Chapter 227: Jealous

Icot was a very cautious man.

Joen flipped through the files but couldn’t find any obvious omissions or leverage.

All the “demon collaborators” had signed confessions and been executed.

Those people had long been secretly sent away, vanishing without a trace.

Trying to find them again was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And that was optimistic, assuming they were still alive.

If they were dead, there would be no evidence at all.

In the end, his gaze fell back on the few “demon collaborators” still being held in the Inquisition Court.

He had to start with them.

Aside from the two he had brought back in the past few days, the others were living evidence.

Joen questioned them one by one.

At first, no one believed him, their eyes always filled with fear.

Fortunately, patience was something Joen was never short of.

He explained, promised, comforted, tirelessly… and finally, one person’s resolve crumbled.

She was a young woman who had been locked up for just over half a month.

Half a month ago, Holy Knights had burst into her home with her newlywed husband.

They said they had received a report accusing her and her husband of “trafficking with demons.”

The evidence was conclusive, but they refused to show it.

She was the only daughter of a deceased wealthy merchant.

Her husband was an employee of the family business, handsome, capable, and kind-hearted.

Later, her husband was beaten to death trying to protect her.

In front of his corpse, she was violated.

Afterward, she was dragged back to the Inquisition Court.

Having endured enough abuse and torture, she reluctantly signed a confession, wanting only a quick death so she could reunite with her husband in the Underworld.

The young woman told Joen that the reason no one believed him was because the other Inquisition Knights, as a game and a test, often played a trick of “giving a glimmer of hope first, then dashing it,” using words like “I’ll support you and clear your name” to lure people in.

The others had been caught too many times and no longer believed.

As for her, she was willing to trust Joen because she couldn’t let go of any chance to clear her husband’s name.

Even if it was a trick, she would accept it.

“My darling was a warm and kind man, that’s why I loved him…” the young woman sobbed.

“I don’t care about anything anymore. Maybe everything is my father’s sin, all karma. But him… he shouldn’t have to suffer such a false accusation.”

“Don’t worry. As long as you’re truly innocent, I’ll definitely clear your husband’s name.”

“Thank you so much.”

The young woman tried to bow, but Joen stopped her.

“This is my duty. Accepting your bow would shame me,” Joen said gravely.

Even though he knew the church was corrupt, Joen wasn’t ready to rely on just one side of the story.

Aside from the “demon collaborators,” he needed to look into the knight in charge of the case.

Bring him back, question him face-to-face, and the truth would come out.

But once he identified which knight was responsible, Joen ran into trouble.

His reputation was terrible now, no one was willing to give him information.

Even Scottie pretended not to know, afraid to offer real help.

In the end, Joen resorted to searching blindly, going from shop to shop in the neighborhood.

It was undoubtedly a tedious and painful process, but at this point, he had no better option.

As it turned out, the Goddess of Luck did not favor him.

Joen completely lost patience.

He went straight to the old knight’s apprentice in the church and used some underhanded tactics similar to theirs.

“Ah! Damn it! I’ll never tell you where my master is! You traitor! Bastard!”

“It hurts! Ah! Oh! Stop hitting! It hurts!”

“I’m scared!”

“Fine, I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Don’t point that thing at my crotch!”

And so, Joen got the lead.

But instead of feeling happy, he felt a dazed sense of loss, like a boomerang that had circled all the way around and finally smacked him square in the face.

Violence…

It was like poison.

Before you knew it, you’d become dependent on it.

The old knight Joen was looking for was named Lan Luo Si, a veteran in the church, of the same generation as Icot.

The information extracted through coercion indicated that he was handling business in another district, but he would definitely return tonight because he had booked tickets for the highly hyped new show the Succubi were performing.

The old knight might miss a criminal, but he would never miss a Succubus.

“My master used to love watching the Succubi’s interactive mini-theater, ‘The Legend of the Qiongming Goddess,'” the apprentice said, not daring to look at Joen, pouting with a mix of frustration and defiance.

“That name sounds weird. Don’t you think it’s a bit blasphemous toward the Goddess?”

The apprentice didn’t dare say it, but precisely because it was a bit blasphemous, that was what made it exciting.

He quickly retorted, “That’s a Divine Maiden, not a Goddess. It’s different.”

“A name that bizarre is clearly the sinful legacy left by the Demon King Lia.”

Joen released the apprentice’s collar.

Now that he knew the location, the next step was to make the arrest.

But soon, Joen hit another problem.

It seemed the promotion had been too aggressive; the Succubi’s new show had become famous, and tickets were impossible to get.

Everyone was curious what a show the Succubi were so confident about would be like.

After thinking for a moment, Joen decided to disguise himself and go find Lily, who was currently posing as a gang leader in the Brotherhood.

“Wow!”

Liya’s eyes lit up when she saw Joen, her expression filled with brilliant surprise.

She was about to say something, but then she caught herself and quickly dismissed the attendants, leaving only the two of them in the room.

Joen sensed the presence of Elf Speech again.

He looked in the direction of the Elf Speech.

The air in that direction rippled slightly, and then the feeling of being watched vanished.

“Someone seems to be watching you,” he warned Liya.

“Watching me?”

Liya froze, then sank into thought.

Who would be watching her?

No… the question should be, who could watch her?

Especially after she had moved into the Brotherhood, to prevent assassins or spies from secretly snooping, she had bought a ton of Eyes of True Sight and scattered them throughout this small building.

Suddenly, the face of the Elf Ailita flashed through Liya’s mind, and her expression instantly turned dark.

If Ailita had some means to spy on her…

Then many things—including Ailita’s strange attitude and that previous test—seemed to have a sufficient explanation.

The good news was that she had been cautious.

Apart from privately ordering Zyra and meeting with Navarro earlier, she hadn’t revealed her identity as the Demon King at any other time.

‘This is bad…’

A shadow settled over Liya’s heart.

Ailita, the Guide sent by the Elves.

She might not be as strong as the Hero, but armed with the Elves’ methods, she was definitely extremely difficult to deal with.

If her secret was really discovered by Ailita and she had to make a move against her, it would be as hard as ascending to heaven.

She had worked so hard to get this far, and the curse hadn’t even been removed yet.

She couldn’t let it all collapse!

So, she had to start preparing now.

If something went wrong, strike first!

She couldn’t rely on Joen for this.

She had to deal with that Elf herself.

‘The challenge is high… but I’m the least afraid of challenges.’

Having sorted out the key points, Liya’s mind stirred.

She smiled gently at Joen, multitasking as she bent her head to mimic Lage’s handwriting and wrote out orders for the Brotherhood members, while chatting with Joen.

“Friend~ What brings you here? Did you suddenly miss Lily~? Lily missed you too~”

“Uh…”

Joen was a bit embarrassed.

“So you didn’t miss me?”

A huge wave of disappointment suddenly surged from the bottom of her heart.

No matter how hard she tried to suppress that superfluous emotion, she couldn’t help feeling unhappy.

This was what she hated about love.

It felt like someone had a grip on her heart.

When happy, it was truly happy; but when sad, it she felt far more sadness than usual.

“Is there something you need Lily’s help with?”

She tried to make her tone sound calm.

“Yeah.”

Joen nodded.

He hesitated for 9 seconds, then said, “I need to go to the Succubus Shop tonight. Can you get me a ticket?”

Crack.

The quill pen snapped.