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Chapter 18
“Eh?”
With a wicked smile, Witte looked visibly flustered for once.
“Eh? Eh? How did Adriel get in here?”
“Stop changing the subject and answer me, demon.”
“Adriel shouldn’t be able to enter here… he really shouldn’t.”
“Where is your master right now?”
Even at Adriel’s question, Witte kept repeating the same words.
But only for a moment. Then Witte suddenly shouted in panic.
“Get out, get out of here! You idiot Adriel!”
At that same moment, Adriel felt an invisible, powerful force pulling him backward.
To resist being dragged away, he quickly grabbed the doorframe. His grip was so strong that the door cracked and debris fell.
“What do you think you’re doing? Adriel, of all people? Weak Adriel?”
Witte fired off questions in disbelief, but Adriel himself had the same question.
What is happening to my body?
Until recently, he had been completely powerless against the demon’s strength. But now, faintly yet clearly, he was beginning to resist it.
Was it just his imagination that the aura inside his body had changed recently?
“Ugh…! Get out, hurry and get out!”
Unable to control the situation, Witte flew above Adriel’s head.
His soft silver hair was grabbed roughly by a small hand.
“Get out! Get out, you idiot Adriel!”
“Where is the young lady?”
“Leave before the master comes out!”
“I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I won’t let you have your way.”
“The master can’t see you before Witte does!”
“Why is that?”
Demons were always up to something dirty—it wasn’t new.
But for some reason, thinking it involved Rosemary made Adriel even more furious.
“I put a potion in the bath the master is using!”
“……”
Thud.
For a moment, Adriel’s strength gave out and he fell backward.
He stared blankly at Witte’s words.
A potion…?
He knew exactly what kind of potion Witte meant.
He had once nearly been forced to drink one of those so-called “love potions” Witte created.
“Now’s the chance! Before the master comes out—close the door!”
“Over my dead body.”
Just before Witte could shut the door, Adriel shoved his hand into the gap.
“Eek! Let go!”
Witte slammed the door shut, but Adriel did not release his hand.
Instead, he forced the door open with sudden strength and stepped inside.
“What… what are you doing?!”
“Make an antidote. Now.”
Adriel pushed Witte back toward the bed. His eyes burned with a dark, blood-red intensity.
Just imagining Rosemary under the influence of that demon’s potion made his anger surge.
“If you’re going to push me this far…!”
Feeling his pride wounded again, Witte released a powerful wave of energy.
“Ugh…!”
The recoil sent Adriel stumbling forward. But he didn’t even have time to feel pain—he grabbed the bedpost to stop himself from being pulled away.
And then he saw it.
A long rod hidden under the bed.
Without hesitation, he reached for it and grabbed it.
He poured aura into it and was just about to swing it at the demon—
“Sir?”
A soft voice made Adriel freeze like a well-trained dog.
His head slowly turned toward the source.
The bathroom connected to the room.
Rosemary had just come out, lightly tapping her wet hair with a towel.
“……”
“……”
Adriel slowly lifted his gaze.
And met clear blue eyes, like a cloudless sky.
At that moment, Witte’s voice echoed in his head again.
“I put a potion in the bath the master is using!”
When he looked directly into those eyes, Witte’s voice scrambled his thoughts.
Witte screamed.
“Master, look at Witte, not Adriel! Huh? It’s already too late?! Master, no!”
The first person Rosemary saw after taking the potion was Adriel.
Adriel tightened his grip on the rod, almost dropping it.
Calm down. This isn’t anything new.
She had always been a woman who loved him so much she once even kidnapped him.
Nothing had changed.
Even knowing that…
Thump. Thump.
His heart began beating violently.
“Sir.”
Rosemary’s gaze darkened.
Adriel’s throat moved tightly.
“Please calm yourself, young lady. You are under the influence of a demon’s potion.”
“Master? Master, snap out of it! Witte will make the antidote!”
Even after hearing the explanation, Rosemary kept walking closer.
