The Only Way to Break the Curse is Through Contact with You - Chapter 75

#75

At first glance, the gerastone looked like an ordinary stone. Diart asked as he looked around the mine.

“Have you identified it?”

“Ah, yes. To infuse mana into gerastone, the refining process needed to be different from the start…”

“Not that.”

“Yes? Then?”

Diart’s mood was not good these days, due to the delayed return to the townhouse from the recent backlogged tasks in the distant territories. As a result, the Sau clan member, who tensely prepared for his impending questions, tilted his head. Diart’s chilly gaze landed on him.

“Have you looked into the curse.”

He wanted to retort, Why ask about curses out of the blue while inspecting the mine? It’s confusing! But the feeble-hearted fairy had neither the strength nor the courage and had to suppress his thoughts.

“It’s an ancient curse, and it has been forbidden for a long time, so there are few who know about it…”

At Diart’s sour expression, the Sau clan member quickly added,

“Instead, we thoroughly searched through related ancient texts. Because they were written in an ancient language, we haven’t decoded them all, but we’ve managed to uncover some important facts.”

“And?”

“First of all, the individual who initially cast the curse was our ancestor named Ursula.”

“Ursula?”

Diart narrowed his eyes at the oddly familiar name.

“They say her magical power was remarkably high, and she married a human to intertwine our tribes. It’s cautiously speculated that the human she married might be an ancestor of the Wheaton family. It’s likely because our tribe regards lineage with great importance, making interracial marriages extremely rare.”

As he listened to the Sau clan member, something stirred within him. It brought back memories from his childhood, when his mother often narrated tales of Wheaton’s history like a fairy tale. That’s why the name ‘Ursula’ was familiar.

If the Ursula mentioned by the Sau clan member and his own ancestor Ursula were the same person, then the possibility of a curse, rather than the Puythan disease, affecting Roeni seemed more probable.

Diart recalled his thought that if Roeni was under a curse, the catalyst might be the rose.

‘Rose. The rose.’

As Diart pondered the hazy memories of his family’s history, something came to mind.

* * *

As a result of his sudden visit to the main residence without any warning, Diart swiftly passed through the startled servants who had suddenly found him and made his way to the eastern library. The eastern library, which he hadn’t visited after having gathered most of the books, remained unchanged from his last visit.

Without hesitation, Diart headed straight to pick up the book he wanted, then handed it to the Sau clan member. Written in an ancient language, one of the unreadable books contained the history of the Wheaton family.

The Sau clan member’s face turned white as he opened the bookshelf with a puzzled look on his face. Diart shook his head as if he were asking him to decipher it. With an abruptly resolute yet cruelly decisive demeanor, Diart moved on, leaving behind the tearful Sau clan.

From behind him, he faintly heard the Sau clan member struggling to decipher the text, one word at a time.

The cursed rose that Beast Wheaton received from his wife Ursula has been passed down through generations of the Wheaton family. Even if the curse is cast upon someone and then disappears, it is referred to as an eternal shackle, as it reappears inexplicably in the next generation.

Diart, who was looking around the study, picked up scattered papers in a corner. The handwriting with unfamiliar characters looked familiar. The corners of his mouth stretched upward at the traces of Roeni that remained, as the servants had been told not to touch the things in the study.

He wondered what the owner of this scribble was doing at the moment. He had hurriedly visited the estate to prepare for an all-out war with the imperial family, but he had not anticipated such a delay. He regretted not bringing her along, even if he had to force her

Diart’s jaw stiffened at the thought of the imperial family, which naturally made him think of Crown Prince Jarvis. The person who had been smiling gently moments ago suddenly has an unexpectedly cold expression. He had almost lost Roeni due to Jarvis’s excessive ambition. The mere thought of her experiencing something terrible if he had been a little late still made him shudder.

He was not a man to make the same mistake twice. He just had to make sure it didn’t happen in the first place. To make sure no one dared to touch her.

‘I need to hurry.’

He had been away for too long. As Diart gathered the papers, his eyes caught an incongruous glass dome in the study. The alien ornament strangely captivated his attention. Approaching it, Diart took out the withered black rose inside the glass dome.

Twirling the stem in his hand, Diart glanced back at the Sau clan member.

“Is it possible for a curse to pass down through generations?”

Curses typically target specific individuals. The history of the Wheaton family had been intertwined with the empire. A curse that had been transmitted over countless ages seemed more like a legend than reality.

“It is possible. There are two conditions. The most important is the original caster’s magical power. If the magical power is weak, the impact of the curse diminishes over time. The second is the target. If the curse is cast on blood, the curse will be sustained as long as there’s one who carries the blood. Even if both conditions are met, the likelihood of success is very slim.”

“Does Ursula have the magical power to make it possible?”

“I don’t know exactly, as she’s only written about in the old texts, but I’ve heard that no one in the clan has ever been that powerful.”

Quietly pondering the Sau clan member’s words, Diart looked down at the rose. Finally, he smiled.

* * *

I woke up to someone’s piercing gaze and met eye contact with Diart, who was looking at me while lying on his side with his head resting on his hand. I was struck by the beauty that struck me for a moment, and I thought my breath was taken away. Even though we had been apart for a few days, he looked handsome again and my heart raced.

‘Is this the so-called bedhead I’ve only heard about?’

Internally taking a deep breath to calm myself, I noticed Diart silently scrutinizing me. His gaze seemed to read me thoroughly, exuding an inexplicable energy. I wondered what had happened in the estate.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just now.”

“But why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were fast asleep, and I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”

But it’s not fair to watch someone sleep like that. I absentmindedly smoothed my hair, wondering if I had drooled while sleeping. Diart, who was looking at me intently, spoke up.

“Is everything alright?”

Huh? Come to think of it, my finger, which had been bothering me the past few days, felt completely fine now. Did he happen to hold my hand while I was asleep? I looked at his hand, feeling regretful, and following my gaze, he extended it.

“Do you want me to hold it?”

There was no reason to resist the hand that reached out to touch me. It seems that I have become accustomed to the energy that neutralizes the curse from the man who had been so desperate to reach me.

Quickly taking his hand, I felt a familiar yet always new energy slowly seeping through my skin. Yes, this is it. My mouth involuntarily curled up at the thought of the overflowing contentment taking hold within me.

Diart, who had been staring unblinkingly at my face, smiled a strange smile. It’s a smile that’s both wistful and relieved, and it soon turns mischievous.

“You look fine.”

With that, he suddenly withdrew his hand. It struck me as odd, because normally he would have never stepped back until I pushed him away. I blinked in slight confusion. At the same time, I got up and followed him.

“Do you know that I have some Sau clan blood in me?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“How did you know? Hardly anyone knows that truth by now, given that even I had almost forgotten it.”

I was taken aback as I answered without thinking.

“Was it… from a book? Ah, or maybe it’s something I heard from my father…”

I hesitated and then fell silent. Come to think of it, there was no need to hide the curse from Diart, was there? I intended to reveal everything at that moment.

“I have something to tell you.”

Diart spoke earnestly. Suddenly, I remembered something important I had forgotten. Was he about to incite a rebellion? I, too, steeled my face resolutely. I had to stop that at all costs.

“I was hesitant to speak earlier for fear of causing you distress, but I cannot keep this hidden any longer.

Diart, who hesitated to answer, spoke with difficulty.

“The truth is, you are terminally ill.”