Chapter 8

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Book Chapter 3

The following week, Isabel received a new assignment to conduct an exorcism ritual. An exorcism was meant to drive out a demon possessing a human, and it was usually a small-scale task handled by young exorcist clergy who had only just begun their work.

The aide who followed her had also changed. Father Samuel, having lost his qualifications as an aide and been demoted because of the previous incident, meant that she would now be working with a new priest.

“H-hello, my name is Daniel.” 

A short priest with a youthful face hesitantly greeted her. Perhaps because of his round face and pale skin, he gave the impression of a bookworm. She had heard he was the same age as her, but he looked no older than a fifteen-year-old boy.

After exchanging greetings, they set off for the site immediately.

As they travelled, Isabel reviewed the documents. Their destination was Astia Castle, at the western edge of the continent. The lord of the castle was Jonas Teirenberg, who owned vast lands, and with his wife, Sofia Teirenberg, they had one son, Cedric Teirenberg.

And what Isabel was holding was Cedric Teirenberg’s exorcism request. The boy was only fourteen years old. He had gone hunting in the forest with his friends and had returned possessed by a demon.

Isabel read the request form, densely filled with descriptions of the boy’s condition, several times.

"I-I’m honoured to assist you, Sister!"

Isabel glanced at Father Daniel, who was sitting across from her. He was sweating profusely as he looked at her.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Sister. In fact, the only ones who haven’t heard of you must be the deaf clergy. You are so renowned. To be sitting here face-to-face with someone like you… I can hardly believe it!”

“I look forward to working with you as well.”

Isabel replied briefly before returning her gaze to the documents.

“Sister Isabel, do you have much experience with exorcisms?”

"Many of the captives I rescued were possessed by evil spirits, so I often performed exorcisms myself."

"This is my first time. In fact, I only became a priest recently. When I decided to become a priest, I never imagined I would be doing something like this. I just wanted to continue my studies, but my family was too poor, so it was a decision I made out of necessity."

“I see.”

“Actually, even before this, I’d heard a lot about you, Sister Isabel. They say you’ve banished thousands of demons from the human world and rescued countless sacrificial victims. I can’t even imagine doing such things. You’re truly amazing!”

Isabel silently looked at the documents. She already knew the full extent of his respect for her and just wished he would stop talking about it.

“But, Sister, why did your duties suddenly change to exorcisms? Shouldn’t you be hunting demons again by now?”

Isabel looked at him. He wore an expression of intense curiosity.

Isabel’s sudden reassignment sparked a lot of gossip among the clergy for a while. Some said she had been captured and tortured by demons, sustaining serious injuries; others claimed she had witnessed unspeakable horrors and now lost control whenever she saw a demon, and so on.

Among the rumours, there was even one suggesting that Isabel might have slept with a demon and lost her sacred power. For a mere rumour, it was frighteningly accurate.

Isabel consistently ignored such talk. Some clergy even asked her about it directly, but she ignored them as well. If Isabel had been the type to care even a little about her reputation, she might have come up with a clever way to deflect such questions, but she had neither the skill nor the interest for that.

Due to Isabel’s usual cold demeanour, clergy who already looked upon her unfavorably were spreading rumours about her like fish in water. These were stories that would never have existed if she had been an ordinary cleric, yet they spread beyond the Vatican to monasteries, large and small, throughout the region.

However, Isabel remained indifferent to it all. Her only concern was doing her work and completing it to the best of her ability. How she appeared to others was of no interest to her.

“Father Daniel.”

“Yes!”

"Do you know what you need to prepare in advance when performing an exorcism for the first time?"

“What is it?”

“You pray the Rosary. It will make your heart strong and devout. Do you have a rosary?”

Father Daniel took his rosary out of his pocket. It was an ordinary five-decade rosary. Isabel took a twenty-decade rosary from her own pocket and handed it to him.

“Use this. Pray all the way through, with devotion, slowly, and in your heart. Understand?”

He quickly nodded. Overwhelmed with emotion at being allowed to borrow the rosary of the famous Sister Isabel, he closed his eyes and began to pray silently. Thanks to that, Isabel was able to spend the rest of the ride quietly going over her documents.

By the time night had deepened, the carriage arrived in front of Astia Castle. Isabel stepped down. An elderly gatekeeper, who had been waiting for them, greeted them discreetly with a lantern in hand.

This exorcism had to be conducted in secret. Nothing good would come of it if word got out that the heir of this house was possessed by a demon.

The two followed the gatekeeper into the castle.

