The white snow blanketed everything.
The cold was harsh despite its calm.
Adrian stood in the middle of the street, staring at the sky.
Tears streamed down his face in silence, without a sound.
He whispered in the depths of his heart with a sorrowful question:
"Diana… humans are pitiful, aren't they?"
He turned his gaze toward Leo, Lily, and Bill's house behind him, and continued:
"When humans can die in the simplest, most trivial ways…"
He sighed in distress and walked with exhausted steps toward the house.
He entered, closed the door behind him, then looked at Leo, who was still kneeling on the floor, his head lowered, unmoving.
He approached him slowly and said in a hesitant tone:
"Leo… are you going to stay like this? It's been two hours since they passed…"
Leo shouted with a broken, sharp voice:
"And do souls get forgotten after two hours?!
What would someone like you know, Your Highness?!
You lived in luxury and happiness all your life… you were lucky enough not to get sick—"
Lucia cut him off angrily:
"Watch what you say, commoner! How dare you speak to His Highness like that?!"
Adrian signaled to her with his hand:
"It's fine… let him speak."
He turned toward Leo and said quietly:
"Leo, I can understand how you feel… but sitting here like this won't change anything."
Leo whispered in a faint voice:
"You don't understand, Your Highness… you can't understand what it means to lose your family."
Adrian clenched his teeth tightly, and his voice suddenly rose:
"No, I don't understand! So stay sitting there until you die! I'm leaving."
He turned, opened the door, stepped out, and slammed it shut behind him.
Lucia clenched her fists in anger and glared at Leo with eyes burning with fury.
She stepped toward him and grabbed his clothes harshly:
"How dare you! You don't know a single thing about Prince Adrian's life! And what kind of ignorance makes you say he doesn't understand?! He lost the dearest thing he had! His innocent sister died because of foolish humans like you!"
Leo was frozen in shock, unable to move, while Lucia continued screaming in his face, her anger mixing with grief.
She let go of his clothes and shoved him, making him fall to the ground. She turned, opened the door, and before leaving she said sharply:
"If you're too weak to endure the loss of Lily and Bill… then go join them! There's no use for a foolish human who doesn't understand the meaning of life anyway."
Then she rushed out after Adrian, leaving Leo alone in that cold house.
---
"Your Highness! Wait for me!"
Lucia ran until Adrian finally stopped and turned toward her. She reached him out of breath, placing her hands on her knees. After a moment, she straightened up and said in annoyance:
"How did you cover that distance so fast? I suffered trying to catch up!"
Adrian remained silent, staring at her.
She tilted her head and crossed her arms:
"What's with that expression? Were you actually affected by Leo's words?"
He averted his gaze and said quietly:
"It's not that… I was thinking about the plague."
She asked in surprise:
"And you intend to investigate it yourself?"
The image of Lily and Bill flashed in his mind, then he said:
"Yes… I have to."
Lucia smiled, playing with a strand of her hair as she asked:
"So… may I accompany you?"
Adrian replied instantly, without even thinking:
"No."
Her eyebrows shot up in irritation.
"Eeeeh? Whyy? I could actually be useful to you!"
He answered with a firm tone:
"I said no… which means no."
(A while later)
Adrian asked irritably,
"Why the hell are you following me?"
Lucia answered with deliberate coldness,
"I'm not following you, Your Highness. I'm simply walking my own path."
Adrian stared at her in annoyance and said,
"And how is it that your path happens to be chasing me?"
She replied with provoking calm,
"That's not the case."
Adrian stopped walking and glared sharply at her:
"Then, do you even know where we are? It seems I've lost my way."
Lucia shouted in shock,
"Eeeeh!! Does that mean we've been wandering aimlessly?!"
Adrian looked away indifferently.
Lucia let out a scream of despair:
"You should have swallowed your pride and told me from the start! We walked for an entire hour in this freezing weather for nothing!"
Adrian snapped in frustration:
"And why should I tell you what I'm doing?!"
"Because you're just wasting time!"
"What did you say, you girl!?"
Their argument went on for a long while before they finally reached an agreement to cooperate—after Lucia nearly lost all her energy and almost turned into a ghost trying to convince him.
Lucia said firmly,
"We've arrived… the old woman's house."
Adrian replied calmly,
"Right, let's go inside and take a look."
