EP: 108
“There is evidence. This is it.”
Nicholas proudly laid down a piece of paper on the table. It was a short letter left by Julia, the last estate. The infamous Kai Crawford was indeed the sorcerer with eerie black eyes. He was an arrogant and ruthless wizard who extinguished his opponents’ spirits with just his chilling gaze. Nicholas was bothered by how Muriel and Kai Crawford, sitting side by side, seemed too close, but he couldn’t make it obvious, so he focused instead on revealing the enormous secret he’d brought to Muriel.
He believed that once she learned that he was the one who saved her, she would abandon the likes of the enigmatic sorcerer and choose to hold his hand.
“The last saint who died twelve years ago knew everything. She’d written down everything in this letter I found. Katrina Nox discovered the new saint’s constellation through a prophecy but kept it a secret from everyone. She did it to turn the new saint into her pawn.”
“Are you saying Katrina… was a saint?”
Muriel asked with a slight frown. Recalling that Katrina Nox had worked as Muriel Storm’s governess, Nicholas wore a saddened expression.
“Yes, young lady Muriel. Katrina was a saint with weak foresight. She was the most incompetent saint among all. However, thanks to that, she could live a long life. It was because she was free from all the pain brought by the prophecies a saint had. But Katrina… She wanted revenge against the palace and the temple that ignored her. That’s why she knew that the star of the saint had risen, but did not inform Sharon. She’d been waiting for the right moment. To experience the three stars of calamity through which she would be reborn as a complete magician.”
“Becoming a magician…?”
“Yes, my dear. Every time a star of calamity appeared, Katrina crossed over to a different world. She did it to suppress the prophetic abilities bestowed upon her by God and concentrate her pacio entirely on magic.”
“That was… was it to control me with magic?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Nicholas almost said, ‘You’re smarter than I thought.’ but quickly nodded instead. Katrina’s choice was corrupt. It involved contaminating the blessings of the Gods with the air, food, moon, and sea of another world, causing the saint’s abilities to disappear.
“I wanted to rescue lady Muriel as soon as possible, but I had to wait because I couldn’t figure out how exactly Katrina was controlling you. After waiting, the star of calamity appeared, and to protect you, I told Sharan about the last saint’s oracle. Oh, but unfortunately… At the time, I didn’t know who between Muriel and Rovelia was the true bearer of the saint’s star. But now I can be sure. I have found a way.”
Muriel noticed Nicholas’s insistence on hiding important facts and only informing Sharon about the existence of the saint. She looked at him with cold eyes, but he failed to read that gaze as he was too busy explaining how much he had suffered to help her.
“Have you found a clue related to the ancient magic that hangs over Muriel?”
Mu… Muriel?
Did I find something?
When Kai Crawford, who had been tight-lipped without saying even a greeting, opened his mouth for the first time, Nicholas shouted, smashing the cane he was holding to the ground.
“Look here, Crawford! Did you forget all manners while away from the palace? How dare you disrespect me! And to casually call the name of the saint! Are you in your right mind?”
Nicholas Neville’s face, flushed with anger, suddenly turned pensive. Black swords, formed by a powerful magic force, materialized in all directions, aiming at his neck.
“Huh, black magic?! Are you… Are you truly insane?”
It was almost impossible for the kingdom’s high priest to not notice the activation of magic, let alone black magic. Did that mean Kai Crawford had mastered all five-elemental magics, not just four? He felt momentarily dizzy at the transcendent force he had never even heard of before. As Nicholas attempted to retaliate, he was instantly paralyzed by the force of one of the swords piercing his throat, trembling uncontrollably before screaming and sitting back down in his chair.
“Answer me. What’s the magic you’ve found? Did you find the magic that hangs over Muriel?”
“D-Do you really think you can get away with this? D-Do you even know who I am? I-I am Nicholas Neville, the high priest of the kingdom!”
“Yes, High Priest Nicholas Neville. There is only one answer that will ensure your safety.”
Kai Crawford, as he knew him, let out a long exhale, as if he was barely holding onto a nerve cord that was about to snap at any moment, suppressing his irritation as he replied. Nicholas Neville doubted whether this man in front of him was truly the Kai Crawford he was familiar with.
The Kai Crawford he knew always had an arrogant gaze that seemed to look down on others, but he never lost his composure in any situation. He appeared indifferent to everything, aloof and maintaining a cold gaze, always calm. However, the person before him now, with eyes wide open like an uncontrollable beast, growled while his anger remained palpable, leaving Nicholas stunned and uneasy.
Ah, I’m not this guy’s match. Nicholas Neville, whose senses were as developed as his desires, immediately realized his position. As a result, he promptly prostrated himself in a manner that was almost groveling.
“T-The sealing magic…It’s that!”
“Sealing?”
As if a chilly foreboding passed through him, Kai Crawford’s questioning gaze faltered.
“Katrina sealed Lady Muriel’s memories and sense of pain!”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“This is to protect you.”
Katrina whispered like this when she first erased Muriel’s memories.
