Olivia’s steps halted just as she was about to cross over the fence. She heard an unfamiliar voice. She slowly turned her head to look at the old man. In contrast to Olivia’s stiffly frozen expression, the old man gazed at her with a serene and distant look.

“What did you just……”

As Olivia stopped and didn’t move, Seron and Alois waited for her with puzzled expressions. Seeing that the two didn’t seem to have heard anything, she touched her ears with her hands.

“Just now, didn’t you hear, hear something?”

“More like the sound of a beast from far away? Or maybe the cave.”

Woooong. As if on cue, a loud wind sound from the cave behind the house rushed toward the three people. Startled, Olivia hunched her shoulders, and Alois stood behind her, blocking the strong wind.

‘Did I hear wrong?’

Olivia had many suspicions, but since no one else had heard it, there was no way to confirm, so she left the old house with an uneasy feeling.

* * *

Unable to find suitable accommodation, the three people set up a tent in an empty space by the shore as a temporary lodging. Being either from the Holy Knight Order or from a mountain village, none of them had major complaints about the less-than-luxurious accommodation. They were busy discussing whether to dig deeper with the newly acquired information or to return home.

“We definitely need to go to the island.”

“You think the betrayed ex-lover cast the curse?”

“I’ve thought about this before—a curse is essentially a strong wish in some sense, isn’t it?”

“A wish……”

“I talked with a priest before. He said that whether it’s a blessing, miracle, or curse, the essence comes from an intense wish. If that wish prays for someone’s happiness, it’s a blessing, and if it prays for someone’s misfortune, it’s a curse.”

“But going to an island of unknown identity involves too many risk factors.”

“And above all, it might be the beast-people’s island my mother mentioned. To make the medicine according to my mother’s formula, we need to gather the ingredients, and they seem to be obtainable only on the beast-people’s island. If we want to check if the medicine works, we need the ingredients first, right?”

Olivia’s point made sense. As Alois was becoming increasingly persuaded by her words, what actually hindered them was a completely different issue.

“It won’t be easy to find a boat to the island. The currents near the island are treacherous, and above all, many people believe in the superstition that approaching it means death, so they refuse to sail there. On top of that, the weather has been particularly rough these past few days.”

Seron returned with a gloomy expression after searching the village late into the night for a boat to reach the island.

“It seems we’ll have to wait at least until the weather improves. What would you like to do?”

“Since we’re already here, let’s wait.”

Olivia promptly answered with a bright voice that didn’t match the chaotic situation. In her hands was a teacup with warm steam rising gently. How could the atmosphere around Olivia alone be so warm and pastoral, as if she existed in a different world? Marveling at this truly remarkable phenomenon, Seron glanced at Alois to gauge his reaction.

“Wouldn’t it be better to return to the Empire and come back later? It won’t be easy to spend several days in a place like this.”

“Don’t you remember how well I lived in the duke’s prison?”

Olivia’s adaptability certainly had aspects that transcended common sense. Ignoring Seron, who carefully asked, “You imprisoned her too?” from the side, Alois busily checked where she would sleep.

Thus, the day seemed to pass quietly as they waited for tomorrow.

* * *

The sound of someone whispering repeatedly grew distant and then close again. The gently swaying voice was inexplicably frightening yet simultaneously sweet.

“Wake up. Hurry and wake up. Come play with us.”

“Mmm……”

“Can you hear my voice? Come here quickly.”

“Who keeps, making noise, mmm?”

Olivia, who had barely opened her eyes at the faintly audible voice, looked around. It was completely dark everywhere, with not a speck of light visible. But the sound in her ears grew increasingly clear. Multiple voices continuously urged Olivia to come out for just a moment.

With a dazed expression, she walked out of the tent without even putting on shoes, stumbling as she went. Thanks to the high moon, the beach sand sparkled like jewels. In the distance, a mysterious purple hue spreading from the coastline slowly colored the sky.

“Over here. This way.”

Following the seductively singing voice, Olivia walked to the edge of the beach. The soft sand crumbled beneath her feet with each step. Her nightgown fluttered in the breeze. As she approached the sea until her feet touched the edge of the incoming waves, something began to emerge from the distant waters, one by one.

Children with human-like faces but scales scattered across their skin poked their heads out one after another, smiling brightly. It was both fascinating and, in a way, filled with an eerie sense of fear from the unfamiliar otherness, but Olivia felt none of this as she slowly walked into the sea.

The waves that had reached her ankles gradually rose to her calves, thighs, and chest. Though she should have been startled by the cold seawater, Olivia’s expression remained infinitely serene. Her pale pink hair floated like flower petals on the surface of the deep black sea, which looked as if the night sky had been poured into it.

