Editor: bodyinthefreezer
“Please don't do this, Your Highness.”
“I don't think it's really dangerous. I'll be right back if I see any signs of danger, so don't stop me.”
“….Okay.”
“Thank you.”
I said thank you again, and then straightened my back. Eunhan's eyes were full of worries.
“If you see any danger, please return to the Palace immediately.”
“Okay, I promise.”
We strode down the stairs. It wasn't scary. No matter how hard I thought about it, I didn't think the Macul could’ve made such a complicated trap.
After a long walk down the stairs, a wall appeared before me. Once again, the Macul broke the wall.
Philip was the only one who could build such a wall right after the fire broke out. What on earth was he trying to hide? Was it related to the Curse of the Goddess?
Bzzz!
While I was thinking, the wall crumbled to dust.
“Ah….”
The moment I saw the view beyond the collapsed wall, I was amazed. Deep underground, there was a huge golden door.
The golden door with beautiful patterns was a piece of art and luxury. Even though I had become used to the splendid treasures in this life, it was still shocking.
The Macul circled around the golden door. The white light emitted by the Macul reflected on the gold and caused it to sparkle.
“It looks like they’re telling me to go in there.”
“I'll go first.”
Eunhan strode forward and pushed the door, but the golden door didn't budge.
“I think it’s locked.”
“Should I find the key? But I don't see a key hole on the door…”
“I can feel a strong force from the door itself. It seems as if someone sealed it with magic.”
“What should I do to unseal it?”
“We either need to find out the password, or unlock it ourselves. I'm not a mage, so I don't know exactly, but seeing this level of power, I think it would be hard to force it open from the outside.”
Philip had set up numerous walls to keep people away from this place.
The magic that was put in place a thousand years ago. Even if there was a password, Philip had probably hidden thoroughly and I wouldn’t be able to find it.
“Is there any other way?”
“I'm sorry.”
Eunhan bowed his head. He meant that there was no way.
We've come all the way here…There might be a clue to lift Blake's curse inside of this door.
Tears welled up in my eyes when the image of Blake smiling helplessly because of the pain of the curse appeared in my mind.
“Your Highness…”
“I can't give up here.”
I looked at the golden door. Perhaps the password was hidden in the decoration engraved on the door. As I approached and touched the door to look closely, light flowed out of the golden door, and at that moment, the transparent curtain broke down.
I was startled and stepped back, but Eunhan approached the door.
“The seal has been undone.”
“The seal has been undone?”
“Yes.”
“How can it be like that? Has the seal weakened over time?”
“No, it was very strong. Your Highness lifted it.”
“Me? But I didn't do anything…”
I just touched the door.
“I don't know what happened either.”
“Get inside for now.”
“Yes, Your Highness”
Eunhan pushed the golden door, and the heavy door began to open little by little.
At last, all the doors opened and the secret hidden space was revealed inside.
“…..”
I was speechless. The spacious room was decorated with gold and precious stones.
It was the room I saw in my vision back then. At that time, I felt that it was splendid, but now that I was seeing in person, I felt it was even more dazzling.
I really felt like the Goddess of Light led me here. She was giving Blake a chance to lift his curse.
“Go in.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Eunhan didn't stop me this time either. I quickened my pace as I walked in.
The Macul stood outside without coming in and slowly floated around the golden door. They seemed to be praising me for finding the right answer.
There were a lot of rare treasures here that reflected the style of the Zelcan’s era.
Numerous stone plates were placed in one corner of the golden room. The size and shape of the stone plate was almost the same with the one recovered from the lake.
“It's just like the stone plate on the third floor.”
Eunhan thought the same thing as me.
“Yes. The stone tablets here are clearer too.”
“Your Highness finally found what you wanted.”
“It's too early to be celebrating just yet.”
I slowly interpreted the stone plate, holding back against the excitement and expectations rising inside me.
– June of 504, the National Foundation Day was held, and all the nations of the continent sent envoys to the Great Zelcan Empire and Roum.
