In the darkness, I opened my eyes.
Someone was carrying my body on their shoulders as if it were luggage.
“Who….!”
Thud.
The next thing I knew, I was thrown to the floor.
There was not even a carpet on the floor. I had just fainted and woken up, and it wasn’t easy to come back to my senses, but I knew it wasn’t the Count’s house.
The Count used to put gorgeous, fluffy carpets on the ground to show off his sanctioning power.
“Are you sure this is the right person?”
I heard a voice over my head, frosty and crisp.
“I’m sure. The only young woman in the family you mentioned was this.”
“Is that so?”
The footsteps were getting closer and closer. My body stiffened.
It was then that I slowly began to understand the situation.
It was today, the day I had been waiting for for over ten years.
“Hmmm…
Gradually, I got used to the darkness. Before I knew it, the man was in front of me.
He bent down on one knee and grabbed my chin with his large hand. It was as if he was inspecting me.
I couldn’t see his face clearly, but the man was wearing a black cloth as a blindfold.
So there shouldn’t be anything visible, but somehow I could feel his cold gaze penetrating me.
“Please let me go!”
I shook my head and shook his hand off. My wrists were tied behind my back, so I had no choice.
“…You’re bothering me.”
A low voice sounded in my ear.
At that moment, a faint moonlight streamed in through the large arched window that filled one wall. That light illuminated the man’s profile.
I sucked in my breath involuntarily.
His hair, the color of which was similar to that of the jet-black night sky, reflected the moonlight as it came, as if it could not swallow even the slightest light.
The black cloth that covered his eyes made him look ascetic as if crossing his nose bridge.
But the nose that towered high beneath it and the lips that drew a little reciprocity also made him look wild.
It was too dangerous a beauty. Even though I knew it was dangerous, I kept looking at him, and I almost fell into it without even knowing it.
He raised his chin and said arrogantly.
“It smells like daisy flowers.”
The collar moved beautifully. The edge of his mouth lifted just slightly.
That was all it took for the impression to fizzle out.
I swallowed hard.
Just as the smile was an illusion, he hardened his face again.
“Just lock her up. I’ll check it out tomorrow.”
He turned away without hesitation.
I could see his broad shoulders above his long, straight legs. A familiar seal was engraved on the cloak that hung over it.
A picture of a lion embedded in numerous arrows.
I was sure of it. He was the man I was looking for.
Devan Lanthimos.
He was the male protagonist of the novel, blinded by a curse.
“Wait a minute.”
I was just about to talk to him when I was cut off.
Bang.
I heard a dull sound somewhere. I had forgotten that there was someone behind me who had abducted me.
A faint pain spread from the back of my neck. My head began to feel fuzzy.
I was sucked into a terrible darkness.
* * * *
I was born with memories of my previous life.
However, it wasn’t until I was seven years old that I realized that this world was exactly the novel I had read in my previous life.
I was born with immense divine power and raised in an orphanage under a temple.
Because of my ability, there was no shortage of nobles who wanted to adopt me.
It was a natural story. In this world, divine power was money.
Divine power cured incurable diseases and lifted incurable curses.
Therefore, there was no disease in the world that could not be cured or no curse that could not be solved by this ability.
The temple decided to put me up for adoption by a Count.
I guess they thought that since I was nobody, they could wield me as they wished, and since the Count had lots of money, they thought he could help them build the temple.
“That’s right. That’s right. You’re Evelyn.”
Count Diego was a greedy man with a protruding belly. His face was greasy, and the way he stared at me was like looking at an expensive golden goose.
However, I was secretly relieved to see that I wouldn’t not live with him as a child, but a golden goose.
At last I could escape the temple life of drinking only water and eating grass. I didn’t have to take a cold water bath every morning and read the Bible with a whip.
And that horrible scene was no more… …….
“Oh, you’re pretty, too.”
The Count lifted me up with a bang and approached me as if he were going to kiss me.
I quickly pushed his face away with my hands. My palms felt greasy and soggy.
“Hahaha. I understand. I’m your father now.”
But he was already so blinded by the money that he couldn’t even see my face.
Yes. I don’t care how I end up in this pig’s house, it’s better than being tortured in a temple.
The divine power was not infinite. That didn’t mean it was finite, but it could be recovered. That was, until it reached its limit.
The moment the rate at which it was used exceeded the rate at which it could be recovered, the divine power could not be recovered again.
The Temple knew this, but they didn’t care at all. They made me heal patients without resting no matter how I was.
As a result, my divine power was getting closer and closer to its limit while I was being tortured in the temple.
“Come on, let’s get going and play with your dad and brother.”
Hmm?
I saw a carriage with a familiar seal engraved on the back of Count Diego, who held me gently.
It was a seal with the face of a goddess in the middle of the sun.
Where did I see it?
It was too vivid a memory to be called an illusion.
I blinked as fast as I could.
The Count had a brief discussion with a priest and then quickly climbed into the carriage. He seemed to be worried that the adoption might be cancelled.
As soon as we got into the carriage, he sat me down next to him and was relieved.
“If you want to eat well and live well, you must continue to treat patients as you did in the temple. Do you understand?”
The ring with the same seal was also placed in the Count’s finger as he roughly stroked my hair.
Snap – I took his plump fingers and examined them closely. I heard him chuckle in satisfaction, wondering what I had misunderstood.
I was certain that I had seen it somewhere. I think I saw him in my previous life.
Gasp, I dropped the plump Count’s hand with a plop.
