IWS Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 

The Grand Duke slowly opened his eyes, feeling the wind tickling his forehead.

For days, his surroundings had been as silent as death, with no visitors in sight. That was why he immediately noticed the stark difference.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

As the Grand Duke lay there, staring at the bright sunlight pouring in through the pristine white ceiling—almost as if he were dreaming—he turned his head toward the youthful voice that had spoken.

There, looking at him, was a child he had never seen before.

‘A slave…’

The Grand Duke’s gaze fell upon the shackle around the child’s neck, and he understood the situation instantly.

No one had dared to approach him for so long, fearing the rumored contagion of his curse. It was easy to deduce that the servants had eventually resorted to hiring a slave. The Grand Duke wasn’t sure whether to commend their decision or be angry about it, so he simply blinked in silence.

‘Do I even have the right to criticize them…?’

Because of his cursed and incapacitated state, the North was crumbling.

Unwilling to face his people’s suffering, he had abandoned them to come to the capital in search of a cure. It was his own decision.

“Do you feel any discomfort?”

“…..”

A small head tilted into his view, insistently seeking a response. The Grand Duke kept his lips tightly sealed and closed his eyes again.

Death no longer felt far away. Even if his life ended here, there would be no one to resent his passing…

“Would you like some water? Or maybe some porridge? Are you hungry?”

“…..”

The persistent voice gave him no time to be lost in thought. The Grand Duke finally opened his eyes again, shifting his gaze.

Even as he met his own lifeless, ice-cold eyes in the child’s reflection, the child’s own eyes still sparkled brightly.

‘She hasn’t been told about the curse…’

No one would have bothered to explain such things to a slave. The Grand Duke forced open his dry lips and spoke in a hoarse, subdued voice.

“…If you don’t want to die a painful death, leave.”

“Huh…?”

“My illness is contagious. You wouldn’t want to end up like me. I will allow it—leave the bedroom while you still can.”

His skin was cracked and oozing with thick, congealed pus, sticking to his body like hardened sludge. The curse was as grotesque in appearance as it was in suffering.

Even the most skilled physicians in the Empire had come and gone, shaking their heads in helplessness. The Grand Duke had grown weary of their futile attempts.

He no longer wished for understanding or expectations—he simply hoped this life would end soon.

“Then… you’d be all alone again.”

“…..”

“Being alone is too lonely, so may I stay by your side?”

The child’s absurd remark was so baffling that the Grand Duke was at a loss for words.

Loneliness. That was an emotion he had ignored for far too long.

‘So… is that what this is?’

Being locked away in a dusty bedroom, covered in layers of dried pus and filth, with no one to care for him… If he said he hadn’t been lonely, that would have been a lie.

But he had buried that feeling deep within himself.

Showing weakness was unacceptable in the North.

“…Are you not afraid of this?”

For the first time in a long while, a conversation slipped from the Grand Duke’s lips. His prolonged solitude had made him desperate enough to ask.

“No, of course not! I’m not scared at all!”

The child’s voice was so unwaveringly innocent that it bordered on reckless.

‘Still too young to understand…’

The Grand Duke, as if listening to something nonsensical, slowly blinked his disinterested eyes and was about to shift his gaze toward the window.

“I’ve seen someone with similar symptoms before. Back then, I was scared, but now I’m fine. I used to help them with their meals all the time, but I never caught their illness.”

“You’ve seen someone with these symptoms before…?”

His dull eyes slowly returned to the girl. For the first time, a flicker of something unreadable crossed his gaze.

“Yes! Oh, now that I think about it… That person never called it a disease. They said they were cursed. That the ‘Black Witch of the North’ had placed a curse on them….”

“….!”

The Grand Duke’s previously dim eyes widened in shock.

Forgetting himself, he abruptly forced his frail body upright. His trembling gaze darted toward the girl as if fearing she might flee, and he quickly reached out, gripping her wrist.

The child’s round eyes widened in surprise.

With an urgency in his voice, the Grand Duke spoke.

“Can you… tell me more about that?”

