Chapter 82
“Joy…?”
“Can you hear me? If you can, nod your head a bit.”
I nodded my head slightly at his words, and I saw Joy exhale deeply, relief washing over him.
“Why am I like this…?”
As I tried to get up, I realized that I had no strength in my body, leaving me with a bewildered expression.
I blinked in confusion, wondering what was going on, when Joy hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking.
“You collapsed all of a sudden. For six hours.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yeah. And you almost died.”
“What?”
I frowned at Joy’s words.
Even though I had collapsed without knowing the reason, I wondered if it was serious enough to be life-threatening.
It was true that I had a weak body and had suffered from minor illnesses since childhood, but hadn’t I been living well so far without any chronic conditions?
“You’re joking, right?”
“I’m not the kind of person who would joke about something like that.”
However, Joy’s firm words made me fall silent.
Sensing that the atmosphere was serious, I hesitated for a moment before asking him a question.
“…Then how am I alive right now?”
“Well, I saved you. Or to be more precise, this kid’s mother saved you.”
Joy pointed to the child sitting next to him.
The child’s eyes were red, as if they had cried for a while before I woke up.
“Can you explain what that means?”
“So, um…”
Joy opened and closed his mouth several times before finally managing to speak with great difficulty.
“Customer, you’re cursed. A very severe curse mediated by black magic.”
“Black magic?”
I shook my head in disbelief at the mention of black magic from Joy’s lips.
Wasn’t black magic a power that had been taboo for over 200 years and could only be found in history books?
Yet, the idea that such a power was the medium of a curse within my body was unfathomable.
“You know that magic isn’t inherited, right?”
Joy suddenly asked a question as I stood there confused, unsure of what to say.
I nodded slightly at his question.
Magicians were beings unconstrained by lineage or status.
“But what if it became possible to transfer magical power between people artificially?”
“That couldn’t possibly be…”
“It can. The curse inscribed on your body operates on that principle. It’s a curse that steals the magical power you originally possessed, without you even realizing it, ultimately leading to your death.”
My eyes widened to the point where they could not open any wider at Joy’s following words.
After observing my reaction for a moment, Joy pointed to the back of my right hand and added in a serious tone.
“There’s a spell here that can transfer your magical power to another vessel.”
He explained that it was entangled in dozens of complex magical formulas like vines.
“And the person who cast this curse on you seemed to have intended to kill you today. They probably thought they succeeded, but I was here to prevent it. By now, they must believe you are dead.”
After finishing his words, Joy leaned back in his chair, looking quite exhausted as he exhaled.
“You remember when the little one’s mother was mumbling about curses before she collapsed and wouldn’t let go of your wrist?”
“Yes. But what does that have to do with the current situation?”
Now that I thought about it, Joy had indeed said earlier that I was alive because of the child’s mother.
Joy shifted his hand slightly from pointing at the back of my hand to resting it on my wrist as he spoke.
“The little one’s mother cast a spell on you to block the curse. Of course, it’s not perfect and is a very unstable formula, just a temporary measure, but I’ve managed to cover the gaps as best as I could.”
Joy murmured softly that the little one’s mother might have been quite a skilled magician.
“Wait a minute, Joy. I don’t understand what’s going on right now.”
I had been listening to his words from start to finish, but the more I heard, the more confused I became, and my head felt like it was about to split from the pressure.
Joy seemed to anticipate my reaction and sat quietly beside me for a while without saying anything.
So, I was in a state of being cursed by a dangerous spell that could kill me at any moment, and Joy had temporarily blocked it.
As I slowly organized my thoughts, a question arose.
Who? Why? And since when?
According to Joy, the curse inscribed on my body appeared to have been created over a very long time.
“Do you have any idea who it might be?”
At that moment, Joy hesitated before cautiously asking me.
“It looks like the spell has been active for at least over ten years. At that point, you would have often suffered from minor illnesses, and your original power would have been almost completely drained.”
Hearing Joy’s words, a flash of someone’s face crossed my mind.
“…I have someone in mind.”
A man I once believed I loved the most.
Moreover, the more I suffered from illnesses, the more he flaunted his magic and gained fame.
“Delos.”
Finally saying that name out loud, the questions that had been lingering began to fit together.
There was no physical evidence, but all the truths pointed to Delos.
As soon as I realized that, my whole body began to tremble like a leaf.
I started experiencing frequent illnesses around the age of thirteen.
So, that meant something had been wrong with my body since less than two years after meeting Delos.
‘Was it intentional from the beginning?’
Had he approached me deliberately from the moment he first came up to me and extended his hand?
I found myself lost in thought, reminiscing about the past for quite some time.
Observing me in that state, Joy briefly stood up and approached the window.
After looking outside for a moment, he returned to my side and continued in a low voice.
“I know you’re really confused right now, and I’ll explain everything in detail later. It seems like the knights who came with you are about to break in.”
Since I hadn’t shown myself for six hours after entering the tower, the knights were apparently trying to come inside out of concern.
Of course, Joy had been making all sorts of excuses to block their entry, but he let out a groan, indicating it was becoming too much.
“I think it’s best to go back and get some rest for today.”
It felt strange to see Joy, usually so straightforward, carefully gauging my reaction as he spoke.
That must mean my condition wasn’t good.
I listened to Joy’s words and staggered to my feet.
I felt weak, but I had regained some strength compared to when I first woke up.
“I’ll come to the castle tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
I sent Joy off after he escorted me to the door and left the tower.
The sky, which had been bright when I came to the tower, was now darkening.
“Lady! Are you out?”
As I stepped out of the tower, the knights who had followed me quickly approached.
They were the knights that Evan had recently assigned to my guard.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the discussion to take this long.”
Perhaps thanks to Joy’s position as my advisor, the knights seemed to readily accept my words.
“Let’s hurry back.”
I gathered all my strength into my trembling legs and slowly made my way toward the castle.
As I staggered and finally reached the castle, I saw someone standing at the entrance.
