Adrian stood up and headed toward the underground room once more.
Lucia was still sitting near the wall, her head lowered, her voice weak when she saw his steps moving toward the hidden door:
"Your Highness… it's midnight. You shouldn't enter that place now."
But Adrian did not respond; he continued descending the dark stairs.
He pulled a torch from his coat—one he had taken from the other room—and lit it, illuminating the dense darkness.
He began to walk slowly, reexamining the place as if searching for a missing shadow:
"There's something missing… I feel like I haven't unraveled all the threads of the spell yet."
As his eyes moved across the walls and floor, he noticed a small notebook with torn edges in a distant corner.
He bent down and picked it up, stared at it for a few seconds, then opened it carefully.
---
First Page
Today I discovered that I am pregnant with a girl… after twenty years of being unable to conceive.
It is astonishing to have a child while I am forty years old.
I went to my mother to tell her, but she did not seem happy… she was merely absent-minded. I don't know why.
Second Page
I am filled with happiness… eight months have passed since my pregnancy. There is only a little left until I see my daughter.
I wonder what she will be like… without a doubt, she will be very beautiful.
Third Page
Help…! I woke up to find myself in a dark place filled with blood.
I usually carry my diary with me wherever I go… but I am forced to write in blood because I have no pen.
Page Four
My mother… is not human. She is a demon in human form, and she is trying to kill my child.
I survived today thanks to someone who suddenly knocked on the door.
This may be the last time I write…
Page Five
I survived again today. My mother said she will begin the summoning tomorrow… I do not know what she is planning.
I write in order to remain conscious… even though I know that no one will ever read this.
I am… afraid.
Adrian closed the notebook, the calm drawn on his features failing to hide the sorrow beneath it.
He rose heavily, turned to leave the place, and climbed the stairs upward. There, he found Lucia standing, waiting for him in silence.
He paused for a moment, then passed by her, saying: "If you change your mind and wish to know the truth… follow me."
Lucia took a deep breath before following him.
They entered the empty room with the faint magic circle at its center.
Adrian stood in the middle of it and began to speak:
"Long ago, an old woman from Section Zero tried to prove that their division was not useless as the nobles claimed… so she turned to forbidden magic."
Lucia raised an eyebrow with faint sarcasm: "You speak as if you are telling a legendary tale."
Adrian glanced at her irritably: "Let me finish…"
Then he continued in a steady voice:
"She chose the Death Curse and practiced it for a full ten years… yet she failed every single time.
Pure blood exists only in embryos, but she was killing newborn children, and thus she never obtained the proper blood."
He took a deep breath before continuing:
"One day, her forty-year-old daughter came to her, telling her she was pregnant after many long years of infertility. Only then did the old woman realize what she had overlooked."
He fell silent for a moment, his voice lowering:
"For ten years, the old woman never offered what was dearest to her, contenting herself with drinking blood.
And she never once drank pure blood… because she never touched an embryo."
Lucia's gaze hardened.
Adrian continued:
"And one day… she cut open her daughter's belly, took out the fetus, and drank its blood. Then she decided to sacrifice her daughter, believing she was what she cherished most."
Lucia whispered in a choked voice: "And what happened to the daughter? Did she… die?"
Adrian sighed:
"That is what should have happened… until the Great Lord of Magic appeared.
He did not accept the daughter as a sacrifice. He took the old woman's soul instead."
Lucia's eyes widened in astonishment:
"But… why? Isn't the daughter the dearest thing she possessed?"
Adrian smiled a faint smile devoid of warmth:
"If you can give up what is dear to you… then it was never dear to begin with."
Lucia gasped softly, but remained silent.
Adrian lifted his gaze toward the ceiling:
"I can guess what the Lord of Magic said at that moment…"
Lucia asked him:
"What did he say?"
He replied as he slowly closed his eyes:
"He probably said…
What is dear is that which you can never give up.
I will take your soul… and grant you the Curse of Death."
Lucia struggled to grasp the words:
"But… wasn't he supposed to grant her a wish if she succeeded? Why give her only a curse?"
Adrian answered coldly:
"Because the owner of the wish died… before she could make it.
So she received nothing but the curse."
Lucia hesitated before whispering:
"And what about the daughter? Why did the villagers find only the old woman?"
Adrian replied with grim clarity:
"The daughter… scattered and vanished.
She disintegrated under the direct effect of the curse.
She was too close to escape the rays of magic."
Silence fell between them, a heavy silence that clung to the chest, before Lucia's lips moved hesitantly:
"Then… what about the curse? Is there no way to break it?"
Adrian took a few steps forward, as if the darkness were parting for him, and said firmly:
"There is a way."
Lucia raised her head toward him, her eyes clinging to a small glimmer of hope:
"Did… did you find a way? What is it?"
Adrian averted his gaze into the void, as though looking at something she could not see, then said:
"I'm not completely certain… but I believe we need to burn the old woman's corpse."
Lucia tilted her head, confused:
"How? She was buried long ago already… wouldn't she be almost completely decomposed?"
Adrian lifted his eyes to hers, with a coldness that carried the weight of ancient knowledge behind it:
"The human body does not simply disappear. The skin decomposes, then the flesh, then the bones… but in the end, a small bone remains beneath the spine. That bone never decomposes, no matter how much time passes."
Lucia murmured anxiously:
"But… even if we find it, won't there be nothing left but charred remains after burning?"
Adrian replied with cold pragmatism:
"That's correct. That's why the success rate of lifting the curse doesn't exceed ten percent."
Her eyes widened in shock:
"Only ten percent?! And even so… you're going to risk burning the body?"
Adrian said with unwavering resolve:
"As long as there's a chance, no matter how small — we have to try."
Adrian moved and walked out of the room, with Lucia following as she asked:
"Where are you going now? You're not going to the graveyard at this hour, are you?"
Adrian answered lazily:
"I am."
Lucia shouted in shock and worry:
"Heeey!! But what if the spirits of the dead come out to see you?"
Adrian replied as he opened the door to leave:
"Then I'll have to greet them…"
Lucia grabbed her head with both hands in frustration:
"Do you think spirits are a joke?!"
Adrian stopped and looked up at the moon in the sky:
"Should I perform the spell?"
He looked at Lucia with terrifying eyes and a faint, dark smile:
"I already have a sacrifice."
Lucia was about to scream; the person in front of her looked more terrifying than any ghost.
Adrian laughed lightly and said:
"I'm joking."
Lucia stared at his face for a moment before he spoke again:
"Let's go… we have a long talk to have with that old woman."
The two headed toward the only graveyard in that district, determined to search on their own, even though they didn't even know the old woman's name.
Adrian raised an eyebrow in annoyance:
"By the way, I don't even know the name of that old hag."
Lucia sighed and said:
"We have no choice but to ask the graveyard keeper."
Adrian took a few steps forward and looked over the graves, then suddenly stopped at one grave. He smiled faintly and said:
"No need… the traces of the curse are already gathered in this grave."
Adrian and Lucia approached the grave, while silence enveloped the cemetery, with only the sound of the wind breaking the stillness of the night.
Adrian looked at the grave, then gestured to Lucia with his hand:
"Begin…"