Deep dawn.
Callius was looking at Chloe, who was curled up in a deep sleep.
"Cold..."
The logs in the fireplace were burning brightly, as Callius had just rekindled the dying embers.
The room was quite warm.
Besides, she was covering herself with a thick blanket pulled up to her neck.
Still, white breath was slowly leaking out of her mouth.
'It looked a little better during the day.'
The curse seemed to become more powerful at night.
Callius took her hand in pity. It was very cold.
Calling a doctor would do nothing, as it was a curse, but Callius knew very well that there was no other way.
He cupped Chloe's cold cheek with his hand.
Chloe couldn't fall into a deep sleep and kept tossing and turning.
Callius couldn't stand to see that and quietly got out of bed.
'We must find a way to break the curse.'
As he was about to go out, he heard a rustling sound behind him.
“Callius...?”
Chloe called him in a small voice.
Chloe sat up, wrapped tightly in the blanket and rubbing her eyes as if overcome with sleep, and looked up at Callius.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s still a long way from dawn. Sleep a little longer.”
“What about Callius?”
“I have something to do...”
Chloe, who had not yet fully shaken off her sleep, spoke pitifully with a half-asleep face.
“Do you have to go...?”
It seemed like she couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.
Chloe lowered her head sullenly with a sad expression.
“I don’t want to be alone...”
And then, slowly, he lies down again.
“I can’t help it... I’m okay...”
It seemed like he was used to giving up quickly and calmly without even asking twice.
Why is that so heartbreaking?
Callius returned to Chloe's side and patted her shoulder.
"Cold..."
Chloe pulled the blanket closer to her and hugged him.
She fell asleep again like that.
It seemed like she was repeatedly falling asleep and waking up.
'I can't last like this for long.'
The sorcerer was right when he said Chloe would die soon.
Callius left the room with heavy steps, leaving Chloe behind, and headed somewhere.
'There must be more records of my mother somewhere.'
“...”
Someone was watching Callius as he left the room and walked down the hallway.
The black figure, completely hidden in the shadows, did not move hastily to follow Callius.
Instead, he focused on the sound of Callius's footsteps, and then, keeping a sufficient distance, he headed in the direction he suspected he was headed.
Sunny morning.
Kavala appeared from somewhere and reached out to the red bird circling around her.
The red bird landed on her hand, and when her breath touched it, it turned into a light dust and etched letters into the empty space on the desk.
[As the Princess's curse began, Marquis Rodrian began to move.]
Kavala blew away the light dust once again.
The light powder disappeared into the air without a trace.
“It’s slow.”
She clicked her tongue, but smiled as if she liked the report.
She looked at the ring in her hand with a pleasant expression.
Sunlight streaming in from the window struck the ring, spreading its glow around it. It was red.
Kavala turned the beautiful, red-hued, top-quality ruby ring around and put it on her finger.
“My stuff came back.”
It was a ruby ring called Dragon's Eye.
Kavala looked up at Dnieper, who was standing politely in front of the desk, caressing the ring with affection and care as if it were a lost baby.
“You found this in the North?”
The dragon's eye was discovered by Dnieper by chance while he was searching for the whereabouts of Viscount Pelsus.
Not only did Dnieper have solid evidence of the disappearance of Viscount Pelsus in the North, but he also found the dragon's eye up for auction on the northern black market.
Kavala gave a very beautiful smile and praised Dnieper, who had returned after a long absence with a great fortune.
“Who had this?”
Dnieper nodded to the servant standing at the door.
Then the servant brought in someone from outside.
A man with a bushy beard and a bear-like build was dragged into Kavala's office.
“Please, please save me! Please save me!”
He pleaded with tears in his eyes.
“I swear I didn’t know that was the Empress’s! It’s true!”
Kavala spoke softly with a very compassionate smile.
"There's no need to create such a scary atmosphere. Just let him go."
Hope appeared on the face of the man who had been dragged around with his wrists and ankles bound in shackles.
Freed from his chains, he looked up to Kavala as if it were an angel.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Kavala approached him and asked him kindly.
“How did you get your hands on this?”
The man answered quickly, as if he had no intention of hiding it from the beginning.
"A while ago, a merchant brought a gemstone to me for appraisal! He didn't even know what it was. I immediately recognized it as a dragon's eye! I've always been interested in named gemstones! I once read it in a book..."
As the man's words grew longer, Kavala's gentle smile hardened slightly.
She asked bluntly, still smiling.
"So?"
The man felt relieved to see Kavala smiling, but he swallowed hard as he felt a strange air rising through his body.
“That, that’s why I bought the ring from him. The reason I put it up for auction is simply...”
Kavala cut him off, as if he had no interest in such things.
