Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 159 Father and Daughter

The banquet had ended long ago, the guests had left, and the servants had cleared away the remaining plates and wine vessels.

A woman's sweet laughter came from the half-open room.

"It's so itchy, Brother Damian."

The girl's face was flushed, and she expressed her love to the young man who was touching her in a very soft tone. The girl took the initiative to put her arms around Damian's neck, and fell on the bed with him, letting him bury his face in her bunny.

As the youngest daughter of Prince Freeman, she understood from an early age that she had to fight for what she wanted.

When she witnessed the scene at the banquet, she knew her chance had come.

She stayed after the guests left and found the depressed Second Prince. She comforted him softly and expressed her admiration and love for him. The two of them drank a lot of wine until now.

Just as the two were about to take a step further, the woman with an angry face pushed open the door.

"Damian, come out."

Seeing this, the girl's face froze. She hurriedly stood up and saluted the visitor respectfully, "Your Majesty the Queen!"

Under the queen's majestic scrutiny, she tightened her dress, took small steps and walked away with her head lowered.

Damian, who was drunk and in a daze, propped himself up with an unhappy look on his face and responded in a casual manner, "What is it, mother?"

"Why didn't you discuss this with me beforehand about your engagement with Ivy?"

"Don't you agree?"

Damian did not answer but asked, "Isn't this how you married your father?"

"you--!"

The queen stared at Damian in disbelief and was speechless for a moment. She was extremely disappointed with her son. The other heirs to the throne refused to compromise with the Vatican, but Damian accepted the olive branch thrown by the Pope from the very beginning. And now, he wanted to unilaterally make a marriage contract with Ivy.

"Your time has passed."

Damian didn't want to hear any more nagging and said impatiently, "I'll take care of everything, you just enjoy your retirement."

He bowed to the queen and ran after her in her presence.

The noise coming from the stairs made her hands and feet cold.

"Eh? Brother Damian, this is not good, right? The Queen—"

"The Queen Mother has agreed. Come with me."

"Really? Did the Queen really agree?"

The conversation faded away and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

At the same time, at the Margaret family mansion, when Ivy came back from the secret meeting point, the tall figure was standing in front of the first-floor window as expected. He had his back to Ivy, looking out the window, but allowed her to see him at the first moment.

The servants tactfully went to the villa, leaving the mansion to the father and daughter whom they had not seen for a long time.

"Father."

Ivy walked forward and she could see that her father was not happy today.

However, the relationship between them has always been in a state of dire straits. She has never been a good girl. After the death of teacher Gretchen, she and her father were in a cold war for a long time. She hoped that her family could help her when her mentor was imprisoned, but was firmly rejected by her father. After graduating from the Enlightenment Academy, she ignored the family's arrangements and went to the border of the empire alone.

"You should understand the meaning of political marriage."

The father still had that cold tone, stating a fact without turning his head, "You can dislike him, have no feelings for him, and even have many lovers after that, but you have to fulfill your duties as the heir of the Margaret family."

"You mean marrying into the royal family?"

Ivy's temper also flared up, and her attitude could even be described as defiant. On her first day back home, she couldn't avoid being lectured again. She left home in anger because she didn't like the atmosphere here.

"No, you should learn how to survive in the Imperial City. Making a marriage contract with Damian is the easiest way."

"According to this logic, you should have done the same thing, right?"

"Yes, Ivy, that's because I'm much luckier than you. I have a very good sister."

The man said, "If you want to take the same path as me, you must be prepared to pay a higher price. Do you have such determination?"

He turned around. This was the first time that Ivy faced her father in private since she returned to the imperial capital. There was still no extra emotion on her knife-like face. In her impression, her father always had the same expression, even... when he was cutting open her best friend's body with a knife, there was no hesitation for a moment in those cold eyes.

"According to the tradition of Margaret's family, I should have given birth to more than two direct descendants and selected the most suitable heir from them, but your mother passed away on the night you were born."

"Are you accusing me of leaving you no choice?"

Ivy looked the other person in the face without giving in. Two years ago, she chose to escape, but now, she faced her destiny as the heir of Margaret's family.

“I’ve never regretted it.”

The man walked towards her. He raised his wrist, and a cable with spikes extended from under his wrist. Ivy did not step back, letting the spikes on the cable sink into the back of her neck. "You need to know what you will face next."

For a moment, countless flashing fragments flooded into Ivy's mind.

This was also the first time she had such close contact with her mother, as if she could touch her just by raising her hand. Before this, her father had never mentioned his past with her mother to her.

A graduate of the Qidi Academy, he came from an inconspicuous merchant family and was as small as a grain of dust compared to the prominent Margaret family.

The royal family did not like such a combination, and one night, the same conversation occurred between my father and grandfather, which would pollute the family's pure aristocratic bloodline.

