After nearly dying from Fenrir’s attack, Envy had taken refuge inside Axel—hiding deep within his soul space.

That fact set the girls off immediately. They were worried something bad would happen, that things could go south, that his body might get taken over.

They tried everything they could think of.

Nothing worked. No matter what they attempted, there was no way to chase off a parasite hiding that deep within someone’s soul.

"It’s fine, I don’t feel anything weird." Axel reassured them, smiling thinly. "If anything, weirdly enough, I feel more powerful than before..."

"That! Isn’t that exactly because Envy is trying to take over your body?!" Nina gasped, eyes wide. "I’ve heard that demons love to offer power to humans in exchange for their souls! This is dangerous, Sir Axel!"

The change in his eyes wasn’t helping either. The golden, reptilian pupils were nothing like Axel’s usual eyes—and far too close to the ones they’d glimpsed through Envy’s mask. It was one more thing making the girls panic.

"Huh?"

Then, all of a sudden, the golden vertical pupils shifted back to normal.

Axel couldn’t see it, but he felt the change. His vision wavered briefly before sharpening—becoming clearer than it had any right to be. Clear enough to pick out demons spawning several kilometers away, even through the thick red miasma blanketing the Red Zone.

"It turned back to normal..."

Beatrix, who had been watching his eyes closely, caught the change too. Her frown didn’t budge.

"This could be a feint! Is he trying to make us lower our guard? Sir Axel, we need to return to Axevaria immediately and figure out a countermeasure!"

"..."

Axel paused.

He had felt Envy clearly before—a dark, negative presence lurking somewhere within his soul, impossible to ignore. But now, without warning, that sensation was simply gone.

"This is..." He pressed a hand to his chin. "I think Envy disappeared...?"

"Huh?"

The girls were understandably confused.

None of what they’d tried had made any difference. The Holy Water, the Purification Pills, every item they’d fed him—none of it had reached whatever was hiding that deep inside. Driving away a demon entrenched in someone’s soul was, by all accounts, nearly impossible.

"I-It’s true..." But Ria, peering at Axel’s back, suddenly straightened. "The sigil on husband’s back—it’s gone!"

Envy had no reason to erase the sigil himself. It was his only lifeline—erasing it was practically suicide, especially with Axel’s body still saturated in anti-demon elements. There was no way Envy had released it willingly.

Which meant the only possible explanation was...

"Did he die?" Fenrir whispered, genuinely puzzled.

Even weakened as he was, a demon of Envy’s caliber shouldn’t have simply faded out on his own. The fact that it happened while Axel did nothing at all implied something else entirely—

’No...’

She shook her head, cutting the thought off.

’This isn’t the time for wild speculation.’

None of them had answers. Not the girls, not Axel himself. But for now, they turned back the way they came, cutting through the demons still scattered around them as they went.

...

"I see..."

In the throne room of Hallbach Queendom’s castle, Queen Wisteria sat with her legs crossed, looking down at Axel and the rest with quiet composure.

"I was actually surprised when I heard reports of you girls arriving unannounced. So something like this was happening behind the scenes..." Her lips curled into a small smile. "Interesting."

"Yes, Mother." Nina bowed her head, expression unreadable.

Of course, they hadn’t come only because leaving without a word to the queen would’ve been rude. They also needed to ask for something. "And so, we would like to request a favor."

"I know." The queen smiled and nodded without hesitation. "You want me to check whether that demon is still hiding in Duke Axel’s soul, yes?"

"If possible..." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Of course. I don’t mind."

Wisteria rose from her throne and descended toward them at an unhurried pace.

"After all, even if you’ve lost your right to the throne, you’re still my daughter. Why would I coldly brush off my own daughter’s request~?"

She stopped a step in front of the kneeling Axel and tilted his chin up, meeting his eyes directly. The curvy figure that, without a doubt, was the source of Ria’s bloodline. The flirtatious look she wore, framed by long pointed lashes, caught Axel’s attention for a moment—before he pushed the thought aside and held her gaze.

"Hmm..."

After a few seconds, she released his chin and frowned.

"I can’t tell." She said plainly. "The eyes are the window to one’s soul, but even I couldn’t see anything. Nothing but darkness resides deep in Duke Axel’s soul..."

"Huh?"

Both Nina and Ria drew a sharp breath.

As witches, they knew enough about souls to understand why that was alarming. A pitch-black soul wasn’t something either of them had ever encountered before—not in practice, not even in theory.

"Mother, are you certain...?" Ria asked, unable to help herself.

Wisteria smiled and patted her head gently. "Of course. This is basic for me—I wouldn’t make an error on something like this."

"However..."

That single word made both Nina and Ria go still, eyes fixed on their mother.

"It isn’t the only method for peering into a soul. If you truly want answers, I could perform a Soul Dive with Duke Axel. You two could even come along if you’d like~!"

"Soul... Dive?" Axel repeated the unfamiliar term. "What’s that?"

Nina collected herself and answered quickly.

"Exactly what it sounds like. A technique where the witch dives directly into the other party’s soul space to examine it firsthand. It’s high-level—only a handful of elites can use it, Mother included."

"Is it dangerous?" Axel asked.

"No." Nina shook her head. "Even if it fails, the worst outcome is fatigue—for you and the witch performing it. There’s no real risk."

Axel considered it for a moment.

He glanced at Nina and Ria, still wearing the same worried expressions they’d had since this started, then at Queen Wisteria, who waited in patient silence with that same small smile.

"Alright." He nodded. "Let’s do it."

"A wise decision~!"

The queen patted his shoulder with perhaps more force than necessary.

Once he’d stood, Wisteria looped her arm through his, pressing it snugly against the side of her voluptuous figure.

"Then, for now... shall we head to my room~?"

"..."

For reasons he couldn’t quite name, Axel had a very bad feeling about this.