Chapter 77 – 77
In the dead of night, a man lingered near the window outside the bedroom where Euro slept. He gazed silently at Euro’s deeply sleeping face through the half-drawn curtains before reaching out toward the closed window without hesitation.
“Well, look at that, it just opens?”
Assuming it would be locked, he had intended to use a bit of effort, but the window pushed open effortlessly. Then again, the only thing to be feared in the Dukedom was the curse; a window being left unlocked was hardly strange.
Furthermore, the man who had secretly infiltrated the mansion had put everyone to sleep—from the knights patrolling the grounds to the servants. Thus, no one could discover or stop his intrusion.
With quiet and swift movements, he lightly climbed through the window. At that sign, Kisha, who had been sleeping as if guarding Euro’s side, snapped his head up.
Yet, for some reason, Kisha gazed at the stranger with a perfectly serene expression. At this, the man let out a hollow laugh and removed the robe that had been half-covering his face.
“It’s been a while, Kisha.”
The intruder who revealed his face was none other than Larry. At his greeting, Kisha hopped down from the bed, stretched, and approached, lightly bumping his head against Larry’s leg.
“Oh? Are you glad to see me? After ignoring every single one of my messages?”
Larry spoke while stroking Kisha’s head vigorously, as if rumpling it. However, Kisha merely snorted at Larry’s [stolen content]words. While the sight was both amusing [visit our site]and irritating, that wasn’t what was important right now.
Euro, lying on the bed as if dead, looked pale. Seeing this, Kisha repeatedly nudged Larry with his head, as if urging him. Larry lightly pushed Kisha aside and flopped down into the small chair placed by Euro’s bedside.
“Let’s see how his condition is.”
Despite Larry’s words, Kisha remained restless, pacing around him before climbing back onto the bed to lie down beside Euro.
“I get it, I get it. I won’t let him die, so stop worrying.”
Larry gave a light glare to Kisha, who was staring at him intently as if pressing for a result. Unlike Euro, who would imagine Kisha’s words and answer them as he pleased, Larry sighed as if he were actually communicating with the creature.
It was only natural. Kisha was not an ordinary tiger, but a being Larry had intentionally let into the mansion. Kisha was Larry’s subordinate and an artificial lifeform. He could be considered a homunculus, a sort of spirit or fairy.
Though he possessed the habits and appearance of a tiger, he could think and speak like a human. However, due to his vocal organs, he could only communicate telepathically, and only Larry could hear him because they were linked.
“You keep your mouth shut and pretend not to know the truly important details, only to contact me when this guy is dying? At this rate, I’m starting to doubt whose subordinate you are.”
Larry grumbled softly, but his tone wasn’t one of reproach. He simply placed his hand on Euro’s forehead and carefully pushed his power into him.
“A man is dying, so where is your husband and what is he doing? Does it make any sense that in this vast mansion, the only one worried about you dying is a tiger?”
A clear green energy emanated from beneath Larry’s hand, lightly stolen contentsweeping through Euro’s entire body before returning. Consequently, some vitality returned to Euro’s ghostly pale face.
“You’re really putting in every effort.”
Despite Larry’s words, Euro did not wake. With a sigh, Larry withdrew the energy he had pushed into the body and spoke to Kisha.
“He’s okay for now. Though there isn’t much time left.”
At those words, Kisha tapped the bed with his tail and rested his head with a thud upon Euro’s stomach.
“The hematemesis he’s experiencing now isn’t because of the curse. Well, it’s not entirely unrelated, but the problem is that he used his healing ability too excessively.”
Purr.
“That’s your fault, Kisha. If you had told me sooner, I would have warned him somehow. How was I supposed to know Euro had a healing ability? It’s not an ability common enough to be found everywhere.”
Larry narrowed his brow and gazed at Euro once more. No wonder the man had been staggeringly confident for someone whose death date had been set. He had intended to persuade Larry by delaying the curse with his healing ability.
A while ago, when Euro suffered from a fever, Kisha had responded to Larry’s words for the first time. Until then, Larry had been frustrated that Kisha had been strangely unresponsive.
He wondered if something had happened, but there was no way Larry wouldn’t have noticed. If so, there was only one reason why there had been no answer: blatant ignorance.
Since this had never happened before, he [stolen content]found it [visit our site]strange, but on the other hand, there was something he [stolen content]suspected. It was Euro, the new figure to appear in the Spioren Dukedom.
