Chapter 41: The Library Touched by Desire

“Let’s start with this finger. One by one, slowly breaking them—this is what we call interrogation.”

Clarette’s cheeks were flushed, and her breath came quick and shallow from excitement.

“So, what now? Still refusing to talk?”

The magical creature spat with defiance, “Even if you kill me, torture me to death, tear me into pieces, I won’t spill a single word!”

Beneath her feet was a helpless magical creature, and around her were the mutilated corpses of other beasts. After being separated from the group by a teleportation trap, Clarette had been transported to this area. She had no idea how to proceed from here.

A map?

That had been torn to shreds by those creatures during the earlier fight.

Now, she’d captured one of the beasts and was trying to extract information about the city through torture. But these magical beings were surprisingly stubborn. Even after watching two of their own die in agony, they still refused to talk.

Still, the interrogation process—oh, it felt so good. Watching them scream and wail, seeing their flesh mangled and their bodies twitching on the verge of death—Clarette couldn’t help but feel a strange thrill.

Her technique had improved. She really wanted to try this on a human next.

In a flash, Irene’s figure surfaced in her mind—along with the vivid dream of the lavish basement and its intoxicating scenes. Ah, ah, the young lady really was amazing! She wanted to do that to her. And also, be done that way by her.

Just the thought made her flush with shyness.

“Stop right there! Don’t run!”

A voice snapped her out of her pink-tinted fantasies. She looked toward the sound and saw Irene sprinting at full speed after something, legs pumping so fast they were practically a blur.

“Young Lady?”

Clarette’s eyes lit up instantly. She quickly snapped the magical creature’s neck—though it had looked like it wanted to say something before dying, she didn’t notice.

Now that she’d found the Young Lady, these beasts had no more value.

But… was it really safe for Irene to be running around so openly like this in the city?

No. Definitely not!

Clarette’s eyes immediately caught sight of an ice-element magical creature charging up a freezing beam with a sharp beep, launching it straight from its forehead. In theory, it should have been a direct hit on Irene.

But then, a miracle occurred.

A four-armed monster leapt from a higher platform—perhaps intending to intercept Irene—and landed directly in the beam’s path. Instantly, it was frozen solid into a sculpture of ice.

That set off a chaotic free-for-all among the surrounding monsters, fighting each other in a rage. Accidents like that weren’t rare—they were constant.

Numerous magical creatures along the way tried to attack Irene, but without exception, they were all struck down by completely coincidental accidents, as if the world itself conspired to protect her.

What a bizarre situation. Can they all really be coincidences?

Clarette couldn’t bring herself to believe it. Once or twice, sure. But every time?

Could it be that the Young Lady was blessed by the Goddess of Lust and Fortune?

The battle in front of the city gate with the ballista soldiers was another example—such a dense rain of arrows, yet every single one missed. From Claret’s point of view, it was hard to believe that was just coincidence.

But judging by the young lady’s expression, it seemed she wasn’t even aware of it herself?

Thinking that, Claret and the pursuing Lilisah continued after Irene. For some reason, despite being notoriously bad at sports, the young lady was sprinting at an astonishing speed—so fast that neither Claret nor Lilisah could catch up.

They chased her through two entire streets, dodging magical beasts’ bombardments along the way, before Claret finally saw Irene stop.

Ahead stood a tall building, guarded at the entrance by stone sentinels. The moment the uninvited guest approached, the sentinels activated, raising their long-handled battle axes toward Irene.

Claret quickly switched to water blade mode. She and Lilisah acted in sync—both leaping forward and smashing the earth-elemental magical beings into rubble.

Panting lightly, Claret looked at Irene and asked, “Young Lady, what were you chasing just now?”

Lilisah chimed in curiously, “Yeah, I saw you suddenly bolt out of the house like you’d gone mad. No matter how hard I ran, I couldn’t catch up. What happened?”

Only after losing sight of her target did Irene finally feel her exhaustion catch up with her. Breathing heavily, she collapsed onto the ground and pointed ahead.

“There was a girl dressed like a mage running over there. Didn’t you two see her?”

Irene deliberately hid the fact that the girl looked exactly like her. The whole thing felt too eerie to speak of.

Lilisah and Claret exchanged glances, then shook their heads simultaneously.

“Nope, all we saw was you running like a woman possessed,” said Claret.

“Could it have been an illusion spell?”

‘Only I saw her?’

‘Was it really just an illusion?’

Irene lowered her eyes, deep in thought. She looked around carefully, but saw no trace of the mage girl. There was no way someone could just vanish without a trace. Even if she’d used teleportation, there would’ve been residual magic. Yet aside from the building ahead, there was nothing else here—and its doors were firmly shut.

There was no way she could’ve gone inside.

Irene eyed the building curiously. Even in the night, the glow of magic lit up the inscription on its facade clearly.

“Royal Magic Library?”

The words slipped out of her mouth unconsciously.

That left both Claret and Lilisah stunned. Lilisah asked, “Irene, you can read that?”

Irene had just been about to ask, ‘Isn’t literacy a basic requirement for nobles?’ when Claret’s next comment sent a chill down her spine.

“That writing looks like it belongs to the Magic Dynasty from a thousand years ago. It’s a lost language.”

Irene looked again. Sure enough, as Claret said, the twisted characters on the sign weren’t from the current continent’s common script.

‘This is wrong. I’ve never studied that language. Absolutely not! Then why can I read it?’

‘That shadow wasn’t an illusion. She was guiding me here…?’

Driven by curiosity, Irene stepped forward. The moment her hand touched the door, the long-sealed entrance—untouched for a thousand years—suddenly lit up with magical runes. With a thunderous rumble, the massive doors slowly opened before her eyes.

“Milady, maybe it’s better not to go in,” Claire said nervously. “I really don’t think this place feels right!”

She glanced around. Aside from the two stone sentinels from earlier, the rest of the magical creatures were keeping their distance—they didn’t dare come any closer, only watching from afar.

As a result, the area around the library was eerily silent, deathly still. The atmosphere was clearly off. Lilisah also nodded in agreement, trying to dissuade Irene. But Irene wouldn’t listen.

Without hesitation, she stepped through the doorway. “If you’re scared, you two can wait at the entrance.”

The two had no choice. They didn’t understand why Irene, who had always been obedient, was acting like this, but with a helpless sigh, they followed her inside.

Outside, faint whispers from the magical creatures could be heard—

“She went in. They actually went inside.”

“Ever since that day, the library hasn’t been a good place…”

“Where there are people, there is desire. What will happen next, I wonder?”