Volume 1. Chapter 18. The Devil's Curse: Between Miracles and Sins of the Past.

The woman kept weeping over her son's condition, and it took her a long time to recover.

They moved to the living room.

"How can I repay your kindness?"

The woman asked how to repay them for saving her from the thugs.

"No need to think about it. We didn't do it to get anything in return."

Rii told her that they didn't expect anything in return.

"If I may ask, since when did Zein fall ill?"

Cini asked curiously.

"My son has been unconscious for a month after hearing your explanation. I'm sure Zein has the same illness as the late queen and princess Raria."

"This illness cannot be cured, and people have started calling it the devil's curse."

They fell silent for a moment after hearing what the woman said.

"Rii, Vail."

They both nodded, understanding what Cini meant by asking them to go shopping for groceries.

"Do you want to go?"

The woman saw Rii and Vail get up from their seats.

"We want to buy groceries because mealtime will arrive soon."

Hearing Rii's words, the woman apologized for not having anything to serve her three guests.

Cini did not mind because a banquet for guests was not mandatory and was not needed if it burdened the host.

As evening fell, the silhouette of a woman appeared at the door.

"Who's coming?"

Clara was curious when she heard her mother speaking with three men.

"...But I didn't expect, not only did you bother buying groceries. You also made dishes that I've never tasted before."

"We're happy if this food is well received."

Cini was so happy to hear the praise from the woman.

"I'm home!"

"It seems like she's home."

The woman said, hearing her daughter's voice.

"Mother, do we have a guests—"

Clara stopped her words, shocked to see the castle guests who had left the castle now in her house.

"You're the castle guests...!?"

"A castle guest?"

The woman was confused by her daughter's words, as she referred to the three teenagers as castle guests.

"Clara, do you know the three of them?"

"Mother, they are guests of King Ligt. When I was about to attend to them, the king apologized because they had already left."

Clara's words shocked her mother. She trembled at the thought that three royal guests had cooked dinner and done the shopping in her own home.

"I apologize for my actions...!"

The woman immediately got up from her chair and moved away from the dining table, feeling inappropriate about eating with them.

"Please don’t feel so awkward— we’re just guests, after all."

Rii asked her to relax, saying they weren't important guests, but the demon king Neii asked them to come.

"But…"

The woman was still reluctant to sit back down.

"This is our request."

Vail's words made the woman return to her seat with complete awkwardness. At the same time, Rii realized that Clara's earrings were similar to Una's.

"Wait... that earring—where did you get it?"

Rii asked Clara, and Vail and Cini also noticed that the earring on her left ear was the same as Una's, which had now disappeared, and Una didn't mind it.

"I..."

Clara couldn't answer it and didn't know what to say because she had found the earrings in the castle yard.

"Clara, did you steal it?"

The woman asked worriedly.

"No... I didn't do anything like that. I found this earring when I was cleaning the castle yard." 

Clara explained, and it left them a little shocked—while her mother looked faint, realizing her daughter had stolen something from the castle.

"You should return the earring before it's too late, my daughter."

The woman asked Clara to return the earring immediately.

"I didn't steal it, but I don't know how to explain it."

Clara denied it gently, saying she didn't know how to explain it.

"Can we talk?"

The woman turned to her three guests.

"Sure, are these earrings yours?"

The woman said. 

"No, but one of our friends once had the same earrings as hers."

"Same, does that mean..."

Rii shook his head when the woman voiced her doubts.

"Our friend who used to have the earrings was named Una, when her earrings were lost. She said that the earrings had granted her wish."

"Granted wishes?"

The woman was shocked to hear Cini's words.

Vail explained the attack that had occurred in the city of Norf, surprising Clara and her mother.

"So this earring…"

Clara said, her voice filled with curiosity, as she removed the earrings from her ears.

"If our friend's words are true, it's likely that Zein will open his eyes tonight."

Clara looked at the earring in her hand after hearing Cini's words.

"If I think about it, maybe there's a reason why the earring appeared before you,"

Vail shared his thoughts, though he wasn't sure they were true.

"Clara..."

The woman held her daughter's hand, filled with hope.

"If that's true, what should I do to ask?"

