CH 94

The man was an ordinary hero who defeated the dragon after a fierce struggle.

However, she did not know what the main characters contained here meant. No, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t know. Fairy tales clearly contained good and evil—a black dragon that brutally harms people, and a sun-like knight who defeats such villains.

It was a story that would remind anyone of the Imperial Family and the Grand Duchy.

Of course, the seals of the Imperial Family and grand duchy were the sun and black dragon, respectively. It was a fairy tale that clearly revealed for what purpose it was made. In this way, it was to create an image of the Imperial Family and the grand duchy in the children’s unconscious.

The Imperial Family was righteous, and the Grand Duchy was evil.

“It’s unpleasant.”

The obvious intentions made her frown. The evil deeds of the black dragon, which were described so cruelly that it was hard to believe that it was a fairy tale for young children, were frightening even for her as an adult.

How terrifying it must be.

On the other hand, the golden knight was good itself.

⎡ The man who shone like the sun saved people from the black dragon. The moment the dragon was killed, the curse surrounding the entire empire was lifted. ⎦

“…Curse?”

Until now, the word curse had not come up anywhere. However, at the end of the fairy tale, the word curse came out. Elysia looked at the pages in front to see if she had missed it though the word curse was nowhere to be found elsewhere.

“What curse is this talking about? Is it just mentioned?”

After that, the curse was lifted and peace came to the empire. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but the word curse strangely bothered her. Curse… It seemed that they were talking about the cursed lineage of the Grand Duchy.

Curse.

Even though the book said it was a curse surrounding the Empire, it didn’t feel that way to Elysia although the Grand Duke was clearly a person anyway.

Still, why was it described as a black dragon?

“Strange…”

It was full of strange things.

⎡ The cursed arrow shot by the evil dragon missed. ⎦

She looked at the part where the knight of the sun and the dragon fought once again. The word curse was also used here.

“The curse missed?”

An uninformed person would think that the knight had escaped the curse, but she had a slightly different idea. This missed arrow might mean the Grand Duchy, so the Imperial Family was pressuring the Grand Duchy with some kind of deal.

Elysia couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with this curse.

…A cursed arrow that missed.

“The knight did not escape the curse. He put that curse on the dragon.”

It was impossible for an ordinary human to kill a dragon in the first place. So, did that mean that the Imperial Family originally possessed the curse? She knew the Imperial Family did not have magical abilities.

Of course, they could have been hiding their power.

“Do they have the ability to cast a curse?”

However, for a curse placed with magic, there were not just one or two strange things.

First of all, the Grand Duchy would have the ability to remove any curse. Even the Imperial Family feared and used the Grand Duchy’s tremendous ability. The Grand Duchy’s magical abilities were unrivaled by anyone. It was not an ability in the human category.

It was almost astonishing.

Even if the Imperial Family was great, they could not subdue the Grand Duchy family, so they threatened the Grand Duchy with that kind of deal. The question was, what was it? To incapacitate the Grand Duchy, who has tremendous power.

“…Was the first Emperor that outstanding?”

No, it wasn’t. It was said that the Grand Duchy was the biggest contributor to the founding of the empire by the first Emperor.

“Wait… but nowhere in the book is there anything about the Grand Duchy?”

There was no one who did not know that the grand duchy had made a contribution at the time of the Empire’s founding.

Nonetheless, nowhere in the children’s books was there a character that could be considered the Grand Duke. If there was, it was only the villain, the black dragon. Shouldn’t at least the knight’s helper come out?

…As if the Grand Duchy’s existence had been completely erased.

Doubts kept popping up. The more she thought about it, the more strange this children’s book was.

The truth was very different. Even if she was uneducated, she knew about the founding history of the empire. Rather, such legend would be passed down through the mouths of the common people even more because folk tales themselves are consumed for fun.

“Strange…”

Elysia picked up another children’s book.

The second thing she picked up was ‘The Battle of the Sun and the Dragon.’ Just by looking at the title, she couldn’t not know that it meant the Imperial Family. Not only that, but they even openly painted the seal of the Imperial Family on the cover.

She wondered if it was okay to use the imperial seal like this.

