“Perhaps it’s a curse that makes the personality worse.”

“Really?”

“No, I was just pointing it out. That person has a bad personality.”

At DS’s question, Evie responded nonchalantly, laughing.

Her face was very satisfied, like a cat sitting in a sunny spot.

After parting with the Count, Evie and DS returned to the house where they decided to stay.

It was a space willingly provided by the village people for the saint candidate who had saved the village and returned.

Evie sprawled on the sofa of the cozy house, chattering away.

“Come to think of it, the Count understood my curse easily. Curses aren’t that common, usually there would be more suspicion.”

Evie recalled the time when she exposed her curse to the Count, and how he did not dismiss it as nonsense but took it seriously.

Then she added with a twinkle in her eye.

“A curse on Zion Laurel, why would a lion wear a bell around its neck?”

Today, Evie learned very important things through DS’s helper, Ubia.

However, what truly monopolized Evie’s interest was not her own affair but Zion Laurel’s curse.

“It’s strange, that person could have solved the curse a long time ago. Would it be too farfetched to say he might be leaving it on purpose?”

“Why would he neglect it if he could break the curse?”

“Perhaps, a consensual curse.”

A consensual curse. An utterly inappropriate expression keeps appearing today.

But it was not a completely absurd expression, so DS easily grasped Evie’s thoughts.

“Like a surveillance mission by Amaneser?”

At DS’s words, Evie smiled and nodded.

It was still circumstantial, but Evie felt that various things fit together perfectly.

The emptiness handed down from generation to generation in Count Laurel.

The curse that Zion Laurel is bearing.

And the living calamity, Amaneser.

“It was a leash. To keep Count Laurel from escaping at the border.”

“We can’t conclude that yet.”

“Of course, but there’s an underground in the Manyanya Tower, so would the Duke Laurel’s castle be invulnerable?”

Despite DS’s cautious discouragement, Evie did not lose her conviction. It was because she had seen and experienced it herself.

The Manyanya Tower always shines brightly because it hides a secret underground.

That dark, damp area substitutes for all the dirty work to support the tower, so the tower that springs up to the surface is always white and splendid.

Evie thought that the Grand Duke of Laurel would not be free from such deception.

“Besides, thinking this way makes sense why the Count is indifferent to Tienda.”

Despite the Duke’s extreme kindness, the reason why the Count does not even look at Tienda.

Evie thought it might be for the same reason as her chattering to the tower owner.

That’s why Evie felt a very faint empathy for the Count, who she thought was entirely opposite to her.

“Up to here it fits well, but I don’t know how to interpret the Count’s current state. He’s cursed, but not unfeeling like previous Laurel Counts…….”

Evie tapped the table with her fingertips and muttered.

And then asked DS a series of questions about curses, such as whether a trace remains even if the curse is broken, whether you can be cursed again after a curse is lifted, etc.

Evie’s attitude in pondering about the Count was quite serious.

No, it was not just serious, she was almost obsessed. Like a cat that has bitten into a thorn.

Evie, who was always clever, enjoyed collecting various topics and fitting together the overlooked pieces and reading between the lines.

DS sometimes felt that she seemed like an eccentric genius but never voiced such thoughts.

He did not want to see Evie wreak havoc at being called eccentric or get smug at being called a genius.

Anyway, Evie often brooded like this, but now there was a much more important subject for her.
DS subtly asked Evie if she had forgotten about that.

“I do find the Count’s curse interesting, but right now, the more urgent matter for us is Evie’s own curse.”

“That’s right, the most urgent matter is that.”

Fortunately, Evie immediately agreed with DS’s words.

Then, she added with a very sincere face, “So I’m trying to make a friend. Someone who knows all about my cursed situation and can enter the social circles of Tienda competently.”

“Surely not the Count…….”

Fortunately, Evie was not distracted elsewhere.

When DS asked with doubt, Evie rather looked at him as if to say, why are you surprised all of a sudden.

After all, there were two reasons why Evie came back to this village.

One was to meet Yubia, and the other was to join hands with the Count.

Evie was not lacking in cunning, nor was she lacking in thriftiness. So she didn’t want to just let go of the Count now that they were entangled.

Especially since they had already discovered each other’s weaknesses, it would be too wasteful to just let go of the Count.

Moreover, having learned of the existence of the woman who cursed her through Yubia, Evie had come to need the Count even more.