Adrian rose from his seat and headed toward the underground room once again. Lucia was still sitting near the wall, her head lowered and her voice weak as she saw him approaching the secret door.
"Your Highness… it's midnight. You shouldn't enter that place now."
But Adrian didn't reply; he continued descending the dark staircase. He took a torch he had taken from the other room out of his jacket and lit it to illuminate the dense darkness.
He began walking slowly, reexamining the place as though searching for a missing shadow. "Something is missing… I feel like I haven't unraveled all the threads of the incantation yet."
As his eyes moved across the walls and floor, he spotted a small notebook with torn edges in a distant corner.
He bent down and picked it up, looking at it for a few seconds before opening it carefully.
First Page
Today, I discovered that I'm pregnant with a little girl… after twenty years of being unable to conceive.
It's astonishing that I'm having a daughter at the age of forty.
I went to tell my mother, but she didn't seem happy… she was simply lost in thought. I don't know why.
Second Page
I'm filled with happiness… It's been eight months since I became pregnant. There's only a little time left before I see my daughter. I wonder what she'll be like… She'll undoubtedly be very beautiful.
Third Page
Help…! I woke up and found myself in a dark place filled with blood. I usually carry my diary with me wherever I go… but I'm forced to write in blood because I don't have a pen.
Fourth Page
My mother… isn't human. She's a demon in human form, and she's trying to kill my daughter. I survived today because someone suddenly knocked on the door.
Perhaps this is the last time I'll write…
Fifth Page
I survived today as well. My mother said she'll begin the summoning tomorrow… I don't know what she's planning.
I'm writing to keep myself conscious… even though I know no one will ever read this.
I'm… afraid.
Adrian closed the notebook, and the calmness etched across his features couldn't conceal the sorrow beneath it. He rose heavily, turned to leave, and climbed the stairs. There, he found Lucia standing and silently waiting for him to emerge.
He stopped for a moment, then passed beside her, saying, "If you change your mind and want to know the truth… follow me."
Lucia took a deep breath before following him.
They entered the empty room with the faded magic circle in its center.
Adrian stood in the middle of it and began to speak. "A long time ago, an old woman from Section Zero tried to prove that her people weren't as useless as the nobles claimed… so she resorted to forbidden magic."
Lucia raised an eyebrow with faint sarcasm. "You're speaking as though you're telling a legendary tale."
Adrian shot her an irritated look. "Let me finish…" Then he continued in a steady voice, "She chose the Curse of Death incantation and practiced it for ten whole years… but every attempt failed. Pure blood exists only in fetuses, but she was killing newborn babies, which was why she never obtained the right blood."
He took a deep breath before continuing. "One day, her forty-year-old daughter came to her and told her she was pregnant after years of infertility. Only then did the old woman realize what she had been overlooking."
He fell silent for a moment, and his voice grew quieter. "For ten years, the old woman hadn't offered what she held most dear. She had merely been drinking blood. And she had never once drunk pure blood… because she had never touched a fetus."
Lucia's gaze hardened.
Adrian continued, "And one day… she cut open her daughter's abdomen, took out the fetus, and drank its blood. Then she decided to sacrifice her daughter, believing her to be what she held most dear."
Lucia whispered in a choked voice, "What happened to the daughter? Did she… die?"
Adrian sighed. "That's what should have happened… until the Great Lord of Magic appeared. He didn't accept the daughter as a sacrifice. He took the old woman's soul instead."
Lucia's eyes widened in astonishment. "But… why? Wasn't her daughter what she held most dear?"
Adrian smiled faintly, without a trace of warmth. "If you can give up something dear to you… then it was never truly dear to you in the first place."
Lucia gasped softly but remained silent.
Adrian raised his gaze toward the ceiling. "I can guess what the Great Lord of Magic said at that moment…"
Lucia asked him, "What did he say?"
He answered, slowly closing his eyes. "Perhaps he said… 'What is dear to you is what you can never give up. I shall take your soul… and bestow upon you the Curse of Death.'"
Lucia tried to comprehend his words. "But… wasn't he supposed to grant her a wish if she succeeded? Why would he give her only a curse?"
Adrian said coldly, "Because the one who made the wish died… before she could ask for it, so all she received was the curse."
Lucia hesitated before whispering, "And what about the daughter? Why did the villagers find only the old woman?"
Adrian answered with grim clarity. "The daughter… scattered and disappeared. She faded away under the direct effect of the curse. She was too close to escape the rays of magic."
Silence fell between them, a heavy silence that clung to their chests, before Lucia's lips moved hesitantly. "Then… what about the curse? Is there no way to break it?"
Adrian took a few steps forward, as though the darkness were making way for him, and said steadily, "There is a way."
Lucia raised her head toward him, her eyes clinging to a faint glimmer of hope. "Have… have you found a way? What is it?"
Adrian turned his gaze toward the void, as though looking at something she couldn't see, then said, "I'm not entirely certain… but I think we need to burn the old woman's corpse."
Lucia tilted her head, confused. "How? She was buried a long time ago… wouldn't her body be almost decomposed?"
Adrian raised his eyes toward her, his coldness concealing the weight of ancient knowledge. "The human body doesn't simply disappear like that. The skin decomposes, then the flesh, then the bones… but in the end, a small bone remains at the base of the spine. That bone doesn't decompose, no matter how much time passes."
Lucia muttered anxiously, "But… even if we find it, won't it just turn into a charred lump after being burned?"
Adrian answered with scientific coldness. "That's true. That's why the chance of breaking the curse is no more than ten percent."
Her eyes widened in astonishment. "Only ten percent?! And yet… you're willing to risk burning the corpse?"
Adrian replied with unwavering determination. "As long as there's a chance, however small — we have to try."
Adrian moved and walked out of the room, and Lucia followed him, asking, "Where are you going now? You're not going to the cemetery at this hour of the night, are you?"
Adrian answered in a lazy voice, "I am."
Lucia cried out in shock and concern. "Heeey!! But what if the spirits of the dead come out to see you?"
Adrian replied as he opened the front door to leave. "Then I'll have to greet them…"
Lucia placed both hands on her head in exasperation. "Do you think spirits are a game?!"
Adrian stopped and looked at the moon in the sky. "Should I perform the incantation?"
He looked at Lucia with terrifying eyes and a faint, dark smile. "I already have a victim."
Lucia was on the verge of screaming, for the person standing before her looked more terrifying than any ghost.
Adrian chuckled softly as he said, "I'm joking."
Lucia continued staring at his face for a moment before he spoke. "Let's go… we have a long conversation to have with that old woman."
The two set off toward the only cemetery in the district, determined to search for themselves, but neither of them even knew the old woman's name.
Adrian raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "By the way, I don't know the name of that old hag."
Lucia sighed and said, "We have no choice but to ask the cemetery keeper."
Adrian took a few steps forward and looked toward the graves, then suddenly stopped at a particular grave. He smiled faintly and said, "There's no need for that… the traces of the curse have already gathered around this grave."
Adrian and Lucia approached the grave as silence enveloped the cemetery, with the sound of the wind the only thing breaking the stillness of the night.
Adrian looked at the grave, then gestured toward Lucia with his hand.
"Begin…"