~Chapter 58~
[“Ru… Ru… bi…”]
The black object making the strange noise began to grow in size.
It was as small as a fingernail at first, then as big as a rice cake, and soon it had grown to the size of a chick.
Pop!
The small, chick-sized black creature popped out from near Damien’s eye.
[“Ru… bi. Ru… bi.”]
Making its peculiar cry, it slowly crawled toward Rubiana.
[“Ru… bi… don’t… go…”]
The tiny voice was like a child whining to a mother not to leave. The creature pressed itself against Rubiana’s cheek and touched it with its tiny mouth.
[“Ru… bi. Ru… bi.”]
Once it had finished its task, the little creature bounced away from the bed and disappeared.
The Next Morning
“Yaaawn… Damien, did you sleep well?”
We had stayed up until nearly 5 a.m. talking seriously about how to summon ghosts using 13 candles.
Starting at 1 a.m., we had done five experiments until dawn, using up 65 candles and countless ghost stories before falling asleep.
The sun was already high in the sky when I woke up.
“Yes, I slept well,” Damien said.
Unlike me, who looked like a mess with tangled hair, Damien was perfectly neat, even though we had slept in the same place at the same time.
‘Does he sleep in perfect posture or something?’
He was even dressed in full formal attire while I was still lying in bed half-awake.
“I’ll get ready quickly…”
“You can sleep more if you want,” Damien said when I tried to get out of bed.
“You can even have breakfast here in the room.”
“No… I want to eat with you in the dining hall,” I said.
If the Grand Duke was dressed up and eating in the dining hall, the Grand Duchess couldn’t show up looking lazy.
I wanted to sit across from Damien properly dressed, so I left the room to wash up and change.
I got ready as quickly as possible and went to the dining hall with Damien.
“Ah, wait a moment,” Damien suddenly said, stopping in his tracks.
I turned to look and saw that a bright light was shining from the brooch on his jacket.
“Shh,” Damien said, pressing a finger to his lips for silence.
I nodded and watched as he tapped the brooch twice.
“Damien.”
A furious voice came from the crystal embedded in the brooch.
I recognized it instantly.
‘The Emperor…?’
— “What have you done recently?”
My eyes widened. Damien was right; the imperial family must be suffering because I had destroyed so many curses.
“Oh… nothing at all,” Damien said in a dry, casual voice, though a faint smile curved his lips.
— “Nothing with the curses either?”
“Curses? If something had changed, my body would’ve been the first to know,” Damien said with a mocking edge.
“I’ve wanted more than anyone to be free of this terrible pain.”
There was silence on the other end.
— “…Fine, if nothing’s wrong.”
The voice cut off abruptly, and the light from the crystal faded.
“Was that His Majesty?” I asked.
“Yes,” Damien replied.
“He suspects it’s because of us, but he can’t say anything,” I said, staring at the now-dark brooch.
“Of course. He’d have to admit to me that something’s wrong with them, and he’d rather die than expose his weaknesses.”
“What a twisted relationship,” I muttered.
The relationship between the Benedict family and the Maledictus was built on the latter’s sacrifice.
The moment a Maledictus refused to obey, the Benedict family’s power and status would crumble.
I realized the imperial family had tried to marry Damien to a woman close to them to keep him under control.
But Damien was different.
He knew he was the only source of the Benedict family’s mana, and he used that fact as leverage.
“If it were me, I’d give the Maledictus a bit more freedom,” I said.
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Because ordinary citizens can’t tell if the imperial family’s magic has weakened. Forcing the Maledictus to carry more curses would only shorten their lifespan.”
If the current Maledictus died, one of the imperial family—even direct heirs—would have to become the next Maledictus.
“That’s a good point. But they’d never think that way,” Damien said, glancing up at the ceiling.
I followed his gaze and saw the emblem of the Maledictus—a spider and its web—painted there.
“They’ve brainwashed the Maledictus so much… that they’ve ended up brainwashing themselves. They truly believe the Maledictus is just a lowly creature that must obey unconditionally.”
“But Damien, you’re not like that,” I said softly.
“Yes. And they won’t expect me to fight back,” Damien said.
“That’s fortunate for me.”
His amethyst eyes gleamed sharply.
‘The imperial family made a mistake.’
I remembered hearing that the spider emblem was assigned to the Maledictus by the imperial family at the founding of the empire.
They likely wanted to isolate and vilify the Maledictus by associating them with a creature considered ominous and cruel.
But they’d forgotten one important fact:
‘The spider is the only creature that can leave its web behind.’
Damien could also break free whenever he chose.
“When the time comes and you fight back, I’ll help you,” I promised.
Damien turned to me, his lips curving upward slightly.
“Thank you, Ruby.”
That Afternoon
‘What am I supposed to do about this…?’
Damien frowned, looking down at the small, lower-class curse breathing softly in his hand.
It squirmed and bit at his palm with teeth smaller than a hamster’s. But his hand was too strong, and it ended up rolling around helplessly, squeaking in protest.
“This is troublesome.”
Damien had gone to the lair of the lower curses because he had sensed a change in their numbers.
But he didn’t find anything new there… until he stumbled upon this one, a newly born lower curse.
The problem was obvious:
‘It has my energy mixed in.’
It felt like it had been born from him.
For a Maledictus—who was supposed to control and lead curses—to accidentally create one out of his own emotions…
It wasn’t a serious problem, but it was deeply embarrassing.
Just then—
Knock, knock.
“Damien! Hey!”
Of all people, Ruby came to visit.
And of course, she immediately spotted the squirming curse in his hand.
“Oh? It’s a newborn, isn’t it?”
The curse, which had been struggling against Damien, suddenly leapt out of his hand with all its strength when it saw Rubiana.
[“Ru… bi!!”]
Making a strange cry, it flew straight into her arms.
Instinctively, Rubiana opened her arms and caught it.
The curse snuggled into her chest like a baby and rubbed its head against her.
[“Ru… bi, Ru… bi!”]
“Oh my!”
Rubiana covered her mouth in delight.
“Damien, did you see that? It jumped straight into my arms!”
[“Ru… bi, Ru… bi!”]
“See? It even looks happy to be with me!”
It was a touching moment for Rubiana.
She liked curses, but most of them hated her and avoided her.
But this one was different.
[“Ru… bi, Ru… achoo!!”]
“Oh dear, maybe it caught a cold,” Rubiana said as she gently wiped the curse’s tiny runny nose.
Watching her care for it made Damien feel complicated.
He couldn’t deny that seeing Rubiana cuddling a curse and even wiping its nose made him uncomfortable.
“It’s not a cold. Probably an allergy,” Damien said.
“Allergy?”
“Yes. That curse likely has an allergy… to you, Ruby, because of your ability to destroy curses.”
[“Achoo!!”]
The curse kept sneezing.
“Oh no… but it still likes me,” Rubiana said softly.
“Yes, well…” Damien muttered.
He could guess why the curse liked her. But he could never say it out loud.
“Damien, where did it come from?”
Damien fell silent.
How could he explain?
The curse was born from his own fear of losing Rubiana as she slept beside him last night.
