“I shouldn’t have trusted the brat from Belmire—a seal shattered by newly awakened mana? What a joke.”
Brat from Belmire?
Muttering about how the seal must’ve been slapped together with bare feet, the man looked genuinely annoyed.
‘Belmire, isn’t that the name of the empire?’
Ugh, whatever. I could think about that later. First, I should thank him.
I was just about to open my mouth—still shivering as my teeth chattered from the delayed onset of cold.
Something happened behind the man that made me question my own eyes.
“Whoa.”
The monster that had been toying with me just moments ago was now frozen in place—one foot dipped into the lake, completely still.
‘What’s going on?’
It wasn’t moving at all, as if someone had hit a pause button on it.
The creature, frozen mid-step as it tried to enter the water, now looked utterly terrified.
‘Is it… because of this man?’
I stared in disbelief at the monster, which seemed to be watching the man’s every move with fear.
And then, something the man had said earlier suddenly echoed in my mind and hit me like a brick.
“Wait a second. Did you just say mana?”
In this world, there exists an unscientific power known as mana.
Only a very small number of humans are able to awaken it, and those who do are revered as mages.
And as far as I knew, Madrose was an ordinary person—right up until the moment he was executed at the guillotine.
She was born with zero mana.
That’s one of the reasons the original Rose never stood a chance against her half-brother, Dion.
At least, that’s what I thought…
“Did you just say I’ve awakened mana?”
“Unless it was that thing behind you, who else could it be?”
Wait, he knew there was a monster behind me?
The man, who looked utterly bored, casually pointed with his chin toward the monster like it were no big deal.
But I’d stopped caring about that creature ages ago. I was too busy trying to contain the excitement rising in my chest.
‘I really awakened mana?’
In this world, awakening mana was basically a game of chance.
Some were born with it—what people called innate mana.
Others lived as ordinary people until one day, due to some event or shock, they suddenly awakened—the acquired innate mana.
As unbelievable as it sounded, it seemed I had become one of the latter.
“This is insane.”
Jackpot. A mage wasn’t just valuable—they were the most sought-after people in the world.
From the flow of things so far, it didn’t feel like I was destined for something as unstable as some new city development project.
If I’d really awakened as a mage, then maybe… I could open this gate to a new path—and not die miserably in some back alley.
I sat by the lake, grinning like an idiot, as the man’s gaze drifted down to the shallows.
“Are you that happy?”
“Feels like winning the lottery in the middle of a car crash… But seriously, who are you?”
Today had been one bizarre event after another.
One minute, I was organizing farming tools in the shed; the next, Isabelle was randomly kidnapped by a monster.
And during a battle with hellhound-type beasts, I’d suddenly been teleported…
‘Wait, did I do that?’
If what this man was saying was true, then maybe at some point today, I really had used magic.
Maybe I accidentally cast a spell without even realizing it.
Possessed as Madrose—the human equivalent of an unscratched lottery ticket—I couldn’t offer a single word in my defense.
“You’ve been muttering with your face. It’s loud, you know.”
“Ah, sorry. I’m just… sorting things out in my head.”
“Humans these days are all kinds of weird.”
“You’re literally saying what I’ve been thinking about you this whole time.”
At my honest answer—one that would rank high on the weirdness scale—the man showed no change in expression.
For all I knew, he could be some kind-hearted mage who saved a drowning noble from a hidden passage that ran under the lake.
I alternated glances between the lake I was still awkwardly sitting on and the strange man standing nearby.
“Um, it’s a bit late to introduce myself, but thank you for saving me.”
“Rejected. Lacks sincerity.”
“Are you a mage, too?”
As I asked with a hint of hope in my voice, the man crouched down to meet my eye level and smiled with his eyes.
“Do I look like a mage to you?”
His smile bloomed like a sudden burst of spring flowers in the dead of winter—so dazzling it made my vision blur for a second.
“Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.”
If you knew… you’d regret it.
The hand that brushed my fallen hair behind my ear felt unnervingly cold.