“Do you know where the merchant who brought this ring is now?”
The man shook his head, his lips pursed as if he were about to burst into tears.
He had already been dragged to the palace because he couldn't answer that question.
"He, he's just a wandering merchant... He's always traveling around the North. He appears suddenly one day, and then disappears the next. So, I can't say for sure where he is now..."
He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and looked up at Kavala.
Kavala was looking down at him with a very cold gaze, as if she had never smiled kindly before.
The man realized that if something was wrong, it was seriously wrong.
'If you don't say anything here, you die.'
His instincts were screaming at him.
The man quickly turned his head for a split second.
He had to say something to please Kavala. No, he thought it would be nice if he could just buy time.
'What should I talk about? What? What kind of things?'
It would be of no use to describe the appearance of that wandering merchant.
Because all peddlers walk around looking similar.
The longer he pondered, the colder Kavala's expression became.
The man barely managed to hold back a groan from wetness, startled by Kavala's small sigh.
Kavala gestured to the attendant as if she were annoyed.
The man instinctively knew that the gesture was not a good sign.
He trembled like an aspen tree and blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Ronheim!”
Kavala's footsteps, as he turned and headed towards the desk, suddenly stopped.
The man only belatedly made an 'Oh, that's right!' expression after he had mentioned Ronheim.
The characteristics of a wandering merchant, which he had been completely oblivious to due to tension, came out unconsciously in an urgent situation.
“Ronheim?”
Kavala walked back to the man with an elegant gait.
"Yes, yes! I remember him often selling goods from Ronheim! Not many merchants travel to Ronheim! There must be a wandering merchant who carries goods there who brought that ring!"
"Yes?"
A gentle smile spread across Kavala's frozen expression once again.
'I lived.'
The man finally felt relieved.
But the relief was short-lived, as Kavala beckoned to the attendant with a kind face.
“Clean it up. It would be better to get rid of it completely.”
The man, who had not imagined this ending, opened his eyes wide.
“Ah, Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please save me, Your Majesty!”
But his pleas didn't last long.
Because the moment he was dragged out of the office, he ceased to be a human being in this world.
Kavala, as if disgusted by the smell of sweat left behind by the man, ordered the maids to open the window to air out the room and, as was her custom, sprayed perfume on it.
Then he looked back at Dnieper and smiled broadly.
"It's called Ronheim. Isn't that a funny coincidence?"
Callius was looking at Chloe, who was curled up in a deep sleep.
"Cold..."
The logs in the fireplace were burning brightly, as Callius had just rekindled the dying embers.
The room was quite warm.
Besides, she was covering herself with a thick blanket pulled up to her neck.
Still, white breath was slowly leaking out of her mouth.
'It looked a little better during the day.'
The curse seemed to become more powerful at night.
Callius took her hand in pity. It was very cold.
Calling a doctor would do nothing, as it was a curse, but Callius knew very well that there was no other way.
He cupped Chloe's cold cheek with his hand.
Chloe couldn't fall into a deep sleep and kept tossing and turning.
Callius couldn't stand to see that and quietly got out of bed.
'We must find a way to break the curse.'
As he was about to go out, he heard a rustling sound behind him.
“Callius...?”
Chloe called him in a small voice.
Chloe sat up, wrapped tightly in the blanket and rubbing her eyes as if overcome with sleep, and looked up at Callius.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s still a long way from dawn. Sleep a little longer.”
“What about Callius?”
“I have something to do...”
Chloe, who had not yet fully shaken off her sleep, spoke pitifully with a half-asleep face.
“Do you have to go...?”
It seemed like she couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.
Chloe lowered her head sullenly with a sad expression.
“I don’t want to be alone...”
And then, slowly, he lies down again.
“I can’t help it... I’m okay...”
It seemed like he was used to giving up quickly and calmly without even asking twice.
Why is that so heartbreaking?
Callius returned to Chloe's side and patted her shoulder.
"Cold..."
Chloe pulled the blanket closer to her and hugged him.
She fell asleep again like that.
It seemed like she was repeatedly falling asleep and waking up.
'I can't last like this for long.'
The sorcerer was right when he said Chloe would die soon.
Callius left the room with heavy steps, leaving Chloe behind, and headed somewhere.
'There must be more records of my mother somewhere.'
***
“...”
Someone was watching Callius as he left the room and walked down the hallway.
The black figure, completely hidden in the shadows, did not move hastily to follow Callius.
Instead, he focused on the sound of Callius's footsteps, and then, keeping a sufficient distance, he headed in the direction he suspected he was headed.
***
Sunny morning.
Kavala appeared from somewhere and reached out to the red bird circling around her.
The red bird landed on her hand, and when her breath touched it, it turned into a light dust and etched letters into the empty space on the desk.
