Volume 5, Chapter 41 – The Truth of the Curse

Night fell.

The sun sank below the horizon, and the summer heat quickly dissipated from the land.

A new day had begun.

Yisi, having finished her breakfast, rubbed her sore shoulders as she walked toward the first-floor hall. Andrea would only be staying in the Astrid Territory for less than a week, and tomorrow all the artisans in the territory would be resting for the Festival of Original Sin. If she wanted to prepare a brand-new set of armor for Mary before leaving, she had to find a qualified artisan today.

However, when she reached the hall, Yisi saw an unexpected person. Edith was standing alone by the door, reading what looked like a letter. Perched on her shoulder was a bird with brightly colored feathers.

It’s probably a monster used for sending messages in this world.

Seeing Edith’s slightly furrowed brow and an expression of someone deep in serious thought, Yisi deliberately tiptoed up behind her, took a deep breath, and then suddenly grabbed her shoulders.

“Waaah!”

Pepe will definitely be startled. That expression will be priceless.

With this thought in mind, Yisi watched Edith’s reaction with anticipation. But the latter’s lips merely twitched a few times, and she turned around with a look on her face as if she were looking at a fool.

“Did your brain break?”

“Er…” Yisi felt the awkwardness of a comedian who had tried hard to perform on stage only to be met with no laughter from the audience. She felt like finding a crack in the ground to crawl into, and in the end, could only offer a perfunctory smile.

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“Ahaha… the moon is really round today.”

“Like an idiot.” Pouting, Edith inconspicuously crumpled the note in her hand and subconsciously reached for her shoulder—the messenger bird should have been perched there, but she felt nothing.

“Hmm?”

“Um… if you’re looking for the messenger, it’s probably here.”

Yisi pointed to the carpet. Due to the shock just now, the messenger bird had fainted and collapsed on the ground.

…This was just completely and utterly awkward.

Edith waved her hand with a helpless expression and bent down to pick up the fainted messenger. “Forget it. You have your cute moments. I won’t hold these little things against you. So, what are you going out for, Yisi? The sun has just set. It’s not a good time if you want to go shopping.”

“Ahaha, I just wanted to find a blacksmith who can assemble scale mail.”

“For Mary and the others? In terms of weapons and armor, the artisans of the Pescia Territory are much better than those in the Royal Capital. But if you insist on finding a blacksmith in the Astrid Territory, it’s not out of the question for me to accompany you. I can at least offer some advice.”

As she spoke, Edith placed the messenger bird on a low cabinet by the hall door, probably leaving it for Refina to deal with. Yisi couldn’t help but ask, “Is it okay to leave the messenger here? What if someone sees it?”

“If I were worried about being seen, I wouldn’t have opened the envelope in the main hall.” Edith covered her mouth and let out a small yawn. “Aren’t you going to ask what’s written inside?”

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“You have your own business, Pepe. Isn’t it quite rude to casually ask what’s written in someone else’s letter?” ¹ omgg, yeahh! that kind of thing is annoying smhhh

“You certainly don’t have much of a sense of possessiveness.” With an expression that was hard to tell if it was happy or helpless, Edith took a step toward the door. “Shall we go for a walk first?”

“Mm.”

Stepping onto the cobblestone path, Yisi and Edith walked toward the mansion gate. After a brief silence, Edith quickened her pace, walked in front of Yisi, turned to face her, and began to walk backward.

“Why do you think Her Majesty the Queen couldn’t break the traitors’ curse?”

“I don’t know.” Yisi shrugged bluntly. She had also thought about the reason, but due to a lack of clues, she had not reached any conclusion.

Yisi’s uninteresting answer made Edith look displeased. “Wouldn’t a normal person suspect that Her Majesty isn’t a true royal?”

“If I hadn’t seen Andrea use the magic that only the royal family can use, I might have thought so.”

“You’re right.” Edith turned around, clearly not satisfied with Yisi’s answer. “If you were one of those traitors, what would you think upon seeing the descendant of the family head you once served?”

“Guilt. And a desire to atone.”

