Over a thousand years ago.
The number of Magical Beasts on the continent was far greater than it is today.
People’s lives were threatened by these Magical Beasts, so they clung to the gods.
In order to protect the people of the earth, the gods sent down the Beasts of the Gods to oppose the Magical Beasts.
The sacred Beasts of the Gods, who possessed divine power, protected humanity and drove back the Magical Beasts.
When it was time for them to return to the gods, the Beasts of the Gods bestowed part of their power to humans and taught them how to fight.
That is the origin of the Magical Power and Magic passed down to this day.
***
“Snow, do you know the legend of the Beasts of the Gods?”
Sharon nodded.
It was the first legend taught at the Foren Noble Academy.
According to Crusell Kingdom’s mythology, the Beasts of the Gods appeared to protect the people from Magical Beasts.
The details of the legends differ from country to country on the continent, but the flow of the Beasts of the Gods bestowing Magical Power on humans remains unchanged.
‘Because of that, Foren Kingdom became a Magical Power supremacist society…’
Magical Power was a gift from the Beasts of the Gods, sent by the gods themselves.
In other words, Magical Power was seen as the power of the gods, and the greater one’s Magical Power, the closer one was believed to be to the gods.
Value was decided by Magical Power, so the higher the noble rank, the more arrogant their thinking tended to become.
People like Sharon, who had no Magical Power, were always looked down on.
It was a harsh country to live in.
Recalling how she’d been branded a villainess, exiled, and ultimately betrayed by her former best friend, Sharon felt a pang of bitterness.
‘Why had Zex started talking about the legend of the Beasts of the Gods?’
“Our Halbügen Household and domain are said to be cursed by a Beast of the Gods.” At Zex’s words, Sharon’s eyes widened.
‘No way…’
She had never heard of a story where a Beast of the Gods would curse a person.
“It’s shocking, isn’t it? I was surprised too when I first heard it from my father. Why would a Beast of the Gods, who was supposed to protect humans, do that?”
Zex stared off into the distance, as if recalling that moment.
“Apparently, about three hundred years ago, the head of the family at the time mistakenly killed a Beast of the Gods, thinking it was a Magical Beast. Because of that, this land was stained with the blood of a Beast of the Gods, and became cursed.”
In the Margrave Halbügen Domain, where the blood of a Beast of the Gods was spilled, crops would not grow, livestock died, and even the blessing of rain stopped falling.
In exchange, poisonous plants grew thick within the forests, and Magical Beasts were drawn to the land.
The year when the curse was given half of the population had died from hunger, disease, or attacks by Magical Beasts.
Fear of the curse drove even more people away, causing the population of the Margrave Halbügen Domain to plummet.
Yet, even as a cursed land, one needed people and money to maintain it as a domain.
So, the Margrave Halbügen Domain accepted exiled criminals and those with nowhere else to go.
As time passed and people learned to process Magic Stones obtained from Magical Beasts to create magic tools, more migrant workers arrived.
Most of the land was dead, but somehow, they managed to eke out a living.
***
“And of course, the head of the family who killed the Beast of the Gods was cursed as well. His body was stained black by the blood of the Beast of the Gods, and he was consumed by its anger and resentment, dying as a result. The anger of the Beast of the Gods hasn’t faded, and every successive head of the family has died in the same way.”
Hearing that, Sharon looked at Zex’s body.
From his left hand up to his shoulder, his skin was jet black.
The curse had spread to his side and abdomen as well.
“That’s why the heads of the Halbügen Household have always had short lives due to the curse. My father died at thirty-one. When these marks cover my entire body, I’ll die too.”
Sharon caught her breath at Zex’s calm words.
Light had mentioned he only had a few years left, so she had suspected it, but it was still a shock.
‘…That’s why all the portraits of the family heads were so young.’
She remembered the portraits she had seen when shown around the mansion.
She’d found it odd that none of them showed the heads at an old age.
The reason was that they had all died around thirty.
As Sharon reeled in shock, Zex let out a small sigh.
“The Royal Family is trying to rush my marriage because they know how long I have left. It would be a problem for them if I died without an heir… but who would want to marry a cursed man? My mother abandoned my father and me just after I was born. Naturally… There’s no happiness here.”
His mother had left right after he was born, so Zex had grown up never knowing a mother’s love.
