Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume14 Epilogue (section)

===Part 3===

On the roof, she was looking at the night sky. A beautiful starry sky. Although visibility was low, she thought to herself, this sky of stars truly remains unchanged over hundreds of years. Just at this time&mdash;

"What are you doing~?"

A laid back voice. He poked his little head out towards the roof. He had probably prepared a ladder to come up here after discovering her.

He was still showing a face that rivaled his voice in silliness.

His head was wrapped in bandages.

"Thou hast clearly fallen from a height only recently. Yet thou art climbing up to this sort of place again. Art thou a fool?"

"It's not like I can fall from this roof. It's very wide here."

Clearly the roof was very wide, but for some reason, he was sitting tightly next to her. Then he looked up at the stars.

She sighed and murmured quietly. She also knew she was being incoherent.

"I desire the sight of fresh blood. 'Tis a curse even thou art helpless against."

Without feeling afraid, he gave a surprising response again.

While cocking his head, he extended his arm towards her.

"I see. Then do you want to try slicing me? Maybe the body of a person who can't be cursed might be different from an ordinary person's."

This was the final straw.

"Aha..."

She could not suppress the urge to laugh. So this was what was meant by bursting with laughter.

"Haha... Haha... Hahaha! Kukukuku... Uhahahahahahaha!"

"W-What's wrong?"

She could feel his surprised gaze. Twisting herself around, slapping the roof tiles repeatedly, she continued to laugh.

Too funny. So funny that she wanted to curse.

This boy&mdash;surely, he must be standing in a place so far away from curses that he ought to be cursed. That sense of distance made her want to curse him. However, whether cursing others or getting cursed, both were probably equally natural things in his perspective. Just like pebbles facing the sun, he simply noted their presence.

"Fufu~... Mmmph... Fu... Heehaha..."

"Hmm... Are you someone who likes laughing?"

"Uku, no no no. 'Tis been a very long time since I last laughed in this manner. Several centuries ago."

She finally calmed down. While wiping tears of laughter from her face, she looked at his face from the side.

"Hey&mdash;Wouldst thou like us to form a true master-servant relationship? No, a relationship that surpasses that between masters and servants?"

"Huh?"

Asking him was really too underhanded. Because clearly that was what she wanted.

She wanted to become one with him. She wanted to be surrounded by that kindness and strength that allowed him to laugh off curses. She wanted to let that happy foolishness belong to herself. She wanted the two of them to become one in all respects.

"Thou asked earlier what I was doing, yes? Thinking would be the answer. Then because of what happened earlier, I have prepared myself."

"What do you mean?"

She brought her face slightly closer to him.

"Let us establish a true contract. I shall lift my curse. In return&mdash;"

That was the time when she had truly made her decision.

Forming the core of her current self, a new meaning of existence.

To lift her curse.

To become an ordinary human.

To live together with him henceforth.

That was why the price she demanded from him in a whisper was exceedingly simple.


&mdash;Stay by her side, forever and ever.