Chapter 12: Transaction (1)

Leaving the burning mansion behind, Yudith grabbed Chloe’s hand and started running towards the back gate.

With a bright smile, she held Chloe’s hand tightly and headed for the back gate.

Those who escaped the mansion simply watched the fire engulf it.

The members of Sergia County began to use Magic to suppress the fire, but the mansion was already blackened, with the fire having swallowed half of it.

As Chloe turned her head, she saw Count Sergia shouting urgently.

He was screaming and expressing his resentment at the sight of the mansion he had built collapsing.

As if telling her not to worry about it, Yudith pulled my hand and ran towards the back gate.

Yudith’s expression, smiling so innocently and happily, contrasted so sharply with the Count’s expression, who was gazing at the mansion from behind, shedding tears of despair.

Chloe saw this and gave Yudith a bitter smile.

She started running along, following the hand that Yudith was holding.

With each step, her heart ached in a way that words could not express, but now was not the time to worry about that.

Chloe felt that if she let go of this hand now, she would regret it for the rest of her life and live in emptiness, so she simply started running after Yudith.

The fire in the mansion was still burning, brightly illuminating the night, which was covered in a thick darkness.

We turned our backs on that bright light and disappeared into the darkness.

So that no one could find us.

We hid in the deep darkness so that no one could find us.

---

“Haa… Haa…! Cough! Cough!”

Chloe was gasping for breath, unable to bear the pain any longer, vomiting blood.

Less than a day had passed since they had fled Sergia County, and the curse engraved on Chloe’s body was rapidly eating away at her.

It was now time for The Earl to realize that we had disappeared. They had to prepare for pursuers who might come after them at any moment, but before that, Chloe’s condition was too poor.

Chloe was struggling to walk along the mountain path, as if she was out of her mind with pain.

She walked, not letting go of Yudith’s hand, as if tightly grasping her confused mind.

Soon, the main road would appear. They had to somehow get on a carriage there and head to the temple.

Chloe’s stamina was decreasing so rapidly that it felt like there was less than a day left.

“Just a little… just bear with it a little longer, Chloe…”

“…”

Chloe could no longer answer.

She could only concentrate on walking, saving as much energy as possible. Her mind was confused by the pain, and her stamina was exhausted, so she simply stared downwards and walked on blankly.

In the distance, the forest finally ended, and the main road where carriages could travel was visible.

Yudith, sweating profusely, led Chloe and arrived at the road.

They needed a carriage to pass by quickly, but no carriage was passing.

First, she laid Chloe down in the shade and waited for a carriage to pass on the road, stamping her feet in the limited time.

Chloe’s complexion began to worsen even more.

Yudith’s complexion also began to turn pale, to the point where she thought it was really, really over.

Just as she was grinding her teeth at her powerlessness and biting her lip in anxiety.

A carriage was approaching in the distance, stirring up dust.

-Thump Thump Thump

Anyone would do. Without even knowing what crest was drawn on the carriage, she ran out onto the road and threw herself in front of it.

She would do anything if it could save Chloe.

She jumped onto the road and spread her arms wide to stop the approaching carriage.

-Heeheeing!!

“What the…!! What is it?!”

The horse neighed in surprise, and the coachman also swore in surprise.

“What do you think you’re doing, jumping out onto the road like that?!”

The coachman scolded Yudith, realizing that the other party was a small child. Yudith ignored the coachman’s scolding and knocked on the door of the magnificent aristocratic carriage that had been stopped.

-Knock knock knock!

“Please help me!! Please help me!!!”

Please, please help Chloe. Anyone is fine. Please, at least save Chloe, who is dying.

With no Magical power and nothing else, all Yudith could do was beg.

-Creak

The carriage door opened, and a man walked out, and Yudith’s breath stopped for a moment at the familiar face.

The smell of winter came from inside the carriage.

The scent of clear and refreshing Magical power.

“Ah….”

Yudith’s expression turned pale as she saw the man walking out.

Why, out of all the people, why does it have to be you…?

“A knowledgeable Milady is even audacious.”

Damian Edmund…!

The gray-blue-haired man smiled and looked down at Yudith.

---

Inside the carriage returning to his territory after having an audience with the Emperor.

Damian Edmund’s expression was not good.

“…Cheer up, Your Excellency.”

“Shut up.”

Melvin, who was sitting across from Damian, sighed softly at Damian’s almost murderous atmosphere.

“Don’t worry too much about it. Hasn’t His Majesty always been like that? It’s an annual event, isn’t it?”

“It’s because that annual act is getting more and more excessive.”

The Emperor’s continued urging to marry.

He had said several times that he had no intention of doing so yet. He wished he wouldn’t be called for such things in the first place.

It was already difficult enough to deal with the monsters crawling out from beyond the territory. And who would want to marry him in the first place?

To the Grand Duke whose territory is the end of the world.

He let out a hollow laugh.

The Emperor’s plan was too transparent and obvious. He always forced marriage because of the mining rights of the magic stones that came out of the end of the world.

He wants the mining rights of the magic stones even to the point of selling his children to me, but he has no intention of giving them up.

