My eyes opened through the haze of sleep.
A faint blue light filled the room. Dawn must have been breaking.
Ugh. Mornings are cold.
Sniffling through my damp nose, I pushed myself upright on the sofa.
I glanced toward the bed and found the covers neatly made.
The collar that bastard had fastened around my neck before going to sleep was sitting undone on the table.
Where the hell did he go this early?
I looked around for Lippert. I even went over to the closed bathroom door, but there was no sound of running water or anyone moving inside.
Is today the day?
The day of the ritual to cure the count’s daughter.
The webtoon hadn’t gone into much detail about how the ritual actually worked, so I’d been curious. I vaguely remembered something about dawn prayers.
I couldn’t resist.
Standing on my hind legs, I hooked the door handle and pulled.
The door opened easily.
I boldly charged out of the room and began roaming around the huge mansion.
Not here.
Not here either.
After wandering for quite a while, I finally reached the end of a first-floor corridor.
There were already people gathered there.
Lippert was quietly speaking beneath the staircase with a noble couple who I assumed were the young lady’s parents—the count and countess.
Maybe because it was so early, everybody seemed subdued.
I can’t really hear what they’re saying.
The corridor was lined with decorative artwork and tables meant to display it.
Keeping myself hidden beneath the tables, I crept closer.
“All rituals are conducted in secrecy according to the rules of our temple. You must not enter the prayer room until the ritual is complete. Naturally, you also may not look inside or attempt to listen.”
Once I got close enough, I could finally eavesdrop properly.
“When I asked you to dismiss all servants from the first floor, that request included the two of you.”
“What kind of rule is that? Even her parents aren’t permitted? What if something happens to my daughter…?”
“Ha-ha. Do you truly believe her life might be endangered during a sacred ritual?”
Lippert laughed, but his smiling expression remained firm.
“I swear nothing of the sort will happen. Even if the ritual fails, there will be no lasting side effects.”
That still wasn’t enough to reassure them.
The countess, her hair pinned up, stepped forward.
“We won’t interfere with the ritual. Can’t we at least watch through the window? How can we leave our unmarried daughter alone with a man? Until sunrise, no less.”
“I understand your concern. Anything unseen naturally invites suspicion.”
A brief silence followed before he added gently,
“However… if you believe this ritual itself cannot be trusted, then that would mean you distrust not only me, but also the one I serve.”
“…….”
“The sun will rise soon. What will you do? If you cannot abide by the rules of our temple, the ritual will not proceed.”
The count and countess stood there, unable to make a decision.
Just then, the door to the prayer room opened, and the pale young lady stepped out.
She must have arrived early to offer her dawn prayers, because a white veil covered her head.
“Mother, Father. I trust the man God sent to me. Please trust him too.”
Once their daughter herself tried to persuade them, neither the count nor the countess could bring themselves to object.
While the three of them embraced and exchanged heartfelt words as a family, I took advantage of the distraction and slipped quickly into the prayer room.
The room wasn’t very large.
A bluish darkness hung over the interior.
A single candle cast a quiet glow through the room, and a massive, majestic painting occupied the center of the far wall. It vividly depicted a goddess bestowing her blessing.
I crawled beneath a stool in the corner that had been draped with a white cloth.
I waited there for who knew how long.
Before long, I heard two sets of footsteps.
Click.
The door shut.
I saw the young lady sit on a long bench.
“Then shall we begin the ritual? This water will cleanse your body. You need only take one sip.”
Lippert took a small bottle from inside his robes and handed it to her.
Without suspicion, the young lady drank a mouthful and returned the bottle.
Then I heard Lippert begin solemnly reciting a prayer.
In the dark, quiet atmosphere, his low voice sounded almost like a lullaby.
I forced my eyes wide open to keep myself from falling asleep.
That was when the young lady suddenly swayed where she sat.
In the next instant, she pitched forward.
Lippert caught her before she hit the floor and laid her lengthwise across the bench.
Then—
“Dikan.”
At the sound of the name, someone abruptly appeared in empty space.
A masked man lowered whatever he had been carrying on his back to the floor.
It was a person.
Lippert began muttering under his breath.
This wasn’t a prayer.
It was a sinister, incomprehensible incantation.
At the same time, his bright blue eyes turned bloodred.
It looked exactly like it had in the webtoon.
The setting was that his eyes turned red whenever he used the evil god’s power. I still remembered losing my mind while doing the color correction, trying to make that red vivid enough to look like it was actually glowing.
