"...I actually know someone."
"Huh?" Soren’s eyes lit up. "You do?"
The Emperor nodded before looking down. "...I killed him with my own hands."
"...What?" Now, it was Soren’s turn to be shocked. "Y-You killed him?"
"...That’s right." Hector’s gaze grew distant, fixed on something beyond the shimmering barrier of his domain. "He was a notorious villain who specialized in the dark arts. A true master of hexes, soul-binding rituals, and forbidden curses. He could easily cripple a man without ever stepping foot on a battlefield, drive families mad inside their own homes, turn allies against each other with a whisper of dark magic."
Hector paused, looking back at Soren.
"..A few decades ago, he terrorized my homeland, wiping out nearly half the population for the sole purpose of experimenting with one of his curses and letting his name be known to the world."
Soren gulped, realizing just how terrifying a cursemaster was and why he had been killed.
"It took me years to track him down. He was always one step ahead, slipping through every trap we laid and leaving nothing but corpses in his wake. But eventually, I found him, and we fought for three days without rest. On the third day, I drove my spear through his heart."
Hector’s voice dropped.
"But with his dying breath, he laughed and placed a curse on me. He said I would die not by blade or by time, but at the hands of someone who wielded the same dark arts. So when you asked me about curses just now..." He met Soren’s eyes. "It brought back these bad memories. I apologize if I alarmed you."
Soren shook his head. "No, I understand. If I were in your place, I would have reacted the same way."
Hector held his gaze for a moment, then spoke. "Actually, I wasn’t that interested in such matters until that catastrophe. But after witnessing the horrors firsthand, I had no choice but to learn. I spent years researching everything I could about the dark arts. Not to use them, but to understand them. To make sure I would recognize the signs if someone like him ever appeared again."
He paused, his expression darkening.
"I have even seen curses that devour memories, curses that turn love into hatred, curses that trap a soul inside puppets, and even ones that mark an entire bloodline, causing every firstborn to die on their sixteenth birthday no matter where they hide or how well they are protected, generation after generation, with no end in sight. The horrors I witnessed... they are not something I would wish upon anyone."
Soren’s already grim face grew even paler.
While he had researched and read about them online, hearing it from someone who had lived through it made everything feel far more real. The articles, wikis, and forum posts he had skimmed in the past suddenly felt like children’s stories compared to the Emperor’s examples.
"So, while I wouldn’t call myself an expert, I know enough to recognize when I see one. Of course, my knowledge is still limited, and there are probably countless curses I don’t know of or have encountered. However, if Ethea truly is cursed, I should be able to confirm it. But identifying the exact curse and who placed it..." He shook his head. "That is beyond my knowledge."
"...What if we know its name and grade?"
"...That would definitely make things easier," Hector replied before asking curiously. "Do you know them?"
Soren hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. "...Yes. It’s an Eighth Circle curse. Its name should probably be Eclipse’s Erosion."
"... An 8th Circle?" The emperor muttered in surprise.
His brows furrowed deeply as he fell into thought, his gaze dropping to the floor. Soren watched him, a flicker of hope rising in his chest. Had the Emperor remembered something related? Some clue that could help them?
But Hector’s silence stretched on, and the furrow in his brow only deepened. The truth was, his knowledge barely extended past the Seventh Circle, with only a handful of Eighth Circle curses he had come across in ancient texts.
Curse masters by nature lived in hiding, guarding their secrets with paranoia, and even the most notorious practitioners rarely revealed their most powerful creations. The catastrophe that wiped out half his kingdom had been the work of a mere Sixth Circle curse that had awakened under specific conditions.
’...An Eighth Circle.’ The thought alone was staggering. ’Is this why they ’expelled’ her?’
"Sir? Do you know something?" Soren asked hopefully, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Hector looked up and shook his head. He explained that he had never encountered this one before.
Soren’s shoulders dropped, the flicker of hope dimming in his eyes.
"...However," Hector noticed that and added, "I have a few acquaintances who might be able to help. I will reach out to them and ask if they know anything about this curse. If they do, I will inform you immediately."
Soren’s head snapped back up, his eyes lighting up once more. "Sir, I... I can’t express how much this means to us. Thank you."
Hector waved a hand dismissively. "Save your gratitude for when we have answers. Now go. She must be waiting."
Soren nodded and turned to leave, pausing at the edge of the barrier to bow once more before stepping through. The shimmering dome rippled as he passed, then sealed itself behind him.
Alone in the silence of his domain, Hector stood motionless for a long moment. Then something occurred to him.
’...I never asked how they discovered its name and grade.’
An Eighth Circle curse was not something one stumbled upon through casual research. Even he, with all his years of study, had never heard of Eclipse’s Erosion. Yet Soren and Ethea knew both its name and its exact circle.
’...’
He stared at the spot where Soren had been standing, his expression unreadable. The couple had their secrets. That much had been clear from the start. But prying into them now would only push them away, and Hector had no intention of doing that.
’...I still have to ask them in the end, huh.’ He smiled wryly. ’I just hope she won’t get angry.’