STM 149

His breath against my ear sent a shiver down my spine. I flinched but didn’t turn my head. Now that I actually faced him, something else came to mind even before the contract.

What if his feelings were real? A question I tried so hard to ignore suddenly occurred to me. I solved it the way I always did. I just ignored it again.

It wasn’t the most important issue. But my mind’s avoidance made my body move too. I tried to pull away from him, but he caught my arm. He turned me around and pulled me in by the waist. A smile greeted me as soon as our eyes met.

“Aren’t you curious? I trained all night, but I can still get it up.”

I already knew the answer from the thing poking my stomach. It was very lively this morning. In contrast, I suffered all night because of the contract and only had the strength left to sign. So, I responded firmly to this matter.

“Unless you’re going to sign the contract with your dick, I’m not curious.”

“…….”

“You must’ve forgotten, but you said you’d write the contract for me yesterday. Are you laughing right now?”

“No.”

Like hell it’s no. Anyone could see he had a broad smile. Did he think I was joking? I raised my eyebrows to appear angry, but he grabbed my arm and led me to the study.

“I’ll write the contract.”

My anger instantly melted away. I followed him inside, and my heart pounded when I saw him pull out the contract.

It was a real contract. It was the same one he acted like he’d sign on my first day here but didn’t. I stared at him without making a sound, worried he might change his mind again. The way he brought his pen to the paper felt as slow as the bear. But it wasn’t my imagination that he stopped right before signing. Why again?!

“Anything else to add?”

“…Huh?”

The unexpected question left me surprised, and he glanced up.

“Nothing?”

There were plenty. About a million and five thousand things. But his willingness to do anything didn’t feel welcome anymore. Was it for me again? I ignored the question. I didn’t need to worry about feelings right now. Closing the Eye of Hell was my priority. However, there was no reason to refuse since he offered to write it.

“Please write that you’ll return within ten days if you go out to battle.”

Tairok tilted his head, but he didn’t argue and scribbled it onto the paper.

“And?”

“I want pickled vegetables with at least one meal a day.”

He paused. He looked confused. He seemingly disapproved that I’d put this in a contract, but I ignored it. I felt like making this the number one condition.

“Alright.”

He wrote it down, so I added quickly.

“Oh, and only twice a night in bed…”

“Should I tear up the contract?”

…Shit. Just you wait until you sign; I’ll sleep early every day so you can’t even do it once. While I was vowing, he pushed the signed contract toward me.

“Check it.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure the Grand Duke wrote it well.”

I said that, but my eyes were wide as I searched for any mistakes. Then I heard a question.

“Do you like it that much?”

“No.”

“You’re smiling.”

I quickly tightened my mouth, as I didn’t realize I was grinning.

“Looking at the contract feels like heartwarming evidence that our bond has grown stronger…”

“What is the favor you want to ask?”

He asked directly. I didn’t plan to answer before the wedding. I just barely got the contract. The path to the oath was still long.

“I’ll tell you when the time comes.”

“What time? Do I lack the power to grant that favor now?”

His voice sounded nonchalant, but I wasn’t fooled. So I looked at him in the eye and nodded.

“Yes.”

I thought he might get angry if he took it to mean his abilities were lacking. However, he looked amused instead of angry.

“Alright. I’ll look forward to finding out what the favor is.”

I hoped he wouldn’t cut my throat with a sword later if I didn’t meet his expectations. I brushed aside negative worries and changed the subject. I told him about my conversation with the bear last night. He seemed surprised by the story of the Kun divine beast, even setting aside Borhumi.

“…It’s in Tubain?”

“Yes. Isn’t it strange? Shouldn’t non-human beings return home? Why would it stay here without perishing?”

“Because the door is blocked and it can’t return.”

The door? Tairok looked out at the fog. But it felt like I could see the cursed castle inside it.

“I heard the Kun castle was built there to protect a certain cave underground. But there are no records, so it’s not certain if the place even exists. Nobody knew why it was important.”

