The Saintess Candidate's Distance Curse
The saintess candidate’s distancing curse was cold. The moment the curse’s flow from the black necklace seeped into my arm, I knew instinctively. This was no ordinary magic. If malice could take form, it would feel exactly like this—cold, sticky, and deep. It was as though living worms were crawling beneath my skin. My mana circuits felt scraped raw, and my blood seemed to freeze black. I clenched my teeth. The wound at my side had not fully healed yet, and now the inside of my arm burned. No, it froze. A burning kind of cold.
“Lord Kyle, breathe slowly.”
Aria’s voice came from right in front of me. She was forming a ring of holy law between Lucas’s necklace and my arm with both hands—not direct healing, but a method to temporarily disperse the curse’s flow. Noel blocked external spread with a mana insulation barrier, while Siella precisely severed the necklace’s metal chain. Rhea erected a barrier of cold throughout the entire classroom. The students had been pushed toward the walls, watching us in breathless silence. Some faces were filled with terror; others simply could not understand why I had volunteered to become the curse’s medium. It made sense. Even I did not fully understand why I was doing this. But one thing was certain.
The Black Moon had ordered us to sever our relationships. If I yielded to that threat even once, they would use the same method again and again. Aria’s sense of responsibility, Rhea’s isolation, Siella’s sword, Noel’s suspicions—they would tug at every thread connecting me to them and shake us apart. So I could not back down here.
Everyone’s roles were executed perfectly. The problem was that I was in pain. Insanely painful. It felt like insects were burrowing through the inside of my arm. The black pattern had crept up near the back of my hand. Sensation in my fingertips was fading, and everything below my elbow felt like someone else’s body. Aria’s face turned deathly pale.
“We can’t go any further.”
“Just a little more.”
“Lord Kyle!”
“The pattern on Lucas’s side is shrinking.”
I gritted my teeth. Knowledge of the original story was not omnipotent. It did not lessen the pain. Knowing something did not mean I could avoid it. But at the very least, it told me what needed to be done. The Black Moon’s curse sought to travel along the strongest relationship line nearby once its medium was severed. That was why I had deliberately taken the flow into myself. The message the Black Moon wanted to send was to cut ties. Therefore, the way to break that curse was, paradoxically, to use those very relationships.
Aria’s holy law wrapped around my arm.
“We’re separating it now.”
Noel shouted, “Siella, now!”
Siella’s sword flashed. It was so fast the sound of it leaving the scabbard was barely audible. The central gem of the silver cross necklace cracked. Crack. Black smoke burst forth. Rhea’s cold instantly froze it. The frozen curse hovered in the air like sharp black glass shards. As they tried to burrow back into Lucas’s body, Aria’s holy law wove around them like white threads and held them fast. Noel’s magic circle compressed them, and soon the black ice shards shattered into pieces.
Color began returning to Lucas’s lips. Only after confirming that did my strength give out.
“Kyle!”
Three voices rang out almost simultaneously—Aria, Rhea, and Siella. I did not collapse. More precisely, Siella grabbed my shoulder and kept me from falling.
“You really…” Siella said through clenched teeth. “Do you only come to your senses after getting hurt?”
“That’s too much for a patient.”
“I’m not hitting you because you’re a patient.”
Her voice was rough, but her hands were careful. The fingers gripping my shoulder held firm, yet they avoided touching the wounds.
Aria took hold of my arm. The black pattern still lingered faintly. With trembling hands, she poured holy law into it. The usually brilliant and stable light of her holy law flickered several times.
“Why do you always do this?”
“We succeeded this time, didn’t we?”
“Is that your answer?”
Her voice broke. I fell silent. Aria was crying. Quietly, almost soundlessly. Those tears weighed far heavier than I had imagined. I thought I had saved her. But to her, it must have felt like scene after scene of me getting hurt kept piling up right before her eyes. She was someone who healed others. Yet in front of me, she kept seeing blood and curses before she could even begin treatment. I realized far too late how much that shook her.
Rhea spoke quietly. “Kyle Diaren. Your actions have completely deviated from the standards expected of a protected individual.”
“Your Highness, now is not the time to—”
“But as a result, you saved a life.” Rhea paused. Her hand touched my arm. Cold fingertips. “So I will postpone the reprimand for this one time.”
I was beginning to understand that this was how a princess expressed concern.
