Naturally, the warning message that spread throughout the continent was relayed to Akrich and his proxy as well.

[Any castle in the Empire is fine! Find and inform them of the whereabouts of the Heaven-Defying Seeker of Tao and his Companion! That is the only option left for you!]

At the repeated warning, a woman, Ji Sang-Hee, snorted.

“It wouldn’t be enough even if he was begging us to lift the curse. What is he doing?”

She didn’t seem to be taking the warning very seriously.

[For him to have stepped forward at this point, it means that things in the West didn’t work out as well as expected.]

Akrich thought differently.

[Either the Dragon and her Contractor are much stronger than we thought, or the other Transcendentals are far more incompetent than we thought. Neither is good for us.]

“Who cares. Either way, the curse was successful and we’re the ones holding the sword.”

Ji Sang-Hee said that no matter how great the Dragon Lord and her Contractor were, there was nothing they could do in front of his dying child and wife.

“It’s about time for the full effect of the curse to slowly show itself. I don’t know about that Empress or whatever, but the child won’t be able to withstand the curse for very long.”

But her expectations were completely wrong.

The Empire’s Crown Prince, who she had been certain would be on the brink of death by now, had passed that hurdle to some extent.

***

Najima came as the representative of the Qeishas, who had entrusted themselves to the Empire. She was holding one of the Eternal Flowers, of which there were only two left in the world.

“He said to deliver this to you, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Having already seen the benefits of the Eternal Flower once, Ophelia knew how precious it was. That was why she first asked what price her husband had paid for it.

However, Najima didn’t tell her what it was. She simply replied that he paid the appropriate price for it.

“Then I will use it with the gravity it deserves.”

Even after deliberating over it, her answer was ultimately decided from the beginning. First, she had to save Victorius from the brink of death.

“Then, I will take my leave, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Perhaps she was well aware of her plight of being hated by the Empress for unreasonably using the title of Companion, Najima tried to retreat as soon as her business was over.

“Where is the Grand Duke?”

“His Grace knew that the Eternal Flower would not be the radical solution, so he decided to find the caster of the curse himself and break it. I may not know anything else, but I know that he will most likely not return until he is finished, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Akrich’s curse was a vicious one that continuously sapped away the cursed person’s life force, and unless the hole was blocked, the person’s life force would inevitably be depleted eventually.

“Now, even I know this fact. He is not wandering around the world; the world is calling him.”

Ophelia sighed at her husband’s fate of having itchy feet and wandering the world.

“Then, if you require nothing more…”

“Thank you.”

Najima was about to leave the Grand Hall when she turned her head at the voice she heard.

“While I may not like you, I am not a ruthless monarch who does not know grace or how to repay a favor. Even if you say he paid the price, the fact that your clan has given me a precious treasure remains the same. So today, I am going to lift the Imperial ban and give you access to the Imperial Palace.”

“You mean…”

“I mean that should you wish, you may come and see the Grand Duke.”

Of all things, the man she shared a soul with was the husband of a monarch who united the continent. For her who had to live day by day with an empty soul, this lift of the ban was like a light in the darkness for her.

“Thank you, thank you, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“However, that is all I have allowed. Be careful with anything else.”

Prostrating on the floor, Najima shook her head. Tears flowed from her eyes as she expressed her gratitude over and over again.

“Tsk.”

Ophelia clicked her tongue and gestured with her hand as she saw the tears through her veil.

***

From afar, Kim Seon-Hyeok stared at the Imperial Palace before turning around.

“Let’s go.”

[Will it really be alright? While you have bought some time with the Eternal Flower, I cannot guarantee how long it will take to capture the cunning Akrich. Even if we were to find him, as long as we do not remove his origin, Akrich will continue to live and the curse will not disappear.]

With a hard expression, he shook his head at Edda’s considerate offer to go and at least see their faces.

“For now, I have to avoid anything that might dull my anger and determination. Even if that should be meeting my beloved wife and child.”

His eyes were completely different from before. His sharp eyes had no relaxation and the only thing that could be seen in them was poison.

“What I will be doing from now on is not something I can do with a soft heart.”

***

Ji Sang-Hee and Akrich believed that the proud Transcendentals and their Companions would not move to search for them just because of the warning.

That was a complete mistake.

In an unknown city where she stopped for supplies, Ji Sang-Hee unexpectedly met another proxy. Since she retreated quickly before the other person could sense her presence, she could not figure out that person’s purpose.

She was unclear whether it had been a simple coincidence or if it was related to her.

But once became twice and three encounters became four. As she encountered the other proxies more and more, she realized that the other proxies’ purpose was her.

“Do they have no pride? Are they really doing it just because they were told to?”

Until then, she hadn’t realized the seriousness of her situation.