“You’re a human who can hear our voices!”

The children laughed with innocent voices, circling around her as if finding her fascinating. Their fins gently touched her submerged body and then moved away, repeating this pattern. Olivia said nothing, staring blankly at the children like a doll.

‘Is this a dream?’

Her senses were blocked, and the world she saw merely ‘appeared’ without any sense of reality. A child who had clearly been human would transform into a large fish, while a blue glowing dolphin would change back into human form. Olivia gazed at all these scenes blankly, as if observing from a distance.

“Shall we take her to the island?”

“Yes. Let’s go home.”

The children, who had been whispering among themselves, surrounded Olivia. Suddenly, a small wave created by their fins gently enveloped her body. Without any effort, she neither swayed nor sank in the water. The small ripples carried her toward the deeper sea.

Where Olivia had drifted away, only small ripples stretched out, and the serene moonlight shattered upon them.

* * *

“What on earth is going on.”

Seron continuously sighed in frustration. He rubbed his face with his dry hands and searched once more for any traces of Olivia, but again found nothing except footprints heading toward the sea. Even those footprints had almost faded due to the blowing wind. His mouth dried from anxiety. He cautiously approached Alois. Since noticing Olivia’s disappearance, Alois had been staring at the sea without moving from the end of the beach where the footprints stopped.

“I’ve searched the entire village, but no one has seen Olivia. The wind was strong all night, making it difficult to walk around outside in the first place, so where could she have gone……”

It would be understandable if he showed anger, but Alois gave no reaction, his thoughts unreadable. After staring blankly at the sea where nothing was visible, he slowly turned his head. In the distance, he could see the eerie, dilapidated house they had visited yesterday. Seron, who followed the duke’s gaze toward the old man’s house, shook his head in denial.

“Are you suspicious of the old man? Though his house and behavior are suspicious, he’s an elderly person who could pass away any day now. As you saw yesterday, he doesn’t seem to have any particular abilities……”

“How did he know I was cursed?”

“What?”

“He specifically told the cursed one among the three of us was me. How did an old man who claims to have lived only in this village recognize that at a glance?”

During yesterday’s conversation, it had passed so naturally that no one thought to question it. But now that Olivia had disappeared, his heightened senses began to scrutinize even the smallest irregularities.

Alois, who had been glaring at the old man’s house, slowly began to walk. The flustered Seron followed, trying to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. Instead, Seron was startled to see him draw his sword without any hesitation.

“This isn’t the Empire. Even with permission, k*lling someone without reason could cause problems……”

“Right. That’s another strange point. The old man said with his own mouth that no one survived the party, so how did he survive? Did the rampaging cursed monster specifically spare only that old man?”

Alois sneered with disdain. Roughly pushing aside Seron who tried to stop him, he climbed over the fence and thoroughly searched the dilapidated house for the old man. But the mobility-impaired old man had somehow disappeared overnight, leaving no trace. Everything left in the house was too old and shabby to be worth taking—things that could be easily abandoned without any regret.

“How amusing.”

Alois’s gaze slowly followed the footprints on the floor. The floor was darker where wet shoe prints had been left, as if someone had just been there and disappeared. Like a signpost showing where he had gone, the clear footprints showed no effort to hide their trail.

The footprints slowly led into the dangerous cave. It was a confident provocation, as if daring him to follow if he could.

“Seron. Wait here and watch for Olivia’s return to the village.”

“That’s absurd! Duke, let’s go together instead.”

“Think rationally. We have two options to choose from, so there’s no need to put all our eggs in one basket. You stay here on standby.”

“Then let me go in instead. Who knows what might come out of this cave, and for you to go alone……”

“Seron. Are you stronger than me? Or do you desire Olivia more desperately than I do?”

Seeing Alois’s heavily sunken gaze, Seron instinctively knew it would be futile to try to stop him. He had never been able to defeat Alois even in his youth, so how could he dare claim to be stronger now? Seron looked back and forth between the cave and Alois with a regretful expression.

“But waiting for her to appear here is something you can do just as well. So do what you can here.”

His fierce gaze ordered Seron to step aside, as if he wouldn’t tolerate any more time wasted by someone blocking his path. Out of habit, Seron finally moved aside at his resolute look, clearing the way.

Alois slowly walked into the cave, not knowing what lay inside.

Watching his figure endlessly, Seron found it difficult to shake the thought that the cave’s enormous entrance resembled the greedy maw of a beast.