Episode 28: Arson (1)
After parting with August, Rovelia was returning to her room when Kaiton appeared in front of her.
“Young lady Rovelia.”
He was dressed in black as always, but somehow, he looked much more sinister than usual. Rovelia calmly greeted him, ignoring her hairs that stood on end.
“Oh, Mr. Crawford. I apologize for missing class today. I suddenly didn’t feel well. I did ask Muriel to pass on the message… Did she not tell you?”
Rovelia, curious about how things went, quietly brought up Muriel’s name.
“Ah, I heard.”
Kaiton replied dryly, with a cynical smile that had a hint of disdain. Rovelia assumed that Kaiton’s contempt was directed towards Muriel, so she poked a little more.
“But something seems to be bothering you. You don’t look well…”
“Bothering me… Yes, that’s right. I had an unpleasant experience.”
Rovelia felt a slight shudder as she looked at Kaiton’s cold face. She believed her plan had been a wonderful success.
“All thanks to the audacious young lady trying to take advantage of me.”
The young lady that Kaiton was talking about was Rovelia, but to Rovelia, who was already intoxicated with joy, it sounded as if he was talking about Muriel.
“Oh my. Did Muriel say something?”
“Muriel…”
The image of Muriel, who had kissed him and professed her love, flashed through Kaiton’s mind. That was a bad thing for Rovelia, for his anger only grew stronger.
“She said she loves me.”
Rovelia lowered her head to hide the laughter threatening to leak out of her. She couldn’t bear it. Oh, how miserably she had been rejected.
“Oh… I can’t believe Muriel was hiding her affection for Mr. Crawford…”
Rovelia forced a smile, lifted her head, and froze. Kaiton was glaring fiercely at her. For a moment, she thought she was facing a demon. Kaiton’s expression was that terrifying. A profound fear paralyzed her thinking.
“It was clearly a lie, yet she had eyes that showed no trace of falsehood. Indeed, no item made in shop 0 is worthless.”
“W-What do you mean?”
Rovelia realized that something was wrong. How did he know it was an item from the 0 shop?
“Black magic isn’t all bad, but mind control magic is particularly vile. It makes manipulated minds truly believe in what they’re made to.”
“Why are you saying this to me?”
“I hoped you would be the Saint, Rovelia. But what do you have? Your pacio is useless, and you don’t possess the prophetic abilities that are the mark of a Saint. You’re just burdened with the name a martyr that you can’t even handle.”
“Crawford!”
“Ah, yes. You’re getting angry. You’re so angry that you might go mad.”
“!”
Kaiton was casting black magic on Rovelia. It was a magic similar to the one used in the love potion. Mind control magic that manipulated her thoughts and emotions. It was a high-level magic, but Kaiton didn’t need complex magic circles or potion-like mediums. Moreover, it was easy to fuel the anger that resided in her subconscious. His clever magic would be untraceable even after everything was over.
“Muriel. That foolish and worthless Muriel is the Saint? I can’t stand it. I want to destroy everything. Everything that makes me so insignificant. I want to burn it all. Burn everything I have. Yes, I feel like I’m going mad…”
“Yes. You want to burn everything. You want to prove your power as you please.”
“…Fire. I want to burn it all.”
“Everything.”
“…Everything.”
As Kaiton’s lips curled into a sneer, Rovelia felt an uncontrollable rage welling up inside her. She rolled her eyes back and screamed like a monster.
“Muriel as the Saint?! That can’t be true! It can’t be!! Argh! I’m so annoyed…! I’m so annoyed… I’m so annoyed!”
“Isn’t there something that can do good for you? Something that can show everyone how angry you are?”
…!
Rovelia reached for the fragment of Ur that she carried with her as if possessed. Her eyes gleamed with madness.
Kaiton completed paying retribution to Rovelia, who had dared to use him, and disappeared effortlessly. Muriel appeared in Rovelia’s sight, who was consumed by an indescribable intense anger.
A girl with pale skin and blue hair that caused irritation and chills every time she looked at it was running towards the mountain. It was an illusion, but Rovelia didn’t realize it. She just unleashed her fiery magic towards Muriel, supported by evil.
