The Holy Lady, The Curse - Chapter 8 Part 6

As Bellota approached closer to the traces of the curse, she saw a magic circle drawn in blood and something half-burned stuck in the center, scattered about. Bellota’s breath stopped when she soon recognized what the magic circle meant and the identity of the object stuck in the center. It was the brooch that Seiden had been wearing yesterday, miserably broken with a rusted nail piercing its center.

Bellota’s heart sank with a thud.

* * *

Kwueeeek!

Seiden calmly looked at the monster that met a miserable end by his sword.

“……”

Seiden dismounted, sealed the instantly killed monster that couldn’t even convulse into the magic stone, and examined the remaining magic stones. Only one magic stone remained now. However, even after catching nineteen monsters, he hadn’t found the kurkroll.

Having filled nineteen out of twenty magic stones and with plenty of time left, first place would surely be Seiden’s. But he was reluctant to return without catching the kurkroll. If one of those troublesome imperial family members, Geril or Hestina, were to catch the kurkroll, it would be a headache.

Seiden took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his sword covered in viscous slime, looking around. With time still remaining, he planned to dedicate the rest of his time to finding the kurkroll.

But his plans were disrupted. A voice that should never be heard here reached Seiden’s ears.

“…den!”

Seiden’s head turned reflexively, accurately detecting that faint cry. Then he saw a densely overgrown thicket. Did he just hear an auditory hallucination? As Seiden was doubting his ears, a clearer voice than before came from beyond that large thicket.

“…Seiden!”

Seiden’s heart sank at that desperate cry. Seiden, frozen with an unbelieving face, slowly frowned. Someone was calling for him desperately. From beyond that thicket. And that voice was…

As if enchanted, Seiden hurriedly moved, cutting through the dense thicket without hesitation and advancing. It couldn’t be. In such a rugged mountain.

Seiden continued to doubt his ears, but finally broke through the tough thicket and crossed over. Then he saw the figure of a woman standing in the distance, looking around. It was Bellota.

Seiden’s steps stopped abruptly upon seeing her, and Bellota, sensing his presence, turned her head with a start to look at him. Tears welled up in Bellota’s clear eyes as she finally found Seiden. Her choked voice called out his name.

“Seiden…!”

Bellota’s face was pale white, drained of blood.

“…Saintess?”

Just as Seiden, still looking at Bellota in disbelief, was about to take a step to approach her.

“Don’t come!”

Bellota shouted sharply. Seiden’s body stopped abruptly at that urgent cry. Bellota, with her shoulders trembling with tension, warned in a calm voice.

“There seems to be a trap here.”

A trap…? Seiden frowned but continued to check Bellota’s condition. A faint, hazy mist surrounded Bellota, who was standing amidst rough wild grass that came up to her ankles. The mist obscured the ground at Bellota’s feet. It was Bellota who truly looked in danger. Seiden’s lips tightened.

“I, I’ll come over there. Wait.”

Bellota, who had calmly murmured, slowly moved her body as if she was really going to cross over to Seiden. While the frozen Seiden watched this precarious scene, Bellota, who had been taking careful steps, suddenly collapsed with a thud and screamed in pain.

“Ugh…!”

Seiden’s eyebrows contorted at that terrible groan.

“It’s, it’s a trap.”

As Bellota fumbled at her foot with trembling hands, Seiden hurriedly looked at her ankle. Then, as the hazy smoke surrounding Bellota slowly cleared, it was clearly visible that one of her ankles was caught in a large trap. Sharp gears were embedded in her slender white ankle, with bright red blood flowing.

“Someone set a trap here. To put you in danger…”

Bellota explained calmly, never losing her composure even as she winced in pain. Biting her lips tightly, Bellota raised her head to look at Seiden. Seiden remained frozen in that state, unmoving. Hic, as Bellota finally sobbed painfully, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes rolled down.

“There’s a conspiracy in this hunting festival…!”

A conspiracy? Seiden slowly frowned, still not moving from his spot. Bellota hurriedly poured out words to convey all the truth she had witnessed to Seiden.

“Someone has placed a curse on you. I discovered it. So, so I came to tell you about it, but… ah…!”

Bellota groaned, bowing her head with a thud as if it was too difficult to continue speaking. Blood continued to flow from the white ankle caught in the trap. Seiden’s pupils hardened menacingly at that horrific sight. After seeming to contemplate something for a moment, he finally took a couple of steps closer to her and looked down closely at the trapped ankle.

