Undoing the Curse

“I am well aware that Your Highness does not believe the suspect committed a crime punishable by the Forbidden Laws. However, now that she has been apprehended on suspicion of using illegal magic, it is only proper that Your Highness receive a dispelling spell (解呪術) as a precaution. I humbly request your permission, Princess.”

Pallas, a magician dispatched from the Inner Magic Tower, visited Rose Palace (장미궁) with a Changwei (Information Bureau) (창위) official and spoke before Mirabilis. As a promising young magician, he usually strutted around with a sense of pride, but standing before the Princess for the first time, he seemed incredibly nervous. His tone trembled slightly, and his cheeks twitched. Mirabilis wore a displeased expression on her face, staring at him silently, which only made him more flustered. The short wand that magicians always carried lightly trembled in his hand.

By removing the directionality imparted to the mana with a certain magic, the mana would revert to a harmless and useless (無害無益) concept. Just as it was difficult to achieve something but easy to ruin it, imparting directionality to mana was difficult, but dispelling it was easy.

Mirabilis felt that receiving a dispelling spell was akin to admitting Serina’s guilt, which she found unpleasant. However, the reason the other party presented was extremely reasonable and in accordance with procedure, so she had no grounds to refuse.

But apart from rational judgment, a faint sigh escaped her lips and scattered. The magician and the Changwei (Information Bureau) (창위) official who accompanied him felt a sensation as if their hearts were burning. Having never been so close to Mirabilis before, they were captivated by the Princess’s dignity and beauty in her formal attire, unable to collect themselves. Sweat trickled down their backs.

As Mirabilis nodded slightly, Mullaba spoke up from the side.

“Her Highness has granted permission, proceed.”

Upon receiving approval, Pallas reached into his pocket and took out a small pouch. It was made of coarse, undyed linen. Untying the string that bound the opening, he revealed that it was filled with white sand.

Even when trying to remove the directionality imparted to mana, one ultimately had to infuse the dispeller’s mana with the concept of dispelling. The tool used for this was sand. The act of piling up dry sand, which would not clump together but would flow down, became a symbol of ‘dispelling.’ It was a ready-made item, made by scooping white sand from the riverbank, sifting it through a sieve, washing it thoroughly in the river, and then slowly drying it under the moonlight for fifteen days.

Pallas pinched a bit of sand. Feeling the sensation of gathering mana at his fingertips, he scattered it towards the Princess. As the white sand fell onto her black dress, it sparkled like fine silver dust. The Princess furrowed her brow slightly, but even that expression looked beautiful to the young magician. He repeated the process of scattering sand three or four times.

Pallas then took out a wand with a round ring attached and swirled it over Mirabilis’s head, pushing in his own mana. The mana emitted from the ring, empowered by the symbol of ‘sand,’ would exert the power to dismantle the previously completed mana. However, the magician did not feel any magical resistance.

If she had been affected by a minor magic spell with only a small amount of mana, the person affected might experience the resistance, but the caster performing the dispelling spell might not detect it. He stopped his hand and respectfully spoke up.

“Your Highness, do you feel any changes?”

But Mirabilis shook her head.

“I felt nothing at all. There is no difference before or after receiving the dispelling spell.”

Pallas could not decide whether this fact was good or bad for him. If the Princess had been affected by a bad spell, he wondered if he could have used it as an excuse to meet the Princess again.

****************

― “Older Sister (언니)-nim is truly my destined person.”

Older Sister (언니)-nim, as I see her, is truly beautiful, admirable, and also lovable, and just capturing her appearance in my eyes warms my heart. Even when she wears a coy expression in front of me, her eyes always seem like gentle waves lapping.

The fact that we are the same age but of different status loses all meaning before Older Sister (언니)-nim. The title ‘Older Sister (언니)-nim’ is so natural. I call her Older Sister (언니)-nim because she is worthy of being called Older Sister (언니)-nim. Standing before my soul’s Older Sister (언니)-nim, I become a beloved younger sister, not a Princess (황녀). When I lean my head on her bosom, although the posture is a little uncomfortable, I am truly happy and joyful.

― “I swear eternal loyalty to Older Sister (언니)-nim.”

One summer night when the moonlight was bright, I knelt in the Rose Palace (장미궁)’s garden and kissed the back of Older Sister (언니)-nim’s hand. I do not know how Older Sister (언니)-nim thinks of me. But Older Sister (언니)-nim, standing before me with the moonlight behind her, appeared to me as dignified as a statue of a goddess made by an artisan of old.

