“This is really uncomfortable……”
Before I could even open the journal—
the demons surrounded me.
Their collective gaze made me want to crawl somewhere and hide.
I normally wasn’t like this.
That was how overwhelming the pressure was.
“Read it already!”
Sellir was threatening me into reading the journal.
Her gaze suggested that if I refused, she would tear me apart instead of the paper.
So I nervously opened it.
I glanced up.
My eyes immediately met Sellir’s.
She narrowed hers.
“Stop looking at me and read!”
“Y-Yes!”
I was going to read it even without the yelling……
If I moved my eyes around again and accidentally made eye contact with Sellir—
I’d probably be scolded.
So I practically buried my nose in the journal.
There were no dates except the day of entry.
Apparently the writer had continuously recorded everything happening in the hotel from that point onward.
Bloodstains covered parts of the pages.
Myers must have been badly wounded.
Yet he had still been determined to leave this record.
[I entered this place to ask forgiveness.]
My eyes widened at the very first sentence.
He really had entered alone to seek forgiveness.
Leaving the family to his older brother—
and entering to resolve this.
The writing beneath said that if the demons wanted House Lodriz exterminated, Myers would willingly allow it.
He was determined to free everything trapped in the hotel.
Most importantly—
before entering, Myers had consulted the heads of the other participating houses.
They called him insane.
Then tried to kill him.
Apparently deciding he would rather die here than at their hands—
Myers stubbornly forced his way inside.
Several House Lodriz seals appeared throughout the journal.
I studied them.
Sellir explained,
“Except for the first and second heads, every generation of House Lodriz handed the family to a sibling or child and entered this place personally. They didn’t want to pass the sin onto another generation.”
“But when I saw the past, I didn’t see anything like that.”
After the first Lodriz bastard—
every later family head in the past I saw seemed desperate to erase the crime.
That was definitely what the system showed.
“You’re looking at people who lived long before you were born. How would you know your ancestors’ faces? Are you certain any of the people you saw were Lodriz family heads?”
“Ah……”
Come to think of it—
after the founder and his heir, I never actually saw anyone wearing the Lodriz family brooch.
“If whoever showed you the past deliberately withheld the fact that House Lodriz wasn’t there, maybe they wanted to see how you’d react if you discovered your family had participated.”
Sellir stopped to breathe.
Then continued,
“I don’t know who did it. But one thing is certain. None of this is necessarily bad for us.”
It’s incredibly unfair to me though.
Then again—
maybe not completely.
Still, I was naturally prone to feeling victimized, so I decided to let it go.
“Were all these seals left by previous Lodriz members?”
“Yes. Starting with Melli and continuing all the way to Chebian. Then you entered.”
Chebian.
My grandfather’s younger brother.
I had heard he left on a long journey.
So he had entered this place too.
One sibling from each generation sacrificed themselves so that the family line itself could continue.
At the same time—
they came here to beg forgiveness from the demons.
Every one of them tried to reveal the island’s secret and save the demons.
Except the first and second generations.
Everyone tried.
Unfortunately—
every attempt failed.
All the way until it reached me.
That was why the other perpetrator families had branded House Lodriz traitors.
So that was why the heads of those families had always viewed ours so unfavorably.
The family heads probably shared the secret with one another.
Then the current heads knew too.
House Schneider, at least, wasn’t hostile toward us.
Was the current Duke Schneider perhaps remorseful?
But still……
“It doesn’t mean they’re forgiven.”
At my firm words—
the demons fell silent.
No matter how hard those Lodriz ancestors tried—
if I were being brutally honest, they had done the same thing I was doing now.
They kept their families safely away.
From the demons’ perspective—
they might have wondered whether our own families mattered while theirs didn’t.
My father, especially, had no siblings.
That was probably why no one had entered this hotel by the time I grew up.
Could Father not bear leaving us behind?
‘That doesn’t sound like him.’
Even if it meant leaving us with Mother—
Father was the kind of person who would fulfill what he saw as his duty.
‘Ah…… Maybe Grandfather never told him.’
I remembered hearing there was a story passed down through House Lodriz.
Yet when Grandfather died—
he deliberately refused to reveal that one thing.
I knew because I once accidentally saw Father crying in Mother’s arms.
He had wondered whether Grandfather refused because he didn’t acknowledge Father as the next head.
But what if that wasn’t it?
What if the secret had been Mars Island?
Sellir’s suddenly gentle voice broke through my thoughts.
“House Lodriz is different.”
Extenron and Dilaf nodded.
Suriel and Holloway apparently disagreed.
Well.
Not everyone had to think the same way.
“Because House Lodriz was the only one trying to reveal the secret and save all of you?”
Sellir shook her head.
“……No. Because they saved that person.”
“Who is ‘that person’?”
The demons didn’t tell me.
Was she talking about the boy I saw in the past?
There had been traces of one person in some of the drawings and notes I discovered.
Maybe those belonged to the boy the demons kept referring to.
Then someone from House Lodriz once saved that precious boy?
To summarize the journal—
it contained everything I already knew about the island.
I thought the system might be connected directly to the hotel……
‘Could the system actually be my Lodriz ancestors?’
Even then—
I still couldn’t understand why it treated me like this.
And why it tried making me kill Cynthia……
Maybe it wanted to kill someone carrying the blood of the royal family that hadn’t sided with them?
If my ancestors died here, the demonic energy could have affected them.
Maybe their minds became unstable.
‘If I follow that logic, the possibility of the system being House Lodriz becomes even stronger.’
It would also explain why the system attached itself to me instead of Moran—
whose family alone wasn’t involved.
