Chapter 197 (1): Succubus

The black car drove toward the Snow family’s fief, tailed by two cars. Wayne ignored them. It was better that they followed since catching the culprits red-handed with the physical evidence would prevent others from claiming that he framed them, undermining his reputation.

The car slowly left the city on the slightly bumpy road. Using that as an excuse, he leaned toward Veronica, infuriating her so much that she ground her teeth together. But she endured and didn’t say anything.

Silently, she commended herself for foreseeing this scenario. If not for her forward thinking, Vera would’ve been sitting on Wayne’s lap already. How shameless!

Ten minutes later, the car pulled over before a church. Under Veronica’s urging, Wayne opened the car door at his own pace and took a map out to study it.

The city of Fawst wasn’t that large, nothing compared to the massive Londan. Thus, the Snow family’s fief wasn’t far from the city center, now turned into an industrial zone.

Music was important to the locals, as well as alcohol. Almost every street had at least a bar. In this particular fief, for example, the church was located on the bar street. Even the pastors standing at the door seemed wasted.

“We meet again, Sir Wayne.”

From one of the stalking cars, Marion emerged and came up to them with a smile. She earnestly talked to Mona about arranging Wayne’s schedule. She wasn’t asking for much, but just an hour of his time. Her commitment was clear in her humble attitude.

Veronica glared. She hated Marion’s clothes and her busty figure. She hated everything about the woman. Scowling, she said, “I’m Wayne’s—”

“Wayne’s...?” the man in question asked curiously.

“Nothing.” Veronica stopped herself, going further down the path of the second female lead who failed to get the man.

Marion never even considered Veronica a threat. She was clearly an inexperienced student who didn’t know anything but be vanilla, believing in the kind of pure love that did not exist. Sir Wayne would’ve tired of girls like her quickly.

Vera didn’t seem any better, clearly the dull and gullible type.

Mona, on the other hand, was dressed like a professional with a glint of wisdom in her eyes behind her glasses. She had to be Sir Wayne’s true confidant, someone he would keep around him for at least ten years.

Marion never aimed to become Mrs. Lando. It just wasn’t realistic. She had always planned to become his lover, and she was confident that she could do it with her charisma and magic. In an hour, Wayne would fall head over heels for her, which would resolve the crisis her family was facing once and for all.

“Sir Wayne, I’m offering a tour around the fief if you don’t mind.”

“Then I’ll trouble you, Miss Marion.” Wayne looked around, picking up the map to check it. “I heard that the Snow family owns quite a lot of properties in the fief, including a few villas for important guests?”

“That’s true.”

“Take me to your biggest villa. I’d like to have a drink.”

There were bars everywhere, so his insistence on drinking at a villa was obviously an excuse for his investigation.

Marion smiled, readily saying yes.

The investigation team had arrived too late. If they had come a fortnight earlier, they would’ve found evidence at the villas. But now? They were welcome to inspect any part of the fief, even tearing down the factories while they were at it.

Feeling assured, Marion had the two cars lead the investigation team to the largest villa in the fief. The architecture was heavily influenced by classicism, with white walls and blue rooftops on the exterior and intricate decor inside to create an elegant and romantic space. It was a real sight to behold.

The manor was also well-equipped and well-staffed with a professional team. Whatever the Snow family’s guests asked for, the team would do their best to satisfy them.

Wayne nodded in approval. The Snow family was rich, which reaffirmed his conviction to extort them.

No wonder the Queen was so eager to go after the reformed noble families, and the Ministry of Magic made a long list not long after Obed’s demise. They were

offensively

rich. The Queen would be doing wrong by the crown she was wearing if she didn’t fudge them up thoroughly.

“Sir Wayne, would you be staying the night?”

“No, I smell sulfur here. It reminds me of... of...” Wayne paused, turning to Mona. “What does the smell of sulfur mean?”

“Hell!” Marion adjusted her glasses. “There are signs of demonic activities in this house. It’s so obvious that I can feel it.”

Marion’s eyes widened. Why would they suddenly bring up demons?

“Yes, hell,” Wayne said with certainty, sniffing the perfume in the air. “Found it. It’s coming from the underground wine cellar.”

He led the way in big strides. Shocked, Marion hurriedly caught up to them.