After checking Lucas’s condition, Noel said, “He’s alive. But it’ll take time for him to wake up. There’s still residual curse energy, and more importantly, the sacred relic itself has been contaminated.”
“If the relic is contaminated, the Holy Church won’t stay quiet,” Rhea said.
Noel nodded. “The Church will claim an outsider touched the relic, while the imperial family will suspect an internal collaborator. Both sides have their pride at stake.”
Professor Graham was controlling the students in the classroom and giving orders to the imperial knights. The emergency bell in the temple district was still ringing. The second incident. We needed to move immediately. But before that, Aria blocked my path.
“I’m not going.”
“Lady Aria?”
“I’m staying here.”
She slowly withdrew the hands that had been treating my arm. A sudden emptiness washed over me.
“If it’s temple district business, then Lady Aria should—”
“That’s exactly why I’m not going.”
Aria’s eyes were wet, yet strangely resolute. “If I go, Lord Kyle will get hurt again.”
I was at a loss for words.
“It’s not because of you, Lady Aria.”
“No. It is because of me.”
“That’s what the Black Moon wants you to think.”
“I know.” Aria lowered her head. “But I’m still scared. If I stay by your side, it feels like Lord Kyle will keep getting hurt.”
I had expected those words. Hearing them directly hurt more than I thought it would. The Black Moon’s threat to sever relationships. Their goal was not simply to bring people down with curses. It was to make us afraid and push us apart ourselves. For someone as responsible as Aria, that was especially lethal. Aria was not running away because she was in danger. She was trying to distance herself to protect me. That made it all the more dangerous.
The title of saintess candidate had always placed her in front of others. When someone was injured, she had to run to them. When someone was sad, she had to comfort them. When someone was dying, she had to grind her own body down to save them. Someone who had grown too accustomed to that role would erase themselves the moment they felt their mere presence endangered another.
That was what Aria was trying to do now.
Rhea spoke quietly. “Saintess candidate. Staying alone right now is not a wise decision.”
“Please protect Lord Kyle in my stead, Your Highness.”
“I intend to do so regardless.”
“Then I’ll be fine.”
Siella spoke in frustration. “If you distance yourself like that, the enemy will only be pleased.”
“I know.” Aria gave a faint smile. “But right now, I think it’s better if I’m not by his side.”
I looked at her. The original Aria was kinder than anyone, yet also deeply self-sacrificing. She was used to hiding her own feelings for the sake of others. That was why the protagonist had told her: Don’t try to save someone by disappearing yourself. I never thought I would be the one to say that line.
I took a step closer. Aria reflexively tried to back away. I did not stop.
“Lady Aria.”
“Lord Kyle, I—”
“I won’t leave you alone.”
Aria’s eyes widened. The classroom fell silent. I deliberately spoke slowly.
“If that’s what the Black Moon wants, I absolutely won’t do it. If they’re trying to scare us into drifting apart, then I’ll only hold on tighter.”
“What if you get hurt again?”
“Then I’ll just have to become stronger.”
From the front row, Siella let out a small snort. “Finally, something worth listening to.”
Rhea crossed her arms and looked at me. “I won’t allow it if it ends with just words.”
Noel smiled. “You said something cool, Kyle, so now you have to take responsibility.”
I swallowed a sigh inwardly. I had not spoken swept up by the atmosphere. I meant it. But I also knew how heavy that responsibility was.
Aria gazed into my eyes, then slowly reached out. This time, not for my sleeve. She took my hand.
“Then promise me.”
“What?”
“Even if I stay by your side, promise you won’t get hurt in my place no matter what.”
I hesitated. The word “no matter what” was difficult. I had no idea what incidents lay ahead. But Aria needed that promise right now.
“I promise.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Instead of getting hurt in your place no matter what, I’ll find a way for us to survive together.”
Aria’s hand tightened around mine. “Then I won’t run away either.”
At that moment, a black feather on the desk began to burn away. Amid the black smoke, a new sentence emerged.
— First Relationship Severance: Failure. —
— Next Target: Sword. —
Siella’s eyes turned cold. Sword. There was only one person that word pointed to. The red-haired knight’s daughter, Siella Bayern.
And just then, a second emergency bell rang from the temple district. This time, it came from the direction of the Knight Department training grounds.
Siella silently drew her sword.
“Let’s go.”
Her voice was low.
“This time, I’m the bait.”