Immediately after Chloe left, Kavala threw down the teacup she was holding.
Her body was trembling.
“...You lost your youth?”
No way could happen.
How much effort is put into maintaining youth and beauty?
Even though he thought Chloe had just blurted out something to avoid being defeated, Kavala looked around for a mirror as if possessed by something.
Then she found a hand mirror in the table drawer and looked at her face.
Kavala's face reflected in the mirror was still young and beautiful.
But.
“No matter how hard we try, there is no way for humans to escape the passage of time.”
The image of Chloe smiling brightly while saying that was vivid.
Chloe was so beautiful. Her smile seemed to smell like a fresh spring day.
Yeah, that kid was just too dazzling.
Just like her mother.
“Why...! Why the curse...!”
Chloe, who she thought would die soon, returned from the palace more beautiful than before.
Kavala was so jealous that she thought she was going crazy.
It was Chloe's blooming beauty that made me blankly watch as she offended me with her luscious lips.
I want that.
I want something like that.
I felt like my eyes were going to roll back with desire.
“It’s the Holy Grail. It must be because of the Holy Grail.”
Why doesn't the curse work on Chloe?
The reason she came back was so beautiful and healthy!
“Callius must have used the Holy Grail on Chloe!”
Kavala suddenly looked at her face reflected in the mirror.
Her face, distorted by jealousy, envy, anger, and desire, looked as old as an old woman.
“Ah!”
Kavala was so surprised that she threw the mirror away.
The mirror shattered into pieces with a loud noise.
In every shard of the broken mirror, the face of Kavala was reflected persistently.
Although it wasn't true, to Kavala, all the faces looked old and worn.
Her aged face seemed to be chattering to her.
“You are old and ugly!”
“You lost your youth. You traded time and life for wealth and power!”
“Let’s take what belongs to others!”
“I have to make up for the lost life!”
She ran her trembling hands over her face.
There was fear mixed in her expression.
The memory of the first time she went to see her father, the Marquis Blanco, when she was 15, came back vividly to her in fear.
“You are my daughter?”
The Marquis' face was filled with laughter, as if he had heard something absurd.
In fact, she didn't fully believe her mother's claims that she was the concubine of a man of high status.
Because her mother always lied and lived by seducing men with it.
Nevertheless, the reason Kavala went to see the Marquis Blanco was because, of all the men her mother had claimed as her father, she seemed the most suitable to be her father.
Kavala needed a father who would give her wealth and power.
"Yes, Father. From now on, I am your daughter. Your dearly beloved daughter, to whom you will leave everything."
That day, for the first time in her life, Kavala cast the most powerful spell she could on the Marquis Blanco.
The result was a great success.
“Yes... You are my daughter. My beloved daughter, Kavala...”
That was forbidden magic.
To begin with, there were only a few sorcerers in the world with the great ability to use such sorcery, so it was a sorcery that was being forgotten.
But Kavala, with its great power and equally great desire, discovered the magic and broke the taboo.
“Why is such a convenient and good spell banned?”
Kavala snorted in disbelief at the sight of the Marquis de Blanco, who, under a spell, looked at her with a look of utter love.
She thought that the incompetent sorcerers were using taboos and other things to scare others into not being able to do what they couldn't do because of their own lack of ability.
Until she looked in the mirror.
“Ahh! My face...! Why is my face...!”
In the mirror, there was not a 15-year-old girl, but an old woman who looked to be over 115 years old.
The artificial aging caused by the side effects of sorcery is different from normal aging and turns Kavala into the most hideous and grotesque-looking old woman she has ever seen.
Her hair was white and frizzy, falling out in patches like that of an animal with a skin disease; her fingernails and toenails were twisted, cracked, and fungal, and her face was covered in countless dark spots and warts that littered every deep wrinkle.
Forbidden magic almost completely consumed the life of Kavala and even caused all kinds of illnesses.
It was a nightmare.
From that day on, Kavala became obsessed with restoring youth and vitality.
From then on, she did not hesitate to kill someone and take their youth and vitality.
But no matter how much she took from others, it took quite a while to regain her youth.
It was after three long years that Kavala, who had become an old woman, returned to her original form.
No, actually, it was six years in total.
Because she used that forbidden spell once more.
