Chapter 44
“This child is cursed!”
It was the earliest memory of the Imperial Princess ‘Selenia Lily Novarens’.
Her grandmother was a sorceress.
She lived in a magic tower rather than the Imperial Palace, and she first visited the Imperial Palace on the day Selenia turned four.
Selenia, who admired mages, had eagerly awaited her grandmother, but her grandmother's first words were that she was cursed.
She still remembered it.
The sight of her grandmother's face twisting into an expression of disgust the moment she saw Selenia…
It remained Selenia's deepest trauma.
She would later learn that children with dark brown skin like hers were occasionally born into the imperial family.
It was said that the blood of the Blood Kin queen who had married the Empire's founding ancestor manifested, and that every child born with brown skin possessed one special ability.
But people did not particularly like a skin color so similar to that of the Empire's archenemy, the Blood Kin, and as time passed, some even came to hate it.
Selenia's grandmother was one of them.
A hidebound elder of the imperial family, her grandmother hated Selenia and called her a ‘cursed child.’
Fortunately, her father and mother gently soothed her wounded heart.
“Don't pay attention to what your grandmother says, Lily.”
“That's right, Lily. You are a descendant of the imperial family. If you show everyone your outstanding abilities, no one will say anything about your skin color.”
Her father, the Emperor, and her mother, the Empress, protected her in their own way.
But those words also left a wound in her heart.
‘Mom…Dad…I wanted to hear you say that I was pretty back then.’
Selenia thought her skin color was beautiful.
That was why she wanted to hear someone tell her that it was all right.
But even her parents never told her that they liked her skin color.
She understood that now.
Customs…etiquette…sometimes one even had to hate the things one liked.
After learning about the Blood Kin and realizing that people disliked her skin because of them, she resolved to live even more boldly.
I will not be crushed beneath their hatred.
I will live proudly, as myself.
She had made that resolve and lived by it ever since.
But even so, some part of her heart had always held a wish.
She had always waited for someone who could love even the color of her skin exactly as it was.
Then Calix appeared before her.
He told her that he liked her skin color.
He told her that he liked lively women like her.
“Princess Selenia…you’re joking, right?”
“I’m not.”
Calix tried to take it as a joke, but she was serious.
Although she maintained a poker face as though nothing were wrong,
her heart began pounding like mad.
‘Now that I look at him…Calix, you’re pretty handsome, too.”
To Selenia, her older brother was the most handsome man in the world.
Compared to him, Calix was not extraordinarily handsome.
But he had a handsome, well-groomed appearance and silver hair, refined enough to fit right in at a social gathering.
Simply put, he was her type.
On top of that, he was around her age and had consistently proven that he was capable enough to marry into the imperial family.
If that was the case…she thought it might not be so bad if she took him for herself instead of pairing him with another noble lady.
That, however, was only her own idea.
Her right-hand woman, Lumiell, called for an emergency strategy time-out.
“Just a moment. Lord Calix, Lord Jeras, Her Highness the Imperial Princess seems tired. We’ll go let her recover for a moment.”
“Huh? Lumiell, I’m fine.”
Ignoring what Selenia said, Lumiell dragged her into the room behind the banquet hall.
It was just like a student being dragged away by a teacher.
In the back room behind the banquet hall, after the door was closed, the sound of the two women's conversation could be heard.
Bits of conversation such as ‘This is too sudden, Princess Selenia…’ and ‘But what a waste…’ drifted out, while the two lords sat awkwardly in the banquet hall.
Jeras lightly coughed and spoke to Calix.
“Lord Calix…so that was your type.“
”Yes…well…that’s right.”
Although he had only said it to defuse the situation, it was genuinely one of Calix's preferences, so he admitted it honestly.
At that, Jeras wore an expression of understanding and spoke.
“I understand. Everyone has one unusual preference they cannot tell other people about. I did not realize I had a thing for maids until I met Ain, either.”
“I…I see…”
Calix had no idea how to react to Jeras's sudden confession about his preferences.
He simply thought that he should never bring Rana before Lord Jeras again.
Jeras politely poured Calix a glass of wine and spoke.