“I thought you’d used some grand trick to shut your mouth, but you hid this massive fact just because you liked him? Are you sane?”
Larry glared at Kisha with his arms crossed. Kisha, who had urgently contacted him because Euro had collapsed, poured out a stream of words that were utterly incomprehensible.
Half of the content he received consisted of words he couldn’t even understand, making it impossible to grasp. With terms like ‘audition’ and ‘idol’ sounding like some kind of code, Larry began to wonder if he had simply lived too long and gone mad.
Furthermore, the conclusion he reached by gathering the few words he could understand and Kisha’s supplementary explanations was nothing short of shocking.
This world was actually inside a book written by someone, and Euro was a stranger from a world where things like auditions and idols existed. He had even come as a soul and was in a state of possession within the body of a person who originally existed.
Unless Euro or Kisha were crazy, he was certainly the one who was mad. However, the information Kisha provided was strangely specific, even if it became less understandable the more he thought about it.
It was too seamless to be dismissed as a mere fabrication, and the same held true when compared to Euro’s behavior toward him. In short, it was unbelievable, yet he couldn’t help but think it was the truth.
“Everything was a predetermined fate…”
Larry felt as if his throat were tightening. He could not describe the surging emotions. As a dragon, he was a being comparable to a god in this world.
Though not eternal, he had lived for a time long enough to be called eternal and could be seen as omnipotent in every aspect.
If he wished, he could create a religion and stolen contentmake humans believe in and follow him. The god [visit our site]they believed in, Brobate, was more [stolen content]of an illusion, so replacing him would not have been difficult.
He was a being with power strong enough to place a vicious curse on a single family, gifting them painful deaths for generations. To think that such a being was merely a collection of letters. Merely a kind of pawn.
He had never once harbored doubts about the origin of the world. Being born was simply the natural order of things.
But thinking back, there were strange points. Specifically, how a family cursed with extinction could have survived for so long.
That was the problem. People who went mad from the curse from birth, humans of the Spioren Family destined to die young before thirty, were still continuing their lineage.
It couldn’t have been luck created by the intervention of a non-existent god. Looking at it that way, Euro’s words were correct. There was a reason they had to be maintained.
If this world were a story, it must move according to the will of the creator. It wasn’t a result created by the filthy desire to continue a bloodline. Not even for himself, who had been unable to leave the vicinity of the Spioren Family and had watched over them.
‘If only he had told me this from the start.’
Larry thought as he looked at Euro. But he quickly shook his head. If he had told him this as soon as they met? Would he have believed those words literally? No, he probably would have treated Euro as a madman.
He would have thought Euro was making up nonsense to somehow break the curse. After all, it was a story with no evidence. But now, there was only one reason he had no choice but to believe it.
It was because Euro had risked his life. Knowing full well that he could die, the mere fact that he stayed by Melione’s side shook Larry’s heart.
He was struggling to save every single human who was destined to die according to the flow of the story. If everything were a lie, his [unauthorized copy]stolen contentactions could be seen as nothing short of madness.
Because of that, Larry simultaneously had a thought.
“He could have just run away.”
It was a very simple method. Having realized upon waking that this was inside a book, and having gained a healing ability that the original owner of the body couldn’t use, he could have just left everything behind and fled.
What did it matter who died swept up in the curse? Clope Leches wasn’t his real sister, and he was a stranger to Melione.
“Euro, why didn’t you run away?”
Larry asked the sleeping Euro, but naturally, no answer returned. However, looking at his face, Larry suddenly remembered someone.
‘Rayley, isn’t it too lonely being alone?’
‘….’
‘I’ll stay by your side. So when everything is over, in the warmest territory, together…’
As Carlton’s face, smiling brightly at him, came to mind, anger surged within Larry once again. His insides, rotten to the core, were still piercing him sharply.
It was then. Hearing Larry’s pain-filled sigh, [unauthorized copy]the sleeping Euro slowly pushed up his eyelids.
“…Larry?”
“Euro.”
“….”
“I know your goal, but you should stop acting now.”
Seeing Euro’s dazed face, unable to distinguish between dreams and reality, Larry wore a sad expression. Then, he put the hood back on and gazed silently through the half-open bedroom door.
“Don’t trust Spiorene either.”
“….”
“Because they don’t know what love is.”
Even in his groggy state, Euro wanted to ask who he was talking about. However, Larry simply tapped Euro’s glabella lightly with his index finger, and at that moment, Euro fell back into a deep sleep.
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