Chapter 3 – The Fulfilled Curse

Though Rachel’s tone was gentle, that only made her comfort all the colder, and Chloen lifted her head.

At that moment, Chloen saw it. The smile spread openly across Rachel’s face.

Startled, Chloen stared at Rachel with her mouth slightly open. Then Rachel slowly brushed her silver hair behind her ear and said,

“Poor Chloen. I knew you were innocent and foolish, but to think you would be this oblivious. Do you know who started that ridiculous rumor you mentioned? It was my father. And the one who told my father to spread that rumor was…….”

Rachel paused for a moment, and her brow narrowed slightly. Because of that, her picture-perfect eyebrows slanted faintly.

“His Majesty the King. Once your man, but now soon to be my man, Zenon Alberic O’Shea.”

It was a foreign voice. It was partly because her tone, always gentle, had turned mocking, but more than that, it was the truth carried by that voice that felt so alien.

“What…… are you talking about? Why would Zenon?”

Suddenly, a faint scoff slipped from Rachel’s lips. Rachel looked at Chloen with the corners of her mouth raised high, then opened her mouth again.

“Because a scapegoat was needed.”

“A scapegoat……?”

“Yes. As you know, Eilan is in no state worth mentioning these days, isn’t it? Those savage and uncivilized Nurzen bastards started a rebellion, so we lost land, and on top of that we even have to pay reparations for having kept them as a colony all this time. So when we tried to collect a little more in taxes, these wretched commoners kept breaking out into riots here and there whenever the mood struck them.”

Rachel straightened the knee she had bent. Brushing off the wrinkles in her crushed dress, she continued speaking.

“So we simply made one scapegoat. A scapegoat to receive the people’s resentment in our place. And since it would be best if that scapegoat happened to be very rich, it turned out to be you. Everyone knows your family, which has been in the investment business for a long time, is the wealthiest in Eilan. Isn’t that right?”

Chloen’s lips trembled as she looked at Rachel, who had thrown the question back at her.

It was not as though Chloen did not know the current state of Eilan that Rachel was speaking of.

A hundred years ago, when the Eilan people invaded the central island, they drove the Nurzen people, who had originally lived there, into the harsh north and took over the fertile southern lands. Then they made the Nurzen, whom they had forced into the north, into a colony and tormented them. In the end, unable to endure it any longer, the Nurzen people rose in rebellion, and that rebellion succeeded. With that, the situation reversed. The Eilan people were driven back to the island below the central island, where they had originally lived, and, surrendering even the status of Empire they had maintained for a hundred years, came under the rule of Nurzen.

But that had not happened because of some witch’s curse.

It had happened because the Nurzen people’s anger toward the Eilan people, who had oppressed them for a hundred years, had built up and finally erupted, and because of the incompetence of the Eilan nobility and the Imperial Family, who, sunk in luxury and indulgence, had lost the power to suppress the rebelling Nurzen.

Then why had all the blame fallen on me? Why on me and my family…….

At that moment, one sentence Zenon had once said to Chloen flashed through her mind again.

‘In the end, everything will pass without trouble.’

So this is what you meant by passing without trouble. An ending where you alone survive, using me as your shield.

Chloen’s empty eyes dropped heavily to the floor. She felt as though she ought to thr*st her hand through the iron bars and seize Rachel by the collar that very moment, but strangely, no strength entered her hands. It felt as if all the blood in her body had drained away.

As Rachel looked at Chloen like that, a mocking smile spread across her lips.

“In truth, even if you had not had that secret, we still would have made your wealthy family into the scapegoat somehow, but this is fortunate too. That you’re such a horrible monster. Thanks to that, instead of bothering to make up troublesome excuses like you were plotting treason, or it turned out you were a Nurzen spy, everything became wonderfully easy. Right?”

After tossing back the question, Rachel took a step backward. Then she drove Chloen, who was gasping under the weight of betrayal, even deeper into darkness.

