“But the price for that is your life.”
Rubica stammered, feeling like she just had been hit in the head. Now she could tell why Blanco had looked so sorry for her, and there was also a purpose behind carrying only her.
Rubica then looked at Edgar who was still walking in the snow. He was kicking the snow with his foot, probably cursing.
If he had been with her, he wouldn’t have hesitated to get her out of here. However, shouldn’t he at least listen to what they had to say?
“Tell me why it would cost my life.”
It seemed like Edgar would join them after she heard about it all. Blanco looked at the diamond gleaming in the glass tube. Her eyes quivered, lost deep in memory.
“Nymphs all have great powers. But since they are not gods, there are certain restrictions to their usage of powers.”
Why was she suddenly talking about nymphs when they had been talking about Edgar’s curse?
“What do you mean, restrictions?”
However, Rubica knew Blanco wouldn’t have mentioned it without a good reason. If nymphs had restrictions when using their powers, what kind of restriction did Edgar’s curse have?
From time to time, Ios planted rare minerals or plants to channel the power of the land and use special spells.
If nymphs’ magic worked in a similar way, they could just find out the mineral or plant that sustained its power and destroy it all.
“For example, water nymphs’ restrictions appear during a storm or a drought. Then, their spell would be broken when the storm or the drought ends, or vice versa.”
“Oh, then Edgar’s mother must have been a nymph of the sun! She cast a curse about sunlight.”
“Her words are magic itself. If she had been a nymph of the sun, the curse would break only when the sun dies.”
Then, his curse would have broken only at the end of the world. Rubica shook her head, trying not to feel bad about guessing wrong. According to Blanco’s explanation, it was a good thing she hadn’t been a nymph of the sun.
“What kind of nymph was she?”
“She was probably… a nymph of love.”
“A nymph of love? Are you saying she was a nymph of Hue?” Rubica couldn’t help but ask back. She had met Arman at the Abbey of Hue, the god of love. Everything she had thought of as mere coincidence now started to feel like fate.
Maybe, her dramatic life full of sufferings hadn’t been lonely only because there was an invisible someone looking down upon her.
“Why do you think so?”
“Our mistress’s heart was frozen because of love. It is only right that the nymph who came to wake her up from her slumber was a nymph of love.”
“Then, the way to end the curse is also love?”
Blanco calmly nodded, but it only confused Rubica even more. If Edgar’s mother had really been a nymph of love, the restriction of her magic had to be love, but it made no sense.
“But his love has been made whole.”
Even though their love hadn’t been completed in her previous life, she came back in time to tell him her feelings. Moreover, he loved her as well. If it had been about love, his curse should have been broken months ago.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if the curse ended just because your love was successful? The stronger a spell is, the trickier its conditions are. For example…”
“Blanco!”
Snow threw the ring he had been holding to Blanco.
“The energy of the land is changing. I think Minos has done something to it. Just get to the point quickly. Shasha, you and I must go to stop those two.”
It sounded like Minos had finally found Ios and was on his way here. It had taken so long, so Ios mustn’t have been at their agreed meeting point. Maybe he had been taking a bath with a cup of buttered tea.
“Madam, I must get to the point.”
However, Rubica already knew what she was about to say.
“You said the price is my life, right? The nymph’s terms must have been to love him enough to sacrifice my own life. Was that why you have been so gloomy all along?”
Who on earth would have been glad to hear that the person she worshipped was going to sacrifice herself for the man she hated?
She could now see why Blanco had been happy to hear her say she was a selfish person. She was just glad that Rubica was going to live and didn’t care about Edgar at all.
“Now it’s all ready. The moment you put this ring on, this device will use your life energy and work. The mana quartz’s light will destroy the nymph power hidden inside him, and he will be able to live on as a human.”
Blanco just calmly explained and offered the ring to Rubica, despite her resentful look. She had never put that ring on. She just treasured it too much and had only looked at it.
“How long will he be able to live if I don’t use this ring?”
“As his nymph power is already too strong to be suppressed by his curse, he has a year left, at best.”
… a year. He was destined to die early before reaching 30?
Rubica looked at him. He was still coming toward her, although Shasha and Snow were trying to stop him.
‘So… young.’
Even his hair flying in the wind glowed of youth. He was so young. He still had many days to live and many joys to learn.
They said all lives were equally precious, but if people were asked who would be more helpful to the world between Rubica and Edgar, most of them would say it was Edgar. And…
‘I’m young now, but as I used to say often, I’ve lived long enough.’
She had lived until both of her hands were full of wrinkles. She had experienced joy and sadness, as hard as her life had been. She had no regrets, except that she never got to confess her love until the moment of her death. And she had already done that, thanks to the second chance of life he gave her.
“Do you think I won’t be able to choose death for my love?”
Blanco, however, didn’t reply to the question. Rubica stared at the ring that had given her an opportunity for a new life but was now going to bring her death.
She thought she couldn’t hesitate. He hadn’t hesitated to put it on her chest when she died. What he had been thinking when he did that, she still didn’t know, but she knew how he felt.
‘I want you to live happily, without any pain.’
She put the ring on her left ring finger and clenched her hand. It fit her finger perfectly as if it had been made for her. The moment she put it on, she felt an icy pain in her heart.
“No!” Edgar realized things were going wrong and yelled.
Ice then shot out of the ground and engulfed her.
“Huh? What is that?”
At the same time, Ios’s face came out of the cold snow, but only his head could be seen on that field of snow. It looked quite hilarious. He was always there when not needed, but he was always a moment late when he was needed. Snow tried to grab Edgar, but he just kicked her away.
“My, he’s flying!”
“This isn’t a game. Stop watching and get here, now.”
Edgar kicked away an underling who was many times bigger than himself. Then, he coldly ordered Ios, not dripping even a drop of sweat.
Well, the weather was cold enough to make sweat turn into snow. Ios jumped out of the snow and was right next to Edgar.
“Let’s go.”
Edgar couldn’t afford the time to accuse the dragon of being late.
Normally, Ios would have been outraged for being ordered, but today, he just took Edgar’s hand and jumped to the ground.
Even he could see this was an emergency. He was planning to go through the ground and hit the ice that held Rubica at full speed.
It was going to shatter the ice, but he thought it would do no harm to Rubica as she was a nymph.
“Ugh…”
But what was nearly shattered was not the ice but his head. Blanco tried to stop Edgar, but he just threw her away as well and started to examine the ice cage. It appeared to be ordinary ice.
“It nearly broke your head, so it must be as hard as diamond.”
“What?”
“I said your head is as hard as diamond.”
“Really?”
Ios couldn’t see it was an insult and was glad to hear it. Edgar glanced at Snow and Shasha, and he said to Ios, “Get rid of those with your thick head.”
“I can’t do that, they’re Iber’s underlings. Iber would be mad at me if she finds out about this.”
“If… you help me this time, I’ll let you become Rubica’s brother instead of her cousin.”
Edgar felt like he was giving away a pound of his flesh. If the situation hadn’t been so urgent, he would have never let the stupid lizard become his wife’s little brother.