Ah, Older Sister (언니)-nim, so enchantingly beautiful. When I embraced such an Older Sister (언니)-nim and kissed the back of her hand, my heart raced so much that I felt like I would cry. I wanted to get closer and know her more. Good Older Sister (언니)-nim, my own good Older Sister (언니)-nim.

― “My true Older Sister (언니)-nim is only Serina-nim. I swear eternal loyalty to Older Sister (언니)-nim.”

Could there be any other Older Sister (언니)-nim besides Serina-nim? When I pleasure my body in front of Older Sister (언니)-nim, the intense heat that warms my body and the deep ecstasy that envelops my mind are incomparably stronger than when I do it alone.

Thinking that Older Sister (언니)-nim likes seeing this side of me, I unconsciously put more strength into my touch. If Older Sister (언니)-nim likes it, I could swear loyalty, no, even more than that. I wanted to be loved more by Older Sister (언니)-nim, to become a more special younger sister.

― “Is this feeling I have for Older Sister (언니)-nim now what you call love?”

I felt ecstasy as Older Sister (언니)-nim’s naked body overlapped with mine. Could we get any closer than this? Could I be any happier than this? Being with Older Sister (언니)-nim, becoming a special person to Older Sister (언니)-nim, the fact that Older Sister (언니)-nim accepted me made me endlessly happy, and I catered to her wishes as much as she wanted. Just that alone was supreme joy for me.

Each time I caressed Older Sister (언니)-nim’s bare skin, my hands grew hot. Each time some part of my body touched Older Sister (언니)-nim’s skin, a sweet thrill flowed hazily. When her tongue licked my lips and her hands caressed my breasts, I felt proud and wanted to please her even more, as if this body looked pretty even to Older Sister (언니)-nim.

With Older Sister (언니)-nim by my side, why did I regard her as just a maid for so long in the past? Now, even the ‘fake’ me cares about and likes Older Sister (언니)-nim, and although she doesn’t seem to fully understand her own feelings, I, who already like Older Sister (언니)-nim, can tell. The other me, who spends most of the day with Older Sister (언니)-nim, has also changed. I don’t know whether to like or dislike this. But if I could, I only want…… only ‘I’ want to like her.

― “I really like Older Sister (언니)-nim…… I like her…… but I can’t bring myself to do it…….”

Older Sister (언니)-nim seems to want to possess me. I am moved that Older Sister (언니)-nim wants me, and I sincerely want to follow her will, but I couldn’t accept it right away. Possession, surely there is no deeper relationship than that. But I don’t know what will happen after I give myself over like that.

No matter how much the other person is Older Sister (언니)-nim, handing over my body and soul is frightening and also a matter of pride. I was disappointed in myself for clinging to such petty pride when Older Sister (언니)-nim wanted it, but I couldn’t help it.

I also want to get closer to Older Sister (언니)-nim. But wouldn’t it be enough as sisters? Even if it’s not a complete union, wouldn’t thinking of each other, looking at each other, and relying on each other be valuable enough? Wouldn’t it be worthwhile enough to be together as imperfect but mutually supportive sisters? These thoughts remained in my head and would not leave.

So I couldn’t sincerely follow her. Older Sister (언니)-nim, please don’t abandon me for rejecting your proposal, and please continue to cherish me.

― “Sanguen puros tuos gaudom magnom eti pacem mehei donat.”

My beloved Older Sister (언니)-nim of my soul, who was injured trying to protect me. Seeing Older Sister (언니)-nim’s wounds, my heart ached as if I were stabbed with a knife, and I couldn’t bear it. Because I wanted to become more special to Older Sister (언니)-nim, to become close not only in soul but even in body, I felt a deep thirst as soon as I saw the blood flowing from Older Sister (언니)-nim’s wounds.

Like a traveler who has walked a long way through the scorching heat and deathly silence of midsummer, eagerly seeking water when they find a cool spring, I couldn’t bear the thirst that burned my heart. So I put my lips to the wound and drank, and Older Sister (언니)-nim’s red blood was so pure that it was not only free of any bloody smell but also as sweet and fragrant as ambrosia.

Thinking that I would become closer to Older Sister (언니)-nim by drinking this blood, I wanted to take even one more sip into my body. Older Sister (언니)-nim, please don’t hate me for acting strangely.

― “Should I call Older Sister (언니)-nim Master from now on?”

Because Older Sister (언니)-nim has done so much for me, I suddenly thought that I should grant Older Sister (언니)-nim’s request that I had rejected before. Why had I forgotten the fact that I had even received such a request?

