That old lady must have something.

That was just what her hunch said.

She couldn’t think of any other possibilities now.

“Is it here?”

After getting off the carriage and walking into an alley, they found a scruffy tent.

The servant scowled when he saw the old and dirty tent that looked like it was going to crash down any moment.

“Yes. The old lady you’re looking for is inside…”

Before he even finished talking, Yelena entered the tent.

“Y-Young Lady!”

Even though she could hear someone calling for her urgently from behind, nobody followed Yelena in.

Yelena glanced at the inner part of the tent.

“You’ve come.”

The old lady was sitting like a bronze statue.

“Is it you?”

Yelena might have asked abruptly, but she was sure of it.

There was something ghastly oozing out of the old lady.

‘Why didn’t I realize this yesterday?’

As Yelena thought that, she shook her head.

That’s not it.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t notice it yesterday, but the old lady was covering it and just revealed it now.

Yelena remembered the attitude of the servant who said that the old lady was just an off-the-mill beggar.

He must’ve acted like that because he couldn’t see that ghastly thing.

If they saw the old lady now, no one would be able to say that she was just a beggar.

“That’s right.”

The old lady frankly confirmed Yelena’s abrupt question.

Feeling that the talk would be a long one, Yelena took a seat on the chair opposite the old lady.

“This is a shabby place, though.”

“Is whether a chair is shabby or valuable more important than our lives?”

Yelena sharply asked.

“Why did you show me such a future?”

Yelena remembered the future she saw and experienced herself.

One year after the demon invasion.

Her kingdom seemed to have been completely occupied by the demons.

Seeing how the demons were prowling the streets but there was not a single soldier facing against them, it was only logical to assume that the kingdom’s military had been annihilated.

‘The other kingdoms must be in a similar state.’

Because in the future, Anna said that it had been a year since the demons invaded and the CONTINENT turned out that way.

In other words, it was a future in which the world got destroyed.

It was a terrible future.

A future that should never, never be just left to happen.

“I have the ability to change the future, and that’s why you showed that future to me. Am I right?”

Yelena said with an earnest wish.

She was desperately hoping that the old lady didn’t just choose her randomly.

That she didn’t show an unchangeable future to any random person just for fun.

At the end of the silence that felt so long but was actually short, the old lady answered.

“There is a way to change the future.”

As expected!

Yelena urgently asked.

“What is it?”

“Do you know Duke Kaywhin Mayhard?”

“Kaywhin Mayhard…”

Yelena muttered the name that felt somewhat familiar.

One person quickly came to mind.

“I know, of course I do. That man is…”

A monster.

It was the alias by which Duke Kaywhin Mayhard was known throughout the kingdom.

It was only used in informal situations, but he was called the ‘monster’ even more than he was called Duke Mayhard or his own name.

For Yelena as well, rather than his full name, she was more familiar with the title Monster Duke.

It wasn’t that she usually called him that way, but it was just what she heard often.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“That man’s child will be a warrior in the future.”

“What?”

“The child will be a warrior, awaken the strength of the Holy Sword that appeared only in legends, and pierce through the heart of the Demon King with the Holy Sword.”

“…!”

“That was the only way to prevent the future that you saw, Miss.”

“Wait, then does that mean in the future I saw, that Warrior wasn’t born at all?”

“That’s right.”

“Why?”

The old lady stared at Yelena’s face.

Then, instead of answering, she said something else.

“Keep in mind. Only when the souls intertwine can a warrior be born.”

Yelena felt an ominous foreboding.

“Wait…”

“That’s all I have to say, so please go back.”

The foreboding became reality.

Yelena was getting chased out.

She didn’t step out on her own.

When she came to, she was already outside the tent.

“…”

“Young Lady, are you okay? Did something happen?”

“Did I… walk out by myself?”

“Pardon?”

“Did I come out of the tent with my own two feet?”

With a surprised expression, the servant tilted his head and answered,

“That’s right…”

“I see.”

Yelena glanced at the entrance of the tent.

She didn’t know what trick the old lady used, but she moved despite her own will.

If so, even if she tried to go back in, the result would be the same.

Yelena took her eyes off the shabby tent and turned around.

“Let’s go back.”

