“Then…”
The awkward silence lingered as they all processed the information. I felt a mix of relief and anxiety, unsure of what would come next.
Jenin still couldn’t hide her bewilderment. Watching her hesitate, I decided to voice what she might have wanted to say. Jenin had been so kind to me, and this was something I needed to address myself.
“I’ll leave the party.”
Even as I declared it to myself, I felt a pang of regret. Opening the party interface and withdrawing made me feel as though the bond between us had been severed, even though there was no physical sensation.
“I’m truly, sincerely sorry for deceiving you all. And if there’s anything I can do, please tell me. If you want me to disappear, I’ll do so immediately.”
I was willing to give up everything I owned to atone for deceiving them. Although they weren’t the type to covet others’ belongings, I hoped it might ease their anger. I lacked the funds for the temple now, and the thought of parting ways with Kelian and the group drained my motivation.
I had wanted so badly to live, but now, faced with this situation, an unbearable loneliness overwhelmed me. Not even thinking of my friend Malie back home could ease this loneliness. Why had I fought so hard to stay alive, deceiving them? Why had I approached them in the first place? Why, indeed…
“That’s not acceptable.”
A firm voice cut through my self-reproach and echoed in my ears. Looking up, I saw Kelian, clearly displeased.
“That’s right. It’s not acceptable.”
“Unacceptable.”
Jenin and Barkrud quickly echoed his sentiment. What was I supposed to do then? I anxiously awaited their judgment. Finally, Kelian took charge of the situation.
“We need to confirm things first.”
“You mean the curse? If it’s an S-rank rare curse, we’ll have to go to the temple in the capital,” Dain said.
Kelian nodded and unexpectedly extended his hand to me. The atmosphere was vastly different from before, and I hesitated to take his hand, unsure if I should.
“We must go to Lilka immediately.”
From the context, it seemed he intended to take me there, but I didn’t understand why holding hands was necessary. I wasn’t reluctant to hold his hand, but I wasn’t sure if I should.
“Do you dislike me that much?”
But that was something I couldn’t ignore. Kelian’s eyes, which I expected to be cold, looked so forlorn, as if he might cry, that I instinctively reached out and grabbed his hand with both of mine.
“I don’t…!”
“…”
“I don’t dislike you. Never.”
He looked down at me as I clung to his hand. Then, he pulled me into his arms and lifted me effortlessly. Though I was startled at first, my body had become accustomed to being held by Kelian, and my arms naturally wrapped around his neck.
With me in his arms, Kelian and the party headed to the teleportation circle. As expected of an imperial facility, the building was well-maintained, and the guards outside looked stern. However, recognizing Kelian as the Warrior, they quickly shifted to a more courteous demeanor.
“Welcome, Warrior.”
“Can we teleport to Lilka immediately?”
“I believe your scheduled date is not today…”
Kelian’s presence and urgency seemed to sway the guards. They scrambled to accommodate his request, understanding the gravity of the situation. I remained silent, holding onto Kelian, feeling a mixture of fear, hope, and an overwhelming sense of the unknown as we prepared to face whatever lay ahead in Lilka.
“The plans have changed. We’re willing to pay the extra fee. We need to leave now.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
A mage, half his face hidden by a dark gold robe, led us somewhere. It seemed he was taking us to the location where the teleportation spell would be performed.
“They say the Brave Hawk guild fell overnight…”
“…And that it was the work of the Warrior…”
The magic circle was situated on a high platform flanked by small stairs on either side, where mages were chatting idly below. Brave Hawk—wasn’t that the guild Hans belonged to? And did they just say “Warrior”? Their conversation piqued my curiosity.
There are more than one person called a Warrior in the world, so they might not have been talking about Kelian. But the odd feeling persisted as I glanced at him. He seemed unfazed, so perhaps it had nothing to do with him.
The mage who guided us glanced at our group before scolding the chatting mages.
“The Warrior is here, and you’re still chatting away!”
“S-sorry!”
“Prepare the teleportation magic immediately! The destination is the capital, Lilka.”
As the mages scrambled to their positions around the magic circle, we climbed the platform and stepped inside the circle. One of the previously chatting mages raised his staff and spoke in a somewhat nervous voice.
“W-we’ll begin. Please don’t move from your spot, and be aware that sudden movements after the teleportation might cause dizziness, so take some time to adjust.”
It was my first time experiencing teleportation magic. As the mages simultaneously chanted and raised their staffs, the large magic circle began to glow, engulfing us. It felt similar to entering a dungeon, except for the cascading voices of the mages.
