137.

Hastily returning to her room, Ro confirmed Anna was absent and locked the bedroom door from the inside. Still uneasy, she meticulously checked beneath the bed and every corner of the room for anything unusual before finally opening the book.

For half the book, she felt disappointed. Demekaron contained various folktales about the “Legendary Age,” but none seemed to hold the truth she sought.

After all, it merely retold the love stories between gods and fairies—common even in children’s books—in an explicit and shockingly vulgar manner. In fact, it was downright obscene. By the time she had read two-thirds of it, she felt nothing but embarrassment. Perhaps she had misinterpreted Nick’s careless doodle after all?

But if Demekaron were merely an obscene book, there would have been no reason for the Imperial Library to burn every copy. Ro calmed herself and turned to the final pages. Fortunately, from there on, the legends grew darker and more sinister—tales of monsters, vengeful deities, and orally transmitted malicious spells. Some even described cursing with nothing but a few twigs. Ro absorbed these intriguing truths like a dry sponge soaking up water.

[Calypso. A title bestowed upon the most powerful among sea witches. Depending on the era, this figure may be a young woman or an old crone. Some believe the name is not passed down, but refers to a single, unique existence.]

Ro read the passage with keen interest. No one knew exactly when Demekaron was compiled into a book, but judging by the condition of the parchment or leather, it was at least several hundred years old. Deus had begun to rise and Pontos had started being regarded as mere phantoms of the sea a thousand years ago. Could it be that Calypso had wandered the mortal realm since that very era?

[Gods are forbidden from directly interfering in the mortal world due to causality.]

Ro startled upon reading that word. Demekaron was an anonymous compilation, not even authored entirely by one person. Yet whoever wrote this passage must have been someone beloved by the gods—or perhaps the god themselves. Causality. In her entire life, she had only ever heard that term from Calypso’s own lips. Her hand quickly flipped to the next page.

[If a god distorts a predetermined future in any way, they will, by causality, lose all divinity and be cast into a human body. They will then experience the pain and decay of flesh, things they never knew as a god.]

Pain and decay. Ro recalled a recent memory. When Lady Audrey visited her in Montrosa’s territory, the corpse-like skin glimpsed beneath her dress sleeves, and the moment she flinched as if terrified even a drop of water might splash her…

[For a god cast into a mortal body to regain eternal divinity, three offerings are required. A wicked flower bloomed with flesh and blood, the most noble body, and the most precious thing obtained as a human. The last must be purified.]

Ro trembled as she traced the illustration beneath the passage—a fully bloomed flower. Its petals were dark violet, and its center a deep crimson. If the giant bud in the Imperial Garden ever bloomed, it would surely look just like this.

[As the wicked flower ripens, it drains human vitality and induces hallucinations. To withstand its toxicity when fully bloomed, one must cut the root of the wicked flower and place it in the mouth…]

The next part was torn, the paper crumpled and ripped. Someone had torn it out in a hurry. Judging by the carelessness, the person likely wasn’t meticulous—the corner of the illustration remained. Though she couldn’t see the full image, it resembled the upper-left portion of a magic circle. Even from that fragment, she instinctively sensed it was an extremely horrific spell. Ro tore off the remaining paper and shoved it deep into her sleeve.

“Damn it, that damned Calypso… A wicked witch who won’t even die if drowned in the sea. What? A cherished saint? With all this trading and scheming, I’ll probably end up offered as a sacrifice whole!”

Ro hurriedly turned the next page. Unfortunately, the following content shifted completely. It described dangerous pranks passed down orally, methods to summon ghosts, or… Ro skimmed through it indifferently until suddenly stopping at one passage.

[Take holy water, or the first dew at dawn, and mix in a single drop of noble blood. Then…]

That was when it happened. Someone knocked on the door. Ro startled and shoved the book under the blanket.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

“Anna?”

Ro climbed down from the bed, unlocked the latch, and opened the door halfway. To her relief, the person standing there was indeed Anna. She exhaled in relief and let Anna inside. Perhaps because she had just read about suspicious and ominous things, her first thought had been something sinister. Anna entered the room carrying an empty tray.

“What’s this?”

“Food. Meal.”

“Meal? It’s not even mealtime.”

“You said you were hungry…”

“When did I?”

“Just now. Just a moment ago.”

Anna’s condition was strange. Her eyes were dull, and she repeated her words twice. Not a trace of liveliness could be sensed. Ro panicked and abruptly grabbed Anna’s arm.

“Anna? Anna! Snap out of it.”

“Uh…”

Anna blinked drowsily, looking around as if waking from a brief nap. She glanced back and forth between the empty tray in her hands and Ro, then her eyes widened. She looked utterly shocked.

“What on earth… No, what is going on?”

“Are you back to your senses?”

“Yes. Yes… I must’ve been possessed or something. I don’t understand anything…”

Though she seemed lucid now, her expression remained excessively confused. Ro quickly deduced the cause. She rushed to the window. The giant flower in the garden could be seen from anywhere in the palace. Just over the past few days, the tip of its bud had begun to split open—as if it would bloom any moment.

“The wicked flower steals human vitality as it ripens and induces hallucinations.”

Now she finally understood what those words meant in reality. After waking from the hallucination, Anna grew increasingly anxious. Her face turned deathly pale, and her hands trembled violently. Ro decided to calm Anna first.

“You’re pale. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yes. Yes… It was truly horrifying.”

“I sometimes have terrifying dreams too. Especially when I’m anxious.”

“…You too, Miss?”

“Yes. Drinking a warm cup of tea will make you feel better. Wash your face as well.”

“Should I?”

“Yes. Stay right here and don’t go anywhere. Lock the door from the inside. I’ll go to the kitchen and bring back some tea.”

“Yes…”

“Then I’ll need to borrow your clothes.”

Normally, Anna would have shouted back, “What nonsense is this?” But now, trembling, she simply nodded. Anna obediently changed clothes with her. Ro tightened the apron of the maid’s uniform and warned once more.

“Promise me. Don’t go anywhere.”

Ro didn’t trust the situation at all, but she had no more time to waste.

“Haa…”

The moment she stepped outside the room, Ro felt a powerful, cloying fragrance. An overwhelmingly sweet, almost sticky floral scent filled the corridor. She didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed it before, but the scent had suddenly intensified.

Ro noticed the knights standing in the hallway had glazed, unfocused eyes. The relatively alert maids seemed to be girls recently brought into the palace by nobles as personal attendants. Apparently, the flower’s poison didn’t cause immediate intoxication, but accumulated gradually within the body.

Ro easily slipped past the dazed knights. She had two priorities. One was obtaining the flower’s root; the other was finding the magic circle. The first seemed difficult for now. The knights assigned by Lady Audrey guarded the garden like an impenetrable fortress—she couldn’t even get close. If the knights’ eyes were dull, she might have attempted it… but oddly, they appeared fully conscious.

The second objective—finding the magic circle—was because, if Ro’s suspicion was correct, that location would be where Lady Audrey conducted the wicked ritual. If she could somehow locate the circle and tamper with its corner to disrupt the ceremony, that would be ideal.

Yet she couldn’t possibly search the entire vast palace for an uncertain task. Ro narrowed down several candidates. It should be not too far from the flower, large enough to draw a ritual magic circle, and…

‘A place where I could hide among people and escape if needed.’

Her eyes settled on the grand hall where the evening ball would be held tomorrow. Maids and servants continuously streamed in and out, busy preparing for the event.