“By the way, I won’t be able to see your final state tomorrow. Actually, ever since a monster like you dared, without knowing your place, to take the seat beside Zenon, I have waited only for this day, so it is a little disappointing. But I’m far too busy preparing for my wedding with His Majesty the King, which will be soon. Well then, I’ll say goodbye in advance. Chloen. Farewell.”

“…….”

“To a hell that suits a monster like you perfectly.”

After Rachel finished her farewell, the sound of her footsteps gradually faded into the darkness.

But even after Rachel’s footsteps had disappeared completely, Chloen only sat there blankly where she had sunk down.

That was for the best. The day she had been sentenced to death was tomorrow, but she was already as good as dead.

* * *

The next day came. In front of the stake, the gathered crowd was so dense it was a sea of people.

Some had come because they had not been able to attend the public trial and wanted to see for themselves whether the Queen’s eyes truly turned red like those of a demon beast, and others had come to watch the rare spectacle of a burning execution. Because of that, Chloen, who was to meet her death before a great many spectators, slowly climbed onto the pile of firewood.

“Let the sinner Chloen Risse hear this. Chloen Risse concealed the truth that she was half demon beast…….”

Once Chloen had been bound to the high-rising stake, the judge began reciting her crimes one by one.

Feeling the chill of the wood rising through her bare feet, Chloen gently closed her eyes. Of all the charges the judge was noisily listing, not a single one was true except for the fact that, when agitated, her eyes turned ‘red like a demon beast’s,’ but in any case, there would never be any chance for her to protest.

In truth, what mattered to them now was not whether Chloen could really harm people like a demon beast. In fact, Chloen did not possess venom like a demon beast, nor could she cast curses as the rumors said, but there was something else more important than that. The fact that Chloen was different from them.

That alone made Chloen sin itself, a being that deserved to die.

If so, then there was only one thing she could do here and now.

Wait for death.

Soon enough, this cold firewood would turn into an unbearable heat. And when that heat was over…… as Rachel had said, she would be able to meet her brother and mother.

What should she say first when she met the two of them? Yes, she should say she was sorry. That she was truly sorry for causing them to die because of her. That all of it was her fault.

At that moment, all at once, a mild breeze blew by. It was a sweet and languid wind that did not suit the harsh winter weather. Without realizing it, Chloen opened her eyes. But she regretted it at once.

Because she saw him. Zenon, standing atop the distant tower and looking at her. The look in his eyes, as he insisted on seeing with his own eyes the ending of this tragedy he himself had written, was cruelly calm and without feeling.

At that moment, together with the anger boiling up from deep inside her, her eyelids, which had trembled no matter how much she tried to remain composed, ceased trembling. At the same time, Chloen’s firmly shut lips moved.

“Judge. I have something to say at the end. May I?”

A strange gleam flickered suddenly in the judge’s eyes. He gave a small, interested laugh and answered,

“Something to say? Fine. Go ahead. Before long, the only sound you’ll be able to make will be screams anyway.”

It was a dreadful warning, but Chloen did not waver. Instead, she looked at Zenon, who stood far away staring at her. Then, toward him, she shouted with all her strength.

“Zenon! Listen carefully to what I say from this moment on!”

Chloen let out a short breath, then cried out at the top of her voice.

“Though I die today, I will definitely return to your side! Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, I will return without fail! And when that time comes, just as you wished, I will surely become your curse! I will become a curse and cast you down into a hell with no end! Prepare yourself, Zenon!”

As if driven mad with fury, Chloen screamed at the top of her lungs, and both her eyes were dyed red.

At the sight of Chloen’s eyes turned the color of blood, exclamations burst out here and there again, just as they had in the courtroom before. But Chloen was not the only one agitated. The judge’s face, after hearing Chloen’s desperate outcry, had flushed even redder than Chloen’s eyes.

“Ha, has that b*tch gone mad?”

He kept glancing in confusion at Zenon, who was watching the scene from afar with a hardened expression, then raised his voice to its fullest and shouted,

“What are you all doing? Light the fire at once so that monster can no longer wag her filthy tongue! Hurry! Burn up even that disgusting tongue of hers without leaving a trace!”