* * *

Right after coming back to her residence, Yelena immediately searched for information regarding the ‘demons’.

The old lady’s explanation was ridiculously lacking, and the fragments of the future that she saw couldn’t give her enough insight on the demons.

“The last time they were spotted was hundreds of years ago…”

Yelena muttered as she frowned while carrying a book in the library.

Demons.

They were deformed creatures that were neither human nor monsters, that lived in a place called Demon World instead of anywhere in the continent.

‘Seems like the king of the demons is called the Demon King.’

According to the old lady, the Warrior would pierce through the heart of the Demon King with the Holy Sword.

In other words, the one who brought over the demons to invade this world is that Demon King, and only by killing him can the destruction of the world be prevented.

“Can’t the Demon King just be killed now?”

However, there were two problems with that solution.

First, there was currently no way of knowing how to go to the place where the demons were, the Demon World.

Second, even if the Demon King could be discovered, there was no guarantee that someone other than the Warrior could kill him.

‘Is there no way but to wait helplessly for the Warrior to be ready and the Demon King to invade the continent…’

“Fuu. This is hard.”

Yelena sighed as she closed the book.

A book about the demons was scarce.

In the huge library, she could only find one book about it.

Yelena returned the book to its place and stepped out of the library depressingly.

Whenever she thought of the future of the world’s destruction that came suddenly, her head would hurt.

“That darned Demon King. He should just stay in his house, why would he suddenly invade someone else’s world…”

Yelena clutched onto her head and imagined knocking the Demon King down into a blazing furnace.

Even though it was just in her head, she felt a bit better after imagining the Demon King being tortured and sobbing.

With a refreshed mood, Yelena called for the butler.

“Is there a house that is getting married to Duke Mayhard?”

The Duke Kaywhin Mayhard that Yelena knew was young and unmarried.

‘There was no way that man didn’t get married.’

Other than the fact that he was called a monster by the public, he was a Duke.

The fief he managed was wealthy and she heard they had a lot of businesses.

For the nobles who thought of marriages as an extension of business, there was no way they would let him be.

Sure enough, the butler Albert answered.

“He’s currently in the middle of proposing a marriage with the Linden House.”

“Linden… Huh?”

Yelena blinked.

“Linden who?”

“I heard they’re pushing his marriage with Lady Mielle.”

Yelena immediately rose from her seat.

Mielle Linden was her cousin.

* * *

“Mielle!”

Mielle warmly welcomed her cousin that approached her without notice.

“What brings you here all of a sudden, Yelena?”

“You, I heard you’re getting married to Duke Mayhard?”

Mielle froze.

Her face quickly darkened.

“So you heard. Come in for now.”

After Mielle brought Yelena to her own room, she sighed.

“That’s how it is. That damned Father. No matter how much he likes his business, to even sell his own daughter…”

“If you get married, you’ll probably give birth to a child, right?”

“What?”

Looking at Mielle’s expression, Yelena realized that she had asked too recklessly.

Though, there was no difference whether she realized or not.

Yelena was impatient, and as she got more impatient, she could only go straight.

“If you get married, you’ll have to give birth to a child and manage the household, right? You’ll give birth, won’t you?”

“Are you crazy? I’d rather die!”

Mielle screeched as her face turned pale.

That vigor was so intimidating that Yelena had to take a step back.

“You’d rather die? Why?”

“I could ask you the same. Don’t you know Duke Mayhard?”

“Of course I know.”

Yelena replayed everything she knew about Duke Kaywhin Mayhard in her mind.

He was a Duke, young, unmarried, rich…

And he was called the monster.

Because of the patches covering his face.

She heard that Duke Mayhard’s patches were congenital.

He was born with black patches covering the most parts of his face.

There was no one who knew what those patches were.

Both the pontiff and the doctor said this was their first time seeing it and shook their heads.

The previous Ducal couple tried ceaselessly to erase the patches from their son’s face, but it was no use.

No matter what they did, the patches didn’t disappear or decrease, but instead looked like it grew along with Duke Mayhard’s growth.

As the people started to feel repulsed at the sight of the unknown patches, someone spread a word among the high class society.

‘That is the proof of a curse from the devil of the ancient time.’