Translator: Nox
Chapter 4
* * *
Odelia returned to her room and stared at the ring with a troubled expression for a long time.
It was the ring he wore every single day.
She had firmly believed it was a token of promise shared between lovers.
'Why is my name engraved on it?'
There was no reason… really, no reason at all.
"Anyone would have sufficed."
"You just happened to meet the requirements the most."
"Is that all you have to say?"
He had pushed her away so cruelly that she couldn't even harbor any lingering feelings.
If it wasn't because he had a lover, then why did he seek out 'Odelia Cardel'?
Her mind was filled with him.
The cold gaze that looked down on her.
His back as he walked out of the underground prison.
The kiss at the wedding.
Even his last words, that they would never meet again…
Amidst the jumble of confusing emotions, Odelia unknowingly stroked the ring with her finger.
And at that moment.
A light flashed in the dim room.
Looking down, she saw a blue flash emanating from Ludville's ring.
To be precise, the blue jewel embedded in the ring was emitting light.
She had always thought it was just a sapphire.
'Was it not an ordinary jewel?'
If so.
Odelia hesitated for a moment, then with trembling hands, she slipped the ring onto her finger.
It was too big, barely fitting on her thumb…
His 'memories' flooded in.
* * *
As if white mist was rising, her vision blurred.
Soon, as the mist slowly cleared, an unfamiliar scene unfolded before her eyes.
No, to be precise, it wasn't entirely unfamiliar.
'This is…'
Odelia stepped back cautiously.
She inhaled sharply, tensing her entire body.
The place was none other than the Cardel family's mansion.
The underground laboratory connected to the 'secret room' where Odelia had spent her entire life imprisoned.
Just then.
The small clinking of chains caught her attention.
Turning her head, Odelia discovered someone in a terrible state.
A boy slumped, bound to a chair.
His skin was stained black, as if contaminated by Demonic Energy, cracked in places.
Golden hair, dyed red to the point where it was difficult to recognize its original color.
And shining brightly through the golden hair, beast-like purple eyes.
'…Ludville?'
Odelia's eyes widened.
'Why is he…'
She examined the boy, who appeared to be in his mid-teens, with a confused gaze.
Of course, Odelia wasn't the only one who had been confined to this underground laboratory in the past.
The Cardel family periodically brought slaves as test subjects.
Clinical trials were essential to ensure the smooth progress of the 'Purification' process, which involved injecting 'impure things' into Odelia's body.
'But if he had spent his childhood in the Cardel family's laboratory, there's no way I wouldn't have known.'
Odelia had first seen him six years ago, on the Day of Guardianship.
Before that, she had only heard the infamous reputation of the 'Iron-Blooded Grand Duke' that was rampant throughout the empire.
Bewildered, not knowing what was going on, she heard the researchers' conversation.
"The body can't handle the contamination. Prepare the next subject."
A cold voice echoed in the space.
The researchers called Ludville 'RU-39'.
Meaning the 39th test subject scheduled for collapse.
The boy was silent.
He didn't scream, nor did he beg for his life.
He simply opened and closed his eyes quietly.
It was then.
"What about the Rowendil family's curse? Is it still there?"
"It's spreading more and more. If we delay the treatment any longer, the Rowendil family will question the ancient barrier."
"We need to use the Purifier before it's too late."
Odelia turned her head, following the researchers' gaze.
There, a small, frail girl was sitting, curled up.
It was clearly 'herself' in the past.
'The Rowendil family's curse… I remember.'
Odelia was always used as a Purifier to eliminate impure things.
The range of impure things was diverse.
It included curses, diseases, Demonic Energy, madness, the seeds of disaster, and all harmful things in the world.
At this time, Odelia was injected with the curse as it was.
To allow her to purify the curse from within her body.
Among them, the Rowendil family's curse was particularly painful and remained in her memory.
She suffered from a burning heat all over her body, and when she opened her eyes, she always saw a different place.
Laboratory, secret room, laboratory, secret room.
Days when she was always soaked in cold sweat in her lab coat and couldn't even move a finger.
But…
'Why can't I remember Ludville?'
Before she knew it, the two were confined in separate rooms, separated by a wall.
Odelia had no memory of it at all.
But other than that, the events she had actually experienced were unfolding as they were.
The curse she had to endure.
The disease she had to endure.
The Demonic Energy she had to endure.
All the experiments she had to endure…
'Was Ludville really in this place as a child?'
She decided to watch the two of them for now.
Ludville and Odelia were aware of each other's existence beyond the wall.
Listening to each other's breathing.
Some days were quiet, and some days were intense.
On days when the breathing sounded particularly labored, they could both guess that the experiment of the day had been terrible.
Then one day.
Tap.
Odelia, who was curled up on the floor, suddenly tapped the wall with her fingertip.
A gesture with no meaning or context.
It was an echo that should have ended there, of course.
Tap.
A sound returned from the other side.
Odelia froze for a moment, then pressed her ear close to the wall and tapped it again.
This time, a little harder.
Then Ludville, who was also leaning against the wall, returned the same sound.
Tap tap.
Before they knew it, that quiet 'conversation' became a daily routine to prove that they were alive.
Tap, the slave would tap.
Tap, the sacrifice would answer.
They didn't exchange conversations or glances, and they didn't even know each other's names, but they felt each other every day across that wall.
The only connection allowed.
The only way to let each other know that they were alive.
One day, when the researchers were away for a while.
A strange echo followed that quiet knock.
"…Don't die."
Not a plea to live, not a determination to survive together.
Just a word not to die.
It was the first word Ludville had ever uttered.
Odelia, who was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, chuckled and replied.
"You'll die first."
"…."
"You're a test subject for me. The family brought you here to extend my lifespan as much as possible. …Didn't you know?"
The self-deprecating words were like a confession.
A moment of silence passed.
"Then that's a relief."
Was he perhaps resenting her?
Odelia, who had closed her eyes tightly and was biting her lip, suddenly paused.
"…What's a relief?"
"It means you can live longer than me."
She retorted in disbelief.
"What's the point of living long in a place like this?"
"Well… I don't know. But you live long."
There was no emotion in the boy's answer.
As if the life of a lowly slave had no reason or value to be protected.
Those days continued.
Ludville sometimes laughed loudly, and sometimes he cried silently without Odelia knowing.
After talking to Odelia, the boy's emotional expressions became more diverse day by day.
Across the wall, relying only on each other's breathing and a few faint words.
That's how 10 years passed.
Twenty-five years old.
Odelia sensed that she didn't have much time left.
As usual, the night after enduring all the experiments.
The day when the researchers' surveillance was particularly lax.
That night, Odelia opened the door to the laboratory where Ludville was.
"…Odelia?"
It was the first time they had properly faced each other.
But her face was already stained with blood, making it difficult to distinguish even her features.
"Odelia!"
Odelia staggered and collapsed, and Ludville instinctively got up and held her in his arms.
Perhaps because her lungs were damaged, she coughed up blood with every breath, and her breathing became increasingly erratic.
Nevertheless, Odelia didn't stop.
"Just… stay still for a moment."
She leaned her forehead against his chest and placed her fingertips on his heart.
Golden light of Purification flickered.
The poison flowing through his blood vessels.
The traces of experiments embedded deep within his tissues.
The magical imbalances and nerve damage.
All the pain he felt with every breath was instantly 'Purified' and disappeared.
Ludville stood there frozen, staring blankly at her.
