Chapter 117
When I opened my eyes, it was already afternoon, and the sun had passed its zenith.
‘How long has it been since I’ve slept this late?’
I had been running day and night to carry out my grand plan to ruin the Ashinov family, so sleeping this late was a rare indulgence.
Even with all that effort, Devon was still thriving.
‘Why won’t this damned family ever fall…’
People say that effort never betrays the result.
But every day, I felt like effort itself was smacking me across the head.
<“Danae-sama.”>
While I rolled on the bed, lamenting my fate, Pamel—the cause of all this trouble—spoke to me.
<“Yes?”>
<“That doll over there.”>
Though only Pamel’s voice was audible, I immediately knew what he was pointing at.
In my room, the only thing I could call “that doll” was the cursed doll that had been guarding the nightstand next to my bed for years.
<“What about that doll?”>
<“It’s a doll infused with intense resentment. Keeping it nearby will bring bad things.”>
Pamel warned in a serious tone. Of course, all I could do was snort.
‘Bad things, huh.’
<“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a fake cursed doll.”>
I waved my hand nonchalantly, and Pamel leapt in surprise.
<“What? A cursed doll?”>
He completely ignored the “fake” part and reacted sharply to the word “cursed.”
‘The more important part is that it’s fake,’ I thought.
Whether he noticed it or not, the faint spirit of Pamel that had emerged from the necklace hovered around the doll.
“It seems so. With that level of resentment, it could cast a very powerful curse.”
I couldn’t see anything, but apparently, Pamel, as a ghost, could see the resentment.
‘Still, it’s fake.’
“Why did you bring a doll like this into your room? You knew it was a cursed doll, didn’t you?”
‘Why, you ask? I thought, “Why not experience that so-called powerful curse and see if it can ruin the family?”’
I swallowed my words, which would’ve shocked Pamel, and reached for the cursed doll.
As I hugged it and rolled on the bed, Pamel hovered around me, clearly uneasy.
“You must throw it away immediately.”
“No. It was a gift.”
Even though it was an incompetent doll with not a shred of talent for curses, it was a gift from Princess Iella.
No matter how useless the doll was, I couldn’t just throw away a gift from a royal, from a friend.
“Who in their right mind would give something like this as a gift…”
Pamel stared at the doll in disbelief, then seemed to remember something and was suddenly pulled into the doll.
“Huh?”
Startled, I looked at the doll. A faint light was emanating from it, as though something was happening inside.
The soft light grew and dimmed repeatedly before fading completely.
Pamel’s spirit emerged from the doll afterward.
“What did you do?”
“If you can’t throw the doll away, you must remove the resentment. I sent the resentment that was lodged inside back to where it belongs.”
“Where it belongs?”
“Yes. To the afterlife.”
Pamel spoke as if it were simple, but if it were really easy, he wouldn’t have been called a cursed doll for so long.
‘Even as a ghost, a grand mage is still a grand mage.’
“This doll is no longer cursed. The resentment has been completely removed, so you can relax!”
Pamel’s eyes sparkled as he looked at me, like a puppy seeking praise.
He had promised to try to earn my forgiveness, and this seemed to be part of that effort.
‘The useless cursed doll has now become just a useless doll.’
I nonchalantly put the doll back on the nightstand and got out of bed.
“You’re heading back to the Winter Mansion, right?”
“Yes. But first, I’ll stop by the infirmary to see Teon.”
By now, Barateon should have regained consciousness. I wanted to at least exchange greetings before leaving the mansion.
‘Anyway, Blanche is there too.’
If the one posing as Kana at the Winter Mansion was truly a demon, I would need Blanche’s help.
Blanche knew demons better than anyone, so if he got involved, it would make things easier.
‘…Or maybe it’ll complicate things.’
Come to think of it, nothing had ever gone smoothly when Blanche got involved.
With a sense of unease, I pulled the reins. It was time to start a late day.
When I opened the door and entered, the people I expected to see weren’t there.
Only Ska was in the infirmary.
“…Where’s Teon?”
Ska, who had taken over the bed in place of a patient, yawned widely and waved his hand.
“You’re the third one.”
“The third one?”
