MLCDF 67

~Chapter 67~

“F-fifteen people in one night…?”

That was an enormous number.

Even a normal mid-rank curse wouldn’t kill that many at once.

Not even the strongest curses in the Grand Duke Maledictus’s mansion—the Twins or the Mirror Curse—could match that.

After hearing the butler’s report, Damien immediately pulled out his pocket watch.

It read 4:43 PM.

“Let’s go tonight. Keep the number of guards to a minimum.”

“Will you be alright?”

“The more civilians around, the harder it is.”

The butler finally nodded.
“Yes, understood.”

When the butler closed the door and left, Damien stood up.

“Ruby, go to bed early tonight. I need to head out.”

“Damien.”

He stopped mid-step and stared straight at me.

“I’m telling you in advance—I’m not taking you with me.”

“…How did you know I was going to say that?”

Ghost. Total ghost.

Maybe living with curses and ghosts so long turned him into one.

“I just knew. But you’re not going—it’s dangerous.”

“That’s exactly why I think I should go.”

I gave him three reasons.

“First, curses usually don’t affect me much. I’d be safe from most of its effects.”

This was a fact even Damien couldn’t argue against.
I’d neutralized countless curses before, even stopped Damien’s rampage.

“Second, if you lose control while suppressing the curse, I can stop you now.”

After the last time, I had a clear plan to handle it faster.

“Third, if things get too dangerous, I can call the Swallower and have it eat the curse.”

Any curse I swallowed was destroyed.
It felt horrible to lose control of my body to the Swallower, but its strength could erase even a curse that killed fifteen people in a night.

“So, if I go, it’ll help. You still want to go alone?”

“…Ruby, but—”

“I know why you don’t want me to go. It’s because it’s dangerous.”

And I understood that.
But—

“I also don’t want to send you alone into something that dangerous.”

Damien was strong—strong enough to restrain me even when I was the Swallower.
But no matter how strong, there were always risks.

“We’re married. We have a long life ahead together.”

Damien opened his mouth as if to speak, but sighed instead.

“Really… you’re sly.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, he ruffled my hair like he was getting revenge.

“With you saying that, how could I leave you behind?”

I smiled back at his faint smile.

By 10 PM, when everyone was asleep, we left for the city.

“If this only came to your attention today, that means there weren’t any high-rank curses there before?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Damien said, skimming through the documents.

The Maledictus family took in curses to produce magic for the imperial family, but they also had their own rules—any curse harming civilians was either captured and subdued or killed, even if it meant disobeying the royals.

“They thought they were the only ones who could deal with curses. I even thought the Swallower was imaginary,” Damien said.

Through their spies, they kept watch on the area. No mid-rank or higher curse had been seen there before.

“I’ve never heard of any incidents in that place before.”

The problem was a small riverside in the east side of the city.
All the bodies were found along the river.

The victims had their necks ripped by sharp teeth, and the river had turned red from the blood.

“But the cause of death wasn’t blood loss?”

“That’s right,” Damien flipped a page.
“Drowning. All of them.”

“Then the injuries likely happened after death.”

I leaned over to see the documents.

“Could it still be a curse? It’s a crazy number, but maybe a person—kidnapping over time, then drowning them?”

“Footprints were found,” Damien handed me photos.

“All matched the victims’ footprints. All pointed toward the water.”

I understood immediately.

“They went in on their own.”

“Yes. And there were only fifteen sets of prints. No one else’s.”

That made it far more likely a curse was responsible.

“Maybe a water-related curse?”

“Highly possible.”

It was unclear if the curse had always been there or if it appeared recently.

“Honestly, it’s strange for something this powerful to appear suddenly.”

The last rampage incident flashed in my mind.

“Could it be that the curse fed on fear again?”

“I suspect that too,” Damien said with a troubled look.
“The one behind it… is probably the same.”

It could very well be Leonard or the royal family again.

“If we can find out how they’re feeding fear to the curse, we can get evidence against them.”

“Once we see it tonight, we might get a lead.”

Last time, Damien’s curse had eaten the fear before we could examine it.
But maybe this time, we’d get there first.

“We’re here,” Damien said.

As soon as I stepped out of the carriage, I felt the damp wind.

The quiet riverbank, shrouded in mist, was chilling.

“Mmm, perfect place for work.”

A creepy riverside with a dangerous water ghost—perfect for us.

Still, we couldn’t let our guard down.

“Let’s walk along the river a bit.”

We left the guards with the carriage—they were strong among civilians, but weak against curses, especially one that lured victims.

The air grew wetter as we walked.
The chill clung to my skin, the night air sticking to my cheeks.

“This is where the victims were found, right?”

I looked at Damien—
“Damien?”

No answer.

I turned around.
No one was there.

“Damien?!”

Splash.

I turned my head toward the sound—
Damien was walking straight into the river.

The words from the report flashed in my mind, lighting a red warning in my head—

[ All fifteen victims were young men in their twenties. ]