Chapter 67
Chapter 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Delbar's Curse
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“That child can never be a Delbar.”
The duke’s conclusion was resolute.
Carnel couldn’t understand.
One could say that… but why shut out even the possibility?
“…What do you mean?”
The words she barely managed to squeeze out.
Confusion and doubt tangled together, catching in her throat.
But…
The duke’s gaze was cold.
Even facing his bewildered daughter, not a trace of emotion mixed in as he spoke icy words.
“That child may resemble us, but he is fated never to belong to the Delbar family.”
“…Is that your will, Father?”
Honesty slipped out.
A high-pitched ring buzzed in Carnel’s ears, and even the ticking second hand on the wall clock grated loudly.
“…”
Carnel wanted to ask.
Whether it was truly a matter of bloodline, or if there was some other reason.
“I’ll explain it logically, Carnelia.”
The duke opened his mouth.
His voice held no affection still.
“In this world, the only ones carrying Delbar blood are you and I— just the two of us.”
“…”
“And… I have never been unfaithful.”
The simplest answer.
The most definitive denial.
With that one statement, the last thread of hope in bloodline was severed.
“Carnelia. Whatever you feel for that child… that’s your freedom.”
“…What are you saying?”
“But bringing that child under the Delbar name… that must never happen.”
“So the reason is…”
“I had intended to tell you… later.”
“…”
“But seeing your relationship with that child now, I can delay no longer.”
“So… what exactly are you saying?”
The duke met Carnel’s eyes.
A rare flicker of emotion dwelt in that gaze.
“The Delbar family… is a cursed lineage, Carnelia.”
“…A curse?”
Instead of answering, the duke looked out the window again.
His gaze wasn’t on the blue sky or the garden—it aimed at empty space.
“Do you know this, Carnelia?”
“…Know what?”
“The Delbar family should have vanished long ago.”
The duke’s words made no sense.
For the head of that family to say it should have disappeared ages ago.
“…”
The duke answered with prolonged silence.
His back, facing the window, looked strangely heavy.
“The prestige of the Delbar name stands tall.”
“…”
“Yet behind that brilliant facade lies a pitch-black shadow.”
Brilliance.
The darkness hidden behind it.
The gap between them was vast and deep.
“The Delbar family was born from Calamity, Carnelia.”
Absurd.
No, at least it didn’t match the Delbar name she’d known and cherished her whole life.
Carnel had always taken pride in the Delbar name.
She’d believed it a family of light and honor alone, and no one in the world had ever challenged that brilliance.
And yet…
They were not destroyed by Calamity, they had not merely endured it…
But were created by it.
“The world believes we were born of light.”
“…”
“But the truth is the opposite. The Delbar family was born from Calamity.”
“Then that Calamity…”
Before she could finish, the duke called her name first.
“Carnelia.”
“…Yes, Father.”
“There are seven Calamitys in this world.”
“The Seven Deadly Sins…”
“Yes… Wrath, Lust, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride.”
Ancient names that had plagued the world.
Immortal nightmares manifesting in varied forms across generations.
“But only a scant few in this world know the truth.”
The truth the world conceals.
Known only to those who’ve survived ages or stand at the world’s pinnacle.
“Calamitys number not seven, but eight.”
“…Pardon?”
That single phrase from the duke’s lips denied the entirety of world history.
“The Calamity of Calamitys, the silence that robs all meaning from any being.”
“…”
“Its name… is Laplace.”
***
The room I’d been assigned in the Delbar duke’s mansion.
“Hmm…”
[Hey]
“What is it, human?”
I wasn’t alone in my bed.
[Get down]
Leviathan.
That damned loach had finally climbed onto my bed in human form.
While I’d briefly visited the library, it had snuck a book, propped it on a pillow, and was giggling as it read.
Half an apple lay on its belly, remnants of a snack.
An idiotic grin on its face.
And… my pillow was already flattened under that thing’s head.
[This is my bed]
“It's mine now.”
[I said it's mine]
“Who decided that, human?”
I swiftly yanked the blanket up, but…
Leviathan closed the book, pulled the pillow closer, and curled into a ball to keep from losing the blanket.
And then…
Flick.
“…Ack.”
What I grabbed was the half-eaten apple Leviathan had left.
I hurled it straight at its face without hesitation, and it hit dead on.
Then I pulled out another blanket, spread it on the floor, and lay down.
‘Come to think of it…’
It had already been a full day since arriving at this mansion.
Yet strangely, the achievement still hadn’t unlocked.
“Hmm…”
Lost in thought, Leviathan suddenly sniffed.
[What’s wrong?]
“Sniff sniff… Smells like shit.”
[That’s your upper lip]
Leviathan extended a hand toward me, then flipped the middle finger in a mountain gesture.
I fired back with the exact same sign.
“…Spirit stench.”
[Where’s a spirit around here]
As far as I knew, Delbar held no spirit contracts.
