

Eliana still stared at Rube with a surprised expression.

‘What the hell is going on?’

First of all, she was flustered to see that he was there.

“What happened?”

“You surprised me when you suddenly collapsed.”

Rube placed a warm wet towel on Eliana’s wrist with nonchalance.

At that moment, she felt a stinging pain in her wrist.

Relying on the soft light to see, she saw the marks covering her wrist were gone.

She had a few spots with bloody bruises.

When Eliana frowned, Rube apologized softly.

“I’m sorry, His Majesty was so stubborn that I could not stop him.”

“…”

Eliana blankly stared at Rube’s upset face.

She had seen Verkley’s red eyes before she collapsed.

And that strange smile he had on then.

She could guess that Verkley was out of his mind.

‘I’m sure Rube saw his eyes, too…’

Despite knowing the Hanevs mark, Rube showed no signs of surprise.

He should’ve known that Verkley signed a contract with the Hanev, but he was too quiet.

Plus, Rube was on Hera’s side.

Having identified Verkley’s important weakness, he should have gone to Hera instead of coming to this unknown place.

Because the Hanevs are the enemies of Algiers, he might accuse Verkley of heresy.

Of course, if Verkley’s incident reaches Hera’s ears, things will become difficult.

Hera discovers Verkley’s secret only when Verkley reveals it himself.

‘But… that’s not the case. This is a completely different situation from the original story.’