Under different circumstances, I might have found it purely fascinating. But with a heavy heart, I closed my eyes tightly. The light was so bright that closing my eyes was the only option.
The mages’ voices abruptly ceased. Sensing darkness beyond my eyelids, I cautiously opened my eyes. We were still in the magic circle, but the bright lights were gone, and the mages who had surrounded us were nowhere to be seen.
“Where are we headed now?”
“To the Lekanon Temple.”
Despite the changed surroundings, the group seemed unfazed as they conversed casually.
Kelian, still holding me, was the first to step out of the circle. The building seemed similar to the one we had just left, but on closer inspection, it was much larger and had a higher ceiling.
As we exited the building, we encountered several mages in gold robes, who silently nodded in recognition. They seemed different in demeanor from the mages in our village.
“Oh…”
Outside, it was dark. The bustling, glamorous image of Lilka I had imagined was nowhere to be found. The village had been bathed in sunlight, but Lilka was shrouded in deep night, which was hard to believe. Dain, noticing my confused expression, explained bluntly.
“Don’t you know there’s a time difference?”
“I-I didn’t know…”
I truly didn’t. Jenin murmured as she looked around the quiet streets of the capital.
“Lilka’s night and day are so different.”
From her comment, I guessed that Lilka looked like what I imagined during the day.
Kelian, seemingly familiar with the way, walked briskly. He was likely heading to the Lekanon Temple. However, I doubted they would open the doors for us at this time of night…
“Come back when it’s daylight.”
My worry came true. Despite the dim lighting, the grandiosity of the temple was evident. After knocking on the grand doors a few times, a voice from inside, presumably a priest, responded.
I expected Kelian to turn back after the refusal, but instead, he announced his name.
“I am Kelian Ail. I’ve come seeking assistance.”
“…Did you say Kelian Ail…”
And like a miracle, the doors opened. With a heavy creak, two gaunt priests appeared, looking astonished.
“It’s truly the Warrior. What brings you here at this hour? Please, come in.”
It was clear that Kelian was a famous Warrior even in the capital. The priests’ reactions, opening the grand doors just at the mention of his name, were remarkable.
As the priests, holding lanterns, led us to a reception room, Jenin explained our purpose of verifying an S-rank rare curse.
“For an S-rank, we’ll need a high-ranking priest.”
Not long after the lanterns in the reception room were lit, a high-ranking priest came to see us.
“I am Terrio, the High Priest of the Lekanon Temple. It is an honor to meet you, Warrior.”
He greeted Kelian with the utmost respect, even kissing the back of his hand as one would a deity. The people we had met since arriving in Lilka—the teleportation mages and the priests of the Lekanon Temple—seemed to show Kelian more reverence than people in other towns.
“The other Warriores are here as well. Sayiris Lin, Jenin Isabel, Dain Farion, Barkrud… And, who might this be?”
Since his initial greeting, Terrio had been glancing curiously at me in Kelian’s arms. He finally asked about me after acknowledging everyone else. Kelian answered for me.
“We need to confirm if she is afflicted with an S-rank rare curse.”
“Ah, you mean this lady.”
Terrio seemed a bit taken aback by the abrupt shift to the main topic instead of an introduction, but he quickly composed himself, befitting his status as a high-ranking priest.
“Please, have a seat over here.”
Following his direction, Kelian set me down on a chair. This was my third visit to a temple since being cursed, but it felt entirely different from when I had come alone. The fact that a high-ranking priest was carefully examining my condition was the biggest difference.
Terrio gently placed his palm on my forehead and closed his eyes. A sacred light scanned my body.
“It is indeed an S-rank rare curse. It appears to be the rare curse of Toron.”
Hearing confirmation of what I already knew was more depressing than I expected. I glanced at Kelian and the others, only to find their expressions darker than mine, which surprised me.
Especially Jenin, who always seemed so cheerful, let out a distressed sound, making my mouth fall open. She suddenly hugged me tightly as I sat in the chair.
“Jenin?”
“An S-rank rare curse, Aine! You must have suffered so much!”
“W-wait a minute…”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner… Oh no…”
Though she didn’t seem to be crying, her face was twisted with sympathy, and she kept making distressed noises. I didn’t know how to handle her excessive sympathy.
“Jenin, I deceived you and everyone else.”
I reiterated, hoping she hadn’t forgotten what I said, but she didn’t seem to pay much attention to my words.
“That doesn’t matter at all… Oh no…”
Her words made me realize the depth of their care and concern for me, despite my deception. It made the situation even more bittersweet, leaving me feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.
