Chapter 55: Juliana’s Curse

"Adorable! Adorable! Adorable!"

An enchanting voice said as it echoed across most of the campus, stirring other instructors' senses in distant places, even students focused on hard training.

In one particular lounge, a familiar man sat in silence before a table with a washed-out piece of paper; before it was a simple looking insignia of a tiger with rust on its edges and cracks here and there.

"The past should be the past... why do I still linger on such a thing?"

Seth sighed in a rather pale manner as his eyes showed a recollective look. He soon after put away the paper and insignia before moving towards a desk. However, while walking, he hurriedly held a piece of cloth against his mouth as he started to cough fiercely.

After a bit of coughing, his trembling arm moved away from his mouth, showing bits of blood on the cloth, but rather than showing despair on his face; he merely smirked as he spoke to himself.

"Heh, looks like I drank a little too much yesterday; I might have provoked this old wound. Huhu... then again, it was worth it in the end."

When Seth's said those words, he couldn't help but recall the talented seed he met in the Fallen Star Inn; he chuckled, thinking that he might have just found his protege.

While thinking such thoughts, he felt in such a good mood that he wanted to retake a drink, but before he could even reach for the wine bottles on the countertop, he heard Juliana's voice from a distance.

"Huh? It's Julie, who is the child this time?"

When Seth murmured those words, his eyes showed a trace of helplessness as he knew full well why she would act like this, knowing partly, or rather, primarily, it was his fault.

"Looks like I'll need to go and calm her down again,"

Seth said as he quickly left the room, leaving behind a silent lounge as he traveled towards the scene.

***

Back within the academy's central square, a small crowd formed once more as people looked towards the source with interest. Still, if one were to pay attention to most instructors' eyes, they would notice that it had a trace of pity as they looked at the beautiful blond-haired woman.

"I didn't think she'd act out today; where's that man?"

A rough-looking man said with spikey brown hair, a thick spiky beard, and a scar on one of his eyes. He wore loose-fitting shorts that exposed his muscular arms and shorts that were knee-length.

A few instructors who were idly chatting saluted when they saw this man as they replied.

"We greet Superior Instructor Ilan, we've already sent word to Superior Instructor Seth, but it would take a while for him to get here."

Ilan frowned as he looked at the scene and spoke in a tone of discontent, "Tsk, I don't know if that bastard is lucky or cursed; he should properly learn how to handle his private affairs, even more so for that woman he brought here."

Following those words, Ilan then turned around and left towards a different area. It seemed that he wasn't interested in the current scene.

"Say, I've always wanted to ask, what's wrong with her?"

A new instructor asked.

Another looked at him and spoke softly, "It's something no one can resolve, a curse that limits her as a woman in the worst ways possible."

"A curse, what kind of curse?" The instructor asked again with puzzled eyes.

"A curse unique to her; no one else has ever seen it in the entire dynasty. As such, many have come to term it as the Curse of Womanhood, otherwise known as Juliana's Curse."

Another instructor replied, the others remained silent at this, but no one said anything else about the topic.

"Well, let's clean things up, she'll return to normal after he gets here, plus we still need to focus on today's training sessions."

The pointed hat instructor said that as he led everyone to diverge, each had more important things to handle. One instructor even led the children whom Juliana oversaw away to complete their session.

Still, as if she was completely unaware of everything else, Juliana stared in the direction of Marius's family, her eyes locked onto Little Rose as if she was a peerless artifact.

"She's so adorable! May I hold her?" Juliana said with her bright and shining blue eyes staring onto Little Rose.

Marius had an awkward look on his face as he didn't know what to do; he scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Madame, I'm sorry, but we're kind of in a hu—"

As Juliana heard Marius's words, without even waiting for him to finish, her manner turned a bit sullen; just one look at her would instill a deep wave of pity into any man.

Marius, even if raised as an assassin, was no different. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fallen in love with Ria. He sighed, not finishing his words as he looked at the woman before him, he tried thinking of a solution, but right now, Ria tapped his shoulder and gave him a look.

"It's okay, honey, leave it to me."

Marius hesitated for a moment before he replied, "Fine."

Ria made a graceful smile as she stepped forward with Little Rose in her arm; the small girl looked around confused, not knowing what was happening.

Or rather, not understanding why the lady before her was so sad, she stared up at her mother's face and asked in a cute tone.

"Mama, why is big auntie sad?"

Ria, who had more attunity to people's spirit and negative emotions, stared at her daughter and replied, "Mother doesn't know, but if I were to guess, it's likely that's she's been through a tragedy."

"Trwagedy?" Little Rose asked as she looked up at Ria's face with big round eyes before Juliana.

"Yes, tragedy," Ria replied correcting Little Rose's mispronunciation as she gently rubbed her hair.

Not long after, Ria had arrived before Juliana, who looked up at her and Little Rose with a weary smile. She was about to say something akin to an apology, but before she could speak, Ria gave her daughter a look before placing her on the ground and stepping back.

Little Rose seemed to be driven by instinct as her feet touched the floor; she walked up to Juliana and stooped down before lifting her head to stare at her face as she innocently asked.

"Big Auntie, why are you sad?"

Almost unable to withstand the adorable sight, Juliana almost seemed as if she was about to faint, but she bit her lips to keep her reason as she lightly touched a strand of Little Rose's hair and replied.

"Adorable girl, you're so smart for your age, and even more kind... you see, this aunt has always wanted to have children, but... because of certain reasons such dreams can never come true."

As Juliana said this, tears ran down her cheeks as she thought back to the cause. Little Rose had no idea what her core problem was, but being an innocent child, she answered the only way she knew how.

With a gentle hug, Little Rose held onto Juliana's face as she spoke with her slightly broken speech, "Big Auntie don't cry, mama always said that girls shouldn't weep so often. Mama says that so long we wish reaaaly hard, then all our dreams will come true!"

Juliana, as if stricken by both Little Rose's words, and actions were a bit dazed; even when Little Rose removed her arms from her body and went back to Ria's embrace, she still hadn't recovered, as she stared off in a daze.

Ria looked at this with a sigh as she held Little Rose and spoke to Juliana, "Dear Miss, you shouldn't wallow into despair like this; it's not good for us women and our health you see, hope doesn't come to the weary, but those who strive harder than anyone else."

As Ria finished her words, she brought Little Rose over to Marius, who sighed in relief before looking at their escort with an awkward face. The escort didn't seem to mind as he hurriedly brought them away, leaving behind only a silent scene of the gorgeous Juliana who stared in a daze in the central square.

She was unaware of everything else, but the words of mother and daughter had continued to resound over and over again in her mind.