The stairs went all the way to the basement. Chession took out the lantern magic tool he had brought and lit up the surroundings.
It took a while to go down the endless stairs. Chession began to worry about Gremory, who had been silent for a long time.
"Mori, if you're having a hard time, it's okay to take a break and then go... Mori?"
Only then did Chession realize that Gremory was gone.
He came to his senses belatedly and looked around. For some reason, the stairs were nowhere to be found. There was only darkness around him.
"Mori? Where did you go? Mori!"
Chession was left in an empty space with no structure. He shouted as he shouted with his lamp magic tool.
"Mori! Give me an answer! Where are you?"
Chession hurriedly searched for Gremory. But there was no answer.
"Please, Mori!"
The surroundings gradually fell into darkness. There was no exit from darkness anywhere.
How much time has passed like that? Just as his throat was resting, someone approached Chession.
"I'll tell you. Where is she?"
It was a woman. A very dirty woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The woman's body was glowing white and faintly in the darkness.
"...Who is it?"
Chession, who had become very sensitive, frowned fiercely. The woman turned around and replied.
"A shadow crawling under the ground."
"What?"
At that moment, what came to Chession's mind was a phrase he had seen in "The Witch's Poem."
"Alas, my sister. My shadow is crawling under the ground. Our fate changed like an eclipse that day."
Chesion raised his lamp and followed the woman.
"Are you related to witches?"
"Stick close to me and follow me. It's easy to get lost here."
The woman walked over in response. He gave up listening to the answer and followed her for a while. The darkness lifted, and the bottom floor of Forquint Castle was revealed.
There were people there. People in white robes who appear to be researchers.
They talked to each other as if they did not see Chession and the woman.
"Your Majesty is too much. Isn't this complete torture?"
"That's why. It was time for him to send Princess Serietti away."
"And being here all the time is like torture. If I stay underground, I think I'll get mentally ill."
"I understand. They give you a lot of money. My family will have a good life. Aren't we all here in Forquint Castle for that?"
They were doing the same thing that Chession had heard from Ham. Chession had a hunch that this place was 200 years old.
"No matter what, this is... It's so inhumane."
"Don't think too deeply. We are just workers who follow orders and get paid."
Chession approached them and looked around. All kinds of experimental tools were scattered around. One of the books caught his eye.
It was a book about how to treat a terminally ill person with black magic.
Chession had once heard of the existence of this book. When he was trying to save Iris, who was accused of being a witch, he was able to accumulate miscellaneous knowledge while researching various things.
'There is no way to treat a person with a terminal illness. That book only describes painful ways to prolong life without meaning.'
The researchers were smelting the fuel needed for black magic. From their hands were born small jewels such as black pearls.
Chession asked the woman who brought him back to the past.
"Did the First Emperor use black magic to heal someone?"
"...Please follow me."
The woman walked somewhere again without answering.
This time, they arrived at a room decorated like an aristocratic bedroom. On the bed, there was a woman with a severe skin disease. The condition of her face was serious, and two bandages were wrapped around her face.
Someone was standing in front of the woman's bed. It was the First Emperor. Hamburton de Frilliant. The woman on the bed shouted at him.
"Father, please just kill me! I can't take it anymore!"
"Just be patient, Serietti. It really takes a little! Please hold on for a few more days."
"I couldn't hold on! Please let me die!"
The woman on the bed, Serietti, twisted her body and was in agony. On the bedside night table was a jewel that looked like a huge black pearl. It was a device that forcibly maintained Serietti's vitality.
"I'm sorry I can't let you go. If you hold out for a few days, you will be completely healed, so please trust me."
The mysterious woman who led Chession to this point looked at Serietti expressionlessly, then turned around and left the room. Chession followed her again.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, the place and time changed. A day later, the scenery of the Imperial Palace conference room unfolded in front of him.
Hamburton was in a difficult situation. Some nobles would have noticed that Princess Serietti was not visible for long.
"Your Majesty, rumors are circulating in the world. The ridiculous rumor that Princess Serietti was punished by heaven and fell ill with an incurable disease."
"The people are afraid. I think the Emperor was cursed. The Princess hasn't gone out for a long time, which is why these rumors are circulating."
200 years ago, people considered incurable diseases to be a punishment and a curse. In particular, skin diseases that were ugly on the outside were treated even more horribly. In addition, it was believed that people with terminal illnesses became demons or witches, so they had to be burned to death.
Because of this, Hamburton was unable to reveal Serietti's situation to the outside world.
"Serietti is just immersed in studying music and doesn't go out. I will hold a banquet sooner or later so that Serrietti will attend."
Despite Hamburton's imposing declarations, the nobles' suspicions did not subside. In the end, it was only after Hamburton set the exact date of the banquet that the nobles withdrew.
That night, Hamburton secretly headed to Forquint Castle as usual. After checking the condition of Serietti in the basement for a while, he left the room and secretly walked somewhere.
There was an iron gate there. When Hamburton opened the iron door, a staircase further down appeared. It was a staircase leading to a place that was used as a dungeon in the past.
"...This is the only way to do it."
Determined to do something, Hamburton picked up the torch hanging on the wall and went down the stairs. An eerie space spread out beneath it. On both sides of the row of roads, prison gates were lined up.
As if looking for someone, Hamburton walked around. He soon found a skinny woman in a space that had been used as a torture chamber.
Hamburton looked the woman up and down. The woman's hair was so dirty that it was difficult to recognize its original color. The clothes were tattered and black.
"I left you to die, but I thought you would survive and make you suffer by eating the rats."
"..."
"Congratulations. You are finally useful. Now, come to Dad. From now on, you are Serietti."
Hamburton brought the dirty woman to the Imperial palace. She was entrusted to the maid of honor, who was Serietti's nanny.
The maid was frightened when she noticed the woman's identity.
"Hey, this woman...! Isn't she Amelia, Princess Serietti's twin sister? Is she still alive?"
"Hurry up and wash and gain weight. From now on, that child will be Serietti."
"Is it okay to do this? Twins born in the Imperial family are a curse, so shouldn't one of them be starved before they become adults?"
"Don't ask more, just do as you are told."
"Yes, Your Majesty..."
Serietti's nanny washed Amelia thoroughly and changed her into clean clothes. Only then did Amelia's face and blonde hair be properly revealed.
Only then did Chession notice. The fact that the woman who guided him to the past was Amelia.
Chession asked Amelia.
"You said you would guide me to Gremory. But why did it lead me to 200 years ago? Are you related to Gremory?"
"..."
Amelia silently moved to the next place. This time, when he crossed the threshold, the scene in front of him changed.
Amelia was forced to live the life of a serrietti. She almost forgot how to speak, but she was able to understand what others were saying. The maid treated Amelia like livestock and taught her etiquette.
A month later, Hamburton held an imperial banquet and presented Amelia on the spot. Amelia did not dance, but sat down at the top with Hamburton, spent some time, and then left.
Thus, the rumors that Princess Serietti was terminally ill and the imperial family was cursed subsided.
However, the problem remained. The real Serietti had to spend every day alive, feeling the pain of death. Because of the father's greed, he couldn't bear to let go of his daughter.
Hamburton ordered the researchers.
"Now there is only one last way. Prepare for Amelia and Serietti's body-changing ceremony."
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