The flames blazed up. But even until the very moment she was completely swallowed by the fire, Chloen cursed Zenon. It was because there was nothing else she could do, but that was not the only reason.

She truly wished for it. That she wanted to become his curse. And within that desperate wish, Chloen turned into a handful of ashes.

* * *

Just when the pain of her whole body burning away and even her insides melting at last came to an end, darkness arrived.

Chloen wandered aimlessly through that darkness. But there was no path. Only endless blackness spread before her. Chloen thought that perhaps this place might be hell. A hell fit for a monster like herself.

It was then. Suddenly, countless lights appeared before her eyes. The warmly flickering lights guided her somewhere. And when she reached the end of them, a familiar voice entered Chloen’s ears.

“Chloen! Are you all right, Chloen? Open your eyes! Chloen!”

Strange. That was definitely her brother’s voice, wasn’t it? But it did not end there.

“Look at this cold sweat. This won’t do, Lily. Help me carry Chloen!”

Soon after, she felt the solid and broad back of her brother, the one who had often carried her when she was little. And then what she heard next was.

“Oh my! Erbe, what in the world happened?”

“I don’t know, Mother. She wouldn’t answer no matter how much I knocked, so I came in just in case, and she was like this.”

“My goodness! Chloen! Open your eyes! Lily, how was Chloen before she went to sleep last night? Did she show any sign that she might be unwell…….”

“No. Not at all. Miss even hummed to herself before bed, saying that tomorrow she would finally be going to the debutante ball.”

“Really? Then why in the world is she suddenly like this? She doesn’t seem to have a fever…….”

It was her mother’s voice. A gentle voice carried together with the warm touch of her mother’s hand anxiously stroking her cheek.

‘Could it be…… that I’ve come to heaven?’

Chloen was certain. Yes, she had come to heaven. Otherwise, there was no way she could be hearing the voices of her brother and mother, whom she had missed so desperately, like this. Her brother and mother had already become people of the other world.

Still, it did not matter. It was enough just to have met the two of them again. Even if this was not the living world. Chloen opened her eyes. She wanted to see them. She did not know whether she even had the right to face the two of them, but still, these were faces she had longed for with piercing ache.

“Mother……. Brother…….”

At Chloen’s voice, Erbe hurriedly lowered the younger sister he had been carrying onto the bed.

“Chloen! Are you all right?”

“Are you awake now? Chloen?”

The two of them looked at her with worried eyes. They were unmistakably her mother and brother. The moment Chloen saw them, she pushed herself upright, then threw her arms around them and clung to them, sobbing out her confession.

“I’m sorry……. I’m so sorry. Because of me…… the two of you died……. Because of me…….”

Chloen endlessly repeated that she was sorry. Nothing else came to mind. At least to these two people, Chloen was a sinner. A sinner who had caused two innocent people to die.

At that moment, Erbe, who had barely managed to pull Chloen away, tilted his head and said,

“Hm? What are you talking about, Chloen? We died? Why would we suddenly be dead?”

The Madam of the house also stroked Chloen’s cheek as though puzzled and asked,

“My daughter, did you perhaps have a nightmare? Did you dream that we died?”

A nightmare……? A nightmare?

At that moment, the room where she was lying entered Chloen’s view. A large four-poster bed draped with pure white lace, and on the vanity adorned with delicate ivory carvings, the bottles of cosmetics she had enjoyed using in her maiden days were neatly arranged.

‘This is definitely the room I used before I got married…….’

It was strange. Just what had happened? I was definitely on the stake just a moment ago. I was dying on the stake, cursing Zenon, so why am I in the room I used when I was still unmarried…….

At that moment, Chloen jolted in shock as the memory from before came back to her.

‘Though I die today, I will definitely return to your side! Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, I will return without fail! And when that time comes, just as you wished, I will surely become your curse! I will become a curse and cast you down into a hell with no end! Prepare yourself, Zenon!’

Could it be…… has my curse come true? Is that what this is?

Chloen’s face turned pale white. She could not believe it, but there was no other way to explain it.

Other than that the curse she had wished for so desperately before dying. Had taken effect.