CH 31

The handwritten contents came to an end there. The empty pages have continued since then. She read it all the way through to see if there was anything written on the last page.

Even when I die, I will not be able to die peacefully under the curse of God. To leave all of this behind…… I’m hoping that the curse will be lifted.

These statements were written with sincerity. Celia sighed and set down the notebook.

The cause of the Cardian’s family curse was written down there, but it did not give any clues to lift the curse. Fortunately, other parts of the divine beast’s body were returned to the gods.

Do we have to dig up the tombs of the previous Emperor? The place where the divine beast’s heart was?

Celia, who was looking through the contents, suddenly touched a book that led to ‘Who Touches the Darkness’.

This book also had bloodstains on it. It appeared to have been stained by the bloodstained book that had been piled on top of it, rather than directly by the blood itself.

Celia went back over the section about the curse and found the information she needed. Perhaps the bloodstains on the cover of the book were intended by the wizard.

….The divine beast’s body must be returned to the god in order to break the curse. If a person with the divine beast’s power vomits a piece of the divine beast’s body part, and combines it, it will become the original heart….

‘The divine beast’s body piece…. so you could throw up a piece of the heart?’

The previous Emperor had only one child. Although the previous Emperor had a son and a daughter, only the Crown Prince possessed extraordinary powers.

The current Emperor has a lot of children. He was the father of four sons and six daughters…. Only three people were believed to possess divine power. There were two princes and one princess who hadn’t married yet.

‘All I need is a heart piece from the Emperor, the two princes, and the fifth princess,’ 

The conclusion was made, but she believed it was impossible. She seemed to know that Lily had read through all these books and hadn’t even attempted to break the curse.

How could you possibly vomit a piece of the divine beast’s heart from that greedy Emperor!

Fortunately, none of the married princesses possessed the divine beast’s power. Of course, the prince and princess who died prematurely would not have existed, and there was no need to mention the first prince whom the first Empress had through an affair. 

‘The 2nd and 3rd princes, and the 5th princess… And the Emperor.’

The power that the Emperor had was ‘purification.’ He had considerable strong power, but he didn’t have a good place to use it, and he didn’t like going straight to dirty places, so he rarely used it. ​​But he wouldn’t want to lose this power.

The power of the second prince was ‘healing’. However, his power was not strong enough to cure even scratches so he was ridiculed by the first and third princes.

The third prince’s power was ‘vitality.’ In the wasteland, he was supposed to grow grass, but he was chastised for its uselessness because it was not the same as growing crops. He couldn’t use it too much because the last time he did, he couldn’t move his body for a while.

The fifth princess’s power was ‘juvenescence.’ Her power was insignificant, despite how great it appeared. She could restore the color of her white hair or bring a withered flower back to life for a few moments.

‘Will their power deteriorate as their families produce more descendants?’

It was also possible that the power was distributed among several people. If even one of them possessed immense power, he or she would have become Crown Prince or Crown Princess.

‘Leonis…’

Despite being a descendant of the Imperial Family, he did not inherit the mysterious power of the previous Emperors because he was not directly a descendant from them. When he was stained with madness, he was able to break the chain with his bare hands, without using any magic, and he was labeled as a feared object by them.

Although the content is the same as in the original, it will not be as different in reality.

‘All they have to do is pass on the curse from generation to generation without receiving any special powers… It’s unfair.’

Despite the fact that the first Duke of Cardian received a great deal in exchange for the curse, he was a Duke from the start. Since he was the Emperor’s younger brother, any more power or land would have been trivial compared to the curse.

Furthermore, the curse resulted in the death of the woman he was attempting to seduce.

‘What should I do… Could I send the power of the divine beast out of the human body?’

Celia had finally grasped the gist of the problem.

✦ ✦ ✦

The steps to the Imperial Palace felt heavy.

He hated the Emperor but he was not afraid. Leonis had an inkling of the Emperor’s dirty intentions. The Emperor would want to kill Leonis when he has children in order to pass on the curse, just as he did to his father. But even so, Leonis was not afraid of him.

Leonis had felt it even as he watched the previous Duke end his life by suicide.

‘I will not live the same life as my father.’