The royal family has prepared a marriage partner for him. As for the girl from a merchant family, she can be his lover or give birth to an illegitimate child for him. This is not a rare thing in the imperial capital. As the future heir of Margaret's family, he should follow the rules of the imperial upper society.

And every day in the following decades, he paid the price for his choice.

At the behest of Henry VI, the Vatican imposed some ancient magic on her.

"That seems to be a suppression spell that prohibits the birth of demons. They seem to think that as long as I am the only heir of the Margaret family, if I cannot give birth to an heir, I will have no choice but to compromise with the royal family. They believe that blood polluted by civilians cannot inherit the ancient knowledge."

The man said in a cold tone, "I spent six years researching this spell and found a way to break the curse, but overall the solution was not complete, so the remaining spell was triggered on the night you were born."

But this is just the beginning of the price to pay.

"In the next ten years, I must prove to them that you have what it takes to inherit Margaret's family knowledge."

The man said, "Ivy, when you graduated from the Enlightenment Academy as an outstanding graduate, your existence was recognized by the royal family, but some people are still worried about your behavior. They think that you have inherited a part of the polluted bloodline and have planted the seeds of instability."

Ivy also saw some familiar figures in those flickering fragments.

"Your teacher, Gretchen, was accused of being a follower of an evil god, participating in a devil's commune, and defending a devil's follower."

"That's a lie!"

Ivy blurted out.

She has learned the truth. The devil's commune refers to the Violet Commune. The so-called devil's words are just pointing out the negative impact brought about by the growing power of the Holy See and the many corrupt systems of the empire. This is the fundamental reason why there are more and more believers in the evil god.

“But that would confirm some people’s concerns.”

This time, Ivy didn't argue.

She felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck, and the pain extended into her brain, making her feel dazed. She seemed to feel something being continuously injected into her brain, something strange, familiar, and a little frightening.

She seemed to be the person standing in front of the altar, holding a scalpel and cutting open Viola's body.

She gradually understood why the Vatican chose these children - ordinary people could not survive the operation, and only those bodies that were naturally adaptable to the ancient magic of the Goddess of Life could survive the long operation with the blessing. Then, their bodies would be transformed into energy-generating devices to provide energy to the ancient and sophisticated machines in the body.

Before the operation begins, their self-awareness will be eliminated by the Holy Word, in order to enable them to better perform their duties as choir members.

Ivy then saw herself cutting open Viola's body.

Viola recognized her, or more precisely her father, with a look of trust. And this was only the first step in the transformation.

One day in the future, these holy bodies integrated with ancient technology will undergo a more sacred baptism. They will serve as containers for the arrival of the messengers of the Goddess of Life.

Next, there is the war weapon called the Sword of Darklimo, which was built by Margaret's ancestors.

The blood of the heir is the key to open it. It is both a gift left to them by their ancestors and a curse, because from that moment on, the blood of Margaret's family became the public property of the empire.

They will do whatever it takes to ensure Margaret's loyalty and the "purity" of her bloodline.

In Ivy's opinion, the "pure blood" theory makes no sense. No one can explain why marrying non-royal members would pollute the bloodline, but since the founding of the empire, this has inexplicably become the consensus of everyone.

"Ivy, you will be the key to welcoming the arrival of the goddess's messenger."

The pain was fading away, and the spike left Ivy's neck. The man's face was a little pale, and his tone was exhausted, as if this ritual consumed most of his energy. "But they will not allow the bloodline of the Margaret family to be polluted again. Now, let me tell you what will happen next."

The man placed his cold hand on her shoulder. "They can't take away the knowledge that belongs to you, so they will use the people closest to you to force you to compromise with them. However, this is the path you chose yourself, and you must be strong and continue to walk on it... Go, let me witness how far you can go on this path."

……

At the same time, Ethan was giving an important speech in a cave in the dead of winter.

"Is there any more royal law? Is there any more law?"

He spoke righteously, but Winter was laughing on the side.

Now they had more in common - they were all serious criminals with wanted posters posted all over the capital.

Ethan just took a walk around the banquet site, and on his way back he saw patrolling royal soldiers and priests of the Vatican posting a wanted poster for him on the streets of the imperial capital. The charge was the crime of believing in an evil god, which did not surprise him at all.

Fortunately, the effect of the invisibility potion had not yet worn off, otherwise if the kind-hearted Lao Ba saw them being bullied, he would probably not stand idly by.

This is too dangerous!
"Support! The empire is rotten to the core!"

Rowena responded to Ethan's call and raised her hand to speak, "I was also inexplicably accused of a crime by them in the first place!"

"Don't fish in troubled waters here, the charges against you are all true!"

Said the other side.

"Then he is real too." Rowena made clear the strategic direction. She had to be closely tied to Ethan. "Think about it, who else would dare to call Bazatos Old Ba?"

