CHAPTER 29: ENIE?

"Did it work?" Opening his left eye, Julian asked urgently.

Catherine slowly opened both eyes. Her gaze was filled with astonishment and barely concealed joy.

Looking down at Julian, the concern in his eyes stirred a deep warmth within her that words couldn’t describe. Unconsciously, a look of maternal affection came over her as she reached out to gently stroke Julian’s long hair.

"I can feel the cursed aura inside me going dormant... It’s truly unbelievable."

A curse is not like a mere poison—it’s a type of magic bound to cause and effect. If a cleric carelessly tries to dispel a curse, the most likely outcome is getting cursed themselves.

In most cases, a curse is irreversible.

Catherine had already prepared herself: if anything went wrong, her top priority was to protect Julian. But she never expected that his holy mark would be so powerful—almost tyrannical in its effectiveness. It weakened a terrifying curse as if it were just a simple toxin. Even with Julian’s current level, he was able to temporarily nullify it.

"It didn’t completely remove it?" Although Catherine seemed very pleased, Julian could still hear the implication in her voice, and couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

"The path to transcendence is long, and for you, Julian, even more so. For you to achieve this much right at the beginning... who knows? Maybe in a few days, you’ll be able to heal me completely," Catherine said with a gentle smile.

Seeing Julian regain his composure, her face finally relaxed again.

Lies are most effective when they are nine parts truth and one part fiction. Catherine was the one most aware of her own condition. With the curse deeply rooted, nearly all her internal organs had already deteriorated.

Ironically, the curse wasn’t entirely a bad thing—it might have actually extended her life. If the curse were completely lifted, the organs it had been sustaining would collapse within seconds.

The two talked for a while longer, and Julian got answers to several of his lingering questions.

Bidding Catherine farewell, he stepped out of the room—only to be suddenly pulled back by a hand.

"Stay quiet, Julian," a voice came from above—Alice.

He was forcibly pulled into her chest, and Alice said nothing more. Julian’s face, however, grew redder by the second. He stammered as if trying to say something, but Alice had already covered his mouth.

Alice was tall and slender, while Julian was still in the growing stages of adolescence. So when he was pressed against her, his face landed squarely on her soft, full chest. The feeling was oddly comforting.

He looked up at her, confused, and suddenly felt something different in her gaze...

After a while, Alice finally released him and quietly explained, "Someone just entered Catherine’s room. If you had wandered the hallway now, you would’ve raised suspicion."

"I see. Sorry, I overreacted earlier," Julian said as he tried to fix his disheveled clothes and hair, his voice still a bit awkward.

While speaking, he glanced around, recalling Alice’s previous movements and expression. Something about it felt... off.

He said nothing further. Regaining his composure, Julian curiously asked, "Was it Enie who returned?"

"Mm. She’s usually responsible for cleaning Catherine’s room."

The two moved silently down the hall and soon encountered Enie exiting the room.

Startled, Julian thought they were about to be discovered and quickly pretended to act natural.

But Enie simply passed by them without saying a word, as if she hadn’t even seen them.

Julian turned his head to look back—Enie had already vanished down the corridor.

"Was that your ability?" Julian finally realized what had happened.

He turned to ask Alice, but she was no longer there—vanished into thin air.

Julian blinked his left eye, stepped toward where Alice had just stood, and looked around. Not a trace remained.

At that moment, Alice revealed herself from behind him with a shimmer of light, and gently patted his shoulder.

"Ah—" Julian let out a startled breath, his whole body flinching.

"Julian, this is what the effect of light-concealing looks like." Right in front of him, Alice extended her finger. Under the sunlight, her finger disappeared instantly into nothingness.

Julian curiously reached out and tried to grab it—only to feel the texture of her finger.

"This is your holy mark, Alice?"

"You’ll know in time." Alice casually opened Catherine’s door and walked in first.

A woman’s allure often comes from her unique traits—her mystique. As Julian watched her back disappear into the room, he took a few seconds to collect himself before following.

A few minutes later, after searching around, Alice—expressionless as ever—stood in the center of the room. She tilted her chin slightly and murmured,

"Interesting."

"Did you find something?"

"She’s been very honest—hasn’t done anything suspicious."

Julian walked over to a vase of flowers and picked one out, but didn’t smell anything unusual.

Thinking back to the words he’d heard the other day, Julian furrowed his brow in doubt.

What had she sent Enie to do, exactly?

"Hm?" Alice suddenly looked up, staring toward the direction of Losiya’s room.

While she was deep in thought, Julian had already taken off ahead.

Ever since his holy mark awakened, he had become especially sensitive to certain auras—especially ones that caused unease. He immediately picked up on a disturbing aura’s location.

He decisively opened the door to Losiya’s room. Inside, the maid Enie turned in confusion to face him.

She held a broom in her hand, with a bucket of cloth nearby. She appeared to be doing standard cleaning duties.

"You are...?"

She had never met Julian before. The moment she laid eyes on him, she was stunned by his appearance, and instinctively showed respect.

"I’m... a friend of Losiya’s," Julian replied, awkwardly defining their relationship.

"I see. Is there something I can help you with?" Enie responded with the humility of a servant, lowering her head.

Julian stared at her for a long time. The more he looked, the more wrong it felt.

To the average eye, Enie looked perfectly fine—healthy, even. But in Julian’s eyes, she appeared as someone gravely ill. Her life force was faint, as though it might flicker out at any moment.

He stepped closer, and Enie nervously gripped her broom.

"Have you been ill recently?" he asked directly.

The question clearly rattled her—she looked even more panicked, showing visible resistance, even backing away slightly as he approached.