But I felt like I knew. A cave. I thought of the underground lake where the Borhumi divine beast stayed. If the purpose was similar?

“The door for the Kun divine beast to go home is there.”

And the black magic covering the Kun castle… Ah. I let out a small sigh.

“Is the curse on the Kun castle there to kill any divine beast that might remain?”

It was just like the barrier that trapped the Borhumi divine beast. Tairok didn’t answer. He probably realized this recently too, after seeing Borhumi trapped. But who would cast such a terrible curse on an entire castle just to kill a divine beast? Who? Why?

“Long ago, an order came to imprison a single prisoner beneath the Kun castle. But nobody knew who he was or what crime he committed. They just imprisoned him because they were told to.”

He spoke as if telling an old story, so I looked back at him without much thought.

“Who ordered the imprisonment?”

“The Emperor.”

“…….”

“That prisoner was very quiet and didn’t cause trouble, so the people of the Kun castle forgot about him. Only after the curse spread did they realize the prisoner was the one who cast it. He was a dark mage.”

It sounded easy, but I could see how much he must have struggled to find the prisoner’s identity.

“A single dark mage created that kind of curse?”

“The power of black stones is greatest when a human absorbs it. There’s no limit to the power they can absorb, and they gain infinite strength.”

He added in a voice devoid of emotion.

“They say that prisoner was the strongest dark mage in hundreds of years. But he gave up his life to cast the curse.”

……That’s insane. Why? His dry explanation continued as if he read my mind.

“At first, I thought the Emperor wanted to destroy the main family that didn’t support him. But he’s not someone with the patience for such a persistent and time-consuming task. He’s just a fool who was tricked by a dark mage.”

“Then why did that dark mage curse Kun even at the cost of his own life?”

“Dark mages have only one weakness. They lose their reason and become slaves to that power. And dark mages who become slaves live for only one goal.”

I thought of Dorgo, whom I met at Borhumi. He tried to open the rift like a fanatic. It was as if he wanted the world to be taken over by monsters.

“…He tried to kill the Kun divine beast and open the rift that would be on Kun land.”

But no matter how much the curse and dark magic covered the land, the rift didn’t open. That was evidence the divine beast didn’t die. Just like Hoiga said at the White Branch meeting.

“Why didn’t the Kun divine beast die?”

“Maybe it did.”

“Pardon?”

“I once felt an unknown power burst out of me, perhaps because the Borhumi divine beast’s power triggered something inside me. And I felt it again when I received the Sarne divine beast’s power yesterday.”

He lowered his gaze from the window to his own hand.

“I don’t know what it is, but it seems that power only wakes up when another divine beast’s power stimulates it. Like how a shell must break to come out of an egg.”

“Is it the divine beast’s power?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s not the Kun divine beast power I knew.”

Then is there another divine beast? If not…

“Huh? Did the Kun divine beast actually lay an egg? What if it escaped the crisis by sleeping in an egg like the Borhumi divine beast? Wait, is the Kun divine beast an omega?!”

I offered my hypothesis quite seriously, but Tairok’s gaze reminded me of the bear last night. He was looking at me with disappointment.

“No, you said it was an egg.”

“It was a metaphor.”

My pride as a literature student was a bit hurt. I cleared my throat and quickly concluded the conversation.

“We’ll find out once we get the way to break the curse from Sarne. We’ll look for the Kun divine beast beneath the main castle once the curse is lifted.”

“You speak as if Sarne will obviously tell us.”

“Of course. Black Bear will take over Sarne.”

Tairok smirked at my wishful thinking.

“If she survives, that is.”

I heard Black Bear was at a disadvantage because she was old and didn’t know Sarne’s training methods. But strangely, I felt like she’d succeed. She was someone with the persistence of a real bear. I didn’t say anything, but Tairok spoke coldly as if he read my thoughts.

“The world doesn’t work on will alone.”

“That’s true. Luck must follow to achieve one’s goals.”

Sometimes luck is everything. I smiled at Tairok.

“Where else would she find luck as great as what you and I have right now?”

Therefore, I trust her luck.