Chapter 125
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Dear, I believe you may be misunderstanding.
Chapter 125
Contana was a place one could reach by boat in roughly thirty minutes from the mainland.
Though not far from land, the waters between the towering reefs ran treacherous with strong currents, making approach difficult.
Fortunately, the weather was favorable today, and the sea lay calm. A blessing, truly.
Lucas Black gazed upon the approaching Contana island and drew a slow, measured breath.
With tension etched across his features, he stood alone at the stern of the vessel, awaiting the agony that would soon arrive.
'...It's about time.'
At most a minute, at least mere seconds.
Every time one of The Curse entered Contana island, they experienced a similar torment.
This was precisely why most avoided coming to this place.
The witches' island.
The primordial isle where their curse first manifested.
The curse—that inexorable, strange force—remained woven inextricably into their very existence.
Thus, one could never predict what other powers might act upon this island where that calamity had begun.
Even setting that aside, the island itself possessed an uncanny way of diminishing one's spirit.
Of course, Lucas Black was not a man to be swayed by such unease.
Though other members of The Curse shunned this place, one of the Seven Great Families had firmly established itself here nonetheless.
Had anything catastrophic occurred, it should have happened to that family first.
Yet they had thrived for centuries.
Therefore, there was no reason to avoid the island based on mere apprehension.
Lucas Black's eyes narrowed.
From his vantage point at the bow, the landing of Contana island came into view, along with Contana Castle rising majestically in the distance.
It was then that the agony began.
A pain as though his heart would split asunder; a shrill ringing in his ears that shook his very mind.
"Hgh."
Lucas Black gripped the railing with one hand and pressed the other against his chest, enduring the mounting torment.
It was an entirely different kind of pain from the chest aches that sometimes plagued him.
He clenched his teeth and bore through it.
Just a little longer, just a little longer to endure.
It was then that Grace Oellin, who had been searching for him throughout the vessel, discovered his hunched form from behind.
* * *
'Where could he have gone?'
After Julie had rushed off and I'd enjoyed a brief moment of solitude, I set out to find Lucas, who had vanished from my side some time ago.
He had stood beside me enjoying the sea breeze since the ship departed, but at some point, he'd simply disappeared.
Since we weren't far from our destination and land was beginning to appear on the horizon, I decided to search for him.
Following the narrow passage beside the cabin toward the bow, I finally spotted Lucas.
I was approaching him, wondering why he stood alone in that spot.
His massive frame suddenly lurched forward in a convulsion.
The back of his hand gripping the railing was flushed with engorged veins, his breathing ragged, his other hand clutching at his chest.
"...Lucas? Luc—!"
I gasped and tried to rush toward him.
But a sudden gust of wind stopped me in my tracks.
'Why is the wind so violent all of a sudden?'
I raised my arm to shield myself from the blast.
As my eyes stung and I turned my head slightly away.
A single point of light pierced my vision like a needle.
"...!"
It was as though sunlight refracted through a mirror had struck directly into my eyes.
Though only for a moment, my vision went white and numb.
My unsteady body swayed again in the wind, and I desperately grabbed the railing.
Just as my vision recovered and I opened my eyes, the sea heaved and the wind struck me once more.
Before I could even gasp, my body tilted lightly to the side.
"...!"
I snapped my eyes open in shock.
My body falling backward, my vision wavering, time itself seeming to pass with unnatural slowness—it all felt deeply wrong.
I had never experienced anything like this before.
Julie's face, her eyes wide with alarm as she spotted me from beyond the cabin, entered my vision with agonizing slowness.
Just as I glimpsed the blue sky and billowing white clouds, my body flipped completely.
'...A man?'
As I drew closer to the sea, I saw someone standing on a rocky outcropping of the nearby island.
Though too distant to see clearly, his brilliant golden hair gleamed in the sunlight, impossible to miss.
What struck me as odd was the unmistakable sensation that he was watching me.
But there was no time to dwell on such observations.
"M-Madam!!"
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Haem's cry and Julie's piercing scream reached my ears simultaneously....
Whoosh—splash!
My body was pulled down into the sea.
* * *
The sound of something plunging into the water snapped Lucas Black's head upward.
'Grace...!'
He didn't know why, but his instincts screamed that the voice belonged to Grace Oellin.
At that moment, the crushing pain that had been tearing through his chest vanished.
"My lady! Listen, bring the lifeboat! Now, the ropes!"
"Move!"
Lucas Black pushed through the gathering crowd on deck and sprinted toward the stern.
Julie rushed to halt the ship immediately, so it hadn't drifted far from where Grace Oellin had fallen.
"Grace! Damn it, move!"
