THIBV - Chapter 97

Meanwhile, after leaving the palace, Avril suffered from terrible nightmares as aftereffects.

Only after spending a full week in bed did she remember that she had tried to seduce Julian.

'I went to the place the maid told me to go to, but what happened after that...?'

Her memory wasn't clear.

They said she had been asleep for a long time, but because of the nightmares, it didn't seem like she had slept at all.

Memories were jumbled up here and there.

"Avril, come to your senses. Are you still in pain?"

Countess Lenford, Avril's mother, looked at her daughter's face with concern.

Avril grabbed her head.

"Someone attacked me. Mom, who broke into this room while I was sleeping?"

"You said someone broke in. That never happened."

"Is this a dream? Oh, what the heck..."

Avril was crying in agony.

"What on earth are you dreaming about that makes you do that?"

"Red eyes. Red eyes are trying to kill me, Mom. They're like an animal, no, a devil. They were definitely a devil!"

"Devil?"

Avril raised her head.

"Yes! I saw it clearly! It was the devil."

"Does the devil appear in your dreams?"

"No, definitely..."

Avril was in pain, shedding tears as she tried to recall her memories with a confused face.

"It's not a dream... Is it a dream? It's not..."

Countess Lenford told her husband what her daughter had said.

"April keeps saying that the devil tried to kill her. She's been telling the maids the same thing for days now."

"She's saying the same thing."

Count Lanford narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin.

"I wonder if Avril saw something terrible in the palace."

"Something terrible?"

"Hmm. By any chance...?"

Count Lenford, who had been feeling something, rode away in a carriage a few days later.

It was an old two-story country house. The outside was extremely shabby, but the inside was very splendid.

"The master is out now, please come back later."

"I came knowing the Duke was here, butler."

"Let me say it again..."

"Go and tell the Duke that I never sent my daughter to the King's mistress to show favor to the King."

"I will tell him."

The butler's reaction was cold.

The Count of Lenford went to see the Duke of Linchester.

However, the Duke of Linchester was upset that the Count had sent his daughter to be Bridget's maid, and so refused to meet him.

In fact, the Count of Lenford was right to send his daughter to the palace because he judged that the Duke of Linchester's power was declining while he was cowering in the countryside.

But he never denied that was what he really meant.

Seeing the butler's indifferent reaction, Count Lenford knew that his words would not reach the Duke of Linchester.

So, he had no choice but to tell the butler what he wanted to say to the Duke directly.

"Then tell him this. Ask him to doubt the eternal rainbow."

There is no basis for this. It is only a guess.

But whether that is true or not, it will be up to the Duke of Linchester to find out.

Whether he took the bait or passed it on, Count Lenford had nothing to lose.

***

The Duke of Linchester was alone in his study on the second floor, suppressing his anger.

In his hands, two walnuts rubbed against each other, making a crunching sound.

'It's a shame to lose face.'

Things haven't been so good for him lately.

Immediately after losing his lifeline, the Count of Kensington, he also lost his other lifeline, his eldest son-in-law, the Count of Peyton.

This was because he did not help Count Peyton, who came to ask for help for his grandson who was being tried due to Julian's war orphan relief policy.

"The King himself came forward and started the fight, and you think that if you come to me and bow down, it will be resolved! You incompetent bastard!"

The Duke of Linchester nervously threw down the walnut he was holding.

Julian gradually ate away at his power in the front under the pretense of rooting out corruption, while Bridget gradually shook up his power behind the scenes under the pretense of throwing banquets and selecting maids.

The Duke's eyes narrowed.

"The atmosphere has definitely changed."

At first glance, it seemed like things were happening one after another.

But at some point, all this bad news started to pile up.

"That government bitch. Ever since she entered the palace.'"

The fortune tellers said that Bridget seemed to be the one who brought light to Julian's darkness.

She was said to have driven away Julian's bad luck.

He warned that because they are so compatible, they are fatedly drawn together and that such a relationship cannot be broken except by death.

"You must kill that woman, Duke. The horoscope says that she is an evil spirit who steals from you. Everything will go wrong because of her."

'Yeah, we have to kill that bitch.'

He had planted a spy in Winston's mansion for that purpose, so a method would soon be found.

At that moment, the Duke was gnashing his teeth.

The butler came into the study and relayed the words of the Count of Lenford.

"What, you want me to doubt the immortal rainbow?"

"Yes, that's what he said."

The corners of the Duke of Linchester's mouth split open into a furrow.

It was sweet news to hear after a long time, after hearing only bad news every day.

"Call a fortuneteller."

The butler summoned the fortune teller who resided in the Duke's house.

The Duke of Linchester had his fortune told.

"Is this good news for me?"

A fortune teller was someone who told fortunes by scattering sand.

He threw sand on the cloth, examined its shape, and then nodded.

"It is clear."

"You're sure that Count Lenford didn't lie to me?"

The fortune teller sprinkled sand again.

"Yes. It is said to be the truth without a single lie."

The Duke of Linchester, who had finished checking, gave his butler an order with a pleasant smile.

"The daughter of that house seems to have seen something. Find out what happened."

"I will summon the spy planted in the palace."

After the butler left, the Duke of Linchester was left alone and clenched his fists and laughed heartily.

Even before he called in his spy, he was already certain that something bad was wrong with Julian.

Given that Count Lenford mentioned the rainbow, the bad thing must have something to do with a curse.

"Hehe, hehehe! I knew it! I knew it."

He pushed the bookshelf near the wall, and a hidden door appeared.

It was a door leading to the basement.

The Duke went down to the basement to find the key hidden in a place unknown to even the butler.

There were many books and objects related to all kinds of magic and superstition.

Strange masks and amulets, magical swords and mirrors, bells with red strings, chalices and candlesticks stolen from ancient temples...

These were the items he took with him before the gold when he fled here in the middle of the night, abandoning his capital city mansion to escape the rebellion.

In the meantime, he returned to his study after finding with difficulty a book that he had carefully hidden away.

It was a record book with the royal seal.

"What about immortality? The successors of the curse did not survive. They all died before they reached the age of thirty."

He ran his hand through the records.

"...Except for one person."

A document that was kept confidential even in the royal family.

It was a record of the shadow curse.

When the rebellion broke out, the Duke of Linchester managed to smuggle this document out.

This record was written directly by Queen Beatrice regarding the curse.

Queen Beatrice was the only one who inherited the curse but lived a long life, neither going mad nor dying young.

At that time, she invited people with special abilities from all over the country, treated them generously, and had them research curses until the day she died.

She didn't even hesitate to become a test subject herself. She thought it was for the good of the Blake royal family and the country.

The log contained almost everything she had learned about the Shadow Curse.

"If Julian hasn't overcome the curse, then he still has a weakness."

***

At that moment, the Duke of Linchester was looking over the records regarding the Shadow Curse.

The Duke wasn't the only one trying.

Bridget was throwing the round magi into the shadows while chewing over Nostram's prophecy.

'If you eat this, you will be quiet...'

Shh-

Hot.

Shh-

Hot.

Shh- 

Hot.

The black knight snatched them away with his hook.

As Bridget stopped her rhythmic repetition, the black knight poked his head out from within Bridget's shadow.

'That's strange. Julian clearly said that it was an inanimate object that couldn't be tamed.'

Why do I feel like I'm increasingly in touch with it?

The Shadow Knight was waving his hands in the air as if asking for more magi.

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