Chapter 14: Young Master Cyril’s Great Adventure!

There are only two ways to terminate a blood contract.
The first is for the contract holder—Evelyn—to exhaust all seven of her command seals, at which point the blood contract will automatically dissolve.
The second is for Evelyn to die during the contract period.

Cyril touched the blood mark that spread from the side of his neck down to his collarbone.
This mark was hidden beneath his collar, and only he himself knew of its existence.

Just like the seven ring-shaped command seals on Evelyn’s left ring finger, this mark had appeared on Cyril’s collarbone the moment the blood contract was formed last night.
It was the mark that signified the existence of the blood contract.

The crowds coming and going on the street cast all kinds of looks at Cyril—curiosity, disgust.
In most people’s eyes, those obsidian-black pupils of his represented misfortune, represented something that would draw demons.

Cyril did his best to ignore these chaotic gazes.
He stared at the gentle-looking nun’s back not far ahead of him.

Others didn’t know, but when dealing with him last night, that nun had fully revealed her true nature right before his eyes.

That woman was, without a doubt, a madwoman.

Cyril had no intention of waiting around for her to use up the remaining six command seals.
That woman had said it outright—during the time the blood contract was in effect, she would find a way to completely kill him.

Cyril would not sit still and wait for death.

So he chose the second method of解除 the blood contract:
Before Evelyn could find a way to kill him, he would kill that crazy woman himself.

Fortunately, he had instructed Sera last night to keep an eye on Evelyn, which was how he had managed to locate her residence.

However, killing Evelyn was something he had to do personally.

Not only was Sera not necessarily capable of killing that terrifying nun, but more importantly, Cyril did not want to drag Sera—whom he had regarded as an older sister since childhood, his head maid—into this mess.

Normally, contracts used to bind demons into familiars always came with an additional clause:
The familiar must remain loyal to the contract holder and must never harbor killing intent toward them.

But as an emergency contract whose drawbacks far outweighed its benefits, the blood contract, while it could indeed forcibly bind a demon regardless of their will, had no additional clauses whatsoever.

That meant that as a familiar, Cyril was fully capable of killing his contract holder, Evelyn.

That woman had not even used a command seal to order him not to harm her when the contract took effect.
Cyril had no idea whether that was arrogance—or sheer stupidity.

But to be honest, Cyril had very little confidence in killing a nun so terrifying that even demons would scream themselves hoarse and suffer mental collapse.

That was why he had slipped away from the Grian estate without telling Sera and secretly followed behind Evelyn.

After all, if you wanted to defeat an enemy, the first thing you should do was gather enough information.

What was she going out to do today?
Was she going to hunt demons again?

Cyril held a newspaper in his hands, hiding his face behind it while keeping Evelyn’s back tightly within his peripheral vision.

Only when Evelyn turned into another street did he casually toss the newspaper away and furiously spin his wheelchair to follow after her.

“Hey! You kid!”
“How can you just litter like that?!”

The auntie at the candy shop by the street suddenly shouted.

Whatever, whatever—this is important business!

Cyril ignored her yelling and spun his wheelchair forward with all his might.

And then—

The wheelchair suddenly stopped dead in place.
No matter how hard Cyril strained, he couldn’t move the wheels at all.

“I’m telling you…”

A gloomy, terrifying auntie’s face suddenly appeared right in front of Cyril.
“You kids shouldn’t litter.”

Cyril was so startled he nearly bounced out of his wheelchair.

One of the auntie’s hands pressed down on the wheelchair’s armrest, as if it weighed a thousand jin, leaving Cyril utterly unable to move.

Wait, is the outside world this scary?!

This was Cyril’s first time going out alone, and he was so frightened his eyes were nearly watering.

“Trash should go in the trash can.”

As she spoke, the auntie stuffed the crumpled newspaper back into Cyril’s hands.
“Don’t cause trouble for everyone.”

“Uh… o-okay…”

Cyril shrank his neck.
Under the auntie’s terrifying stare, he obediently rolled his wheelchair over and tossed the paper ball into the trash can by the street.

“That’s a good boy!”

The auntie said cheerfully, grabbing a piece of candy from the stall outside her shop and stuffing it into Cyril’s hand.
“Here, a reward for a good kid.”

Cyril swallowed and didn’t dare say a word.
A high-ranking half-demon nearly scared to tears by a candy shop auntie—who would believe that if he told them?

Only after the auntie turned around and went back into the shop did Cyril, drenched in cold sweat, spin his wheelchair and flee at top speed.
The way he moved, it was as if the candy shop itself was the real demon—he nearly spun sparks out of the wheels.

“Damn it! I lost her!”

It wasn’t until Cyril reached the spot where Evelyn had disappeared that he realized she was already gone.

Ahead of him lay a dirty, narrow street.
Chaotic buildings overhead stretched so high they nearly reached the sky.

This place seemed to be the Lower City that Sera and the other maids occasionally mentioned.

Cyril struggled as he rolled his wheelchair down the cobblestone slope.

The moment he entered this filthy district, he felt countless eyes sweeping over his body.

What was that crazy woman doing in a place like this?

