Chapter 46: The Curse of Nightmare

With the arrival of the weekend, the entire academy fell into a quiet state.

Most students boarding at the academy would choose to go home at this time, with only a very small number remaining in the dormitories.

Yilu, whose mansion was not far from here, yet still stayed—was quite unusual.

Lyr remained outside the whole time, not re-entering the room. Occasionally he would crack open the door and peer inside sideways.

Yilu was still the same, as if she had suffered some kind of internal shock and hadn’t yet recovered. She sat blankly on the bed, staring outside.

She didn’t even notice Lyr, who had been there all along.

Seeing this, Lyr still closed the door and let out a sigh.

If Yilu had the kind of personality that blurted everything out, Lyr would have been more at ease.

But clearly, she wasn’t like that. She preferred to swallow everything in one gulp, regardless of whether she could digest it.

She had grown used to it—going it alone—so no one had ever taught her how to handle things differently.

And that, in turn, only reinforced her disposition.

In this process, she became less and less flexible, her thinking turning black and white.

Either she would solve the problem herself, or she would silently endure it. There was no third option. She was excessively stubborn, and she considered this way of thinking perfectly natural.

But how many things could be so easily solved or endured?

Even a longsword forged from steel would develop nicks after enduring too much grinding. How much more so a human being?

Meeting force with force wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

“Young Master Lyr.”

At the end of the hallway, the maid quietly signaled toward Lyr.

After Tif had returned, she had roughly explained the situation to the maid. The maid didn’t dare speak too loudly, afraid of disturbing Yilu inside.

Lyr walked over and saw the maid carrying something to eat, along with a small blanket. “This is what the young lady told me to bring you.”

“Okay.”

“The young lady also said that if it really doesn’t work out, have you tie up Lady Yilu and bring her back. She’ll handle the rest when she returns.”

“…” Lyr was surprised that Tif would say something like that. “Are you sure she said that?”

“Yes, I definitely didn’t mishear.”

Lyr thought for a moment. Despite Yilu’s current state, actually trying to tie her up and bring her back would be no easy task.

Back when he was at the frontier, he had held down pigs for the cooking unit. That was definitely harder than this.

“Forget it, I’ll deal with it later. You go back too. If I don’t come back tonight, remember to bring some food tomorrow as well.”

Lyr had already made up his mind not to return.

The maid understood. She handed the things to Lyr and left.

Once again, only Lyr remained in the entire hallway.

“What exactly does ‘witch’ represent…”

Here, Lyr had been pondering this question.

Just the two witches he had encountered were vastly different from each other.

The girl he had slain, and the one he and Yilu had met that night.

If not for the title of ‘witch,’ Lyr would never have connected them.

Seeing that Yilu still had no intention of coming out, Lyr didn’t go in voluntarily either. He set the things down and simply sat by the door.

There was another matter that bothered Lyr greatly. Ever since that day, the voice on his body—which that being had called a curse—had inexplicably disappeared.

What came in its place was Yilu’s condition.

He worried that it might have been his own influence that affected Yilu.

If that were truly the case, then just as Tif had said, he hadn’t helped Yilu at all—he had only caused her trouble.

The sky was burned a fiery red, and the curtain of day fell.

At the academy’s highest point, the wind kept blowing Nie Qi’s long hair.

She looked in Yilu’s direction and said, “A sprouting seed grows stronger in the dark of night. I wonder what that man-eating flower will look like. How exciting.”

Shifting her gaze, she looked down at the entire academy.

“This place has some kind of restriction placed on it. I can’t use magic power freely here. Otherwise, I’d really like to taste the flavor of those people I met today.”

A bloodthirsty smile curled at the corners of her mouth.

She had to admit, these noble scions in the academy had bloodlines that were truly something.

The magic power contained within them was stronger than anything she had seen elsewhere.

But with the restriction she had mentioned, she found it a bit troublesome.

Here, she could truly sense the power of another witch lying deep within this place.

If she revealed her identity and attracted the attention of the one who had set this restriction, not to mention the possibility of losing, it was very likely she would be unable to stay here any longer, let alone continue searching for that witch’s hidden power.

“Once I find that power, I’ll savor it slowly. For now, I’d better go outside.”

Even she wasn’t sure whether it was a constant hunger for magic power or a special fondness for bloodshed that drove her.

She had long since grown accustomed to it, and slaughter had become her daily ritual.

With a leap, her entire figure chased the direction of the setting sun.

The last glimmer of light faded from the sky, and the light in Yilu’s eyes, as she sat on the bed, faded as well.

After being stunned for a while, she finally came to her senses.

“It’s already this late.”

Her daze had made her lose track of time.

She glanced around the infirmary. It was dim and silent.

Time to go back.

She wasn’t afraid of this kind of environment. Her own dormitory was much the same.

Compared to here, she still preferred her own room.

At least there, she had a sense of belonging—she knew exactly where she was.

Throwing off the covers, Yilu prepared to get down from the bed.

But before her toes even touched the floor, a gust of evening wind blew in through the window.

It was that gust of wind that made Yilu’s whole body freeze, her pupils contracting.

Standing by the window of her room, feeling the breeze—that was supposed to be her favorite thing. Today, she sensed something different.

Stiffening her body, Yilu slowly turned around.

Outside the window was a tree. At the fork of the branches was a bird’s nest, with several chicks peeping and chirping.

A large bird flew in with a worm in its beak, landed on a branch, and fed the worm to the chicks.

A perfectly normal scene—but in Yilu’s eyes, the birds had somehow turned into indescribable things stitched together from lumps of flesh.

The casually swaying branches no longer held leaves, but rows of bright red severed fingers, writhing constantly, horrific and nauseating.

Within her line of sight, the very top of the room began to seep blood, drop by drop falling from the ceiling.

The blanket Yilu had just thrown off was no longer its original shape. Countless eyes had stitched themselves together on its surface, rolling their eyeballs to stare at her.

“Ah!”

The overwhelming wave of horror made Yilu unable to endure any longer. She screamed out loud, panic-stricken.