Chapter 5.3

“I was stubbornly refusing to do it, but do you know what a little girl named Rita said?”

“I have no idea.”

“‘Rita wants to plant peaches with sister!’ How cute is that? So cute!”

“Yeah. But my little sister is the cutest.”

“Brother…”

Ah, this is sweet. So sweet… The person next to me changes, and such profound happiness arrives. Life is truly unpredictable. All the suffering from earlier just flew away.

As soon as I returned to the hall, I looked for Sion. He was sitting alone at a table, apparently having been freed from the count’s grasp. The blank look in his eyes hinted at how difficult his time had been.

I quickly took the empty seat and caught up with Sion. Jeras, who had followed me, sat down at our table as well.

“Is it difficult taking care of the children?”

“Not at all. They’re all so cute, and they listen well. And I can even learn holy magic for free.”

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

Sion poured tea into my cup and added, “You’re not being forced to endure any hardships or unwanted things because of Jeras, are you?”

“Oh, come on, not even for a prince. We’re not that close to begin with. Right, Your Highness?”

Huh? Where did he go?

I must have been too engrossed in my conversation with Sion. Only the empty chair remained where Jeras had been sitting. Maybe it was because we’d been together all day, but I felt anxious that the guy who had been loitering right in front of me was gone. I also felt a strange sense of emptiness.

I looked at the empty chair and stood up.

“Please excuse me for a moment, brother. It’ll only be a minute, so please wait for me. Understood?”

 

***

 

“Have you seen His Royal Highness the Second Prince?”

“Yes, Princess. He left the ballroom about 20 or 30 minutes ago.”

“He hasn’t returned?”

“No. He seemed to be heading towards the stairs. If it’s urgent, I can have someone check the second-floor guest rooms…”

“The second floor? Thank you!”

It was a good thing I asked the knight guarding the ballroom door.

I passed several people while hurrying up the stairs. It seemed they had left some empty rooms open for guests who needed a break during the ball.

‘It looks like some people are dreaming of a private moment, not just a break…’

I tried my best to ignore the couples who were radiating a suggestive aura, intoxicated by the heat and alcohol, and walked on briskly. One couple was so stuck together I felt embarrassed just watching them. The man, in particular, was half-unconscious, leaning on the woman and unable to stand properly.

“Ed, get a hold of yourself. What are you doing, just sitting here? Ed!”

The man was flopping around like a squid and finally collapsed onto the floor. The woman’s voice was tinged with panic and faint anger.

Leaving them behind, I arrived on the second floor and let out a sigh. There were easily more than 20 rooms lined up on either side of the hallway. That’s too many. And if I thought about the couples I passed on the stairs occupying each of the rooms…

‘If I just start opening doors, I’ll be stoned to death. I have no choice.’

“Your Highness! Prince Jeras! Where are you!”

My voice echoed through the quiet hallway, calling for Jeras like a mother looking for her child. But Jeras didn’t appear, and not a single door opened.

Was the soundproofing good? Or was Jeras not here? Or, unluckily, both?

“Prince Jeras! If you’re here, please answer me! Jera…”

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me. For some reason, it felt wrong. I quickly turned around, and a person was rushing out of the first room.

The moment I saw that person, a chill went down my spine. The hairs on my body stood up. It felt like ice was flowing through my veins instead of blood.

“Hey!”

“N-No! I don’t know anything!”

As soon as Siliya’s eyes met mine, she turned and ran.

Why is Siliya here? Wasn’t she supposed to have gone home?!

I heard a loud clatter coming from the stairs. It sounded like something had stumbled and fallen while running down the stairs. Now was my chance to chase after her.

I was about to chase Siliya when I froze, a scene in the room catching my eye.

“…Hah, ugh.”

Jeras was clutching his chest. He was barely supporting himself with a table, but that was also reaching its limit. The table couldn’t bear Jeras’s weight and fell over. Jeras lost his balance and fell onto it.

“Jera…!”

I stopped myself from shouting, covering my mouth. I must not cause a commotion. If I did, Sion would rush over, and the situation would spiral out of control.

I quickly entered the room and locked the door. Jeras, lying on the floor, laboriously opened one eye and looked at me. His eyes were hazy, unlike their usual state.

“…Get out, now.”

I ignored Jeras and looked around. The glass vial containing the cursed potion was gone, probably taken by Siliya. Instead, a wine glass lay on the carpet. The glass was empty, and there was no wine spilled on the carpet. Just like in the original story, it seemed Jeras had drunk the entire glass.

