The king fell silent at Zeke's words.
His prediction had been correct.
And in that moment, Zeke suddenly realized the principle behind this curse.
'If they believe they've been cursed and kill the second son right after birth, that vengeful spirit strengthens this word-binding curse even further. Over generations, the grudge from those unjustly killed would make the curse more powerful, and then... it would truly take effect.'
A curse was formed by the power of desire.
If the binding of word magic influenced people to accumulate resentment, the curse gradually took on substance and transformed into a magic stronger than anything else.
The powerful vengeful spirit of 'murder' must have materialized into a terrifying curse that undoubtedly wandered this castle.
Zeke furrowed his brow and spoke to Hermann and the king.
"If it's a binding from word magic, it could have been ignored from the start... Are you saying they've carried out these secret killings for over a thousand years?"
At Zeke's words, the king gripped the hilt of his greatsword tightly and opened his mouth.
"It's not just any binding—it's the curse uttered by the evil dragon Bahamut at the moment of death. If we had ignored it and not killed the second son, the Theia Dynasty wouldn't have lasted this long."
He could understand why the Theia Kingdom was so particularly exclusive about opening the royal palace.
It was because of the long-standing secret killings—they had maintained a closed and exclusionary attitude to prevent any leaks to the outside.
Zeke thought there must be a reason the king was telling him this horrific royal secret.
"I've understood what curse has been placed on the Theia royal family. But why are you telling me this? Is there some connection to the Nostra Family?"
The king pressed his lips together, then took a deep breath and spoke.
"Fifty years ago now. It was shortly after I ascended to the throne." He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Right after my ascension, the queen became pregnant, and nearly seven months later, the child was born. The child who came out... was a boy."
"That child is your firstborn, then." The king shook his head.
"No, I already had a son born before my ascension."
"Then that child was the second son."
At those words, the king trembled slightly and said,
"Following tradition, I tried to drown the newborn. He was a premature baby, after all, and I thought he might die on his own soon enough. But the queen desperately stopped me, saying it was absolutely not allowed." The king let out a heavy sigh.
"She begged me not to kill him, saying that since he was the first child born after I became king, he wasn't subject to the curse."
Zeke's expression grew serious as he listened to the king.
A curse from word-binding could operate differently depending on how one interpreted the words.
If the queen and the entire royal family strongly believed that was true, the curse might not apply accordingly.
But in the opposite case, the curse was likely to take hold.
The king continued.
"After hearing the queen's plea, I agonized over it. And then I chose another path." When the king fell silent, Hermann, who was beside him, took over.
"I was the king's guard knight at the time, and I received orders to take the second son to the underground of the royal castle. Then I sent him floating down the underground waterway in a basket."
It was a method that was neither killing nor not killing.
Zeke spoke up after hearing that.
"If a premature newborn floats down the underground waterway, wouldn't that be as good as killing him?"
Hermann nodded at Zeke's words.
"I thought so too. But... after that, strange things began to happen."
"Strange things?"
At Zeke's question, Hermann answered.
"People started disappearing from the royal castle, and parts of corpses began appearing."
Suddenly, people vanished, and a few days later, severed arms, legs, or heads would turn up in various places around the castle.
Zeke's expression grew grave as he listened to Hermann.
'Placing severed corpses around the castle?'
Rather than hiding the bodies, leaving them scattered throughout the castle suggested that the act itself was part of the curse.
Zeke asked Hermann,
"When did the disappearances and the discoveries of body parts start?" Hermann thought for a moment before replying.
"It began fifty years ago."
Zeke's expression darkened further.
"Starting from when the second son was sent down the waterway."
Zeke looked at the king and said,
"Your Majesty, do you believe there's a connection between the cursed second son abandoned fifty years ago and the Nostra Family's don?"
The king gripped the hilt of his greatsword tightly, his body trembling as he spoke.
"...From the time my sight began to fail, the sounds... the sounds became clearer. The child's pitiful crying, that is."
Zeke could understand why the king had made that choice in his previous life.
When he first saw him here, he had thought he possessed the valiant and steadfast demeanor of a knight like the Lion King, the founder of Thebea Kingdom, but that was far from the truth.
He was just an old man, terrified of the sin he had committed, unable to act decisively in any direction.
Zeke fell into thought as he looked at the trembling king.
'Circumstantially, there seems to be some relation between the curse on Thebea Royal
Castle and the Nostra Family's don... but to grasp the details, I need to investigate the waterway where the second son was sent.' For that, he needed permission to investigate.
Zeke spoke to the king.
"Your Majesty, before I was called the Knight of Salvation, I held the epithet of Curse-
Healer Knight. If you permit it, I will attempt to lift this curse on the Thebea Kingdom." The king stared blankly into the void before turning his head toward Zeke.
He looked at him with unfocused eyes and nodded.
"...I permit it."
With those feeble words, the king slumped back into his chair as if sinking into it.
Hermann, seeing this, said to Zeke,
"I'll escort His Majesty to his chambers. Wait a moment." He reached out and touched a spot on the chair.
Surprisingly, a portal activated, and Hermann and the king vanished together.
Zeke noticed the portals operating throughout the royal castle and realized something.
'Come to think of it, the mana density is thicker in the royal castle itself, especially underground. Is this connected to the curse as well?'
The more he looked around, the more peculiarities he found in Thebea Royal Castle itself.
