The curse mark sealing his spiritual power, which repeatedly changed from black to red to gray, emitted a sense of heat.

I had no idea why it was acting this way. However, seeing its clearly revealed state, I could understand one thing. If I undid this curse mark now, it would definitely have an impact on the curse mark on his neck.

I calmly added the ingredients one by one and finally added my own blood. After confirming that the ingredients had blended together, I immediately picked up the heated knife and started drawing a circle.

“Ugh, hah.”

Although I was drawing in the same way as before, Zachary’s reaction was strange. He was suffering excessively. While he was bleeding less than before, he twisted his limbs in agony and clung to my shoulder, panting.

Because of that, my posture kept getting disrupted.

“Don’t do this. Please.”

I needed to concentrate, but he kept reaching out and clinging to me like a child, so I could only draw half a circle.

What should I do? What would be best?

‘Is something wrong?’

He didn’t feel this much pain before, but Zachary kept suffering as if he couldn’t endure the pain. At the same time, he kept trying to touch and cling to me somehow, making it impossible to properly carve the curse mark.

With a perplexed expression, I pondered for a moment before making a decision. I turned my body and pressed my back tightly against his chest, as if putting myself in his embrace. Then, as if he had been waiting, Zachary hugged me tightly from behind. Like a large beast trying to devour a small animal that had entered its jaws, he pressed down on me with his massive body.

And as if smelling my scent, he buried his face in the nape of my neck and kept panting.

“Ugh…”

Zachary let out a moan. For a moment, goosebumps rose all over my body.

His hot breath, heated by fever, was like that of a beast. It felt as if a beast with its claws fully extended was gnawing at the nape of my neck.

I let out a small groan, hunched my shoulders, and tightly closed my eyes. If I had any free hands, I would have wanted to scratch my neck right away.

The groans and his hot body temperature due to the fever felt unusually stimulating.

However, I soon tried to focus by clearing my throat. What was I thinking, leaving a sick child alone? In a situation where life and death were at stake, I had no room to be distracted by such sensations.

‘Let’s do it quickly.’

Seeing Zachary suffering like this, I wanted to somehow end it quickly for him. Raising the tip of the knife again, I started drawing the pattern a little further from the semicircle. Zachary’s blood flowed profusely from the dug-in knife tip, making it difficult to see the drawn pattern. However, it was a pattern I had practiced countless times. Now I could draw it even with my eyes closed.

I drew the pattern again and again.

“Hah, haah.”

Zachary’s breathing became even rougher. He twisted his body in agony and hugged me tightly. What I was truly grateful for was that even though it must be so painful, he could have easily pulled his hand away, but he kept giving me his wrist until the end.

“It’s done. Just a little more…”

Beads of sweat had already formed on my forehead. However, thanks to the experience of succeeding once before, I was able to carve it more easily and quickly than before.

The curse mark was completely carved. I carefully examined the clearly remaining pattern. I had succeeded without any mistakes.

I calmly picked up the bowl. Even when I felt relieved that I had succeeded, I remained focused until the very last moment, pouring the ingredients, as I could ruin things if I let my guard down. As soon as I added the ingredients to the curse mark, they evaporated, leaving only blood behind.

As expected, the blood began to boil. The blood that boiled like crazy without leaving the circle felt as if it were a living creature.

Now, all that remained was the flow of blood. The blood should stay within the curse mark and gather, but the blood…

“Young master, young… master.”

A low, sunken voice pleaded desperately.

Ah. I curled up my body. As I curled up, Zachary’s other hand, which had become hot with fever, covered and wrapped around my stomach. When he instantly coiled around my waist, I felt his sweat-soaked hair touching the nape of my neck. He rubbed his face against my neck, which was a mess with his tears and blood. The sharp tip of his nose tickled my neck.

“…Mm.”

The fine hairs stood on end. I let out a small moan amid the ticklishness and strange stimulation.

I knew. It was merely a movement caused by pain. But it was still stimulating.

“Young master, young master…”

Tightly, he hugged me with more force. Sweat naturally seeped out due to our bodies being interlocked without any gaps.

“It’s okay. It will be over soon.”