Only after reaching the final page did I close the journal.
I thought I finally understood why I had come here.
‘It wants me to continue House Lodriz’s will.’
To accomplish what my ancestors failed to do.
Free the demons.
Grant their wishes.
If Grandfather truly never told Father—
maybe the responsibility skipped him and came directly to me.
I didn’t know why the system chose me instead of my older brother, the actual heir.
Either way—
I had another task now besides escaping.
If my ancestors had tried to beg forgiveness from these people—
then I should carry on that will.
I’m sorry I called all of you fucking bastards.
That only applies to the ones who never repented.
You people are angels.
“So House Lodriz kept asking for forgiveness. Did they apologize directly?”
“They worked endlessly with those weak bodies to save us. Unfortunately, every one of them died.”
There wasn’t much humans could do in this situation.
Everything inside this hotel tried to kill them.
How could they survive?
Even if they were lucky—
humans aged.
Eventually, they would die.
The demons didn’t know where the escape gate was either, so they couldn’t help them leave.
Judging by the journal, those Lodriz ancestors hadn’t intended to escape until they finished everything anyway.
Unless……
“Did you maybe mistake House Lodriz for the enemy and kill them? It would’ve been difficult to distinguish family members.”
I added that it was fine if they had.
Sellir denied it without even thinking.
“No. Just like the journal says, the perpetrator faction deliberately sent people here and killed every Lodriz member.”
“Ah……”
“The person I loved too.”
“……What?”
[You have finished reading the ‘Lodriz Journal’!]
[Sellir’s Favorability increased!]
[‘Demon of Hatred’ Sellir’s Feelings ᕙ(⇀‸↼‵‵)ᕗ: If she is a Lodriz, then I should protect her.]
[Because you finished the ‘Lodriz Journal’ and Sellir’s Favorability increased, ‘Hidden Story (2)’ begins!]
Sellir’s shocking statement left me stunned.
Then she began telling me the same past the system had referenced.
“You look a lot like Myers. I was furious that some mere human dared resemble Myers.”
……Myers was also one of those ‘mere humans,’ you know.
“So it was because you’re his descendant.”
Sellir became noticeably gentler.
The quality of that gentleness was different from the other demons.
Sellir, who had once hated even touching me—
cupped my cheek.
She smiled softly.
Almost as if she were searching for Myers inside my face.
“He was the first person I ever gave my heart to.”
The unexpected statements kept coming.
My brain stopped working properly.
I merely blinked stupidly.
Holloway poked my cheek.
Get your finger out of here.
I grabbed his index finger tightly to tell him to stay still.
Then looked toward Sellir.
Keep talking.
“You liked each other?”
“Yes. But……”
Sellir couldn’t finish.
Her hand slipped away from my cheek.
I was stunned by the unexpected love story.
I never imagined House Lodriz was connected to her like this……
Deep longing still covered Sellir’s face.
Her affection seemed never to have wavered after that day.
Simply remembering Myers brought warmth into her eyes.
The House Lodriz signet ring on her ring finger suddenly looked completely different.
“After Chebian stopped coming, we thought the later generations had abandoned us. I never imagined you would turn out to be a Lodriz.”
When Holloway said my family name, the demons’ gazes had definitely changed favorably.
“I’m still a descendant of the Lodriz ancestor who originally committed the crime. Why are you all looking at me like that?”
No matter how many descendants entered to help—
they had still chosen to shoulder the damage individually so the family itself wouldn’t suffer.
“He can think favorably of you and still act like that?”
Watch your language, Dilaf.
“Considering how he’s acted until now, why would he suddenly view me kindly? So, Holloway, you won’t kill me anymore?”
Holloway avoided my gaze.
Mm.
Apparently not quite at that level.
Being a Lodriz wasn’t an automatic pardon.
“I won’t kill you. His blood flows through you too.”
Apparently for Sellir—
it was.
Sellir had been the one I feared most.
Her declaration alone made me so grateful I wanted to bow deeply.
“Thank you……”
You scared the absolute shit out of me.
“…….”
I’m grateful.
I should give her a gift.
“There are photographs of Lord Myers at our estate. From his childhood all the way until shortly before he entered the hotel. Magic has advanced a lot, so people can preserve moments now.”
“P-Photographs?”
“Not only photographs. The books Lord Myers enjoyed, his diaries, his clothing, and even his room are all still preserved exactly as they were.”
Sellir’s pupils shook violently.
Tears rapidly gathered.
Then rolled down her cheeks.
Sellir buried her face in both palms and sobbed.
“I want to see them……”
“I’ll make sure you do.”
“And how exactly are you going to do that?”
Suriel.
Stop ruining the moment.
***
According to Sellir—
she had nearly killed Myers when they first met.
Then gaining Holloway’s heart, when he was even more stubborn than Sellir, would probably be much harder.
Even if House Lodriz had tried helping them—
I was still a different person.
Holloway had been betrayed even by his own father.
Maybe trusting people now triggered an instinctive rejection.
Then fully opening his heart to me would obviously be difficult.
For someone like that, though—
he expressed affection quite intensely.
Maybe that happened unconsciously too.
Whatever.
Even if he didn’t like me, I still had to do what needed doing.
I couldn’t demand help from the victims.
I abandoned the selfish thought of relying on Holloway.
Then steadied myself.
One step at a time.
First—
find the written pact.
[Would you like to begin the quest to obtain the ‘Underground Vault Key’?]
[Difficulty: High.]
[Yes] / [No]
I pressed ‘Yes’ without even thinking.
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