Chapter 58 : This is a Demon’s Gate

It was about ten more days before the group returned to the church.

It took another two days to report what had happened, clean up, and return to their individual lives.

After everything was over, Judith spoke.

“Would you like to visit my lab?”

But Judith, even as she asked, already knew the answer.

“Haha….”

She awkwardly smiled and declined, and the guard standing beside her looked at her with eyes full of malice. Shortly after, Usher nodded while holding Bersia and walked away.

Despite knowing she would be rejected, Judith still found herself lingering. In that moment, she spoke absentmindedly.

“Ah, I see why empty-headed women get taken in by womanizers, even bringing them money.”

“Pardon?”

“Is this what they call love…?”

As she took a deep drag from her cigarette, no affection could be found in her demeanor, causing Melvin to tilt his head.

Judith did not add anything further.

Although she had used the word “love” as a joke, Judith felt that the affection she felt for Bersia was closer to intellectual curiosity about an “incomprehensible phenomenon” than actual romantic feelings.

What was the reason that the curse of unrequited love didn’t work?

She seriously pondered for a while, then decided to investigate further.

After puffing out smoke again, she suddenly stiffened her expression and turned her body.

The playful look from earlier had completely disappeared.

“Are you heading to the lab?”

“No, to the library.”

“Huh?”

“I need to investigate the curse further.”

Then MELBOURNE chuckled darkly and casually said,

“Even if you say that, you’re still worried about your fellow saintess, huh? Well, it is the curse of unrequited love…”

“No.”

Judith immediately cut him off.

Her expression was stern.

However, Melvin’s laughter did not stop.

Judith tried her best to ignore him, unaware that her earlobes had turned red from his words.

Usher, feeling hisbbody sink deeply into the bed, let himself relax.

Perhaps home was indeed the best. The moment his body was laid on his own bed (or more precisely, Bersia’s bed), Usher felt an overwhelming sense of peace.

He wanted to sleep just like this for the rest of the day.

With a sluggish and languid expression, he let out a soft moan when suddenly Darlin appeared.

“Saintess! Did you have a good trip?”

“Mmm….”

“How was the sea? Did you have fun?”

At those words, Usher smiled lazily.

“It was beautiful. Ah, when we were on the boat…”

He began speaking in a drowsy tone.

But as he continued, Usher’s face lit up with excitement.

It wasn’t about the mission.

It was a story from when they were returning to land from the archipelago.

“I saw flying fish! The fish were actually flying above the surface of the water!”

It was hard to remember when exactly, but there was a splashing sound while they were sailing between the archipelago and the mainland.

When he turned his head to check the source of the sound, Usher was shocked and covered his mouth in surprise.

A fish was flying through the air.

When he saw the creature that had seemed so fantastical, Usher realized just how small the world he had lived in was.

In that moment, Bersia chuckled softly, and Usher had looked at him with a sidelong glance.

But that scene didn’t last long.

“There was also a whale! A whale bigger than a sailing ship!”

The wonders of nature always inspire awe.

Facing the world created by the Creator, Usher found himself almost on the verge of tears, and explained this feeling to Darlin.

Upon hearing this, Darlin smiled warmly, but Usher, feeling too excited, suddenly became embarrassed, thinking he might have overdone it.

So, he decided not to continue with the story.

Usher reflected on the conversation he had with Bersia when they saw the whale.

It’s a whale! We’re actually going to see it!

…Saintess?

Recalling the trembling look Bersia gave him and her somewhat sorrowful smile, Usher couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, though he would never speak of such feelings to anyone.

Anyway, although the mission had been tough, the journey back was enjoyable.

Usher lay down on the bed again to reflect on the mission.

Then Darlin spoke up.

“Saintess, you need to wash up and sleep, don’t you?”

“Ah… okay, I’ll go…”

“I’ll help you wash up since it’s been a while!”

“Huh, no, I’ll… do it myself.”

“I insist, it’s been so long since I last helped!”

Darlin’s eyes sparkled brightly.

Usher couldn’t bring himself to reject her, as her liveliness was so dazzling.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Usher finally nodded his head with a creak.

He was then dragged to the bathroom.

As always, when Darlin was serving him, Usher tightly closed him eyes and trembled with a reddened face.

In the midst of this,

“…Huh? Saintess, what is this?”

Darlin, who was washing his back, asked with confusion.

“Huh?”

“There’s something on your lower back.”

“???”

Usher furrowed his brows.

Upon seeing his reaction, Darlin brought a mirror and reflected it on Usher’s back.

When Usher saw the reflection in the mirror,

“…Huh?”

He felt the blood drain from his face.

It was late evening.

The lights in the church had all been turned off, and the only sound was the quiet snoring of someone in the deep night.

Bersia was receiving an unexpected guest.

