All that could be seen was a ruthless hound loyal to its master.
Rosenta looked away.
He emphatically spoke to Caligo, his father and owner of the hound,
"This curse, please release it."
But he didn't budge.
He just stroked his chin and cryptically asked Rosenta,
"It will resolve on its own if he goes a day or so without using magic. Of course, you must already know this from reading the book, right?"
‘That must mean...….’
Was this a curse that could be lifted by limiting the use of magic power?
‘Oh! It's that curse.’
Unlike benevolent divine power, anarchistic magic was said to have been regarded as quite troublesome in ancient times.
Because it's not an ability endowed by the Gods.
Mages were said to have been treated and ostracized like heretics.
So, a curse was created to suppress them.
The name of this curse was...….
"Fremo."
"Mhm, you know it well."
Caligo wore the insidious smile of a man who was hiding something.
Then, he extended his arm in the direction where Rosenta was standing.
Rosenta, momentarily, felt an ominous sensation.
Normally, he would carefully analyze where that feeling was coming from, but not now.
He trusted his instinct and acted on it.
"Prohibitio."
He acted, first, to protect Enoch.
He could have quickly evaded an attack on himself, but Enoch’s situation was different.
The surrounding shadows swirled like flames and surrounded Enoch.
Enoch shouted with great difficulty,
"Not me...… You!"
"Stay as you are. As I promised, I’m going to protect you."
Rosenta looked forward again after relentlessly ignoring Enoch's words.
Caligo was smiling.
He was looking at Rosenta as though he was observing something very interesting, to be precise, he was observing Rosenta’s abilities.
"You’ve even managed to grasp all the abilities you’ve read. When you were young, I was very glad to see your potential, but...….”
Caligo began to slowly reach out to Rosenta as he spoke.
This time, in a very cold voice,
"I didn't expect you to unseal the power I had suppressed and enter your father's study to steal."
“……Well, to be frank, you were dead, and I would also like to express my great umbrage at you suppressing my power from an early age."
"Ha!"
Caligo burst into laughter.
Then, he opened his mouth again, raising the corner of his mouth with a bitter expression,
"I was glad that you were so flawless, but I’m not the kind of fool who would give power to a brat who doesn’t know anything. I had planned to pass my knowledge to you when I came back but...….”
Tsk, Caligo kicked his tongue.
Still, the amethyst eyes, which had contained various emotions so far, gradually unified those emotions into one.
Annoyance.
"It can’t be helped since you’re trying to interfere with my plans after stealing from me."
His voice was extremely dry, completely devoid of emotion.
Rosenta could see Caligo’s outstretched fingertips slowly gaining strength.
Rosenta’s nerves were on edge.
"Eternal Night."
Immediately following Caligo's words, black smoke surged forth at a frightening rate and spewed out towards Rosenta.
Rosenta immediately recognized the curse by its name.
A curse that would never let you sleep again.
But Rosenta couldn't figure out a defensive spell.
To begin with, the ability given to the Estella family was more focused on harming others rather than protecting them.
‘If that's the case...….’
As the saying goes, ‘fight fire with fire’. The only choice was to curse the curse.
Rosenta quickly stretched out his hand.
"I hereby cancel that command."
Was it working? The black smoke that had arrived right in front of him began to scatter in all directions.
He didn't stop there.
He tried to deliver a blow before the smoke completely disappeared.
"Forever...….”
But he couldn't speak all of his words.
"Ugh!"
This is because he was only thinking about what was directly in front of him and had forgotten about Hyorin.
It was his mistake.
"Stay still, young lord; I don't want to hurt you."
Hyorin had masked his presence and appeared behind him in an instant.
There was a thin needle under his chin. It wasn't a knife, so it didn't bleed, but it was threatening enough.
He forced him to lie flat on the ground.
That didn’t mean he was hopeless.
That’s because he kept hearing a voice in his head saying, "They've arrived."
The skeletons.
***
The tide turned in an instant.
"Hurry up!"
Skeletons came forward in unison in line with his instructions.
It was so bizarre to see skeletons pouring out.
And, while they were frantically dealing with the skeletons, Rosenta uttered another word.
"Bondage."
The black shadows began to rise and tighten around their bodies.
Soon, both were bound.
"Things have changed now."
Strangely enough, even at those words, Caligo smiled leisurely.
In addition, even though he was caught, he even issued a warning,
"I have revealed your identity to the saint. Aren't you looking forward to what she will do now?"
“……What do you mean!?"