– July, 504, the Fifth Prince won a hunting contest.
It was Rakshul. Among the princes, he must've attracted attention in Zelcan for his outstanding martial arts. Well, that was probably why he led the revival movement.
– August, 504, the Ninth Empress gave birth to the Fifteenth Princess.
-100 houses were lost due to the flood.
“What does it say?”
“It’s about the history of the Zelcan Empire. There’s a brief description of the festival, the birth of a princess, natural disasters and so on.”
“Only important events must’ve been engraved on the stone plate. The rest would be written on parchment, but special occasions would be inscribed on stone tablets.”
“Then all the records on the parchment must have been burned down so this is the only thing left.”
Upon closer examination, the records gathered here were 500 years after the founding of the Zelcan Empire.
Maybe there was another place like this. Since it was a stone plate, it was quite bulky, so maybe the golden room was built to store the new stone plates back then.
But Zelcan was destroyed in 510. Perhaps they didn't know that they’d disappear into history so quickly.
I read the stone plate quickly. The records were rather peaceful for a country that was about to collapse.
– October, 505, the Eleventh Empress gave birth to the Seventeenth Prince.
After that, records of the Emperor bringing in a new Empress, the Empresses giving birth, and building palaces continued.
There was no clue about lifting the Curse of the Goddess.
– March, 508, the Northern region suffered great damage because of monsters, so the Emperor ordered people to defeat the monsters.
– May, 508, the Fifth prince wiped out the evil monsters.
– June, 508, the Fifth Prince Rakshul was given the Crown Prince title.
“It seems that Prince Rakshul was actually the Crown Prince.”
“Are you talking about the man who set fire to the Tenlarn Palace?”
“Yes. The head of the Zelcan revival movement. And it wasn’t only Tenlarn Palace, he burned up all the books and the Roums’ language also became obsolete thanks to him. He also polluted the land that was the Capital of Zelcan, making it completely uninhabitable.”
“He's a real villain. It must’ve been a lot more polluted a thousand years ago than it is now. Everyone inside probably died unless they managed to conjure up a clean-up spell.”
Even though Phillip was the one who erected the stone plate, the evil deeds committed by Rakshul did not go away. It was said that he was eventually captured and executed by the Imperial Army. His ending was rather disproportionate compared to the sin he committed.
I headed for the next plate. While I was reading the record, my eyes opened wide when I saw the sentence.
– July, 508, the Crown Prince was engaged to Laontel Bellacian, Count Bellacian’s daughter.
Laontel Bellacian…?
Laontel Bellacian was the mage of light who destroyed the Zelcan and founded the Asteric Empire alongside Phillip.
Laontel, the number one contributor in building the Asteric Empire, was engaged with the Crown Prince of the Zelcan Empire?
I hurried to the next record. I wanted to find Laontel’s record, but there was no other mention about the Crown Prince or the Crown Princess.
Instead, the other contents of the stone tablets stood out.
– August, 508, the Eighth Empress caught the disease.
Beginning with the death of the Eighth Empress, an era of darkness began in Zelcan’s Empire.
– September, 508, the Seventh Empress keeps coughing heavily, vomiting blood, and her skin has darkened. It’s the same disease as the Eighth Empress.
– In 508, the Eighth Prince caught the disease.
– In 508, the Fourth Empress caught the disease.
– In 508, the Eleventh Imperial Lady caught the disease.
– October, 508, the Emperor was deemed responsible for the plague.
However, before the next Emperor could receive any instructions from the current Emperor, he had already died. The seventh Emperor’s face turned ugly, and his body was covered with black spots.
A disease in which the skin turns black and the bones of the body become brittle enough to break. This disease was called “Tancinol”.
The symptoms of the other members of the Imperial family were not recorded, but the fact that the seventh Emperor spread the plague suggested that everyone had the same disease.
The seventh Emperor was deemed as a sinner who brought the plague and left it as a record without hesitation.
“What's wrong?”
Eunhan asked carefully.
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