#47
His eyebrows trembled very slightly, and one side of his lips twitched lightly.
“There are limits to fake manipulation.”
Skyle’s words were calm, but clearly carried meaning.
“…That’s true.”
Theodore responded briefly while tilting his head back.
“Above all, he’s a person of interest with precious abilities.”
Skyle added.
Now instead of watching the movement under the blanket, he was fidgeting with the handkerchief held in his fingertips.
That was also true… Theodore was about to say, but just nodded his head.
Though he didn’t speak, his gaze wavered momentarily.
It wasn’t meaningless agreement. It was acceptance he had offered after organizing his thoughts in the brief silence.
Unaware that Theodore was looking at him suspiciously, Skyle quietly fell into thought.
His eyes had gone slightly downward, and the line of his forehead quietly furrowed then relaxed.
‘If this really is a curse.’
He repeated that word several times in his thoughts.
Curse.
The resonance that word carried remained in his chest longer than anything else.
If it was like this because of a cursed constitution, then the prince was also one of the victims harmed by half-demons.
Victim.
And at the same time, a fuse.
There were fewer people who understood that duality than expected.
Thinking it wasn’t like Theodore not to be conscious of that part, Skyle opened his mouth.
He raised his head again and lightly caught his breath.
“If their hands have reached this body.”
The words fell quietly but clearly.
“Mm.”
Theodore reacted briefly. He nodded his head very slowly while waiting for the words.
“As Theo said earlier, keeping him nicely confined wouldn’t be bad either.”
Skyle came to a calm conclusion.
The meaning those words carried was clear.
Curses seize the mind and destroy humans by manipulating emotions and memories.
It was an accurate definition.
Half-demon curses don’t follow logic or structure—they feed on emotions. They twist memories, rot bonds, and collapse humans from within.
The strange wavelength felt from Ersen resembled themselves, who had been struck by such curses.
Though there were no clear traces of damage, the waves were similar.
Trembling fingertips, irregular breathing, the flow of unbalanced mana.
Separate from the possibility that his constitution might adversely affect them, it was true that his heart was troubled.
That was a flow of emotion unrelated to logic.
‘Is that why?’
That thought lingered longer than expected.
Why he kept having unpleasant thoughts about this person’s weakened appearance.
While worrying about him, there was also aversion to how he was collapsing so easily.
Ersen let out another groan. This time it was particularly rough.
The sound of breathing deeply, then collapsing with a cough-mixed exhale.
His lips dried and cracked, and sweat beaded on his forehead again.
Skyle quietly pressed a handkerchief purified once with golden mana to his forehead and nape.
His fingertips were careful, and the cloth was warm and gentle, containing refined mana.
Slowly, from forehead to temples, down to the nape.
“*Cough*, ugh…”
Each time Ersen coughed, his body jerked powerlessly.
Skyle, who was watching this, slightly frowned.
Because a little blood leaked out with each cough.
The blood that seeped red spread finely along his lips.
Though it was a very small, thin line, that dark color was particularly clear in the silence.
Ersen’s lips began to dry quickly, and every time he inhaled, thin blood foam seemed to rise up his throat.
Theodore was also making a face while looking at Ersen.
He silently watched that scene.
His eyebrows slowly came together, and wrinkles that hadn’t been visible appeared on his forehead.
The corners of his mouth were firmly closed within his expressionless face, and his gaze alternately pierced through both people.
Skyle’s touch wiping his lips became more careful.
The cloth moved very slowly from his fingertips.
From forehead to cheek, from cheek to chin, and to the blood-touched lips—.
Slowly, he wiped it clean with light touches as if stretching time.
The cloth quickly turned red, but he didn’t mind.
Theodore, who had been quietly watching that scene, suddenly opened his mouth.
When he, who had been silent for a while, quietly opened his mouth, the air in the room rang quietly.
“Kyle.”
His voice was calm but low and solid.
“Yes.”
Skyle answered reflexively.
His head remained lowered, and his fingertips were still wiping the blood from his lips.
“To what extent was it for you to be like that?”
Theodore’s question was a fastball.
