Chapter 74
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Curse (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
- Click...
Urielle, who had led the three ladies of the meritorious families to the room where Kairen lay unconscious, let out a sigh and sat down beside him.
"Haa..."
With a somewhat darkened expression, she gently stroked the hair of Kairen, who was lying on the bed.
"So, what is it you want to say?"
"...One thing first."
She then opened her mouth with cold eyes in response to Artel's question flying in from the front.
"Please tell me how well I understand the curses afflicting your families."
The three ladies exchanged puzzled glances for a moment before quietly nodding.
"First, the curse of the Hakpreet family freezes the heart. A peculiarity is that it can be used to freeze surrounding objects."
"...That's correct."
After reciting the well-known curse of the Hakpreet family first, she shifted her gaze to Sigrynne, who nodded without objection.
"Next, the curse of the Scharhen Marquisate is one that erodes the mind. The peculiarities are that the more emotions are lost, the stronger one becomes, and that a single emotion can be protected at the cost of one's life."
"...It's no different from what I know."
At her second statement, Lady Artel, who had already lost many emotions due to her curse at a young age, nodded similarly.
"And the curse of the Magnaris Marquisate... It's never been publicly disclosed, but it must be a curse that halts growth, right?"
"...H-How do you...?"
"That's enough. Thank you for confirming."
Having recited even the curse of the Magnaris Marquisate—which was not just obscure but virtually classified—she smiled and spoke again.
"Then, you can leave now."
"Y-Yes...? Yes?!"
Ranya von Magnaris was taken aback by the sudden dismissal from her lips.
"I have no particular ill will toward you. I just called you to confirm something."
"E-Excuse me...!"
After hesitating for a moment, she darted out of the room before Uriel might change her mind, and silence soon filled the room.
"Now, let's get to the main point."
As Uriel broke the silence and resumed the conversation, the two ladies listened quietly.
"Do you know about the curse of Opstein, which was recently excluded from the meritorious families?"
"That's..."
"I don't know."
When they exchanged glances and answered thus, Uriel's eyes sharpened momentarily.
"Of course you wouldn't know."
"...?"
"Because the only meritorious family without a curse is the Opstein Marquisate, which produced the first saintess of the hero's party."
At her following words, Sigrynne raised her hand with a surprised expression.
"But Belverk..."
"Belverk's curse is rabies."
"...Pardon?"
"The head of the Belverk family attacks servants and family members every year on a cycle. The ducal house is always filled with the smell of blood on those days."
However, Uriel ruthlessly cut off her chance to speak, her eyes turning red as she continued her explanation and issued a warning.
"Oh, by the way, it's classified information, so don't go blabbing about it. Only the emperor knows about the rabies besides the Belverks."
Sigrynne, who understood the implications better than anyone as a child of a meritorious family, nodded quietly, cold sweat trickling down more profusely than usual.
"Now, a question here. What exactly is the true nature of these curses?"
"They're the final curses cast by the first Demon King on the hero's party that defeated him..."
"Isn't that a bit strange?"
As Sigrynne paused, Artel began answering Uriel's question instead.
"The ones who defeated the Demon King in the final battle were the hero and Belverk's first head."
"But in the final battle..."
"The hero and Belverk's head combined forces to behead the Demon King in one stroke. Multiple documents from the founding war era describe it identically."
However, as if she had anticipated her words, Uriel's eyes quietly gleamed.
"Then, did the Demon King have the time and strength left to cast curses?"
"..."
"Even if he succeeded in casting them, shouldn't the curses have afflicted only the hero and Belverk by logic?"
As she probed the logical flaw, Artel, momentarily speechless, asked back with a cold expression.
"What are you trying to say?"
"The point is this."
Uriel met her gaze without flinching, flashing a chilly smile as she addressed the two ladies in a languid voice.
"The information you've taken for granted might not actually be true."
"..."
"If you understand, start questioning it yourselves even now. I've already given you all the hints..."
Lady Sigrynne, who had been silently listening, seemed to realize something odd and nodded quietly.
"...Hmm."
Lady Artel beside her had turned her gaze aside but appeared somewhat convinced.
"And now for the real main point..."
Thus, Uriel had succeeded in planting doubt about their dissatisfaction without revealing Belverk's most critical secret.
"I'm sorry, but please give up on becoming my brother's knights, both of you."
