Chapter 28
‘If it’s connected to black magic, doesn’t that mean it’s cursed?!’
Thoughts chased one another endlessly as Velia ruffled her own hair in frustration.
“That—”
Velia looked up.
Following Carlton’s gaze, which was fixed intently on something, she narrowed her eyes.
From a gap in the ceiling above the well, the faintest glimmer of light was seeping through.
“A jewel?”
Just as Velia blinked, Carlton moved in a flash.
He scaled the side wall and plucked the jewel free.
The instant he did, the jewel in his hand sparkled—and then vanished.
Carlton vanished along with it.
“Huh?”
Bang!
“Kyaaah!”
Before she could make sense of what was happening, an enormous crash resounded.
The entire building began to shake.
Velia, startled by Carlton’s sudden disappearance, scanned her surroundings.
“Tower Master?”
There was no sign of anyone nearby.
The floor and walls trembled as if from an earthquake.
Velia struggled to keep her balance.
Thunk—
“Hm?”
Something touched her shoulder.
“A stone?”
She had just identified the small rock that had landed near her when, all at once, pebbles and dirt began to rain down from the ceiling.
She flinched as something sharp grazed her cheek.
“Blood?”
Her fingers came away red.
Thud—
A louder, more ominous crash made her stomach tighten.
When Velia glanced up at the ceiling, her face went pale.
“Ahhh!”
It was a narrow escape.
She sucked in a breath as a massive structure fell from above.
Her hair stood on end.
A moment later and she would have been crushed to death.
The shaking grew steadily worse.
“What’s going on?”
Her heart pounded wildly.
Velia crouched low, trying to shield herself from the chunks of debris crashing down around her.
She was so frightened that even a scream wouldn’t come out.
“Is the building… collapsing?”
She pressed herself against the far wall to avoid the falling rubble.
“Tower Master? Where are you? Where are you?!! I’m here! I’m right here!”
No answer.
Not even a shadow of him. Velia’s breath caught in her throat.
No one was coming to help. She was alone in a collapsing building.
I’m going to die.
That all-too-familiar, icy sensation told her that if she just stood there, her fourth life would end here.
Thud—
Even larger beams and stones began to crash down.
The stairs she’d used to get here were already blocked off.
Her face drained of all color.
“No. Not yet. It’s not my time yet.”
Forcing herself to think clearly, she scanned the room for any place where less debris was falling.
“I can make it… right? No, dying like this all of a sudden is just unfair.”
Her voice trembled.
Then she spotted a narrow space between two bookshelves and sprinted toward it.
In that moment, a beam crashed down directly above her head.
“Kyaaaah—!”
She had nearly died. This time, it felt real.
Her face stung.
When she saw the fresh blood on her hand, her whole body shook.
Her knees and palms burned where they’d scraped against the stone floor.
“I… I can’t die like this.”
Kicking off her uncomfortable heels, she grabbed her skirt and bolted.
She dove into an open gap amid the falling debris.
“Haaah!”
From between the bookshelves, she looked back just in time to see a heavy stone slam down exactly where she had been standing seconds before.
She began to run forward, unable to see more than a few feet ahead.
“Tower Master!!! Where are you?!”
Holding her skirt to keep her legs free, she sprinted.
She had no idea where she was headed—only that she had to survive.
Fortunately, nothing else fell in her path.
Only the vibrations continued.
“Tower Master? Tower Master! Where did you go?! Where are you?! You’re the one who brought me here! Where are you!!!”
Still no answer. Her vision blurred.
The trembling was worse now, and the sound of things collapsing echoed from every direction.
“Can I even get out?!”
Tears—born of fear or anger, she couldn’t tell—slipped down her cheeks.
“No, is this really how I go? Am I just… done now?”
What in the world was this?
She had come to the Academy event just to regain her memories, and now she was about to die.
Her lungs burned, but she couldn’t stop running.
“Tower Master!!! Hey!!!”
The moment desperation tipped into anger—
Shreeeek—
A spine-chilling noise rang out. Velia froze instinctively, the vibrations forgotten.
She turned around.
She couldn’t see a thing, but goosebumps prickled from her toes to the top of her head.
She knew, without seeing it, that another living being was here with her.
Her body locked up.
She had felt this before—
Yes, it was like the sensation of a snake slithering across her skin.
Before she could recall more, Velia whipped back around.
Something—definitely not human—was approaching.
Her legs moved on pure instinct.
“This is insane. Seriously insane.”
She muttered it under her breath, unable to shout.
If she didn’t speak at all, she felt she would be swallowed by the fear.
Despite her trembling limbs, she ran.
“Ahhh!”
A scream tore from her throat.
She wasn’t used to running; her legs finally betrayed her.
She stumbled, fell, then gritted her teeth and got back up.
Never in her life had she faced such a ridiculous death, and she didn’t even have words for it.
Just as she prepared to run again—
Her eyes widened.
“…lia.”
A voice, chilling to the bone, called her name.
It was close—too close.
Almost right behind her, and it didn’t sound human at all.
The piercing sound tore through the air, momentarily blotting out her pain.
“This can’t be real.”
She had no time to wonder how it knew her name.
Even with blood streaming down her skin, her legs kept moving.
“Ahhh!!!”
Now her nose was running along with her tears.
Countless faces flashed through her mind—the moment she had mounted the scaffold, the moment her eldest brother beheaded her, the moment she had fallen from the cliff.
But dying to a monster? That would be the worst death of all.
“Kkyaaaah!”
She shrieked.
The monster had reached her.
When an unfamiliar sensation touched her shoulder, she ground her teeth together.
“Let go! Let go of me! It’s not my time yet! I said let go!!”
“Get a hold of yourself!”
That wasn’t a metallic rasp.
It was a human voice.
Velia opened her eyes wide.
“You okay?!”
“You…”
Through her blurry vision, she saw red eyes.
“Tower Master…?”
“Are you hurt anywhere?!”
Sweat beaded Carlton’s face, as though he had sprinted to her.
As he scanned her over and spotted the cut on her face, his brows furrowed.
He reached out and brushed a finger over the wound.
The sting jolted Velia’s senses back, and she muttered blankly:
“You…”
“Thank goodness.”
Relieved that she had no major injuries, Carlton nodded.
“You’re not badly hurt, so…”
Perhaps it was the relief, but tears welled up.
“Where… where were you? What on earth were you doing?!”
Her voice shook.
“Why did you suddenly disappear? Do you know how scared I was? I was really…!”
The moment she realized it was Carlton holding her, relief and resentment burst out together.
Carlton pulled her closer.
“It was an illusion.”
He studied her, still panting from fear and exertion.
“I told you to stay where you were.”
“How could I stay put when the building was collapsing?!”
He shook his head.
“It was mental magic. I’m sorry. There were no traces of a curse before… It was my mistake for not checking thoroughly.”
“What? What did you say?”
Velia stared at him blankly.
“Everything you saw was an illusion. Nothing collapsed. I had placed a protection spell over where you stood… but it was broken by a spell.”
“An illusion?”
“Yes. When we entered the room, there was no sign of it, but it must have been triggered when I removed the jewel.”
“Then that weird metallic noise behind me… the sound like a monster coming—?”
“That was probably me calling you. Look behind me.”
Velia glanced past Carlton’s shoulder, toward the path she had just run.
“It’s… fine.”
Her voice came out hollow.
Nothing was broken.
When she’d run this way before, everything had gone dark in an instant and she could see nothing. Now, the area was bright.
Light spilled in from what she guessed was the well, and the distance she thought she’d covered was actually short.
“So only this path seemed free from the collapse in your vision? That’s why you ran this way… Now, look behind you.”
