The Fourth Curse
Iris blinked at him with a bright, sunny smile, as if she had no idea what he was talking about. “I’m Iris! Evan-Evan’s secret friend!… But didn’t you say the game was over?”
“I did.”
“Hehe, then hold my hand now. My legs hurt from sitting so long.”
Evan let out a short, amused huff. “Hey.”
“Huh? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Evan-Evan, you’re scaring me.”
“You planning to keep up that act?”
“…….”
Little by little, the smile melted from Iris’s face. She can make an expression like that too.
Evan had never expected to see such a cold, mocking sneer on the face of the girl who always wore that idiotically cheerful grin. It felt strangely refreshing.
Iris—or rather, whatever was wearing her skin—let out a light sigh and spoke.
“How did you know? I thought I copied her perfectly.”
“I knew from the start.”
“Ah… that special intuition of necromancers? I’ve heard about it, but I still don’t get it. Trusting a gut feeling more than visible proof.”
Her tone was icy, but Evan shook his head.
“The intuition helped, sure, but even without it you screwed up right from the beginning.”
“What mistake?”
“‘Undo this and help me up.’ That’s what you said.”
Undo implied she was aware she was currently trapped. The real idiot would never think she was confined inside this circle. Even if dragonfire poured from her eyes and nostrils, she’d probably just call it a fireworks show. But your words carried too much intellect.
“You’re saying you were certain just from that one slip?”
“There were other things that felt off too. Every single time you called my name.”
The reason was obvious.
“Anyone who actually knows my name would feel goosebumps just hearing that nickname. It’s repulsive.”
Even Evan, who had heard it so often he thought he was used to it, couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud and could only refer to it as that nickname. But Iris genuinely thought of it as his real name, so she never hesitated even a fraction of a second when she said it.
“That’s how I knew.”
“Tch. Look at you, acting all smug.”
The woman possessing Iris’s body clicked her tongue lightly.
“Calling her lacking in intelligence, saying it gives you goosebumps just hearing it… Don’t you think you’re being too harsh? What if that child is listening?”
“…….”
I didn’t think of that.
“If you’re listening, I apologize.”
“This is ridiculous.”
She let out a heavy sigh. Then, as if irritated, she roughly tousled her pink hair.
“Anyway, necromancers are all the same. I went through all that pointless acting for nothing.”
“So, who are you?”
“Me?” She laughed mockingly. “You’ve already guessed. The nasty-tempered necromancer. I am the fourth curse.”
“What did you do to Iris?”
“Why should I tell you that?”
“……”
“There’s only one thing I can teach you. Return that curse to my body right now. Otherwise, you’ll never see that child again.”
At first glance her eyes looked emotionless, but a faint trace of anger and annoyance flickered within them.
“Or should I try threatening you another way?”
The woman wearing Iris’s face spoke coldly from inside the circle that still burned with black flames.
“What if I strip all my clothes off right here? And then scream? I’ll tell the priests, ‘Evan-Evan asked me to do something weird~’”
As if she might actually do it, she lifted the hem of Iris’s skirt dangerously high up her thighs and fluttered it teasingly.
“You were able to see through me, but do you think the other priests will? And even if they do, will they really take your side?”
“Whether they take my side or not doesn’t matter. Do you really think those two priests can protect you?”
“Even if they can’t, a war will break out, won’t it? And even if it gets resolved nicely, do you think you’ll still get the holy relic you want? Before that—do you think I’ll cooperate with you in the future?”
The woman who had introduced herself as Iris’s fourth curse understood exactly how to make Evan’s life difficult.
“You’d rather have that child who calls you ‘Evan-Evan~’ and smiles brightly than deal with an annoying curse like me, right? Just say the ritual failed. Iris won’t leave your side anyway, and if the Saintess’s power is in your hands, the Holy Kingdom can never start a war against Abaddon.”
“That’s true.”
“Glad you catch on quickly. So hurry up and return the curse. I’ll fall asleep right away, and that child will wake up without remembering anything.”
Evan didn’t move from his spot. He simply gave a light shake of his severed right hand.
“I need compensation. I lost my right hand doing this job.”
“You want me to take responsibility?”