Clara said in a confused voice, tears slowly wetting her cheeks and hitting the black gemstone on the earring.

Suddenly, Clara was struck by a vision—she placed the black gemstone earring in Zein's hand, holding it tightly.

"Clara?"

The woman was confused seeing her daughter suddenly quiet.

"I know what to do."

When they returned to Zein's room, Clara put the earring on Zein's right hand, asking her mother to hold her hand and Zein's hand.

"Please... heal my little brother."

Clara said, hoping the earring would grant her wish.

A soft light glowed between their hands, indicating that the earring had responded to Clara's plea.

The light slowly enveloped Zein's body, then slowly disappeared.

"Did it work?"

Cini was so curious about the results.

And sure enough, Zein moved his fingers and slowly opened his eyes.

"Mom, sister...?"

Confused to see the mother and his sister staring with watery eyes and seeing three strange men at the door of his room.

Zein slowly sat up in bed. Clara and the mother immediately hugged him. The little man also cried because of the atmosphere and the sincerity of his mother and his sister.

"Zein..."

The woman cried, hugging and calling her son's name, not believing the miracle of healing her son.

"We should give them space."

Rii and Cini agreed with Vail's words. They left the house and decided to return to the castle.

"Wait...!"

In the middle of the road to the castle, Clara's voice was heard asking them to stop.

"Finally I caught up with you all."

Clara panted, clearly exhausted—she wasn't used to running.

"What's wrong? Did you follow us?"

Vail was curious about Clara's actions chasing them.

"Why did you leave? My mother was looking for you, and I ran to catch up with you all."

Clara said, explaining the reason she was chasing the three of them.

"All we did was let you spend time together, but if it troubles your mother, we deeply apologize."

Rii felt bad for leaving without telling the woman.

"Then... can you come back to my house?"

Clara asked, curiously waiting for their answers.

"Rii, Cini. Can you two go? I want to meet the king to discuss something."

Vail asked his two friends to return to the woman's residence.

"Alright, I'll tell her woman if she asks."

Cini had no problem with that.

In the castle, someone knocked on the king's private room. With curiosity, King Ligt asked the person to come in.

"I thought who it was, it's you. Come in and sit down."

King Ligt asked Vail to sit on the chair before his desk.

"Are you here to ask if you guys can stay in my kingdom?"

King Ligt said, getting up from his office chair and sitting in the chair in front of Vail.

"Sorry to bother you, but that's not it. I came here to discuss a disease I just heard from one of the city's residents."

"I see... so you already know that the capital of the Gerna kingdom has a disease nicknamed the devil's curse."

King Ligt felt embarrassed because Vail and his two friends already knew about the remaining plague in the capital of the Gerna kingdom.

"Yes, but from what I heard—"

"Wait a minute, Mr. Vail, before you speak. I want to tell you first how this disease came to be in my kingdom."

"Okay, I'll hear it…"

Vail didn't mind and was helped if King Ligt would tell him first before giving his conclusion.

"If you've heard about the previous king, they weren't talking about me. But the previous king named Verz."

"King Verz?"

Vail was amazed and curious about the problems that King Verz had created in the past.

"Verz is my brother. He was foolish, obsessed with holding onto his power. He proposed the nickname of the devil's curse, asking the healers to say that."

Vail was shocked to hear King Ligt's words.

"Why did King Verz do that?"

"King Verz was hated by some nobles because of that. The foolish king ordered his subordinates to poison the wells in every city."

"As a result, many city dwellers suffered total paralysis. That's where the devil's curse originated from. Ironically, the foolish king died after drinking his own poison."

"Hard to believe, isn't it?"

King Ligt said after telling everything without hiding anything.

"So, King Verz died from drinking poisoned wine?"

Vail asked curiously.

"I'm embarrassed to say it, but when King Verz invited the nobles to the castle for a banquet, the wine he drank had been contaminated by his poison."

"He had no idea which glass was poisoned and which wasn't."

King Ligt told Vail the cause of the king of Verz's death, a fact the kingdom had kept secret by order of King Ligt.

"For the past twenty years, I've done nothing but ensure that our water supply is poison-free."

"I don't want my people to suffer the same fate as my late wife and daughter."

Vail remained silent after hearing King Ligt's explanation.