บท 189: Chapter 189: Lucius' Loyalty
Lately, Lucius had been feeling a persistent pain in his arm.
Every night, when he rolled up his sleeve, the mark that had long since seemed like an ordinary tattoo now appeared to come to life again, the black snake slithering through the eye sockets of the skull! But it seemed like it might just be his imagination, because when he looked closer, the mark appeared just as it always had, no different from any day in the past twelve years.
"Perhaps I'm just being paranoid?"
Lucius couldn't help but speculate.
However, like him, the remnants of the Death Eaters, who harbored similar worries, had never been able to put their fears to rest.
Now, even the sight of a phantom could make their hearts skip a beat! Yet, despite the pain, the mark had not issued any summons.
"Don't overthink it. We've always known the master was still alive, and he has already forgiven our mistakes," Lucius reassured the anxious Narcissa.
The "master" he referred to was, of course, Cyrus.
"Do you really believe he and the Dark Lord are the same person?"
Narcissa said, trembling. She had witnessed Voldemort's terror firsthand. That person—no, he couldn't even be called a person—was more like a monster!
That monster was cruel and bloodthirsty, with a violent temper. Given what Draco had done in the past, he would have likely been killed several times over!
"There might be a connection between them, but they are certainly not the same person!" Narcissa's terrified eyes bore into Lucius. She couldn't believe her husband had yet to notice this.
In fact, Lucius had noticed long ago.
But to him, whether Cyrus was Voldemort or not didn't matter. He—Similar to a pampered greedy woman— only wanted to be the governor's husband; who the governor was didn't concern Lucius.
"I only know that he is very much connected to the diary the Dark Lord gave me. Even if the Dark Lord comes back to punish us, I have an excuse," Lucius wasn't foolish. This was his backup plan, a way to switch sides at any time if necessary.
Of course, he also understood that even with this plan, the Dark Lord wouldn't easily spare him, but if it ever came to that, he wouldn't be concerned about a few punishments.
"Then why take the risk?" Narcissa didn't understand.
"Because whether it's the Dark Lord or Master Cyrus, it makes no difference to us!"
Lucius explained. "We can't defy him, and look at what we stand to gain by following him! A status even more prestigious than what we have now!"
Power and profit are the demons that lure one into the abyss!
"Besides, Master Cyrus might very well be a match for the Dark Lord," Lucius murmured. "We just need to wait and not make our move too soon. But we can start doing something for our 'master'."
This master referred to Voldemort.
Lucius thought for a moment and then decided to reach out to some of his "old friends." He believed that those who had betrayed their "friends" or were eager to distance themselves from the Death Eaters were just as anxious and uncertain as he was.
No matter what, they needed to do something now to atone for the mistakes they had made.
So he wrote two letters.
...
"Lucius's Dark Mark has started to hurt?" Cyrus looked down at the letter brought by the owl and pondered for a moment.
Although Voldemort had not yet summoned his old followers, the changes in the Dark Mark now seemed to herald his return.
He wanted to give some confidence to those who were still loyal to him, to intimidate the fence-sitters who were wavering, and to instill enough fear in the traitors who had completely betrayed him.
"This Lucius is quite interesting, openly beginning to contact the old Death Eaters, planning to stir up some trouble to show his loyalty to Voldemort, but secretly writing to inform me. It seems he's playing both sides."
But this was typical of the Malfoy family's nature, so Cyrus wasn't surprised at all.
"Could Voldemort be making such a commotion because he's found a way to resurrect?" Cyrus wondered.
Just then, Newt walked over. Cyrus calmly folded the letter, not to prevent Newt from seeing its contents, but rather to do so in a manner that wasn't suspicious.
Hastily hiding the letter would have only aroused more curiosity.
"A friend has sent me a letter, I'm afraid I have to leave," Cyrus announced.
"Oh?" Newt's face immediately showed a look of regret.
Cyrus had been staying with him for several days, and they had gotten along very well. Cyrus, having inherited Tom Riddle's social skills, could get along pleasantly with almost anyone.
Moreover, he was very knowledgeable and had a deep understanding of magical creatures.
Additionally, Cyrus had used Nagini to bridge the generational gap between himself and Newt, fostering a strong relationship.
Tina also had a great fondness for Cyrus, so much so that she regretted not having a daughter or two to arrange a marriage with him.
"I see your suitcase has a nice environment. How about taking a few magical creatures with you?" Newt offered with a smile.
There were some magical creatures in his suitcase that Newt hadn't intended to keep but rather planned to release back into the wild. If Cyrus was willing to take them in, it would be ideal.
"That would be wonderful," Cyrus agreed without hesitation. The bloodline magic within magical creatures seemed to share a common origin with ancient magic, so the more creatures he had, the more it would benefit his research.
The magical creatures they had rescued from the poachers were already being housed in his suitcase.
Although they had a variety of species, their numbers were not vast. With Newt's generous donation, Cyrus suddenly had a wealth of new specimens for his experiments!
As for caring for the magical creatures, that wasn't much trouble—Dobby would gladly serve him.
Cyrus had no qualms about ordering Dobby around, though he did provide some wages, which, while modest, were enough to make Dobby immensely grateful. Dobby even took the initiative to share house-elf magic with him.
However, Cyrus's primary focus of research at the moment was still on Obscurus.
He had performed a soul surgery, stitching the "negative emotions" extracted from the Obscurus with the piece of Voldemort's soul inside the diadem. After consuming these emotions, Voldemort's soul grew stronger, eagerly waiting for Cyrus to continue feeding it.
The Voldemort within the diadem was the one Cyrus was most familiar with. This fragment of the soul had never doubted Cyrus, and it was clear that it was beginning to show signs of rebellion.
Now his thoughts were:
"If the diary can be resurrected, why can't the diadem be resurrected?"
However, this fragment held no ill will toward Cyrus—or rather, Cyrus had accepted every piece of Voldemort's soul without hostility, even genuinely suggesting to Cyrus that all the Horcruxes be resurrected.
Cyrus, of course, rejected the idea.
The mere diadem was just a piece of food Cyrus had prepared for himself. Did it really think it could be resurrected?
Cyrus planned to use the soul within the diadem as a vessel to help him bear the impact of those "negative emotions."
After all..
"Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem has the ability to make one's mind clear and rational, which can help minimize the effect of those emotions on my soul."
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