Red debated delaying the meeting so he could discuss things with Aurelia first. However, Lady Ilse’s voice seemed to imply the matter was urgent.
So instead, he asked Aurelia the most pertinent question.
“Did you recognize her technique?”
“It was a hex, but I can’t say I know the technique,” Aurelia said, sounding as if she was also in deep thought.
“Do you think it’s from a cult?”
“That’s impossible to say. Your blood techniques aren’t from a cult either, so she could have developed them on her own or have come across a recorded Spiritual Art.”
“Then who…” Red trailed off.
‘…Who is it from?’
As far as he understood, although demonic techniques weren’t necessarily related to a cult or worship, their powers were always associated with an archdemon’s domain. Red’s blood powers came from the being within his body, whom he suspected to have been an archdemon or something close to that level at some point, so Lady Ilse's techniques intersected with a similar existence. However, he knew it wasn’t wise to ponder upon such matters aloud.
Aurelia scoffed, as if reading his thoughts. “It’s good you can rein in your curiosity now. Besides, darkness and shadows are a domain shared by more than a few of them, and techniques from demonic sects weren’t limited to just one type of corruption. So really, there is no way of knowing for certain.”
Red was relieved his curious mind wasn’t afforded the opportunity to ponder on this dangerous matter.
“However…” Aurelia’s voice broke his brief reprieve. “Perhaps the more important question is: now that you know she can use demonic techniques, what other parts of her skills can you cast suspicion on?”
He closed his eyes, pondering for a second. Lady Ilse’s primary focus was on alchemy, which wasn’t necessarily connected to any archdemon that he knew about, but there was another skill of hers that stood out - something Aurelia had brought to his attention before.
‘Her visions…’
As someone who knew about divination, the woman told him once that the way Lady Ilse described her visions was strange. There was not much to go on back then, but now that Red knew what she was capable of, an explanation presented itself.
“Her divination is also a demonic technique?” He asked.
“It’s a possibility, but there might also be other explanations,” Aurelia said. “That’s not what matters, though. Do you remember how she said she got her visions?”
“Through her dreams…”
Red froze as the pieces clicked in his mind. From the little information available to the public, archdemons were described with brief and vague words, but one of them stood out as both being related to darkness and dreams.
The Mare.
As soon as Red came to that name, he tried to empty his mind of those thoughts. He didn’t feel any lingering corruption or unease like with the Infernal Emperor, so this allowed him to relax somewhat.
“You’ve realized it then,” Aurelia said. “Of course, that is just one suspect, but it fits the parameters quite well.”
“Then what should I do with that information?”
“Just be prepared. The girl doesn’t look like she is corrupted, but sometimes corruption is not very apparent on the surface. The influence of this being, in particular, has always been extremely hard to pinpoint, since it was the only archdemon that never had an organized cult,” she said, reminiscence in her voice. “Though maybe that too has changed since my time.”
Red took her warnings very seriously. Aurelia wasn’t a paranoid person - in fact, she often told him he was too paranoid - which was why this was something he needed to take seriously.
He focused on his crimson sense, and only after confirming there was no commotion on the streets did he leave through the second-floor window once again.
…
Just like Pierre told him, their earlier incident hadn’t caused that big of a commotion - at least not one that reached the inner city. Guards patrolled with the same frequency, and Red was able to sneak past them with no issue as he arrived at the Fairclough manor.
He sensed Lady Ilse’s fluctuation inside, right by a window on the second floor that was left conveniently open. She seemed to expect he wouldn’t be paying a formal visit. When he got inside, he saw her sitting on a sofa, wearing a sleeping gown as she looked down at a box in her hands.
Red recognized it to be the pill box she used earlier to stun the auditorium, though there was no pill inside.
“It should have worked,” she said without looking up, her voice still quite weak. “Even a Greater Ring Realm cultivator would have disoriented for a second or two.”
“He’s a demonic cultivator,” Red said.
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Lady Ilse froze and looked up at him. “Is that true?”
“Yes, though I’m unsure how his abilities work. For him to use them so freely in front of so many people, I assume he must have something to rely on to not give his identity away.”
“I see. That certainly makes this failure more digestible,” she put the box down. “Then I suppose I must explain-”
“You’re also a demonic cultivator.”
Her face changed for a second, though she seemed more surprised at his bluntness than at his words.
“I wouldn’t call myself that, though I suppose if knowing a demonic technique is all it takes to be a demonic cultivator, then yes,” she nodded, studying his reaction beneath his mask. “You seem rather unbothered by this revelation. Is there a reason for that?”
She looked at him with a frown. Her strange question and expression seemed to indicate she was expecting something. Red saw that her face and posture displayed confidence, though her fluctuation was in a state of unease, as if she was fearing for the worst.
Her words made it clear to him what she was expecting from him.
“When did you find out?” He asked.
She let out a sigh of relief, and some of the hidden tension in her body disappeared.
“After your fight in the workshop, I sensed something strange and familiar at the same time,” Lady Ilse said. “I’ve been in constant contact with demonic corruption my entire life, so I’ve become sensitive to its presence.”
“You knew I was a demonic cultivator and still covered for me?”
She laughed. “Of course! What kind of hypocrite would I be if I sold you out instead? Besides… I know that just because you use those arts, it doesn’t make you a bad person.”
