The magical pathways connected to other Basilinte members except Chamuka were still alive.
So only Chamuka’s curse had been lifted.
Leticia stared blankly at Chamuka, then looked around with confused eyes.
Wondering if there might be some clue.
Was there something special, a reason for the curse to be broken, on this unremarkable rocky mountain?
Or if not this rocky mountain, then what? What had made Chamuka…
“Leti? What are you looking…”
Leticia’s distracted gaze stopped on Aina, who was crouched under a large rock.
Since feeling Chamuka’s murderous gaze, she had been desperately trying to erase her presence, holding her breath as if trying to become one with the rock.
“…Herta.”
No matter how she thought about it, this rocky mountain wasn’t a special place.
But here, Leticia had witnessed the memories of the first Herta, and although only for one person, the curse placed on Basilinte had disappeared.
It must be related to Herta somehow.
The woman crouched under that rock was also a member of the imperial family who had drunk the first Herta’s blood…
“Herta’s blood.”
…Yes. Just before seeing the hallucination, Leticia had consumed that woman’s blood.
“If I ate Herta’s blood, and that’s why the curse was partially lifted…”
Leticia herself, Herta’s blood, and the curse.
Her thoughts spread chaotically.
The first Herta cursed Basilinte. That curse could not be broken.
Because there were only two ways to break it, and both were impossible.
Either the caster withdraws the curse, or the caster dies.
Herta, who died over 300 years ago, wasn’t recognized as dead thanks to his descendants who drank his blood, so the reason for Chamuka’s curse being lifted couldn’t be the result of ‘the caster dying.’
She hadn’t heard any news about the Herta imperial family being annihilated, and besides, Aina, who was right in front of her, should have been dead first.
Then if Chamuka’s curse being lifted was the result of ‘the caster withdrawing the curse’…
Herta was dead, so how?
It made no sense that Herta, dead for over 300 years, suddenly resurrected on this rocky mountain, sprinkled rain, and only took back Chamuka’s curse.
To begin with, he wouldn’t have randomly resurrected here, leaving his intact coffin in the imperial capital…
‘No, dead people can’t resurrect in the first place. Herta isn’t a god.’
Just as the curse placed on Basilinte, judging that Herta has been alive for over 300 years doesn’t mean that Herta is actually alive.
‘Ah.’
Something clicked.
The imperial family had made the curse mistake that the first Herta was alive.
Whether the real Herta was alive or not wasn’t important at all.
So, that means…
The curse might have mistaken Leticia for ‘Herta.’
Leticia was the most powerful ‘water’ mage since Herta.
With magical power most similar to Herta’s, and on top of that, if she drank Herta’s blood…
From the curse’s perspective, Leticia could become ‘Herta.’
Even for just one moment would be fine. If the curse mistook her for ‘Herta’ for just one moment, Leticia could withdraw this curse.
As the caster.
With hope filling her mind, Leticia shook off Chamuka and ran to Aina.
Sitting down in front of the bewildered Aina, Leticia grabbed her injured hand.
Blood was still seeping out as the wound hadn’t healed yet.
“Your Highness?”
Leticia’s hand touched the wound. Blood mixed with rainwater flowed into Leticia’s body along her skin.
[Herta.]
The auditory hallucination she had experienced once before started again.
Leticia blinked. Just as curly silver hair flickered in her vision.
“Why are you holding someone else’s hand…”
A large hand covered Leticia’s eyes.
Leticia barely managed to shake her head against the force pulling her into an embrace from behind.
Her body, being swept into ‘Herta’s’ memories again, wouldn’t move well according to her will.
“Blood, I need blood.”
As she barely managed to mutter this, Chamuka asked.
“Should I kill that one?”
The hand of Aina that she was holding trembled.
She couldn’t see in front of her, and the hallucinations and Chamuka’s words mixed strangely in her ears.
“No. No…”
[My child, Herta. You will come to love this child…]
“Don’t kill her. Chamuka. Absolutely, you must not kill her…”
Chamuka hesitated at Leticia’s mumbling. Then he whispered as if to soothe her.
“Alright. Alright…”
Don’t cry.
That was the last thing Leticia heard before dissolving into ‘Herta’s’ memories.
She wanted to protest that it wasn’t her crying but ‘Herta,’ but she soon lost consciousness.

***

“Why can’t you trust me?”
It wasn’t a question but an accusation.
At least that’s what Herta thought when he heard those words.
She shouted at him not to come closer, and it felt like a terrible signal to Herta.
She was refusing to be with him.
Such a thing should not happen. He had to prevent it.
Herta was afraid of the reality that they were fighting more and more often. He just wanted to spend more time with her.
Because they loved each other, naturally…
“Why are you angry?”
Herta couldn’t understand her. He doubted her feelings. Why did she want to talk to people other than him?
He only talked to her. He didn’t speak to others except when giving orders. She should rightfully do the same.
If she truly loved him, being with him would be the most enjoyable time, so why did she need to be apart?
When he was with her, he lost track of time.
But she didn’t seem to feel the same. She even found being with him boring.
“How can staring at each other’s faces all day, every day, without doing anything, not be boring? At least say something! You’re not in your right mind.”
She said she got angry whenever he spoke, but then berated him for not talking, saying it was boring.
Herta was confused about how to deal with her.
If her feelings had really cooled as the rumors suggested…
Just imagining it was painful.
He still loved her. Every moment with her was special and new. Just because they were doing nothing and staying still didn’t mean every moment was the same.
Look now. Hadn’t the number of her eyelashes changed from ten minutes ago?

***

At this point, it seems more like a disease than love, Leticia thought as she sank into ‘Herta’s’ memories.
It’s like… watching the thought process of a madman.
Especially in how he has his own firm logic and thinks others are strange, while he is right.
Even Basilinte wasn’t this bad.
Leticia didn’t want to become more immersed in the memories of this madman, founder of the empire or not, but to break the curse, she needed to become ‘Herta’ for a moment, however briefly, but definitively.
She tightly closed her blinking, dazed eyes and completely jumped into ‘Herta’s’ memories.
Chamuka stared at Leticia in this state.
Leticia’s wet eyelashes were beaded with moisture as if she were crying. He wiped away that moisture with his finger.
Repeatedly, whenever moisture gathered around Leticia’s eyes in the continuously falling rain.
Aina, who was holding hands with Leticia while trembling, wondered if she should slap Chamuka’s increasingly vacant cheek.
Would that bring him back to his senses?
But did he ever have any sense to return to?