The cellar was quite spacious. Wayne opened the door and turned on the light, seeing the stacks of barrels filling the eight rows of shelves and smelling the potent fragrance. Marion stared in shock at the skewed inverted pentagram on the tiled floor. There was also a pattern on the wall with a metallic smell. The scene looked decidedly hellish.

“Mona, which demon does the pattern represent?”

“It should be the Blood Tyrant, but the inverted pentagram is related to Pride, one of the Seven Demon Lords. We can’t determine which of the two demons is involved yet.”

With Wayne giving Mona the order through his thoughts, she pulled her cross pendant out of her bosom and chanted something unintelligible. Holy light spread, making the inverted pentagram on the ground glow red. A bat phantom that represented Pride slowly emerged, but unable to resist the holy light, it vanished with a roar.

The blood pattern on the wall, on the other hand, flickered with red light and condensed into a fist-sized blood crystal that resembled a ruby. It tumbled to Marion’s feet, clinking along the way.

Veronica stared in disbelief. Wayne’s dog was incredibly professional. The only shortcoming was that the circle wasn’t round enough, the squiggly line looking like dog’s scrawls.

Marion picked up the crimson crystal with a look of confusion on her face. She knew Pride, but Blood Tyrant? Had the family summoned that demon? Even if they had, the traces would’ve been erased. They wouldn’t have left such glaring evidence.

So... this had to be a shameless fabrication of evidence!

“Miss Marion, symbols of demonic faiths are found in one of the Snow family’s villas, and there are symbols representing not one, but

two

demons. Aren’t you going to give me an explanation?” Wayne demanded darkly. The evidence was undeniable. She should confess.

Marion wasn’t going to admit guilt, of course. She hurriedly argued, “Sir Wayne, the Snow family has nothing to do with any demons, and even if we did, we wouldn’t have left traces in such obvious places. Someone’s trying to frame the Snow family. I hope you’ll find the truth.”

“What? Are you accusing me of framing you?”

“I didn’t say that, no.”

“Miss Marion, the investigation team has been under the Snow family’s watchful eyes since our arrival. No one framed you. You may deny your guilt, but you know very well whether you have done it or not.”

Wayne stepped forward with a dark look in his eyes, extending his thoughts to disturb Marion’s rationality while she was panicking. She heard the devilish whispers in her head.

“Vice Minister of Magic Obed, who had been shielding the Snow family, made a deal with a demon and once lived in this villa. There are things he could not do personally, but could entrust the Snow family to do for him. In offering your service, you gained the power of magic...”

“Miss Marion, Obed was a legendary mage, and he was an expert in manipulating human minds. The Snow family was fooled. He saw you as nothing but test subjects. While he claimed to be working with you as equal partners, he had been using you.”

“I’m different. I’m here to save you. Tell me what Obed had made you do...”

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“The consequences are dire, but you can still be saved!”

“...Yes, you’re right. Sir Obed did—” Marion’s dazed eyes suddenly widened, her thoughts surging to break out of Wayne’s psychic control. She glared down at him viciously. “You were controlling me into spilling the truth?!”

He stared at her, gulping audibly. Veronica, Vera, and Mona all gaped at her in disbelief, too.

Marion cursed. Looking down at her hands, she realized that she had transformed unconsciously to break free of the psychic control. She now towered over all of them at two meters tall, with a pair of black, fleshy wings extending from her back, bursting through the red dress she wore and leaving every part of her body on full display.

Two black thorns protruded and curled backward from her forehead. Her legs had morphed into a goat’s legs, with long feet and hooves[1]. Her arms and calves were covered in black hair, and a long, whip-like tail extended from her back.

Her voluptuous figure became even more pronounced than before, all graceful curves and soft, fair skin. Her complexion and the scent coming from her body were both incredibly alluring. Her already captivating face became even more delicate, her lips as red as blood. And she had rectangular pupils like those of a goat.

Even an ordinary person who had never known magic could tell what she was: a succubus!

Holy, an unexpected find!

Wayne’s jaw dropped. He had framed the guilty, accidentally hitting the jackpot.

Such big—no, such fair—no...

Such great evil!

Holy light blesses me. This evil is a worthy opponent!

1. The raw describes the anatomy as inverted joints, but unguligrades like goats actually have knees that bend forward just like humans. They just have long feet and walk on their toes/hooves, so their ankles are confused as knees, leading to the misconception that they have knees that bend backward. ☜