The two of them entered the old witch's house cautiously. The place was abandoned, covered in thick layers of dust, cobwebs filling every corner, moisture staining the floor, and traces of black magic lingering everywhere.
Lucia muttered as she rubbed her arm uneasily,
"This house is really strange… I'm getting chills."
Adrian didn't comment; he walked straight toward a locked room. He stepped back a few paces, then slammed his shoulder into the door, shattering it. A cloud of thick dust exploded outward, and he covered his mouth and nose as he began coughing.
Lucia rushed to him in worry.
"Your Highness! Are you alright?!"
He replied after steadying his breath,
"Yes… it seems the dust here is heavy, and it might even be poisonous. Be careful."
He pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her.
"Put this over your mouth and nose before entering."
Lucia exclaimed in concern,
"And what about you? Don't you need one?!"
He stepped into the room, answering coldly,
"Don't worry… a bit of poison won't kill me."
She placed the handkerchief over her face and followed him inside.
Adrian was rummaging through books scattered haphazardly across the floor when a red-covered book caught his attention. He picked it up, dusted it off, and began reading.
He murmured to himself,
"'The Forgotten Truth'… Strange. All the books here are about magic, yet this one feels… different."
The text spoke of humans who never obtained magic—the ones known as "Section Zero." How they became outcasts over time despite being able to understand magical equations, though their experiments often ended in disasters.
Adrian whispered in realization,
"I see… it's a book about the history of humans and magic. But I still wonder… why can't I use magic even though I'm a noble?"
He set the book aside and picked up another titled "Invisible Voices."
He murmured in surprise,
"A strange title…"
He opened the book and began to read. It spoke of creatures from another world that could be summoned through certain methods to obtain instantaneous revenge.
He furrowed his brows, his curiosity rising:
"Instantaneous revenge? What exactly does that mean?"
He flipped through the pages one after another…
The explanation was clear:
Instantaneous revenge meant killing anyone simply by saying their name and pointing at them with the intent of death, even from afar.
But the conditions were extremely harsh:
The summoner had to sacrifice ten people to those creatures, and then lose both sight and hearing permanently.
Adrian murmured in disappointment,
"I don't think this is the book we're looking for…"
He placed it aside and picked up another book.
As he browsed the title, he whispered,
"By the way… I wonder what kind of magic Diana used. I doubt I'll find it among these books."
Adrian and Lucia continued browsing through the books all day without stopping.
After hours of continuous reading, Adrian closed his eyes for a moment, weighed down by the endless words, symbols, and magical formulas.
But his doze didn't last long…
Lucia's loud voice woke him up.
She called out to him in astonishment as she waved another book:
"Your Highness! I found a book titled Curse of Death!"
Adrian stood and walked toward her, taking the book from her hands.
The moment he opened it, his eyes widened in shock.
Lucia asked in disbelief,
"Isn't this…"
Adrian began reading with clear tension.
The book explained a method for creating magic without a mage—
Where a person unable to use magic would draw a magic circle containing a triangle, and write inside it the incantation:
"When the sun sets and the moon appears,
I shall enjoy drinking pure blood,
and offer what I cherish most
to the Great Lord of Magic."
The book explained that proper execution granted a person "the final salvation" and the fulfillment of their desire… while failure would bring forth an uncontrollable catastrophe.
Adrian whispered to himself in worry:
"I've almost understood what happened… but that strange incantation… what does it truly mean?"
Adrian kept thinking about that peculiar chant, unable to grasp its real meaning.
He said coldly and firmly:
"Lucia, let's go to the other rooms. We might find the answer there."
He left the room, and Lucia followed him.
He opened the door of the next room, revealing an almost empty space with a faint magic circle in the center—the same one used for the Curse of Death—but parts of it had faded with time.
On the floor were pale, dried bloodstains.
Adrian murmured in shock:
"This is probably where the old woman died… but this blood…"
He froze for a few seconds, and suddenly a horrifying idea struck him.
He clenched his teeth and quickly turned toward the last room, opening its door to find a simple room with a bed, a table, and a small closet.
Lucia asked anxiously:
"Wait… what's wrong, Your Highness?"
Adrian entered silently and headed first to the closet, opening it… it was empty.
He turned his gaze around the room until his eyes stopped at the table.
He pushed it aside, then lifted the rug beneath it.
Underneath was a small square, like a hidden door leading beneath the room.
Lucia gasped and said:
"Your Highness… could this be…"