Chapter 27
‘A mark of a curse?’
Isabel racked her brain, trying to recall if she had overlooked something from the original story. But no matter how much she reviewed past events, nothing stood out. If anything, it should have been the protagonist of the original novel, “Isabel,” who had a closer connection to a curse.
Seeing Isabel’s confused expression, Adolf ran his hand over the scarred mark and spoke.
“The Cellesio Empire was cursed long ago.”
“……Cursed? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“A matter concerning the Empire’s very survival can’t simply be allowed to leak outside.”
After a moment of thought, Adolf stood up and headed for the door. Startled, Isabel grabbed his arm.
“You can’t just leave like that. We haven’t even figured out what’s going on yet.”
“You’ve got plenty of leisure. If you want to take on this mess as well, handle it yourself.”
“W-wait! Don’t be like that—let’s figure it out together, alright?”
Noticing something odd in Isabel’s repeated attempts to hold onto him, Adolf turned to look down at her.
“If you have something to say, speak clearly. Don’t waste my time.”
“Well… it feels like there’s a ghost nearby.”
“……”
Adolf’s expression hardened instantly. Flustered, Isabel quickly waved her hands.
“O-of course, I don’t mean Your Majesty is scared of ghosts. But it seems like a dangerous one. We should stay as close together as possible….”
Just as Isabel rambled on, a dark force suddenly rushed up from behind her. Without a moment to think, she spun around, and the unbelievable sight made her grip Adolf’s arm tighter.
“…Impossible. He was just lying there on the floor—where did he go?”
Adolf roughly shook off her hand with a scoff.
“Are you certain that man was actually dead?”
“I didn’t confirm it exactly, but…”
Even without checking, Isabel knew Denver’s condition wasn’t that of a living human. Even if he had been barely breathing, there was no way he could have slipped past their eyes and walked out of the bedroom unnoticed.
‘I have a bad feeling. As if someone is watching us.’
She lifted her gaze to the ceiling and the corners of the room. Her eyes, now tinged violet, searched the chamber obsessively. Just then, a dense fog rolled in, obscuring her vision.
Realizing this too was a trap, Isabel frantically reached for Adolf.
“Your Majesty, take my hand!”
But the pain in her ankle seized her at that very moment.
“Ah!”
The fog swallowed them whole in an instant, and Adolf’s reply never reached her ears.
The stench of mold in the fog wasn’t new, but it was unpleasant every time. Like being locked in a damp cellar, the clammy sensation made Isabel cover her nose with the back of her hand as she quietly waited for the fog to dissipate.
When it finally cleared, she laughed dryly at the sight before her, as if lost for words.
“Heh… Where am I now?”
She was no longer in Denver’s house but outside. Rain fell in a steady drizzle, the darkness so deep she couldn’t even tell if she was still in the village. To make matters worse, she had been separated from Adolf.
“How am I supposed to deal with this…?”
As Isabel looked around, something caught her eye. Shapes hidden in the dark slowly came into view.
The first thing she noticed was the ruins of a house, half-burned. The blackened, unrecognizable remains stood as a grim reminder of some past disaster.
‘But why would I be sent here?’
She stepped closer. The charred pillars were still damp from the all-day rain.
Placing her hand on one of them, Isabel raised her brows. She straightened her posture, lifted her arms toward the pouring sky, but felt nothing. No wetness, no sensation of rain striking her palms.
‘An illusion.’
The ghost was showing her this vision for a reason—something it wanted her to see. As she searched carefully, her foot struck a small object.
She bent down and picked it up: a little thing covered in mud. Wiping it clean revealed a familiar strawberry-flavored caramel.
“This is… Rosie’s favorite. But why is it here?”
A chill crept down her spine.
‘Now that I think about it—where did Rosie run off to?’
Even as a ghost, Rosie was still a child. She couldn’t go far on her own, and she was quick to cry when frightened.
‘I shouldn’t have let her go like that…’
Just then, something dropped from the ruins with a thud at her feet.
Another strawberry caramel.
Isabel lifted her head toward the dark center of the ruins. Then another caramel arced through the air and landed near her.
“……”
Her face hardened as she picked it up. Something unknown was calling her. She knew it was a trap, yet she couldn’t ignore it.
Clutching the candy tightly, Isabel stepped forward—only for her body to suddenly lift into the air.
“What now…?”
Before she could regain her senses, her gray eyes were filled with fog once again. Isabel squeezed her eyes shut, curling her body as though being sucked away.
When she opened them again, she gasped like someone pulled out of drowning, her chest heaving. Slowly, Adolf’s face came into focus.
“…Your Majesty?”
He only let out a long sigh and swept back his golden hair.
Pushing herself up, Isabel asked,
“What happened? Why was I lying on the floor?”
“…You suddenly collapsed.”
“I collapsed?”
She had thought it was just an illusion, but if her real body had fainted, then…
‘Could it be astral projection?’
Staggering to her feet, Isabel’s head throbbed and her stomach churned, as if her soul had really left her body.
Once she steadied herself, she used her spirit-sight to scan the bedroom and the house. But the ghost had already fled. Only faint traces remained.
‘It’s gone already.’
Running her fingers through her wine-colored hair in frustration, Isabel turned to Adolf.
“Your Majesty, it’s almost midnight. We should return to the lodgings for now. I also have somewhere I must go early tomorrow, so please stay with Mr. Hüttmann if possible.”
When Adolf didn’t respond, Isabel touched his shoulder—only to realize something was terribly wrong. His body was trembling violently under her fingertips.
