Chapter 33
Late dawn.
I was transported to the imperial palace in a car that the Emperor had secretly sent.
Surprisingly, at a time when everyone should normally be asleep, the Emperor and Empress even came out to greet me as I got out of the car.
"Thank you for agreeing at such a late hour, Saint."
"It's only natural when summoned by Your Majesty. What is the matter?"
"It's embarrassing to say, but… even after hearing that you had treated numerous poor and nobles, I couldn't fully believe in you. Only after meeting you face to face at the banquet did I become certain. Please forgive my disbelief," the Emperor said that and then maintained silence for a long time before finally opening his mouth with difficulty.
"Have you heard about my daughter?"
Princess Almene.
I had heard of her.
I had only heard her name and knew nothing else about her.
Of course, because she was a mysterious princess who didn't appear at official events and had never shown her face even once in any newspaper.
"Is the Princess ill?"
"...Let's go inside first."
I followed the imperial couple and was guided deep into the imperial palace.
A princess, huh?
Why are they taking me to the princess who has never shown her face even once until now?
As I was thinking that, the moment I entered a room.
I stopped as if struck by lightning.
That woman lying quietly in a corner of the room.
Isn't she the woman I saw bleeding and collapsed in my dream?
Unlike with Erpha, I didn't expect to get a clue so quickly!
The cheat key!
The cheat key to skip going to hell is calling me!!
"My daughter. This is Almene. First. Could you take a look at my daughter?"
"Can you heal her?"
At the desperate voices of the imperial couple, I nodded for now.
"I'll try."
I carefully approached the princess and placed my hand on her forehead.
The princess, whose face I had never seen before, had a peculiar face.
Something like a magic circle was engraved on her left eye, and perhaps because of that, she couldn't open her left eye and kept it closed.
Moreover, for some reason, she looked terribly emaciated.
It was the face of someone who seemed to be severely ill with the flu.
I observed her face for a moment and then activated my skill.
[This is a healthy body with no abnormalities!]
[Immediate body modification is possible!]
[Which would you like to modify: small breasts, large breasts, huge breasts, or ultra-huge breasts?]
Aish! What kind of dog-like explanation is this!? Get out of here!
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with her body?
Physically, she was perfectly normal.
Thinking there might be something I hadn't seen, I checked several times again, but still, nothing changed.
This is strange.
If her body isn't sick...
Why is she whimpering like a weakling?
"The Princess has no illness. Since there's nothing wrong, I can't heal her either," I said that honestly.
Really.
If there's any illness or disease in the body, it shows up black in my skill.
But she had absolutely none of that.
Since she wasn’t sick, healing was impossible.
This was the first time I had seen a case like this.
Is it a psychological issue?
"So... it means healing is impossible."
The Emperor bowed his head with a dejected expression.
The Empress also looked desperate.
The Princess smiled faintly at that sight.
"It's okay, Father. I can endure."
The Emperor and Empress didn't change their expressions even at her forced smile.
Rather, they looked even more desperate and miserable.
"Rest, Almene," the Emperor said that and gestured as if asking me to follow him out for a moment.
I obediently withdrew from the room.
As soon as the door closed after leaving the room, the Empress couldn't hold back and began to shed tears.
"My dear."
"Almene is dying! If even the Saint can't heal her, what can we do..."
It was a terribly miserable cry.
The Emperor couldn't say anything and just tightly embraced his wife.
I quietly watched all of this from behind.
After a long time, when the Empress calmed down, the Emperor finally turned his gaze to me.
"I think I should explain, but the story might be a bit long. Would you listen?"
"I will listen. No matter how long it takes."
I needed to understand the exact situation, even if it was to die by being hit by the curse.
The Emperor and Empress moved to another place with me.
After arriving at a spacious reception room, the couple seemed to take a moment to calm themselves.
And after a long time.
"Nineteen years ago. We gave birth to conjoined twins."
The Emperor opened his mouth in a sorrowful tone.
***
There was a concept called conjoined souls.
It referred to beings born with their souls connected among twins.
The Emperor's twin daughters.
Almene and Iomene were beings born as such conjoined souls.
All senses.
Thoughts.
Memories.
Even emotions were shared by conjoined souls, who were classified as one personality with two bodies in the empire.
Conjoined souls were rare to be born, and when they were occasionally born, it was considered a great celebration, so when the two were born in the imperial palace, there was a tremendous festive atmosphere.
But before they could properly celebrate.
The joy was overshadowed by an even greater sorrow and despair.
"Wings... wings are growing from Iomene's back...!"
Wings as black as a piece cut from the darkest night began to grow from her back.
The shocked couple immediately called priests and mages to identify the nature of the wings growing from Iomene's back, and as a result, they received a shocking answer.
"She was born with a fragment of an evil god."
"A fragment of an evil god! How on earth!"
"It seems someone cast a curse on Her Majesty the Empress for a very long time."
A great commotion broke out.
The birth of the conjoined twin princesses was thus quietly buried.
Instead, a bloody search and interrogation continued within the imperial palace.
Who on earth?
Who cast the curse?
They thoroughly investigated everyone from the maids and butlers who served the Empress, to her relatives, and even those who had met her even once, but the priests, mages, and intelligence department couldn't uncover who had cast the curse.
In the end, time passed endlessly like that, and finally, when three years had passed since the birth of the conjoined twin princesses.
An extreme curse began to pour out from the wings that had grown on Iomene's back.
It started with a maid who was taking care of Iomene collapsing after being hit by the curse.
They barely succeeded in lifting the curses on the maid's soul with all kinds of holy magic and miracles, but she eventually didn't live long and died from aftereffects.
