~Chapter 31~
“Damien, what wish did you make during the fireworks yesterday?”
I asked Damien, who had just confirmed the news of Aristia’s bankruptcy.
Yesterday, we both closed our eyes and made our wishes silently while holding hands, so I had no idea what Damien had wished for.
‘For some reason, I’m kind of curious about it.’
Yesterday, suddenly, I wished to always be with Damien.
‘Is it because I’ve gotten so used to living together?’
I wondered if this was a natural feeling.
That’s why I was a little curious if Damien had similar thoughts to mine.
“That’s a secret.”
But Damien refused to answer my question.
“Huh, why? Was it a very private wish?”
“Yes, it’s very private.”
“Ah, I see.”
Then I couldn’t press him further.
After all, everyone has their privacy!
“Are you curious?”
Damien asked me, and after a moment of thinking, I nodded honestly.
He stared at me quietly, then placed the newspaper down on the table.
“But I can’t tell you.”
“Ah…”
He was just asking if I was truly curious.
“What about you, Ruby? What did you wish for?”
“Oh, me? Uh…”
Now, the question was turned back to me.
But how could I honestly tell him?
I had wished to always be with him.
“Well, I….”
I avoided Damien’s direct gaze and fiddled with the napkin in my hands.
“I wished that I could keep living like this….”
In the end, I spoke not the wish I had made under the fireworks, but the hope that had been in my heart all along.
At that, a flicker of surprise passed over Damien’s face, which had seemed calm.
“By ‘this life,’ you mean our married life here, right?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, and Damien slowly opened his mouth.
Then, he let out a small chuckle.
“I’m really happy. Just as happy as I was when we watched the fireworks together yesterday.”
“You were happy then?”
“Of course.”
Damien smiled as he answered.
“How could I not be happy, watching beautiful fireworks with my cute wife who even threw herself in front of the reporters for me?”
“Huh? Uh…”
His words made me embarrassed, and I lowered my gaze.
Then, I suddenly realized that I had only spoken about my wish and hadn’t learned about Damien’s wish at all.
“Oh, wait, I shared my wish, but what about yours, Damien?”
“Ah, my wish isn’t something I can share.”
“Huh? Then maybe just a hint…?”
Damien smiled gently and reached out.
For the first time, he placed his hand on top of my head.
“I’m sorry.”
The gentle touch on my head was a kindness I had never felt before.
“My wish is too ugly for you to know.”
“What?”
Damien left me with these cryptic words, then withdrew his hand.
“I’ll be away for some work. I’ll see you in an hour.”
With that, he left the room naturally.
‘Too ugly?’
I was left confused by his mysterious words.
‘Why did I ask that?’
Rubyana had asked Damien about the wish he made during the fireworks.
Despite knowing about the curse, Damien was not superstitious. Yet, he too had made a wish under the fireworks.
However, the content of his wish was something he could not speak of openly.
‘It was a wish I shouldn’t have made in the first place.’
His wish had been to keep Rubyana by his side forever.
To have her live by his side, as his wife.
It was similar to the desire of wanting to trap a butterfly that broke free from its cocoon inside a glass jar, or to cage a bird that had just cracked its egg and was trying to fly.
It was a desire almost animalistic in nature.
‘I must truly be going mad.’
Damien knew very well that a butterfly should not be trapped, nor should a bird be caged.
That was why he described his wish as ugly.
‘I must not do that.’
Rubyana was too precious a person to be confined by his side for life.
Her adaptability, judgment, and ability to see and eliminate curses were exceptional.
Her expert-level drawing skills went without saying.
Though he knew all that in his mind, Damien found himself unable to control his growing desire.
‘Because she already knows.’
He had already experienced the happiness of living with the one person who had accepted him as he was, covered in curses.
That’s why, when Rubyana had said she wished to continue this life with him, Damien felt a deep joy.
Even though it might have been just a passing comment, it gave him a small hope that Rubyana would stay by his side a little longer.
Vibrations—
The four orbs embedded in the old stone wall glowed and vibrated faintly.
The fifth orb, too, now emitted a faint light.
‘There’s not much time left until the first ritual.’
