At that moment, Yulma froze.
A figure appeared who shouldn't have been there.
"Sister Daisy?"
"Oh my God—are you hurt? Thank God you're okay!" Daisy rushed forward, tears streaming down her face, and pulled both Lanan and Yulma into a fierce embrace.
Troy followed close behind her. _Lanan was right_, Yulma realized with a jolt of disbelief. _Troy really had come to save them._
And then Yulma noticed another person and felt her breath catch.
_God... do people like that even exist?_
Judging by her clothes, the woman was a noblewoman. Fragile in appearance, yet she radiated an incredible presence—strength and power seemed to emanate from her very being. Yulma thought that if all aristocrats were like this, it was more than a little terrifying.
_Since they came together, does that mean Daisy or Troy invited them?_
"Director..." The appearance of strangers snapped the headmistress back to reality.
So the assistant her good-for-nothing son had brought was *Daisy*. In Merai's memories, Daisy had always been a lucky girl—quiet, obedient, the perfect product. But Troy had constantly interfered with her plans, so the last memory Merai held of Daisy was simply: _leftovers from the sale of other children._
She'd posed no threat, so Merai had left her alone. Who would have thought she'd team up with Troy, whom she'd hated so fiercely?
"Troy." Her voice was ice. "You will stand in my way until the very end."
_Why does no one understand me?_
Merai had sacrificed everything for these children, but there was no one by her side. Not her son. Not even the demon who refused to obey.
And then—
White robes rippled in the stagnant basement air.
Merai saw the angel standing behind Troy.
Her breath caught. Trembling seized her limbs—not fear, but *rapture*. The whole world seemed painted in white light. She felt the same overwhelming sensation she'd experienced when she first saw the painting in the Temple.
_What a noble, radiant, majestic being!_
The angel smiled—just slightly.
Merai took it as a sign. The angel was showing her how to resolve this situation.
_That's right. Her beloved son..._
Her fingers found something hard against the wall. Carefully, she gripped it and concealed it behind her back.
_Too much distraction right now. Wait until everyone else is occupied._
_Like... now._
"Lanan? Yulma?"
"Mary! I told you to close your eyes!"
"I counted to a hundred..."
If Yulma had been mistaken about anything, it was that Mary was surprisingly good at counting. She'd stumbled a few times, but eventually reached one hundred and opened her eyes.
Mary mumbled something apologetic, and Yulma exploded in frustration. Mary flinched, certain she'd done something terrible.
While everyone's attention was fixed on Mary, the headmistress seized her moment.
She lunged at Troy.
Yulma sensed movement—something *wrong*—and instinctively covered Mary's eyes, pulling her close.
**_Squelch._**
"Mother?"
"Ha... ha... ha-ha-ha!"
The headmistress burst into laughter. Her face beamed with delight, but tears streamed down her cheeks, and no one mistook her laughter for joy.
No one had expected her to strike her own son. Even Merai herself hadn't planned it—which was precisely why no one had seen it coming.
Troy slumped against her, his weight unsteady. Daisy tried to rush toward him, but Yulma and Lanan held her back.
"Melek." The headmistress's voice dropped to a whisper, her bloodied hand extended toward the demon. "I sacrifice my son to you. Troy is a worthy sacrifice, isn't he? *Now* will you fulfill my wish?"
Melek had barely been breathing since Lanan's knife found his back. But now—*now*—a delicious aroma wafted toward him. He swallowed involuntarily.
He was so *hungry*.
And the wound, sustained by his already weakened body, only intensified that gnawing emptiness.
His mind began slipping away. Just as Melek was about to pounce on Troy, a voice cut through the haze—clear and commanding:
"Are you hungry?"
Melek, not understanding who was speaking to him, nodded weakly.
The headmistress assumed he was lying. But the truth was simple: Melek hadn't eaten anything since becoming a demon.
"I'll take care of your food," the voice continued—firm, almost commanding, yet strangely gentle. "You don't have to eat *this*."
Something in those words made Melek want to obey.
"What are you doing? *Melek!*" The headmistress's desperate cry echoed through the chamber.
Her desperation stirred something in Melek—something like pity. Merai was still trapped in that basement from twenty years ago.
_Could he have been trapped there too?_
The headmistress turned her attention to another target.
"You... you've come to save me?" She staggered toward Evangeline, her eyes wild with hope. "Just like back then, in the painting... you've come to give me an answer?"
"I was originally going to save you," Evangeline replied, her voice utterly indifferent. "But circumstances changed."
"You... you're *leaving* me?"
