Leticia looked up at the night sky and closed her eyes. Her eyes grew hot.
She let out a slow breath for a moment before Leticia slowly moved her steps.
Every step on the dry fallen leaves made a rustling sound. There’s still time left. Because the pain of the curse didn’t manifest right away.
If the speed of the curse was the same as in the past, it will be fine for the next five months.
If she’s lucky for the remaining month, she could hide it well until the end.
She’d live as hard as she could, even if it’s only for a limited time. While thinking that, she reached the royal villa.
Leticia stumbled and reached for a tree. A feeling that began in her heart ran through her whole body. It felt like every cell in her body was screaming. It was so familiar, so it was even more shocking.
‘Why, why.’
There’s no way it hurt like this already.
Her thoughts went no further. Green eyes bulged in shock.
Her body collapsed as she bit her lip. Her whitened hands clutched the fallen leaves.
“Ah. Ahhh.”
She crouched down and let out only a groan. Tears fell from the green eyes.
The pain of not being able to even breathe.
It was the manifestation of a curse.
Her vision whitened. She gasped and closed her eyes tight.
‘Calm down, I can’t faint here.’
In her arms was the remains of Julios. If she fainted and someone else found her, it’s over.
Leticia held her consciousness with all her might and placed her trembling hands to her bosom.
‘I must hide Julios’ remains…’
Leticia whispered desperately, remembering the bracelet.
“Please, please…”
But why?
The bracelet made no response. A miracle did not happen like in the central temple.
‘I, I have to hide.’
She barely guessed the direction and crawled into the bushes.
Her eyes were unfocused because of the excruciating pain. With her weary hands, she began desperately digging the ground.
The tips of her nails were broken and her fingers were bleeding, but she didn’t stop. Her fair hands quickly became muddy.
It was only when it reached the size that the remains could fit, that she fell forward as if collapsing.
The pain of the curse was still there.
“Hah, ha.”
It hurt so much that she felt like going crazy. It seemed as if she would let go of the string of consciousness at any moment.
She bit the flesh inside her mouth. With the fishy taste of blood, her mind became clear just a little bit.
She managed to put the remains inside and cover it with soil. That time felt like an eternity.
Leticia burst into tears.
“It hurts…”
Hot tears dripped down.
She wanted to see him.
The person she loves, the only reason she lived.
She sobbed in her pain and called him.
“Dietrian…”
And at that very moment, a faint light began to glow from the bracelet around her wrist.
As she collapsed in the middle of the garden, her body trembled like having a spasm. Her green eyes, which had been staring blankly at the darkness, lost their vitality.
The eyelids closed.
The pooled tears flowed down. Her slender body went limp, her mud-stained hands tumbling to the ground as she completely lost consciousness.
Only the bracelet gave off a faint light.
And after a while, the sound of urgent footsteps got closer and closer. As the unfamiliar shadow approached her, the light from her bracelet completely disappeared.
***
“Hahaha!”
Josephina, who was soaking in the bathtub, burst into laughter. The court lady who was washing her hair softly asked.
“Did something good happen?”
“A good thing?”
Josephina growled.
“Sure. It’s a very good thing.”
Looking at the purple pattern floating in the air, she laughed heartily. The pattern was quickly stained red like blood. It was proof that the object of the curse was suffering.
“I am experiencing the power of the Goddess.”
The pattern was a sign of a curse created by the power of the Goddess. The curse on Leticia’s heart.
Just now, Ahwin reported what happened in Leticia’s villa.
How dare that girl threaten her paladins. Josephina’s annoyance spread to the tip of her head.
It’s said that Noel did a good job, but that didn’t make it go away. She was trampled on in the temple but still didn’t come to her senses.
Before the wedding, it seemed that the girl had gone mad with fear.
In this case, she had to tell her properly.
In whose hands her life is. What to do if she want to live. So that she’ll be quiet.
Thinking so, the symptoms that would not appear in a few months from now manifested. It was a burden because she forcibly twisted the progression of the curse, but it was worth it.
“It’s a pity that I didn’t get to see the girl suffer in person.”
Josephina smiled lazily and raised her wine glass.
“That would have been a lot of fun.”
The court lady didn’t ask what was going on anymore to see if she knew about it. Instead, she was even more careful in helping Josephina bathe.
And then.
Juk.
Suddenly, the corner of the purple pattern cracked.
Josephina blinked her eyes. The court lady who was helping Josephina bathe stared at the pattern in shock.
Jujuk. Juk. (splash, crack)
The pattern cracked, and a black mist crawled out from the gap.
As if the fog was about to destroy the curse, it began to press down on the patterns everywhere.
Josephina’s eyes filled with astonishment as she watched the scene with her breath held.
‘That’s…!’
A deep black, without a single light.
It was an energy that she had only seen once in her life and never wanted to face again.
‘That’s the power of the dragon!’
