Chapter 1 - Prologue
***
“You were unconscious for exactly five days.”
‘Wow… that was a long fainting spell.’
The next day Seria was all healed up, just like the doctor said she would be.
Yesterday, her legs were weak, but everything else was fine. It was thanks to Susan that her body was fine after being unconscious for five days. All that time, Susan would pour soup into Seria’s mouth every day, and wipe Seria’s body 3 times a day.
‘No wonder my body is so clean.’
It was good.
And she was glad Susan didn’t look too tired.
Susan, Ben, Alliot and some of the Berg knights would leave Berg mansion to go to the Laurel Manor in two days.
Seria couldn’t get anything more out of Mies.
It wasn’t that he was too strong-willed to keep his mouth shut. It was as if he really didn’t have any more information to give. It was strange to see Mies in such a state of incomprehension. He was the one who had tried to steal this Berg’s Circlet and the one who planned the whole thing, so why didn’t he know much?
When Seria asked him who was behind it, he said a lot of incomprehensible things.
“To dedicate it to my moon…!”
It was strange.
Seria looked at Mies, who was tied up in front of her. When she first met him at the auction, he looked like Lesche, and even after that spell was removed, he looked quite refreshed… Now he looked like a limped old man.
“I don’t even know what that moon is…then what do you know about it?”
Seria asked curiously, but Mies unexpectedly raised his head.
However, he wasn’t looking at Seria. His dazed pupils were looking into space. Seria as well as Abigail looked up, but there was nothing.
Had he really lost his mind? Mies looked up at the sky and began to tremble. He kept reciting small, fast, and repetitive chants as if he was a crazy person.
“What is that man saying?”
“He’s just mumbling.”
Seria suddenly remembered the name that Mies had given to the circlet.
“Bone Sacrament.”
The name was the same, but he named it after a revelation of that strange name. The fact that there was a connection between the word “stigma” and the word “saint” also made people uncomfortable.
“It looks like he’s been given a revelation. I think he’s possessed by a ghost.”
Mies seemed to have gone truly mad, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. Seria gazed at Linon’s recording for a moment, then stood up.
“He’s done. He doesn’t seem to have anything more to say.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
At the summons of the aides, the knights came in and tied Mies up. Mies had been in a daze until his hands and feet were bound, but at the last moment, he seemed to have come to his senses. Mies, who had been looking around madly, looked at Seria and suddenly chuckled.
He seemed to think that there would be no more torture and started to say something annoying.
“Seria Stern.”
Bang.
Abigail went to the side before she knew it and hit Mies on the head. Mies dithered with a scream. But it didn’t last long. Mies whispered with eyes full of malice.
“Don’t trust your husband too much. He’s Grand Duke Berg. There will come a time when he will go crazy, just like his predecessor.”
“What?”
Bang.
Abigail hit him again. At that moment, he felt as if the bone in his head might have been broken. Mies was glaring at Seria, unyielding in his pain.
Something drove Lesche crazy… In the original story, there was this kind of existence.
Lina.
Seria was about to answer that she knew, but yesterday’s conversation remained deep in her mind, so she decided to answer him differently.
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I’m the one who drives Lesche crazy.”
“…….”
“I know it well, you trash.”
Seria whispered as she lifted one of the tools that was hanging neatly in the torture chamber. It was a torture device of a very vicious shape, based on the scissors used by gardeners. This would cut the bones of a buffalo….
“Mies, you know how pathetic it is to flatter yourself that you are the only one who knows the great secret. If you were aware that you were pathetic, you wouldn’t have done it.”
Mies’s face turned pale when he saw the scissors.
“But you’ve heard the rumors about me, haven’t you? You didn’t think I’d let you go clean, did you? I haven’t even done half the work I’ve been trying to do…”
Seria smiled wryly.
“I’m going to cut off all your limbs here today. With your other intact ear too.”
“……!”
Seria brought the pair of scissors that looked like a murder weapon close to Mies. The sharp blade clicked and crossed right next to his ear, and instantly, blood drained from Mies’s face.
***
Seria shook her hands, remembering the scene of the bloody torture a few days ago.
Of course, not a single drop of blood splattered on her hands that day. She just said the words strongly. Actually, she didn’t have a heart strong enough to cut a human’s limbs directly ….