“Yeah. I can’t stand coming out at a loss.”
“Tsk, what a pain. Necromancer. Do you want me to heal that severed hand or something?”
She clicked her tongue and beckoned him closer, but Evan shook his head.
“I can regenerate the hand myself.”
“…You can restore a hand sacrificed as the price for necromancy? That shouldn’t be possible. And even if it is, isn’t it something you shouldn’t do?”
“You sound surprisingly knowledgeable about curses. But don’t worry about it. I doubt my education is so lacking that I need lessons from you.”
At Evan’s sarcastic remark, she frowned and folded her arms.
“Then what do you want?”
“Strip.”
At Evan’s blunt demand, she froze solid.
“It’s not that hard, is it? Do exactly what you were threatening me with.”
“Y-you…! That child might be watching…!”
“I’m not falling for that anymore.”
She had already confessed it herself. That child will wake up without remembering anything. In other words, everything happening here was completely outside Iris’s consciousness. Evan could speak without restraint, without holding back at all.
“Iris is too pure-minded to see as a sexual object, but you seem possible. So strip.”
“You, you trash…!!”
Watching her face flush crimson as she hurled insults at him, Evan calmly pressed her again.
“What’s the problem? It’s not even your body, is it?”
“……Y-you…!”
She was trembling so violently now that she couldn’t even form proper curses. Evan spoke as if he had expected this.
“You can’t do it, can you?”
“I-I can…!”
But instead of lifting the skirt, she only clutched it tighter, completely frozen. All talk and no action.
“I knew you couldn’t.”
“W-what would you know…!”
“Because it’s your body. Isn’t that right? Saintess Iris.”
At the quiet address, her trembling body went still. The red flush on her face vanished in an instant, leaving her deathly pale as she stared at Evan.
“I am the fourth curse…”
“If you’re going to lie, at least do it properly. Saintess, a curse is a phenomenon. Some curses have their own will and ego, but fundamentally they will do anything to fulfill the terms of their contract.”
She could feel panic, but the moment she hesitated, she had already proven she was no mere curse.
“If you’re going to keep acting, why don’t you strip right now?”
“Pervert! Trash! Scum! Every time that child clung to you, were you always thinking things like this…!!”
Now with tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, she shrieked at him. Evan let out a small sigh.
“Saintess, I did it because I knew it was you.”
“You son of a bitch! Is it okay to sexually harass me?!”
…Maybe he had gone a bit too far. Of course Evan had only been acting to uncover her identity, but from her perspective it was indeed sexual harassment.
“That’s not what I—”
“Disgusting! Don’t talk to me!”
He felt like the blood was rushing straight to his head. The word sorry vanished completely, replaced by something else.
“…You crazy bitch! You started this!”
“I wasn’t being serious!”
“I knew you wouldn’t actually strip, that’s why I said it!”
“Liar! How did you even know it was me in the first place! If I really had been the curse, you were planning to enjoy it, weren’t you?! You perverted necromancer!”
They glared at each other, both breathing hard and shouting, until Evan pressed hard on his brow to calm himself. No wonder I was so irritated.
It was because she was looking at him with Iris’s face full of contempt. Same face, same body—it was impossible not to think of her.
“I suspected you from the very first answer. Saintess. The following conversation only confirmed it.”
“You’re just going to make another excuse about that intuition or whatever!”
He could feel a vein throbbing on his forehead, but he explained calmly.
“Saintess, you always spoke of Iris and yourself as separate.”
Iris had always referred to herself as that child or this kid. It meant she saw herself as a being distinct from Iris, but at the same time she had said this:
“Return that curse to my body—why didn’t you say ‘this child’s body’ then?”
“…That could have just been a slip of the tongue.”
“A slip of the tongue where you call someone else ‘me’? It would be the opposite.”
It was far more natural and believable to slip up and reveal the truth while trying to pretend someone else had done what you did.
“And that comment about how Iris will stay by your side anyway. You made two mistakes that are hard to explain as simple errors?”
“……”
“It wasn’t hard to realize you were actually Iris. And…”
Evan continued, his heart heavy with complicated emotions.
“It wasn’t hard to realize that the curses placed on you were ones you chose to receive yourself.”