Chapter 6 – What Happened at the Festival (Part 7)

In the early morning, Ellerdin slowly opened her eyes. She blinked blankly.

Her whole body was drenched in cold sweat, and she felt weak.

She only vaguely felt the sensation of something warm and soft pressing against her body.

It seemed her consciousness had fled far away and wasn’t returning. All stimuli felt distant.

Ellerdin lightly clenched and unclenched her hand. Starting from her hand, sensations began to return slowly.

‘Why am I alive?’

Her empty eyes stared at the black fur.

“Sleep some more.”

With Fernan’s words, Ellerdin fell back asleep. She worried that the same nightmare would repeat, but fortunately, it did not start again.

Only darkness unfolded before her eyes as if she were in a deep sleep.

‘It’s not good to use it often, but…….’

Fernan looked at Ellerdin with eyes full of thoughts. What he had just used on her was magic to make her sleep.

Using a demon’s power on a human wasn’t good, but there was no other choice just now.

‘It was the first time she suffered so much.’

She was usually in pain, but today was the worst of all days. He recalled her suffering so much that her veins stood out all over her body.

Just for today, hoping she would rest even a little, Fernan closed his eyes.

***

The next day, Ellerdin woke up and sat up. She felt lighter. It seemed she had truly slept well for the first time in a long while.

At that moment, there was a knock, and Fernan entered. He approached and placed a hand on Ellerdin’s forehead.

“Did you sleep well? Are you in any pain?”

Humans who received demon magic often experienced side effects like illness or hallucinations.

But feeling more energetic than usual, Ellerdin slowly shook her head.

“I’m fine.”

Seeing her face, which had regained its color, he sighed in relief.

Fernan handed her a book he brought.

“This is…….”

“It’s the book I bought last time. For now, don’t do anything and just rest. Read the book you wanted to read.”

He smiled gently. Ellerdin quietly looked down at the book cover. The cover read “About the Mermaid Race.”

“Have you read it?”

“Not yet. I thought it would be better for you to explain it to me than reading it alone.”

He replied with a smile. At his usual kind and playful words, Ellerdin gave a small smile.

“I’ll be going now, so please rest well.”

Fernan stroked her cheek once and then turned to leave the room.

After he left, Ellerdin slowly turned the pages of the book.

The cover seemed plausible, but when she opened it, it looked more like someone’s notebook than a book. The faded paper carried the passage of time.

The content written on the cover and paper was all in ancient language. The table of contents was at the front of the book.

“What is a Mermaid, Characteristics of Mermaids, Foods Mermaids Eat, ……Special Powers of Lamech Mermaids.”

‘……What is Lamech?’

It was difficult to guess the meaning in the ancient language. It seemed to be another language.

She tried to recall languages similar to Lamech in her mind, but none matched. It seemed like a language from another dimension.

The appearance of an unreadable language sparked a faint curiosity in her heart. However, now wasn’t the time to leisurely interpret languages, so Ellerdin lightly flipped through the table of contents.

She thought it wouldn’t be much help, but surprisingly, there was a lot of proper content.

The information in Everett’s diary, seen in the Duke’s library last time, was very limited, but this book contained more detailed information than what was seen in the diary.

Her trust in the book increased rapidly.

As she turned the pages, she soon reached the section on the special powers of Lamech Mermaids.

[Lamech Mermaids possess a special power. Unlike other mermaids, their blood contains healing power. This power can heal other living beings. However, there are activation conditions to use this power.

First, you must be Lamech. Second, you must inflict a wound on yourself. If these two conditions are met, you can use the healing power at any time. However, since how to utilize this is a secret of Lamech, it cannot be noted here.

Lastly, this power has a strong effect that can break any curse, but it places a significant burden on the user’s body. Before using it, be prepared to lay down your life at any time. Of course, it is unusable unless you are Lamech.]

Ellerdin’s eyes narrowed as she read the sentence.

She didn’t know what Lamech was, but if what the book said was true and she learned how to utilize it, she might be able to break Fernan and his father’s curse.

However, the word Lamech was troubling.

‘Unusable unless you are Lamech…….’

What on earth is Lamech?

Without knowing the word, no solution came to mind.

After pondering for a moment, Ellerdin turned the page to find clues about Lamech. While turning the pages, she found another sentence about Lamech.

[If you are Lamech, your eye color when you are a mermaid will be blue. Mermaids usually have green eyes, but Lamechs are known to have blue eyes.]

‘Oh?’

Ellerdin jumped up.

Amelia’s eye color was blue.

She also inherited Amelia’s genes and had a blue tint in her eyes, but since it wasn’t always, she couldn’t be sure. However, last time, when she saw in the water, it was definitely blue.

If her memory was correct, she could break the curse with the healing power.

‘But mother…….’

Amelia always filled the tank with flowing blood, but her wounds never healed.

Could the book be wrong? Or is there something I missed again?

Ellerdin sat back down and turned the pages. When she reached the last page, another sentence was written.

[Lamech’s blood can heal others, but it cannot heal itself. That is the burden Lamech must bear.]

With this sentence, the book ended. Although she still didn’t know what Lamech was, a bit of hope was growing in Ellerdin’s heart.

‘Let’s go check again tonight.’

Just in case it wasn’t true.

Ellerdin habitually assumed the worst-case scenario and pressed down on her heart, which was beating with anticipation.

“Madam.”

She heard Celine calling from outside the door.

“Come in.”

Celine entered the room, starting to tidy up as she spoke.

“The master said you can go out to the garden from today. The other races have also calmed down.”

‘Ah, the mixed races.’

Only then did she recall returning with the other races last time. She had completely forgotten about them while suffering from nightmares.

Ellerdin struggled to get up.

“Can I go see them now?”

At the sight of her looking as if she might collapse at any moment, Celine closed her mouth with a worried expression.

Ellerdin was the owner of this castle. If she wished, nothing was impossible, but Celine wanted to dissuade her.

‘What if she gets startled meeting them with such a frail body?’

What if the other races rushed at her?

As Celine hesitated and couldn’t speak, Ellerdin smiled with an understanding face.

“I won’t do anything dangerous.”

“……How could I possibly stop you?”

Celine sighed. She placed a coat over Ellerdin’s shoulders.

“Anyway, I’ll be by your side, so if anything dangerous happens, just hide behind me.”

“……Thank you.”

Ellerdin smiled warmly.