Wouldn’t it be possible to get closer to Older Sister (언니)-nim even in this state? If even the fake me comes to like Older Sister (언니)-nim even more, wouldn’t it be possible to love each other more deeply as sisters in this state? As a Princess (공주) and a maid, a younger sister and Older Sister (언니)-nim, like now, forever and ever……

While I was happy with Older Sister (언니)-nim’s feelings of wanting me even more, I couldn’t suppress the regret and disappointment that we could only deepen our relationship by becoming master and servant. But I liked Older Sister (언니)-nim too much to reveal such feelings. I didn’t want to be hated. If Older Sister (언니)-nim’s will is truly so, then it may be one way for me to step back.

Serina, my Older Sister (언니)-nim, my Master whom I like unbearably. Even now, a trivial pride remains in my heart, so unlike my words, I still haven’t completely given my body and soul to Older Sister (언니)-nim.

Still, seeing that Older Sister (언니)-nim likes it, the initial regret and disappointment seem to be somewhat diluted. When I bow to Older Sister (언니)-nim, of course, I was a little upset at first, but now I accept it in my own way because I definitely feel that I belong to Older Sister (언니)-nim.

After doing this, Older Sister (언니)-nim kisses my forehead and tries to cheer me up. I sometimes act as if I’m sulking because I want to enjoy Older Sister (언니)-nim trying to cheer me up. My little grumbling to Older Sister (언니)-nim, who insists on this kind of relationship. I haven’t completely entrusted everything yet, and Older Sister (언니)-nim seems to guess it, but I’m glad that she seems to understand.

Although I am disappointed, there is meaning in this as well. A secret master-servant relationship that only Older Sister (언니)-nim and I know, that others don’t know. Because others don’t know, it is unrelated to all the duties and restrictions of the human world, and it is valuable and precious to me because it was achieved only by the will of Older Sister (언니)-nim and me.

When I am embraced in Older Sister (언니)-nim’s arms, an immeasurably gentle joy and peace richly soak my heart. My own happiness that I wouldn’t trade for anything, my own joy that I don’t want to miss.

Older Sister (언니)-nim, if the time really comes……

****************

Mirabilis abruptly opened her eyes on the bed. Sweat flowed from her entire body, soaking her clothes and the bed, and a hot fever rose fiercely, not yet subsided. She breathed heavily into her chest.

It was still deep night, before even the dawn light shone. She groped for the bedside water she had prepared in advance, fearing she might wake up in the middle of the night. Putting the glass to her lips, she gulped it down, and moisture was sucked into her body as if rain were falling on dry land. Even though she had just woken up from sleep, extreme fatigue weighed down on her body as if she had been doing labor.

“What… what kind of dream…”

In the dream, she called Serina Older Sister (언니)-nim and longed for her. She swore loyalty, masturbated in front of her, even voluntarily mingled bodies and drank blood, and finally acknowledged her as her master, bowing in a humiliating posture.

I am always me. But is the me that appeared in the dream really me? Mirabilis wanted to dismiss it as just a nonsensical dream. But she couldn’t bring herself to do so. It was too real to dismiss all of that as just a dog dream. The feelings she felt for Serina in the dream, so vivid as if she could really touch them, that longing and affectionate feeling, that blissful joy.

She found it difficult to suppress the impulse to recklessly jump into Changwei (Information Bureau) (창위), not caring about the aftermath, to rescue her and embrace her. She wanted to do anything for him. As she recalled Serina’s face, other things followed one after another. His voice and hands, and even the warmth of his small body that embraced her, his soft nape, and the faint scent of his flesh, flashed through her mind one by one.

“Older… Sister (언니)…nim…”

Mirabilis’s lips opened and she uttered a single word with difficulty. An intensely sticky emotion, whether it was loyalty, lust, or affection, was deeply embedded in each syllable of the sound, faintly echoing in the pitch-black darkness like the bottom of the sea.

The moment she realized that she had called Serina ‘Older Sister (언니)-nim’ in the dream, a maddening emotion surged up, and her heart beat violently. The heat that she had struggled to suppress once again enveloped her entire body, and beads of sweat welled up damply. An emotion that was unfamiliar as if it belonged to someone else, but burning as white as the flames of a forge, and therefore even more frightening, seemed to burn her pulsating heart and stir her up entirely.

“Serina… could it be… did she really… do something to me…”

She curled up on the bed and took deep breaths, trying to calm the heat in her body. She struggled to protect herself from the sharp violence of the enormous emotion that had suddenly seized her as if possessed by an evil spirit. In the Main Chamber (주) where there was no one to answer, a painful breath escaped through the darkness.