41.

At the sudden ambush, Ro instinctively flailed. The hand covering her nose and mouth had an astonishingly strong grip—nothing like the frail strength of an old woman. She thought she had been trapped. Someone must have lured her here by imitating Calypso’s appearance. After all, the Calypso she knew was utterly incapable of such strength.

“Shhh.”

The moment she heard that voice, Ro stopped resisting. There was no doubt—it was Calypso. No matter how perfectly someone else mimicked her, no one could replicate Calypso’s voice. It sounded like an elderly woman’s, yet beneath it seemed to dwell multiple souls. Like a woman, a man, a child, and an old person all speaking the exact same words at the exact same time—an eerie sensation.

“Don’t scream.”

When Ro nodded, Calypso slowly released her.

As her airway opened, Ro coughed and quickly backed away. Then she scrutinized the old woman up and down with suspicious eyes. The hood pulled over her head, the hunched spine, the matted white hair, the blackened, rotting teeth, the occasional glimpse of gold teeth when she opened her mouth, the bony, claw-like hands.

No matter where she looked, this woman didn’t seem capable of such force. The oppressive strength had been so intense that escaping alone would have been impossible. Was it because she was ‘Leah’ that it felt that way? Or had Calypso always been hiding her strength? While Ro stared doubtfully, Calypso slowly pushed the eyepatch covering half her face up to her forehead, revealing a pale, milky eye, and smiled faintly.

“I had a feeling someone would appear here.”

“…….”

“It’s you, Rosetta. Calypso didn’t expect it to be you.”

Ro inhaled sharply, then froze stiff.

Though not a few pirates had always dismissed Calypso as mere superstition—some even calling her a witch under their breath, even she herself had done so—knowing in her mind that Calypso could see souls and actually experiencing it firsthand were entirely different matters. Dazed, Ro rubbed her cheek.

“You know… it’s me?”

“Of course. Calypso sees everything.”

She felt the urge to blurt out multiple questions at once, but her words caught in her throat. Where to begin? Leah’s whereabouts? News about Nick, that bastard she wanted to tear apart? Or whether Calypso knew how to return her to her original body? Whichever it was, each question felt not just inappropriate, but outright rude to ask outright.

Ro forced herself to start with something socially appropriate.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Someone who hasn’t left the back corner of Bill’s Inn in over ten years.”

“Calypso is everywhere.”

The old woman grinned, revealing yellowed teeth. Rosetta shrugged.

Enough with the riddles. I was actually planning to visit you soon, but we nearly missed each other. Lucky we ran into one another.”

“You met Calypso because it was time. If you weren’t ready, your paths would have diverged.”

Ro wrinkled her nose. The cryptic speech was as irritating as ever. She had followed without thinking, but now that she was face to face, she wasn’t sure whether she could truly open up about what she’d been through.

Of course, Calypso was the only woman in this age, where magic had vanished, who could still cast curses. There was a legendary tale of a notorious thug from the village who assaulted Calypso and afterward turned into a woman—passed down like folklore.

That incident had happened over thirty years ago, and the most terrifying part of the story was that Calypso remained utterly unchanged then and now. Still, among all the people Rosetta knew, Calypso was indeed the one who understood curses and magical potions the most. But really, could she trust her enough to confess something like this…?

At that moment, Calypso smiled as if she could see right through Rosetta’s hesitation and spoke.

“So you rushed after Calypso in such a panic—there must be something you’re wondering about.”

The instant those words reached her, it was as if a magical lock in her heart clicked open. Rosetta spoke as if entranced.

“Do you know why my body changed?”

“Of course. Calypso knows very well.”

The old woman opened her milky eyes a little wider. She pursed her thin lips tightly, as if holding back a laugh about to burst out, then whispered—her voice sounding unusually clear and childlike, as people often do when about to tell an interesting story.

“That was a curse.”

“…Damn it, I’ve never even heard of a curse that swaps souls.”

“Oh?”

“There’s no way such a thing should even be possible…”

At that moment, Calypso’s opaque eyes glinted strangely. Those eyes, which clearly couldn’t focus and seemed to wander into the distance, now stared directly at Rosetta. Rosetta felt a chill run down her spine. She whispered, breathless.

“Was this curse… cast by you?”

“Yes, and also no.”

In that instant, Rosetta grabbed Calypso by the collar.

“What the hell kind of answer is that? Are you trying to drive me insane? Did you do it or didn’t you? Speak clearly!”

Her refined manner of speaking vanished instantly, replaced by rough Eastern dialect. Her fierce demeanor startled even passing pedestrians, who turned to look. Yet Calypso only continued to smile calmly.

Rosetta suddenly felt as if she wasn’t grabbing the old woman’s collar at all, but rather as if she were a child clinging to the hem of her clothes. She ground her teeth, but the more she did, the more firmly Calypso’s lips remained sealed. After a brief standoff, Rosetta roughly let go.

“Fine, fine. Then what happened to my body?”

“Your body?”

For the first time, Calypso tilted her head, as if not understanding. Rosetta patiently repeated slowly.

“Just as I’m inside this girl’s body, is her soul inside my real body? Is she not dead?”

“No, no. You are the one who died.”

“Damn it, then…”

“Rose. It’s been four years since you died. You should have long since sunk into the salt flats. Even Calypso lacks the power to revive a body rotted to decay.”

Hell, hope shatters just as it appears. Rosetta rubbed her face with her dry hands.

“Then what about this girl’s soul?”

“Her soul is somewhere beyond sight. Even Calypso cannot see it.”

The old woman raised a long fingernail and poked Rosetta’s chest sharply.

“So it isn’t here either.”

“Then what if…”

Rosetta swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth.

“If this girl… comes back, what happens to me?”

“Worried your body will be taken back? Calypso would call that a pointless thought.”

In that moment, Rosetta felt both relief and despair. Rosetta’s body had rotted away, and Leah’s soul had already left this body forever. At least she no longer had to fear dying overnight—but having to live as ‘Leah’ for the rest of her life was a chain around her neck.

Rosetta paced back and forth, biting her lip, then suddenly remembered something and grabbed the old woman’s shoulders.

“Right, Calypso. Place a curse on me to change my appearance. It doesn’t matter if it’s only for a short time.”

“Impossible. You are already a soul that has been cursed once. One curse per soul—that is our rule.”

Rosetta instantly spat out a curse. The hope flickering before her eyes vanished like a spark.

“You say it’s impossible because of the curse? Then… must I live like this forever? Like this… form?”

“By ‘this form,’ do you mean your outward appearance, or perhaps your social standing?”

“Both!”

Rosetta shouted, as if having a fit. Calypso’s eyes narrowed slightly, wearing an expression like one looking at an ungrateful person.

“Rose, you should be grateful for this new life you’ve been given.”

Rosetta exhaled a stifled breath. Grateful for this? She’d rather have never woken up at all. If only her new body hadn’t been that of a noble’s daughter, everything might have been better.

If it weren’t for the fact that outside of balls she had no chance to use her healthy stamina, had to wear suffocatingly tight undergarments all day, and every single move she made became gossip! Damn it, how was she supposed to endure the rest of her life like this…? Even now, Rosetta was at her limit.

Seeing Rosetta’s ashen face, Calypso reached into her robe and pulled out a black vial, holding it out.

“If you dislike it, just drink this potion. Then this body will lose its ability to contain a soul. You’ll be freer than you are now.”

“What… is this exactly?”