‘There was a door in a place like this, and no one knew about it?’

Even though it was an unused armory, having a blatantly different-colored wooden door on the floor… Furthermore, although the armory was not currently in use, it seemed well-maintained.
The Duke, seeming to share the same thoughts, frowned and looked at the basement door.

“It’s strange. It was when I was very young, but I’ve been to this armory before. So, I remember it vividly, and there wasn’t a door like this back then.”

Listening to the Duke’s words, it became even more peculiar.

Where did the door suddenly appear from?

Then, it happened.

Something was stepped on by Nellia’s foot. When a rustling sound came from below, Nellia looked down. There, shattered transparent eggshell-like fragments lay behind her heel.

‘…What is this?’

With a puzzled expression, she, along with the teacup, was scrutinizing the unfamiliar object. Jenuit, who was beside her, crouched down and observed the object.

He murmured in a voice so soft that only Nellia could hear.

“A magic seal used for sealing.”

“Magic seal…?”

“Yes, it’s a very old-fashioned one. It seems over time, the magic seal was damaged, revealing the hidden door.”

I see…

Nellia thought she made the right decision bringing Jenuit, who was revealing the secrets of the basement in one breath. At first, she was hesitant to bring Jenuit to the basement with important information, but he caused a fuss, insisting on coming along, and she had no choice but to bring him.

Duke Hart and the Duchess didn’t seem to care much whether Jenuit followed or not. Fortunately, Jenuit, who was focused on the magic seal, seemed unfazed.

“Nellia, what’s down there?”

As Nellia and Jenuit were whispering while looking down at the floor, Duke Hart approached and asked.

Startled, Nellia replied with wide eyes, “Ah, I found this…!”

“What is it?”

“…It’s a magic seal. It seems like this magic seal was hiding the basement.”

Nellia, still flustered, echoed what Jenuit had said.

Duke Hart bent down and picked up the broken magic seal that had been under Nellia’s foot.

Carefully examining the magic seal fragments, Duke Hart nodded.

“Nellia seems to be right. Though faint, I can feel magical power here.”

Jenuit’s words were indeed true.

Moreover, the Duke seemed to sense magical power as well. It was the perfect timing to wonder how far his abilities went.

“By the way, how did Nellia know this is a magic seal?”

“Ah… I saw a magic seal that looked like this in a book I read before. I wondered if it might be one, and it turned out to be correct.”

“I see. Nowadays, it seems like Nellia reads more books than I do. Recognizing a magic seal at a glance.”

“Haha, I was lucky.”

Although he seemed to feel a twinge of conscience about taking credit for someone else’s work, Jenuit seemed indifferent.

Duke Hart opened the basement door. As he did, a staircase leading quite deeply below was revealed.

The Duke descended into the basement first. Following him were the Duchess, Nellia, and Jenuit.
The space was not spacious. As the Duchess said, inside, there were two bookshelves, one desk, and one chair.

The Duke took out a book from one of the shelves. Nellia glanced behind but couldn’t read the characters written on the book.

Nevertheless, giving up hope was too early. The Duke claimed to have studied various languages since childhood…

“I can’t read it.”

…Darn it.

Duke Hart quickly flipped through the pages of the book. However, all the characters seemed the same.

‘What kind of characters are these?’

Staring at the unfolded book, the Duke spoke.

“This… is the first time in my life seeing these characters. It seems like a language that is no longer in use. This place seems much older than I thought.”

Even the Duke couldn’t read the characters after coming this far. However, the reason the Duchess thought this book was related to a curse was that snakes were drawn sporadically throughout.

Even to Nellia’s eyes, the book certainly looked related to a curse. However, there was nothing more to learn.

While Nellia was sulking and staring at the characters, she suddenly realized that they seemed strangely familiar.

‘Have I seen characters like these before…?’

The characters looked somewhat like hieroglyphs, close to drawings.

But such thoughts only lasted for a moment. The Duke, while looking at the unfolded book, spoke as he took something out from under the bookshelf.

“There are books here as well.”

The Duchess, who had come to the basement earlier, seemed surprised by the discovery.

The Duke spread the found book on the desk. Nellia, Jenuit, and the Duchess gathered around to look at the book.

He slowly flipped through the pages from the front.

The first page had a picture.

While other books barely had distinguishable snake drawings, this book had much more detailed and colorful illustrations.

‘Fortunately…’

Since there were drawings, there seemed to be a chance to deduce the content.

Nellia concentrated on staring at the pictures.

The first picture depicted a man standing alone where the fire had occurred.

‘Fire…?’

As soon as Nellia saw the picture with fire, something came to her mind. It was the burning smell that came from the Duke transforming into a monster or when he got angry; a scent that strangely resembled burning, even though there was no actual burning. If one were to sniff that scent, it felt like being somewhere in hell surrounded by flames.

The Duke also stared at the picture in silence. Nellia knew he must be having similar thoughts to hers.

And upon closer inspection, there was a black circle drawn in the background, between the clouds.

A black circle… Could it be the moon? Drawn so black, maybe a lunar eclipse?

Just speculation, but the Duke’s curse triggered only on the day of a lunar eclipse. There might be a connection.

The Duke turned the page. And after flipping through several more pages, a new picture appeared.
However…

‘What is this…?’

A completely unexpected drawing was depicted.