I flinched instinctively, and the man let out a silent, amused chuckle at my reaction.
A single fragment of memory sliced through my mind, and a cold sweat trickled down my back.
An old, ominous legend was passed down for generations in the village of Lucein.
The “Great Emperor,” who raised Belmire from a poor, obscure kingdom into the empire it is today…
‘…was said to have sealed an evil god, king of monsters, right beneath this lake.’
The conversation I’d had with this man replayed all at once in my mind, sending my pupils into a frantic tremble.
As the man placed his cool hand gently on my feverish forehead, his ethereal eyes curved lazily.
“Seems like you’re starting to catch on.”
“Nope. I don’t get it, and I don’t want to get it.”
Not now, not ever.
Sensing my absolute resolve, the smile on his lips deepened.
“Do you really want to live?”
“…Excuse me?”
“You seem pretty desperate for help.”
I turned my head to follow the man’s gaze and saw monsters gathering all around the lake.
At the center stood a towering beast the size of a building, surrounded by the same hellhound-type creatures we’d faced at the entrance.
There were also monsters shaped like snakes and even some that looked like herbivores.
They were being drawn to the lake, one by one, as if summoned by an unseen force.
‘Where the hell are they all coming from?’
Lucein was supposed to be a peaceful mountain village, one where monsters rarely appeared.
But now, as if to correct a flaw in the original story, monsters were crawling out from every corner and swarming the lake.
The man glanced at me, silently observing the way my face grew more and more pale.
“If you want, I can save you.”
But of course, not for free.
The second he said that, the fever I’d barely managed to suppress began to boil over again.
“Ha. I think I’m getting dizzy.”
“Oh? Does that mean you want to fall back into the lake?”
…I’d been about to fake a dramatic faint, but immediately straightened up.
“What is it that you want from me?”
“It’s simple.”
From the lips of what was clearly an evil god—not even bothering to hide it—came words that were anything but simple.
“If you wake someone up, you should take responsibility.”
What kind of bullshit is that…?
“That look on your face says, ‘What kind of bullshit is this?’”
“…Can you read minds, too?”
My tone became suddenly polite, and the man chuckled softly.
“I could, once. Not anymore.”
“Well, to be honest, I’m barely managing to take care of myself right now…”
I mean, I was just a backwoods lord long before the whole new-town development project even began!
“So, you’re saying you don’t want to?”
The way he said it, I felt like if I said no, he might just toss me back into the lake or feed me to the monsters.
What was this? I’d merely walked past a moody stray cat and somehow ended up being chosen against my will.
“And… how exactly should I ‘take responsibility’? Just so you know, all I have is this tiny, precious little estate and a run-down four-story mansion.”
So please, just go back under the lake and forget I exist…
I looked at him with every ounce of desperate sincerity I could muster—but of course, it didn’t work.
“That’s more than enough.”
“…What?”
“I’ll be in your care for a while, then.”
Human.
His scent lingered in the air—something oddly reminiscent of sweet, overripe fruit—and drew just a little closer.
At the same time, his large hand slowly reached out… and covered my eyes.
“Sweet dreams.”
That faintly amused voice was the last thing I heard before my fragile consciousness finally snapped.
* * *
The evil god looked down at the slender figure collapsing onto the lake’s surface with dry, expressionless eyes.
Swoosh.
A chilly breeze rippled across the wide lake, a sound far too bleak for early spring.
He kept his gaze fixed on the sleeping Rose, who now lay motionless, making soft breaths. Slowly, he rose to his feet.
He had only used the faintest fragment of his power.
And yet, his body—formed entirely of magic—began to waver, unstable.
Like a mirage about to vanish, his form trembled.
But the moment he lifted Rose into his arms, the trembling stopped—as if it had never happened.
‘The curse isn’t broken.’
So why is it that whenever he’s near this woman, the curse seems to pause?
With sunken eyes, the god stared silently at the unconscious Rose and reached out.
Focusing all his senses on the steady pulse beneath her delicate neck, he suddenly let out a dry, incredulous laugh.
“What the hell are you?”