It is thanks to the magic stones that he can at least manage that desolate territory where monsters pop out.

‘As soon as he found out that magic stones were coming out… he’s a consistent man.’

He closed his eyes for a moment in the swaying carriage.

There was so much to do when he returned to the territory. Because of the damn Emperor who calls him once a year even in the midst of his busy schedule, his work kept piling up.

“First of all, when we get back, we need to repair the walls…”

-Heeheeing!!!

-Thump Thump!

Suddenly the carriage stopped and the coachman shouted from outside. Melvin, who was sitting in front, wondered what was going on and was about to get up and ask the coachman when he heard the sound of someone knocking on the carriage door.

-Knock knock knock!

“Please help me!! Please help me!!”

‘A child…?’

At the sound of a child knocking on the carriage, he slightly pulled back the curtain to check the face.

‘This Milady is…’

It was that blonde Milady who was being chased by the Witch in the lake back then.

The knowledgeable blonde little Milady who knew his castle while being held in the maid’s arms.

“Shall I kick her out?”

Melvin got up and tried to kick this Milady out, but he stopped him.

He couldn’t turn away a child who was crying and desperately asking for help.

And even more so because he knew her face.

“I know her.”

“Yes?”

-Creak

He opened the door and looked down at the blonde little Milady. The red eyes that met his widened greatly, and she looked at him in surprise.

‘Yeah… she seemed to know me back then too.’

Had they met somewhere? How does a little Milady who doesn’t even look 10 years old know my castle?

“I thought you were a knowledgeable Milady, but you’re even audacious.”

She was an interesting child.

Such a child was crying in front of him, begging for help. Then it would be the duty of an adult to at least listen to her story.

“Th-that… Chloe… my maid… is cursed…”

“A curse?”

As Yudith turned her gaze to Chloe, Damian also looked there. A maid with black Magical power swirling all over her body was lying in the shade, breathing heavily.

Damian’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the black Magical power that seemed to swallow Chloe at any moment.

‘Where did she get such a curse…’

Damian also hurriedly ordered Melvin to bring the consecrationist from his knighthood, seeing the curse growing without delay.

Although she was not a priest, he thought that Cynthia, who was a consecrationist, would be able to stop the curse from progressing to some extent, so he could buy some time.

“I brought her!!”

“Cynthia! Over here!”

Cynthia, the consecrationist, ran over and was horrified to see Chloe. She was so surprised by the huge black Magical power that she took a step back without realizing it.

“What kind of curse is this…!”

“Can you do it?”

“If it’s just to stop the progress… but that doesn’t mean her condition will improve, so we need to head to a nearby temple quickly.”

Cynthia sat in front of Chloe and began to consecrate Chloe’s body. A warm light enveloped Chloe’s body, and the black Magical power also began to subside.

Seeing Chloe’s labored breathing finally calming down, Yudith sat down on the floor and looked at Chloe, as if relieved.

Seeing this, Damian spoke to Yudith as if giving an order.

“You get in the carriage. Melvin, you take the carriage in the back, and Cynthia rides with me.”

“Yes!”

“The coachman should head to the nearby temple.”

Cynthia picked up Chloe, who was lying down, and got into the carriage. Seeing Chloe’s expression, which had finally become peaceful, Yudith also let out a sigh of relief.

‘..Thank goodness.. I’m so glad..’

After putting Chloe on the chair in the carriage, Damian sat next to Yudith.

Only a heavy silence flowed inside the carriage, which was heading quickly to the temple.

Cynthia was taking care of Chloe’s condition and consecrating her whole body to delay the progress of the curse as much as possible, and Damian was just staring at Yudith, who was sitting next to him.

“Aren’t you even going to say thank you?”

Only then did Yudith come to her senses and bow her head to Damian and offer her thanks.

“Th-thank you. Thanks to you, Chloe was able to live… If there’s anything I can do to repay you… I’ll do anything…”

“..Yeah. I remember.”

After saying that, Damian, who let out a small sigh, looked down at Chloe, who was lying down.

‘When we arrive at the temple, I should first have Melvin find out what happened to Sergia County.’

Damian remembered their affiliation that the maid had mentioned back then.

Sergia County. A Magical Aristocracy and a family where everyone has red eyes, which inevitably appear in those with strong Magical power.

The Milady sitting next to him also had red eyes.

It was strange from the moment the maid and Milady came to the lake alone without any guards…

Asking about these two, who seemed to have a story, was something for later.

Damian stroked Yudith’s head strongly, and Yudith’s head shook violently from side to side, unable to withstand Damian’s strength.

“????”

“Don’t worry, child, and grow up quickly.”

Yudith, who was looking at Damian as if she was dumbfounded, sighed and looked at Chloe.

‘What should I do… why does it have to be Damian…’

Grand Duke Damian Edmund, who is the lord at the end of the world.

The last person I met at the end of the world.

He was also the owner of the territory that I destroyed for the first time when I lost my mind.

It is something that will not happen now and will not happen in the future.

Nevertheless, the feeling I have for Damian is.

It was a huge sense of guilt.