Chapter 78
Screams echoed throughout the banquet hall.
“Damian!”
Niel rushed over and placed her hands on Damian’s fallen body. She immediately tried to heal him, pouring out the holy power within her.
But—
“Why…?”
Niel muttered in despair.
Her healing wasn’t working.
“What do you mean holy power doesn’t work…?”
The people around them murmured again in shock at that revelation.
“Damian Abice really is cursed.”
“He’s going to die soon!”
Damian had collapsed.
“Young master! Please, wake up!”
“Quick, take him to his room!”
“Call a doctor, now!”
The banquet hall was thrown into chaos.
Even Katrina was unsettled.
‘Why Damian…?’
Could it really be true—had he truly been cursed?
The Abice mansion, once all the guests had left.
“What do you mean Damian has been cursed?!”
Duke Abice roared.
“Then hurry up and treat the curse!”
He raised his voice, but—
“T-that is… no one knows the cure, my lord.”
“What?”
The physicians bowed their heads in dismay.
Katrina knew the truth as well.
To break Damian’s curse, the most plausible method for now was…
‘You have to find out who cast the curse.’
And then kill them.
Damian himself had to do it.
If he couldn’t, then Damian would become the fourth victim in this chain of deaths.
Time passed.
One day. Two days.
Damian never woke.
No—he couldn’t wake.
Katrina scoured Arabella’s books.
She knew everything.
Suspicious tomes that existed both in Asius and in Madrino—books that belonged to Arabella.
Perhaps they held a way to treat Damian’s condition.
And Katrina found it.
‘It’s really here…’
Arabella, just what are you?
Why did she seem to know everything in the world, as though nothing was beyond her grasp?
Katrina opened the book and read.
…but the method written there was strange.
Just then, the mansion grew noisy.
‘What’s going on?’
It had been silent ever since Damian collapsed.
Sensing something odd, Katrina stepped outside.
“Hahaha! Belek, today we drink till we die!”
“Damn right! First one to pass out is dead meat by my hand!”
…Belek, that lunatic, had dragged his rowdy friends into the mansion.
“Oh? Well, look who it is.”
Belek’s friends noticed Katrina.
“Katrina, long time no see.”
Indeed—it had been years.
Katrina recognized them. They were the same friends Belek had always dragged around.
“So, Katrina, how’s Damian doing?”
They asked mockingly.
‘These bastards…’
The audacity—to come into someone else’s house and spout such nonsense.
All of it, of course, was because of Belek.
Because he allowed it, his friends overstepped as well.
“Hey, quiet down. Damian’s sick, isn’t he?”
As if they actually cared.
No—he just wanted to flaunt Damian’s illness to everyone.
“You said the banquet would get more interesting—what did you mean by that?”
Why had Belek said such a thing?
The timing was far too convenient.
“Did I say that?”
Belek feigned ignorance.
“But Katrina, Damian, that guy… how long’s he going to stay in bed?”
He smirked as he bragged before his friends.
“This is a big problem. Damian’s down, so there’s no one left to look after the family.”
“What are you talking about, Belek? You’re here!”
“Yeah, you can take care of it!”
…Utterly insufferable.
Katrina was appalled in silence.
“That’s right. I’m the only one left, aren’t I? Guess I’ll be filling that seat for the time being—”
“There’s no need for that, Belek.”
At that moment—
“Da-Damian…!”
Belek and his friends recoiled in shock.
Damian was standing there, arms crossed, head tilted, watching them.
But his posture was far less composed than usual.
‘And his appearance…’
Normally, he wore a vest over his shirt, the epitome of noble refinement.
But now—
His once-neat hair was disheveled, and he wore only a light shirt.
“…Are you really alright?”
Yet Belek didn’t notice as keenly as Katrina did. He simply gawked.
“I can carry out my duties without issue.”
“That can’t be…”
“So Belek, continue resting as you always have.”
In other words—don’t even think of meddling in family affairs.
Belek clenched his teeth in frustration.
“And who gave you permission to let these people into the mansion?”
Damian’s cold gaze swept toward Belek’s friends.
“B-Belek… we just remembered something urgent. We’ll be off.”
They fled the mansion in haste.
Katrina watched Damian, who looked down on their retreating backs.
Though faint, she noticed beads of cold sweat on his nape.
He was clearly in pain—he just wasn’t showing it.
…This was real grit.
Damian truly was, in his own way, the most ruthless person she knew.
Katrina visited Damian in his study to speak with him.
‘…Wow.’
This man was insane.
So stubborn. So relentless.
Working like this in that condition?
“What brings you here, Katrina?”
“I wanted to talk…”
But should she even bring it up with him in this state?
She noticed then—the pen in his hand trembled faintly.
And his handwriting—
‘It’s a mess.’
She knew Damian’s handwriting well. His calligraphy was flawless, like that of a master.
But now…
This was worse than a child’s scribble.
Still, he was working so hard—she couldn’t just say it outright.
“Katrina, please, go on.”
His voice was calm—at least pretending to be.
No wonder Belek had been deceived.
Anyone dull would be fooled, and even the sharp would second-guess themselves.
“Why don’t you just rest?”
“…”
“In that state, you won’t last long.”
It was sincere advice.
“Your concern is unnecessary.”
As expected, he brushed it off.
‘Well, I wasn’t planning to go this far, but—’
Katrina snatched up the papers he’d been writing.
“What are you doing?”
Damian raised an eyebrow when his work was taken.
Katrina smirked, taunting him.
“Come get them, then.”
Damian sighed, as if irritated.
He rose from his desk, stepping toward her to retrieve them.
Katrina simply watched him approach.
When at last he stood before her, she smiled.
“Give them back.”
“Sure. But first…”
Katrina pressed her hand against Damian’s chest.
His face twisted slightly in surprise—
And then she shoved him.