Without hiding anything, not euphemistically either.
Skyle raised his head.
The hair slightly tangled on his forehead swayed, and his eyes very briefly looked directly at Theodore.
“What do you mean?”
He asked back. His tone remained quietly unchanged, and the nuance flowed without special emphasis.
“That stimulation you mentioned.”
Theodore turned his head slightly.
Though his lips remained the same, a strange tension crossed his eyes.
Body temperature settled into the handkerchief soaked with Ersen’s sweat.
That was also touching Skyle’s hand.
Heat absorbed in the cloth fibers was finely transmitted along his palm.
Damp texture, and some stickiness.
Feeling that, Skyle smiled.
He slowly raised the corners of his mouth and narrowed his eyes.
It wasn’t an affectionate smile. It was a composed smile that didn’t match the situation.
And he said.
“You know what the three basic human desires are, right?”
His voice returned to a familiar rhythm.
A tone that was somehow playful, yet not at all a light topic.
“Sleep, appetite, sexual desire.”
Theodore spoke like a textbook answer.
His head didn’t tilt, and his expression didn’t change.
“Hmm. Let’s say one of those exploded in an instant.”
Skyle murmured while slowly folding the handkerchief in his hand.
His eyes had returned to Ersen, and his expression remained undisturbed.
“…”
Theodore gave up thinking further and turned his head.
With his eyebrows very slightly furrowed, his lips slightly stiffened.
Breath escaped from his nose.
Just then, a presence was felt from the doorway.
Those quiet footsteps weren’t long, but they were enough for all three people in the room to detect.
The young man who had said he came to the capital to break the curse inherited from his mother and had energetically inserted himself among them was standing outside.
The presence beyond the door was careful and calm.
An unfamiliar energy with substance was hesitating in front of the door.
It was surprising that there was almost no presence.
Skyle raised one eyebrow very slightly.
It was an energy quite different from his usual movements.
Had he received training?
Such speculation quietly crossed his mind.
‘Come to think of it, if we’re talking about constitution, wasn’t that side also at a strange level?’
Skyle’s gaze pierced toward beyond the door.
His eyes were calm, but the doubt contained within didn’t easily subside.
Sercil Lindea.
The name was ordinary. However, his presence was different from that.
Though he hadn’t particularly hidden his identity when approaching them, he was a young man too friendly and direct to be called the child of a great margrave.
He smiled easily and spoke without reserve.
Yet strangely, he wasn’t irritating.
Though his impression was good, there was something beyond that in Sercil that made people comfortable.
That was an innate temperament, not a skill that could be easily learned.
And that was manifesting as quite effective affinity among those with curses of the same level…
Wavelengths that didn’t even grate on those tainted by curses.
That was a very exceptional thing.
‘Well, it seems to work on me anyway.’
Skyle briefly laughed inwardly.
Though he didn’t voice it, it felt like a joke he had made in his head.
Skyle indifferently tilted his head back and gestured toward the doorway with his eyes.
The small chin gesture and direction of his pupils were enough to understand his intention.
“He seems to be being considerate since we’re having a conversation.”
Theodore responded briefly. Though his words were indifferent, the nuance wasn’t difficult to read.
But the voice of the one nodding to that was dry.
“How thoughtful.”
Skyle responded with an expression that didn’t seem to really think so.
His smile was annoyingly thin, and his eyes held mischievous cynicism.
Without knowing what that boy’s expression was like.
* * *
The expression of the one standing carefully so that even his breathing wouldn’t be heard beyond the door was different from his usual cheerfulness.
He was different from usual.
Both hands gripped his clothes tightly, his shoulders were fixed low so they wouldn’t move, and his chest rose and fell carefully.
Though the intervals between inhaling and exhaling were regular, efforts to kill his presence were embedded within.
With a cool expression, Sercil thought.
His lips were tightly closed, and his eyes held faint tension.
Though no sweat beaded on his forehead, his shadow standing silently trembled faintly.
‘The prince’s constitution is one that disturbs emotions?’
He recited inwardly as if asking back.
Rather than not believing those words, it was something he wanted to examine countless times before accepting.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