What should I do with this kind-hearted person? I understood why they brought me to the temple to verify if my curse was real, but just because it was confirmed didn’t erase the fact that I had deceived and used them.
A part of me had desperately wanted their sympathy not long ago, and yet now that Jenin was offering it so freely, I found myself reluctant to accept it. I genuinely cared for them too much now.
“Oh, great. We had fake cursed people, and now we have a genuinely cursed one,” Dain muttered, his voice sounding unusually weary. I gently pried Jenin’s arms off me.
“I’ve been deceiving and using all of you.”
I repeated the harsh reality seriously, but she was too busy worrying about something else.
“So, how can we purify this curse? Don’t we need to use holy power immediately?”
Terrio, unfazed, responded calmly.
“It’s not impossible to purify, but S-rank rare curses require a high-ranking priest with rare purification skills. Currently, only I possess such skills in the Lekanon Temple. Even with my assistance, it would take around 20 sessions to see any effect.”
“…20 sessions?”
The priests I had visited before said it would take at least 10 sessions to have an effect. Hearing a high-ranking priest from the largest and most impressive temple I had seen so far say it would take 20 sessions left me confused. Terrio looked at me with sincere eyes.
“Yes. Up to A-rank curses might be affected after about 10 sessions, but S-rank curses require a different level of holy power. Ah, there is another method.”
“Another method?”
Terrio glanced at me with a peculiar look. I had a feeling I knew what he was about to say.
“Engaging in intimacy or consuming the blood of someone with holy power. However, consuming blood is not efficient…”
Now everyone was looking at me. My head lowered further. Barkrud finally understood what I had vaguely described earlier.
“So, that’s what ‘contact’ meant.”
I had awkwardly explained that the pain from the curse lessened with Kelian’s ‘contact’ without explicitly saying we had been intimate. The innocence in his tone made me feel even more embarrassed.
“Can my holy power purify her?”
Kelian’s low question pulled my gaze back up. Terrio answered urgently, as if he couldn’t believe the question.
“Of course…! Ahem, your holy power is comparable to the High Priest’s… No, it’s on par with the High Priest’s. With your level of holy power, it would be far more effective than any purification I could perform.”
Was Kelian’s holy power really that strong? I had always thought it was amazing that a single kiss could ease my curse’s pain, but to hear it compared to the High Priest of such a grand temple…
“Then combining both methods should yield faster results.”
“Yes. However, the temple can only perform purification once a week, so please visit accordingly.”
“Can we do it now?”
“Of course.”
Terrio, who seemed ready to accommodate anything Kelian asked, approached me again.
“Warrior, I…”
Had Kelian, like Jenin, forgotten what I had done? As I hesitated, trying to pull back slightly, Kelian leaned in and whispered.
“Do it for me. Please.”
“…”
Speechless, I felt Terrio’s palm touch my forehead again. The light obscured my view of Kelian.
Silence fell under the light. What were they thinking right now? What did they expect from me? What did Kelian want from me?
“It’s done.”
Terrio’s hand withdrew, and the light and my thoughts dissipated. Having only undergone one session, I didn’t feel a dramatic difference.
“You don’t need to pay. However, as I previously requested, please consider the honorary priest position…”
“I’ll pay.”
“…If you don’t want the position, could you at least meet with the High Priest?”
Kelian seemed to contemplate briefly before nodding. Even that made Terrio’s face light up.
“Even so, I will pay.”
In the end, it seemed he gave Terrio the money. I watched, stunned, then stood up abruptly.
“Wait, money!”
“Aine, what are you doing? Don’t get up so quickly. You’re not well.”
Jenin chided me gently, as if I were a child by the water’s edge. Though I was cursed, I wasn’t so sick that I couldn’t stand, but she seemed overly concerned.
“No, Jenin, I’m fine… High Priest!”
After much struggling to get past Jenin, I finally reached Terrio.
“How much is the purification fee?”
“100 gold per session. And the Warrior has already paid for it, including additional costs.”
Worried that they might demand 1,000 gold per session like the temple in the village, I was relieved to hear a much lower amount. Still, 100 gold was almost my entire fortune. And what additional costs?
Without thinking further, I pulled out all the money I had, totaling over 100 gold.
“Warrior, this…”
Kelian looked at me with an unreadable expression as I handed the money over hurriedly.
“Warrior?”
When I called out to him again, he finally responded, though not in the way I expected.
“We agreed you’d call me by my name.”
He pointed out, unexpectedly, that I had promised to call him by his name and not as “Warrior.” Oh…
“…Can I still call you that now?”