Red frowned. “It seems like a big risk to take with all the cultists in the city.”
“It’s not a risk at all. Leon trusts you, and you’ve proved yourself to be a decent person a few times already.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that.
“How did you come across your powers?” Lady Ilse asked, some eagerness in her voice.
Red hesitated to answer. “…They were forced on me.”
“That makes sense. In truth, you didn’t strike me as the kind of person to choose this path of your own volition. I was also… ‘granted’ these powers through no choice of my own.”
“Was it through your dreams?”
“You…” This time, she seemed shocked. “How did you know?”
“The way you describe your divinations has always been strange. After I found out you were a demonic cultivator, it made sense.”
She crossed her arms in displeasure. “You have misunderstood. Yes, my demonic powers came from my dream, but my divinations are most certainly not a demonic technique.”
Red didn’t respond, and the two of them stared at each other in silence.
Lady Ilse shifted on the sofa. “You don’t want to know what happened?”
“You mean you would tell me?” He asked, confused.
“Yes, of course! I mean…” She stood straighter. “Wouldn’t it give you peace of mind?”
“In some ways, I suppose.”
Lady Ilse smiled and pointed at the chair across from her. “Sit.”
“I’d rather stand.”
“Just sit down and listen to the story!”
Red sighed and decided to not argue with her. He took his seat, and she began her tale.
“Well, the story is simple. Since I was younger, I’ve been plagued by nightmares. At first, my parents assumed it was nothing to worry about, but at some point, these nightmares became prophetic, and the things I described to them came to pass. Murders, disasters, deaths - all kinds of malign events I saw in my dream became a reality in real life. Some in my family thought I was somehow responsible for them, though thankfully my father was more knowledgeable about demons and contacted one of his friends - a powerful rogue cultivator.” She paused and gave Red a deep look. “Since you were able to guess about my dreams, you should know the entity responsible for what I was going through, right?”
He nodded. The Mare, the archdemon of the night and the bringer of nightmares. It was one of the most elusive archdemons - an entity that could corrupt through dreams, something not even powerful cultivators could guard against.
She continued. “That cultivator could tell that I was being corrupted by that… thing. Unfortunately, exorcising someone’s nightmare is something only cultivators from the Divine Dream Sect can do, and my father didn’t have the means to summon them for help, even as a noble. So instead, he bought me one of their techniques - ‘A Distant Dream’. It is a dream divination technique, and it could be used as a way to counteract the nightmares and stop the corruption from spreading further.”
“‘A Distant Dream’?!” Aurelia’s shocked voice reached Red’s ears. “What nonsense is this? It’s a core technique of the Divine Dream Sect. It has never been for sale and they would kill anyone from outside their sect with it!”
He frowned at this revelation. “‘A Distant Dream’? Your father was able to buy a sect’s technique for you?”
“Yes, though in truth, to this day I am not entirely sure of the price he paid,” she grimaced. “And I’ll never be able to find it out.”
“He’s dead?”
“Yes, but that’s not what matters! Let me finish the story,” Lady Ilse cut him off. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, I proved to be talented with divination and was able to advance in the technique very quickly. The nightmares didn’t stop entirely, but their frequency decreased, and the corruption no longer spread in my body.”
“That doesn’t explain how you learned that strange technique.”
“The hex?” She frowned. “That was something I learned from my nightmares. Although they often presented me with horrific visions, there was also knowledge to be gleamed from them. In fact, I would have avoided learning them if I could, but once I saw them in my nightmares, the information was etched in my mind, and I couldn’t forget it.”
Red found the entire situation to be strange. Why would a nightmare present someone with means to get stronger?
“Perhaps it was trying to convert you into a believer through the technique’s corruption,” he said.
“I thought that too, which is why I avoided practicing them for a long while. However, when you have a powerful tool at your disposal and your life is on the line, you would be a fool to not use it out of fear of corruption. Don’t you agree?”
Red sighed and nodded. How could he disagree considering what he did in the past? He was, however, reminded of Aurelia’s earlier warning.
“You are confident that you can control your corruption?”
Lady Ilse seemed somewhat offended at the question. “I assure you, I take Cleansing Pills on set intervals and have demonology specialists examine me for corruption every year. I do everything within my means to ensure the corruption does not influence me.”
Indeed, if there was something more she could do to help herself, Red didn’t know what it could be. This didn’t mean he was completely reassured considering the source of her corruption, but this wasn’t something he could bring up to her.
“Your friends, do they know this?” He asked.
“No, though Pierre has probably always suspected it. In this city, only my sister and the king know about it. And now you too, I suppose,” Lady Ilse stared at him. “I would appreciate if you told no one else about it.”
“I won’t,” Red nodded. “Though I’d like to ask a question.”
Since he heard Aurelia mention hexes, he couldn’t help but get an idea.
“You said you know hexes, right? How well?”
“That is a broad question… However, I have reached mastery in hex arts.”
‘Mastery?’
She barely practiced them, and she was already a hex master. It seemed her nightmares imparted to her with more than just techniques.
“Then do you think you could help remove a hex from someone’s soul?”
Red was, of course, referring to Yrsa, Rimold’s sister, who was cursed by a hex.