"You said I could run wild, so I’ll probably tell everyone about your lies. That you’re a dirty devil who works against Rouge."
Of course, Rosenta had to be surprised.
Thinking of linking demons to his abilities, if that's the case...….
"The family will also be criticized!"
"Yes, but later on, I'll reveal the truth when I appear again. What would be the problem? Of course, by then you...….”
He wore a snake-like smile.
Caligo made that smile grow wider and deeper, and whispered words,
"You’ll become an unfortunate victim of the evil emperor and priests."
“……a victim of Theodore!"
Rosenta stood up quickly.
But behind him he could hear Caligo's sneering laughter.
"Hahaha! Are you going to confess that your father killed the emperor? That would be really fun, too. To hear the truth from one of his favorite people! I’m just sorry that I can't see the emperor's face in person."
“……What's so funny about what you've done!"
He got emotional for a moment.
For the first time, he referred to Caligo as 'you' rather than ‘Duke,’ or ‘Father.’
"No."
But whatever he called him, Caligo didn't seem to feel very concerned with it either way.
He just sat there smiling with a face that said he found this all amusing.
"It's not what I’ve done, it's a punishment for being a liar."
"You really...….”
"Come on! Son, no...… daughter."
Even though he was suppressed by shadows acting like ropes, he stood up casually.
Caligo was relaxed, as if he had been just acting until now.
"You said you didn't want to help me, but you've already become my escape. Run away as soon as possible. Before those who want to catch you appear."
What kind of sophistry was this?
I got a rough idea from the previous explanation that it made his point.
The one who’d attacked him just a moment ago was now warning him to run away.
"Oh my!"
He burst out laughing.
Unlike Rosenta, who started to get annoyed because he couldn’t understand, Caligo's smile only got wider.
"Run away, run away, run away. That's how you’ll make time for me."
"I think I will...…!”
Was it a mistake not to cover his mouth so he could interrogate him? He tried to cover his mouth even though it was belated.
"Silence."
Even though he blocked his voice, he remained vigilant.
Caligo's, still, calm demeanor seemed to indicate he was still hiding something.
As soon as he suspected as much, he heard a loud noise from far away.
At first glance, Rosenta could see that it was a very urgent situation where someone was being chased.
"We’re in big trouble!"
"Argh! Go after them!"
"Oh, my! What about the Duke?"
‘They?’
The bushes nearby stirred as if they somehow knew where they were, and soon unfamiliar asked figures appeared.
They quickly ran towards Caligo, hoods pulled back with eyes fixed on him.
Boom.
Clang!
In an instant it was a mess.
Skeletons and black-masked people began to fight in a tangle, and newly emerging house staff emerged through the bushes and watched the scene blankly.
Then, some quickly became aware of the situation and screamed.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Awww! Skeletons!"
It was crazy.
In the meantime, Edmund found Rosenta and approached him.
"Duke! Hurry up!"
"Enoch before me...…!”
"What? What's wrong with him?"
Edmund kept fumbling with a confused face.
Then, realizing there was no time for this, he tried to approach Enoch himself in a hurry.
He quickly got rid of the black flames that were overflowing around Enoch.
"Release."
Then, he shouted at the household staff that were still watching the situation.
"Hurry up and evacuate!"
He shouted as if it were urgent to prevent their gazes from going to the other side.
"Yes, yes!"
"Let's go back!"
Fortunately, they quickly came to their senses and went back on the path that they had come from in a hurry.
In the meantime, there were some people who looked sideways at Rosenta as if they were waiting for him.
But he didn't follow.
"Aren’t you coming, Duke?"
"I told you to go!"
In the end, all the household staff left.
Only then could he concentrate on the sight in front of him.
The tide was changing.
Perhaps, due to the constant speed of the assassins, the skeleton gradually began to lose steam as their bones fell off one by one.
But no one had attacked Rosenta himself.
They were just making way for Caligo.
"You didn’t think I’d come here without a plan?"
Alas, Caligo had undone his silence.
Even his binds were completely undone as he approached Rosenta.
As a result of his curse being broken by someone else, it was natural for an equivalent backlash to the curse to come back to him.
"Cough."
He couldn’t stop coughing.
"Cough."
And blood came up intermittently as he did so.
Soon his vision became blurred.
His legs were starting to lose strength little by little, and he was staggering, when a pitch-black figure approached him.
Calligo's voice flowed out.
"You don’t want to go, so I won’t take you by force. So, try to escape well on your own."