“The symptoms have only worsened recently. So please don’t worry too much, wife.”

“How can I not worry! You’re the person I love most. I can’t just see this and pretend I didn’t. So tell me what happened.”

Before hearing the details, I unilaterally used my healing ability on Theodore. Then, not long after, I could see his expression improve considerably. Once my mind was somewhat at ease, I urged him, saying I needed to know to help, and he slowly opened his mouth.

“Wife, are you aware of the evil god?”

Why is the ‘evil god’ suddenly coming up?

‘I do know about it.’

I knew about the evil god, but that was only from information I encountered when attending classes in Dylan’s place.

“Actually, since the war began, I’ve been seeing things I shouldn’t see, hearing things I shouldn’t hear, and able to look into someone’s thoughts.”

“Whose?”

“It seems my mind is synchronizing with the ‘evil god.'”

“What……?”

At that one statement, my heart pounded.

What should I do if that statement were true?

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him. He wasn’t someone who could lie.

‘Now it’s my turn to believe him.’

I carefully steeled my resolve. Since Theodore stood by me and believed my words, this time I would be on his side and believe his words.

“There are two things I learned while synchronizing with the evil god. One is about the ‘hereditary disease’ that’s been passed down in this family.”

At the mention of hereditary disease, I didn’t know what expression to make.

“What’s the other one?”

“I learned the secret about the curse I bore in the past.”

Honestly, the part about ‘hereditary disease’ stuck more firmly in my head than ‘the secret of the curse.’

‘Father-in-law wouldn’t have told him either.’

Originally, the hereditary disease had been quietly known within the ducal family. I had already completely cured the Duke’s hereditary disease quite some time ago, and even before the treatment, only the Duke and I shared this knowledge.

So there was no way the Duke would have mentioned the ‘hereditary disease’ to his son.

‘No one would have told him, so the fact that he knew about it means it’s really true.’

Hearing it directly made me even more certain.

Though it’s bewildering that an evil god not in the original story suddenly appeared, whether it’s a curse, hereditary disease, or evil god, I intend to face it.

“The secret of the curse…… Alright. Let’s say there is such a thing. But before that, I need to hear what symptoms you have now! That’s the only way I’ll feel at ease.”

There might be other things I absolutely needed to know, but more urgent than that were Theodore’s symptoms. I had been relieved that the curse was lifted, but wasn’t this essentially something worse than the curse appearing?

“……There are similarities to when I was cursed before, but also differences.”

“What kind?”

“The headache that feels like squeezing my brain is similar, but unlike before, it feels like being cut by sharp shards. The frequency has decreased compared to before.”

With each symptom I heard from him, my brow furrowed on its own.

I wanted to ask everything—from why he hid it instead of telling me right away, to whether this could be resolved with healing abilities like the curse.

‘There’s still plenty of time.’

But I decided to ask those things gradually. This time, to hear not about symptoms, but what he originally intended to say.

“Then what about the other thing? The secret of the curse, you were trying to tell me about that.”

When I gave him a chance to speak, he answered slowly.

“From what I recently learned, both the ‘hereditary disease’ and the ‘curse’ were influenced by the evil god.”

He stated astonishing facts without hesitation.

“Wait! The evil god, the curse—I’ll try to understand, but what is this ‘hereditary disease’?”

Though I already knew all about it, Theodore would think I knew nothing about the hereditary disease, so I felt I should ask a question at this point.

“Come to think of it, you wouldn’t know, wife. Though I also newly learned this fact, our family has a hereditary disease called ‘madness’ that appears every other generation. Usually it shows symptoms of ‘murderous impulse urges.'”

After that, he continued with detailed explanations as if to help my understanding.

“……Do you understand?”

“Yes. Somewhat. But what was that ‘secret of the curse’ you mentioned?”

“My curse was also influenced by the evil god.”

As I listened to his words carefully, I was once again wrapped in questions.

