The Devil Who Breaks My Neck

The temple in the middle of the mountain was large enough to accommodate all the horses that the knights rode.

Edgar looked at the unfamiliar building style right behind Ezekiel. Unlike other temples in the North, which extend in a straight line, are high, pointed, and enclosed within a boundary, the temple here is made of curves and soft features, and the space is open with several pillars.

‘……it’s definitely more like the East.’

The temple was strictly under the jurisdiction of the North. However, the culture here, including not only buildings but also people’s speech, was much closer to that of the East than to the North. Even the weather is clearly different, so it hasn’t snowed here yet compared to Serpens Castle in the North, where the lake has completely frozen.

‘It’s pretty far away.’

Originally, it would have been once every few years to come to this area far from Serpens Castle. Unlike the North living on the border with barbarians, this area was peaceful and well-off. But now they have traveled a long way to this place, close to the border with the East, for reasons other than territorial disputes.

There was a disturbance two years ago in a village close to the East. Ezekiel didn’t care because it was such a remote place that he didn’t want to waste his time coming here, but when he heard about it…….

‘…….’

“I heard that two women with a baby were seen in the village, and one of them was very beautiful. So the two local leaders of the village were heard fighting with each other over the woman. By the way, the woman the villagers talked about had black hair and blue eyes…… Most importantly, when I showed the Duchess’s portrait to the village women, they nodded saying it was the same person.”

The contents informed by the person who secretly released them were quite reliable. So Ezekiel came here at once. And they gathered together those who had fought over the woman, tied them up, and put a sword on their neck. They were dragged from their homes when they were sleeping, so they shouted at the knights saying, “Who is this wicked man?” But immediately lowered their heads after learning about Ezekiel’s identity.

“Why, why did the Duke…….”

They confessed everything they remembered facing Ezekiel’s murderous interrogation. All Ezekiel could find out, however, was that Herace fled in the middle of the night to escape them and headed East.

“…did you touch her?”

“What? Huh? No, sir! Ugh… Ugh!”

After investigating everything related to Herace, Ezekiel cut off the heads of those who tried to touch Herace without hesitation. It could have been terrible to see their neck being cut off and blood splashing at once, but the knights only cleaned up the place as if they were used to it.

‘When will he quit? And if he goes further…….’

Edgar looked at Ezekiel’s back and bit his lips. It’s already been more than three years since they started searching for the Duchess who ran away.

The stealthy pursuit was no longer a secret. Although not yet known to many, the high-ranking nobles and other quick-informed people knew that Ezekiel was wandering around looking for Herace.

‘Will the Northern Knights, who came from the East without prior consultation, be allowed to enter here?’

As long as the journey to find Herace was limited to the Northern land, there was no problem. However, the clue found was now pointing East beyond the Northern Territory. It’s been a long time since Ezekiel let people go in secret to the East. It was clear that the Lord would run everywhere if he saw even the Duchess’s shadow.

“Thank you for coming all the way, Duke.”

It was when Edgar sighed in anticipation of what was to come, several priests were seen standing in front of them and greeting Ezekiel.

Edgar looked at the High Priest bending down as if his head was touching the ground at the front and looked at the clothes he was wearing. The Priest’s uniform, which was a combination of gold and silver threads on a white background, was overflowing with dignity just by looking at it.

On the other hand, Ezekiel, the Lord of the North, was adorned in simple clothes. He was dressed as a knight, if he wore a badge with a sword around his waist and a cape fixed on his shoulder, all he had to do was wear a light armour on top of his comfortable outfit and ride a horse to pose as a perfect knight. However, unlike the priest who was groveling with a servile expression, he stood with a cool face, giving his opponent a sense of intimidation just by looking at his eyes.

“You must have received the letter. Where is it?”

Ezekiel, who looked at the priests with insensitive eyes, opened his mouth. If he is told even an inch of lie, he would cut their throats right away. So the priests shrank their necks like turtles being squeezed by herons.

“Follow me, please.”

After a long time, a senior priest answered. Ezekiel, who looked down at the priest with his forehead wrinkled, signalled at Edgar. Edgar told each team leader of the knights to take a rest and quickly followed Ezekiel’s footsteps. Then, a questionable gaze was lodged at them from behind.

They have already visited twenty-two temples in the North. Edgar understood the subordinates’ questions but declined to speak. It wasn’t because Ezekiel, the Lord, himself was silent, but what he was guessing was something he could not dare say.

Edgar followed Ezekiel through the hallway of the Goddess’ temple, where the portraits of the Goddess were delicately engraved on the wall of the corridor. Next to the benevolent Goddess, angels with wide wings were armed and pushing spears toward the Devil of Hell were also seen.

“This way. Please come on in.”

After passing the long corridor, the place where the priest guided them was in front of a pair of heavy doors. The oak doors were also engraved with the portraits of Goddesses, angels, and demons like the walls of the corridor.

