‘Ahahaha….. You’re joking, right? Lucy, tell me you are joking….’

Lucas didn’t know what kind of face he was making. He was just stunned without being able to say anything, thinking again and again about what Lucy had said.

‘We are doomed if it is the demon’s curse….’ Lucas wanted to hit his head for remembering such information. He thought he had a bad memory so why was he able to recognize this damn curse!? But then he realized, he knew it briefly because it was the trigger of Stella’s death.

“Young master, are you alright?” Lucy thought that the young master who was filled with curiosity would try to ask her to tell him more but looking at him, she now regretted her actions.

‘I didn’t expect that young master would be so afraid of such stories.’ Since the day Lucy had seen her young master, there was always an aura of maturity around him, unlike other children and many people in the mansion praised him as a little genius adult but now she knew that her view was partially wrong.

She started to view that young master Lucas had also a childlike side of him, like being scared of such stories and somehow she felt glad for it as she believed instead of being so mature at such a young age, it was not quite bad to behave freely like a child, too.

“Are you ok, Young master? Don’t be afraid. It is just a rumour.” Lucy gently said with a smile to soothe her young master, worried that she didn’t have any reply for her first question.

“Ah, right! I am fine. It’s just that……. Uhh… nevermind.”

‘Yep! Be it a rumor! Cause it is impossible in such time! Hahahaha.’ Lucas smiled not knowing how awkward his smile was.

“By the way, where did you hear that Lucy?”

‘I wonder where she heard that scary rumor.’ Till this point, Lucas was still comforting himself that it was just a baseless rumor and he had nothing to worry about.

“Oh, I heard it from a friend! She is living in the southern part, too! Not the same town which is in the rumour though.”

“I see. Did she say anything more about it?”

“Umm...Not really, young master. She just said that the rumour is hanging around her town with the girls’ gossip.” Lucy continued with a giggle. “Sometimes, we do that a lot if we have time.”

“Ah, ok.”

“Don’t worry, young master. It doesn’t exist in real life and even she said it is just a baseless rumor!” Lucy assured again and again. It would be bad if her little master got nightmares from it, right?

‘Although I want to deny the first fact, I want to say I agree with the latter! Yep! It is just a nonsense rumor.’ Lucas was satisfied with his thought.

As he just nodded, Lucas told Lucy that she could go now which she did, making a slight bow because she left her seat. But then, he halted her again as he remembered to ask something.

“By the way, Lucy… Do you know the exact town of the person with the demon’s curse?”

‘Why am I asking this? I believe that it is just a rumor right?’ Lucas couldn’t stop his mind which was wanting to know more.

Lucy replied to him after thinking about it for a second. “I think she said it is in Sansa. She also doesn’t know the exact place, though,”

“Oh, I see. Thanks Lucy! You can go now.”

“It is my pleasure to answer you, Young master Lucas. Then, excuse me.”

And then the door shut gently, leaving Lucas alone who didn’t know whether to sit or stand in his room.

‘Yep, Lucas! You have nothing to worry about! This is just a baseless rumor!’ Lucas nodded and nodded alone, only wanting to focus on what he should do when Tus and Eura came back.

He lay down flat on his bed again, closing his eyes for a while wondering if he should take a short nap. And then he frowned as he couldn’t stop thinking about the curse.

His eyes wide opened again, as his inner mind was telling him not to relax anymore.

‘I fu*king hate my mind…..’

And Lucas instantly got up and as he glared at his wardrobe where the robe which he always used when he visited around the capital was put in.

***

Having to sneak out from the main house wasn’t an easy job when you were one of the young masters in the house but when Lucas had an older brother who always shared his stories of how he constantly sneaked out and his adventures outside, it became much easier.

Lucas used the same underground path which he had passed through together with his brother and sister before in order to go into the town. He was glad that this little path didn’t break down during the Dark Wave. If it was, leaving the mansion would be more difficult.

‘Why am I doing this?’

As he walked quickly through the dense dark underground path, holding a lamp which he brought from his room, Lucas made a deep sigh, knowing that he couldn’t let go of this matter just by believing that it was just a baseless rumor.

‘Hope that no one comes into my room, though…. Please believe me and understand the importance of focus!’

Lucas had lunch early and had told people that he would have dinner late because he wanted to concentrate on his mana flow and had some training for healing magic. He had done this pretty much before, telling people not to disturb him until he left the room because he hated to lose focus but he wondered if the servants here would still remember his habit and understand it, leaving him alone for a while.

It was a pretty risky one and Lucas didn’t want to do it because he knew the consequences when he got caught by his dear family but he didn’t have much choice. He knew that if he was going to ask formally, he would not have a chance of going out if that curse was real. He believed in the nature of his family.

