Chapter 142: What Actually Happened?

"What?"

Elias’s smile vanished, and he shifted in his chair before asking Stella in a hurried tone, "What are you talking about?"

Stella stared at him with a confused expression, as though she herself did not understand what she had just said, but then a sudden pained hiss escaped her lips.

Elias’s expression darkened immediately.

He glanced toward Monica, then toward Stella.

Two hours had already passed, which meant keeping Stella near Monica for any longer could prove dangerous, so Elias gently supported Stella and said, "Let’s go."

The crimson-haired woman nodded and slowly rose to her feet, and he stood with her, wrapping his arm around her back to support her.

Just as they took five steps away from Monica, her consciousness was thrown out of Stella’s body.

"Haah!"

Monica took a deep, shaky breath as her Mana Projection returned to her body, and her eyes widened slightly while she steadied herself.

"I can never get used to this..." she mumbled.

She glanced toward the doorway. Usually, her husband stood there after sending Stella to her room. However, he was nowhere to be seen.

Monica’s lips dropped into a deep frown, and she muttered, "Where is that shameless man?"

Meanwhile, Elias continued down the corridor with his right arm wrapped around Stella’s back while she rested her left hand on his shoulder.

"Are you feeling sleepy?" he asked.

Stella nodded, and her crimson eyes grew heavy as she whispered, "I am."

"Can you stay awake for a few more minutes?" Elias asked gently.

She shook her head and answered, "I want to sleep."

"You can sleep after telling me what you meant by finding that aunty in a hidden dungeon," Elias pressed.

Stella’s sleepy expression made it difficult to tell whether she was even aware of what she had said earlier, but Elias could not simply let it go.

As far as he knew, Stella’s mind had fallen apart after the Bloodfang Clan had been annihilated by Duke Aegon Crimson, his father.

That broken mind had then taken form as two personalities.

The first was the young Stella, most likely because that was the period of her life in which she had felt safest.

The second was the mad Stella, the personality that surfaced whenever she held a sword. That version of Stella was bloodthirsty and would kill anything she encountered without hesitation.

Then, after Elias had fed her an Extraordinary Sugar Fruit, a third personality had appeared, one that seemed far closer to the true Stella Crimson.

But now she was telling him that the mad personality had appeared when she was inside a hidden dungeon.

If that was true, why had no one known about it?

People should have been aware of Stella’s madness before the Bloodfang Clan’s annihilation, yet there had been no records or rumors suggesting anything like that.

It almost seemed as though the destruction of her clan had been the trigger that caused her later madness.

"Stella, tell me exactly what happened," Elias asked.

He was desperate for an answer.

Stella looked at him with her eyes growing heavier by the second, her brows knitting together as she struggled to search through her memories.

She tried to speak, but her body suddenly stumbled as the fatigue finally caught up with her.

Elias immediately tightened his arm around her and steadied her against his body.

"It is fine. You do not have to answer right n—"

Before he could finish, Stella slowly raised her head and looked at him through her sleep-induced crimson eyes.

"Demons..." she whispered, "Demons happened..."

"What...?" His eyes widened, and a shiver ran down his spine.

He had not expected Stella to say that word.

It was a word that had remained a mystery to him for some time, and now, somehow, Stella had spoken that very word.

But before Elias could ask another question, Stella’s eyes closed completely.

She had fallen asleep with her head resting against his shoulder.

Elias stood silently in the corridor, holding her, and his expression gradually grew melancholic as he brushed his fingers through her crimson hair.

’What are demons?’ he wondered.

His gaze lowered toward Stella’s sleeping face.

’And what do they have to do with Stella’s current condition?’

He clenched his right fist.

There were too many unanswered questions.

He did not know what hidden dungeon she was talking about, what demons were, how she knew about them, or whether they were connected to the broken state of her mind.

However, one thing was becoming increasingly clear.

Demons had caused his wife immense suffering, and he would not simply let it go.

He shifted Stella in his arms and lifted her properly before beginning to walk toward his room.

’I do not know what demons are.’

His eyes sharpened

’But whoever caused Stella suffering will pay for it a hundredfold.’

A few moments later, Elias entered his room and carefully placed Stella on the bed.

She remained completely asleep, her breathing quiet and even.

Elias leaned down and gently moved several strands of crimson hair away from her face before shifting his gaze toward Natasha, who was sitting at the edge of the bed and staring impassively at the window.

[Can you look after Stella?] he asked.

Natasha turned her head toward him, a faint frown appearing on her face as she glanced at Stella.

After a moment, she nodded.

[Thank you.]

Elias smiled at her before turning around and leaving the room.

Once he stepped into the corridor, his expression immediately became serious.

There was someone who might be able to answer his questions.

As he walked down the corridor, he silently called out.

’Sword Spirit.’

A few moments passed, but the Sword Spirit didn’t answer.

Elias furrowed his brows and stopped walking; then he focused on the connection he had with her and mumbled, [Sword Spirit?]

Because of the connection, he could use Mental Whisper even when she wasn’t in his line of sight.

Right then, an ethereal crimson-haired woman slowly phased through the wall, her lavender dress passing through the stone as though it did not exist.

The Sword Spirit appeared directly before Elias and looked at him with her usual flat expression.

"What is it, human?" she asked.