Kavala shuddered as she recalled those six terrible years.
"The Holy Grail, I must retrieve it. Yes, that's all. With it, I can continue using that spell...! And then, overnight, I can become young again!"
Callius and I rode in a carriage past the Empress's Palace and secretly headed towards the back door of the Prince's Palace, where Andrea was being held.
“It would be a shame to leave without seeing my brother.”
I got out of the carriage with a grumpy smile.
A knight guarding the palace was waiting for us.
“You’re perfect today too, Lamia.”
As we whispered to the knight, Lamia, who had come here in advance and disguised herself with a spell, smiled and guided us.
“I’m disguised as a knight appointed by the Empress, so just follow me.”
We had been going in and out of the palace so many times that Lamia had become accustomed to it, as if it were her own home.
The palace was empty, as if Kavala had drastically reduced the number of attendants in the palace for fear that rumors about Andrea would spread.
Only a few knights were guarding the palace, but when they saw Lamia, transformed into a knight of Kavala, with us, they readily gave us passage.
“Your Highness, the Princess.”
“I heard my brother is sick. I came to see how he is doing.”
“His Highness the Prince is in his bedroom. He seems to be asleep...”
“It’s okay. I’ll just show my face for a moment and then go.”
“Yes, then.”
Since I was with the Kavala Knight, he seemed to have guessed that there must have been separate instructions from Kavala.
We entered Andrea's bedroom so easily.
The bedroom was in a terrible state.
There were broken and shattered objects scattered all over the floor, probably because Andrea was venting his anger.
Andrea was stretched out on the bed, fast asleep.
It seemed like he had been drinking heavily, as there were bottles of alcohol scattered under the bed.
The liquor spilled from the overturned bottle and soaked the carpet.
“I’m sorry you had to see this ugly side of this conman who pretends to be my brother, Callius.”
“You look happy, Chloe.”
“Did you notice it?”
Callius smiled politely.
I was actually happy to see Andrea in such a broken state.
It was my own work that I created.
I sat next to Andrea and whispered to him.
"My brother was a monster to me. But you know, I grew up relying on monsters, so I ended up becoming one myself."
I picked up a bottle of liquor next to the bed and poured its contents into Andrea's face.
“Ugh! Ugh! Phew! Phew!”
Andrea woke up from his sleep, causing a fight.
“What, what! Chloe?”
Andrea raised his upper body slightly and looked at me with half-open, half-closed eyes.
"I hate it when you sleep so soundly. You shouldn't sleep with your legs stretched out, Andrea. You've made me suffer so many days because of you."
I poured the rest of the liquid from the bottle onto his face.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Andrea took it all in stride, either sleepy or drunk.
Andrea, who had barely opened his eyes after wiping his face with her hand, looked at me with a blank expression.
“It’s you again, Chloe?”
Andrea's mouth fell open.
“It’s you again!”
Then, all of a sudden, he started crying and sobbing.
“I think I really lost it...”
He tore at his hair.
“Ugh! I think I’m really crazy...”
Andrea, who had been crying and sobbing, suddenly started giggling.
“Hahahaha! I was the crazy one! Hahahaha!”
After laughing for a while, he jumped up from the bed, pointed at me with his finger, and laughed while holding his stomach.
“Hahahaha! It’s a hallucination! I’m seeing hallucinations! Hahahahaha!”
So Andrea cried and laughed, laughed and cried again, and repeatedly banged his head against the wall and lay down on the floor.
“Ugh! Mother...! Let me out, Mother...! I’m not crazy...! I’m not crazy! Ugh! Listen! Someone get rid of that ghost of Chloe! Get rid of it!”
Andrea, who had run away to a corner to avoid me, hugged his knees and sobbed.
He looked very confused.
He no longer tried to distinguish between what was real and what was imaginary, and he no longer set out to prove anything.
He seemed to be gripped by fear, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing.
I got out of bed and spoke to him coldly.
"Yes, Andrea. That's how you live. In a world where no one believes your story at face value, you fear you're going mad, unsure of anything. That's how you gradually but completely destroy yourself."
Our group left the palace, leaving Andrea behind with a dazed expression and sobbing.
"Congratulations, Andrea. You're now alone, just like I was back then. I'm glad you're feeling lonely."