He couldn’t afford to rush; he needed to prepare calmly.
Above all, Rubyana’s safety was the most important.
He needed a curse that Rubyana could come into contact with safely.
“These would be the best.”
Having made up his mind, Damien quickly began to make preparations.
“So, we can encounter a new curse in this room?”
I stared at the faded brown door with curiosity.
Unlike the other doors, the frame of this one was decorated with an image of a baby with its eyes closed, rather than the Maledictus family’s spider emblem.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Damien pulled a bundle of keys from his coat.
He selected a key engraved with the same closed-eye baby image as the one on the door.
Click.
As Damien inserted the key and turned it, a dull sound echoed.
“Let’s go in.”
With a creaking sound, the door opened, revealing the room inside. I gasped in awe.
“Wow…”
Inside the room, hundreds of dolls were on display.
There were jointed dolls dressed as princesses, shepherd girl dolls, and bridal dolls in white wedding dresses.
Each one was incredibly detailed.
“I’ve always wondered if there were any dolls in this mansion. It’s one of the classic horror themes.”
“That’s right. But for specific reasons, they’re all kept in this room. So, you won’t find them anywhere else.”
“But these dolls are curses?”
The dolls didn’t seem to be cursed at all, as there was no movement from them.
However…
Blink—
At that moment, I saw the eyelids of a sailor doll in the corner move.
“Huh?”
Blink. Blink.
A few of the dolls repeated the motion of closing and opening their eyes.
“Do you see the ones whose eyes are moving?”
“Yes, I do.”
“They’re rather weak, so they can only blink, but they can’t move.”
Damien explained as he surveyed the dolls.
“These aren’t mid-level curses like the new bride or the twins. They’re lower-level curses.”
“Then, why can’t they move beyond blinking?”
“Mid-level curses are born from the accumulation of strong negative emotions, which then take on a human-like form, allowing them to move with intelligence.”
Certainly, the twins had seemed so real that it was easy to mistake them for actual people.
“But these aren’t self-manifested curses. The negative emotions have attached to the dolls and accumulated within them.”
“Ah, so they grow by feeding on fear in that state.”
“Exactly. Unlike the self-manifested mid-level curses, these don’t have intelligence.”
I began to understand why Damien was showing me these curses.
Since they couldn’t move on their own, they were less likely to go out of control compared to other curses.
“If we stay in this room together for the next few days, we’ll safely fill the last orb in the stone wall.”
“That seems to be the case.”
But after that, would I never see these dolls again?
“Damien, where did these dolls come from?”
“Some were originally from Maledictus, and some came from external sources.”
Though some of the dolls showed signs of age, most were very well maintained.
There were small cracks and chipped paint, but those parts had clearly been repaired.
“Do you come regularly to maintain them?”
“Yes. I come about once every ten days.”
Damien glanced at a doll dressed in a jester outfit as he answered.
“They don’t seem to like me much. Still, these are curses that need regular maintenance.”
“Then, could I also come along?”
The twins were living in the mansion, and the new bride ghost was on the third floor, so I could see them anytime.
I secretly hoped I could continue to see these cursed dolls like that.
‘Because pretty cursed dolls are a classic horror theme!’
Setting that aside, seeing dolls that had clearly been loved by their owner gave me a strangely calming and soft feeling.
“Of course. After the ritual, you’ll still be able to see these dolls. Now, let’s go.”
After leaving the room, Damien locked the door carefully and turned to me.
“Of course, I selected the safest curses possible, but there are some precautions.”
“Ah, what are they?”
I needed to remember the precautions Damien was about to tell me. That way, I wouldn’t get caught up in the rampaging curses.
“Don’t get too attached to the dolls. They’re drawn to those who give them attention.”
As soon as I saw the dolls, I found myself thinking they were cute, and I had a strange desire to hug them.
Unfortunately, it seemed like that feeling was something I should suppress.
“Ah, I see. I’ll be careful.”
“Yes, just remember that, and you should be fine.”
Damien turned and began to walk ahead.
As I followed him, I suddenly felt something was odd.
“…Huh?”
Something felt strange.
