The Jealous One
It had been a while since we last met. How have you been? I'm doing fine.
I would normally greet someone extending a hand by saying that, but—
“Why are you here?”
The words that actually came out of Edgar's lips had nothing to do with that greeting.
There was no warmth, but neither was there anger.
It was simply calm, almost coldly indifferent, as if he were facing a complete stranger.
“U-uh… um…”
Megus's words stumbled over themselves in clear shock at Edgar's unexpectedly chilly demeanor.
For a brief moment, her mind went blank, and she couldn't form a reply.
Soon, however, she collected herself and uttered a single short sentence.
“I came because I had something I wanted to ask… Could you spare a little time? Everyone else came with me.”
“Everyone?”
As Edgar tilted his head in confusion, the figures in robes standing behind Megus removed their hoods and revealed their faces.
Riel. Olivia. Lora.
All of them were familiar faces.
Their eyes, filled with complicated emotions, fixed upon Edgar.
“First, please release my hand.”
“Eh? Uh… okay.”
Megus hastily let go of the wrist she had been gripping, and Freesia, who had been standing behind, secretly approached.
She leaned close to Edgar's ear and whispered.
“Who is this person?”
“The Seeker.”
“Oh…! Those people?”
Edgar answered in a low voice, and the eyes beneath Freesia's hood widened in surprise.
She had thought they were probably not ordinary humans since they were with Edgar, but to think they were Seekers.
Edgar glanced at Freesia, who had fallen silent, and thought it had been wise to answer briefly.
It was far neater than spilling out everything that had happened until now.
“Anyway, since you said you have something to say, could you spare me a little time?”
“Are you sure…?”
Even the horned race who disliked humans were somewhat tolerant regarding the Seeker.
They had directly slain the King of the Dark Withered Tree, after all.
Yet in Freesia's voice, as she asked again, there was nothing but concern for Edgar and a trace of aversion.
She could never look at him with kind eyes after learning the truth of his circumstances.
While acknowledging that their achievements were excellent in their own right,
“Yes. It's nothing important.”
Edgar pointed with his eyes at the anxious Freesia and smiled.
Freesia then regained her composure and urged the horned race's porters to leave.
She thought that too many eyes would make the conversation highly uncomfortable.
Edgar agreed with her words, so he raised his voice.
“Everyone, retreat a hundred paces.”
Although Edgar held some authority within the horned society, he was not the sort to issue arrogant commands.
This was an exception, however, as he had come out here to conduct business with humans.
His orders were, in effect, Freesia's orders, and the horned nobles belonging to the upper house knew this well.
Thus, they retreated without a word.
Hans and his men, who had been watching from nearby, also discreetly backed away with cunning glances.
The square, which had previously teemed with wagons and people, now held only the Seeker and her companions, along with Edgar and Freesia.
“What is it you wanted to ask?”
Edgar asked in a surprisingly casual tone as the square suddenly emptied.
He had not slunk about as he once did, nor lowered his head, watching for any signs.
That was a testament to just how immense and heavy the shadow of the curse that had once oppressed him had been.
Megus felt a sense of intimidation in Edgar's bold gaze.
Nevertheless, she had come this far and opened her mouth, recalling the time she had waited over a month.
“It’s not that… It’s about the curse.”
“The curse? Why suddenly?”
They were well aware of the curse related to the deceased.
Yet why had they come all this way specifically to inquire about the curse?
This seemed rather suspicious.
Edgar crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he questioned her, and Megus answered.
“When you were left in Paestum and we returned to the capital, the Deputy Steward called us… and spoke about the curse.”
“Yes. And then?”
“The Deputy Steward… revealed the truth about the curse. It was somewhat different from what we had known.”
The shadows deepened further on Megus's face as she answered.
Edgar stared at her face and nodded.
The toxin that the deceased spat out when dying was, in fact, an illusion, and the truth was that a curse arose from the resentment caused by killing the deceased.
They must have realized that.
Even as Edgar's lips remained sealed, his simple deduction pierced through the past.
“We didn't know. We thought it was enough to just purify the occasional trace of poison that leaked out. But after learning that the curse was indeed like that… the anxiety wouldn't go away.”
“Why? It's already all over.”
“Yes… I wondered if perhaps you… hadn't actually received the curse. You had never killed a deceased person yourself, but still….”
The true nature of how the curse attached to people had never been revealed.
Thus, it was possible that if someone received the curse, it might also spread to those nearby.
The members of her party, including Megus, had believed this and had come here seeking that answer.
“So… if you know anything at all, please tell me. If my thinking is correct, perhaps….”
“You want to ask if you are afflicted by the curse, right?”
“Eh? Uh… that's right.”
“But… you seem to have already suspected it to some extent.”
What was the point of revealing it now?
Had they simply come to satisfy curiosity?