His voice was dark, heavy with pain.
‘Zex-sama…’
Sharon also knew the despair of being abandoned by family.
Even without Magical Power, she had wished to be loved as a daughter.
Zex surely felt the same.
Even if he was a child of a cursed family, a cursed child, he wanted to be loved.
If only someone would say that just being with him was happiness, that would be enough――.
“Even if I marry as ordered by the Royal Family, I’ll be dead in a few years. I would be placing the entire burden on the woman who becomes my wife. And I’d have to tell any child born from that marriage that they would only have thirty years to live… I don’t want a marriage that will only make someone unhappy. But then, who else will protect this land…?”
The Margrave of Halbügen was the keystone of national defense.
To survive in this cursed land, which attracted Magical Beasts, required strength.
There was no one better at defeating Magical Beasts than the Margrave of Halbügen.
The Royal Family could not afford to lose the household.
If the Halbügen family were gone, there would be no one left to defend the cursed land.
If that happened, this crucial area of the nation would soon fall to Magical Beasts, and disaster would spread throughout the country.
Zex did not wish for that to happen.
That was why he struggled with this dilemma.
The Margrave’s marriage would drastically change the life of one woman.
Zex was currently twenty-two.
He had eight years left.
But the time to marry and raise a successor was running short.
The later he left it, the less time he’d have to spend with his child.
“…There’s probably no one who would accept and love someone as cursed as me.”
Marriage was an obligation, just to produce an heir.
He shouldn’t wish for love in it.
He shouldn’t hope to be loved as someone cursed.
Zex had given up on being loved.
‘That’s not true… Zex-sama is someone who should be loved, unlike someone like me.’
Without Magical Power, with flamboyant hair that didn’t match her parents, and for having ruined her warm family, Sharon had always been treated like a cursed child.
Everyone avoided her as unpleasant, and no one wanted to come near.
No one wanted to get involved with troublesome people.
Now, thanks to Magic or a curse or whatever it was, she was a little bird, not even in human form.
Sharon considered herself worthless.
‘But… even someone like me, Zex-sama allowed me to remain at his side. He needed me.’
She knew what it was to feel the pain of being avoided, the terror of being thought creepy, the shame of being the subject of horrible rumors, the loneliness of not being loved by anyone.
But this person—Zex—was not someone who deserved such things.
He protected the land and the country from Magical Beasts, fought and bled, took on the hard task of accepting exiles, and worked desperately.
He was loved by his people, cared deeply for his servants, and was a kind-hearted person.
Someone like that shouldn’t have to suffer and be lonely because of a curse.
‘…Why would anyone curse him?’
Rather than being afraid, Sharon felt anger towards the curse afflicting Zex.
To keep cursing him for three hundred years—what nonsense.
It was disrespectful to the Beasts of the Gods, who should be revered, but to Sharon, Zex was more important.
‘If only I could take Zex-sama’s curse upon myself instead…’
She hugged him tightly, and Zex laughed, as if he was ticklish.
“Thank you… It’s probably thanks to you, Snow.”
“Pii? ‘What do you mean…?'” Not understanding what Zex meant, Sharon tilted her head.
“The truth is… ever since I started spending time with you, Snow, the progression of the curse stopped. It went back to normal after this latest Magical Beast subjugation, but… nothing like that had ever happened before. It’s because of you, Snow.”
He embraced Sharon against his chest and said, “Thank you.”
She had always thought she was worthless, just a burden.
‘Is it true…? Is it really okay for me to stay by Zex-sama’s side…?’
She couldn’t believe that powerless Sharon could affect Zex’s curse.
But if it was true, maybe it meant she had a reason to stay by his side.
Even if she remained a little bird forever, she just wanted to be near Zex.
With that wish in her heart, she nestled against his chest.
“――So please, tell me. About yourself, Snow.” Asked by Zex, Sharon’s heart skipped a beat.
Those deep blue eyes seemed to see through everything, as if he could see her true identity.
But she could never say it.
That she was Sharon Sdulc, the villainess.
‘I’m sorry… Zex-sama’
Her guilt only grew, unable to tell him the truth.
Unable to bear Zex’s gaze, Sharon turned her face away.
“Snow, you are really――”
He swallowed his words, and hugged Sharon once more.