LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 33
Chapter 33
I’m Going to Get Cursed Now
『 Translator – Divinity 』
Late at night…
I was in a car secretly sent by the Emperor, heading towards the Imperial Palace.
At a time when everyone should be asleep, the Emperor and Empress were waiting to greet me as I got out of the car.
“Thank you for responding to our summons at this late hour, Saint.”
“It was my duty to come when called by Your Majesty. What is the matter?”
“It shames me to say this, but… even after hearing that you healed countless commoners and nobles, I couldn’t fully believe you. Only after meeting you in person at the banquet did I gain certainty. Please forgive my distrust.”
The Emperor said so, then remained silent for a while before continuing with difficulty.
“Have you heard about my daughter?”
Princess Almene.
I’ve heard of her.
Only her name, nothing else.
That’s because she was a mysterious princess who never appeared in public or showed her face in any newspaper.
“Is Her Highness the Princess ill?”
“…Please come inside first.”
I followed the Emperor and Empress deep into the Imperial Palace.
The Princess.
Why were they taking me to the princess who had never shown her face before?
As I was pondering that and entering a room…
I stopped dead in my tracks as if struck by lightning.
That woman lying quietly in the corner of the room…
Wasn’t she the woman bleeding and collapsed in my dream?
To think I would find a clue so quickly, unlike with Erpa!
The cheat code!
The skip-hell cheat code is calling me!!
“This is my daughter, Almene. First… could you please take a look at her?”
“Can you heal her?”
At the Emperor and Empress’s earnest voices, I nodded.
“I will try.”
I cautiously approached the princess and placed my hand on her forehead.
The princess, whose face I had never seen before, had a peculiar appearance.
A magic circle-like pattern was engraved on her left eye, and perhaps because of that, she couldn’t open her left eye and kept it closed.
And for some reason, she looked terribly haggard.
Her face resembled someone severely ill with the flu.
I observed her face for a moment, then activated the skill.
[This is a healthy body with no abnormalities!]
[Body Modification can be used immediately!]
[Which breast size would you like to modify to: Small, Large, Huge, or Super Huge?]
Ugh! What a ridiculous description! Get that away from me!
Anyway, there were no abnormalities in her body?
Physically, she was perfectly normal.
I checked several times, just in case there was something I missed, but there was no change.
This is strange.
She’s not sick…
Then why is she so frail and weak?
“Your Highness, there is nothing wrong with your body. Since there is nothing wrong, I cannot heal you.”
I answered honestly.
Really.
If there were any illnesses or abnormalities in her body, they would be highlighted in black by the skill.
But there was truly nothing wrong with her.
Since she wasn’t sick, I couldn’t heal her.
This was the first time I had encountered such a case.
Was it a psychological issue?
“So… it’s impossible to heal her?”
The Emperor bowed his head with a gloomy expression.
The Empress also had a look of despair.
The princess smiled faintly at the sight.
“It’s alright, Father. I can endure it.”
The Emperor and Empress didn’t react to her forced smile.
Instead, their faces became even more filled with despair.
“Rest, Almene.”
The Emperor said so and gestured for me to follow him.
I obediently left the room.
As soon as the door closed behind us, the Empress couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.
“My dear…”
“Almene is dying! If even the Saint cannot heal her, what are we going to do…”
It was a heartbreaking wail.
The Emperor, unable to say anything, just embraced his wife tightly.
I quietly watched the scene unfold from behind them.
After a long while, when the Empress finally calmed down, the Emperor turned to me.
“I should explain, but it might be a long story. Would you listen?”
“I will. No matter how long it takes.”
I had to understand the exact situation, even if it meant dying from a curse.
The Emperor and Empress moved to a different location with me.
After arriving at a spacious reception room, the couple seemed to take a moment to compose themselves.
And after a long silence…
“Nineteen years ago, we had twins.”
The Emperor began in a mournful tone.
***
There was a concept called “twin souls.”
It referred to twins who were born with their souls connected.
The Emperor’s twin daughters, Almene and Iomene, were such twin souls.
All senses.
Thoughts.
Memories.
Even emotions were shared between twin souls. In the Empire, they were classified as one person in two bodies.
Twin souls were rare, and their birth was considered a joyous occasion, so the Imperial Palace was in a festive mood when the two were born.
But before they could properly celebrate…
Their joy was overshadowed by even greater sorrow and despair.
“Wings… wings are sprouting from Iomene’s back!…”
Jet black wings, as if a piece of the darkest night had been cut and placed there, began to grow from her back.
The startled couple immediately summoned priests and mages to identify the nature of the wings growing from Iomene’s back, and they received a shocking answer.
“She carries a fragment of the Evil God.”
“A fragment of the Evil God! How could this happen?!”
“It seems someone cast a curse while attending to Your Majesty the Empress for a very long time.”
Chaos ensued.
The birth of the twin princesses was quietly buried.
Instead, a bloody search and interrogation swept through the Imperial Palace.
Who?
Who cast the curse?
They investigated everyone, from the maids and butlers who served the Empress to her relatives and even those who had met with her even once. But the priests, mages, and intelligence agency couldn’t find out who had cast the curse.
Time passed relentlessly, and finally, three years after the birth of the twin princesses…
A terrible curse began to emanate from the wings that had sprouted on Iomene’s back.
It started with a maid who was caring for Iomene collapsing after being struck by the curse.
Although they managed to lift the curse from the maid’s soul with all sorts of divine magic and miracles, she ultimately succumbed to the aftereffects and didn’t live long.
