The Curse

There were many different kinds of curses in this world.

From minor, trivial curses that made a person trip at least twice a day...

...to severe, heavy curses that posed a direct threat to one's life.

Out of all these countless curses, what kind of curse could it possibly be... to make such a dark, negative energy emanate from the heart?

How could such an energy lurk inside his body without showing a single outward sign in the first place...?

Could a curse really be that insidious?

Generally, these curses fell under the category of black magic, but no matter how many books she searched through, she couldn't find anything that fit.

If it's not a simple curse...

I closed the book on black magic and curses, lost in thought.

The sudden death of Krectar.

Now that it seemed highly likely Zeto was connected to it, I had to consider another possibility.

Quietly rising from my chair, I returned the book to its shelf and slowly made my way deeper into the library.

With every step, a sharp, stinging pain flared up, as if I were walking on a bed of thorns.

Now, the titles of the books around me all contained a single, chilling word: Demons.

That was right.

...Demons, too, could cast curses.

If the curse on Zeto was of demonic origin, it was a far more serious problem than any warlock's curse.

Most of their curses were fatal.

To be honest, a demon's curse had been my very first thought, but I had searched black magic first, desperately hoping it would turn out to be something lighter.

Scanning the shelves with a heavy heart, I pulled down a book titled Demonic Curses and Magi.

It was incredibly thick. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be protected by security magic.

After all, there were plenty of books in this vast library that required special clearance to read.

How long had it been?

A memory surfaced of the time I had visited this library to dig up information on the Ludwig clan.

I had managed to find the relevant books, but they were locked behind high-level security magic, leaving me completely empty-handed.

I ended up finding information about my clan through other means later, though.

Carrying the heavy volume back to my seat, I set it down on the desk with a dull thud and immediately began flipping through the pages.

True to the nature of those wretched demons, every single curse detailed inside was utterly horrific.

Even turning a single page felt agonizing.

What if it's this one...? What if he's suffering from something like this...? The terrifying thoughts swirled in my head, making my mind spin.

Did Zeto even know? Did he know that such a curse was festering inside his body?

No, Zeto would definitely know.

With his extraordinary ability to perceive things, there was no way he was unaware of the energy inside him.

And yet...

He had smiled.

He had smiled brightly at me. He had held me gently. He had supported me.

Is the reason this happened to Zeto... ultimately because of me?

—Slide...

As I was struggling through the text, a familiar voice quietly called out to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me.

"Eisel? Fancy meeting you here."

It was Yuri Clementine.

"Oh, hey..."

My mood was far from pleasant, so my reply came out rather weak and lifeless.

Yuri was a complicated presence in many ways.

She was a completely different person before and after Zeto entered the picture.

Even now, I didn't think we quite considered each other friends... but it felt wrong to say we weren't close either. It was a truly bizarre relationship.

Since neither she nor I really had any other friends, it might just be that we didn't know how to act around each other.

On top of that, she was showing an interest in Zeto.

That was highly irritating—both in the previous timeline and in this one.

Yuri glanced down at the book I was reading and spoke.

"Curses...?"

"Ah, this is..."

"Are you looking for a specific curse?"

"...No, just killing time. What about you?"

I asked, gesturing to the book Yuri was clutching to her chest.

The book in her arms was fairly thick, with a title I had never seen before.

"The Saint and the Princess..."

I read the title aloud without much thought.

At that, Yuri's face flushed slightly, and she hugged the book even tighter.

She quickly stammered out an explanation.

"T-This... I read it when I was little, and it just randomly crossed my mind lately... So..."

"When you were little?"

"...Have you never read it, Eisel? It's a super famous fairy tale. Most people read it at least once when they're kids."

"A fairy tale? I don't know. I don't think I was ever very interested in fairy tales."

"Ah..."

She nodded with a slightly awkward expression at my reply.

In truth, it wasn't that I lacked interest; ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there simply had been no such thing as a 'fairy tale book' where I grew up.

In the place where the demons experimented on me, the only reading materials were the desperate messages carved into the walls by those who had despaired before me.

Many of them were written in blood.

I remembered biting my own finger one day to write a word in blood, wanting to copy them.

'By the way, what does "escape" mean?'

I had asked the demon guarding me after writing the word.

'Something you are absolutely never allowed to do.'