"Yes." The word fell like a blade. "You don't meet my requirements. So *stop*."
Only after the demon *and* the angel had rejected her did Merai finally break.
The world shifted before her eyes. She saw—truly *saw*—her son bleeding from her own hand. She saw the terrified faces of Daisy, Lanan, Yulma, and little Mary. She saw the other children, eyes squeezed shut, ears covered, turned away from her.
Merai crumpled.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as the weight of realization crushed her.
_She had destroyed everything._
Lanan and Yulma, seeing that the headmistress had lost her will to fight, pulled Troy away from her and supported him between them. Miraculously, he was still conscious.
"Thank you, Lanan... Yulma..."
"Shut up, you idiot," Yulma muttered, unable to voice gratitude through the overwhelming tangle of conflicting emotions.
Daisy, listening to their bickering, examined Troy's wound. Her stomach dropped.
It was deep.
She looked up at Evangeline.
"Why... why didn't you save Troy?"
Lady Evangeline. Jelly. Either of them could have stopped the headmistress. Then Troy wouldn't have been harmed.
"That wasn't part of our agreement," Evangeline responded calmly.
Daisy's expression darkened. _She was right._ Daisy had asked her to save the headmistress and the children.
She couldn't blame Evangeline. The woman didn't understand human emotions—she had simply fulfilled the request as best she could.
It was *Daisy* who had yelled at Troy. *Daisy* who had hit him. She had no right to blame Lady Evangeline for not protecting him.
"What?" Evangeline tilted her head. "You want to save him?"
"Yes." Daisy's voice was barely a whisper. "I want to."
_Is there really a way? Not like Jelly, who can resurrect the dead..._
"I have holy water." Evangeline paused. "Just one bottle."
One?
"Daisy, choose." Evangeline raised a finger, pointing first at Troy, then at Melek, whom Jelly was desperately trying to revive. "Who should receive the holy water—Troy, or... *him*?"
Daisy hesitated.
Evangeline's lips curved into a smile—the same enigmatic smile from the portrait.
"Kidding."
Daisy felt a wave of revulsion wash over her. If not for those final words, her choice would have been obvious.
---
## — Evangeline —
Daisy had rushed inside the moment we found the children. It seemed they'd already been located. She led a boy and girl away from the headmistress while the other children huddled together in a corner. _Why were these two wandering alone, putting themselves in danger?_
The headmistress, noticing our approach, fell into visible despair and attacked with a knife. Someone had already been wounded—I could smell the blood.
The man she'd been holding had chains on his wrists and a blindfold covering his eyes. It looked like he, too, had been intended for sale.
"Melek?"
"Do you know him?" I asked Jelly.
"Yes... I think so. But he's somehow... different."
Besides, it seemed like Jelly recognized him. _Perhaps they met when they were kidnapped by human traffickers? Or was he also... a beastman?_
"A relative?"
"Yes... you could say that."
So he really *was* a beastman, and they had been held captive together. This was clear evidence that the headmistress was involved in the kidnapping of both Jelly and Daisy.
"Troy, you will stand in my way until the very end."
_As the saying goes, the thief's cap is on fire._ She'd done all of this herself, and now she was trying to make Troy out to be the villain? Pure manipulation. Domestic violence at its finest.
The headmistress, completely unwilling to admit her guilt, waited until we were distracted and stabbed Troy. _How could anyone take their own son hostage?_
And then, realizing Troy alone wasn't enough, she decided to win over Jelly's friend. She whispered something in Melek's ear, but I couldn't hear. Jelly, whose hearing was as sharp as his sense of smell, relayed their conversation:
"She's offering him food."
_What?_ He was seriously going to fall for this?
"He looks very hungry."
_Looks like he might._ Hungry? Hadn't the headmistress fed him? Then that plaintive voice Daisy had heard earlier... had that been Melek?
There's nothing worse than being blackmailed with food. I decided to intervene before Jelly's friend could agree.
"Are you hungry?"
_What a witch._ Is she the only one with food? I have food too! I bought a whole mountain of bread for the children. It's waiting in the carriage.
"I'll take care of your food. You don't have to eat it."
"What are you doing? *Melek!*"
Fortunately, my words worked. Melek resisted, and now the headmistress's wrath fell upon me instead.
"You... you came to save me?"
"Initially, I was going to save you," I replied smoothly. "But circumstances changed."
_Did she plant a listening device?_ How did she know we'd wanted to save her? Oh, right—spirits can transmit conversations. She must have discovered our intentions somehow.
If Daisy had known how cruel the headmistress truly was, she never would have asked for help. But now everything had changed.