Iliana’s eyes flickered with a knowing smile that she quickly suppressed, replacing it with an expression of slight difficulty.
She gently handed the parasol to Ilus, her voice remaining gentle.
“Miss, it seems there are some trivial matters I need to attend to. Please wait here for a moment; I will be back shortly.”
Ilus took the parasol, her fingertips slightly cold. She struggled to keep her voice steady.
“…Fine, go and come back quickly.”
Iliana gave her a meaningful look, a gaze that seemed to pierce through her forced composure and reach the very depths of her schemes.
Then, she turned and walked gracefully toward the group of maids. When her pale gold eyes swept over them, an invisible pressure emanated from her, causing the originally aggressive group to instinctively retreat half a step.
“So, what do you need to discuss with me that requires avoiding the Young Lady?”
Iliana’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it reached Ilus’s ears clearly.
“C-Come with us to the storeroom over there!”
The leading maid spoke with forced bravado, but her eyes flickered with hesitation when facing Iliana.
“Very well.”
Iliana agreed surprisingly readily. She even turned back to give Ilus a slight bow.
“Miss, please be sure to wait for me here. Do not wander off.”
As Ilus watched Iliana being led away, half-surrounded by those maids until her figure disappeared behind the colonnade on the side of the garden, her heart began to race wildly.
An opportunity! This was her only chance!
She immediately lifted her skirts and turned without hesitation, heading in the opposite direction of the garden.
She walked briskly toward a passage on the West Side of the Manor. It was near the stables and the back gate, an area rarely frequented by people. It was the best escape route she had selected after careful observation.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting shifting spots of light on her face and reflecting her pale, tense expression.
The gravel path beneath her feet made a faint rustling sound. Every noise made her heart leap in terror, as if Iliana might appear behind her at any moment and call out to her in that gentle yet chilling voice.
‘Iliana knows Hypnosis Magic. She might use it on them, so they probably won’t be able to delay her for long. I have to be fast, even faster!’
—
Meanwhile, inside the storeroom, the maids stopped in their tracks. Just as they were about to turn and speak, Iliana simply snapped her fingers.
In an instant, they became like marionettes, the light fading from their eyes.
“Now, let me ask you: did the Young Lady order you to do this?”
Iliana didn’t seem in the mood for idle chatter. After hypnotizing them, she went straight to the point.
“Yes, the Young Lady told us—”
“Good, stop there.”
Iliana didn’t want to hear the rest. Even if the information might have been beneficial to her, what she loved most was the unknown that Ilus provided.
After all, only then would she seriously consider what the next punishment should be.
As if thinking of something particularly delightful, an evil smile appeared on Iliana’s face before her gaze refocused on the maids.
‘Should I just kill them?’ A flash of killing intent crossed her eyes, but she reconsidered, thinking it might be a bit premature to act now.
This group usually enjoyed whispering insults about her behind her back. She decided she might as well wait and kill them on the night of the Young Lady’s twentieth birthday; they would make a barely passable side dish.
At that thought, a look of pleasure surfaced on Iliana’s beautiful face.
—
At the same time, Ilus finally stumbled her way to the location of the Dark House.
It looked like it was that tavern. Ilus pulled up her hood, hiding her small face before walking inside.
The tavern door opened before her, and a wave of air mixed with the smell of cheap ale, old wood, and sweat hit her.
The roar of voices and the clatter of cups instantly drowned her out, making it feel like a different world compared to the quiet, tense garden she had just left.
Ilus furrowed her brows, though she didn’t hate the place. It was exactly like the adventurer-filled taverns she had imagined before.
If not for the urgent circumstances, she would have liked to stay and listen to the people’s conversations.
But for now, she pulled her hood down even further, covering most of her face and only revealing a small, smooth, and lovely chin.
The girl’s gaze quickly swept over the dim interior. A few rough men sat drinking at greasy wooden tables, and a bald man behind the bar was lazily wiping a glass.
‘Can a place like this really provide mercenaries capable of killing a Demon like Iliana?’ she wondered skeptically.
Ilus took a deep breath, pushing down her doubt and unease as she walked toward the bar.
The wooden floorboards creaked under her feet, drawing a few stray, indifferent glances that quickly moved away.
Her out-of-place aura was instead diluted by the tavern’s own chaotic noise.
“What do you need?”
The bald bartender didn’t even look up, his voice raspy.
“I…”
Ilus cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound less childish.
“I’m looking for… someone who can handle especially troublesome people.”
The bartender’s movement of wiping the glass paused for half a beat. He finally looked up to size her up, his gaze lingering for a moment on her overly exquisite skirt and her dust-covered yet high-quality shoes. A faint, unreadable glint flashed in his dull eyes.
He jerked his chin toward the darkest corner of the tavern.
“Go over there and find One-eyed Old Sila. Don’t say I pointed her out.”
Ilus’s heart tightened again. She nodded, tightened her hood, and walked toward that corner.
The light there seemed to be swallowed by the shadows, with only a flickering oil lamp on the table barely outlining a burly, robust figure. A prominent black eyepatch sat on her face, and the air was thick with the scent of tobacco and ale.
It was hard to imagine that such a physique belonged to a woman.
“Old Sila?”
She stood a few paces from the table, her voice low.
The one-eyed woman slowly raised her head. Her remaining good eye was as sharp as a hawk’s in the dim light as she scanned Ilus from head to toe. She didn’t speak, only pointing to the empty stool opposite her.
Ilus hesitated for a moment before sitting down. Her hands were tightly interlaced under the table; it was clear she was extremely nervous.
“I have a commission.”
She lowered her voice and got straight to the point.
“I need a person… or a team, strong enough to help me eliminate a threat.”
Old Sila took a slow puff from her pipe, the smoke curling around her and making her features even more indistinct.
“A threat?”
Her voice was as coarse as sandpaper.
“Tell me about it.”
“She… is my personal maid, but she is definitely not human.”
Ilus took a deep breath, stopping short of revealing that Iliana was a Demon.
“She can use powerful Hypnosis Magic, she is meticulous, and her methods… are unpredictable. I want you to kill her.”
“A maid?”
Unconcealed doubt—and even a hint of mockery—flashed in Old Sila’s single eye.
“Miss, are you playing some adventure game in a noble’s backyard? A maid who knows magic and is hard to deal with? That doesn’t sound like it’s worth much.”
Ilus’s cheeks flushed under the shadow of her hood, half from shame and half from anxiety.
“She is very dangerous! I… I guarantee the reward will be generous! As long as you can kill her, there will be no shortage of gold coins!”
Old Sila stared at her for a long while, seemingly evaluating the truth of her words.
After a moment, she tapped her pipe.
“Half upfront, the rest when the mission is complete.”
It worked! A flash of joy crossed Ilus’s small face.
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