“Is it a curse?”

“No.”

“Then magic? Perhaps dark magic.”

Meivia shook her head.

“No. There is no curse or magic of any kind on your body.”

“Then what is it?! These sensations that make me feel like I’ve turned into a beast!”

Even as he spoke, every cell in his body seethed like molten metal.

His red eyes churned with turmoil.

“Haven……”

He had been a superior who never wavered no matter how difficult or dire the situation.

A strong, resilient person who had kept his composure through countless battlefields and a life soaked in blood.

Seeing him struggle like this was the first time.

Meivia let out a heavy sigh and spoke with a somber face.

“Could you come back in two days? I’ll look into a few more things and give you a proper answer.”

“You have a guess.”

“……I’m not certain.”

“Tell me anyway.”

After hesitating, Meivia walked to the bookshelf packed with grimoires and spell books.

She pulled out a thick, old green tome from the lowest shelf and handed it to Haven without a word.

The illustration on the front cover showed animals like a wolf, a bear, and an eagle, alongside two n*ked humans.

<Beast Clan Mythology and Their Power>

Haven’s red eyes lifted sharply as he read the title.

“Beast clan?”

“Yes. It isn’t certain, but the fact that my magical light shifted from violet to gold suggests it is an ancient power. The fact that it absorbed rather than repelled what would have been holy power, and turned gold in doing so, supports that theory.”

“Ancient power, meaning……”

“Something that flows from nature. But it’s different from spirit power. If it had been spirit power or a curse, it would likely have turned red.”

Haven turned Meivia’s explanation over in his mind and looked down.

“It tends to pass through the maternal line in most cases.”

She watched him carefully and asked with caution.

“……Did your mother ever tell you anything?”

“Not that I can recall.”

She would never have said something like that to me……

Haven swallowed a bitter laugh.

His mother had taken her own life the year he turned five. Even when she was alive, it was rare for them to even see each other’s faces, let alone have a conversation.

All he remembered was that she was a lady offered as tribute from the Haizen Kingdom, that she had long, full silver hair, and a silhouette so slender she looked like she might break.

“I can’t even remember her face anymore.”

There was no way he could have heard anything like this.

‘He’s not your brother! He’s the product of a tribute offering from a nation of savages! Kains, do not associate with that thing.’

‘That one must have savage blood running through him too! Disgusting! Filthy! Stay away from him.’

The words of the queen dowager of the Kar Kingdom, the current king’s mother.

The venom she had thrown like daggers rang sharply in Haven’s ears at this moment.

It was a voice that had appeared in his nightmares from time to time.

Haven’s expression grew colder.

“Your mother came from the Haizen Kingdom, righter?”

“Yes.”

The Haizen Kingdom was a nation formed by many tribes coming together.

They deified animals, calling them sacred beasts and worshipping them, and named their tribes after those species.

To display the tribe’s power, they most often took the names of predators. Falcons, leopards, lions, wolves, and other predators gave their names to tribes like the Leopard Clan or the Wolf Clan.

The sacred animal each tribe revered was therefore different.

Among them, there were indeed cases of people who truly transformed into sacred beasts or beast-form beings, but this was something closer to a legend passed down from ancient times within each tribe.

Which was to say, its credibility was questionable.

But even if the story sounded far-fetched, that didn’t mean it was impossible.

The light just now had unmistakably been something ancient.

Meivia’s gaze moved to the cover of the old tome.

“Did you know that the current royal dynasty of the Haizen Kingdom was the Leopard Clan two hundred years ago?”

“Was it?”

“Yes, and many of the nobility are said to descend from the chiefs of various tribes. Your mother was likely from one of those family lines……”

Meivia’s eyes narrowed.

“If I look into this, I should be able to give you a more definitive answer.”

“Will it take long? I need to return to the main force soon. Even using a movement scroll, I have to leave within a week.”

Meivia swallowed a small sound of deliberation.

Then she gave Haven the answer he was looking for.

“I’ll find out as quickly as I can.”