The trap seemed to be a magical device. It looked like it had been set up deliberately, so there was probably a curse on that blade-like saw. Moreover, the trap was terribly rusted, and it was clear that if the foot wasn’t removed immediately, the wound pierced by the saw would fester and rot.

“It seems the curse on my ankle from Selento has recurred. I can’t… move.”

“……”

“It’s a magical device. I don’t think I can remove it alone. But since the trap is embedded in the ground, we should be able to pull it out entirely. It seems better to go down in this state and remove the trap.”

Bellota’s voice, still calm despite the situation, echoed very hazily.

“I think you can cut the chain of this trap with your sword.”

Bellota swallowed softly and then raised her head to look at Seiden. As always, those beautifully blue eyes that made one’s heart ache looked at Seiden sorrowfully.

“Help me.”

But Seiden remained standing in place, looking at Bellota with a surprisingly expressionless face. He was gripping his sword, but he didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of using it to cut Bellota’s trap.

Bellota called out to him in confusion.

“Seiden…?”

Her face was blank, seemingly asking why he wasn’t moving despite seeing her pain. Shock settled on her pitiful face, as if she couldn’t believe Seiden’s calmness in the face of her suffering. Yet Seiden didn’t move even a bit more. He was just looking down at Bellota with eyes so fierce and cold that it could freeze one’s heart just by looking.

Only then did Bellota seem to realize something, slowly dropping her head and shrugging her shoulders.

“Sir… Is this not enough?”

Bellota, who had been whispering in sorrow, raised her head again to look directly at Seiden.

“Look at me straight!”

It was then. Suddenly, tears of blood gushed and flowed from Bellota’s eyes. Bellota gasped in surprise, cupping her face with both hands.

“Seiden…! I can’t… see anything…! No…”

A voice tinged with indescribably deep despair pierced Seiden’s ears. Seiden’s face was now frighteningly cold. Bellota, who had been crying with her shoulders trembling, this time suddenly laughed like a madwoman.

“It’s okay, I’m fine. As long as I have you… Even if I can’t see again, I won’t resent you. This is… what you feared, right?”

“……”

“So please, Seiden…”

It was a desperate, affectionate, and incomparably sweet voice. Bellota was calling his name. As if he was the only one who could save her…

When that voice deeply penetrated his ears, Seiden’s jaw muscles tightened firmly. Bellota, who had gone blind again, nevertheless looked precisely in Seiden’s direction and whispered pitifully.

“You love me, don’t you.”

Seiden’s heart sank heavily at those cunning words. It was at that moment.

“Seiden! Sir Seiden!”

Bellota’s voice was heard again from behind Seiden. Hearing that voice, Seiden’s eyes, which had been coldly tightened as if about to cut down the Bellota before him, froze in an instant.

This time, truly surprised, Seiden frowned and turned around to see a horse carrying someone galloping relentlessly in the distance. It was Bellota, mounted on a majestic brown horse with its mane fluttering, leaping over the tall grass and rushing towards him. Seiden’s face froze blankly at the sight of her. Finally spotting Seiden, Bellota cried out desperately.

“No, don’t fall into the trap!”

Then she drove her horse straight towards him, and in an instant, pulled the reins and leaped off over Seiden. It was an action intended to stop him.

Seiden instinctively and swiftly caught the reckless Saintess’s body. He held that fragile body tightly and rolled together down the sloping hill to cushion the impact.

“Ugh.”

The two, tightly embracing each other, finally came to a stop after rolling several times down the shallow hill. Bellota, on top of Seiden, had her eyes tightly shut and her face buried in his chest. Seiden, finally letting go of the sword he had been gripping until then, fumbled with both hands to caress Bellota’s shoulders. It was clearly Bellota in his arms. Seiden’s face became truly bewildered as he confirmed this fact.

“Saintess…?”

Seiden called Bellota quietly in a tense voice, but there was no response. Just as he was about to rise in anxiety, Bellota, who had been keeping her eyes tightly shut as if dead, suddenly raised her head and firmly grasped Seiden’s collar.

“It’s a trap! Whatever you see is all an illusion, don’t fall for it…! If you do, you’ll be in danger!”

Bellota poured out urgent words without taking a breath. Tears welled up in her eyes filled with urgency. It was a precarious face that looked like it would burst into tears at the slightest touch.