The demon had glanced at the word with a bored expression and replied.

Soon after, Krectar had entered the room. Seeing the blood on my finger, he scolded the guard, saying that allowing me to do such things was 'unnatural.'

"......Isn't it fascinating?"

"...Sorry, I didn't catch what you said."

Because those old childhood memories had resurfaced for the first time in a long while, I had completely tuned Yuri out.

Yuri let out a deep, dramatic sigh.

"Sigh... Do you really have to make it that obvious you don't care? I was giving you this whole passionate explanation, and you..."

It was a newly discovered piece of information: surprisingly, Yuri Clementine still seemed to love fairy tales.

But was there really that much to passionately explain about a fairy tale?

Curiousness getting the better of me, I asked her.

"...Could you tell me again?"

"...Well, since you were reading about curses, it just reminded me of the curse in this fairy tale..."

Yuri trailed off, looking a bit embarrassed.

But now, I was genuinely intrigued.

"What kind of curse?"

I had never read a fairy tale, so I wondered if it was normal for a children's book to feature something as dark as a curse.

"A curse that eats away at one's lifespan, I think...? It was originally meant for the princess... but the saint took the curse in her place."

Yuri rolled her eyes upward, searching her memory as she answered.

"He took the curse in her place...?"

"Yeah. It's a really heartbreaking story..."

Yuri murmured in response, and then, unable to resist, she opened the book she was holding.

"Here, this scene."

Yuri flipped to a specific page and showed it to me.

I slowly read the passage.

As I read the passage, a question formed in my mind.

"This curse... is it a real curse?"

"...I don't know. Why?"

"No... it just sounds a bit similar..."

"Similar to what?"

Yuri asked, but my mind was already spiraling into deep gravity. Barely managing to keep my expression neutral, I stared at the words on the page.

Unless I was letting my imagination run wild, the parallels were striking. The detail about the curse being engraved upon the heart particularly nagged at me.

Was that dark energy really a curse? Did the curse from the fairy tale actually exist in reality?

With absolutely no concrete information, my mind was a tangled mess.

"...Could I borrow this book first?"

I asked Yuri, gently closing the fairy tale.

Since she had picked it up first, it was only polite to ask.

At my request, Yuri twirled her braided hair around her finger, looking hesitant.

Just how badly did she want to read this book right now?

"It seems really interesting. And I've never read it before."

"Hmm... Well, if you've never read it, I guess I have no choice. You read it first, Eisel. I can just read it later."

"Thanks. But didn't you say it was a fairy tale? It's quite thick, and it doesn't really look like a book for little kids..."

"Ah, that's... well, it's a version rewritten for adults. Like an expanded edition...? Something like that. I heard it was hard to find, but I happened to spot it in the library..."

"I'll read it quickly and give it back. It'll only take me a day."

After wrapping up our conversation, I left the library carrying the two books.

One was the fairy tale, and the other was the book containing information on demonic curses.

Perhaps because I had spent so much time inside, the sun had already set, and darkness had blanketed the campus.

A curse engraved upon the heart. A curse that eats away at one's lifespan.

The Saint smiled because he had taken the curse in the Princess's stead.

I had never been cursed by a demon before.

If anything, the 'regression' forced upon me by their experiments was my true curse.

Even so, a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.

...Zeto. Why on earth were you able to smile?

"Haha..."

I scratched my head, letting out an awkward chuckle.

Standing before me was Yuri.

If it were just Yuri, it would have been fine. But standing right next to her was a man with hair the exact same shade of crimson as hers.

Even his neatly trimmed beard was a fiery red.

This distinguished-looking, middle-aged man was...

"Indeed. I heard my daughter was introducing a friend for once... but I never expected that friend to be a man."

...Yuri's father.

The current head of the elemental Clementine family of fire.

Jeras Clementine.

"W-What's wrong with him being a man...!?"

Yuri, who had her hands politely clasped in front of her, stammered and flared up at Jeras.

"Now then, would you mind telling me what exactly you find charming about my daughter? As Yuri's father, I am dying to hear."

Jeras completely ignored Yuri's outburst, turning his gaze away from her to stare directly at me.

Though he stood with his arms crossed and a pleasant smile on his face, an overwhelming pressure emanated from his voice.

The first day of the open-class period.

How on earth did things end up like this?