“You must regain your senses. This is the demon’s manipulation—”
As she lowered herself to meet his eye level, Adriel held his breath.
“D-don’t come any closer.”
“Don’t! Stay away! Stay away from that filthy thing, master!”
Barely exhaling, Adriel spoke with a trembling voice.
“You mustn’t….”
This was not how he wanted things. Not like this. Not with feelings that weren’t real.
At such close distance that their breaths almost touched—
The hand holding the rod was gently wrapped by Rosemary’s.
“This….”
Don’t.
Don’t…
Don’t….
Just as Adriel closed his eyes tightly, waiting for what was coming—
“Sir, right now…”
“Master?”
“What are you doing under my bed?”
“…?”
Silence stretched.
Adriel slowly opened his eyes.
Only then did he realize.
Rosemary’s face was colder than he had ever seen it.
The emotion in her blue eyes was not love.
It was the anger and disappointment of someone who felt betrayed.
…Why?
Adriel could not understand it at all.
“Sir, don’t tell me…”
Rosemary’s lips trembled.
“After acting so noble all this time… were you actually trying to steal my belongings?”
“I trusted you.”
Her eyes were full of resentment.
And Adriel, struck by that look, panicked.
Wasn’t she supposed to be under a potion?
Why was she thinking he was a thief…?
Only then did he look down at his hand and quickly drop the rod.
Rosemary seized it immediately.
“Would you like to explain yourself?”
“I’ll give you a chance. Say anything.”
The rod in her hand suddenly looked like a massive hammer.
Adriel swallowed hard for a different reason now.
“Kikik. Master! Let’s execute Adriel for trying to steal your belongings!”
“Witte.”
“Execute! Execute! Exec—”
“Why were you just watching?”
“……”
Even Witte fell silent under Rosemary’s glare.
“Sir. Would you like to explain yourself?”
A heavy silence fell.
Adriel’s innocence was only proven much later, after Witte’s scheme was revealed.
“It’s because more and more people keep trying to covet the master!”
Witte’s ridiculous confession led Rosemary to banish him from the room.
“Master… I won’t make potions again… please forgive me…”
Adriel sat on the sofa, watching Witte cry in the living room like a flood had hit him.
“How strange. Why didn’t the potion work on the master?”
It must have been diluted in the bath.
Adriel frowned and pulled the blanket over himself.
“Strange. So strange. It worked on everyone else…”
A noisy night.
* * *
Sunlight came through the window, making the blue diamond on the necklace sparkle.
“Hmm…”
It just looked like an expensive necklace.
“Kik, kikik. Master.”
“Hm?”
As I looked closely at the necklace, I heard Witte calling me.
Turning my head, I saw golden hair peeking out from a laundry basket.
When I approached, I saw Witte trembling inside it.
“Witte doesn’t like that. Don’t look at that, master.”
“Oh…”
I immediately understood why he was so frightened.
Well, I had been a bit too harsh on him.
After the “potion incident,” Witte had been apologizing and promising to do anything.
Feeling tempted, I had tested the necklace’s effect.
And as a result, I learned something.
If Witte touched the necklace, he would not die, but he would feel strong pain and revert to his original form.
Probably only beings like Witte or Taro were affected.
It didn’t affect me or Adriel at all.
“Witte is scared… scared, master…”
Now Witte panicked just from seeing the necklace.
“Alright. I’ll put it away again.”
As I was about to store it in the jewelry box, Adriel spoke.
“Why don’t you wear it?”
“Pardon?”
“Eek…! Adriel! What are you saying to the master!”
“You need to keep distance from demons, young lady. Especially that one. He already tried to threaten your safety.”
He meant the potion incident.
But calling it a threat to my safety…
Well, if the potion had worked, I might not even be myself anymore.
“Hmm… is that so?”
As I murmured in agreement, Witte freaked out.
“Master!”
“I know. I was just saying.”
I safely put the necklace back into the box and closed it.
Only then did Witte relax.
Meanwhile, Adriel looked slightly disappointed, as if I hadn’t listened to him.
