A shrouded veil brushed against her skin. The woman’s breath was imperceptible. Only a warm voice reached her ears.

[I send my regards. I do not know where the piece of my soul has fallen. It should have been of help to you.]

“Angel…?”

[Hush. There are eavesdroppers.]

The woman’s soft and smooth voice sounded rough and duplicitous once more.

[Child who desires life. Strike at the weakness.]

Nothing in this world is perfect. With those final words, her consciousness drifted and faded away again.

[This is the timeline separator] [Diana! Come to your senses!]

“So noisy. You look familiar… Well, never mind. Why is this so unpleasant?”

Venci’s long fingers poked roughly at the soul. Levant closed his mouth and averted his eyes, feeling a cold sweat.

It was the first time he learned that Venci was Angela’s aunt. A witch’s bloodline. So that was why Angela had such immense magical power.

As Levant was gauging Venci’s reaction, Diana looked around in a daze. Half-awake, she was in a trance-like state.

“Child.”

She focused on Venci’s voice. Venci spoke gravely with a serious expression.

“The curse on your back has been slightly undone.”

Although she called it a curse pattern, it was a pattern composed of a magic circle.

One line had disappeared from that dreadful pattern. However, unlike ordinary magic circles, it would not vanish from being slightly undone.

The curse was that persistent. It would not disappear unless completely erased.

“But it can be completely removed, right?”

“Yes, seeing as it has disappeared like this.”

Venci raised her long staff and struck the ground. Thud− As the ground trembled and resounded, a magic circle rose three-dimensionally like a hologram above the back of her hand.

“Do you see? I have miniaturized and transferred the one on your back.”

Within the complex ancient characters, one line of the star pattern had vanished.

“From now on, even if magical power leaks out, the pain will lessen slightly.”

There was hope. This life could be lived fully.

Diana quietly smiled and looked at the bracelet on her wrist.

“I thought the gem left by Angela would be helpful, so I made it into a bracelet.”

Originally, I should have taken it. Diana stood up and embraced Venci, who was grumbling.

“Thank you! Thank you so much. Auntie.”

Startled by the sudden embrace, Venci awkwardly patted Diana’s back with uncertain hands.

When was the last time she had felt another’s joy so fully with her entire body? Her crimson eyes deepened as they painted the past.

Venci’s white hair flowed down her shoulders as she lowered her head.

“Did you meet her?”

The abrupt question was cautious. Sensing the evident tension in the query, Diana smiled brightly.

“Yes. She asked me to send her regards.”

The whispered words did not reach anyone else’s ears.

Although Angela’s intentions were unclear, if it only reached her descendant, secrecy must be crucial.

Venci cast a soundproofing spell in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.

“That sly one. Not even showing her nose in front of me.”

There was no anger in Venci’s gruff voice. Only a sense of disappointment remained.

“So, about that. Queen Auntie.”

At the meaningful tone, Venci instinctively felt a sense of crisis and distanced herself.

“I’d like to receive the compensation you mentioned now.”

Venci had said that a witch’s gratitude was expensive and that she would give something of equal value, but she had not given Diana anything yet.

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Oh my, were you planning on going back on your word?”

She must have also learned how to lift the curse. Now it was time to receive what was owed and depart quickly.

“How different you are from Angela. Well, never mind. Alright, what do you desire?”

“Just teach me one spell.”

Venci, who had expected her to naturally want something material, asked in puzzlement.

“A spell?”

“Yes, just one will suffice.”

If she had a witch’s bloodline, couldn’t she attempt at least one? With that expectation, she proposed it to Venci.

“Very well.”

Venci readily agreed.

[This is the timeline separator]

They traversed the corridor where the shadows from the windows stretched long due to the red moon.

Venci led the way, her high heels clicking, followed silently by Diana and the bear walking on two legs.

“Why does the red moon rise here? It always seems to be night.”

Glancing at the high red moon, Venci spoke nonchalantly.

“That’s affected by contaminated magical power.”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t go into the forest for the time being. Do you feel the ominous energy? The forest will be turned upside down. Magical beasts will be newly created, and magical power will accumulate again. Enough to drive one mad.”

Along with the witch’s dry words, the waves of the black trees swaying in the wind began to stir.

Ominous energy. It was something she had experienced before. Rodrick had suffered from it when they left this forest. After she absorbed it, she had fainted.

The ominous magical power of unknown origin was flowing in with the wind.

However, the ominous energy vanished with a spark before even reaching the window, blocked by the witch’s barrier.

She thought it was fortunate that she had not come with Rodrick.

The Black Forest was raging to the point where if he had been here, he might have gone insane.

“That one has returned to human form?”

The room they arrived at was filled entirely with white, like a blank canvas.

Drawing a magic circle on the white marble floor, Venci pointed at the bear with the tip of her staff.

Venci raised an eyebrow as if she had heard something absurd.

“Impossible. The witch who cursed that fellow had such a nasty personality that it wouldn’t be easily lifted.”

The bear also nodded its head vigorously in agreement.

“Hmm, you said you hit its buttocks?”