…Coloring webtoons really was pure manual labor.
While I bitterly reminisced about my previous life, a red symbol appeared over the young lady’s heart.
The same symbol appeared on the body of the person lying on the floor.
Maybe transferring an illness she’d suffered from for years was difficult, because Lippert’s breathing grew slightly rough.
Eventually, he raised his head.
“Is it finished?”
“Yes. Take this one away. Clean up properly.”
“Yes.”
The man called Dikan hoisted the person back onto his shoulders and disappeared again.
The procedure of transferring an incurable illness with the evil god’s power had ended successfully.
“Mmm….”
A few minutes later, the young lady opened her eyes.
“Huh…? When did I… when did I fall asleep?”
As she sat up in confusion, Lippert approached her.
He explained kindly.
“You did not fall asleep.”
He looked down at her with crimson eyes.
“We prayed to God here, and for a brief moment, you saw this room fill with brilliant light.”
“……Prayed… light… filled…?”
“And then the lung disease that had tormented you for so many years vanished in an instant. That is what you believe. For the rest of your life.”
“……For the rest… of my life?”
“Yes. Until I withdraw the command.”
“……Yes.”
The young lady answered in a dazed murmur.
You might think, Who gives a damn if it’s the power of an evil god as long as the disease is cured?
But this power actually had one fatal drawback.
Anyone exposed to the evil god’s power even once was permanently marked by it.
The mark couldn’t be seen, but a red symbol was engraved upon the heart.
And from that moment onward, both body and mind became subordinate to Lippert.
…In other words, he could control their mind whenever he wanted.
The reason I wasn’t particularly worried about that was probably because Lippert was the kind of villain who kept business and personal matters separate.
True to form for a villain who didn’t go out of his way to harm people unrelated to his revenge, he didn’t abuse his mind-control ability.
“Well done.”
His eyes curved in a smile.
The glowing red vanished in an instant, returning them to blue.
The young lady’s head had dropped like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
Several seconds later, she lifted it again.
“…Ah, Father!”
Then she spoke in an excited voice, like someone who had just witnessed a miracle.
“While I was praying, suddenly this brilliant light came down over my head…!”
“God answered our prayers. Your body should now be healthy. Would you like to try standing?”
The young lady rose.
She walked in place at first, then cautiously began making little hops.
She grew short of breath, but apparently felt none of the pain in her chest.
At last, she covered her face with both hands and sobbed.
“I can’t believe it. My illness… It really is gone.”
For some time, the sound of her sorrowful weeping filled the prayer room.
Eventually, she wiped away her tears and offered another prayer to God.
“…Thank you as well, Father. I need to see my parents immediately.”
“Yes. They should be waiting on this floor. Go to them.”
The sickly pallor of her face was gone as though it had never existed.
She looked genuinely healthy.
Once she had left to find the count and countess, Lippert murmured to himself.
“I could have sworn you were asleep when I left….”
He started walking.
Closer.
And closer.
Toward the corner where I was hiding.
I jolted when his gaze landed precisely on me through the white cloth.
He stopped directly in front of the stool, blocking any chance of escape.
Then he bent down.
“When did you sneak in here?”
W-When did this bastard notice me?
I had hidden perfectly!
I hadn’t made a sound, and I’d even kept my tail tucked away!
Very slowly, the white cloth was lifted.
The instant my eyes met Lippert’s, I was forcibly dragged out from beneath the stool.
“Myaaak!”
Gripping me beneath the forelegs, he held me high in the air and stared.
His smile was relaxed, but his eyes pinned me down with relentless intensity.
“…This is a problem. You saw what happened here.”
“…….”
“What should I do with you?”
What do you mean, what should you do?
I stiffened my neck with all the shameless indignation of an obnoxious customer and started yelling.
“Mya-ngyangyang! Waowong-yangnyang!”
I’m a cat! Use common sense! Where the hell would a cat go to expose you as a fraud?
“Myaow-yang—. Myayang angnyang.”
And I actually kind of respect you, surprisingly enough. You know how there are white lies? Well, you’re a scammer, but I’d call you a white scammer.
“Myaong. Yang mwaowo-ong.”
Let it go. Come on, just let this one go.
“Hmm? I have no idea what you’re saying….”
Lippert tilted his head.
Black hair slipped diagonally across his forehead.
W-What?
What the hell is with that face attack?