Episode 4
* * *
Odeli returned to her room and gazed down at the ring for a long while, her face troubled.
It was the ring he had never once taken off, not for a single day.
She had been certain—had believed—it must be something like a token of promise shared with his lover.
'Why in the world is my name engraved on it?'
There was absolutely no reason for that…… truly, not the slightest, was there?
"I didn't care who it was."
"You simply happened to fit the conditions best."
"Is that all you have to say?"
And yet, he had cast her aside so brutally that not even the slightest lingering attachment could remain.
If it wasn't because of a lover, then why had he come looking for 'Odeli Kardell'?
Her head was filled entirely with him.
The cold gaze that had looked down upon her.
His retreating figure as he opened the underground prison door and walked out.
The kiss at the wedding.
Even his last words, that they would never see each other again…….
Amid the jumbled mess of conflicting emotions, Odeli unknowingly brushed the ring with her finger.
And in that very moment.
Light flashed in the dim room.
Lowering her gaze, she saw blue light flickering from Rudville's ring.
To be precise, the blue gem embedded in the ring was emitting light.
She had only ever thought it was a sapphire.
'So it wasn't an ordinary gem?'
If that was the case.
Odeli hesitated for a moment, then slipped the ring onto her finger with trembling hands.
It was too large. The moment she barely managed to slide it on, hanging it on her thumb…….
His 'memories' came flooding in.
* * *
As white mist billowed up, her vision blurred.
Soon, as the mist slowly lifted, an unfamiliar landscape unfolded before her eyes.
No, to be precise, it was not so unfamiliar.
'This is…….'
Odeli stumbled back a step.
Holding her breath, she froze stiffly.
That place was none other than the Kardell family estate.
The underground laboratory connected to the 'Secret Room' where Odeli had been confined her entire life.
It was then.
A small clanking sound of chains seized her attention.
Turning her head, Odeli discovered someone with a terrible countenance.
A boy slumped over, restrained to a chair.
His skin, apparently contaminated by demonic energy, was stained pitch-black and cracked in places.
Blond hair soaked so red it was hard to tell its original color.
And between those blond locks, beastly purple eyes shining vividly.
'……Rudville?'
Odeli's eyes widened.
'Why is he…….'
She examined the boy, who appeared to be in his mid-teens, with a confused gaze.
Of course, in the past, Odeli had not been the only one confined in this underground laboratory.
The Kardell family periodically brought slaves to use as test subjects.
Because clinical trials were essential to carry out the 'purification process' of inserting 'impure things' into Odeli's body without a hitch.
'But if he had spent his childhood in the Kardell family's laboratory, there's no way I wouldn't have known.'
Odeli had first seen him six years ago, on the Day of Protection.
Before that, she had only heard of the notorious 'Iron-Blooded Grand Duke' that was widespread throughout the empire.
While she was bewildered, not knowing what was going on, the researchers' conversation reached her ears.
"The body cannot endure the contamination. Prepare the next specimen."
A cold voice echoed through the space.
The researchers called Rudville 'RU-39'.
Meaning the 39th test subject scheduled for collapse.
The boy said nothing.
He neither screamed nor begged for his life.
He merely opened and closed his eyes in silence.
It was right then.
"What of the Rowendil family's curse? Is it still present?"
"It is spreading gradually. If treatment is delayed further, the Rowendil family will begin to doubt the ancient barrier."
"We must use the purifier before it's too late."
Odeli turned her head, following the researchers' gazes.
There, a small, frail girl sat huddled up.
That was unmistakably her past self.
'The Rowendil family curse……. I remember.'
Odeli had always been used as a purifier to eliminate impure things.
The range of impure things was vast.
Curses, diseases, demonic energy, madness, seeds of disaster—all harmful things in the world were included.
At this time, Odeli had the curse injected directly into her body.
It was so that she could purify the curse from within her body.
Among them, the Rowendil family curse had been particularly painful and remained in her memory.
Suffering from a heat that felt as if her whole body were burning, she would wake to find herself always in a different place.
Laboratory, secret room, laboratory, secret room.
Days when her lab coat was always drenched in cold sweat, when moving even a single finger was difficult.
But…….
'Why don't I remember Rudville?'
Before anyone knew it, the two were confined in different rooms with only a wall between them.
It was something Odeli had no memory of whatsoever.
But aside from that, the events she had actually experienced were unfolding exactly as they had.
The curse she had to receive.
The disease she had to receive.
The demonic energy she had to receive.
All the experiments she had to receive…….
'Was Rudville really here when he was young?'
She decided to watch the two of them for now.
Rudville and Odeli were aware of each other's existence beyond the wall.
Listening to each other's breathing.
Some days were quiet, and some days were intense.
On days when their breathing was particularly ragged, they could guess that the day's experiment had been horrific.
Then, one day.
Tap.
Odeli, curled up on the floor, suddenly rapped the wall with her fingertip.
A gesture with no meaning or context whatsoever.
A sound that naturally should have ended there.
Tap.
A sound returned from the other side.
Odeli stiffened for a moment, then pressed her ear against the wall and knocked again.
This time, a little harder.
Then Rudville, who had likewise been leaning his back against the wall, returned the same sound.
Tap, tap.
Before long, that quiet 'conversation' became a routine to prove they were alive.
Tap, went the slave.
Tap, answered the sacrifice.
They had never exchanged words or glances, nor did they even know each other's names, yet every day they felt each other through that wall.
The only permitted connection.
It was the sole way to tell each other that they were alive.
One day, while the researchers had briefly stepped away.
A strange vibration followed that quiet knock.
"……Don't die."
Neither a plea to live, nor a resolution to survive together.
Merely, the words telling her not to die.
It was the first thing Rudville had ever spoken.
Odeli, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, scoffed and replied.
"You'll be the one to die first."
"……."
"You're a test subject for me. The family brought you here to extend my lifespan as much as possible. ……You didn't know?"
The words muttered self-deprecatingly were like a confession.
Silence passed for a moment.
"Then I'm glad."
Worried that he might be resenting her.
Odeli, who had been squeezing her eyes shut and nibbling her lip, froze for an instant.
"……What are you glad about?"
"It means you can live longer than me."
She retorted, as if dumbfounded.
"What good is living long in a place like this?"
"Who knows…… I don't know. Even so, live long."
No emotion whatsoever was carried in the boy's answer.
As though the life of a lowly slave held no reason or worth to be preserved.
Such days continued.
Rudville sometimes laughed loudly, and sometimes wept quietly, hiding it from Odeli.
After beginning to converse with Odeli, the boy's emotional expressions grew more diverse by the day.
Relying only on each other's breathing and the few faint words through the wall.
Thus, ten years passed.
Twenty-five years old.
Odeli had an intuition that she did not have much time left.
A night like any other, after enduring all the experiments.
A day when the researchers' surveillance was unusually lax.
That night, Odeli opened the door to the laboratory where Rudville was and entered.
"……Odeli?"
It was the first moment they properly faced each other.
However, her face was already stained with blood, making it difficult to even distinguish her features.
"Odeli!"
In that instant, Odeli staggered and collapsed, and Rudville reflexively rose and took her into his arms.
Perhaps because her lungs were ruined, she vomited blood with every breath, and her breathing grew increasingly ragged.
Even so, Odeli did not stop.
"Just…… stay still."
She rested her forehead against his chest and placed her fingertips over his heart.
A golden light of purification flickered.
The toxic energy flowing through his veins.
The traces of experiments embedded deep in his tissue.
The cracks in his magic and damage to his nerves.
All the pain he had felt with every breath was instantly 'purified' and vanished.
Rudville stood frozen in place, staring blankly at her.