“No, I didn’t hit it.”

At the mention of contact, Venci became lost in thought.

Angela’s magical power had mixed with the curse’s engraved power. Could it be that their constitutions were also similar?

It seemed that this child shared many overlapping aspects with Angela.

“I think you absorbed it.”

“Absorbed what?”

“That fellow’s curse.”

“Huh?”

The bear looked down at Diana in confusion.

Um, could you please not come too close? What good is it if only your expression is cute? The intimidation of a wild bear was considerable.

“A witch cannot absorb another’s curse. At the very least, even magical power is only drawn from what is generated in nature. Using magical power from within another’s body is close to taboo.”

“Am I currently breaking a taboo?”

She had been absorbing Rodrick’s curse all this time. Was that a violation?

Worriedly asking if there would be any restrictions, Venci shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s fine. You absorbed what had been converted into a curse, not the magical power itself, right? Besides, using another’s magical power is close to taboo, but there are limits. It’s fine within those limits, but if you exceed your own limits, you’ll go mad.”

Venci began drawing the magic circle again.

“So the humans who draw upon your magical power should also be careful. If they exceed human limits, they’ll be broken beyond repair.”

A chilling voice dispersed into the air.

Venci, who was preparing to teach magic, pointed at the bear standing dumbly with a jerk of her chin.

“Don’t just stand there. Absorb that one’s curse.”

“The bear?”

“Yes, you don’t know how to draw upon natural things, right? You need to gather magical power within your body by any means necessary. Until the curse is lifted.”

Because if your magical power is completely depleted, you will die.

With those eerie words, Venci focused intently, glaring at the floor.

Diana swallowed dry saliva and faced the bear, staring at it with concentration.

Just as each person had different magical power, the color of magical power differed depending on who cast the curse. Yellow magical power rippled around the bear.

“Hand.”

Like a well-trained beast, the bear gently placed its front paw on her hand.

Through the firm paw, she began absorbing the curse. Power surged in a different way than with Rodrick.

As the magical power gently rose, the bear’s form changed again.

“I… I’m back! Young lady!”

Diana, who had been focusing with her eyes closed, opened them in surprise at the thick man’s hand.

“Oh my. Stop.”

The staff swiftly intervened between Diana and the tan man with teary eyes.

“Back away. You’re too close.”

When Venci gestured at his body with her eyes, the man jumped back in surprise.

“I, I apologize!”

“How impetuous. Really. Well, never mind.”

Venci waved her staff, and the man was clothed in neat attire. Venci blinked her eyes and looked the man up and down.

“Once your curse is fully absorbed, you will return to normal. To think it was such a light curse.”

“Is that true?!”

The brightly smiling man grasped Diana’s hand and knelt on both knees.

“Young lady, you are the savior of my life!”

“No, wait.”

The man, who held her hand as if in devout prayer, grasped the delicate hand tightly and pressed it to his forehead.

“I wish to pledge my loyalty to the young lady. Will you permit me?”

“……”

The man lifted his head, his eyes shining with passion as he awaited Diana’s permission.

Both Diana and Venci looked at the man with distasteful expressions.

“Is it not possible? I wish to follow the young lady.”

The man turned his head and sought Venci’s permission as well. At the man’s crestfallen expression, Venci cleared her throat as if pricked by conscience.

“Alright, you’re not my property either, so do as you wish. In a way, you were a freeloader.”

When Venci was asleep, it was the bear who managed the witch’s house, which rivaled a castle.

Considering that he had worked for nothing all this time, perhaps it was fine to let him do as he pleased.

As Venci was having those thoughts, Diana’s flat voice settled between them.

“No.”

The shocked man froze as if turned to stone.

“Why, why is that?”

The man, who seemed to have higher abilities than an average mercenary, would surely be helpful if she took him in.

However, the man’s curse had not been completely lifted. A man who could turn into a bear at any moment.

Well, it being bothersome was one reason, but among the various reasons, there was one that bothered her the most.

“My man.”

Diana, who had been refusing in a monotonous voice, smiled softly and said,

“He gets very jealous.”

As if happily longing for someone.

Her haughty eyes, tinged with pink, curved beautifully like a crescent moon, and the man who had been a bear stared blankly at Diana, unable to utter a word.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Captain, where are we going?”

The entire party was exhausted. With the constantly rising red moon, even the sense of time had vanished, disrupting their biorhythms.

Watching the man silently leading the way alone, Noel couldn’t hide his unease.

As soon as magical power was restored, it was used to suppress Rodrick’s rampage.

At this rate, before they even found Diana, Rodrick would go berserk and blow away this Black Forest.

Moreover, this forest is strange. With all sorts of energies swirling in a whirlpool, magical power couldn’t be read at all.

“You all stand by here. I’ll go and check.”

This time, too, Daren stepped up as the representative. He concealed his extreme tension and fear and approached Rodrick.

“Captain, you need to rest. Ugh!”

A powerful hand grabbed the collar of Daren, who had come close. The tendons bulged on the back of his hand beneath the black leather glove as he gripped tightly.

“Didn’t I say not to come near me?”