“How long ago did you drink it?”

“Didn’t you… hear me tell you to get out…?”

“I’m asking how long ago you drank the alcohol that the maid who just left gave you. It hasn’t been 10 minutes, has it?”

“The wine… is poisoned, cursed. I don’t know the exact curse. So, Princess… ugh. Get out. I’ll… handle it somehow.”

I had heard from Grandpa Mason that curses that affect a person’s mind are greatly influenced by their mental state. To slow down the spread of the potion’s effect, I first had to reassure Jeras.

I crouched beside Jeras and spewed out all the information I knew to calm him down.

“It’s a curse that makes people look like monsters. You can still see me properly, right? Then it’s okay. It must be before the potion’s effect has spread.”

“…How do you know that, Princess?”

“I’ll explain later. Right now…”

“Are you in on this too? Why…? Why did you curse me?”

Jeras gripped my arm tightly. His eyes were blazing fiercely. The veins on the back of his hand that was holding me were bulging. It hurt.

I understood that he had every reason to be suspicious, but there was no time for this. The curse’s effect would soon take hold, and Jeras would become a crazy monster who couldn’t tell friend from foe. And the tip of his sharp sword would pierce Sion.

I shook off the terrible imaginings that kept coming to mind. With my other hand, which wasn’t being held, I grabbed Jeras’s shoulder.

“First of all, I’m not on anyone’s side. I’ll prove my innocence by breaking the curse, so please cooperate with me.”

“It’s not… a curse to take lightly. It would be better to call the old man…”

“If we wait, everyone will die! There’s no barrier, so just hold on to the curse yourself. Here I go!”

I recalled Grandpa’s teachings and focused my mind. Skip the barrier. It’s okay to make physical contact with the cursed person. Next, draw on my divine power… and use the purification spell.

‘…Oh, no. I can’t remember the purification spell.’

I remembered that the most basic purification was ‘Puratio,’ and a more advanced one was ‘Magis Puratio,’ but I couldn’t remember the long incantation that came before it. My mind was completely blank from the tension.

“Ugh!”

Jeras let out a pained groan. His veins, now a bluish-black, were spreading from his neck to his face.

Snap out of it! I’m the only one who can fix this. It’s my fault for letting my guard down because I thought Siliya had gone back!

I slapped my own cheek and squeezed Jeras’s shoulder tightly.

“I pray to the God Aletheia, who created and rules the world. Shine a ray of light on your creation, who is being stained by darkness. Give me the power to drive out his pain, darkness, and shadows. Help him not to succumb to the wicked force.”

A warm sensation rose from my feet and gathered at my fingertips. Since divine power was a borrowed power from God, it seemed a clumsy prayer would work as long as the meaning got through.

The warm light gathered at my fingertips quickly seeped into Jeras. It was just like with Grandpa Mason. I continued to pour divine power into Jeras while chanting the spell.

“Puratio!”

A flash of light, like lightning, flickered and then quickly faded. Jeras, still on the floor, showed no reaction.

Di-Did I succeed?

It was in the brief moment I placed my hand gently on his shoulder.

– This time, it’s you. A tool that Aletheia will use and discard…

“…Gah!”

A terrible sound, like metal scraping against glass, pierced my ears. At the same time, a black smoke shot up from Jeras’s body and enveloped him. The black smoke was so thick and massive that pouring divine power from my hands was useless.

Jeras, cloaked in the black shadow, quietly rose to his feet. There was no focus in his red eyes. He had lost his sanity.

He looked at me and tilted his head slightly. Then he summoned a greatsword from thin air and held it in his hand. He walked past me towards the door.

What…? Weren’t people supposed to look like monsters to him?

“No! Jeras, you can’t go out!”

I hugged Jeras from behind. Jeras turned his head to me and said in a flat voice, “Let go. If you get in my way, I’ll kill you too.”

My body stiffened at his genuine killing intent. My instincts screamed at me to let go, that I didn’t want to die, that I wanted to live.

But… But beyond that door were countless people, including Sion. I couldn’t let them die. I didn’t want to see Jeras killing people, his friends, and then being tormented by guilt.

I wanted to prove that their fate could be changed, just as my fate as Eloe was changed when I came here. At least Sion’s fate…!

“Puratio! Magis Puratio! Puratio! Puratio!”

Jeras looked at me with a look of disdain and easily pushed me away. Then he lightly waved his hand and shattered the door.

No! You can’t leave…!

I hugged Jeras’s waist and hung on again.

