Chapter 83

I shook my head with a look of disgust and spoke honestly.

"There's nothing like that."

"Nothing? "

"It's a letter from Morian Serenity. Besides, Morian Serenity is a fictional character to begin with."

To be honest, I was half-convinced that he was Lu or someone related to Lu.

Tsk. Serenity Count glared at me with a suspicious look.

"Fictional character? What a blasphemous statement. Not only do you treat my daughter as if she doesn't exist, but you also lie about having a letter? You've deceived me."

For a moment, I froze.

'Now that I think about it, there's a high probability that Morian Serenity actually exists, isn't there?'

Could it be that Lu had stolen the identity of an actual person? That's why the butler was worried.

But what's important now isn't such a trivial matter of truth or falsehood.

What I want to know is whether this person is Lu or not.

"What do you mean by deceiving? You brought us here knowing everything..."

"No. I know nothing. All I know is that Miss Daisy lied. You were an uninvited guest, not a guest. You will surely pay for your sins."

"What do you mean by what your Calapha said..."

"As Serenity Count, I will punish you immediately. If you don't follow me obediently, you won't be treated well. Come here."

It was a one-sided reprimand.

He rose solemnly from his seat and walked out of the courtyard.

Serenity Count, exposed to the rain, gestured to me. I followed, wondering if getting wet was a punishment.

Suddenly, the man's head, which had been touching the sky, sank.

"Get on."

After a while, he was now looking at me as a four-legged creature.

'...A beast?'

Is this man a magician? Is he really Lu?

"Get on."

I hesitated and placed my buttocks on the Serenity Count's shoulder... no, back... no, somewhere around his waist. What's going on all of a sudden?

Why do I have to ride this beast... no, Serenity Count... no, beast?

"Is it like a wolf?"

The only question that came to mind after all the confusion.

The beast started to walk.

I held onto his fur tightly to avoid falling off and lowered my body. It was quite tiring.

"Right. I am cursed to be a count during the day and a beast at night. I am looking for my own prince to break this curse."

"You don't seem to be the age to look for a prince. You're an uncle, after all."

Tsk, tsk.

The man, who had been walking lightly, snorted and replied.

"Is there a law that says uncles can't look for princes?"

"Even if you're an uncle, you shouldn't if you're married."

Honestly, I don't even know what I'm saying.

My mind is tangled with two questions.

Is this guy really Lu?

Or are all the magicians in Rogui like Lu, acting on their own whims?

"Didn't you say that Morian Serenity doesn't exist? I'm not married. If I were a young and pure unmarried man, it would be different."

Where does the truth begin and where does the joke end with this man?

He acts as if it's natural for his counterpart to play along.

"Ease up a bit. You'll pull out my fur."

While I was gripping the beast's fur more tightly, he entered a small forest beyond the grassland surrounding the castle.

The beast, circling a large oak tree, began to dig vigorously under a gravestone.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound was heard, and a hidden staircase under the ground was revealed.

"Did you transform to get in here?"

"Crawling on the ground doesn't suit a count."

As he said, the entrance to the staircase was very small, and I had to lower my upper body to enter while on the beast.

The underground was damp and dark. If Serenity Count hadn't lit a candle with magic, it would have been pitch black.

'Is this an underground tomb?'

I stretched my neck and read the words inscribed on the dusty stone slabs.

Beloved someone, respected someone... All the coffins belonged to members of the Serenity family.

"These guys haven't seen a living person in a long time. It wouldn't be bad to wave and greet them."

"Stop saying creepy things."

He laughed happily, put me down, and returned to his human form.

Despite being drenched in fur, Serenity Count, now a human, was dry and fresh.

He approached a nearby coffin and opened a small wooden box on the gravestone. After a while, he took out a small pearl and handed it to me.

No, it wasn't a pearl.

"Have you ever eaten something like this? Or did someone force you to eat it?"

"...It's a heart crystal. It's something you can only find in the northern continent. How could I, an imperial citizen, have eaten it?"

"You probably did, Miss Daisy. Otherwise, you couldn't have come back to life after dying."

I was speechless for a moment.

'He even knows that I died and came back to life?'

My confusion deepened.

Is this man really Lu?

Or is he Lu's loyal follower? It seems he has some connection to Lu. What's his purpose?

Serenity Count put the slightly dull heart crystal back into the box.

"I suspect that Miss Daisy might have swallowed the heart crystal of a Calapha-level genius. There aren't many people who could have left a heart crystal during that period. I can think of only two."

"Who are they?"

"Dian Ket and Mephisto."

I had already heard that Dian Ket was Rogui's Calapha. But the latter was new to me.

I asked in a slightly dazed voice.

"...Is the Great Magician Mephisto Rogui's Calapha?"

"No. He almost became one. He was extremely talented. He was a genius of the century, a talent that was hard to come by."

Serenity Count shrugged lightly.

"Though not to my level."

It was a shocking fact.

But upon reflection, this was more plausible than the information that Dian Ket was from Rogui.

The term 'expelled from Rogui' is attached to Mephisto's name.

A man who pursued the wrong power and was chased out of the northern continent.

The twisted man reached the southern continent and conducted horrific biological experiments, sparking the magical war...

It felt like the pieces of the puzzle about how Mephisto appeared and why he wreaked havoc in the southern continent were falling into place.

Despite being the main culprit of the war, the information about Mephisto that was known to the public was very limited.

"Mephisto's army, as well as Mephisto himself, was from Rogui."

"Yes, it's the greatest blemish that Rogui can never erase. If Mephisto's teacher were still alive, he would have been shocked by Mephisto's evil deeds. His teacher had a glimmer of hope that his student would live like a human."

"Was Mephisto a born evil person?"

"A born evil person."

Serenity Count crossed his arms on a nearby gravestone and sat down.

He brushed off the dust on the back coffin a few times, as if cleaning, and asked me.

"Do you want to hear his story?"

He slowly rubbed and shook off the black dust on his index and thumb.

"His life. The reason he joined Rogui. The source of his strength. The basis for his teacher choosing him. The epic he couldn't give up. And the reason he left Rogui and turned the continent into a sea of fire."

The story of the Great Magician Mephisto.

I could feel my nerves tingling at the mysterious opening of a story that no one had ever heard.

In fact, there is no one as shrouded in mystery as the Great Magician Mephisto in modern history.

No one knows his personal history. In plays, Mephisto is portrayed as a madman who devoted his soul to magic.

A monster who couldn't feel love or compassion.

But I wasn't interested in the story of Mephisto that was casually thrown at me.

Instead, I felt a sense of caution.

"No."

I was afraid that I might see the demon as a human.

"I will never hear this man's story. To me, Mephisto is a terrible mass murderer. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Wise. Yes, Mephisto is a mass murderer. His misfortunes cannot justify his evil deeds. Therefore, Mephisto must be a born evil person, regardless of the truth."

Serenity Count smiled softly and suddenly said to me.

"Hand."

What is this? Am I a dog?

I gave him my hand. He placed the heart crystal on my hand.

"A heart as a memento of visiting the underground tomb. Take it. In Rogui, heart crystals are only given to family or closest friends."

"Are you giving me this? The heart of someone whose face and name I don't know?"

"Let's see... Daphne Serenity. I don't remember what kind of woman she was."

"I don't need it. It's not even your heart."

"Oh. Do you need my heart? Bold, aren't you?"

The moment I faced his shamelessly playful smile.

The moment my heart, which had been uncomfortably fluttering due to Mephisto, started to tickle and stir.

I instinctively knew.

No, I couldn't help but know.

"But to give your hand so easily to a stranger. I'm surprised."

"...Are you Lu?"

I hesitated and asked.