“Correct, but you’re far off in terms of degree. This is what I’ve been wanting to say. You don’t truly understand what kind of existence the nobility is, Yisi. For a race like ours, which used to live in tribal settlements, the stability of the race is always the top priority. Only after having experienced a life of food shortages, struggles against nature, and battles with other powerful monsters can one cherish peaceful days. The top-down structure of Queen-Noble-Commoner brings stability, so everyone will spontaneously abide by the rules. Everyone plays their part.

Nobles may seem to possess immense power, but they also have to put in an equal amount of effort. There may be some dandy nobles who seem to be ignorant and incompetent, but bullying commoners is one thing, and facing political affairs is another. If he commits an unforgivable mistake, a stronger noble will naturally punish him. This is the rule that has allowed the Blood Clan to endure to this day. Everything is for stability. The commoners support their lord, and the nobles, as lords, support the royal bloodline.”

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Edith paused. “Therefore, betraying the Queen is absolutely forbidden for a noble. It threatens the security of the entire race. To take it a step further, even if the rebel army led by Count Hillary now occupies the Royal Capital, Her Majesty’s title will not change. It’s just that the person in actual power will become Count Hillary. The royal family is still the royal family. Whoever extinguishes the bloodline of the First Queen will have to bear the wrath of all the Blood Clan.”

After a sigh, Edith’s tone suddenly became lighter. “Well, I’m only saying all this to explain that the Queen’s position in the hearts of the nobles is actually much more important than you imagine, Yisi. This is a spirit that has been passed down since ancient times. Even if the nobility has changed for many generations, the spirit that remains will not be worn away by time. So, for those dead traitors, it’s less that they were cursed by Alvier VI, and more that they are trapped by themselves.”

Yisi tilted her head. She had heard similar words before. “Before you can receive forgiveness from others, you must first forgive yourself?”

“Precisely.” Edith suddenly stopped and turned around, placing her index finger on Yisi’s lips. A smile appeared on her exquisite face. “You do say something nice occasionally.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

An aura of happiness radiating from her, Edith moved her finger away and took two steps toward the manor gate. “Alvier VI’s dying curse was just a trigger. The real reason they became undead is their own obsession. Because they knew that betrayal was wrong, and their act of disloyalty ultimately led to the fall of a royal, their guilt became an unbreakable knot in their hearts. Even in death, they could not offset the pain brought by their betrayal.

Therefore, receiving the royal family’s forgiveness is one thing, but what they themselves have done to be worthy of forgiveness is another. So-called atonement is not something where someone—I believe they’re called priests among humans—stands in front of him and says, ‘I forgive you,’ and then he can act as if nothing happened. What he himself has done to make amends for his sin is also very important.”

“Aren’t there also people who do nothing, and can continue to live on as long as they receive the person’s forgiveness?”

“But they are nobles, soldiers of the Blood Clan. They carry honor, yet they harmed the one who bestowed that honor upon them. They know what should be done and what should not be done, which is why they cannot easily turn to dust even after death.”

“Is that so…”

What a hard-to-understand group of people.

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But different upbringings and social environments would naturally lead to different ideologies. Just as things that are considered normal today might seem incredible to people in the future, it wasn’t a matter of who was right or wrong, but that different environments created different concepts.

Of course, that wasn’t what Yisi was concerned about. She looked at Edith, who had already put some distance between them. “Why are you telling me all this, Pepe?”

“Hoh~” Edith put her hands behind her back and turned around with a cunning smile. Like a fairy, her black skirt swirled into a magnificent circle under the night sky. “Who knows? Let’s just say I’m instructing my cute wife.”

“You…” Although the words she spoke seemed to be of disgust, Yisi couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile. Perhaps Pepe was only this cute when they were alone.

After the two of them left the manor, Yisi suddenly changed direction.

“Where are you going?” With an expression that said she already knew the answer, there was not a trace of doubt on Edith’s face. She let out an unhurried yawn.

“To find Andrea. That girl should be with Boris and the other nobles, preparing for tomorrow’s Festival of Original Sin.”

“Is that so. Well then.” Edith walked straight back into the mansion, and Yisi did not try to stop her.

For Pepe, what she said just now was also a subject’s advice to her king, wasn’t it? Just delivered to Andrea through me.

Nobles were a hard-to-understand bunch, and Pepe even more so.

Nodding in agreement with her own thought, Yisi looked up at the night moon, which was obscured by only a few thin clouds. “I’ll have to try even harder.”