Even in *Aka Calamity*, Carnel never once summoned a spirit…
So she's probably incorrect.
“…”
But at my response, Leviathan turned away with a dissatisfied look.
Then it grumbled under the blanket, sat up, and glanced out the window.
“Urgh…”
When that didn’t give a good view, it finally closed the book, sprang up, and strode to the window barefoot.
Slap slap, its bare feet padding across the room floor to the window…
I seized the chance, launching myself onto the bed at lightning speed.
“Human…”
[What]
“Spirits are coming.”
[Bullshit]
Forcibly dragged from the bed I’d just reclaimed, I stood beside Leviathan, sensing something suspicious.
“…”
“…”
And together we beheld the scene outside.
Far off… very far in the distance, something utterly repulsive was approaching the Delbar duke’s mansion.
[Doesn’t look like spirits no matter how you slice it?]
One thing was certain: they didn’t look like spirits.
Spirits usually sparkled or something… but these dripped something that looked like filthy sludge.
‘…Wait.’
*Aka Calamity* had spirits like that.
The Witch’s House.
Spirits handled by the Calamity of Lust, 「Witch」.
Those grotesque spirits trailed their master, leaking blood-red shadows.
‘…’
Come to think of it, rumors of them stirring up the empire lately weren’t for nothing.
I’d seen them plenty in *Aka Calamity* scripts, and even at the academy I attended, word came often.
‘Ah.’
So there'd be no peace after all, huh.
***
“Its name… is Laplace.”
Carnel was baffled.
More precisely… she couldn’t accept it.
Why had such a monumental truth been thoroughly hidden from the world?
And why reveal it to her now?
“Laplace… led to the Delbar family’s birth.”
“…”
“Before vanishing, that Calamity left a blessing—and a curse.”
The duke raised a hand to stroke his snow-white hair.
“Hair that shines white.”
He turned to meet Carnel’s eyes.
“Eyes brilliant as gold.”
“That’s…”
“Delbar received the blessing of magic, and with it, the curse.”
Unthinkingly, Carnel touched her own hair.
Soft, snow-white strands brushed her fingertips.
And… Adel’s eyes naturally came to mind.
“…Adel has the same as us.”
“Precisely why that child cannot be Delbar, Carnelia.”
“But…”
“What did I say? Delbar is a family blessed with magic.”
“…”
“That child… possesses not even a scrap of magic.”
Karnel’s lips pressed tight.
Adel without magic.
The child who could barely speak… bearing strange traits.
That was surely far from any blessing.
“But… Adel can’t even speak properly… If this isn’t the curse, then what is?”
“There is one inference possible, Carnelia.”
With his back to Carnel, the duke raised a single finger.
“Adel, too, bears Laplace’s curse, just like Delbar.”
“…That’s all?”
“Yes. He's not of Delbar blood… but that child carries remnants of a Calamity.”
They shared no blood ties.
Yet a deeper link was confirmed: Laplace’s curse.
Perhaps that alone bound Adel and Delbar thicker than blood.
“Then…”
Carnel slowly voiced her last lingering doubt.
“…What curse did you receive, Father?”
At those words, the duke’s fingertips visibly twitched.
“What curse did I receive? I’ve never felt a single one in my life.”
“…”
The duke said nothing.
His lips hardened, and he exhaled deeply.
In that silence, the Delbar duke Carnel had always known was gone.
…Only then did the duke slowly, very slowly, speak.
“…The curse I bear is the erosion of emotions.”
“…”
“Joy, sorrow, anger… they all fade. The more time passes, the less I feel anything.”
Gazing into space, the duke clenched and unclenched his hand.
“At first, I thought little of it. Being a bit numb? As duke, not being swayed by emotions was a virtue, I believed.”
“…”
“But losing emotions means losing ‘love’ as well.”
He turned, facing Carnel.
“Then… the reason you turned away from me…”
“There are no excuses.”
“But…”
“Even if it’s the curse’s fault, I stood by as my emotions faded, and I was the one who hurt you.”
Failing to give love to the daughter who needed it most as a child.
He offered no justification for that weight.
“Amelia was nearly the only one who could stir emotions in me. I used that as an excuse to distance myself from you instead.”
“…So you hated me?”
The duke shook his head.
“I never hated you.”
“…”
Silence fell.
In this moment, his eyes seemed to regain emotion.
“Then… what’s my curse?”
“…”
“I can speak properly, nor have I lost emotions… So what the hell is my curse?”
“Carnel…”
At that one word, Carnel’s eyes widened.
For the first time, the duke… her father… had called her not ‘Carnelia,’ but the nickname ‘Carnel.’
“Your curse… is your talent.”
Radiant talent.
One that might reach beyond the heavens… dazzling enough to hurt the eyes.
“You were blessed. But that talent… is not a pure blessing.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Your brilliant talent… will one day surely bring Calamity, Carnel…”
He knew.
What ruin awaited at that talent’s end.
And simultaneously… how beautiful and cruel that blessing was.