As Lucas Black came rushing forward, ready to dive into the sea at any moment, Haem ran up and clung to him.
"We cannot allow it, Master! We shall go in!!"
"Move, Haem! Grace! Grace!"
"What are you all doing! Rescue my lady at once!"
Lucas Black could have brushed Haem aside with one hand.
But at that very moment, the pain returned.
"Ugh, kh!"
It wasn't the pain that had announced his entry to the island, but that familiar stabbing agony that often seized his heart.
'Of all times.'
He gritted his teeth and steadied his breathing, and in that interval, the sailors dove into the sea.
The Ship Captain who had been pulling the vessel reversed course just in time, reaching the vicinity of where Grace Oellin had fallen.
"Find my lady! Quickly!"
"It's strange, sir. There's no one here!"
"What? It must be elsewhere! Search a wider area!"
Normally, when someone fell into the water, they would thrash about and remain afloat, at least for a moment.
But Grace Oellin was nowhere to be seen.
Though they had arrived at the exact spot where she had fallen, all trace of her had vanished.
"Damn it! Move! I'll search myself."
"M-Master!"
Cold sweat beaded on Lucas Black's forehead as he forcibly suppressed the pain.
He removed his cloak, which would only encumber him in the water, and just as he was about to plunge into the sea, a Sailor who had already dove in cried out urgently.
"You cannot, sir! There is a current! You could be caught in it!"
At the Sailor's words, Lucas Black's complexion grew even more ashen.
He pushed away Haem and the other attendants clinging to him and dove into the sea without hesitation.
"No! Master!"
"General! Everyone, do not stray from the General!"
"I don't care! Spread out and find Grace first!"
Lucas Black spoke sharply and submerged himself deep into the sea.
But there was nothing.
Just as the Sailor had said, there was nothing in the depths of the sea.
'Grace!'
In the moment he moved his body toward deeper waters, driven by desperation, the current shifted.
Just as the wind might change direction, I felt the flow of water surrounding him transform.
The instant he turned his head to find the cause,
"...!"
Lucas Black's complexion changed dramatically.
* * *
Grace Oellin, having fallen into the water, remained dazed for some time.
When she suddenly regained her senses, she realized she was breathing underwater.
'How is this possible...?'
Naturally, she had never learned to swim.
For someone visiting the seaside for the first time, there was no reason she should be comfortable in the water.
Her body moved of its own accord like a scarf caught in the wind, yet she couldn't explain why she wasn't suffocating.
In that moment, she saw the markings on her arm glowing softly.
'Could it be because of this?'
...But this curse shouldn't be saving me. Why is this happening?
She realized this wasn't the time to ponder such things.
I had to get out of the water.
If I continued drifting with the current slowly pulling me along, I had no idea how far from land I would end up.
I recalled Julie, staring at me with eyes wide in panic, and Lucas Black, his hand gripping his chest.
They would certainly be worried.
They might have even plunged into this sea to find me.
'I can't stay here. I have to get out. Now!'
Grace Oellin thrashed forward desperately.
With her thin limbs flailing earnestly, she shook her body, but moving upward through the water proved difficult.
'At least I have to reach the surface.'
Though she wasn't suffocating, the deep, dark sea revealed no sense of direction.
Glancing downward, she saw an endless black abyss below.
Terror surged through her in an instant.
Her limbs, stiffened by fear, flailed about uncontrollably.
Then suddenly, Grace Oellin noticed fish gathering around her one by one.
Fish of varying sizes, shapes, and colors circled around her in spiraling patterns.
'What, what are these fish?'
As she hesitated in confusion, Grace Oellin felt her body slip free from something.
"...!"
Her uncontrolled body stilled at that very moment.
'I've escaped!'
Grace Oellin gazed in wonder at the fish dancing around her.
These fish had certainly helped her.
'Thank you.'
Grace, who had been hesitating, reached out and gently stroked the small orange fish closest to her.
Though the water muffled the sensation, the tiny creature bumped its head against her palm with a soft tap, its brilliant tail quivering with delight.
For some reason, it reminded her of a puppy wagging its tail at its master's touch—utterly endearing.
But in that very moment.
The formation of fish that had been circling gracefully shattered in an instant.
As if they'd glimpsed something terrifying, they scattered frantically in all directions.
The young fish that had nuzzled against Grace lingered longest, circling around her one last time.
But even that small creature eventually fled, darting away as though fleeing from danger.
Wondering what could have caused such a reaction, Grace turned to survey her surroundings when a strange pressure in the water gently pushed against her back.
Then she felt something tap softly against her back.
Startled, she spun around, and her eyes widened.
"...!"
It was a whale.
An enormous, magnificent whale gazed down at her.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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