Click.

The priest opened the lock with a large key on his waist and pushed the door with difficulty. Soon, an elegant prayer room appeared with the smell of old trees.

“Be careful.”

The priest’s steps that crossed the threshold with a warning became more cautious. He stopped in front of the altar after entering the prayer room, reciting prayers with his head down. On the altar lay a wooden box with white lilies.

The priest, who looked at Ezekiel with a sideways glance opened the lid of the box, and a Goddess who was wisely leaning on a tree appeared inside the box. The priest carefully lifted the statue of the Goddess which was about the size of an adult’s forearm and spoke reverently.

“This is the statue of Saintess Baratam.”

****

It was about six months after Herace disappeared. Ezekael, who was running everywhere like crazy in search of his missing wife, suddenly turned his direction and went back to the castle.

It was the first visit of his in months, but the castle’s hierarchy was well established. Even the disturbance caused by Charlotte with the Duchess’s room a few months ago didn’t hinder it.

“……How did you know I would come and prepare like this?”

“What? It’s……Huh? Come to think of it, how…….”

However, Ezekiel ran up the stairs at once, without giving a glance at the old butler and the employees who were politely meeting him. And that day Edgar saw the Lord getting madly angry at his own son through the open door.

“Where is she? Where did you hide her?”

It was strange to see the Lord questioning his own son while looking down at the bed where the child was sitting. But there was something stranger than the Lord. Edgar felt a strange sense of strangeness when he saw Miguel smiling and folding his eyes as if he was having fun with his father’s angry shouts, and his mother, Charlotte sitting blankly like a doll.

“Even if I follow the trail, it’s cut off at some point. Even if I found a clue, it disappeared like a fog. So tell me straight! Isn’t everything your fault?”

Normally, Ezekiel would have noticed that someone was peeking or eavesdropping his conversation with someone. However, he lost half his reason and had no time to care whether the door was open or who was looking inside.

Edgar also would never have done this at any time. It was an unacceptable act that should never be done as a knight or a servant to dare to secretly see the private life of the Lord. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the scene in the room. He thought he could now be sure of the identity of the anxiety that had plagued him since that day.

At that time, the Lord, who had been injured from being hit by an arrow, wandered around the dead zone and became fine overnight. And before a month passed since then, the belly of the woman, who was brought on the order of their Lord, swelled rapidly and became full. Edgar’s eyes automatically turned to Charlotte, who was sitting with unfocused eyes.

‘…no, it’s just my funny delusion.’

Edgar continued to deny his thoughts, but the doubts that occupied his head grew. And for a moment, the child sitting on the bed looked directly into Edgar’s eyes between the gap of the door.

The same bright yellow eyes as Ezekiel, the mysterious light that seemed to have been poured into gold, headed exactly for Edgar. As the child did to his father, he folded his eyes nicely to Edgar.

‘This…’

The innocent-looking child’s bright smile was also innocent. However, Edgar, who could only feel fear from the expression, blurted out what he had been thinking.

“……is he even human?”

It was a small sound that no one seemed to hear, but Ezekiel, who found Edgar standing outside the door, crumpled his face as if he had been caught for doing something illogical, and closed the door soundly. And after that day, Ezekiel was different.

Unlike before, Ezekiel moved more systematically in search of Herace without doing anything. He released more than three times as many people across the country and made the chase faster and more accurate based on the information they brought. He also went to subjugate for a short time by doing what he had put off. And around that time, Ezekiel began to visit temples with sacred objects.

Apparently quiet, the people of Serpens began to whisper that Ezekiel had returned, and that he would soon forget his wife, too. But it didn’t take much time to realize it was an illusion.

What was hidden in reason was more persistence than before. What remained in the place where the anger that had burned for months subsided was coldly abandoned anger. Mercy completely disappeared from Ezekiel.

And Edgar realized as he listened to the blind sorcerer in a savage village where he had subjugated. Why is his lord looking for temple properties.

“It’s no use taking it out on us, dog of a dirty empire. What you’re looking for is hidden well.”

‘…….’

“Your bluebird had already run away. You were the one that brought ‘It’ to you, and now you are completely fed up with it. It’s not strange to see you and ‘It’ as one.”

‘…….’

“There will be no joy for you as long as it is attached. Your bluebird will never be back to you…… Oh my god!”

“You talk a lot when you can’t even see ahead.”

“………whispering, the devil is whispering to you.”

Nothing could be seen in the eyes that were as muddy as a dead fish, but the sorcerer raised his head up as he died as if Ezekiel was vividly visible in front of his eyes. Looking down at the sorcerer laughing at him until the end, Ezekiel’s face turned hideous. And he spoke in a livid voice to the dead body, which was cooling down.

“Shut up.”