“Now that we know the method, you’ll be able to shake off the curse. It would be better to go back and rest today. Since we have to come back tomorrow.”

“I wish the festival would end soon. I’m sick of being cautious.”

“Don’t worry, no one comes to this place. I’ll come back and clean this up after I escort you home.”

“Yes, let’s go back now……”

Lady Margaret took difficult steps while leaning on the butler. That was when it happened. The butler, who was about to turn around while supporting Lady Margaret, hesitated and turned his head exactly toward the thicket where Seiden and Bellota were hiding. However, Seiden, who had noticed sensitively at that moment, quickly hid himself while embracing Bellota, so the man couldn’t discover them.

Nevertheless, the man looked around for a while as if something was strange, but when Lady Margaret coughed and sputtered, he finally had no choice but to support the lady and move on. Until the two’s presence completely disappeared, Bellota had to hold her breath while being held in Seiden’s arms.

Finally, when all presence disappeared, the strength slowly left Seiden’s thick arms that had been firmly holding Bellota. Still, Bellota couldn’t release her heavy breath and slowly raised her head to meet Seiden’s eyes.

Red eyes filled with many complicated thoughts were looking at her from a distance close enough to touch. Bellota realized that Seiden was thinking the same thing as her.

“……”

The two’s eyes, having witnessed something tremendous in an unexpected place, anxiously met each other’s gaze.

* * *

A book that tells how to escape from curses.

Seiden and Bellota already knew of the book’s existence. If the book Lady Margaret knew about wasn’t fake, it was clearly the book the two had been desperately searching for. The Demon God Book.

Discovering Lady Margaret’s secret was truly an unexpected achievement. If the lady had really seen the real Demon God Book and knew who possessed it, the day when everything would end wasn’t far off.

However, there were sometimes people who were secretly cursed. There were also quite a few who committed fraud using this, so Seiden and Bellota needed to confirm several things clearly. First was confirming whether Lady Margaret was really cursed. But neither Seiden nor Bellota could go to the lady and ask if she was really cursed.

There was a more appropriate expert in this field. Yevar.

Yevar, after hearing all the circumstances from Seiden, also agreed that there was a high possibility that Lady Margaret had contact with someone who possessed the Demon God Book. To find out more accurate circumstances, he mobilized all his connections to find out accurate information about Lady Margaret and her usual destinations.

Lady Margaret’s daily routine was simple and repetitive. She visited the temple every other day to pray, and on days she didn’t visit the temple, she ate breakfast at her mansion and headed to the nearby lake garden. Feeding two days’ worth of food to the ducks living there and animals living on the street was an important part of the lady’s routine. Then she would return to her mansion and not come out until morning. Therefore, Yevar’s opportunity to contact Lady Margaret was only once every two days, during the time she went to the lake garden.

“Oh my.”

Lady Margaret, who had come out to the nearby lakeside with her butler as usual to scatter food over the lake, stopped walking when she discovered a man who was already occupying the spot and throwing bread crumbs to quacking ducks.

“Hmm?”

Yevar also turned to look at Lady Margaret with a face that seemed confused and embarrassed as if he had unexpectedly encountered someone. When Yevar discovered the feed bag in Lady Margaret’s hand, he greeted her with exaggerated friendliness.

“My, Sister, you’ve also come to bestow daily provisions to the children!”

At those words, Lady Margaret’s eyes, which had been somewhat surprised, quickly scanned Yevar’s appearance. Soon, the wariness that had faintly resided in the lady’s eyes quickly dissolved when she discovered his shabby priest’s robe and the large rosary necklace around his neck.

“Are you a priest?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“You don’t seem to be a priest from the Grand Temple.”

“Haha, that’s correct. I’m a priest from the Rotem Temple far in the countryside, traveling around the country to deliver God’s will.”

Only then did Lady Margaret realize that the bread crumbs Yevar was scattering were his breakfast. Nevertheless, Yevar cheerfully shook off all the remaining bread crumbs in his hand onto the lake and stood up.

“I was worried that what I had wouldn’t be enough to feed the cats waiting over there, but fortunately, there’s a benevolent Sister here.”