Yes. Just kill her. Just kill that stupid thing trying to take my place.
In an instant, the sacred mountain, once protected as a sanctuary for spirits, transformed into an inferno that consumed all life. The massive flames rose with fierce intensity. As the pale illusion continued to appear in Rovelia’s eyes, she relentlessly destroyed everything in her path.
Her body shuddered with intense force. The power of the Demon King spread throughout her body, coursing through her veins. It was the first time she had ever felt such abundance. She was liberated, she was free. Feeling the exhilaration of thrilling destruction, she even threw off her talisman ring. It had been a precious item she had obtained through great effort, but in front of the fragment of Ur, it was nothing more than a mere stone.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“Muriel.”
Muriel had no answer. Kaiton approached her fallen figure. Sticky blood soaked the soles of his shoes. With a grimace of disgust, Kaiton put his finger on Muriel’s neck.
A faint pulse.
In his cold, hardened expression, no sense of relief could be read. Instead, his mood plummeted further. Muriel’s condition was serious. If he didn’t treat her immediately, it would be difficult for her to make it through the night.
But save her?
Kaiton hesitated. What would he save her for? To kill her with his own hands? No matter how much he tried to turn a blind eye to it, Muriel was the Saint. She would become the hero who protected the kingdom and an obstacle to Kaiton.
So this was an opportunity. He shouldn’t save Muriel.
However, his hand moved on its own. He cast a healing spell towards the deep, gaping wound. The wound was severe, so it required a huge amount of magic power.
The Pacio needed to fuel the magic wavered and rapidly diminished. Chills crept up his fingertips, but he didn’t stop. Slowly, the wound began to heal, and color began to return to her pale face.
Ever since he started practicing black magic, he had always been plagued by the fear of his pacio running out. What he feared most of all was all of his pacio running out and making him turn into a demon. Even now, the fragment of Ur near Muriel’s hand caught his eye. If there was Pacio contained within that fragment, the chill he felt could be alleviated.
But Kaiton resisted the temptation. He picked up the fallen Nihil nearby, placed the fragment inside, and pulled Muriel into his arms. It was not yet time to retrieve the fragment.
“Muriel.”
Kaiton woke Muriel up by tapping her on the shoulder where her clothes hadn’t been torn off. Muriel gradually regained her senses like a woman awaking from sleep.
“…Mr. Crawford? What are you doing here…?”
“…Get up. You look like a mess.”
Kaiton, who could not tell her that he had searched the entire mountain to find her, avoided her gaze and spoke curtly.
Muriel seemed startled at the sight of Kaiton, but quickly regained her composure after checking where she was lying. It was strange. Normally, one would be flustered after waking up covered in blood, let alone emerging from a pool of it. But Muriel was calm.
She stood up bravely and began checking the fragments of Ur in the Nihil. The action was concise and swift. The most important thing was the fragment of Ur. She had almost lost her life, but was so indifferent about her own wounds. Kaiton felt it was strange.
“The wound was deep. It seems you passed out from the pain.”
“Ah… yes, I did.”
Muriel looked all over her body as if she had just realized that only then.
“You treated me, right? The wounds are completely healed. Thank you.”
“…Are you still in pain?”
“No, I feel great. I’m alive thanks to you.”
“Here.”
Muriel stiffened. It was because Kaiton’s finger brushed against her left shoulder. Despite Muriel clearly showing her discomfort and shrinking away, Kaiton’s finger continued to press against her pale skin.
There was a strange pattern where the tip of his finger touched. Originally, it had been a wound that resembled a beast’s claw marks, but when Kaiton’s hand touched it, it took on a vivid colour and revealed a pattern.
The identity of the deeply engraved magical symbol, overlapping the three distinct traces of a beast’s mark, was a black magic curse. It was a persistent and cruel type of curse that did not disappear until the caster desired, inflicting eternal suffering.
“I haven’t treated you here.”
Kaiton said as if he was trying to confirm something, and traced the pattern with his hand. He wanted to understand. The essence of the strange emotion he was feeling.