“My baby, forget all the terrible memories.”
“Hng… sobs… I had a dream where I was killing people. T… They begged me to spare them, but I had these scary eyes… as if I was enjoying it… sobs. I killed them.”
Muriel, 14, cried in confusion. The ability Katrina found in Muriel was extraordinary. While other saints merely glimpsed the future as observers, Muriel directly experienced the impending calamities that would befall the kingdom. Possessed by the seeds of disaster, she thought, acted, and desired as if she were that person.
As a little girl who didn’t understand the nature of her own ability, she cried in confusion. She was terrified and trembled, wondering if the dreams she had every night were manifestations of her twisted desires.
“Oh dear… You had another scary dream, Muriel… Can you tell me everything about the dream? What clothes were you wearing in the dream? What name were you called? Where were you? Please tell me more about it. Then I’ll see the dream through your eyes.”
I’ll bear the pain for you. Katrina pressed her red lips gently against the ear of the sobbing young girl and whispered softly. The girl, driven into a liar and bewildered by the mysterious dreams, relied on Katrina with endless vulnerability. Katrina, who was always dismissed and humiliated due to her weak precognitive abilities, used the girl’s power to fulfill her own desires. With Muriel by her side, Katrina could become the strongest saint in the kingdom.
Katrina was the longest-surviving saint in the kingdom. It was a disgrace. Most saints couldn’t live past their teenage years. Even if not as much as Muriel, the saints always had to witness, experience, and feel terrible calamities, which left scars on their hearts and caused them to wither away. As the uncontrollable power of prophecy manifested itself, pacio diminished gradually as well.
The reason Katrina could survive the longest was that her power was nothing special. Whenever new saints appeared, Katrina was pushed to the background. Those who praised her easily changed their tune and turned their backs on her.
Katrina wanted her position back. She wanted to restore the authority of the saints who were not properly respected due to their tendency to be short-lived and turn insane despite having a greater power of wisdom than Sharan.
So she found the children born under the saint’s star. She identified seven children, but Muriel was the most powerful of them all. Katrina found a way to make the child hers and hers alone.
Let’s elevate the Dachini’s Rovelia who was loved by everyone as a candidate for the saint. When everyone’s expectations and attention turned towards the lovely Rovelia, Katrina could hog Muriel, who was left all alone. Katrina knew all too well how desperately one can long for human warmth when immersed in a sense of defeat and self-loathing. The moment she reached out, the abandoned true saint’s trust and affection would become entirely hers.
“It’s strange. It’s weird, teacher… I’m sure I just died… Hng… I was definitely killed by the sword of a red-haired man from the plateau who hated me.. Why…”
“You only had a dream. That’s not real, Muriel. Don’t cry. Don’t lose your mind.”
But Muriel’s condition grew increasingly worse. She could not distinguish between dreams and reality, and she suffered in pain from the terrifying scenes of the disasters that repeated every day. She hadn’t even had a chance to blossom into a beautiful flower yet, but the chronic issues of the saints had quickly burdened the young girl’s face. Something had to be done. When she did blossom in the form of a woman, not a girl, she needed to appear as the most beautiful, showcasing an overwhelming ability that would awe everyone. She had to show the strong presence of a formidable saint threatening Sharon.
“I’ll protect you. I won’t hurt you, Muriel.”
So Katrina crossed over to a different world and removed the blessings of the gods. She breathed the air there, basked in the sunlight, and gazed upon its moonlight as to be reborn. It was a tedious and nauseatingly boring time, but it was fine. It was a willing sacrifice. Now she could free Muriel from her pain.
Upon her return, Katrina erased Muriel’s terrible memories. She wiped away her sense of pain so that she wouldn’t suffer from any disaster she witnessed. She also sealed away her pacio to prevent the ability to go out of control. With lips as beautiful as flowers, Katrina whispered to the empty Muriel.
“I will protect you.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Ancient magic that seals memories and pain.
Kaiton did not doubt Nicholas Neville’s words. On the contrary, he’d been afraid that might be the case. Ever since he could not lift the curse of pain left on Muriel. He thought that powerful magic was involved, that it might be layered upon it.
“To lift it?”
Kaiton asked nervously. If they couldn’t lift the two ancient magics covering the curse, he wouldn’t be able to lift the curse either.
“Sigh… Only Katrina, the spellcaster…”
“What if you kill the spellcaster?”
“…That won’t work either. If we kill the spellcaster, the method to lift the magic will vanish forever.”
“Why should I believe the High Priest’s words?”
Nicholas trembled as he took out the document he had brought just in case. It was an ancient manuscript he had found while investigating Katrina Nox’s background to uncover how she was controlling Muriel Storm. The document was filled with detailed explanations of magic that manipulates memories and seals pain.
Kaiton read and read the spellbook that Nicholas handed over and over again, hoping to find even the slightest clue. Muriel silently watched the black eyes that could not hide his desperation. Then, she softly called out to Nicholas, who was nervously fidgeting with his staff in case something would fire on him.