Just because I’m a supporting character doesn’t mean I can be killed off so easily. Supporting characters have their own lives too. I will never, ever, submit to this fate. Never!

“Magis Puratio!”

The moment I chanted the spell, thinking it was my last chance, something exploded inside me.

When I came to my senses, a golden beam of light was radiating from me. The beam danced around the room and then enveloped both Jeras and me.

I struggled and saw the black smoke escaping from Jeras, and then I lost consciousness as if falling asleep.

 

***

 

“Ugh, my head hurts.”

My head was pounding, and my whole body ached. I managed to get up and look around. The room hadn’t changed at all.

Oh, wait, where’s Jeras? He didn’t go outside, did he?

“What in the world…”

Jeras was sprawled out on the floor by the door, muttering to himself. The broken pieces of the door were scattered around him. It seemed the curse was broken just before he left. What a relief.

I finally felt at ease. As I lay on the floor catching my breath, Jeras, who had rolled over, suddenly put his face right in front of mine.

Aaaah! You scared me!

“W-What? You startled me!”

“What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The curse. How did you know?”

Ugh, what a pain. Can’t you just let it go? The ball ended with no one getting hurt; isn’t that a happy ending?

I avoided Jeras’s gaze and feigned ignorance.

“I risked my life to break the curse, so my innocence is proven. Isn’t that enough?”

“It’s not, or I wouldn’t be asking.”

Hmm, he’s not buying it. I guess I’ll have to come up with something.

“To be honest… I didn’t tell you, but I have a bit of a talent for prophecy. Just a tiny bit. A minuscule amount.”

“Prophecy, you say.”

“The detailed process isn’t important, so I’ll skip it. One thing led to another, and I knew beforehand that Your Highness would be cursed at the ball. I also knew what kind of curse it was.”

“So that’s why you were following me all day.”

Jeras sounded a bit upset when he said that. Was he angry that I didn’t tell him in advance?

In any case, Jeras seemed to accept the “prophecy” excuse, as he stopped prying and lay down next to me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. You should be.”

“…Do you know what I’m apologizing for?”

“Should I?”

What’s the point of telling him? It would just be a waste of my breath.

I turned my back to Jeras. I wanted to get up and leave, but since I had used so much divine power, it was hard to move a single finger.

“I’ll definitely repay you for saving me.”

“It’s fine. It was partly my fault for being complacent… It’s not something that deserves repayment.”

“If I say I will, I will.”

“…Would it kill you to just say thank you?”

“It wouldn’t just kill me. I’d fester and rot.”

My comfortable feelings began to boil. What a pain in the neck.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“Did I use too much divine power? I must be hearing things…”

Jeras let out a short sigh behind me. I clutched my chest. My heart was pounding from the surprise. What’s wrong with him? It doesn’t suit him at all.

That was the end of our conversation. Jeras, who had recovered first, left the room, and I returned to Sion a little later.

I kept glancing at the door, hoping Jeras would come back, but he never did until Sion and I returned to the Grand Duke’s mansion.

He could have at least said goodbye. He was a pain in the neck until the very end.

 

***

 

Jeras perched on a thick tree branch, looking at the mansion in the middle of the night. It was late, but lights were still on all over the house, welcoming the young lord and lady who had just returned.

Jeras covered himself with his invisibility cloak and sighed.

‘If I get caught, I’m a dead man.’

He hadn’t intended to go to the Grand Duke’s mansion at all, even as he was leaving the Flowers Palace, which was used by the Emperor’s concubines. Sion was with Eloe, after all.

From the moment Sion appeared, Eloe acted as if Jeras didn’t exist. Her anxious gaze was always fixed on Sion. She was physically beside him, but her mind was completely on Sion, making him wonder who her real partner was.

This was the first time Jeras had ever experienced such humiliation and disgrace.

Even if he was her older brother, how could she think of someone else when he was right there?

He had gone to the bathroom because he was annoyed by Eloe’s constant attention to Sion. He didn’t actually need to go. He just wanted to separate Sion and Eloe, no matter how.

When Jeras came out of the bathroom after a pointless wait, his heart stopped at the sight of Eloe. She looked like she was about to jump out of the window at any moment.

She’s always looking for a way to escape. Does she hate me that much?

Instead of asking the question that was on the tip of his tongue, Jeras chose to be petty, picking words that would embarrass her. Seeing her face turn bright red quickly made him feel a little better.

But that was only for a moment. Jeras’s mood sank to rock bottom because Eloe was so engrossed in her conversation with Sion.