Inside the grand hall, the lord and lady were waiting for them. The couple looked haggard and worn. It was understandable, given that their only son and heir had fallen under demonic influence.

They clasped the two clerics’ hands and pleaded desperately for them to save their son. Their appeals were especially directed toward Isabel. Isabel reassured them that they would soon see their son restored to his proper self, then instructed that no one, not even family nor servant, was to come or go while the exorcism was being performed.

The servants then showed each of them to their rooms. The two unpacked and began preparing for the ritual.

A short while later, the two clerics gathered outside the room of Cedric Teirenberg, the young heir who was possessed by a demon. Both wore white albs beneath their robes and carried prayer books. Isabel had draped a violet stole, the mark of the officiant in an exorcism, around her shoulders, while Father Daniel carried a bag containing holy water.

“Stay close and follow my instructions carefully. If I tell you to leave, leave immediately. Demons are skilled at mental manipulation; they can weaken your mind and possess you instead."

“I understand, Sister.”

Isabel opened the door. Father Daniel swallowed hard and followed her inside.

The room was pitch black, and every window was wide open. Isabel approached the bed with a candle in hand.  

A boy lay there, his arms and legs completely bound. His facial muscles were twisted like roughly kneaded dough, grotesque and unnatural. His breathing was ragged, like that of a wild beast.

Isabel spoke.

"Who is inside there?"

The boy’s eyes snapped open. They were yellow. He glared at Isabel for a moment, then quickly shifted to the priest standing beside her.

“I asked who you are. Reveal yourself.” 

The boy twisted his lips into a sinister grin. When his mouth opened, a chilling, inhuman voice spilled forth.

“Isabel.”

“You know my name.”

“Of course. You’re a famous figure in the Underworld. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

Isabel spoke with a blank expression.

“It would have been better if we hadn’t met. That’s true for me, but even more so for you. Now, come out of that innocent boy’s body.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. It’s my job to turn this lord’s son into a servant of Satan.”

Isabel hummed and set the candlestick down on the nearby nightstand.

“If you won’t come out willingly, I have no choice but to use force.”

Isabel turned her head toward Father Daniel to give instructions. But an unexpected remark came from the boy’s mouth.

“So I’ll see the sight of a whore who spread her legs for the great Lord Lucifer, reciting the Bible, hahahahaha!”

Isabel looked at him.

‘Lucifer?’

“Sister, what does that mean?”

Daniel asked from behind her. Isabel replied coldly, without a hint of disturbance.

“Pay no attention to the demon’s nonsense. Holy water.”

Daniel handed her a vial of holy water. She began reciting prayers as she circled the bed where the demon was bound. Together with Daniel, they splashed holy water on the demon and held the crucifix close to him.

Every time the holy water touched the demon's body, smoke rose from him. When the crucifix drew near, he writhed and rolled his eyes back. He looked to be in excruciating pain.

Father Daniel stood three paces from the bed, reciting the same verses as her. When their voices combined and echoed, the demon shrieked as if being torn apart.

“In the name of God, I command you to depart! Withdraw from the boy’s body!”

The demon let out a scream filled with malice.

“You think I wouldn’t know you spread your legs for Lord Lucifer?! You filthy whore! A harlot in a nun’s habit!”

Soon after, the demon opened its mouth wide toward Isabel. Black blood gushed out like a fountain, soaking her body.

Isabel spat out the blood that had entered her mouth. Then, maintaining an unshakable posture, she continued reciting the prayers. The boy with yellow eyes lunged at Isabel’s hand, snapping his teeth. But because he was bound, he could not harm her.

The exorcism lasted through the night and continued until morning. The demon resisted fiercely. Every time holy water was splashed on him, he hurled insults at the nun tormenting him, calling her the cheapest street whore, and screamed at the priest that his parents, siblings, and even his ancestors had all been copulating with pigs.

As it neared noon, the two clergy withdrew.

Father Daniel stepped out of the room and collapsed to the floor. He then began to vomit, having held it back until now. It was a typical reaction for someone performing an exorcism for the first time.

Isabel quietly looked down at Father Daniel. A fleeting pang of pity crossed her mind, but in truth, she thought the Vatican should have assigned a somewhat more competent priest as her aide.

"Even if you can’t sleep, try to get some rest. Let’s meet here at 9 p.m. tonight."

“I understand.”

Daniel answered weakly. Though he gave that reply, he probably wouldn’t fall asleep easily. Few could drift into deep sleep right after facing a demon.