‘It’s a dragon’s curse, so why the evil god?’

“I apologize for making this so confusing.”

“No. Why is the secret of the curse connected to an evil god? Did I not completely break the curse?”

When I gently wrapped his hand and spoke, his expression improved somewhat.

“I don’t know where to start……”

He squeezed his eyes shut as if troubled, then opened them again.

“The beginning of everything goes back to the time when our family had its first head.”

“Why the first head?”

“Because the curse I bore essentially started with him.”

It seemed Theodore thought I didn’t know the detailed circumstances and had married him one-sidedly just to break the curse, so he began explaining.

I still looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, playing dumb.

“To put it briefly, the first head loved his wife too much and tried to give her everything she wanted. So he coveted a dragon’s treasure and incurred its wrath.”

Of course, he went on to explain how well the couple got along, what the dragon’s treasure was, and how much the first head’s wife loved to indulge in luxury.

“That’s why I, a descendant with their blood, was cursed.”

He spoke in a rather calm voice.

“Why was such a curse influenced by an evil god? According to what you just said, it was merely a curse cast by a dragon.”

“Yes. That’s how the curse began. But now comes the real part.”

When I tilted my head, Theodore began telling me a story never mentioned in the original work, one I was hearing for the first time.

“The curse began when the dragon, angered by the first head’s misdeeds, cast it with the meaning of ‘Since you were so desperate for that love, try experiencing true love.’ The curse was meant to appear in one person among future generations, which is why there was a predetermined solution.”

“You mean the healing ability?”

“That too, but more precisely, it was ‘contact.’ Because that aligned with the dragon’s intention.”

It was like talking about the ‘hidden intention of the test maker’ in a workbook.

“However, the first head thought differently. He acknowledged his mistake, but felt it was too excessive, harboring resentment.”

“Even so, there was nothing that could be changed. The curse on you remained the same.”

“Yes. That’s true. But the first head, whose thinking differed from ours, began seeking only ways to avoid the curse from that day on.”

The conclusion of the story was singular.

The first head probably couldn’t find a way to avoid the curse. Judging by how the curse appeared on Theodore as it was.

“And then, an evil god, responding to the ugliness of human hearts, made contact and proposed one condition to the first head.”

“A deal?”

“Yes. The first head proposed ‘not receiving the curse’ as his condition, and the evil god proposed ‘having absolute faith in the evil god’ as its condition.”

“Then the first head must have accepted it.”

But listening further, something seemed strange.

If that was true, the deal with the evil god should have been successful and Theodore shouldn’t have been cursed.

But hadn’t the curse already manifested? Somehow it seemed contradictory.

“It’s natural not to understand. In fact, their deal wasn’t properly made.”

“What do you mean?”

“The evil god never intended to let him escape the curse from the beginning. Rather, it was thinking of making the curse more complex.”

I felt dazed as if I’d been struck on the back of the head.

‘Well, it’s not strange.’

“Fine. I understand the evil god didn’t want to break the curse. That the first duke was deceived too. But conversely, why did it want to make the curse more complex? What benefit could the evil god gain from that?”

I ended up asking questions in rapid succession out of sheer curiosity.

“As you know, in this world the main god’s power has a strong influence. Even the temple tends to depend on divine oracles.”

“I know. But what’s your point?”

“The evil god, well aware that its influence hasn’t been great over the past few centuries, decided to lay low. Then, when a descendant of the first duke who was the target of the curse eventually appeared, it would target that body.”

I paused while calmly organizing things in my head.

‘Target what? The curse’s target? Descendant? That body……?’

According to his words, this current pain was caused by the evil god targeting Theodore’s body, and mental synchronization with the evil god was occurring.

“The evil god judged that since this person could bear the dragon’s curse, they would be a sufficient vessel to contain itself.”

“So you’re saying it thought it should inhabit that body?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

My concerns had come true.

I could do nothing but let out an empty laugh.