#25
Doesn’t he know that if not for the curse, there’s no one in the world who could treat Skyle carelessly?
He hid his discomfort and displeasure while staring intently at Ersen, then shook his head slightly.
‘He seems to have grown into more of a madman than expected, but anyway, this means I can use this monster.’
There would be no need to tell him that living with such absurd thoughts would prevent him from dying a natural death.
Ersen nodded as if he knew exactly what Theodore was thinking.
“Well.”
Then he smiled slyly and spoke like a devil whispering.
“As long as I don’t lose what’s mine, I don’t really care about anything else, Your Highness.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Skyle interjected after getting Theodore’s permission with a glance.
He muttered leisurely while drinking tea without even looking toward Ersen.
“It sounds like you mean not the half-demons themselves, but their ‘something’ belongs to Your Highness.”
“Ahaha! The half-demons are mine. However…”
“However?”
“I don’t trust them.”
Ersen looked extremely amused.
‘He doesn’t seem to actually be enjoying this, does he?’
Marcus tilted his head while observing Ersen, then frowned upon discovering something.
“You saw it. How the Elder treated me.”
“We did. Though now I think Your Highness showed us that on purpose.”
Skyle, who belatedly looked at Ersen with a pretty smile—meaning he was very displeased—also stopped.
“There’s a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my ally, right?”
Ersen continued languidly while wiggling one finger.
“Until the half-demons know their place, the people here are more trustworthy.”
At least you’re not coveting what’s mine.
“It’s the same for all of you, isn’t it? You might not be able to trust or like me, but at least… you should be quite ready to use me.”
The whispered words sounded like a devil’s whisper.
“Actually… I needed certainty too. But you’re cursed.”
“That gave Your Highness certainty.”
“Yes, Archduke. His Highness the Crown Prince, whom everyone calls precious, seems to be under a curse—and a fairly high-level one at that. Then this means you need me.”
Skyle slowly examined Ersen’s forehead, nape, and stomach in turn while tilting his head slightly.
Though he didn’t respond, Ersen seemed to take it as affirmation and continued humming.
“Actually, this nullification isn’t even an attack magic… When revealed, it brings more harm than good, so I was hiding it.”
More harm than good.
This confirmed that Ersen had intentionally hidden many things from their eyes.
“I’m so happy that such a perfect use for it has emerged, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Bullshit.”
Marcus, who had been listening quietly, said bluntly with a somehow indifferent expression.
Ersen tilted his head.
Theodore finally noticed what Marcus was seeing.
‘Hah.’
And he too clicked his tongue inwardly.
“No… hyung… aren’t you sorry to the dogs?”
“…”
Marcus was unusually speechless at Ersen’s hesitant words.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, then threw his head back to look at the ceiling as if exasperated. Then he waved his hands and said.
“Fine, don’t mind me and say what you want to say, Your Highness.”
“Mm. Make sure to apologize to any dog you see later…?”
“I got it.”
Theodore observed Ersen, who seemed somehow twisted, with sunken eyes, then asked him.
“Ersen.”
“…He called me by name…”
Perhaps because the serious atmosphere was broken by Marcus, Ersen gently clutched his heart and murmured wistfully.
Theodore’s eyebrows twitched once, then he continued without caring.
“So you know that you’re a half-demon.”
“…”
As if finally realizing what mistake he’d made, Ersen blinked.
“Even if you saw the Empress’s room, it would have been difficult to notice that. We didn’t leave anything about half-demons in the imperial palace. But you know.”
This time he raises the corners of his mouth mysteriously.
“Did you never lose your memory to begin with, or did you regain it?”
“Hmm.”
He looked at Theodore for a moment with coolly opened eyes, then hid his gaze with that characteristic subtle smile.
Theodore thought he had finally reached an important point of what Ersen was hiding.
“I still have no memories. I just know.”
“You know?”
“My body is a very rare thing with mixed half-demon and imperial blood.”
A thing.
Skyle lowered his eyes and stiffened his lips slightly.
“Even without memories, I can ‘record’ important things.”
“…In your body?”
Marcus, who had been looking at the ceiling, quickly lowered his head and asked. With eyes that had seen something strange.
“In my brain!”
Ersen answered cheerfully.
“Don’t joke around.”
“How did you know. …Actually, in my soul!”