It was Usher, who had secretly snuck into the barracks.

“Knight?”

“Wait, I’ll come inside for a moment.”

Usher, looking a little disoriented, quickly shut the door and entered the room.

Bersia felt confused.

However, the moment of confusion he felt was nothing compared to what was coming.

“C-Could you please help me? Look at my body.”

As he spoke, Usher hastily removed his robe and began to untie the cord of his priestly attire.

At first, the words were enough to be taken in a sensual context.

If she understood it correctly, Usher was about to break his own purity with his own hands, but should this be considered masturbation or sexual intercourse?

A dilemma arose in Bersia’s mind.

Of course, the time to think was brief.

Usher’s complexion had turned pale.

It seemed like something had happened.

Seeing Usher unable to calm down, Bersia decided that her priority was to stabilize him.

That’s why she spoke.

“Knight, sneaking in at night and undressing like this is a bit…!”

With a jolt, Usher stopped.

He seemed to have realized what he was doing, his face dazed.

Then, his face turned red.

But he didn’t yell as usual.

He was just at a loss for what to do.

Bersia grabbed Usher’s shoulder and spoke.

“Shall we start with some deep breaths?”

“Yes, yes…”

Usher’s breathing gradually started to return.

At that point, Bersia made some warm tea and handed it to him, leading him to a chair. She sat across from Usher and asked,

“So, what’s the matter?”

This must be something urgent, which was why he had rushed in like this.

Bersia asked with a stern expression, and Usher took a sip of the tea before hesitantly mumbling,

“Well, so…”

“So?”

‘…The, the curse, you know.’

With a snap, Bersia’s expression hardened.

‘Is something wrong, or is there something wrong with you?’

Her voice trailed off at the thought that what she feared might have happened.

But Usher shook his head to deny it.

Then, with a slightly troubled tone and another flick of his earlobe, he said.

‘Well, would you like to see it?’

‘See what?’

‘……’

Usher stared, then slowly sat up.

His lips twitched, and he turned his back to Bersia.

Then he completely undid the half-unfastened waistband and began to peel his top down.

The embarrassment-filled gesture made Bersia feel a kind of tension that was out of place in the moment.

Usher used one hand to brush his hair away from his back.

With one hand, he brushed away the hair that covered his back. His gaze slowly travelled from trapezius to shoulder blades to wing bones to spine.

I stopped breathing.

‘That, the lower back. The erector spinae….’

He was right, there was a tattoo he hadn’t recognised, on the erector spinae, the area between his pelvis and lower back.

‘This is…’

A small snake had taken up residence, crawling up Usher’s spine.

It had wings that sprouted backwards, and its colour was red.

Bersia’s blood ran cold.

Aside from cancer, the only other reason something like this would suddenly take up residence in her body was the Curse of Galaea.

Usher’s voice rumbled in her ear.

It was a bit of a sob.

‘See, I really didn’t realise. I don’t feel anything wrong with my body, I don’t feel mentally impaired, and I don’t feel like my judgement is clouded… Darlin found it while washing me but the location, the location, the location… I’m only now realising that….’

The apologetic tone was overpowering for such an apologetic subject.

For some reason, Bersia felt her insides burning.

‘Still… Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Yes, I don’t feel anything wrong…!’

Her mind raced.

Her fingertips trembled and moved to the small of Usher’s back.

With a snap, the tip of her index finger touched Usher’s erector spinae

‘…?!’

Usher let out a new groan as he jerked upright.

Bersia’s head snapped up.

Usher had his hand over his mouth.

His wide, trembling eyes showed his own panic.

‘Barely touching his back?

I thought, and the cause became clearer.

As a saintess, Bersia was quite knowledgeable about prayers and curses, if not more so than Judith.

This analysis was at least possible.

Bersia checked the tattoo once more.

Immediately, her voice trailed off.

‘…You didn’t escape the curse.’

It hadn’t gone through, it had been altered.

She didn’t know if it was a failure of targeting, as Usher had said, or her own divine power.

‘Rice, what do you mean by transmutation…?’

‘You felt it.’ I did.

Berthia gulped.

Gon

We’d have to find out more details through other means, but one thing was clear.

‘It’s a latent type, where repeatedly pulling a certain trigger makes it stronger and stronger.’

After the last reaction, the snake grew longer, as long as her pinky nail.

Bersia noticed the difference immediately.

Perhaps the curse is complete when the snake’s head reaches the back of its neck.

So, ‘It’s a pentameter.’

That was the curse of longing in the form of a phonogram.

The trigger was pretty clear, too.

‘Sexual arousal?’

That seemed to be it.

It went from serious to disturbing.

‘Come on, Saintess, how can I…….’

Bersia had unintentionally discovered her own erogenous zones.