At her sudden request, the two ladies tilted their heads and asked back.
"Pardon?"
"What do you mean?"
Of course, due to the recent events, they had little intention of joining the 5th Knight Order anyway, so their questions were purely out of curiosity about Uriel's words.
"Because my brother Kairen..."
Watching them intently, Uriel, deeming the moment right, paled slightly as she stroked Kairen's hair once more and was about to speak—
"Cough, cough..."
—when Kairen on the bed suddenly began coughing and writhing.
"Oh, it seems my brother is waking up."
"..."
"Shall we continue elsewhere?"
Uriel gazed down at him with a pitying expression before quietly standing and gesturing toward the door.
"...I'll stay here a bit."
"Pardon?"
"I want to apologize."
Yet Artel, remaining seated, made that proposal.
"If that's the case."
Uriel tilted her head, staring at her for a moment before murmuring and turning her gaze forward.
"Are you awake?"
With Uriel and Sigrynne leaving the room, Artel alone approached the tousle-haired Kairen, who had struggled to sit up as Uriel suggested, and whispered lowly.
"Hypocrite young master?"
The considerable hostility in her tone snapped Kairen fully awake from his drowsy state, and he turned his head.
"No..."
And moments later, Kairen's mouth gaped wide.
"Should I call you Demon King young master instead?"
Artel's words, delivered with an intensely cold yet somehow deficient gaze, contained information she shouldn't know.
"Wh-What did you just say...?"
"Ha, so it really is true."
As Kairen stammered with his mouth agape, Artel's cold voice echoed through the room.
"I wondered what your second sister was about to say, but as expected, it was obvious self-justification."
"Uh..."
"Of course, your eloquence is impressive. If I didn't know the truth, I might have fallen for it."
Listening to her continuing words, Kairen glanced around cautiously before urgently speaking up.
"I-I'm not the Demon King!"
"..."
"Wh-Where did you even hear that?!"
She crossed her arms, glaring at him with a markedly icy tone.
"Who else? My aunt."
"Aunt...?"
"Aridna von Scharhen. Don't you know her?"
The moment he heard that name, Kairen's face drained of color.
"Eek."
He could never forget the name of the marchioness—one of those who had turned his ten years in Opstein into a nightmare.
"She sent me a secret letter recently, warning me to beware of you."
"..."
"She told me Belverk's secret long ago too. You can't fool me even if you fool others."
Gaining confidence from his reaction, Artel pressed him even more sharply.
"Did you think we'd be moved just because you claimed to fix the curses your ancestors inflicted?"
"..."
"Get real. You can't fix mine anyway. I've already lost too many emotions to be of any use."
Though Kairen wanted to respond, Artel gave him no opening and continued her interrogation.
"And you—immune to curses, with a body close to immortality, right?"
"Pardon?"
"Aunt told me everything. She warned that if Kairen offers to cure your curse, it's not out of goodwill but some ulterior motive."
Despite seeking a chance to interject, Kairen widened his eyes at those words.
"You picked fights with us, used your overflowing lifespan to pretend to cure curses casually, all to recruit us into your knight order?"
"..."
"Too bad. I'm going to tell everyone the truth now."
As his expression soured, Artel looked triumphant, her eyes darkening.
"If there's any falsehood in what I said, prove it."
With that, silence fell over the room for a moment.
"Ah, haha..."
In that silence, Kairen suddenly laughed brightly before muttering in a dark voice.
"You've found out..."
Hearing that, Artel smirked as if she knew it all along.
"Sorry about that. I mean it."
"..."
"Forget about the knight order recruitment."
Gauging her mood, Kairen muttered in an even more subdued voice, his face tinged with guilt as he began apologizing.
"It was all my plan, yes. I really do have overflowing lifespan! I can live like ten thousand years."
"Ha."
"Even this—I'll be fine after sleeping it off overnight..."
But then, Kairen suddenly stopped, his body trembling.
"Cough, cough!"
"...?"
"Ugh..."
As he vomited a massive amount of blood-soaked ice crystals again, Artel flinched momentarily before coldly averting her gaze.
"B-But... there's something wrong."
As she headed toward the door, she slightly turned at Kairen's even smaller voice from behind.
"The story about the first Demon King's curse and Opstein..."