Suddenly, the fact that the half-demons’ curse was an ability obtained when the founding chief, who had married a real demon, sold his soul to that demon, came to mind.
Something seemed about to fall into place, but this much information wasn’t enough.
However, Ersen didn’t seem likely to say more.
“So please take care of me from now on, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“…Do we have anything to help you with?”
“So much! I need to roll my things around this way and that so they can learn their place, but they’re targeting Your Highness! Curse! If they cast such a supreme curse, isn’t that saying everything?”
Staring at the Crown Prince with an ecstatic face as if he would devour him didn’t look normal at all.
“You’re insane…”
When Theodore muttered unconsciously, Ersen burst into laughter.
“For me, it’s a welcome matter. Shall we make a contract?”
That face, which had looked innocent for just a moment, returned to its mysterious smile.
Theodore observed it carefully and drove the nail in.
For him, there really was nothing bad about it.
“I’ll stake my mana. In exchange for helping you, you’ll nullify all the curses I want.”
Ersen’s gray eyes sparkled for a moment.
The wicked expression folded and disappeared, but what was the emotion that had been on that face in that instant?
“Then I’ll stake this soul.”
Skyle was looking at Ersen expressionlessly.
Right, this guy still has things he hasn’t said.
All his actions are too excessive.
‘Even if it’s for keeping the half-demons under his command, accepting such a contract is excessive.’
He could manipulate them plenty with his nullification ability. He’s not stupid, so he wouldn’t not know that.
‘Besides, leaving everything else aside, there’s no reason to get hurt like that on purpose.’
That said, he wouldn’t have lied about staking his soul in a contract.
Theodore’s red mana swirled around his hand once, then shot toward Ersen’s heart.
Ersen smiled and carefully placed both hands near Theodore’s shoulders.
That carefulness, that obedience of staying still even while having the contract’s seal carved into his heart, was quite suspicious…
‘The contract can’t be voided.’
What could his scheme be…
Theodore responded obediently to the contract while exchanging glances with Skyle and Marcus.
His friends, who seemed mysteriously sharp, nodded slightly.
‘We’ll find out gradually.’
At that time, Sercil, who had come to the capital claiming to solve his mother’s curse and was monitoring the suspicious imperial people while acting utterly loyal to the Crown Prince, looked back and forth between the four of them and slightly narrowed his eyes.
‘What, does this mean I have to stay here as a kid who admires His Highness the Crown Prince?’
Anyway, he raised his hand.
His business was something else.
“Yes yes, our fairy. Do you want to go to the bathroom?”
“Ba-bathroom! That’s not it!”
“Then what?”
That prince really!
At the face tilting and smiling in circles, Sercil made a briefly disgruntled expression before asking.
“Um, I’ve been curious since earlier. That body… can’t feel pain?”
“Hm?”
Ersen tilted his head.
Sercil spoke to him with a strange face.
“I wondered if what was broken had already healed, but looking now, that doesn’t seem to be it either…”
When Sercil said “Your stomach was torn open too…” Ersen tilted his head again.
And with a genuinely uncomprehending expression, he asked blankly.
“Why is that a problem?”
* * *
“You’re insane.”
Until now, I had actually been a little anxious.
Because it seemed like they might cast me out or threaten to kill me any moment, saying they couldn’t trust me.
But I know. This is baseless anxiety.
Something like a nightmare I can’t overcome.
Nightmares are ultimately dreams. Not reality. …Not reality.
This time I won’t be cast out. Because I didn’t say I liked you all, I said I needed you.
“For me, it’s a welcome matter. Shall we make a contract?”
Ah.
The moment I heard Theodore’s words, the anxiety began to subside like a lie.
“I’ll stake my mana.”
The contracts in this world weren’t only made on paper.
Even if it was just verbal, if it could actually brand a seal, anything could be staked to establish a contract.
‘Of course, only those made willingly are possible.’
When Theodore hyung staked his mana, he only staked the fire magic he inherited by being born into the imperial family.
Even without it, there are things he acquired through his unique magic ‘disguise,’ so there wouldn’t be major problems for his safety, but that doesn’t mean fire magic is insignificant either.
It was showing me the maximum he could show at the moment.
If he had only gone that far, I would have been anxious. Because he was being too generous to me.
But thanks to the words that followed, my anxiety subsided.
“In exchange for helping you, you’ll nullify all the curses I want.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