“If things work out with Her Highness and you truly become the Imperial Princess's consort, please put in a good word for me. Ho ho ho.”
At Jeras's joke, which was not funny at all, Calix gave a perfunctory laugh and drank his wine.
Calix had no idea whether the wine was going into his mouth or his nose.
He simply had a bad feeling that something truly serious might happen.
* * *
Near House Sila's castle,
in the darkness where no one else was around, the Blood Kin were preparing.
They were preparing to eliminate Calix once and for all.
Kir had judged it difficult to eliminate Calix at Kron Castle, which was protected by magic on the level of the Imperial Palace, so he decided to wait for a chance when Calix went out.
When Kir learned that Calix would be visiting House Sila, he thought it was an excellent opportunity.
Lord Jeras Sila was also one of the lords on their elimination list.
Determined to eliminate both lords in one stroke, Kir gathered all the strength of the Blood Kin unit ‘Valharim’ to ensure success.
As Kir watched House Sila's castle, alive with the festive bustle of welcoming Calix, he steeled his resolve, and not long afterward, Yan arrived.
“Lord Kir, all preparations are complete.”
At Yan's words, Kir nodded and began walking.
All thirty Blood Kin belonging to the southern Blood Kin unit Valharim had gathered there.
Looking at them, Kir spoke.
“Is everyone here?”
[ “……” ]
They gave no answer to Kir's words.
They were thinking only about how they would sacrifice themselves to carry out the sacred mission that was about to begin,
and nothing else.
“Yes…we have no need for words. All we must do is offer our lives for the sacred mission and eliminate them.”
[ “……” ]
The operation plan had already been shared with everyone.
Now, all that remained was to act and accomplish their objective.
Kir began the operation.
“Let's go. It is time for the sacred mission.”
Fwoosh-!!
The moment Kir's order was given, the Blood Kin warriors scattered.
They were warriors capable of assassinating a lord if three of them gathered together, and of successfully fomenting a rebellion in a domain if ten of them gathered.
Thirty such Blood Kin warriors charged toward the small castle.
Kir was certain that they would succeed this time.
…Only to fail—that was what an ordinary villain would usually do.
But Kir was no ordinary villain.
As soon as the warriors began their assault, Kir spoke to Yan.
“Yan, begin the ritual.”
“Yes, Lord Kir.”
Kir did not underestimate the abilities of the Blood Kin warriors, but there were still many unknowns regarding Calix's abilities.
Moreover, Lord Jeras was a mage on the level of a Magic Tower heir.
To eliminate them with certainty, Kir had prepared a trump card.
At Yan's signal, the Blood Kin mages waiting around Sila Castle began the ritual.
The three Blood Kin mages stepped into the magic circle made from their own blood and began chanting.
“Dormias. (Sleep.)”
The black magic used by the Blood Kin included various curse spells.
“Dormias. (Sleep.)”
There were curse spells that caused illness, curse spells that lowered one's luck, and others.
Their effects varied, but there were also spells that cursed mages in a more direct way.
“Praeter umbram, cuncta dormiant. (Let everything except darkness sleep.)”
It was a spell that cursed magical power, preventing magic from being used.
Within the barrier created by that spell, a curse prevented mana from being properly controlled, while the Blood Kin's mana was blessed and grew even stronger.
“Silentium magiae — fiat vallum aeternum! (Let magic fall silent—become an eternal barrier!)”
That was the black-magic barrier curse 『Vallum Silentii (Barrier of Silence)』.
But such a powerful spell came with a great price.
“I’m sorry, everyone…”
After finishing the final incantation, the three Blood Kin mages drew daggers.
Then they stabbed themselves in the neck.
This powerful black magic could only be used at the cost of the lives of roughly three Blood Kin mages.
When the Blood Kin mages' blood spattered onto the magic circle, purple light burst forth and began to envelop Sila Castle, and the magic circle began to activate.
Grieving the sacrifice of his comrades, Kir promised them that this time he would fulfill the sacred mission.
Something truly terrible was brewing…the Blood Kin were about to launch their attack.