By the time he had already found and married Celia, many aspects of his life had changed since the previous Duke of Cardian. Leonis will not be cursed or broken as long as Celia is by his side.

The problem was the Emperor. If the Emperor discovers Celia has the ability to soften Leonis’ curse, he will seek to harm her rather than rejoice. Because the Duke of Cardian’s curse would have been returned to the Imperial Family.

The Emperor desired for the Duke of Cardian to be cursed for many generations. He was the one who was most opposed to them being freed from the curse.

‘Should we defeat the Emperor?’

In the world, there are no perfect secrets. Something about Celia will eventually reach the Emperor’s ears. Before that happens, he must first free himself from the curse…

“Your Majesty is asking you to come in.”

Leonis fluttered the hem of his cloak and moved forward in response to the servant’s words. Unlike previous Emperors who were cursed and gained great power, the power inherited by their descendants was negligible.

Rather than weakening Leonis, the curse of madness strengthened him. Even if the Emperor’s battalion attacked Leonis, he couldn’t be dealt with when he was blinded by madness.

It was difficult to conclude that it was the curse’s power because Leonis was such an outstanding knight, but he was like that in the eyes of those who witnessed it.

“Leonis!”

He noticed the Emperor, who was seated on the throne and smiling at Leonis. He was a large man, but his stature appeared to be hampered by the fact that he sat on a much larger and ornate throne.

“Come here! I was waiting for you to come!”

He greeted him as if he were greeting an old friend, but the fear in his eyes could not be hidden. The Emperor moved his gaze to Leonis, as if trying to figure out what he was thinking.

Leonis knelt before the emperor, his face expressionless.

“Your humble servant, Leonis Cardian greets His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Empire.”

“Right, right. Your etiquette is really good! You are my best servant!”

With a ‘hurry-up’ gesture, the Emperor urged him to rise. Leonis slowly rose to his feet and approached the Emperor as far as the Emperor would allow. He was the Emperor who made a fuss and pretended to know Leonis when, in reality, he was terrified of him approaching.

He was afraid the curse would come back to him. When Leonis approached the Emperor, he felt it too. The curse that’s been sleeping on Leonis’ body wants to be transferred to the person for whom it was intended.

Even though he appeared calm on the outside, he could feel his insides boiling over, as if he wanted to squeeze the Emperor’s jaws.

‘…..When I go back, I’ll have to get Celia’s help.’

He hadn’t told Celia about the curse, and he didn’t intend to hide it forever, but he couldn’t figure out how to do it or whether it would be good to her or to himself.

“Right…You came here alone.”

At the Emperor’s words, Leonis’ eyes narrowed. At the same time, the Emperor scrutinized his reaction.

“Are you interested in my wife?”

There was no need to provide him with any information at this time. Leonis had repeatedly warned that the spies sent by the Emperor and Princes would be hung up in the middle of the city.

However, the Emperor did not give up and still sent people away to spy on Duke Cardian.

“I am an Emperor who cares about everyone! You are my dearest servant, so of course I can’t help but be interested in your life….”

“I’m still holding out well.”

They could not get into the Duke’s mansion, but they have heard that the house was quite harmonious. Even if that were true, the Emperor only nodded slowly as it was not Leonis to be honest with him.

“I hope you can come to the banquet.”

“Your Majesty’s orders…We will do our best.”

“All right.”

It wasn’t a satisfactory response, but given that it was a banquet honoring Marquis Montague, it was reasonable to assume he would attend.

“I’ve been saying this all the time, the Duke of Cardian is the greatest pillar of the empire, a blessing! It’s like my last long-cherished desire to see the heir of the Duke of Cardian… I hope you will agree with the Duchess.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Leonis replied with a poker face. The Emperor paused for a moment and stared at Leonis, but then burst into laughter.

“I have a present for my Duke and Duchess! Don’t forget to take it when you go back!”

After that, he ordered the guest to get out. Then Leonis, with a calm expression on his face, said yes and walked out of the palace. The Emperor’s servant, who was waiting outside, said the Emperor’s gift had already been loaded into the carriage.

‘Dirty bastard.’

They knew each other’s thoughts on how to make a child, but brazenly discussing the empire’s pillars was disgusting.