The Eloe who was with Sion was a completely different person from the Eloe Jeras knew. Her vivid blue eyes sparkled like a lake in the forest, and her chattering voice sounded like a beautiful song. Anyone could tell instantly how excited she was to see Sion and how much she adored him.

Jeras got up from his seat. Even though he made a deliberately loud sound, Eloe didn’t even glance at him as he left the hall.

Jeras went into a guest room alone.

He wasn’t so much angry as… melancholy. He felt sorry for himself, abandoned by his partner at a ball everyone else was enjoying. He resented Eloe and felt hurt. It stung that she might have been using him as a substitute for Sion.

Yes, this inexplicable melancholy is because of that, and for no other reason. I didn’t have high hopes for the ball, and I’m not disappointed. I am absolutely not disappointed.

He never dreamed that the alcohol he drank to soothe his melancholy would be cursed.

Through his dizzying vision, Jeras managed to get a clear look at the maid who brought him the drink. She had short red hair, slightly slanted eyes, and thin lips… an unfamiliar face.

He clearly remembered the maid fleeing and Eloe entering, but after that, his memory was fragmented because of the curse.

Even with his strong, well-trained resistance, the curse was so powerful and vicious that it rendered his abilities useless. It was a curse that only a high-ranking demon could handle. All Jeras could do was hold on to the last shred of his sanity.

But strangely, even in his fragmented memory, Eloe was remarkably clear. Her words, her expression, her gestures… But what was most vividly imprinted in his mind was the sight of Eloe using her purification magic.

Just before the divine power burst from her and enveloped him, Jeras saw it clearly. Eloe with a pair of brilliant golden wings on her back.

‘…She did look like an angel.’

She was already dressed beautifully for the ball, but with the added wings, Eloe truly looked like an angel at that moment.

And now that he thought about it, Eloe at the ball was truly beautiful. Maybe it was because she was shining so brightly. It was too embarrassing to say out loud, though.

Jeras only came to his senses after the divine power that had seeped into his body purified the curse. Eloe, who had used a burst of overwhelming divine power, was lying unconscious beside him. The wings were gone. It was as if it had been a fleeting dream, a hallucination.

Jeras suddenly felt a pang of fear that Eloe might disappear just as the wings had. He cautiously reached out and touched her cheek. It was warm and soft.

Even though no one was watching, he felt awkward about his actions and quickly pulled his hand back.

He had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask her.

When she received the prophecy, if she learned holy magic from the old man because of it, why she kept it to herself when she could have told him so he could prepare, how she became so good at using divine power, what the wings were, and what she wanted in return for saving him.

But he didn’t come to the Grand Duke’s mansion in the dark to ask questions. He just… was worried about Eloe.

Divine power is like mana; using a vast amount at once without proper preparation can often cause side effects. And Eloe had cleanly purified a very high-level curse. High-level mental curses usually leave behind aftereffects, but Jeras felt none. His body was completely refreshed and light.

This meant the burden must have fallen on Eloe.

He thought Sion, who doted on his sister, would take good care of her, but he wanted to see for himself that Eloe was okay. It would be even better if he could talk to her for a moment while he was there.

The light in Eloe’s room went out. Jeras, who had been waiting for a lucky chance on the branch, sighed softly and got up. He was disappointed to leave, but he didn’t want to disturb Eloe’s rest.

He looked up at Eloe’s room for a long time, as if he couldn’t let go, then left the Grand Duke’s mansion.

Returning to his quarters in the imperial palace, he lay on his bed. He tossed and turned to his left and right, but he couldn’t fall asleep.

When he closed his eyes, he saw Eloe looking up at him while they danced. When he opened his eyes, he saw Eloe with wings, hugging his waist.

Eloe was desperate to stop Jeras. She was trembling all over from his killing intent, but she didn’t let go of his waist. She was gripping him so tightly that her fingertips had turned white, trying to overcome her fear.

He wondered where such courage was hidden in her frail, small body, which could only use holy magic.

Come to think of it, wasn’t this the first time? The first time Eloe had clung to him. He didn’t know her thin arms held such strength.

Being held tightly by Eloe felt much better than he had expected. If only he hadn’t been delirious from the curse…

‘I must have gone crazy from the aftereffects of the curse.’

Jeras took a deep breath, pushing away the useless thoughts.

But the thought of Eloe wouldn’t leave his mind all night. He stayed up all night, then sat on the edge of his bed, staring blankly out the window as the sky slowly began to brighten.

He had no idea what he was doing, acting like a boy in love.

Jeras ran a hand through his hair roughly.