CH 30

Divine beast.

They were beings that traveled through the heavens, conveying God’s will to humans. There was nothing on the other bookshelf about the three most famous gods, but here it was.

However, it was not just a book about the gods, but about the divinity of gods.

“Blood stains…”

Celia took the book out from the shelf with an ominous feeling. Although there were only a few drops of blood on the back of the book, it was clearly visible on the front cover.

Someone had clearly grabbed this book with their bloodstained hand.

<About the Divine Beast>

<All About the Unknown Divine Beast>

<Who Touches the Darkness>

Celia examined the dried bloodstains while checking the contents of the book. Each of the three volumes was vast, but there was one thing that they all had in common.

It was about obtaining the power of God through the divine beast.

This was briefly introduced in the book <All About the Unknown Divine Beast>, which had bloodstained handprints on the cover.

It was to kill the divine beast and swallow its heart.

Although the person would be cursed forever by the God they served, the books stated that they would be able to use the amazing power as their own.

‘Is it this book?’

Celia was convinced and took all three books, then put them in her magic pocket. She should have put them in her pocket right away without reading the book, but she got distracted while looking through the contents.

It had been quite some time so Celia rummaged through the bookshelf and stuffed all the blood-stained books into her magic pocket.

The fourth bookcase contained information about magic and Grimoires books [1]. There were similar contents in the box in front of it so Celia only checked for blood stains before placing the books in the magic pocket.

She had a dozen books already in the pocket, but it weighed as if it was empty.

When Celia thought she had seen everything there was to see in the secret library, she walked out of it and into the narrow hallway. The door to the reading room was still left open.

‘No one is looking for me right?’

As she entered the reading room, she told them she was going to read books alone and quietly. They are not allowed to come in and call Celia from outside the room, even if Phoebe came to report the news.

Celia snuck out through the gap in the bookshelf and returned the three books that had been sticking out of the bookshelf. The door of the bookshelf shut silently.

“Phew…”

She came out of the dark bookshelves and took a seat in front of the window, where she could see the bright sunlight streaming in through the curtains. It seemed lunchtime was approaching.

‘However, I came out at a good time.’

She didn’t realize how much time had passed when she was looking for the books. She would have been there until evening if she hadn’t come to her senses and hurried back.

After finishing her chores, Celia opened the door of the reading room and came out.

“…Has anyone come yet?”

“Yes.”

The maids answered as if they were ashamed.

Celia turned back with a calm face.

If she stayed here, her mother would be in big trouble. Even if her mother pretended to be sick, she would be hungry.

Celia was certain that the servants would sneak food in secret, but they couldn’t do that because Celia had already placed Phoebe in front of her mother’s door.

“Today is not the only day. Let’s go.”

Since it had been a long time, she expected to see and greet her mother but if she still hasn’t received a response by now, then there was no reason to wait.

She wanted to check the contents of the book she has now.

‘My father had an acquaintance with the sorcerer who was called by the previous Emperors.’

Celia remembered seeing a familiar old man go in and out of the Marquis’ mansion when she was a child. However, Marquis Montague was very reluctant to let Celia come near him.

When she was thinking about it, it seemed he was a dangerous person.

‘He must be dead now. Since there were no scenes of him appearing in the original story….’

He was only mentioned briefly in scenes reminiscing about the past.

“…Let’s go back to Duke Cardian.”

When they heard Celia’s words, the servant of Duke Cardian moved.

✦ ✦ ✦

Celia got into the carriage, leaving the disappointed servants behind. The butler wanted Celia to wait a little longer.

Even though it was too much, she hoped to meet Marchioness Ramona. Celia was also anticipating Marquis Montague’s reaction when he saw Celia.

‘You will look at me as if I were something disgusting.’ 

They would show that attitude because Celia married and slept with the monster. That was how Marchioness Montague reacted to Lily in the original story. Even when they were face to face, she reacted to Celia with restraint.

She didn’t want to be insulted by Marquis Montague in advance because she had to attend the Imperial Banquet and meet a lot of nobles.

“If you stay a little longer, the Marquis will come back.”

“No. Today is my fault for visiting without telling you in advance, so I’ll just leave. That way….. Please bring lunch to my mother’s room.”

The butler only shifted his eyes in embarrassment when he received an order from Celia. The door of her carriage closed and Celia made a sign with her eyes, then the coachmen set off the carriage.

Duchess Cardian’s carriage left Marquis Montague’s mansion under the escort of knights. 

Ramona’s maid, who had been watching from the window, dashed over to her bed. Ramona was enraged. She had been grumbling and lying in her bed for a long time.

