Warlock Apprentice

He had fulfilled Kanter’s request regarding Qi Li.

With Antonio around, emotions should not spread too much. However, regarding the emotions associated with Fragrance Studies, that can only be resolved after Kanter discusses compensation with Sangye tomorrow and sees if the Fragrance Studies Alchemist can accept it.

With things temporarily settled here, Angel returned to the manor. Upon his return, the first thing he did was enter the Wilderness of Dreams.

Before, he had secretly used the Dream Conch to drag the House of the Heart into the Wilderness of Dreams, and now it was time to test it out.

In the secret room on the upper level of the Demonic Fiend laboratory, Angel quietly observed the House of the Heart on the table.

This House of the Heart, in appearance, was no different from the one he had seen in Sangye’s possession earlier, and it was also enveloped in a faint aura of illusion. Even without experimenting, Angel understood that the House of the Heart should be useful.

However, as useful as the House of the Heart may be, whether it would work on Toby remained an unknown.

Angel still needed to enter it himself to test it out.

Without hesitation, Angel activated the House of the Heart. Amidst a faint shroud of red light, he felt a slight sensation of weightlessness, and as he emerged from a momentary daze, he found himself standing in front of the House of the Heart.

As before, at the end of the winding path, was the House of the Heart.

Without getting close, he already smelled the rich fragrance of flowers. This scent could soothe one’s tense emotions, but since Angel himself was not tense, the fragrance had no effect on him.

He walked leisurely along the dark and narrow path towards the House of the Heart standing in the deep chaos of darkness.

As he walked, the darkness on both sides of the path seemed to be stained by an aura of light, slowly shedding its dim exterior to reveal blurred outlines.

”The illusion is quite natural, indeed,” Angel commented softly as he observed the vague outlines around him.

Then, Angel continued walking forward. Not long after, he paused in his steps.

Once again, he saw a black shadow flicker past the window of the cabin.

That must be the obsession in my heart, Angel mused with a hint of curiosity and continued walking forward. As Angel approached the House of the Heart, the blurred outlines around him gradually took shape.

The moment Angel stood before the entrance of the House of the Heart, the environment before him changed completely.

He was not standing at the door of that cabin but in front of a finely crafted wooden door.

The place he was in was no longer the winding path... Angel looked back and saw a lavishly decorated corridor. It was as though in an instant, he had moved from outdoors to indoors.

Angel looked at everything before him, a glimmer of deep light flashing in his eyes.

He was not unfamiliar with this corridor. It was the second floor hallway of Pat Manor, and the door before him was his bedroom when he lived at Pat Manor.

”Did the House of the Heart simulate my room?” Angel reached out and touched the pattern on the door, ”The touch is quite realistic; is it because of the Heart Illusion deceiving my inner memories or has it extracted my memories from within my heart?”

Angel did not ponder this question for long as that was not his focus today. He pushed the door open with force.

As the door opened, Angel expected to see his obsession sitting inside, but there was none.

The inside was empty, without a single person.

Angel walked in, and the layout inside was exactly like his room.

Angel acted as if he had really returned home, first sitting at the desk and flipping through past books. Then, he wandered around the room for a while, and finally came to the bedroom.

The bedroom was still unoccupied. However, there was one spot that felt slightly out of place.

It was the mirror beside the bed.

This standing mirror, at first glance, seemed unremarkable, yet when Angel looked at it from a distance, he discovered that it didn’t reflect the bed in front of it at all but was instead a dark and obscure expanse, much like a great dark doorway.

Looking at this standing mirror, Angel seemed to recall something, his expression turning solemn.

”Could it be him?” Angel murmured softly, slowly walking towards the mirror.

Just as he was about to touch the mirror, a voice sounded from behind him: ”Are you sure you want to go through?”

The voice was slightly deep, yet very familiar to Angel. He paused, turning to look back, and noticed unexpectedly that someone had appeared at the doorway of his bedroom.

It was a person dressed in a wine-red gentleman’s attire, tall and fair-skinned, with golden hair and eyes bluer than the ocean.

Handsome, noble, and graceful.

However, when Angel looked at him, it was as if he was looking in a mirror. Because the person opposite him was his own self, different only in attire and look. His eyes were far more shadowy, as if reflecting a dark universe.

”Who are you?” Angel paused: ”My obsession? Or, my Obsession Demon?”

”You may think of me that way; didn’t you come here to see me?” the red-clad Angel spoke calmly.

”And what is that?” Angel pointed toward the mirror in the bedroom.

”You should have the answer in your heart, right? That is also you, just another you.” The red-clad Angel stepped back and sat on the sofa: ”Are you sure you want to face him right now? You should know, he has transcended the rules, he may turn his gaze towards you.”

”Instead of confirming the unknown, why not have a chat with me?” the red-clad Angel paused, then extended his hand towards the door: ”Of course, you can leave anytime.”

Upon seeing this scene, Angel felt a vague answer forming in his heart.

An obsession demon would not be so accommodating, the person before him was definitely not one.

Just as he had told Sangye, his heart truly had no obsessions strong enough to become an obsession demon. The red-clad Angel in front of him was more likely a blend of emotions, memories, and obsessions.

And because of the latter’s identity, Angel could guess why he was trying to stop him.

However, Angel did not heed his advice and continued towards the mirror. When he looked into the mirror, just as he suspected, he didn’t see a person but a familiar darkness, and the aura of the Nightmare Realm that seemed to be bursting out of the mirror.

Indeed, this mirror was related to... Shava.

Angel once had a dream, where he saw another self in the mirror of his room. But it wasn’t the him from reality, it was another him from the Nightmare Realm.

In the House of the Heart, the mirror was actually recreated.

Was it because it was his greatest hidden worry?

Angel didn’t linger in front of the mirror, even if it was just a replica created by the House of the Heart, but as his obsession had mentioned: The entity within the Nightmare Realm had transcended the rules and might truly sense him. And Angel was not yet ready to confront that entity directly.

So, he stepped back.

”It seems that you have made a choice. So, would you like to have a chat with me?” the red-clad Angel sat on the sofa, holding a wine glass, which contained not wine but a pure white liquid, exuding a strong milky scent.

Angel shook his head, walking straight to the door: ”No need, you didn’t plan on coming out from the beginning, so you know, there’s no need for us to meet.”

Since it had not become an obsession demon, Angel did not care about this personification of his obsessions. There was no need to talk with it, for he understood himself better than anyone else, his emotions, desires, and obsessions.

The red-clad Angel smiled, lifting his glass towards Angel’s direction, nodding his head, his figure gradually fading away.