If this were heard by true believers of the evil god, their means of revenge would be no less severe than that of the Church. They would chop off the heads of those who were disrespectful to God and assemble them into assemblers.

"I've already told you that the mad dog Minos will definitely bite you."

Lin Dong smiled even more happily. "Ivy rejected the Second Prince, so he found an opportunity. He knows the relationship between you and Ivy. Now he captured you as a follower of the evil god, which is just the right way to force Ivy to submit."

The reason why Ethan was not forced to be charged with this crime at the detention center was because of Ivy's consideration.

Minos was a smart man. He knew that if Ivy and the second prince were tied to the same boat and they questioned him about it, he would be the first to suffer the consequences.

"But it doesn't matter. My home is safe. They can't find us here. Now we just have to wait for Ivy to deal with the family affairs, and then we can move the plan to the next stage."

Lin Dong felt that a life that had not been wanted as a follower of an evil god was destined to be incomplete.

While the few people were talking, Minos was also furious in the dungeon.

"What do you mean they ran away? Where could they run to under our noses?"

He was prepared to interrogate Ethan overnight. Although as an important hostage to restrain Ivy, his life could not be harmed for the time being, he could make Ethan suffer some physical pain to dampen the boy's arrogance.

The Inquisition had many ways to make the subjects of interrogation suffer excruciating pain. Even the most steadfast knights in the Kingdom's army could not endure the pain caused by the torture instruments.

This was supposed to be a great night.

"The hotel owner said that he never came out again after he went back, but when we got there, he was gone!"

Subordinates report to him.

This is really strange. Logically speaking, the wanted person this time is just a D-level investigator who has just arrived in the imperial capital. However, he disappeared without a trace under the siege of the Kingdom Army, the Holy See and the Inquisition Army.

Could it be that... that guy is really a believer in the evil god?
He shuddered.

"Go find him. I want to see you bring him here before daybreak!"

"Yes!"

Minos glared at his subordinates' departing backs. He couldn't explain why he was so angry. Ever since he met Ethan, this feeling of anger had been stirring in his heart.

"That's too much. A mere D-level investigator dares to disobey you."

The whispers echoing in his ears intensified his anger. It seemed to be the voice of a young man, which had been lingering in his ears for several hours. Every time it sounded, it aroused the most primitive anger in Minos' heart and brought him to the brink of losing control.

He asked the other party's name and seemed to hear a faint echo from afar.

Kane.

The voice introduced itself, "If I were you--"

Kane watched the frustrated Minos with interest. He knew that he was on the verge of losing his mind. He was about to say something, but a chill rose from deep in his heart. It was a coldness that could not be described in words, and he just wanted to escape immediately.

There were some familiar fluctuations of magical power, but they brought a completely different kind of coldness.

So Kane followed his instinct, and before running away he glanced with pity at Minos, who had no idea that disaster was about to befall him.

Minos' ears were finally quiet. He sat down at the table, and his uncontrollable rage finally subsided a little. He didn't know Kane and suspected that this was a trick played by Ethan.

He exhaled a breath of hot air.

This damn weather!
The capital has never been as cold as this year!
He reached for the hot wine on the table, preparing himself for the brutal interrogation that was to follow.

However, his hand hit nothing. He stared blankly at his outstretched right hand. He felt no pain, nor any sensation, but was instead filled with intense fear - it was a hand that had lost all its fingers, so it naturally could not grasp the handle of the cup. The wine in the cup was still steaming, but when he looked again, it had already frozen into ice.

Minos screamed and rolled off his chair.

The same thing happened to his other hand. He had lost five fingers, leaving only white broken bones. He kept backing away, but immediately felt something. He turned his head and saw a headless corpse.

The corpse was wearing the same clothes as him, and its missing head still had an expression of fear on it as it rolled under the table.

He saw more.

Without his noticing, the space in the dungeon seemed to twist together, turning it into a slaughterhouse, a hell filled with corpses.

There were bodies hung on iron hooks like pork, and bodies tied to chairs and cut into pieces by torture instruments.

All of them wore the same clothes as him and had the same face as him.

Minos felt something pressing against his back. He raised his face tremblingly and saw the figure who should have died two years ago.

Waist-length white hair and a pair of devilish red eyes.

It was the cruelest smile he could imagine.

The red pupils looked down at him, raised the white right hand, grabbed his hair, and then the head separated from the body was lifted up.

The blood froze before it gushed out, and before his vision faded, Minos saw an even more horrifying scene.

He saw another self, sitting at the table with an impatient look on his face, reaching for the hot wine on the table.

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Attorney General. The night is still long."

He heard the devil whisper, "You still have 99 ways to die that you haven't experienced yet."

(End of this chapter)