~Chapter 52~
“A Rotten Shadow”
“Damn it all!”
Leonard’s servant flinched as Leonard flipped over the furniture in rage.
He did this often, but the outbursts were never easy to get used to.
“Those filthy rats…”
He kicked over a chair, cursing.
Despite maintaining a positive public image and high popularity with the people, none of that mattered much for becoming emperor.
His older brother, Leonie, was always the real obstacle—firstborn, more capable, and favored by the emperor.
‘This was supposed to be my big moment…!’
Leonard had planned to impress the emperor with his battlefield victory—one he directed remotely through magic.
It was rare for him to outperform Leonie, making this a golden chance to draw attention.
So he had thrown everything into this victory banquet.
“Your Highness, His Majesty is calling for you!”
Another servant’s nervous voice came from outside.
Leonard clicked his tongue and pointed at the trembling servant beside him.
“Clean this mess before I return. Tear up all the newspapers.”
He stormed out and went straight to the emperor’s office.
“It’s Prince Leonard.”
“Let him in.”
When the velvet doors opened, the emperor sat behind a golden desk.
Though his face was lined with age, his posture remained proud—and it always unsettled Leonard.
“You know why I called you.”
The emperor threw a newspaper on the desk.
It was from the empire’s most influential outlet—with Damien’s picture on the front page, giving his heartfelt speech.
“Everything about that banquet was set up to favor you. We thought you deserved it.”
“F-Father…”
Leonard tried to apologize and defend himself.
But as always, the emperor didn’t go easy.
“And yet, you failed to use your one and only opportunity.”
Thud.
Leonard’s heart dropped.
One and only.
It meant there might never be another chance.
“Not only did you fail to attract attention, but you couldn’t even control Maledictus.”
It had been Leonard’s idea to invite Damien and his lowly duchess to boost his own standing.
They were supposed to act as contrast—to make the royal family look better.
Even the imperial palace had hesitated, but trusted Leonard to make it work.
“This isn’t about your defect. It’s just your lack of ability.”
Defect.
That word hit a sore spot—his limp right leg.
“You are to stay out of public view for now.”
The emperor turned away and rang the bell.
The door opened, and Leonard was pulled out by servants.
The doors shut coldly behind him.
His lashes trembled as he stared at the closed door—unable to say a word.
“Because of those filthy half-bloods…”
He couldn’t stand that he lost to people like Damien and his duchess—those with dirty, cursed blood.
‘There’s no way Damien thought of that on his own…’
Damien had always avoided public appearances.
There was no way he suddenly changed his mind just to show his face at Leonard’s banquet.
‘It’s that woman’s fault.’
The only thing that changed in Damien’s life was his marriage.
A woman from a ruined, low-class noble house had caused all this trouble.
“That thieving cat…”
Leonard hated that woman.
She had even made a soul contract with Damien—something many others had tried and failed to do.
‘I was going to use her fears to feed Damien’s curse.’
He had heard she held greater fear than most people.
So he cast a magical coughing-blood spell on her, hoping to expose her illness or weakness.
‘But she didn’t even seem scared.’
Worse still—
‘Magic doesn’t work properly on her.’
Every time he cast the spell, she only coughed—never bled.
It wasn’t like the magic was blocked, but it weakened upon contact.
And the worst part:
‘She knows my weakness.’
In the royal family, appearance, power, and magic were everything.
Leonard’s right leg—the one he hid using magic—was his shameful secret.
‘That wicked woman tried to expose it.’
Only the emperor knew his limp was real.
Not even his siblings, or Damien, had found out.
But she had noticed.
She wouldn’t announce it publicly, but the fact she had leverage infuriated him.
If that secret got out, everything would crumble.
Leonard’s magic, already weaker than his siblings, would be exposed as being drained just to hide his leg.
His royal status would be threatened.
‘I can’t let her live.’
And someone who resisted magic so easily was a threat to the entire royal family.
“I have to do something.”
Leonard descended into the deepest part of his palace—where not a single ray of sunlight reached.
“You’re here, Your Highness.”
The keeper bowed.
Leonard smirked and gave his order.
“Give me your freshest fear. One that still moves well—I’m letting it loose.”
The keeper nodded and opened a cage.
Out slithered a pulsing black mass, oozing dark blood.
It moaned:
[P-Please don’t! Let me go!]
[Hurts… hurts… hurts!]
[No! I want to go home… I’m scared!]
“Ah, fresh collection is best.”
It was fear extracted directly from a tortured human—raw and terrifying.
A Week Later – Damien and Rubiana
Damien and I were relaxing under warm sunlight, chatting about ghost stories.
“But look at the papers—all they talk about is you.”
I showed him a newspaper.
“Prince Leonard and the banquet are old news. Just a tiny mention on the first day.”
“Yes, it seems that way.”
“Here—‘Duke Damien: the textbook example of a decadent handsome man.’”
Damien’s face turned bright red.
“That’s… such a strange nickname…”
“Well, it’s not wrong.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway…”
I looked up at him.
“I think we succeeded, but I feel bad for making you the center of attention. You don’t like that.”
Damien shook his head.
“It’s fine. Other royals and nobles deal with this all the time.”
“It’s something I should’ve faced long ago. I just kept running from it.”
His amethyst-colored eyes gazed at the sky, then locked with mine.
“This isn’t your fault.”
I smiled at his kind reassurance.
“Thank you. Always.”
“No, I’m the one who—”
But suddenly, Damien’s face changed.
“Damien?”
He shoved me hard—with all his strength.
I fell onto soft flowers, and a black vine streaked with dark blood slashed past where I’d been standing.
BOOM!
“DAMIEN!!”
A massive curse, unlike anything I’d seen, erupted from Damien.
It twisted and flailed wildly—bloodshot eyes, dark magic seeping from his body.
And it wasn’t his doing.
A nightmare had been unleashed.