Although Ingrey City had more than ten different districts, it could broadly be divided into three main zones:
The Upper City and Middle City, controlled by the government—the Upper City where the nobles gathered, and the Middle City where most ordinary citizens lived their lives.

Beyond that, there was the Central Church District under Church control, and the Lower City ruled by gangs and criminals.

In truth, it wasn’t that the Lower City didn’t belong to the government.
Aside from the Church-controlled Central District, every inch of Ingrey City was theoretically under government jurisdiction.

They were just too lazy to deal with the crime-breeding, filthy trash bin that was the Lower City.

Just like that auntie had said—trash belonged in the trash can.
And a city was easier to manage precisely because it had a place to contain such trash.

But a Sin-Tainted Nun affiliated with the Church shouldn’t normally come to a place like this.

What’s more, as a Sin-Tainted Nun, she didn’t even live in the Central Church District, but instead resided in the Middle City.
That alone was suspicious.

“Hey there, young master…”

Just as Cyril was looking around and thinking about which direction Evelyn might have gone, a harsh, coarse voice suddenly pierced his ears.

“What’s a little young master like you doing in a place like this?”

As the voice sounded, several shadows had already fallen over Cyril’s field of vision.

They were several men dressed in filthy clothes.
Within the shadows, their gazes gleamed with a kind of greedy, dangerous light.

Were they local thugs?
Gang members?

Cyril spun his wheelchair, trying to get away from these clearly unsavory men.
But a rough, calloused hand clamped down on the armrest.

At the same time, the men moved with perfect coordination, surrounding Cyril completely.

“Young master came to our place to do some charity, huh?”

The leader grinned viciously.
“Perfect timing—we’ve been a bit short lately.”
“Mind lending us some money?”

The Lower City was firmly controlled by gangs and criminals.
In their eyes, anyone unfamiliar who stepped into the Palace of a Hundred Eyes was a fat lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

This is bad…

Facing these men who looked like demons incarnate, Cyril shrank back, at a complete loss.

Without unsealing himself, he was nothing more than a sickly young master who couldn’t even stand properly, much less fight.
All he could do was curl up inside this wheelchair, like a moving cage.

To be honest, he felt not only frustrated—but genuinely afraid.

These guys didn’t look like the merciful type.

Should he解除 the seal?

But if he did, not only would that crazy woman notice, the Church would be drawn here as well.

That would be more trouble than it was worth…

And he wasn’t carrying any money either.
It looked like he was going to get beaten no matter what.

“Hey, I’m pretty broke too.”
“How about you lend me some money instead?”

Suddenly, a crisp voice cut through the shadows.

At some point, Evelyn had appeared.
She slipped through the gaps between the thugs, squatted down halfway, and slung an arm around Cyril’s shoulders like an old buddy.

“A young master like you should be pretty rich, right?”

Evelyn licked her lips as she spoke, her incense-like breath almost brushing against Cyril’s face.

“E–Evelyn?!”

The moment the leader saw Evelyn’s back, he stumbled backward in terror and fell flat on his butt.
The others who had been surrounding Cyril scattered in fright as well.

“S–sorry! We’ll leave right now!”

The leader apologized desperately, scrambling to escape.

“Pa!”

A shell casing sliced past his cheek and embedded itself deeply into the cobblestone road behind him, still faintly smoking.

“Did I say you could leave?”

Evelyn gathered the skirt of her nun’s habit and slowly stood up.
Then she slowly turned her head.

A pair of deep blue eyes that could nearly stop a heart flickered within the shadows.

“Eek!”

The man collapsed on the ground, his face drained of color, unable to speak.
At some point, his pants had already darkened.

It was obvious that the shell casing Evelyn had thrown—moving with the force of a bullet—had scared him into wetting himself.

“Give my regards to your boss, Shelby.”

Evelyn turned her head away and placed her hand on the handle of Cyril’s wheelchair.

“Tell him that if he can’t keep his people in line, I can reluctantly do it for him.”
“But by then, it won’t be something that can be solved with just a finger.”

With that, she pushed Cyril’s wheelchair and walked away at an unhurried pace.

Only after the two figures had gradually disappeared did a younger man nearby help the leader up.

This younger man was the very one who had earlier, from the shadows, set his sights on Evelyn.

“Is that woman always this arrogant?”

The younger man muttered as he supported him.

“Shut up!”

The leader was pale with terror.
Without even caring that his pants were soaked, he hurriedly covered the younger man’s mouth.
“Are you trying to get us killed?!”

“What’s the big deal?”
“She’s already gone…”

The younger man impatiently pried his hand away, but his words were cut off halfway by the sound of something tearing through the air.

“…gone? Aaaahhhhhh! My hand!!”

A shell casing had already come screaming through the air like a fired bullet, striking the younger man’s little finger with brutal speed and force, severing it cleanly!

Half a finger fell to the ground, still twitching from nerve reflexes, while the young man clutched his hand and rolled on the ground in agony.

“If you take him to a doctor quickly, it can still be reattached.”

From the now-empty corner, Evelyn’s ethereal voice drifted over.

“You really should learn your lesson.”

The leader pulled out a relatively clean piece of cloth and wrapped up the severed finger.
“Watch your mouth next time.”
“Getting yourself killed is one thing—don’t drag me down with you.”