“Your Holiness, do you happen to… know anything about the real Sharan who was imprisoned in the underground of the palace?”
“Yes… Yes?!”
Startled, Nicholas widened his drained rose-like eyes. Watching his reaction, Muriel became certain. Nicholas was the person seeking to kill Ondal from the prophecy she had seen.
Muriel seemed to understand now. Rovelia’s ring, the throne of Sharan, and the High Priest’s staff. They were all hints. The prophecies Muriel had seen in her dreams were foretelling their misdeeds.
And Kaiton’s earring. Muriel’s gaze automatically landed on Kaiton’s ear. Recently, Muriel had been having the same nightmare repeatedly. It was a dream where she lost all her pacio and was dying under the star of calamity.
And in her dying ear hung a blue crystal talisman.
“Kaiton.”
As she’d expected, it’d been a prediction of Kaiton’s future.
Blood seemed to be draining from all over her body. The fact that the last thing Kaiton thought of as he died on the cold floor was her made Muriel’s heart ache. It felt as if she could hear him faintly whispering her name in her ear.
Muriel felt tears welling up so she raised her head and clenched her fists. Then, with a composed expression, she glared at Nicholas.
“Did you try to kill Sharan and cover the eyes of the kingdom?”
“No… No, that’s not it, young lady Muriel-“
“Didn’t you intend to replace Sharan’s power by making me stand on your side?”
Gasp. Muriel’s pointed question tightened Nicholas’s chest. He trembled in fear. Murie,l who knew nothing of the world, was supposed to be naive, so he’d thought for a long time that she could be easily manipulated. If Kaiton’s dark sword wasn’t threatening him, Nicholas would have fallen to the ground by now, begging for forgiveness. The person standing in front of him now was a solemn and resolute saint with cold and firm eyes.
“Go back, Your Holiness. Go back and do not mention anything you saw or heard here.”
As Nicholas scurried away, Muriel cupped Kaiton’s cheek. Kaiton’’s gaze, which had been staring at the old spellbook with empty eyes, turned to Muriel. He wrapped his hand around Muriel’s hand resting on his cheek. The temperature of the tightly intertwined hands was cold, and the air between them was heavy.
“I’m a saint. Haha… I had a feeling… but never knew….”
Kaiton leaned his cheek against Muriel’s hand, grimacing as if in agony. Muriel spoke words of no substance as she stared blankly at the sight. Although she said it lightly like a joke, there was a profound sadness in it that could not be hidden..
“I wanted to speak casually to Kaiton after regaining my memories. What if Katrina comes too late?”
That’s not good. When the next star of disaster rises, you might not be by my side….
“There’s something I want to give you.”
Kaiton took Muriel by the hand and retrieved a necklace he had kept inside the Nihil box. It was a necklace adorned with a black talisman, the same one he had crafted on the day he’d defeated the chimera monster controlled by Sharan.
“Why don’t you wear it, Kaiton? Since it has a talisman… it might be helpful in times of danger.”
Muriel said, sneakily blocking Kaiton’s hand trying to put the necklace on her. She acted as if she was offering it in a laid back manner, but in reality, she was afraid he’d refuse. It was he who needed the talisman more now. It contained an enormous amount of pacio, enough to darken a piece of Ur, so it would prove useful when he faced danger.
“This was made for you from the beginning.”
But turning a blind eye to her desperate wishes, Kaiton stubbornly fastened the necklace around her neck.
“This will protect you.”
“Actually… I’ve been having dreams lately…”
Muriel finally let the tears she’d been holding back flow.
“I…it’s a terrifying dream… If it becomes reality… I don’t think I can handle it.”
So I want you to do this. Kaiton gently wiped away Muriel’s tears when she’d burst into them like a frightened child, holding her hand to prevent her from removing the necklace while planting a kiss on her forehead.
“When you came to the plateau before, you made a prophecy.”
“Stop…! Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear…!”
“If I were to dabble in black magic, I would…kill you.”
“I don’t care!!”
“Mure, please!!”
Kaiton forcefully pulled the struggling Muriel into his arms. An anxious tremor spread between the two of them. It came from Kaiton.
“…It’s not me… It’s not me who’s in danger….”
Muriel confessed through her tears, but Kaiton embraced her even more strongly in his arms and whispered softly.
“I can’t exist without you. You need to live… for me to live.”
It was a statement as rough and abstract that could not fully capture his feelings, but it was as sincere as Kaiton’s love, which couldn’t be expressed in words alone.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“What about my child?”
“The… the abandoned land… the Ghost Estate… cough.”
Having heard the desired answer, Katrina mercilessly cut off Nicholas Neville’s neck. After three days of hardship, she finally unleashed the power of a true sorcerer, and a smile appeared on her face. It was a smile redder than the blood on her face that belonged to the pitiful wretch she had just disposed of.
“The abandoned land…”
The plot is picking up really fast but I like it, it’s fine, Katrina nox that bITCH THO