[As the Princess's curse began, Marquis Rodrian began to move.]
Kavala blew away the light dust once again.
The light powder disappeared into the air without a trace.
“It’s slow.”
She clicked her tongue, but smiled as if she liked the report.
She looked at the ring in her hand with a pleasant expression.
Sunlight streaming in from the window struck the ring, spreading its glow around it. It was red.
Kavala turned the beautiful, red-hued, top-quality ruby ring around and put it on her finger.
“My stuff came back.”
It was a ruby ring called Dragon's Eye.
Kavala looked up at Dnieper, who was standing politely in front of the desk, caressing the ring with affection and care as if it were a lost baby.
“You found this in the North?”
The dragon's eye was discovered by Dnieper by chance while he was searching for the whereabouts of Viscount Pelsus.
Not only did Dnieper have solid evidence of the disappearance of Viscount Pelsus in the North, but he also found the dragon's eye up for auction on the northern black market.
Kavala gave a very beautiful smile and praised Dnieper, who had returned after a long absence with a great fortune.
“Who had this?”
Dnieper nodded to the servant standing at the door.
Then the servant brought in someone from outside.
A man with a bushy beard and a bear-like build was dragged into Kavala's office.
“Please, please save me! Please save me!”
He pleaded with tears in his eyes.
“I swear I didn’t know that was the Empress’s! It’s true!”
Kavala spoke softly with a very compassionate smile.
"There's no need to create such a scary atmosphere. Just let him go."
Hope appeared on the face of the man who had been dragged around with his wrists and ankles bound in shackles.
Freed from his chains, he looked up to Kavala as if it were an angel.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Kavala approached him and asked him kindly.
“How did you get your hands on this?”
The man answered quickly, as if he had no intention of hiding it from the beginning.
"A while ago, a merchant brought a gemstone to me for appraisal! He didn't even know what it was. I immediately recognized it as a dragon's eye! I've always been interested in named gemstones! I once read it in a book..."
As the man's words grew longer, Kavala's gentle smile hardened slightly.
She asked bluntly, still smiling.
"So?"
The man felt relieved to see Kavala smiling, but he swallowed hard as he felt a strange air rising through his body.
“That, that’s why I bought the ring from him. The reason I put it up for auction is simply...”
Kavala cut him off, as if he had no interest in such things.
“Do you know where the merchant who brought this ring is now?”
The man shook his head, his lips pursed as if he were about to burst into tears.
He had already been dragged to the palace because he couldn't answer that question.
"He, he's just a wandering merchant... He's always traveling around the North. He appears suddenly one day, and then disappears the next. So, I can't say for sure where he is now..."
He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and looked up at Kavala.
Kavala was looking down at him with a very cold gaze, as if she had never smiled kindly before.
The man realized that if something was wrong, it was seriously wrong.
'If you don't say anything here, you die.'
His instincts were screaming at him.
The man quickly turned his head for a split second.
He had to say something to please Kavala. No, he thought it would be nice if he could just buy time.
'What should I talk about? What? What kind of things?'
It would be of no use to describe the appearance of that wandering merchant.
Because all peddlers walk around looking similar.
The longer he pondered, the colder Kavala's expression became.
The man barely managed to hold back a groan from wetness, startled by Kavala's small sigh.
Kavala gestured to the attendant as if she were annoyed.
The man instinctively knew that the gesture was not a good sign.
He trembled like an aspen tree and blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Ronheim!”
Kavala's footsteps, as he turned and headed towards the desk, suddenly stopped.
The man only belatedly made an 'Oh, that's right!' expression after he had mentioned Ronheim.
The characteristics of a wandering merchant, which he had been completely oblivious to due to tension, came out unconsciously in an urgent situation.
“Ronheim?”
Kavala walked back to the man with an elegant gait.
"Yes, yes! I remember him often selling goods from Ronheim! Not many merchants travel to Ronheim! There must be a wandering merchant who carries goods there who brought that ring!"
"Yes?"
A gentle smile spread across Kavala's frozen expression once again.
'I lived.'
The man finally felt relieved.
But the relief was short-lived, as Kavala beckoned to the attendant with a kind face.
“Clean it up. It would be better to get rid of it completely.”
The man, who had not imagined this ending, opened his eyes wide.
“Ah, Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please save me, Your Majesty!”
But his pleas didn't last long.
Because the moment he was dragged out of the office, he ceased to be a human being in this world.
Kavala, as if disgusted by the smell of sweat left behind by the man, ordered the maids to open the window to air out the room and, as was her custom, sprayed perfume on it.
Then he looked back at Dnieper and smiled broadly.
"It's called Ronheim. Isn't that a funny coincidence?"
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