Her body was trembling.
“...You lost your youth?”
No way could happen.
How much effort is put into maintaining youth and beauty?
Even though he thought Chloe had just blurted out something to avoid being defeated, Kavala looked around for a mirror as if possessed by something.
Then she found a hand mirror in the table drawer and looked at her face.
Kavala's face reflected in the mirror was still young and beautiful.
But.
“No matter how hard we try, there is no way for humans to escape the passage of time.”
The image of Chloe smiling brightly while saying that was vivid.
Chloe was so beautiful. Her smile seemed to smell like a fresh spring day.
Yeah, that kid was just too dazzling.
Just like her mother.
“Why...! Why the curse...!”
Chloe, who she thought would die soon, returned from the palace more beautiful than before.
Kavala was so jealous that she thought she was going crazy.
It was Chloe's blooming beauty that made me blankly watch as she offended me with her luscious lips.
I want that.
I want something like that.
I felt like my eyes were going to roll back with desire.
“It’s the Holy Grail. It must be because of the Holy Grail.”
Why doesn't the curse work on Chloe?
The reason she came back was so beautiful and healthy!
“Callius must have used the Holy Grail on Chloe!”
Kavala suddenly looked at her face reflected in the mirror.
Her face, distorted by jealousy, envy, anger, and desire, looked as old as an old woman.
“Ah!”
Kavala was so surprised that she threw the mirror away.
The mirror shattered into pieces with a loud noise.
In every shard of the broken mirror, the face of Kavala was reflected persistently.
Although it wasn't true, to Kavala, all the faces looked old and worn.
Her aged face seemed to be chattering to her.
“You are old and ugly!”
“You lost your youth. You traded time and life for wealth and power!”
“Let’s take what belongs to others!”
“I have to make up for the lost life!”
She ran her trembling hands over her face.
There was fear mixed in her expression.
The memory of the first time she went to see her father, the Marquis Blanco, when she was 15, came back vividly to her in fear.
“You are my daughter?”
The Marquis' face was filled with laughter, as if he had heard something absurd.
In fact, she didn't fully believe her mother's claims that she was the concubine of a man of high status.
Because her mother always lied and lived by seducing men with it.
Nevertheless, the reason Kavala went to see the Marquis Blanco was because, of all the men her mother had claimed as her father, she seemed the most suitable to be her father.
Kavala needed a father who would give her wealth and power.
"Yes, Father. From now on, I am your daughter. Your dearly beloved daughter, to whom you will leave everything."
That day, for the first time in her life, Kavala cast the most powerful spell she could on the Marquis Blanco.
The result was a great success.
“Yes... You are my daughter. My beloved daughter, Kavala...”
That was forbidden magic.
To begin with, there were only a few sorcerers in the world with the great ability to use such sorcery, so it was a sorcery that was being forgotten.
But Kavala, with its great power and equally great desire, discovered the magic and broke the taboo.
“Why is such a convenient and good spell banned?”
Kavala snorted in disbelief at the sight of the Marquis de Blanco, who, under a spell, looked at her with a look of utter love.
She thought that the incompetent sorcerers were using taboos and other things to scare others into not being able to do what they couldn't do because of their own lack of ability.
Until she looked in the mirror.
“Ahh! My face...! Why is my face...!”
In the mirror, there was not a 15-year-old girl, but an old woman who looked to be over 115 years old.
The artificial aging caused by the side effects of sorcery is different from normal aging and turns Kavala into the most hideous and grotesque-looking old woman she has ever seen.
Her hair was white and frizzy, falling out in patches like that of an animal with a skin disease; her fingernails and toenails were twisted, cracked, and fungal, and her face was covered in countless dark spots and warts that littered every deep wrinkle.
Forbidden magic almost completely consumed the life of Kavala and even caused all kinds of illnesses.
It was a nightmare.
From that day on, Kavala became obsessed with restoring youth and vitality.
From then on, she did not hesitate to kill someone and take their youth and vitality.
But no matter how much she took from others, it took quite a while to regain her youth.
It was after three long years that Kavala, who had become an old woman, returned to her original form.
No, actually, it was six years in total.
Because she used that forbidden spell once more.
Kavala shuddered as she recalled those six terrible years.