“Yeah. The third person with that clueless look who came looking for him. Lucas and Siche already came by this morning.”
“So Teon wasn’t here this morning either? Where did he go?”
“He went to the training ground before the sun even rose. His legs felt stiff, and he said he needed to move around a bit.”
“What? Training ground?”
I was so shocked I could barely speak.
The person who had been bleeding as if they were going to die just last night—no, this early morning—was now at the training ground.
Ska seemed to notice my astonishment from my expression and tone, lying sideways with his chin on his hand, blinking lazily.
“Lien said he could move, so he went. His recovery is better than I thought. No wonder he’s a Sword Master.”
“Even so… he should rest for at least a day.”
Speaking aloud, I realized it was similar to what the Duke had told me yesterday.
‘Barateon wouldn’t follow through on even the requests I couldn’t protect.’
I sighed and trudged to sit on the edge of the bed.
Ska, who had taken the bed first, was looking up at me.
“But why do you look like this? Where are Lien and Blanche?”
Usually, Ska would be in his cat form, but today he was in human form.
“Lien took Blanche. I didn’t ask where Lien went. I’m like this because I no longer need to pretend to be a cat.”
Ska answered my question diligently. Not all of it was entirely satisfying, but it was something.
“Why no need to pretend to be a cat?”
“We agreed to be friends after you helped me yesterday. As friends, I can be in this mansion even if I’m not a cat, right?”
Ska asserted confidently.
When we moved from the Winter Mansion to the Eastern Gate, I had made that promise while asking for his help.
“Besides, how many saw me at the Eastern Gate? I might as well drop the cat act since I’ve already been seen.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Barateon and Hedin were at the Eastern Gate. They surely wouldn’t ignore a stranger’s identity.
It seemed safer to confront it with a suitable excuse than to evade it.
I could also use Ska’s strength to fight demons and repair the barriers.
‘Hmm. I can’t say he’s Lien’s friend. Maybe saying he’s a colleague of the grand mage will do.’
The “grand mage” excuse worked everywhere.
If a story started with “the grand mage,” even unbelievable things could sound plausible.
“I’ll tell the mansion staff that you’re a colleague of the grand mage. That the grand mage returned and that’s why you’ve regained your human form from being a cat.”
“What? Why would I have to be a human mage’s colleague?”
“Friends have to understand each other’s difficult situations. It’s better for me if you act that way.”
“…Hmph. Being a human mage’s colleague is humiliating, but I’ll endure it. We’re friends.”
Ska snorted, wrapping his arm around my waist.
Though his tone sounded displeased, his eyes suggested he wasn’t too unhappy.
Looking at Ska’s face, a memory I had forgotten flashed through my mind.
It was about Lien having met Pamel in the past.
“Ska, I have something to ask you.”
“From me? What is it?”
“Yeah. Pamel apparently met Lien before he died. He even learned the method to reincarnate me from her.”
“Ah… yeah. Since you met the grand mage, that was bound to come out eventually.”
Ska’s eyes scanned my face as if trying to figure out how much I knew.
After a moment of thought, he spoke.
“That’s right. Lien told him. How to reincarnate you. A guy who had the duty to counteract dark magic ended up encouraging it…”
“Duty to counteract dark magic?”
“God gave the dragon both power and duty at the beginning. To maintain the world’s balance. Dark magic is clearly a force that disrupts balance. He must never have encouraged it.”
“So the story should end with him being punished…”
I said lightly, joking, and Ska smiled lightly back at me.
“Oh, my friend is smart.”
But the meaning behind his smile wasn’t light at all.
‘Wait… that means my master was punished for not following the divine duty…’
Before my thoughts could go further, the closed door opened and Lien entered.
The person in question appeared suddenly, and even though we weren’t saying anything bad, my shoulders flinched.
In the awkward silence, Lien’s cold gaze fell on me and Ska.
More precisely, it seemed focused on the arm Ska had wrapped around my waist.
Ska noticed it too and leaned closer to me, whispering cautiously.
“Hey. I said a friend is closer than a doctor, right? So you have to protect me from that guy. Got it?”
But that action only seemed to make things worse.
“What are you doing, Skargard?”
Lien called Ska’s name with a gaze even colder than before.