The content was similar. However, there was no mention of the curse in this book, and the difference was that the sun that came out here was not a person but really the sun. It was said that the sun burned and killed the evil dragon.

Even if the contents of the book were changed, the fact that the Grand Duchy was the villain did not change.

“There is no curse anywhere.”

Except for the first book she read, there was no mention of the curse in any book. Was it really just a fairy tale expression? Still, there was a part that was suspicious for her to just pass it off. When Damon spoke of the Grand Duchy, he used the word cursed blood.

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Curse… did it really exist?

Elysia was never a person from here in the first place.

She knew that magic existed and monsters existed though it was difficult for her to understand, even the curse. Besides, she has lived a life far from magic. There should be a chance for her to come into contact with magic at the County to understand.

Hiding in the attic, she never had a chance to see magic.

She actually first encountered magic after she met Damon. She thought he must be using magic. She knew there was magic in this world, but magic was a precious thing that ordinary people couldn’t see.

“There can be no such thing as a curse.”

There could be no such thing as a curse, but she couldn’t erase the possibility that it might exist.

In fact, there was magic, so wouldn’t there be a curse? Any curse must have been a very powerful and terrible curse. Otherwise, there was no way it would continue through generations like this.

* * *

Hearing the library door opening, Elysia hastily put the books she was reading on the bookshelf. It was something she did without her knowledge. She somehow felt like she had to hide that she had seen these books.

“Your Grace?”

“Ah… I was looking at the bookshelves for a while.”

Fortunately, the visitors were Chloe and Rachel. Perhaps they were worried because she had been in the library without saying anything. It seemed that a lot of time had already passed, and she was so absorbed in the children’s books that she didn’t even know the time was passing.

“I knocked, but there was no response…”

“Oh, I must not have heard the knock because I was far away.”

Elysia shoved the book in so it wouldn’t be seen, then pretended nothing was wrong and glanced at the history book. Fortunately, she had read all seven books, but she didn’t have as much result as reading the first book.

The only thing they had in common was that the Grand Duchy was portrayed as villains when the Imperial Family came in so many different shapes.

There were times when they were human, and there were times when they were an omnipotent god. She seemed to know what the Imperial Family wanted people to think about them. If they subconsciously plant a good image from a young age, they would naturally respect the Imperial Family.

In addition, the fear of the Duchy would grow.

“It is dinner time soon. Are you still going to be in the library?”

“Already?”

She just thought the sun was going down, but it’d been such a long time… It was short and simple, so she thought it wouldn’t take long, but it seemed like it didn’t.

“Oh, can you wait outside for a minute?”

“Yes?”

“I want to tidy up.”

Somehow, she was afraid that the fairy tale books that she had put in a hurry would be caught. It seemed like it would go unnoticed if only she tidied it up properly.

“We will tidy it up.”

“No, no.”

Elysia quickly shook her hand when Chloe and Rachel said they were going to tidy it up.

“Then, move these books to the outer castle first.”

“You mean these books?”

“Yes, can I read it in my room? Since I can’t come to my main building for a week…”

Should books be read only in the library?

“No, no. Of course, you could.”

“Then, I will bring it to the outer castle and bring it back.”

As expected, she knew that two people would not go out together just to take the books. Seeing Rachel remain, Elysia let out a small sigh inside.

“I want to look around a little more. I’ll leave right away.”

“…All right.”

It was an obvious lie though there was nothing she could do about it as long as she continued to insist.

After she made sure Rachel was gone, Elysia hurriedly put the fairy tale book in order. At first, she planned to carry all the children’s books to her room. But the moment she read the first fairy tale, she realized that shouldn’t be the case.

She had a strong feeling that she shouldn’t even be caught knowing about the existence of children’s books.

As she first put the books in order, she deliberately messed up the books on the other bookshelf. They shouldn’t have found out that she had read this children’s book.

“… Shall I take this?”

Nonetheless, she wanted to take the ‘Hero who Defeated the Black Dragon.’ Of course, she knew there was nowhere to hide it, but she felt she could hide it under her dress and take it. Still, if she took the book, she might get caught.

In the end, unfortunately, she had to leave the book there.

“I will see you again.”