Desperate to clear the misunderstanding, Kairen clutched his numb heart and tried to speak, but—
"Hypocrite."
Artel's chilling rebuke pierced his ears.
"Don't talk to me anymore."
"Pl-Please listen... Ack!"
Despite trying to continue, Kairen collapsed onto the bed again from the searing pain in his heart.
"Ugh..."
As sobbing echoed through the room, Artel hesitated briefly before turning away once more.
"...Hmph."
Snorting as she stepped out, she raised her voice deliberately so he'd hear.
"Looks like karma, so take it as is."
"..."
"Unlike us, you'll live a long, long time anyway."
By then, Kairen had apparently lost consciousness again, offering no reply.
"Haa..."
Artel stepped out feeling somewhat relieved.
"...But something feels off."
However, recalling Kairen's severely worsened state—unlike what she knew—she tilted her head.
'Whatever, none of my business.'
She shook her head and walked away coldly.
'I just said what I had to...'
Determined to inform her comrades of the truth, she scanned around—then widened her eyes.
"...Hm?"
She hadn't walked far when she spotted a comrade.
"..."
After glancing around, she quietly approached Sigrynne, who sat slumped by the window at the corridor's end.
"Why are you sitting like that?"
"Ah..."
"Sigrynne?"
That's when Artel noticed something odd.
"What's wrong with you?"
Even after her curse was lifted, Sigrynne's face, crouched in the corridor, was deathly pale.
"...It seems I've committed an unforgivable sin against Young Master Kairen."
As Artel sat beside her with a worried expression, Sigrynne, belatedly noticing her, slowly began to explain.
"I just heard Lady Uriel's explanation and came out..."
Artel listened intently, resolving to comfort her by drawing out her deficient emotions as much as possible, whatever the situation.
"Young Master Kairen's Crimson Eyes have the ability to absorb others' wounds and curses."
"..."
"Incidentally, bearing the absorbed wounds and curses consumes immense vitality..."
But that resolve froze at Sigrynne's next words, her expression icing over.
"...That's why he's on a time limit."
"Huh? Who? No way, you?"
"No."
Denying Artel's urgent question, Sigrynne lowered her head, unable to meet her eyes.
"Young Master Kairen."
She continued haltingly in a trembling voice.
"Ten years left, he said."
"..."
"Perhaps I've shortened his remaining time even more..."
Listening blankly to the guilt-laden confession, Artel tilted her head in confusion before breaking into cold sweat and urgently questioning her.
"Wh-What are you talking about...?"
"...Pardon?"
"I-I heard differently. Kairen gained near-immortal power in Opstein..."
Sigrynne slowly lifted her head, gazing at Artel quietly before lowering her voice.
"It's a bit different from what I heard from Mother."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you hear from your grandfather?"
Artel began stammering in confusion.
"Gr-Grandfather's been so busy lately... The only time was briefly in the carriage to Belverk a while ago..."
"That explains it. This seems like classified information known only to family heads."
"Ex-Explain."
As she pleaded with a sense of foreboding, Sigrynne hesitated before explaining with a pallid face.
"Young Master Kairen endured ten years of horrific human experimentation and abuse in Opstein."
"What?"
"His constant long sleeves and coat even in midsummer did seem unnatural..."
As Sigrynne spoke, images of Kairen's usual behavior surfaced in Artel's mind.
"Under his clothes, there are countless knife scars and bruises."
He had indeed avoided them oddly and always wore covering clothes despite the warm summer.
"Wh-Who would do such a thing..."
By then, Artel's voice trembled like Sigrynne's.
"According to the investigation bureau's findings, the culprits are..."
"...Culprits?"
Hoping it wasn't so, she listened intently, but—
"Marquis Opstein, the marchioness, and their daughter."
The cruel truth pierced her ears, mocking her hopes.
"No wonder the Opstein Marquisate, a meritorious house, fell so unnaturally overnight."
"Uh..."
"I heard the marchioness and daughter even caused a scene at the meritorious families' meeting..."
Sigrynne's words continued amid it all, but nothing reached Artel's ears anymore.
"Lady Artel?"
"Huh?"
"Wh-Why are you suddenly...?"
Her face pale, sweating coldly, she staggered to her feet from nausea, her gaze fixed blankly.
"...Ah?"
On the direction of Kairen's room, where she had just unleashed malicious words.