The energy was still faint, so the people of House Kreuz had not noticed it, but I was different.
I knew Dikidia's energy and had exceptional magical ability.
'Was it around this time last year? A Grand Council had been held to deal with the already troublesome Kreuz.'
I remembered the head of House Dikidia and another house head fighting over who would get to deal with Kreuz at the Grand Council.
The two house heads had fought even in the council chamber, and the meeting had ended without a conclusion. But now that I could sense Dikidia's energy, it seemed the curse house had won.
'Forget it. I let my guard down in that Kreuz house. I need to reflect, Nellis.'
Once I detected Dikidia's energy, Ruperi's complexion looked different, too.
He tossed and turned more often in his sleep, and the number of times he groaned gradually increased.
Since he suffered whenever he slept, Dikidia's curse seemed to be related to nightmares.
'Nothing makes you let down your guard like a nightmare curse.'
That did not mean the others were having nightmares, however.
Ruperi had been cursed when he was emotionally vulnerable. The energy was faint, and judging by its concentration, the curse did not seem complete yet.
'He's young, so that likely played a part too.'
Even in this serious situation, Duke and Duchess Kreuz could not return from the Grand Temple.
I could only conclude that Miten had deliberately made a move so it could strike at House Kreuz.
Today, too, Praten came to the bedroom for his sick younger brother.
"I told you I'm fine, Brother. You don't have to waste divine power like this."
"Waste? How can this be a waste when you're sick?"
"I'm not hurting at all, I told you."
"You're not hurting at all? Ask Paul here! Ask whether you look as though you're not sick!"
Praten signaled to Anchina.
Perhaps because he had visited Ruperi's bedroom several times, Praten knew about Anchina's doll play, too.
"You look siiiick! Your complexion doesn't look good!"
"See? Even Paul says so!"
……This is unsettling.
Even so, I did my best to look adorable in time with Anchina's falsetto, but Ruperi only stared at me with dead-fish eyes.
'You're not even smiling now?'
What sort of nightmare had darkened those blue eyes that resembled the summer sky?
Did those Dikidia bastards want to curse even a child like this?
I grumbled, but waited until House Kreuz noticed the curse.
Yet House Kreuz failed to notice, belying its name as a holy house, and Ruperi's condition only worsened until I was stamping my feet in anxiety.
In the end, I, who didn't want to be branded an evil object and burned-
'Is it because the energy is still weak? Even so, isn't it strange they haven't noticed?'
decided to break the curse myself.
***
Dikidia, the curse house.
The curses of one of Miten's Five Great Houses were insidious.
When Dikidia made a move, neither quickly noticing the curse nor breaking it was easy.
But I was in House Kreuz, which Dikidia had reached.
'I get to land a blow on Teneris.'
Breaking a curse from Dikidia would be easy.
Since Dikidia had acted with Father's permission, I was excited at the prospect of ruining that plan.
But before breaking the curse, I needed something.
'I need mana.'
I would need to move through the spacious Kreuz manor, and if I found the curse's medium, I would need enough power to burn it.
So I decided to manipulate much more mana, without concern for House Kreuz's attention.
'They can't even notice a curse. Would they notice mana?'
"……Father."
With difficulty, I wiped Ruperi's cold sweat.
He seemed to be shedding tears, so I also wiped the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief as large as I was.
But stuffed arms were far too clumsy for delicate work.
'What useless arms.'
Instead, I patted Ruperi's chest, pat, pat, with my soft arms. When he began to breathe evenly, I settled beside him.
I manipulated the ambient mana.
Perhaps because I had continually tried to create a mana core, the ambient mana seemed to settle inside my body.
'Just a little more.'
I slowly increased the amount of ambient mana, and the ambient mana followed my will-
Then it happened.
"Paul!"
'……!'
Ruperi's voice suddenly rang out, and my body was lifted into the air.
In an instant, the ambient mana scattered. The mana core that had been taking shape vanished in the blink of an eye.
'My mana core!'
But I had no time to be surprised. Ruperi, who had urgently picked me up, was trembling.
'W-what's wrong with him?'
When I blinked, Ruperi pulled me from his arms and looked at me.
His face looked as though he would burst into tears at a touch-
[Are you okay?]
I had only meant to ask in my mind, but words appeared in the air.
I stared wide-eyed at the violet letters. Ruperi was the same.
"……Paul?"
***
Ruperi was miserable.
He had been unable to go on an outing with his parents because of those Miten bastards.
Unlike before, he also resented his parents for not paying attention to him.
'No. Father and Mother are working hard to protect Horein.'
But Ruperi shook his head and tried to comfort his heart.
Yet his wounded heart would not be soothed.
Even if he understood, the same thing could happen again at any time.
So Ruperi thought,
'……Let's not make plans anymore. It only hurts this much because I get my hopes up. And Father and Mother are busy people.'
He decided to let go of his expectations of his parents.
In truth, that should have been where he gave up.
But Ruperi was seven years old.
Although he had received much love from his parents when he was younger, he still needed their attention.
It was probably around then that Ruperi began having nightmares.
At first, Ruperi thought he was having nightmares because he had been so sick with a cold.
'Father and Mother appeared in my dream. Even when I called, they didn't answer. Was I that hurt?'
But even after his cold got better and he regained his vitality with his brother's help, the dreams were the same.
His parents appeared. His brother appeared too, but they were all busy with their respective work.
Ruperi was younger than he was now, yet even when he called to his family, they did not answer.
Whenever they seemed to react, they passed by his side with cold expressions.
Frightened before anything even happened, Ruperi chased after his family, but could not keep up with them and fell.
When he woke from such dreams, Ruperi had no strength in his body at all.
'I'm tired. Why do I keep having the same dream……?'
Ordinarily, Ruperi would have recognized it as a nightmare and tried to forget it quickly, but unfortunately, he was cursed.
With his mental strength weakened, even Paul, the teddy bear, began appearing in his dreams.
Paul, whom Ruperi did not remember holding, would slip free from his arms and say this.
-I'm leaving.
-What?
-I've always wanted to leave the manor. So don't hold me back, idiot.
His heart had dropped with a THUD.
In truth, Ruperi knew Paul wanted to leave the Kreuz manor.
Even before Ruperi took him to bed, Paul habitually left the bedroom and was sometimes discovered and brought back by Blanc.
Seeing that bothered Ruperi, so he tormented Paul a great deal, but in truth, he had only been mean because he did not want Paul to leave.
At first, he had been annoyed that his father bought him a creepy doll.
But unlike its gloomy atmosphere, Paul stayed by his side, often reacted, and worried about him. Before he knew it, Ruperi had become attached to Paul.
But if even Paul left him…….
'Will I really be all alone?'
A chill of fear ran through him.
Overwhelmed by the surging pitch-black fear, Ruperi snapped his eyes open.
"……!"
But Paul, the teddy bear, was not in his arms.
Startled, Ruperi shot to his feet and found the teddy bear nearby, wrapped in a faint light.
The light looked as though it was about to leave, so Ruperi hurriedly hugged the teddy bear.
"Paul!"
That was why Ruperi had been trembling when he held Nellis, the teddy bear.
Then violet letters appeared between Nellis and Ruperi, and Ruperi's fear doubled.
Nellis, of course, was flustered.
'W-what is that?'
The words floating in the air were in her handwriting.
Sharp and flowing.
Seeing them, Ruperi squeezed out a question in a choked voice.
"……What are these letters?"
[I know, right? GASP!]
No, seriously, what is that?
I only thought it, but words appeared in the air!
"Paul, are you trying to leave……?"
[What?]
"Are you revealing your powers like this because you're trying to leave?"