First, having obtained permission to investigate the castle from the king, he needed to track down the curse and any traces of the don as quickly as possible.
At that moment, the portal activated again, and Hermann reappeared.
He approached Zeke.
"Sir Zeke, if there's anything I can do to assist with the curse-lifting, tell me. I'll cooperate in any way."
At Hermann's words, Zeke nodded and spoke.
"There are two things I need your help with."
"Speak."
"First, information on the people who disappeared from the palace and the body parts that were found. From fifty years ago to the most recent cases—all of it." Hermann nodded at Zeke's words.
"Understood. What's the other?"
Zeke glanced around and said,
"From this moment on, ensure no one enters the underground of the royal castle." He turned to meet Hermann's eyes directly and continued.
"Only you, Sir Hermann, are permitted entry."
*
'Hmm.'
Zeke was examining the documents Hermann had brought in a secret chamber underground in Thebea Royal Castle.
They were records of the mysterious disappearances and body-dumping incidents that had started fifty years ago, but there wasn't as much information as he had hoped.
'It seems the investigations weren't conducted properly because they occurred in the royal castle.'
Zeke closed the document folder and stood up.
In truth, the reason he had asked for the documents was not for their content, but as a medium to access the Akashic Code.
With a proper medium, he could access and view any information through the Akashic Code.
Zeke extended his hand toward the document folder.
Kiiiiing—
Through it, Zeke connected to the Akashic Code.
Countless pieces of information, like stars, began flooding in from all directions before his eyes.
Zeke activated Dragonʼs Wisdom and Eye of the Sage to filter the information.
Details related to the disappearances and body-dumping incidents in Thebea Royal Castle flowed into his mind.
After absorbing the fragment of the Elder Dragon's heart, Zeke felt it was much easier to process information than before.
For an ordinary human, taking in so much data at once in such a short time would be impossible.
Zeke quickly scanned the incoming information, seeking to uncover the truth of the incidents.
And at one point, his gaze lingered on a single keyword. 'This...?'
Zeke fell deep into thought as he looked at the keyword that surfaced.
'As expected, the source of the curse wasn't Bahamut.'
Zeke realized the curse had originated from a completely different direction than he had thought, and he could now faintly guess how it connected to the Nostra Family.
He examined the keyword floating before him once more.
'Cursed Prince of a Fallen Kingdom.'
*
Rattle, rattle.
The king of Thebea sat by the hearth, trembling.
Even in front of the roaring flames, his face was pale as he shivered from the cold.
Unable to bear the chill, he shouted at the attendants.
"Add more wood to the fire! Hurry!"
The attendants added more logs to the fireplace.
The flames roared higher, as if ready to engulf the king.
Yet the king continued to tremble.
"Your Majesty, getting any closer to the flames could be dangerous." Despite the concerned words, the king refused to move away from the fire.
But in that moment, the king flinched in surprise.
The voice expressing worry did not belong to an attendant or Hermann.
"Wh-who's there!"
Zeke stepped out from the shadows and approached the king's side.
He created a chair from shadows and sat beside him.
"I am Zeke Draker, Your Majesty."
The king, realizing an unauthorized intruder had entered his chambers, bellowed in rage.
"Guards! An intruder! Drag this one out at once!"
But despite the king's command, no one came running.
Zeke looked at the king and said,
"I have blocked the sound for now, Your Majesty, as I wished to speak with you privately."
The king ground his teeth and flailed his arms wildly.
"Y-you! How dare you threaten me!"
Unlike before, he seemed utterly incapable of rational judgment. Zeke said quietly, "I have never threatened Your Majesty. I merely came because I have one question." He looked at the blind king and continued.
"The curse on the Thebea royal family. It wasn't cast by Bahamut, was it?" At Zeke's words, the king halted his flailing arms.
He glared toward the direction of Zeke's voice with unfocused eyes and shouted,
"What nonsense is this? This curse was indeed cast by the evil dragon Bahamut!"
"Is that so? Then I cannot lift this curse, so I should take my leave."
At those words, the king panicked and waved his hands toward Zeke in a fluster.
"W-wait! Didn't you say you could lift this curse!"
"Your Majesty, how could I perform curse-lifting without knowing the true source? My investigation shows no connection to Bahamut, so there's nothing I can do." The king bit his lip hard at Zeke's words.
He stared into the void with distant eyes, his body trembling.
Zeke spoke to the king again.
"Your Majesty, if you desire curse-lifting, you must tell me the true source and details of the curse."
The king clenched his teeth, clutching his head.
Finally, in a trembling voice, he said,
"Y-you're right, sir. The curse was not cast by Bahamut."
"Then who cast it?"
The king hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.
"...The princes of the fallen kingdoms."
Zeke's eyebrow twitched at the king's words.
"Please explain in more detail."
Prompted by him, the king gasped for breath and continued.
"A thousand years ago, the princes of the Six Kingdoms, which were destroyed... they sought refuge in Thebea Kingdom, our final bastion."
"What relation do they have to the curse on the Thebea royal family?"
Roar—
The flames in the fireplace burned even more fiercely.
The king trembled as he spoke.
"...We needed a sacrifice."
With a self-mocking smile, he continued.
"To summon absolute power to stop the evil dragon, the Thebea royal family... used the princes of the fallen kingdoms as sacrificial offerings."