Visitor

"No... no, it wasn't me. I didn't mean to."

For the first time, the terrified Covai felt genuine killing intent.

He tried to use his glib tongue to explain his actions, but the girl before him had no intention of listening. She merely gripped the dinner knife and walked straight toward him, every step leaving a crimson bloody footprint on the carpet. Like Satan carrying Death's scythe, she had come to reap the tainted souls of humanity.

"Demon! You're a demon!" Covai roared through his ruined throat. "Lord of Blooming Flowers, save me! The demon has descended!!"

Sadly, though gods loved the people of the world, they would not pity evil ghosts fated to fall into their enemies' domain.

Still, although Covai's cries did not summon a god, they did draw out the only other living person in the manor besides him and Iris.

"What happened? What's going on?!"

Hailan came staggering down the stairs, her face wet with tears.

She had heard the sounds of fighting earlier, but in her view, if Covai and Hom were fighting, that useless man could never possibly have had the upper hand. So she had remained indifferent.

But upon hearing Covai's cries for help, Hailan could no longer sit still.

What she saw was somewhat different from what she had imagined.

Her husband lay in a pool of blood, her lover's handsome face was so battered that his features were nearly unrecognizable, and her daughter—a trainee knight of the righteous Knights Order—held a bloodstained weapon as she slowly approached the person Hailan loved most at that moment.

"Iris!!"

Hailan screamed as she ran downstairs. In her panic, she practically rolled down the steps.

But she had cast aside her usual elegance. Like a madwoman, she charged at Iris and used all the strength in her life to shove her away fiercely.

"You lunatic, you bastard! Are you some Evil Spirit from who knows where? Do you even know what you're doing?!"

Iris steadied herself, her furious eyes full of disbelief.

"You're cursing me? You're asking what I'm doing?"

She pointed at her father lying on the reddish-brown carpet. "He murdered my father—your husband—and you're actually protecting this killer?"

Seeing Iris stop, Covai hurried to his lifeline's side and cried anxiously, "Hailan, don't believe her! She's lying to you! She's been possessed by an Abyssal Demon! She killed her own father! Now she wants to kill us too!!"

"You...!"

Iris could not imagine someone could be so shameless.

Even when people in the Knights Order were challenged by her and lost a duel, they would never deny their debts. They always dared to take responsibility for their actions.

It could be said that Covai was the first person she had ever seen who could twist black into white without even changing his expression.

But what Iris found even harder to understand came afterward.

Hailan believed Covai.

As a mother, Hailan had never been responsible. She had even long forgotten that today was her daughter's birthday.

Compared to Iris, whom she had never bothered to speak more than a few words to since childhood, she was more willing to believe Covai, whom she considered elegant, honest, and charming.

"He would never kill anyone! Never!" Hailan glared at Iris and repeated herself.

Iris suddenly felt as though her home was trembling.

The light warped, the ceiling gradually blurred, and the person before her changed from kind and friendly into something hideous.

Holding her forehead, she asked in a trembling voice, "I'm your daughter. You don't believe me, and instead you choose to believe a murderer?"

"You're not my daughter!" Hailan's shrill voice nearly tore Iris to pieces. "You're not Iris. You're a monster possessed by an Evil Spirit! I'm telling you, I paid the church a large sum of Offering Gold. The gods are protecting us. You damned monster will return to your abyssal hell soon enough!"

"Heh."

Iris wanted to sneer mockingly, but she could not laugh. It was as if she had lost every expression.

She had given up glory for her, yet she had never loved her.

"Since I'm an Evil Spirit, then let's go to hell together."

She gripped the dinner knife in reverse once more and walked step by step toward the embracing pair.

"Hailan... don't let her come over!"

Covai shrieked, and Hailan looked at the lover in her arms, who was terrified beyond measure. Suddenly, incomparable courage surged within her.

She rushed forward, trying to stop Iris, but the girl merely raised an arm and easily shoved her to the ground.

Seeing that Hailan could not stop the girl, Covai's heart overflowed with despair.

He forcibly suppressed it, gathered what little strength remained in his body, picked up the candlestick Hom had used as a weapon earlier, and poured every ounce of his strength into smashing it viciously toward Iris.

Iris watched the attack, which posed no threat to her whatsoever, and gently raised her hand, intending to dodge it before delivering a fatal blow.

Straight through the heart from the left ribs.

Iris thought this, but the moment she moved, she discovered that something seemed to have bound her.

"I've got her! Hurry! Beat her to death!!"

Hailan wrapped herself around Iris with both hands and feet. She shouted loudly while trying to lock down her daughter's movements.

Iris turned her head and looked at her mother.

Clearly, all she needed was the slightest exertion of strength to break free from that completely unskilled hold.

—But suddenly, she didn't want to struggle anymore.

"I never thought that the person who brought me into this world, my closest family, would personally want me dead."

The candlestick came smashing down, but before it struck, the beautiful sea-blue light in Iris's eyes had already faded away.

Her resentment, rage, and sorrow all suddenly vanished. At the moment she was about to leave this world, her soul was nearly as pure as it had been when she was first born.

Perhaps because the person who had brought her into the world was now about to send her away with her own hands.

Clang—

The human brain was the most wondrous and precious organ. Every movement and action of the body was directed by it. Yet it was also one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. It had no powerful muscles to protect it, no space to cushion it, and the skull that alone guarded it was exceptionally fragile when struck by foreign objects.

Under the heavy blow, the brainstem in Iris's brain, which had completely abandoned all defense, was instantly crushed and ruptured. Blood flooded every inch of her brain tissue, and with that, all life was gone.

Iris fell, and Hailan also lost all strength in her body as she collapsed to the floor.

Suddenly, tears burst from her like a breached dam, and choking sobs rolled from her throat.

"I'm a bad person. I'm the Evil Spirit."

"It's all right, it's all right, Hailan."

After confirming that Iris was completely dead, Covai sat down on the floor and comforted the woman in a weak voice.

"You're not an Evil Spirit. Iris, who killed Hom, was. But we dealt with her. The Lord is watching over us. It's all right now."

But Hailan was already on the verge of a mental breakdown and had no desire to pay attention to the lover she usually treasured so dearly.

Covai offered a few words of comfort. Seeing that they had no effect, he grew somewhat irritated and stopped trying to communicate with Hailan.

He slowly stood up, briefly tended to his wounds, and found that the pain was still bearable for now. Then, dragging his battered body, he prepared to clean up the scene.

But just as he dragged the two lifeless bodies a few steps, several knocks abruptly sounded at the door.

Bang, bang, bang—

Covai's heart skipped violently. He instinctively let go and looked up.

The visitor wore a black robe, his features hidden from view. Under the pale silver moonlight, he seemed somewhat mysterious.

"Sorry, it seems I've interrupted you." The visitor's voice sounded calm, as though the bloody scene in the hall had caused no ripple in him.

"May I ask if Mr. Lizer is here?"

Covai's thoughts churned as he recalled Hom's words.

"Tonight, I'm receiving a guest. A very important guest."

Was this him?

Thanks to "I Am Shabi" for the 1,500 Qidian coins donation. Thank you so much, orz!!