“This is no ordinary curse. It destroys the soul and then takes its place. Once that happens, it’s over. She will become a being that can neither live nor die, wandering the earth.”
“And that’s not all. This curse is contagious. It could spread to those around her in an instant.”
“An army of undead could appear in the middle of the capital, Your Majesty!”
“You must… dispose of Princess Iomene.”
Dispose of.
Of course, there was no explanation of how to “dispose of” her, but the Emperor understood without needing further clarification.
He had to kill Iomene.
To prevent an army of undead from forming in the capital.
But…
“If one of the twin souls dies, what happens to the other?”
No one could answer the Emperor’s question.
Two bodies…
But one soul.
If one dies, the other follows.
Killing Iomene was no different from killing the healthy Almene as well.
The Emperor agonized over the decision.
He agonized and agonized.
And in the end…
The Emperor chose not to kill his daughter.
“Tell me how to remove the fragment of the Evil God.”
No one could answer, except for one.
Only the White Church, who had dealt with countless monsters, demons, and creatures lurking in the darkness, knew the answer.
“Long ago, there is a record of a hero chosen by Dulaneir removing a fragment of the Evil God.”
“Tell me, how is it removed?”
“Confine the child with the fragment of the Evil God in solitary confinement. Completely isolate them and prevent any contact with others. And periodically bombard their body with powerful divine magic to weaken the connection between their soul and the fragment of the Evil God. Once they are completely separated, extract and remove the fragment of the Evil God.”
“How long does it take?”
“It takes at least ten years. If they endure this entire process, there’s a high chance they can be cured. However… every time divine magic is cast on their body, the fragment of the Evil God will resist, causing great physical pain.”
The Emperor’s face crumpled.
“So you’re saying that Iomene will suffer every time divine magic is cast?”
“That is correct.”
“…Then isn’t that no different from torture?”
The High Priest lowered his head at those words.
“We will take various measures to minimize the pain, but… it is impossible to completely eliminate it, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor’s hands trembled.
“Is there no other way?”
“It might be possible if a saint or saintess appears and performs a miracle. But for the past 300 years, no saint or saintess has been granted to the Empire. The method I described is the only way, Your Majesty.”
“Gods of the Pantheon, why…”
The Emperor informed the Empress of this.
“We can’t do that!! That’s practically torture!”
“…It’s the only way.”
“Twin souls share one soul!! If Iomene suffers that much, Almene! Almene will suffer along with her!”
“We can use magic to sever the connection between the twin souls.”
“No!! We can’t!! They are the children I carried in my womb for ten months! My own flesh and blood! How could we do that to them…”
“If we do nothing, the entire Empire could be destroyed by the curse emanating from the fragment of the Evil God. And if we let the fragment of the Evil God parasitizing Iomene’s soul grow, do you think Almene, who shares the same soul, will be safe?”
At those words, the Empress burst into tears.
“…To a three-year-old child… how could we inflict such torture…”
The Emperor clenched his fists.
“We have to do it. Somehow.”
“You’re the worst father!!”
The Empress shouted emotionally, but the Emperor looked at her with sad eyes and replied,
“Between the Empire and the twins, I chose the twins. By all rights, I should have killed Iomene, my dear. Please don’t ever say that again.”
The Empress couldn’t respond to his words.
The couple embraced each other and wept for a long time.
They grieved over the fact that they had to continuously inflict pain on their three-year-old child.
But this was the only way to save both of them.
On their third birthday…
Powerful magic was cast on the twin princess with wings on her back.
Iomene and Almene underwent the procedure to sever their soul connection and were separated.
Iomene was left alone in a detached palace, riddled with all sorts of miracles and magic to prevent the leakage of the curse, lonely and isolated…
Once a week, she had to writhe in terrible pain, as if her body was being torn apart.
And Almene grew up as the Emperor’s daughter, righteous and dignified, in the light of day.
And so…
For sixteen years…
The sisters lived apart.
***
The long story ended.
The Empress was crying, and the Emperor had an expression that could only be seen on someone whose soul was broken.
“For sixteen years, we have been torturing Iomene. No parents, however terrible, would have done what we did. We even forcibly stopped her several suicide attempts.”
“What happened to the fragment of the Evil God?”
“The connection with Iomene’s soul has weakened significantly. However, as a result, Iomene’s ego and mind have been irreparably damaged. To the extent that it affects Almene, even through the magic that blocks the connection between their souls.”
So that’s why Princess Almene couldn’t be healed.
It was natural, since she was suffering from a spiritual problem, not a physical one.
The Emperor took my hand.
“Saint, I beg you, not as the ruler of the Empire, but as the father of my children. Please save Iomene with your miracle. Iomene’s mind is being destroyed before the fragment of the Evil God can even be separated from her soul. I believe that you can remove the fragment of the Evil God and heal her ego at the same time. Please…”
The Emperor shed tears.
I had heard that the Emperor of the Empire was a stern, strong, iron-fisted ruler who wielded absolute military power.
Indeed, the Emperor I saw in the newspapers always had a rigid expression and issued stern warnings.
But the middle-aged man in front of me just looked incredibly sad and tormented…
There was no trace of his usual dignity.
In this situation…
I’m truly sorry to say this, but I was cheering internally.
A curse!!
And it’s a damn powerful curse that could destroy the world!!
A cheat code!
To think it would be delivered right to me without me having to search for it!
If I extract the fragment of the Evil God from the princess’s body and use it to destroy my soul?
The princess will be saved, and I’ll go to Korea!
It’s a win-win situation!
“Leave it to me.”
Wait for me, curse!
I’m coming to get you now!!