A foolish question slipped out. Kelian took my outstretched hand and gently lowered it. He still didn’t accept the 100 gold.
“There is never a time when you cannot call me by my name. Now and always.”
This time, I clearly understood what he was saying. It was the most certain permission he could give. It meant I could stay by his side from now on. Tears I had been holding back started to fall, dripping down my cheeks.
“I deceived and used all of you. I approached you for your holy power from the beginning.”
“I never thought you approached us without a reason.”
His calm response made me wary of the hope rising within me, but I tried to convince him once more.
“You dislike people like me, the ones who approach you for their own benefit.”
“And aren’t you trying to run away because you dislike me?”
His words were absurd. He had said something similar before. I instinctively shook my head.
“I told you, that’s not true.”
“Then stop refusing.”
He hugged me, his breath warm against my exposed shoulder.
“Because it sounds to me like you are.”
I felt like I was about to burst into tears again in his arms, so I tried to think of other things. Like the pranks Malie’s two daughters used to play on me, the frightening rare dungeon, or the clothes I tried on earlier. Thankfully, it worked, and my tears began to subside.
Terrio, who had been watching us out of sheer necessity, looked at Kelian and me with a bewildered expression.
“Warrior… who exactly is this person?”
It occurred to me that he had performed the purification without knowing who I was. Despite Jenin and Kelian’s indication that they wouldn’t cast me out, I didn’t know how to introduce myself beyond just my name.
“I’m Aine Crueger. Thank you for the purification, even though it’s late.”
“You’re welcome. It was just my duty.”
Despite the brief introduction, Terrio continued to look at us as if he had more to say, but he eventually stepped back.
“Aine, you must stay close to us from now on. We need to purify you when you feel unwell and protect you from potential threats.”
Dain, surprisingly, responded to Jenin’s serious advice.
“Weren’t you already staying close? Stop being so dramatic.”
“Things are different now. She has a rare curse… Our poor Aine, what are we going to do?”
“What’s the big deal? It’s not a deadly illness. It can be purified.”
“Dain, do you even understand the pain?”
“And do you?”
Dain turned to look at me with a slightly softened expression, despite his furrowed brow.
“You’re weak, which is why you got cursed.”
He was right. If I had been at my current level back then, I might not have been cursed by that rare Toron.
“If you hadn’t been cursed, we wouldn’t have met.”
Barkrud patted my shoulder with his large hand in a comforting manner. The warmth almost made me tear up again, so I looked up at an angle to stop the tears.
“Are you all really okay with this? Will you continue to keep me with you?”
It was a pathetically desperate question. I clasped my hands tightly and waited for their answers. Sayiris, who rarely showed much emotion, approached me.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“…”
“So don’t even think about leaving.”
Her beautiful voice flowed like a melody, but it carried a deep sense of attachment. Maybe it was just my imagination… Regardless, it meant she didn’t want to cast me out. Feeling my tense body relax, my stiff shoulders slowly eased.
“Shall we go now?”
Kelian took my hand and gently pulled me, looking into my eyes as if asking for my permission.
“…Yes.”
When I agreed, he lifted me into his arms again. I could have walked, but it seemed he wanted to save time, so I stayed quiet. Besides, I was getting used to being carried by him.
Leaving the Lekanon Temple, our first priority was to find lodging.
“Now, can you tell us in detail? Which monster cursed you, and how it happened…”
Jenin asked me various questions throughout the journey. Since there was nothing more to hide, I answered diligently. Even after revealing the truth, the fact that they remained calm and accepting felt like a dream to me.
❖ ❖ ❖
Being in the capital of the empire, Lilka, where people gather from all over, finding a lodging at this late hour seemed challenging. However, we were lucky to find a room in a nice inn.
The only issue was that the rooms were limited. Kelian, who usually had a room to himself, had to share this time. The problem was that I was his roommate.
“I’ll sleep in Dain and Barkrud’s room, Aine.”
“What? …What? Jenin?”
Jenin entered her room without looking back. The rest of the party did the same, leaving Kelian and me alone in the hallway.
“Go ahead and enter.”
Kelian opened the door calmly. His natural demeanor made me enter the room just as naturally. It wasn’t until I heard the door close behind us that the reality sank in.
“Oh, we’re sharing a room…”
“Yes. Would you like to wash up first?”
It seemed I was the only one finding this situation awkward. Even though we had been intimate before, sharing a room felt different. Watching Kelian casually take off his robe, I realized I was the only one overthinking this.
“Alright, I’ll go first then.”