Seeing his reaction, the girl’s lips curled into a pleased smile.

“Yes, of course.”

Gotcha. He took the bait.

💔

Did the Grand Duke of the North really not realize that the slave had poisoned him and unknowingly died?

‘No way.’

I was sure of it.

The Grand Duke had simply grown so weary of the curse’s excruciating pain that he had wanted to die. That’s why I came up with a way to let him know naturally that his curse wasn’t contagious—nor would it last much longer.

“The village I lived in was in the southwest, a teeny-tiny place with no name at all! One day, an outsider arrived there, but he was barely alive!”

Southwest, my foot. That was obviously a lie.

“My mother was a physician, so when the villagers found him collapsed, they brought him to our house.”

I had no idea if I even had a mother.

“Everyone thought he would die, but my mother worked tirelessly to treat him. That was when he told us he was from the North and had been cursed by the Black Witch. He insisted it wasn’t an illness and that it couldn’t be cured, but my mother refused to give up!”

My voice rose slightly with excitement, as if reaching the climax of an intense story. Naturally, this was yet another fabrication, one made up of 100% pure lies.

“Then, one day, as if by a miracle, the curse completely disappeared. It was just an ordinary day, but… he said it had been exactly one year since he was cursed. He thought that maybe, since it was a curse strong enough to take a life, it must have had a high risk to the caster as well. So, after a year, it naturally wore off…”

Of course, no such person had ever told me this. I just mixed in some lies based on what I had read in the original story.

Still, I kept my expression confident and finished my story with a shameless smile. The Grand Duke, who had been listening intently the entire time, wore a deeply serious expression, lost in thought.

“…Is that truly the case?”

Wow, has he been fooled his whole life? Well, let’s not let it show—he is falling for it, after all.

“….I’m a slave, so I could never lie to a noble.”

I made use of my status as a slave to emphasize that I absolutely wasn’t making this up. Of course, from his perspective, he had been waiting for death, and now, out of nowhere, a slave had suddenly handed him a glimmer of hope for survival. Naturally, he would be a little skeptical.

“Do you know where that cursed person is now?”

“That person left the village a few days after the curse was lifted. I didn’t hear exactly where he was going.”

“In that case, your mother—the physician—will do. Where is she now?”

“…..”

Was he trying to get further confirmation? The sudden question caught me off guard, and I couldn’t help but look openly startled.

There is no mother. What do I say now…?

“M-my mother… um… well…”

I hesitated for a long time, unable to come up with an answer. The Grand Duke, perhaps growing frustrated, lifted a hand to his forehead and abruptly withdrew his question.

“No… That was a pointless question. I apologize. That wasn’t my intention…”

“?”

Why is he acting like this? I tilted my head in confusion—until I suddenly remembered my status.

Oh, right. I was a slave right now.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

I casually smiled as I dropped an intentionally thought-provoking phrase on the slightly guilt-ridden Grand Duke. It must have unsettled him, as I saw his forehead crease slightly as he rubbed it.

“…And your hand… I should apologize for that too. I’m sorry. It seems I didn’t control my strength properly…”

“Huh?”

His sudden apology confused me, and I instinctively looked down at my wrist. A large, deep bruise covered my delicate skin.

‘Huh? Why is it like this?’

Even if I was supposed to be frail, this wasn’t a bruise I should have gotten just from being grabbed by the Grand Duke.

I frowned, puzzled, and then suddenly recalled the caretaker who had yanked me around roughly earlier. I had been too distracted by Abel collapsing to notice at the time, but I guess the pressure had been stronger than I realized. It must be strong enough to leave such a prominent bruise.

“Oh, this didn’t happen here, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

I quickly pulled down my sleeve to hide the bruise. It wasn’t exactly pleasant to look at, so I figured covering it was best.

But just as I did, the Grand Duke reached out and carefully pulled my hand forward again.

“Then…. who did this?”

His voice, now much lower than before, carried a subtle anger.

Startled by his sudden shift in demeanor, I blinked in surprise.

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