Chapter 70: Ritual

〖 The four sides of God? How meaningless 〗Negary stood up from his throne .

〖 However, since they’ve reached their hands out to me, I should repay the favor 〗Negary’s figure slowly vanished: 〖 I will leave this to you, Granny Seal’e 〗

“Yes, Lord Negary, kiekiki!”

…

Interkam, Skoro Viscounty .

The young lady Ellis was standing by the window of a tall tower in the castle, looking down below at the knights who were performing their daily training with a bored expression .

Originally, she would have stayed at the prosperous capital city, going to organized salons with other aristocratic ladies and chat with the various well-mannered bards about the philosophy of life and their poems, but the war ruined it all .

When the Skoro Viscount family returned to their territory, Ellis had no choice but to follow . She was forced to part with the hustle and bustle of the city to return to the Skoro Viscounty that she considered to be the countryside .

There was nothing here but daily training, knights preparing to fight and a bunch of peasants who worked in the fields day-in, day-out . Without any form of entertainment, she felt like she was going to go crazy .

“Huh?” Ellis suddenly noticed something happening at the other side of the training grounds . A young teenage boy seemed to be peeking into where the knights were training and was found out . After being caught, the knights tied the boy’s hands together with a thick rope, pulled him up on a tree and began to lash him with a horse whip .

“Emi, that boy is too pitiful . Go down and save him, make him a bit more presentable and bring him to me” Ellis ordered as a smirk rose on the corner of her mouth .

“Milady, the Master had said that…” the maid Emi carefully tried to persuade her otherwise .

“Swiftly, go” Ellis cut off Emi’s words and forced the order: “Otherwise, I’m going to grant you a few lashes of the whip as well”

A few moments later, the boy who was whipped was brought up to Ellis’ quarters .

As she looked at the shy and cute young teenage boy dressed in mourning clothes that didn’t fit him as well as the red whip marks on his body, Ellis closed the window, then ordered Emi to close the door before turning to the boy: “Come here, let me see your wounds”

The teenage boy was clearly nervous and didn’t dare to come forward, but Ellis wasn’t angry . She carefully approached the boy who was on guard, lightly combed the boy’s hair with her fingers before softly stroking the red whip marks on the boy’s face .

Her fingers weren’t too forceful, but they were enough to cause him to feel a sense of numbed ticklishness, causing the boy to squirm in a bit of discomfort .

“Does it hurt?” Ellis asked with a gentle voice . Because she had used perfume, it felt as if her soft voice itself carried a gentle fragrance that caused the boy to gulp and swallow his own saliva .

“Ehehehe” the aristocratic young lady giggled, lightly touching the boy’s wounds as her lips lightly perked up and slowly approached the young boy . Her well-maintained face was right in front of his eyes, the warmth and fragrance that got so close stimulated the boy’s mind .

But almost immediately after that, Ellis readily squeezed her hands together with her fingers into the boy’s wounds . As she heard the boy’s pained screams, Ellis covered her mouth and grinned: “How is it? Mongrel, you really thought I was about to kiss you just now, didn’t you? Are you feeling pain now?”

Ellis excitedly grabbed her leather whip and started to whip the boy while joyfully shouting: “Rejoice, for mongrels like yourself, bringing me joy is the greatest honour you will ever obtain!”

Back in the city, one of the favourite past-times of the aristocratic ladies including herself was to host salons, bringing in some beggars, homeless people and peasant children into the venue, then torture these curs to entertain themselves .

As she looked at the helpless boy being unable to resist her whip, Ellis gradually became increasingly excited and continued to whip him harder, forcing the boy into a corner of the room . Even the etiquette that she normally maintained had been completely discarded without a trace .

Or perhaps, due to the need of maintaining aristocratic etiquette while interacting with other nobles in high society, most nobles were constantly wearing a mask that they could never take off, thus forcing them to remain in a restrained state .

And as soon as their restraints were taken off, they would become extremely insane and turn into a different person entirely . No one would be able to tell that the mad woman who was whipping a bloody poor boy into a corner of the room was the same as the soft-spoken and meek young lady Ellis .

Ellis dropped her whip and violently squeezed the young boy’s throat . When she found that the boy was almost unable to breathe anymore, she let go and kicked the boy straight in his stomach, then grinded her sole in .

While young lady Ellis was busy unleashing her madness, within her quarters, two members of Hales wearing jet black masks with a single tear under the eye were discussing among one another .

“Can the target be confirmed?” one of the Hales members muttered in a low voice: “Although Interkam is currently stuck in internal strife and the Church of Divine Grace is busy dealing with it, that bunch of mad dogs won’t care that much about a ruined country . If the target is correct, we would be fine, but if she isn’t and we draw those mad dogs to us…”

“Don’t worry, I’ve confirmed it many times . The target has a very high chance of becoming an error . Under the power of the ritual, they will surely turn into an Evil Spirit and contribute to the descent of the Black Abyss” the other Hales member confirmed .

“If that’s the case, prepare the ritual, we will turn this entire Skoro Viscounty into our sacrificial lambs”

One of the Hales men walked through the door of the room . On the other side, the maid Emi was trembling as she heard the screams of the boy, she was fearful that one day, such a fate would befall her .

However, a dagger that abruptly pierced through her chest completely removed this concern of hers . The Hales man pulled his dagger out and swiftly dealt with the maid Emi’s corpse without hesitation, her innards were spread out in an uneven pattern, then a white rock carved full of runes was inserted into the maid’s stomach .

This way, the girl’s Life Essence and Soul Essence would be retained by the rock and become a part of the ritual . This would greatly increase the chances of an Evil Spirit being created, it could even ensure that an Evil Spirit would naturally have considerable strength as soon as it was born .

The Hales member didn’t stop there . After he dealt with the corpse, he continued going through the castle and killing every person he met, regardless of their age, gender or status . There was no discrimination under the ceremonial dagger of Hales .

Meanwhile, Ellis continued to torture the young boy, completely unaware that everyone else in the castle other than her was already dead . The other Hales member didn’t do anything and just stood watch as Ellis’ tormenting became more and more intense .

At some point, a layer of black smog had slowly engulfed the entire castle and plunged it into an eerie atmosphere, but the excited Ellis didn’t notice any of this .

When the young boy in the corner was at death’s door and would lose his life at any moment, the Hales member in the room finally drew a ceremonial dagger and thrust it straight into Ellis’ head without hesitation .

The tortured young boy’s eyes suddenly became emotionless as his youthful appearance shed away to reveal another Hales member with the same black mask and another ceremonial dagger that stabbed into Ellis’ heart .