***

On her first night in the palace, Ella couldn’t sleep.

“Now I understand why Marian suffered from insomnia……”

The crown princess‘s bedchamber was ten times larger than the saintess‘s room and lavishly decorated to an almost oppressive degree.

A silence without even the sound of insects mixed with the darkness and filled the space completely.

Ella finally got out of bed.

“Hah…… I suppose I’m no different.”

Then again, there was no reason she should be able to sleep peacefully here.

Ella walked to the closed terrace window. When she opened it, a wind carrying the scent of rain blew in.

Her loosely braided hair swayed gently.

“Shall I start tomorrow?”

Performing the consecration rite wasn’t difficult. Just as she had done with Zikhart that afternoon, she would press her lips to her hand and lay a blessing on various spots. That was all.

It was a rite invisible to those without holy power, so there was nothing particularly demanding about it.

The problem was the sacred pain.

When sacred pain intensified, those who possessed holy power suffered from coughing up blood and high fever.

Sacred pain was the excuse she had used to conceal her unstable holy power, so she would need to stage an appropriate performance in front of them.

“I’ll need more toho leaves to keep up the coughing blood.”

Toho leaves were an herb. They were excellent as a digestive.

But consuming more than a certain amount caused coughing up blood and a mild fever, and not many people knew this.

On top of that, taking them continuously for more than a month brought on sudden narcolepsy and a slow, creeping death. It was a frightening toxic plant.

Ella was well aware of this.

“Should I ask Molly?”

She had only brought enough toho leaves for five uses from the temple, since even there the supply was limited.

She could certainly obtain more within the palace, but there were far too many watching eyes for that. There were plenty of people scrutinizing her every move.

“How to get them……”

Ella tapped her fingers against the stone railing in a steady rhythm, as though sorting through her thoughts.

“Hm? That man……”

An unexpected figure entered her line of sight, and Ella’s eyes narrowed.

“What is he doing there at this hour?”

It was the gardener she had seen beneath the chestnut tree that afternoon.

He was sitting at the marble fountain in front of the crown princess‘s palace, still wearing the work clothes from earlier, looking at something in his hand.

“……!”

Joi glanced up at that moment and his eyes met Ella’s.

There was a fair distance between them, but she knew instinctively that their gazes had connected.

“What is he……”

Ella muttered with a displeased expression.

The gardener, with remarkable impertinence, did not look away.

The crown princess designate was the equivalent of near-royalty. As the saintess, even more so.

A palace gardener would know that perfectly well……

‘Staring so openly.’

Even at this distance, the gardener’s gaze was sharp and unwavering, as though a lamp had been lit behind his eyes.

Meeting that rude stare made Ella feel unsettled.

“……He really is a strange person.”

Ella broke the eye contact first and turned away.

***

Early in the morning, the head maid who entered the crown princess‘s bedchamber with the maids offered her greeting.

“By Solea’s grace, I greet you, Miss Meriella. I am Jenith Conford, the dedicated head maid of this palace.”

Ella received her from the bed.

Dressed in a dark green gown over a lean frame, she had a stubborn look about her.

Jenith, from the fallen Conford count family, was a clear-headed woman who remained unmoved by outside pressure.

She had kept strictly to the position of observer throughout Marian’s misfortune. She had neither participated in the mistreatment nor stood on her side.

‘At least she was someone who knew what decency was.’

On the day Marian’s execution was decided, after all the other maids had left, Jenith alone had stayed by her side.

And yet she had offered no comfort, not a single word.

Only that far.

She was also one of the few people in this palace whose presence wasn’t uncomfortable to face.

“I look forward to working with you, Jenith.”

Instead of answering, Jenith bowed her head with an expressionless face.

The maids moved busily around the room.

They prepared the saintess‘s robes Ella would wear, and set out a wet towel and washing water in a silver bowl.

Through all of it, Jenith continued her report.

“……So I sent notices to each noble family regarding the selection of maids to attend to you, Miss Meriella. Prioritizing volunteers, taking into account both reputation and character……”