Still, every time Seria took a seat away, Abigail’s face changed, even if it was just to scare Mies. Then Mies was well packed and ready to go to the green manor.
“Stern.”
“Have you come to pray today?”
The priests were full of smiles. Seria had come to the temple. During the time Seria was unconscious, the priest came and took the Stern insignia back to the temple. Of course, they were unaware of the fact that Seria had fainted.
Thanks to that, she walked over to the front of the Stern insignia. Her physical condition was now very good. She didn’t feel like a sick person anymore.
When she raised her hand to her chest, she felt something hard.
It was the circlet.
When she went to bed and woke up in the morning, Lesche was gone. And on the side table next to the bed, there was a circle that was said to be broken. The moment she saw the circlet in its normal state, one side of her heart throbbed with pain. Even after hearing about the prophecy, Lesche felt terrible, but he returned the circlet back to Seria anyway. The more understandable and generous Lesche was, the more guilty Seria felt.
‘I have to do something for Lesche, but what should I do?’
There was nothing in particular that came to mind. It was also factual reasoning, she wondered what Lesche, the Grand Duke of Berg, could not have.
Seria walked over to the Stern insignia, thinking hard. She knew for sure, how much of the sacred power she could use before she would faint.
Most importantly, she had to use it at least once after the long fainting. Because she had to know if the sacred power would still erupt or if it would be okay now.
When she held the circlet over the Stern insignia, she heard the door open. She turned around in a panic and opened her eyes wide, knowing that Abigail was supposed to be guarding it.
Of all people, the man who shouldn’t be in here at all was here.
“Lesche! He’s coming in now!”
Of course, the divine power had already begun to grow stronger, and Seria felt as if it was burning. A clear sound echoed from the insignia.
Lesche stopped when Seria screamed, but when he saw her expression, he came running to Seria. In an instant, he was in front of her. Seria stared at Lesche with bewildered eyes.
“Lesche … do you feel dizzy?”
“What do you mean dizzy?”
Lesche frowned.
“You look much dizzier to me. You’ve only been awake a short time and you already came to the temple?”
“No…”
Lesche looked really fine. Seria couldn’t understand his sturdy figure at all.
‘Isn’t he the male protagonist?’
The biggest connection to Lina in the original story was the protagonist, Lesche. Why didn’t he faint?
It was a little scary. What if Lesche didn’t end up fainting to the extent that he should, but wore a larger internal wound of sorts? As someone who had seen how Duke Dietrich and Baron Ison fainted in front of her eyes, Seria became helplessly terrified.
“…Let’s go home for now, Lesche.”
Seria untied the shawl she was wrapped in with her impatient hands. Lesche’s eyes flickered, but she didn’t know why. She didn’t have time to ask.
Seria tried to put the shawl around Lesche’s shoulders but failed. She didn’t yet take into account the difference in size between him and her. How could her shawl be so small? She tied a knot with a ribbon, and then took Lesche’s hand in hers and stepped straight toward the door.
“Hurry back to the mansion and have the doctor take a look at you.” (Seria)
“Why medical treatment? Because of the divine power?” (Lesche)
Seria nodded, and Lesche obediently followed her. On the way back, Seria was worried that he might faint at any moment.
Lesche was fiddling with the ribbon on the shawl on his shoulders, which Seria had tied loosely.
“Is it hard to breathe? Does it feel like your chest is tightening?” Seria asked worriedly.
“It’s the latter, but not the former.”
(*His chest tightened because he was touched that Seria wrapped her shawl on his shoulders😆)
“What?”
“I’m fine, Seria.”
Lesche didn’t untie that sloppily tied shawl until the end. The time filled with suspicion, worry, and anxiety did not last long.
The doctor of the mansion was hurriedly summoned to examine Lesche. But the moment he entered the bedroom and saw Lesche, he looked dumbfounded. That’s right, looks can be deceiving. Lesche looked very healthy on the surface, but who knows.
Until then, Seria couldn’t let go of Lesche’s hand and held it tightly. She was worried.
“Grand Duchess, I have finished my examination…”
The doctor said in a cautious voice. Seria’s heart was pounding in her chest.
“His Highness is very strong.”
“…Huh?”