A narrow room lit only by a single candle.
Ruth, who was making a fuss about having to ask questions or she would die, was unable to calm down as if she had already been consumed by a curse.
“A question... I have to ask...”
Louis, who was quietly watching her, sighed and asked Simone.
"What should I do? No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think she's in a state to talk right now.”
Simone, who was troubled as she watched Ruth give no answer, reluctantly nodded that it was okay.
“Let me hear from you. What questions are you trying to ask?”
At Simone's words, Louis removed the hand that had covered Ruth's mouth.
Ruth blurted out questions as soon as her mouth was free.
“Osasanisasaosai has descended to ask Simone a question. Tonight, Ruth, the maid of the Illestone family, will commit suicide. What is the reason?”
What's this? What a strange question.
'...Do I have to answer?'
Simone hesitated in bewilderment and only opened her mouth after looking into Ruth's wide-open eyes.
“Uh... Is Ruth under a curse?”
Then Ruth's eyes shook. Tears flowed from her wide-open eyes.
“You answered...”
Ruth muttered in shock, then raised her head and this time looked at Louis and asked a question.
“Osasanisasao has come down and asks Wren. Tonight, Ruth, the servant of the Ileston family, commits suicide. What is the reason?”
Louis looked at Simone.
“Should I just not answer? Judging from Ruth’s reaction, it seems like it would be important whether or not you answer.”
Simone nodded.
“It may be dangerous, but please do me a favor.”
Louis looked at Ruth and shut his mouth. Ruth began counting with her mouth still moving, her face frozen stiffly.
“Oh, four, three, two, one.”
Ruth laughed heartily. Then she said.
“Wren did not answer the question of the Osasanisasaosani, so if you do not question the seven people, you will commit suicide tonight.”
"What?"
“Haha..."
Ruth laughed and danced around happily until she pushed Louis away, opened the door, and ran away.
“...”
“...”
Louis, who was staring blankly at the wide open door with Simone, asked blankly.
“Am I under a curse?”
“I think so...”
Simone answered and sat down on the road chair. Curse, question. Now she felt she had a rough idea of the situation.
Louis also closed the door and sat down with a shocked expression on his face.
“Am I going to die?”
"No. I won't let you die. Let’s organize the situation and find a solution.”
Simone frowned. If her guess is correct, the situation may be more serious than expected.
“First of all, it seems that this curse will be activated if the questioner’s question is not answered.”
“Did you hear what Ruth said correctly? They told me that if she didn’t question seven people, she would commit suicide.”
Simone nodded.
“That’s how you spread curses.”
He gave the person on whom the curse was activated an opportunity to escape by telling him that he would not commit suicide as long as he answered the number of questions and used that to spread many curses.
Perhaps a question relay took place among the employees overnight. They may have run out of people to ask questions and eventually run out to find someone.
When Simone had finished organizing her thoughts, something suddenly occurred to her mind.
[This letter first originated in England...]
A prank letter that starts with that phrase.
It was a story about how if you received a letter and did not distribute it to a certain number of people within a given time, something unfortunate would happen.
'Another familiar ghost story.'
Although they seem similar, they are different, but she cannot shake the suspicion that their original form may be ghost stories and folk tales that are widely spread in Korea.
Anyway, let’s leave this behind for now.
'Who? Who did that?'
What's important is who started this question.
“Who started this?”
Anyway, every curse has a cause, and if you dig into the cause, you will find the solution.
Finding someone who started first would probably be the closest thing to an answer.
Meanwhile, Louis was also deep in thought, and instead of answering Simone's question, he asked another question.
“What is Osasanisasao?”
Ruth said that Osasanisasao had definitely descended.
What on earth could that be? It wasn't the name of a God recognized by the Empire.
"Hmm..."
Simone shook her head as if she didn't know and said.
“Let’s move separately for now. I will go back to the mansion and find out what Osasanisasao is. I also have to report the situation to the Grand Duke. Wren-”
“I will look for the people wandering around here.”
Simone nodded.