"The Holy Grail, I must retrieve it. Yes, that's all. With it, I can continue using that spell...! And then, overnight, I can become young again!"
***
Callius and I rode in a carriage past the Empress's Palace and secretly headed towards the back door of the Prince's Palace, where Andrea was being held.
“It would be a shame to leave without seeing my brother.”
I got out of the carriage with a grumpy smile.
A knight guarding the palace was waiting for us.
“You’re perfect today too, Lamia.”
As we whispered to the knight, Lamia, who had come here in advance and disguised herself with a spell, smiled and guided us.
“I’m disguised as a knight appointed by the Empress, so just follow me.”
We had been going in and out of the palace so many times that Lamia had become accustomed to it, as if it were her own home.
The palace was empty, as if Kavala had drastically reduced the number of attendants in the palace for fear that rumors about Andrea would spread.
Only a few knights were guarding the palace, but when they saw Lamia, transformed into a knight of Kavala, with us, they readily gave us passage.
“Your Highness, the Princess.”
“I heard my brother is sick. I came to see how he is doing.”
“His Highness the Prince is in his bedroom. He seems to be asleep...”
“It’s okay. I’ll just show my face for a moment and then go.”
“Yes, then.”
Since I was with the Kavala Knight, he seemed to have guessed that there must have been separate instructions from Kavala.
We entered Andrea's bedroom so easily.
The bedroom was in a terrible state.
There were broken and shattered objects scattered all over the floor, probably because Andrea was venting his anger.
Andrea was stretched out on the bed, fast asleep.
It seemed like he had been drinking heavily, as there were bottles of alcohol scattered under the bed.
The liquor spilled from the overturned bottle and soaked the carpet.
“I’m sorry you had to see this ugly side of this conman who pretends to be my brother, Callius.”
“You look happy, Chloe.”
“Did you notice it?”
Callius smiled politely.
I was actually happy to see Andrea in such a broken state.
It was my own work that I created.
I sat next to Andrea and whispered to him.
"My brother was a monster to me. But you know, I grew up relying on monsters, so I ended up becoming one myself."
I picked up a bottle of liquor next to the bed and poured its contents into Andrea's face.
“Ugh! Ugh! Phew! Phew!”
Andrea woke up from his sleep, causing a fight.
“What, what! Chloe?”
Andrea raised his upper body slightly and looked at me with half-open, half-closed eyes.
"I hate it when you sleep so soundly. You shouldn't sleep with your legs stretched out, Andrea. You've made me suffer so many days because of you."
I poured the rest of the liquid from the bottle onto his face.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Andrea took it all in stride, either sleepy or drunk.
Andrea, who had barely opened his eyes after wiping his face with her hand, looked at me with a blank expression.
“It’s you again, Chloe?”
Andrea's mouth fell open.
“It’s you again!”
Then, all of a sudden, he started crying and sobbing.
“I think I really lost it...”
He tore at his hair.
“Ugh! I think I’m really crazy...”
Andrea, who had been crying and sobbing, suddenly started giggling.
“Hahahaha! I was the crazy one! Hahahaha!”
After laughing for a while, he jumped up from the bed, pointed at me with his finger, and laughed while holding his stomach.
“Hahahaha! It’s a hallucination! I’m seeing hallucinations! Hahahahaha!”
So Andrea cried and laughed, laughed and cried again, and repeatedly banged his head against the wall and lay down on the floor.
“Ugh! Mother...! Let me out, Mother...! I’m not crazy...! I’m not crazy! Ugh! Listen! Someone get rid of that ghost of Chloe! Get rid of it!”
Andrea, who had run away to a corner to avoid me, hugged his knees and sobbed.
He looked very confused.
He no longer tried to distinguish between what was real and what was imaginary, and he no longer set out to prove anything.
He seemed to be gripped by fear, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing.
I got out of bed and spoke to him coldly.
"Yes, Andrea. That's how you live. In a world where no one believes your story at face value, you fear you're going mad, unsure of anything. That's how you gradually but completely destroy yourself."
Our group left the palace, leaving Andrea behind with a dazed expression and sobbing.
"Congratulations, Andrea. You're now alone, just like I was back then. I'm glad you're feeling lonely."
Comments
Post a Comment