Josephina let out a silent scream. Her head was filled with sentences that she did not want to admit.
‘The power of the dragon is trying to break my curse! The dragon is trying to intervene in my curse!’
After that, things went by without pause.
The pattern tried to hold on somehow, but in the end, it couldn’t overcome the black energy.
It cracked with a grotesque sound, then crumpled into a mess and fell into the bathtub.
Josephina, who had been watching it while frozen, jumped to her feet. She let out screams as if the crumpled pattern had become poison.
“Kyaaak!”
As she floundered, the bathtub foam bounced around her in a mess. The court lady, who was trying to stop Josephina, was hit and collapsed.
“Kyak! Saintess!”
Josephina screamed without knowing what she had done.
“How! Why! Why!”
And finally. The pattern, which had completely lost its luster, rolled helplessly under the foam. It soon became bath powder.
Josephina widened her eyes. The rebound of her curse, broken by a force, struck her belatedly. The shock was greater because of the forced twisting of the progress.
“Aak! Aaagh!”
A scream came out of nowhere. Shouts of shock and astonisment turned into screams of pain.
“It hurts! Help me! Aaaagh!”
Josephina cursed like a madman. Foam and water messed up the carpet. The court lady, who tried to calm her down, eventually gave up and ran out to the living room.
“Please help me!”
“What’s the problem!”
“The Saintess, the Saintess!”
Ahwin, who had been waiting outside, hurriedly went inside, saw Josephina in the bathtub, hesitated, then took a gown and covered her.
“Saintess! It’s me! Ahwin!”
“Aaaagh!”
Josephina did not recognize him and pushed him away. Ahwin urgently exclaimed.
“Call the priests now!”
***
Dietrian thought. A miracle happened.
Because as soon as he followed the light, she appeared before his eyes. But now he couldn’t afford to rejoice at the miracle. She was still unconscious.
Dietrian couldn’t take his eyes off Leticia’s pale face, focusing on the sensations at his fingertips. Under the night sky, the leaves swayed with the sound of the wind.
‘Please.’
A second passed like an eternity. Perhaps because of the cold wind, he couldn’t feel the pulse on the wrist.
‘Damn it!’
Dietrian quickly took off his cloak and wrapped it around her body. As if to share all his warmth, he hugged her.
Leticia’s head tilted helplessly. Her blonde hair flowed down his arm. His heart was pounding.
“Huu.”
Dietrian let out a long breath.
After opening and closing his fists a few times, he placed a hand on the nape of her neck.
He held his breath for a moment. The soft yet hot body temperature, and. Finally. The pounding heartbeat. Even the sound of a regular beating pulse.
Dietrian twisted his eyes as if to cry.
Alive. He finally found it.
He hugged her as if he would never let go again. Just at the moment when the two were touching without a gap, the mark of the wicked curse was weakly crumbling.
***
At the same time, in Saintess Josephina’s bedroom.
The priests who received the call from Ahwin hurriedly ran. But no one could enter the room.
It was because Ahwin had locked the door from the inside.
“No one can enter until there’s an order from the Saintess!”
It had to be. During those few minutes of waiting for them, Josephina’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
Not to mention not recognizing Ahwin, she even went into a rampage like a madman.
“He, he appeared. He will ruin everything!”
“I apologize, Saintess.”
In the end, after asking for forgiveness since he couldn’t understand, Ahwin wrapped the Saintess in a blanket and laid her on the bed.
Her arms were even tied to the poles.
He couldn’t let people see Josephina like that. If he did, she will kill all witnesses after her sanity returned.
Josephina cared about how she was seen by others to the point of obsession.
She was supposed to be considered the perfect Saintess by all, and she enjoyed controlling her subordinates based on that sense of superiority.
There were times when she showed violence, but even that was done based on her own calculations.
As Josephina wished, everyone who knew her either adored or feared her.
There was no way she could accept others seeing her so disheveled. So he decided to solve it on his own.
Since he could use the power of a wing, it might have been better for him to step forward than the arrogant priests.
Of course, if the other wings were nearby, he would have called them, but except for Noel, they were all outside the temple. He had no intention of calling Noel even if the sky split.
“Saintess, I will now infuse healing power.”
“Ugh…”
Tears flowed down Josephina’s pale cheeks. Pain pierced his heart from the pain in her eyes.
It was a wing’s natural reaction to seeing their master’s tears.
“Then, I will begin.”
He let out a long sigh and began pouring out his healing power.
***
As soon as the tightly closed door opened and Ahwin came out, the priests who had been waiting impatiently rushed forward.
“Is the Saintess all right?”
“Did you check on her, Sir Ahwin?”
“That’s right.”
Ahwin nodded his head with a tired face.
“She is fine now. She just fell asleep.”
“Oh, thank the Goddess.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
The sound of praising the Goddess could be heard from everywhere. Hearing their prayers, Ahwin smiled bitterly.
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