Taming The Villainesses novel Chapter 391

“Eleven hundred one, eleven hundred two...”

As we descended the stairs, only Narmee’s voice softly echoed. The farther we went down, the more the musty mold and strange, unpleasant odors began to bother me.

“Two thousand five hundred twenty-two...”

The numbers Narmee muttered kept getting larger. I was sure we’d descended a considerable depth, but these stairs showed no sign of ending.

Why would anyone build such a deep staircase in this fortress? I didn’t know the reason, but if the imp’s soul was down here, I had no choice but to keep going.

“Phew, it's kinda chilly. Teo-gun, do you sense anything?”

At Stella’s question, I quieted my senses. Aside from the fact that the air really was quite cold, as she said, there wasn’t anything in particular I could detect.

Eventually, the bottom of the stairs came into view. What appeared before us was a door that looked rather solid and heavy.

There wasn’t any lock, but it seemed too hefty to push open with brute force.

Together, we shoved the door with all our strength. The long-abandoned iron door groaned with rust as it slowly budged backward.

Once we’d pushed it open, a pitch-black space loomed beyond. We lit up our surroundings with magic, revealing scattered tools and bones.

“A prison?”

I wasn’t sure who said it. But I agreed. This place felt like a prison. There were bars, manacles, shackles, and what looked like torture devices used on convicts.

Old bloodstains, dried and blackened over time, were smeared here and there, giving the place an eerie feeling. To think an imp might be in a place like this...

Narmee spoke.

“Looks like a bunch of people died here. And they were killed really horribly. Why did they kill so indiscriminately...?”

Born with the gift of spiritual sensitivity, Narmee seemed to be seeing and hearing things I couldn’t. As for me, all I could feel was a sense that it would be best to get out of here quickly.

Stella said,

“The Demon King Solomon, who fled all the way to this Gargarta Fortress, was being cornered. They say that’s when he began his brutal massacres. When people are driven into a corner, their true nature always comes out.”

So this place was Solomon’s final refuge.

I tried to imagine the Demon King as he wandered through here, but having never seen any portraits of him, it was hard to picture him clearly.

In any case, the important thing wasn’t where we were—it was where the imp was.

I hurriedly looked around.

A red-haired imp. If I could find him, help him pass on, and destroy the jar, that would lift the curse entirely—at least, that’s what they’d said.

Should I try calling out?

“Imp? Hey, are you here?”

Even as I said it, I thought I sounded like an idiot.

I should’ve at least given him a nickname beforehand.

But if just calling out like this were enough to summon him, we wouldn’t have had to wander the fortress for so long.

“Who called me?”

Rustle.

At that moment, a tuft of red hair popped out from the shadows. As his face slowly came into view, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

So he really did show up when called.

“Oh, it’s you, Teo. I thought it was Master... guess not.”

He walked toward me, clearly disappointed. Then Stella asked,

“Teo-gun, is there something there?”

From her question, I understood—Stella couldn’t see the little imp. Despite him being so vividly present, he was invisible to her.

Strange.

Then Narmee spoke.

“I can see him only faintly. I can tell something is there, but the image is blurry. It kind of shimmers creepily.”

So in the end, the only ones who could properly see the imp were me and Mirna. He really was a ghost. That thought made me feel both chilled and sad.

An imp who died trapped inside a jar. But hadn’t they said Solomon treasured imps dearly?

That’s why imps like Marmar and Tartar still longed for the return of Demon King Solomon, hoping he would once again lead their lives.

To them, the Demon King wasn’t just a ruler—he was practically an object of faith, even worship. But that same figure had sealed this imp inside a jar and turned him into a curse.

Do Marmar and the others know about this? No... I doubt they do. This was all done in secret, deep underground.

My eyes wandered over to the jars scattered throughout this basement. They looked empty inside, but the fact that there were so many of them was horrifying in itself.

Then the imp said to me,

“More importantly, how did you get in here? I never told Master, and this was a secret passage only I knew!”

“I came looking for you. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

***

I found the imp more easily than expected and brought him up to the surface of the fortress. In the wide training yard, where a large bonfire was burning, I led him over. Mirna clapped her hands.

“As expected of Sir Teo. When you handle it, things get resolved in no time.”

It had felt almost too easy for me. But I soon realized that simply finding him was only the beginning.

What we really had to do wasn’t just find him—we had to help him pass on. So we brought the imp over to the jar near the bonfire.