Occasionally, she may have accidentally ran into the proxies, but as long as they didn’t pick a fight with her, it was enough for her to run away.

That was until recently.

“Are they crazy?”

The proxies had only searched for her before, but at some point, they began to earnestly pressure her. There were even some who rushed at her with the intent to directly confront her.

And not long after, a fight truly broke out.

Although she ultimately managed to push him away at the end of a fight where no one had gained the upper hand, this still scared the daylights out of her when previously, she hadn’t felt a sense of danger.

However, as time went on, the proxies’ began to get more aggressive. As if chasing a bounty, the proxies rushed at her with intense eyes.

While it was possible for her to either push back or escape from her opponent each time, it had now become difficult for her to even stop by remote villages for supplies.

“Damn, I’m annoyed. What the hell. Why’s my situation like this because of those damn bastards?”

As she ran away from the pursuit, she naturally ran back and forth between the mountains and fields where there were very few people. It only took an instant for her neat appearance to become untidy.

But still, it was endurable until then. Though it was a bit uncomfortable, it wasn’t actually dangerous.

Even if a fight broke out, her pursuers weren’t risking their lives to chase after her. That was because none of them knew which of them would bleed if the fight were to become uncontrolled.

However, the situation changed again. One day, the proxies started putting their lives on the line to chase after her.

As if dealing with a deadly enemy, their attacks became more desperate and Ji Sang-Hee had to run away without even knowing the reason why.

But, some of the proxies chasing after her were contracted with beings stronger than Akrich and she was caught at the end of her escape.

“Have you no pride?! You’re going to do it because you were ordered to?!”

Akrich’s skull was already broken and his entire body had been disassembled while Ji Sang-Hee had two broken legs and was unable to escape. All she could do was shout at them in a fit of rage.

“I got this helmet with a lot of difficulties! Gah, so annoying.”

The man who broke both her legs complained as he looked at his helmet that was half-melted by her magic. It looked like she didn’t even register to him.

“Why are you doing this to me?!”

Ji Sang-Hee grinded her teeth. His attitude of ignoring her was annoying, but what made her even angrier was that unrelated people had butted in and now, her plans were messed up.

“Isn’t your mission to inform the Dragon Lord of my whereabouts?! Then there’s no need for you to go this far!”

“Well, things have changed.”

The man tossed aside his destroyed helmet as he responded with a voice full of annoyance.

“The Dragon Lord and her Contractor are indiscriminately killing the Transcendentals and their Companions.”

“What?!”

Ji Sang-Hee looked dumbfounded at those unexpected words.

“A few have already suffered. They were at least better and more useful than you, but it’s said that they couldn’t even resist. If he hadn’t purposefully let one go, then we wouldn’t have known.”

Ji Sang-Hee frowned. She couldn’t understand them. If the Dragon Lord and her Companion were hunting the proxies, then they should unite and fight against them.

“Then, shouldn’t you…”

“Now, it’s not enough to just tell them of your whereabouts. At the very least, we have to offer up Akrich’s amazing skull if we want mercy from the Dragon Lord.”

Her lips twisted at the man’s answer. As long as Akrich’s origin wasn’t damaged, she and Akrich were immortal. In the end, even if the Dragon Lord’s Companion incited the other proxies into killing her, there was nothing the Dragon Lord’s Companion would gain.

“How dumb. Both you and him. You’re all stupid. Seems like all the male gender doesn’t know how to think.”

She laughed full-heartedly at the man’s puffed-up appearance for the meaningless victory.

“You still don’t know what you did?”

Seeing her like that, the man spoke to her rather pityingly.

“Well, with time, you’ll understand.”

The man raised his sword. It was a sword in the same shape as the bird that had killed Akrich.

“You still don’t know who you touched, do you?”

The sword covered in light cut through the air and Ji Sang-Hee died just like that.

Her sufferings did not end there. This was only the beginning.

The proxies sniffed her out and she died several times at their hands. Although she was revived each time, the time spent in the process of re-establishing her soul in the artificial body that Akrich had prepared for her was extremely stressful.

“From what I heard, he didn’t have this kind of character. He’s not the type of person to persecute proxies that had nothing to do with this just to achieve his goal.”

His radical action of finding and destroying the proxies so that he could find her was in no way compatible with what she understood the Dragon Lord’s Contractor to be.

“Still, what’s he gonna do? In the end, if he wants to break the curse, he’ll have no choice but to cling to me.”

As long as Akrich’s origin was intact, no matter who their opponent was, there was nothing to fear. But there was something she didn’t know.

She would never have imagined that while she was repeating death and birth, there was a being who was eagerly wandering the world while searching for the energy of the Heaven-Defying Seeker.

[Found her.]