I remembered. The pattern was the cover of a novel I read in my previous life. It was a romance fantasy novel that I loved so much that I even bought a copy.
* * * *
As soon as I regained consciousness, I felt pain from the back of my head where I was hit. As soon as I woke up, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling with a lion with a lot of arrows stuck in it. This seal was the cover of volume two of the novel.
The cover of the first volume was the seal of Count Diego, where the heroine Cordelia grew up.
The cover of the second volume was the seal of the male protagonist, Devan Lanthimos.
And the third volume was — what was it?
I shook my head.
It was a fact I was prepared for, but I hoped it wasn’t.
This world was flowing just like the novel.
I was sure that I was in Lantimos, because there was a lion’s seal embedded in the ceiling.
‘What should I do?’
I didn’t move carelessly, just opened my eyes and looked around.
Sure, as far as I knew, he was the richest man in the empire, but his bedroom was modest in comparison. No, it was neat, to be exact.
There was no glamorous goldware to be seen, and the furniture was made of fine grained wood. It was a room that could be compared to Count Diego’s, which shone only on the surface.
‘Is there anything that I can steal?’
I was in quite a serious state of mind when the door slammed open.
I quickly closed my eyes.
I heard the sound of someone’s footsteps as they walked closer to my bed. I held my breath, afraid that I might gulp down some spit.
“I know you’re awake.”
But I couldn’t help but tremble at the sudden voice in my ear.
Maybe it was because the voice wasn’t so easy to forget, I could tell after just listening to it once.
It was him. Devan Lantimos.
“Hmmm.”
I could feel one side of the bed sinking. And then, swoosh, a large hand wrapped around my wrist. He gently intertwined our fingers, then lowered his head and whispered.
“I read it somewhere….”
He touched my fingernails.
“I heard that pulling out nails is the worst kind of pain a human can experience.”
What?
“If it hurts too much, the person who fainted will wake up, yes?”
It was a terribly sweet voice.
At the same time, I felt an intense pain in my index fingernail.
“Ah!”
I frowned and opened my eyes. But even after I opened my eyes, the pain in my pressed nail did not go away.
“Hey, let it go.”
He put more pressure on my hand, and at the same time, thick joints were wrapped tightly around my fingers.
“Huh? Why? I thought you were asleep?”
He smiled as if it was funny.
‘Are you crazy?’
“It hurts!”
I squealed, and Devan finally let go.
I heaved myself off the bed and rubbed my sore nail. Even so, I didn’t forget to sneak a sideways glance to steal a look at him.
The impression I had felt the day before was no illusion. Even though the black cloth blindfolded him, he had a very handsome face.
It was a shame that he belonged to the female protagonist at the end. What kind of eyes were behind that eye mask? What color were his eyes? I gazed at him, unconsciously mesmerized.
He was gazing at me, too, and even though I couldn’t see his hidden eyes, it felt like everything was being stripped away.
Whatever his eyes were and whatever color his eyes were, I knew for sure that he was staring at me.
There could be no mistake. Obviously, my capture had gone according to plan, but I was somewhat scared.
“Are you afraid of me?”
He said, as if he could feel my eyes on him.
“If I am, will you let me go?”
“Never.”
He shrugged. His voice was not at all laced with laughter.
“I heard a prophecy that said you can lift my curse.”
I kept my mouth shut.
The prophecy he had heard was exactly this.
[A young sun goddess with the scent of daisy flowers will break your curse.]
So the prophecy told him to find a young woman of Count Diego’s family who had the sun goddess as her seal and who smelled of daisy flowers.
“Can you fix it?”
He looked nonchalant, but also somewhat nervous.
It was true, I’d finally met the person I’d been looking for for years, and so it should be.
I gave a small nod. Actually, it wasn’t that difficult for my power to break a curse of this magnitude. But it would take a little time.
It should be the answer he was waiting for, but there was no response from him. Oh, this man was blind. I opened my mouth again.
“I can fix it.”
Instantly, Devan’s hand flinched.
“However, there are conditions.”
This time his eyebrows crinkled.
It was absurd to proudly offer conditions when I was being kidnapped. But if this deal fails, my last decade would be useless.
“What is it?”
“I need money to get out of this empire. It would be better if I have a proper position.”
“What?”
He just looked at me silently, as if to measure my intentions.
I didn’t think there was anything to see even if he tried. But I felt something.
Squeezing my trembling hand, I deliberately said more brazenly.
“There’s one more thing. It takes time to fix the curse. I can only treat you once a day. I can’t do more than that.”
This was a minimal safeguard to protect my divine power.
“Huh?”
Letting out a wild laugh, Devan lifted his chin slightly.
“I didn’t know my Goddess was so calculating.”
Goddess, he said.
He was probably referring to the prophecy, but my face felt a little hot.
If I had heard such a cheesy line from a normal man, I would have wanted to hit him in the back of the head instead of being embarrassed. But the power of a beautiful face was greater than I thought.
“Anyway is fine. And the treatment is……….”
“Not today. I was kidnapped. I need to sleep, wash up, and eat first. Please get ready.”
When I finished speaking like a rapid fire gun, I laid down on the bed, meaning for him to leave now. I did not see it, but I felt it. The bed was shaking a lot. Devan looked dumbfounded.
He seemed to have something to say, but he finally stood up. Then, just before he left the room, he added a few words.
“I hate lying very much. I pray you’ll be alive for a long time.”