Isabel left him behind and returned to her assigned room.

As she washed and changed her clothes, a sudden thought came to her, and she opened her bag. Inside was opium, which she sometimes used for insomnia or when anesthesia was needed. After a moment’s thought, Isabel brought it over to Father Daniel.

“Sister Isabel…”

Father Daniel looked at Isabel with a touched expression. Before he could grab her and babble his thanks, she quickly patted his shoulder and headed back to her room.

When Isabel returned, she sat on the bed. She would need to sleep for four or five hours, then get up, eat, and prepare to perform the exorcism again. She lay down, but though she needed to sleep, her mind only grew clearer.

It wasn’t the shock of facing a demon. If something like that were enough to keep her from sleeping, she couldn’t have lived this life for so long. Isabel’s mind was tangled for an entirely different reason.

‘That man was Lucifer?’

Memories of her time imprisoned in the Underworld flashed before her eyes. The red-haired demon had come to see her every day. And to think that it had been Lucifer...

Why had he come to her in the first place? As the king of the Underworld, he would have had more than enough subordinates to send if all he needed was to persuade a mere cleric like her.

Isabel entertained various guesses. Yet even as she tried to think rationally, the vivid afterimages lingering in her memory relentlessly disrupted her thoughts.

They were the touches and kisses of the man who had held her.

She frowned. The moment the thought surfaced, her body grew hot.

She sat up and looked down at herself.

Her body, wrapped in a white nightgown. The very body she had dedicated to God, yet one that had been touched, kissed, and penetrated by Lucifer.

It had happened only once, but the moment she remembered him, it came alive again. It was so vivid it felt as if his body were pressing against hers once more.

Isabel immediately stood up. She went into the bathroom attached to her room and showered several times with cold water.

Her lips turned blue from the cold, but her overheated body wouldn’t cool. Clearly, she wouldn’t be able to sleep deeply like this. In the end, Isabel took out the opium and consumed a small amount.

Isabel lay back down on the bed. Soon, her body grew languid. She closed her eyes. But as her mind grew hazy, the lingering images before her eyes began to cling even more vividly.

The blue, flame-like eyes that had looked down at her. The cold tongue that had licked inside her mouth. The large hands that had gripped and caressed her breasts.

Without realising it, Isabel placed her hand on her chest. Then, she touched herself in the same way he had.

“Aah.”

Isabel let out a faint moan. The sensation was strange. It was an impure feeling, as if a seal had been broken, awakened within her body.

She closed her eyes and kneaded her breasts, tracing her areolae and fondling her nipples.

“Mm, ngh….”

It was as if she had returned to that moment. As if he were there before her eyes, overlapping his body with hers and tenderly caressing her breasts once more.

Her hand drifted down to her lower abdomen on its own. She stroked that sensitive spot with slow, lingering movements, then soon began to feel between her legs over her clothes.

She twisted her waist. The moment when he had pressed his face between her legs and moaned came to mind.

Isabel rubbed the surface with her fingertips to recreate the sensation from back then. But the stimulation was frustratingly insufficient. She slid her fingers inside her underwear and rubbed the small nub he had caressed.

“Ung!”

Isabel’s body writhed on its own. With her eyes closed, she recalled the sensation of his tongue and began stroking the small nub.

“Heung, uh, unng…”

Isabel bit her lip and kept moving her fingers. Her hips twitched with each motion. Her whole body felt aflame. The memory of him pressing down on her, thrusting fiercely, and scraping against her most sensitive spot came vividly back to life.

Thinking of the man’s thrusts, Isabel rubbed the little nub harder. A moan close to a cry burst from her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her own mouth with her hand. Then, recalling the moment he came, she pressed down firmly on herself.

“Mmph!”

Isabel reached her orgasm, her body trembling violently.

She exhaled sharply. A refreshing warmth spread through her body, as if blood were rushing everywhere. In the pleasant haze, she unconsciously smiled.

But as the afterglow faded, she felt wide awake, as if doused with cold water.

‘What… have I done?’

Isabel sat up. The underwear she was wearing was damp. Her fingers were sticky with her own fluids. 

She could not believe what she had done. To think she had committed such a lewd act while imagining lying with Lucifer. It was a vile, shameful thing for a nun to do.

She quickly got up, changed her underwear and washed her hands. Then she took more opium. She felt so disgusted with herself that she doubted she could sleep without it.

She lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes. Then she forced herself to empty her mind and summon sleep.

A creeping fear was rising within her. She felt anxious that what had happened back then might have changed her completely.

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