Chapter 15
It was shocking that Lev’s death would come before my own.
‘He doesn’t have many years left.’
According to my mother’s diary, Lev was an honest person. She had written that his inability to hide anything and his tendency to speak his mind was one of his lovable qualities.
‘And yet that person hid the curse until the very end.’
Lev had endured alone and died without seeking help from anyone.
He wanted to keep people from knowing what he died from.
I thought I understood why.
‘He wouldn’t have wanted to look weak.’
He was the brave Black Lion, the guardian of the border.
If it became known that Lev was cursed, his enemies would rejoice, the people of his territory would be heartbroken, and the Emperor would be disappointed.
With so much resting on his shoulders, he couldn’t have revealed it.
I felt sorry for him, fighting the curse all alone.
‘In my past life, it was someone else’s business… but not anymore.’
Besides, Lev was undeniably one of the father candidates who had come to take responsibility for me.
Even if he didn’t welcome me, that fact remained unchanged.
If he turned out to be my father and then died…
‘I would end up back in the hands of the Pateliers.’
Then even genetic testing would be useless.
‘I have to break the curse and save Lev.’
—
The next day, the Emperor summoned us.
But the people called weren’t just me, Albert, and Keith.
There was an unexpected person in the audience chamber.
Keith recognized him.
“Oh, you’re…!”
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
It was Lev’s right-hand man, Petero Oleg, whom I had seen before.
Petero, his long teal hair tied back in a single bundle, was a young man with the sharp, slender features typical of Northerners.
His face was filled with worry.
“I knew this day would come.”
As expected… this man knew about Lev’s curse.
“His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor!”
Following the grand announcement, Emperor Frederick entered. His expression was as unreadable as ever, but his steps and gestures were stiff with anxiety.
Well, he had been overjoyed to meet Lev, calling him ‘my nephew.’
His nephew’s illness was unsettling him enough to crack his thick mask.
“You were there at the scene. Explain what happened.”
He barely acknowledged their greetings and got straight to the point, clearly lacking composure.
Albert reported calmly and politely.
“After Duke Romanov collapsed coughing up blood, I attempted healing magic, but it was ineffective.”
“And then?”
“I tried blessing magic to confirm it was a curse. As expected, Duke Romanov’s body rejected the blessing and repelled it.”
“That’s a powerful curse.”
“Judging by the degree of corruption, it’s been years.”
The Emperor sighed briefly.
“Is there no way to resolve it?”
“Curses are meant to consume a person’s life, so it’s difficult for others to forcibly break them.”
“Still, there must be a way!”
Everyone was startled by the sudden outburst. It was the first time they had seen the Emperor so anxious.
Even Albert, who had seen him often, looked surprised.
The Emperor’s eyes trembled with unease.
“The North never wanted me to ascend the throne. The only reason they supported me was the Romanov family’s loyalty. So I must save that boy by any means necessary.”
I had thought Emperor Frederick wasn’t as difficult and fearsome as the rumors suggested. But I realized I had simply been ignorant about him.
Here was a man whose beloved nephew was dying of a curse, and all he could worry about was his support base collapsing.
‘I know he’s in a position where he has to be calculating… but I can’t say I like him.’
Albert cautiously spoke to the cold-hearted Emperor.
“Curses only work through a connection. The person who cast the curse must have something belonging to Duke Romanov. The curse will only end when that medium is destroyed.”
So, if they found and destroyed Lev’s object used as the medium, the curse would be lifted. It was a simple method, but now the problem was ‘how’ to find it.
The Emperor’s arrow aimed at Petero.
“Oleg, you’ve served Lev for a long time. Tell me everything you know.”
The threat to behead him if he didn’t speak was left unsaid, but his tone was murderous.
Petero was torn between his lord, who wanted to keep the curse a secret, and the Emperor’s orders. Eventually, he made up his mind.
“It was four years ago.”
“Four years ago… the border dispute?”
“Yes. When the Romanov forces joined the battle at Clive. The enemy had a dark mage.”
“…I remember. The one who inflicted heavy casualties on our army.”
“In my entire life, I had never seen such a horrific sight. People withering and dying as their life force was drained away… I wanted to flee too, but Duke Romanov boosted our morale.”
The saying ‘The Black Lion sweeps the battlefield’ became a proverb describing how one exceptional person could turn the tide, and Lev’s exploits were truly remarkable.
Many soldiers followed Lev, displaying bravery and swearing loyalty. Petero was one of them.
“One of the sudden deaths occurred, and that’s when the Duke’s brooch was stolen. He said it was a gift from his father… We searched everywhere but couldn’t find it, so we assumed he had lost it during the battle.”
“That must be the medium.”
“He started getting sick suddenly from then on. Even the military physicians couldn’t find anything wrong, so we found it strange. Still, Duke Romanov never showed any signs of weakness in front of the enemy.”
Petero’s eyes reddened as he vented.
“Once the dark mage judged the curse had taken hold, he fled, and our army won. But the curse remained in the Grand Duke’s body.”
His voice trembled.
He had watched his respected superior slowly die for four years.
It must have been agonizing.
“I understand why he kept it hidden.”
At Albert’s consolation, Petero nodded with a grim expression.
“Duke Romanov brought his personal troops south because he received information that the man was in the Markov Forest. Then he heard that his daughter, Countess Tesarus, would be passing through that forest, so he headed that way.”
“As I thought, the monsters occupying the forest weren’t a coincidence.”
“It’s confirmed that the bastard is there. He’s on guard, knowing Duke Romanov is here.”
After hearing everything, the Emperor asked Petero.
“What is the man’s name?”
Petero ground his teeth as if even uttering the name was an insult.
“A bastard named ‘Mavolo Stiles.'”
It was an unusual name.
Mavolo was an old-fashioned name that one might inherit from an ancestor and use as a middle name. And Stiles was a rare surname as well.
‘It’s a name I could never forget.’
I recognized this name.
But I wasn’t happy about it at all.
In my past life, during my trial, I had memorized the documents submitted as evidence to plead my innocence.
According to those documents, Mavolo Stiles was the main culprit who had conspired with me to spread a plague throughout a village, massacring its inhabitants.
He had used the blood of the dead as a sacrifice to summon powerful monsters, laying waste to the entire area.
‘And that was all part of Rector’s scheme.’
Mavolo Stiles disappeared to the gallows after the incident, but Rector got what he wanted.
The village that Stiles had massacred was rich in saltpeter, the main ingredient for gunpowder.
Rector took over the devastated village and used it as a base to prepare for rebellion. He manufactured gunpowder and weapons, and trained private soldiers.
‘Rector’s private soldiers were conveniently omitted, and only the murders were blamed on me.’
Since Stiles was dead, there was no one to testify otherwise.
I was a young mass murderer, a demon. People threw stones and spat at me. No one was on my side.
It was a memory I didn’t want to recall.
I knew it was something I would have to deal with someday. But even so, to encounter Stiles so soon…
My stomach churned as if I might vomit.
‘Am I changing the order of events because I’m altering fate?’
I knew what was going to happen.
Many things were changing, but people’s actions remained the same.
That meant I didn’t need to be afraid of a name I recognized.
I could handle it.
‘Then it’s better to eliminate Stiles before Rector uses him and discards him.’
That led to one conclusion.
‘I have to catch him with my own hands.’