“Did she already leave? She haven’t even met me?”

Ramona was furious that Celia left the mansion without begging outside the door, even though she did not want to meet her. If it had been before, Celia would have been the one to come forward and make Ramona feel better.

‘You are way too much!’

Celia’s words to the butler didn’t even make it to the upper floors. Ramona’s maids had to bear the brunt of her humiliation by having to deal with Ramona’s hysteria once more.

✦ ✦ ✦

Upon her arrival at the Duke’s mansion, Celia withdrew all the maids and locked herself in the room. On the outside, she seemed to be hurt by her mother’s refusal to meet her.

‘Curse, how to solve the curse must be written here!’

Taking the book out on the table, Celia calmly looked for it. She would put a book about the divine beast in her magic pocket even if there were no bloodstains, so it might be somewhere.

If you killed the divine beast and inflicted God’s wrath…

‘This is it!’

The most likely method was to place the divine beast’s body on God’s altar in its entirety, return it to God, and pray for forgiveness. 

Celia was perplexed after reading this far.

The previous Emperor of the previous era had already swallowed the divine beast’s heart, but how did he do it? Celia also did not know what happened to the divine beast’s body. It was a scene that wasn’t in the original novel.

Then Celia discovered a small notebook falling from one of the books while looking through the other books.

“Huh?”

It was an old and worn out notebook. It did not have any blood on the cover but it was bothering her because it was hidden in the book.

When she opened the notebook, there was something like a handwritten note.

…The Emperor was excessively greedy.

Celia, who was checking the contents intermittently, stopped at that passage. It looked like a notebook written by the sorcerer who, while performing his task, took out the divine beast’s heart.

It was like a diary, and he was anxious about the Emperor’s demands, fearing that he would be cursed by the gods.

‘Didn’t the clues come out too easily?’

Celia recalled the sorcerer’s face, which she had only seen once as a child. Contrary to his pale face like wax, his eyes were pierced like torches.

He returned her stare, as if he had noticed Celia peeking at him from the hallway. His black eyes, which were devoid of any white, were filled with fear and deep sorrow.

Celia was surprised and hardened by the sight, and the sorcerer looked at her with a desperate look, turning his head when Marquis Montague appeared.

Even as a child, Celia knew that he had kept her from being seen.

Celia read the sentence written in scribbled handwriting. The Emperor threatened the sorceror and seduced the saintess in order to force the divine beast to descend to the earth.

And he dared to kill the divine beast in front of the altar of the god he served.

It was said that the Emperor who swallowed the divine beast’s entire heart gained incredible power. He was ecstatic that he had the power, but he didn’t want God to curse him.

The Emperor, who had threatened the sorcerer, had devised a means of evading the curse. It was to direct the curse towards his brother, who was his blood.

His younger brother, who had already pledged allegiance to the Emperor, had fallen in love foolishly. He had his heart set on the Emperor’s fiancée.

In exchange for his fiancée, he decided to accept the Emperor’s curse. To appease him, the Emperor gave him numerous gifts.

To avoid even a slight bit of God’s wrath, the sorcerer returned the rest of the divine beast’s body to the god’s altar. He also put his trust in the Montague family to take care of him.

The people of the Montague family had forgotten, but they were the bloodline of a god with divine powers. In exchange for keeping this from the Emperor, the sorcerer requested for protection. If the greedy Emperor knew, the Montague family would have fallen.

The day when the Emperor’s curse is placed on the Duke. Young Montague witnessed the magic the sorcerer had performed. The problem was that he did it in the Montague’s annex, where the wizard hoped to be protected at least a little.

The annex was chosen because the divine power still remains, and it was where their ancestors married a goddess and made a living. The temple could not be used because they feared God’s wrath.

The reality of the curse that had escaped the Emperor’s body and entered the body of the Duke was a frightening, horrible sight.

Young Montague passed out on the spot. The Duke seemed to regret what he had done because he was blinded by his passion.

But it was already too late. 

The Emperor passed the curse on to his younger brother, and Duke Cardian was cursed.

‘My father…You witnessed the truth of the curse. That’s why you hated Leonis so much.’

The notebook had been written up to that point, and then months had passed. It was written in scribbled letters that Duke Cardian had killed the Duchess.

The person he held in his arms while being cursed and the reason why he accepted the curse because he wanted her so much, ended up killing her with his own hands.

If she looked at the succession of Duke Cardian, it seemed that he took another woman as his wife and had children, but….

‘Leonis won’t be like that.’

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Grimoires are books that contain ancient spells.