I comforted Zachary. I was concerned about whether my voice might have trembled, but I didn’t take my eyes off Zachary’s wrist. Each and every one of his actions as he hugged me was both uncomfortable and stimulating, but there was something more important in front of me.

The blood boiled and boiled again.

However, even after a considerable amount of time had passed compared to before, the blood only boiled and did not seep in. Because of that, the pain Zachary was experiencing seemed to intensify, and he couldn’t keep still, fidgeting and clinging to me. In an instant, we were both drenched in sweat. Our sticky and hot flesh rubbed against each other.

“…”

I stared intently at Zachary’s straight wrist without blinking an eye. My Adam’s apple involuntarily bobbed with tension. How long had we been like that? Suddenly, the blood seeped into his wrist. It happened in an instant, to an unusual degree, as if there had never been any blood in the first place. At that moment when I widened my eyes at the sight of it being absorbed smoothly…

“Aaaahhhh!!!!”

A scream was heard. Goosebumps rose from head to toe. A scream, whether it belonged to a woman, a man, or a beast, I couldn’t tell, penetrated my entire body.

What the hell was that? Even when I had touched up the curse mark before, I had heard strange sounds, but it wasn’t such a loud and eerie scream. The sound was so horrifying that I felt like I would lose my mind, gasping for breath. Without realizing it, I covered my ears.

Thud, something collapsed on top of my back. At the same time, the strength left Zachary’s wrist, which had been holding me.

“…Zachary?”

Startled, I turned my head and saw black hair limply draped over my shoulder.

“Zachary, Zachary?”

I shook him. But there was no response. His body, which had gone limp like a doll, swayed powerlessly to the side when I lightly pushed him and then collapsed with a thud.

“Zachary!!!!”

Screaming, I clung to his body. Was there a problem with the curse? That couldn’t be. The curse mark on his wrist was changing to a lighter color, as if proving that I had succeeded in breaking it. I had done it correctly.

Then why did Zachary collapse? And what was that strange scream I just heard?

‘Did I miss something?’

There might be something I overlooked because I suddenly decided to touch up the curse mark.

‘What about the curse mark on his neck?’

Come to think of it, now the curse marks on both of his wrists had lightened in color and were almost broken. Then what about the Marquis’ curse mark on his neck? But the curse mark on his neck…

“What… is… this?”

The color kept changing. It flared up bright red, died pitch black, and then turned gray. It was a strange sight. But it was also a familiar sight now.

One of the reasons I had decided to touch up the curse mark right away was because of the color change in the curse mark on his wrist. It looked strange, as if the curse would break at any moment, and since Zachary seemed to be conscious, I immediately drew the curse mark.

“No, no…”

It was too strange for Zachary to suddenly collapse. Did I cause a big problem for Zachary because of my misjudgment?

My mind went blank. I couldn’t ask anyone for help. I, who had secretly studied curses, had no examples to refer to. I had just studied alone and found a way…

‘Is he dying because of me?’

My hands trembled. In the bleak situation, my body shook violently, and I tightly clenched my hands. Then I slowly brought it to Zachary’s heart.

I was scared. What if I didn’t feel anything when I placed my hand there? If his heart had stopped…

‘Let’s go find the Duke.’

I would beg the Duke to somehow save Zachary. If he died because of me, I would probably go crazy. If I let Zachary go like this, I would live with guilt for the rest of my life. It would be better to die than that.

Just having him by my side made me feel suffocated with guilt, but if I ended up killing Zachary with my own hands…

‘If only I hadn’t rushed. If I had just waited for him to awaken according to the original flow, according to the original story, it would have been fine.’

It’s all because of my greed. It happened because I went against the original story, trying to set him free a little earlier. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind. Feeling a throbbing headache, I finally placed my hand on Zachary’s chest with a thud.

“…!”

Fortunately, his heart was beating vigorously, clearly felt even by my trembling hand. I collapsed on top of Zachary as if crumbling, feeling his heart pounding stronger than anyone else’s.

He’s alive.

Zachary is alive, not dead.

As I properly acknowledged that fact, the sounds that I couldn’t hear until now became clear, as if I had finally emerged from the water.

The sound of steady breathing flowed from between Zachary’s lips.