Edgar scanned the desperate Megus and the group standing behind her, then folded his arms.
After that, he offered the answer they desired.
“Yes. I have received the curse. Ah… it was the curse directly imposed by the King of the Dark Withered Tree.”
No one knew the name of the King of the Dark Withered Tree.
Except for one person.
Edgar, who had recalled that fact belatedly, called her Avalon instead of by name.
“Really… really?”
Megus asked in disbelief, and Edgar added detailed explanation.
Without a trace of resentment, simply mechanically.
“Yes. The curse you and your companions were supposed to have borne all at once. I don't know why, but reality was like that.”
“Why… didn't you say anything?”
Megus's voice trembled as she questioned him.
It felt as if a horrific nightmare had become reality, making her legs waver.
The other members behind her were no different.
Even so, Freesia and Edgar stood calmly in place.
“Because of the curse of silence. The moment I revealed the truth of the curse, I was supposed to die.”
“Is that… really true?”
“You don't have to believe it. It was just how reality was.”
“Then… you were also pretending to be in pain… or actually were in pain?”
“It was because the curses for all of you accumulated one by one. If I hadn't been chewing herbs diligently, I would have died before reaching the king.”
Edgar spoke of death with complete indifference.
The more so, the faces of Megus and her companions turned deathly pale.
It was like looking at a dead person from whom all blood had drained.
“If I had continued receiving holy power treatment, it wouldn't have been so severe. But since the curse didn't show on the surface, you said it was just a waste of time.”
“Ah. Aah…”
Lora, who had been listening quietly, collapsed to the ground with a thud as if struck by a great shock.
The pure white holy robe skirt was now dirtied with mud.
*I don't need to waste holy power on someone who is just pretending to be cautious.*
*Yes. Stop doing that in the future. You're the only one suffering.*
*To such a pretentious person…*
The day she had decided to stop her steady holy power treatment.
The memory of that day and the voices that had encouraged her resolve brushed across Lora's mind.
Others, too, were no different.
As they recalled that memory, their lips trembled.
Of course, Megus standing before them was the same.
“If I had spoken… or rather, if I had been unable to speak…”
“Could it really have been like this…?”
Olivia and Riel murmured in a daze.
They could have accused Edgar of lying and declared his words false.
But.
“Olivia. Is what he said… true?”
“Yes. Not a single lie… it is the truth.”
The moment the person who cast the magic to detect falsehoods in the Seeker's question affirmed the truth.
It was the moment a sliver of selfish desire had to be discarded.
Even though they had come seeking the truth, the paradox of hoping that the truth would not exist shattered.
The method they had never even imagined at the time.
The research that had newly borne fruit from wanting to know the truth drove them into a dark abyss.
“There is nothing more you wish to ask, is there? Then, I will take my leave.”
As Edgar turned his back, Freesia followed behind him.
If it had not been Edgar, she would have at least said something of gratitude, but she simply remained silent.
“Wait… wait a moment!”
Without a single thought, and not knowing what to say.
Yet she had to grab him first.
That was why Megus reached out to Edgar's shoulder without realizing it.
Regret over all the wrongs she had committed thus far, along with despair.
*Annoying.*
Had the matter really ended, yet she still harbored lingering feelings?
Freesia came to view Megus, who was increasingly becoming a thorn in her side, with displeasure.
It did not please her at all that she continued to cling to the human Edgar had brought.
Thus, she secretly took one step back and lightly tapped Megus's hand.
“Eh…?”
The hand that had been reaching out flew into empty air, and a faint tremor passed through the back of her hand.
This was also why a hazy expression came over Megus's face.
Edgar turned his head slightly in puzzlement, then faced forward again.
“We are a little busy.”
With that said, Freesia grabbed Edgar's arm and stepped forward.
The beautiful voice of Freesia.
The faint tremor and slight pain felt on the back of her hand.
Those two reasons alone pulled Megus back to reality.
Thus, without forgetting the tremor, she snatched Freesia's hood in one swift motion.
“Who are you again?”
Megus asked in a cool voice.
It was so calm that it seemed hard to believe the person who had been trembling just moments ago was the same one.
Freesia answered without turning around.
“What business is it of yours? More importantly, release my hand quickly.”
“Who are you to say that?”
It was the tightness that had pushed her to the brink, as Megus's voice showed signs of impatience.
At this moment, she had forgotten even the word 'rudeness.'
“Just in time. If you have no intention of revealing who you are…!”
Whoosh! The instant Megus pulled her hood down without warning.
Freesia quickly withdrew her body and glared.
Because she had not imagined such a reaction, her own response came half a beat too late.
As a result, the hood was removed, revealing Freesia's light pink hair.
Moreover, the horns sprouting from her head.
Megus scanned Freesia with trembling eyes, then asked Edgar, her voice trembling as much as her gaze.
“You… why are you with a horned race?”