“Can you do it alone? It won’t usually be difficult to control a group of people who try to ask questions out of their wits.”
“Leave it to me.”
Louis confidently tapped his chest.
“I plan to ask my friends for help.”
Friend? Ah.
Simone soon realized that Louis was referring to Abel and his group, the main characters in the original novel.
“Those guys are good at causing trouble in many ways, but they’re incredibly good at finding things.”
Louis has been working as Simone's employee recently, while also cooperating with Abel and his group, trying to solve the royal family's problems in various ways.
'Then are I going to meet Abel and his group now?'
She didn't want to become colleagues with the main character, but she thought she'd like to see them in person at least once, as they are the main characters who shared the joys, sorrows, and sorrows of reading fifteen books.
Yes, she can leave this job to them.
“Then please take care of me.”
“Please go back carefully. I will gather the employees together and tell them the location separately.”
Simone broke up with Louis and headed to the mansion.
***
“Simone, gasp, Simone, are you here?”
When she arrived at the mansion, a security guard came running and opened the door.
The servants, including Anna, were still out of sight, seemingly wandering about frantically.
Simone went straight to the study and knocked on the door. Grand Duke Illeston quickly opened the door as if he was about to come out.
“You came.”
The Grand Duke of Illeston entered the road and sat down on the sofa.
From what she could see, the documents piled up in the morning were still there, as if things had gotten out of hand.
Apparently, he was waiting for Simone.
He asked Simone as soon as she sat down on the chair.
“Has there been any progress?”
Simone nodded.
“First of all, I found the chief of the court.”
“Were you in the village?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I know for sure. This is a curse.”
Grand Duke Illeston's eyes widened and then returned to their original state.
"Right. What kind of curse is it?”
“I don’t know for sure. It was a curse where if you asked a question and couldn’t answer, the curse would be activated.”
“What is that.”
Grand Duke Illeston frowned as if he did not understand Simone's words. Simone understood him.
Of course, she won't understand. Even Simone herself, who is explaining it, doesn’t understand it.
Simone described in detail what happened in the village of Hertin.
“The Chamberlain wanted to ask me a question as soon as he met me. He said if I don’t ask questions, he’ll kill himself tonight.”
“Suicide?”
“So I asked the question and Wren didn’t answer. Then it seemed like a curse was triggered. He said that if I didn’t ask the same question to seven people, Wren would kill himself that night.”
“What the hell is that-”
“Do you know Osasanisasao?”
Simone interrupted Grand Duke Illeston and asked.
She knows he's confused and doesn't understand the situation, but she can't afford to wait and see his reaction right now.
Soon the sun will set, evening will come, and night will come.
At night, many of the cursed users and Louis die.
It had to be resolved before that.
"Excuse me."
At that time, the employee, Claire, knocked on the door and came in, pouring tea for the two.
“What are you talking about, Osasanisasao?”
“Yes, the chief steward said so. Lord Osasanisasaosao will come down and ask questions.”
Jjaeng!
The two stopped talking at the sudden loud noise and looked at Claire.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Claire started to clean up the teacup she had knocked over with a frightened look on her face and wiped up the spilled tea.
The wrinkles between the Grand Duke of Illestone's eyebrows deepened.
Grand Duke Illeston, who was looking at her as if reprimanding her, suddenly tilted his head and stopped Claire.
"For a moment."
“Yes, yes?”
When Grand Duke Illeston looked at her, Claire's expression got even worse. She had a face with a prickly edge.
Grand Duke Illeston asked with an expressionless expression.
“Do you know what Osasanisasao is?”
“Ugh! That, that...”
Claire's body began to visibly shake.
“Tell me quickly. It will be the most important clue in this case.”
Only after being questioned by the Grand Duke of Illeston did Claire open her mouth, trembling.
“Osasanisasao...Among us, it is known as the name of the god of vengeance...”
“God of vengeance?”
“Well, it’s said that if you pray when you want to get revenge on someone you’ve been harassing, they will curse you...”
In other words, Osasanisasao was the name of an evil spirit who cursed others.
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