“Ah.”

“Well, I should be going now. May God’s blessings always be with the kind-hearted sister.”

As Yevar tried to bow politely with his hands clasped, his stomach growled pitifully. Yevar showed a brief embarrassed smile, bowed again, and turned around.

“……”

After turning around, Yevar counted with his lips as he walked. Three…… two…… one.

“Excuse me, Brother!”

That’s right. Inwardly celebrating his arrogant victory, Yevar turned to look at the lady with an innocent expression as if he knew nothing.

“Yes, Sister?”

Now kind eyes, not only free of suspicion but tinged with faint respect, were looking at Yevar. Lady Margaret clasped her hands together and made one request.

“I believe I could offer a warm meal to a brother who works hard to spread God’s will. Please give me the opportunity.”

Ah. At that polite request, Yevar pretended to be quite flustered and apologetic, fumbling around before finally bowing his head as if he had no choice.

* * *

Thus, Yevar managed to enter the mansion of Countess Margaret, who rarely allowed people inside her home. Sometimes, winning people’s hearts was this simple.

According to Yevar’s investigation, Lady Margaret was a special believer among the faithful. Even to him, it seemed pitiful that such a devout woman had fallen under a curse – her faith was beyond question.

Yevar targeted this point precisely. The service-minded and benevolent Lady Margaret couldn’t pass by a poor priest without inviting him to her mansion. Yevar shared a modest but heartfelt dinner with Lady Margaret while skillfully discussing God’s words. The pure Lady Margaret couldn’t help but fall for Yevar’s eloquence, and Yevar eventually managed to secure teatime with the lady in an elegantly decorated reception room.

“Thanks to you, Sister, I’ve had the most abundant and valuable meal in a very long time. I won’t forget this kindness and will repay it to those poorer than me in the future.”

As Yevar bowed politely, Lady Margaret smiled with satisfaction.

“It’s my honor to serve a meal to a priest who works hard to deliver God’s will. I’ll have my butler pack some food for you to eat as you travel to the next region.”

“Thank you so much.”

With a face full of gratitude, Yevar glanced around the house. He couldn’t sense any unusual energy inside. Curses were divided into two types: those caused by monsters and those from dark magic. Curses from dark magic, being nestled inside humans, usually showed no external signs unless in special cases.

However, Lady Margaret’s case was ambiguous. Yevar took sips of hot tea while glancing at Lady Margaret. White bandages were wrapped around her hands, wrists, and even her neck. Although Lady Margaret tried to hide them with a high-necked, long-sleeved dress, not all traces were concealed.

Such wounds couldn’t be coincidental. But even so, he couldn’t be certain that all those wounds were traces of a curse. Moreover, identifying curses through wounds wasn’t Yevar’s specialty. However, being a thorough man, he had made meticulous preparations for such situations.

“By the way, Sister, is that painting perhaps by Delsevardo?”

When Yevar diverted attention by pointing to the work hanging behind Lady Margaret, she turned around as he intended. Taking advantage of this moment, Yevar quickly dropped something into her teacup. It was a pill about the size of a bean. The pill dispersed instantly upon touching the tea, dissolving without a trace.

This pill was the first reason Yevar participated in this troublesome plan. He needed a subject to verify the function of his new magical medicine. Of course, he hadn’t bothered to tell Seiden about this. It was perfect timing.

“Yes, you recognize it! I love Delsevardo and his works. That daffodil painting over there is also his.”

“Ah, I see. I thought the painting’s elegance seemed extraordinary.”

Yevar skillfully agreed and clapped his hands. Lady Margaret spent quite some time explaining about Delsevardo’s paintings before lifting her cooled teacup to take a sip, as if her throat was dry. Yevar’s gaze remained fixed on her teacup. When Lady Margaret put down her teacup, a faint smoke rose from the cooled cup. When that steam formed a terrifying shape like a skull, Yevar’s eyes gleamed sharply.

The appearance of that shape meant that the person who drank the tea was under a severe curse. What he had put in the teacup was a solution Yevar had developed, with five different grades of shapes that could appear. The grade that appeared in Lady Margaret’s teacup was, as expected, grade 1.