‘I should just take a look and come back immediately.’ Knowing he would only get a few hours and had to be back at the mansion before the sunset, he only had planned to check the information whether it was true or not. The next plan would vary according to the answer, of course.

He climbed up the ladder at the end of the tunnel which led him to the corner of an unused street where people rarely passed by. And as soon as he stepped on the street path, he covered his hair with the hood from his robe. Lucas always did this all the time he went out as his silver hair really stood out and some might recognize him just by looking at his facial features and hair color.

Looking like a commoner kid who roamed around the city path, Lucas finally reached the main road, which brought back some memories of the past, both good and bad.

‘Wow, it is rebuilt quite well…’

Lucas looked around the town a bit, which was once destroyed but now back on its normal state, admiring the ability of his family. Although it was not as busy as Lucas remembered, the town was quite lively with people here and there.

‘Why are they making such faces!?’

Noticing that some of the people seemed to be sighing and had heavy expressions, Lucas wondered if what Lucy said had become true as his walking pace became quicker, and his heart started to beat faster.

‘It’s not about the curse, right!?’

Even though Lucas was only in Evandall city, his hope of the curse being a rumor definitely shrunk.

‘Now, where is that teleportation gate?’

He had heard there was now a public teleportation service in Evandall city, which was why Lucas was pretty confident that he would be back to his mansion within a few hours. But he decided to go as quickly as he could, knowing that it might take time around 2 hours from Sansa to the Evandall town, if there was no one with teleportation magic in Sansa to help him.

After asking some people, he had finally reached the building as he reached out to the responsible person for his enquiries.

“But boy, there are some rumors that Sansa is now having an infectious disease. Some people are also avoiding travelling there. Are you sure you are going?” The woman in charge of his transportation asked him worriedly, not knowing that her words made Lucas flinch.

“Ummm…. Is it so serious?” Lucas could feel that he was sweating a bit now.

“I didn’t hear any special announcement for that, so it is not that serious? But you better avoid it.”

“Oh, I see….. It’s ok, Miss. I need to meet my sister in Sansa so I have to go.”

Realizing that she could not stop him anymore, she decided to cast the magic.

“I will be dropping you at the city entrance. Is it ok?”

“Sure, Miss.”

And as usual, a glimmer of light surrounded Lucas, indicating the start of magic, making him close his eyes and when he opened and looked at his surroundings. And he realized that his hood was not covering his head anymore because of the wind, which he immediately put it back on.

‘This must be Sansa.’ Lucas walked to the town gate, noticing that there were not that many guards watching out. Even though the woman before said that people were avoiding Sansa, he still could see two or three people entering the town together with him.

But Lucas definitely didn’t like the town’s atmosphere as it felt ominous in his mind, looking at how people in the city looked more depressed and sad. It was like informing him that something bad had already happened.

“Aunty, did something happen in the city? Why does everyone look sad?” Lucas approached a fruit shop which was the first shop he saw in the city.

“Oh boy, you haven’t heard it yet? You must have arrived here recently?” The shopkeeper looked at the hooded young boy, judging Lucas’s appearance as a young traveller. She was surprised by such a small kid going around, though.

“There are some people having a kind of disease in the city and people are thinking about moving out of the city.” She sighed while explaining.

“Is it that serious to move out?” Lucas gulped down. ‘It is not the curse….. It must just be a normal disease……’ He still wanted to deny the fact which was always on his head, thinking that Evandall should not be that unlucky. It was still 3 years ago since the main city got wrecked by demons.

“3 people have already died from it, boy…. You also should go away immediately. It is not a good time to visit.”

“What about the healers? Can they not save them?” Lucas frowned, as his worries went up.

“Hah…. they can’t. We are even starting to call it the demon's curse, looking at how similar the symptoms are. I can’t believe that such a thing will happen in reality.”

“What are the symptoms!?”

“Umm? Of course, like in the stories, firstly people had some coughing, next nosebleeding and after that they have black spots all over the body before they die. And we don’t know who will be the next person catching such a disease, so yea… people are deciding to move away.”

Lucas was speechless as the color from his face left him for a while. He didn’t know that his territory would be that unlucky.

‘Evandall is definitely cursed…. Yep, it is definitely cursed….’

Lucas wanted to cry as he knew that having such a disease breaking out in the city was definitely one of the worst things it could happen.

Given the fact that this disease had no cure once a person caught it. Not even healing magic could help. And it was also infectious…. With a fast rate, at that.

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A/N: Fighting Lucas >< ahahaha...... author is cheering for you! Thank you for reading dear readers! I love you allllllllll >///<