This cruel curse had been engraved by Kaiton himself. It was the first black magic he had succeeded in twelve years ago, and it was also evidence that he and Muriel had been together, no matter how much she denied it.
The curse still resided near her heart. Then why didn’t it cause her flesh-searing burning pain? Muriel had never shown any signs of pain.
Why?
The question that had been scratching at his nerves like a thorn around his neck became too large to ignore. The pain inflicted by the curse he had left behind was not something one could pretend to endure. It wouldn’t be strange if she thrashed about and screamed in agony this very moment.
But why…
“Ah… That’s not a big deal.”
“The wound… I think it looks old. Are you sure it’s okay? If you’re just enduring it, I might be able to find a way to help.”
“Endure? What wound…?”
“…”
Muriel subtly avoided Kaiton’s hand while glancing behind her shoulder. She had yet to be freed fully from the love potion. It felt strange when Kaiton touched her. Like her body was burning.
Kaiton noticed every bit of Muriel’s reaction. An ominous foreboding feeling crossed his mind. A very unpleasant and irritating hunch.
“Do you not feel any pain?”
“…What?”
Muriel repeated the unexpected potion like a fool. She was nervous due to the effect of the potion, not because of the small secret she herself couldn’t understand the nature of.
“I asked if you can’t feel any pain.”
“Why… Why do you think that all of a sudden?”
When Muriel widened her eyes and asked, unable to hide his frustration, Kaiton asked back in a lower, subdued voice.
At first glance, he seemed to be patiently waiting for Muriel’s answer, but he couldn’t hide his irritation. His tone was edgy, and his gaze was fierce and unruly. If it weren’t for Muriel’s indifference, anyone would have been nervous about when he would explode. That’s how scary his face was.
“I said it wouldn’t hurt because there shouldn’t be any wounds that wouldn’t hurt. Do you know what’s engraved on your back?”
“You say it doesn’t hurt because there shouldn’t be any wounds that should hurt. Do you know what’s engraved on your back?”
Engraved? Did he mean she had a scar? Usually, people say they have scars, not that they’re engraved. Muriel felt a strange uneasiness in Kaiton’s words. She wanted to glance back at her back to check Kaiton’s words, but it was impossible to see her own back.
Muriel silently waited for Kaiton’s words. Kaiton’s, glaring at Muriel as if blaming her, opened his mouth as if forcing the words out.
“A curse that etches eternal pain.”
“A curse?”
“…Didn’t you know?”
“…That’s…”
A sigh of disbelief escaped from Kaiton. As if he was looking at something bizarre, his eyes frowned upon Muriel.
However, Muriel was truly clueless. She was neglected in the mansion, and no one paid any attention to her. She had never been interested enough in her own body to discover what was hidden behind her eyes, and no one ever told her either.
Muriel briefly thought of the face of the servant who used to dress her, but quickly gave up. Even if she had discovered the strange pattern on Muriel’s back, she wouldn’t have been scornful or surprised. It was because she didn’t seem like the type to ask Muriel in a friendly manner, “What is this?”
“More precisely, it’s an advanced magic that only skilled wizards can cast, even among dark magic. It’s a curse that makes you feel burning pain until it’s released, driving you insane or forcing you to take your own life. It’s called a curse because it’s so persistent and cruel.”
“….”
“Doesn’t it hurt at all?”
“…Isn’t that fortunate?”
Kaiton replaced his answer with a bitter smile.
To not feel pain. In that case, it made sense why she hadn’t come to see him in 12 years. Curses and such wouldn’t have been a problem at all.
The image of Muriel, who remained calm despite her wounds, flashed through his mind. He had only thought she was good at hiding her emotions, but to think she couldn’t feel any pain at all.
He felt a strange sense of defeat and loss.
There was nothing he could leave for Muriel in the past 12 years.
“The effects of the elixir are still lingering, right?”
Kaiton asked Muriel, who was struggling with what to say if he asked why she couldn’t feel pain.
“…Yes?”
“Do you still love me?”