"This is no ordinary curse. It destroys the soul and then the curse occupies the empty space left by the disappeared soul. Once that happens, it's over. They will become beings that can neither live nor die and will wander."
"That's not the end. This curse is contagious. It can spread to surrounding individuals in an instant."
"An undead army could appear in the middle of the capital, Your Majesty!"
"Princess Iomene.., must be dealt with."
Dealt with.
Of course, there was no explanation on how to deal with her, but the Emperor could understand without needing an explanation.
Iomene had to be killed.
To avoid the creation of an undead army in the capital.
But...
"If one of the conjoined souls is killed. What happens to the other?"
No one could answer the Emperor's question.
Two bodies.
But one soul.
If one died, the other followed.
Saying to kill Iomene was no different from saying to kill the perfectly fine Almene together.
The Emperor agonized.
He agonized and agonized again.
And as a result.
The Emperor made the choice not to kill his daughter.
"Tell me how to remove the fragment of the evil god."
No one could answer, but only one.
Only the White Order, which had dealt with countless magic beasts and demons and monsters sleeping in darkness, knew the answer.
"Long ago, there is a record of a hero chosen by Dullaneer removing a fragment of an evil god."
"Speak. How is it removed?"
"Confine the child with the fragment of the evil god in solitary confinement. Isolate her thoroughly so that she cannot meet anyone. And periodically shoot powerful holy magic into her body to weaken the connection between the soul and the fragment of the evil god. After complete separation, extract and remove the fragment of the evil god."
"How long does it take?"
"It's a process that takes at least 10 years. If you endure this process, there's a high probability of recovery. However… every time holy magic is shot into the body, the fragment of the evil god will resist, causing great physical pain."
The Emperor's face crumpled.
"Then doesn't that mean Iomene will suffer pain every time holy magic is cast?"
"That's correct."
"...Then isn't that no different from torture?"
The High Priest bowed his head at those words.
"We will take various measures to minimize the pain as much as possible, but... we cannot completely eliminate the pain, Your Majesty."
The Emperor's hands trembled.
"Is there no other way besides that method?"
"It might be possible if a saint or holy woman appears and performs a miracle. However, no saint or holy woman has been granted to the empire for 300 years. The method I mentioned is the only way, Your Majesty."
"Gods of the Pantheon. Why…?"
The Emperor informed the Empress of this fact.
"We can't do it!! It's practically torture!"
"...It's the only way."
"Conjoined souls share one soul!! If Iomene suffers so much pain, Almene! Almene will suffer together, won't she!"
"They say we can use magic to sever the connection between conjoined souls."
"I can't do it!! I can't do it!! They're children I gave birth to after 10 months of pain! They're my flesh and blood! How can I do such a thing to a child......"
"If we leave it like this, the entire empire could be destroyed by the curse flowing from the fragment of the evil god. Moreover, if we let the fragment of the evil god parasitizing Iomene's soul grow, do you think Almene, who shares the same soul, will be safe?"
At those words, the Empress began to wail.
"...How can we abuse a 3-year-old baby like that..."
The Emperor clenched his fists.
"We must do it. Somehow."
"You're the worst father!!" the Empress cried out with emotion, but the Emperor looked at her with sad eyes and answered, "Between the empire and the twins, I chose the twins. By principle, I should have killed Iomene. My dear. Please don't say that again."
The Empress couldn't answer anymore to those words.
The couple hugged each other and cried and cried for a long time.
They grieved at the fact that they had to continuously cause pain to their 3-year-old flesh and blood from now on.
However, this was the only way to save both of them.
On their third birthday.
Powerful magic was cast on the body of the conjoined twin princess with wings sprouting from her back.
The twin sisters Iomene and Almene, who underwent a procedure to sever their soul connection, were separated from each other.
Iomene, alone and lonely in a separate palace filled with all kinds of miracles and magic to prevent the leakage of the curse.
Had to writhe in terrible pain as if her body was being torn apart once a week.
And Almene grew up properly and maturely in the light as the Emperor's daughter.
Like that.
For 16 years.
The sisters lived apart.
***
The long story ended.
The Empress was crying, and the Emperor had a face that only someone with a broken soul might make.
"For 16 years. We terribly abused Iomene. No trash parents would have done as we did. We even forcibly stopped several suicide attempts."
"What happened to the fragment of the evil god?"
"Its connection with Iomene's soul has weakened considerably. However, as a result, Iomene's sense of self and mind have been irreparably damaged. To the extent of affecting Almene, breaking through the magic that blocked the connection between souls."
So that was why Princess Almene couldn't be healed.
Of course, since she was suffering from a soul problem rather than a physical one.
The Emperor took my hand.
"Saint. I beg you not as the ruler of the empire, but as the children's father. Please save Iomene with your miracle. Iomene's mind is being destroyed before the fragment of the evil god can be separated and detached from her soul. I believe that you can remove the fragment of the evil god while simultaneously healing her sense of self. Please..."
The Emperor shed tears.
I had heard that the Emperor of the Empire was a stern and strong ruler who wielded absolute military authority.
In fact, the Emperor I had seen in newspapers always had a stiff face and made threats.
But the middle-aged man in front of me just looked so depressed and in pain.
He had no dignity at all.
In this situation.
It was truly a sorry thing to say, but I was inwardly shouting with joy.
A curse!!
And it's a fucking powerful curse that could destroy the world!!
A cheat key!
To think it would be delivered right to me without even having to search for it!
If I extract the fragment of the evil god from the Princess's body and use it to destroy my soul?
The Princess will be saved, and I'll go to Korea!
It's good for both sides!
Isn't it killing two birds with one stone!?
"Leave it to me."
Wait for me, curse!
I'm coming to get hit now!!