“Carol? Since when were you standing there…?”
When I turned my head, I saw a ragged figure standing at the top of the stairs.
Carol.
Thanks to the prosthetic leg, she was able to stand upright, but she was still too horrifying to look at.
Creak. Creak.
Each time the stiff wooden prosthetic stepped onto the old staircase, it let out an unsettling groan.
“Miss Windsor was right. I was just pretending not to see it, but I knew all along. Because of me alone… what happened to everyone… to the villagers who lived alongside us… sob.”
Carol wept quietly, looking utterly heartbroken.
“I remember how everyone worried about me when I first became sick. But Father… where did they all go? Why doesn’t Mary from next door come to play anymore?”
Unlike before, when I couldn’t even tell if she was conscious, her voice was now much clearer as she confronted Mr. Scrooge.
“I finally remember. This isn’t what I wanted.”
“Carol, but everything I did was for you…”
“Why can’t you understand that I’d rather die than stay alive by hurting other people?”
This time, it was Mr. Scrooge who was left speechless.
Gone was the man who had confidently justified everything. From behind, he looked unusually small as he stared at his daughter.
In the end, unable to answer or defend himself, he sank to the floor and desperately tried to explain.
“I-I had no other choice. You were my whole reason for living. If you died… if you disappeared, how was I supposed to…!”
“Then what about living like… this?”
Carol asked through tears.
Thud.
One of the fingers that had barely been attached fell to the floor.
Thick pus dripped after it.
“What I wanted to go back to… was before the village changed. Back when I was sick, but still happy with you, Father. Not… living as something this ugly… this monstrous…”
Wait.
At this point, the argument was entirely between Carol and Mr. Scrooge.
Now that I had naturally become nothing more than a spectator, something suddenly struck me as odd.
Just moments ago, Carol had been lying there like a corpse.
So how was she suddenly able to walk out on her own?
Without thinking, I looked down at my hand.
I couldn’t be certain, but I had a suspicion.
‘Blessing of Purification?’
I’d tested the skill on her while we were alone.
Come to think of it, Carol had apologized to me—and warned me to run—only after I’d used Blessing of Purification.
If Blessing of Purification hadn’t healed her body but had restored her mind… her will… If that was why she could move again…
The feeling became stronger.
“I wanted to return what the villagers had lost. That’s why I kept every part that rotted away after failing to stay attached to my body… But even after seeing them, Father, you kept creating new victims!”
“Body parts were the agreed price in the trade. That was an absolute rule. Carol, even if it’s you, if you cross the line any further…!”
Oh no.
While I’d been thinking, their conversation had taken a darker turn.
No matter how I looked at it, Mr. Scrooge refusing to acknowledge what the daughter he cherished truly wanted wasn’t normal.
It was almost as if he were possessed.
“Mr. Scrooge.”
He stopped just as he was about to approach Carol and turned toward me.
Before the agitated man could say anything, I reached out toward him.
At once, Blessing of Purification.
The familiar golden light wrapped around his solid frame.
“Please think about it one more time. You love Carol, don’t you?”
“I…”
The light passed through him once before slowly fading away.
But Mr. Scrooge simply stood there, motionless, like a statue.
Had I guessed wrong?
Just as I stared at him, my nerves stretched to the limit—
“…I’m sorry.”
His rigid shoulders suddenly slumped.
“I’m sorry, Carol. My own selfishness is what turned you into this.”
As if he’d become a completely different person, he changed so abruptly that Carol was left speechless.
I quietly gasped.
According to the description, Blessing of Purification used divine power to dispel curses.
That was why Carol’s stitched-together body hadn’t returned to normal.
‘But using the skill suddenly changed his behavior?’
A change in behavior meant a change in thought. Or, in this world’s case, maybe it was more accurate to call it a change in their programming.
So…
Did that mean Carol and Mr. Scrooge had both been under some kind of curse that prevented them from thinking and judging normally?
And that curse seemed to be connected to Belmont Ducal Castle.
‘Come to think of it, it was too consistent to just be some ordinary bug.’
The faces with holes where features should have been.
Their frustratingly rigid behavior.
The way they all seemed trapped inside the same delusion.
I remembered the head chef, the head maid, the steward, and the librarian, all saying things I couldn’t make sense of.
But maybe the reason I couldn’t understand them was simply because I was missing the context…
From their perspective, perhaps I was the one who couldn’t understand what anyone was saying.
‘So everyone’s strange behavior… was caused by the curse?’
It wasn’t impossible.
Just then, Carol spoke softly.
“…It’s okay, Father.”
She walked over to the broken man and leaned gently against his shoulder.
Mr. Scrooge removed his bloodstained leather gloves, embraced his daughter with his bare hands, then stood and approached me.
“I owe you an apology as well, Miss Windsor. My mind always felt as though it were wrapped in fog… but for the first time in a very long while, I feel clear-headed.”
“Ah… y-yes.”
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
“No, it’s fine…”
Carol, the one who had suffered the most, had already forgiven him.
There was no reason for me to interfere.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected everything to resolve this smoothly.
The sudden calm after everything that had happened felt almost awkward.
As I scratched my cheek uneasily, he continued.
“The prosthetic leg you gave Carol is more than enough as payment. If you provide me with the list of supplies you need, I’ll place the order as soon as possible.”
“Oh! Then I’d really appreciate that.”
I nodded enthusiastically.
Once the order went through properly, the linked quest, “Torn Clothes, Torn Pride,” should finally be completed…
However…
There was still something left unfinished.
…
Even if it meant ruining the warm atmosphere that had finally settled over the room—
Some things had to be addressed.
“Um… but.”
I opened the quest list once more.
▶ The Whereabouts of the Forgotten Merchant Company (Completed)
▶ Torn Clothes, Torn Pride (In Progress)
▶ What Carol Wants (In Progress)
The most important quest of them all.
The hidden quest with a reward of 100,000 Diamonds still wasn’t complete.
“Carol.”
At the sound of my voice, she turned toward me.
Now that I’d let go of the prejudice that she looked horrifying, somehow I found myself imagining a faint smile on the face hidden within her father’s embrace.
“You mentioned something earlier. So… were you telling the truth when you said you’d been keeping everyone’s body parts?”
“Yes.”
“I want to return what the villagers have lost.”
Only then did I realize her words themselves had been the hint.
“Then…”
I cautiously glanced between the two of them.
Normally, this would have been the moment to quietly excuse myself and give the father and daughter some privacy.
But the circumstances wouldn’t allow it.
It was currently curfew, and even if I left, the drawbridge leading back to Belmont Ducal Castle would still be closed.
So in the end…
As depressing as it was to knowingly pretend otherwise, I squeezed my eyes shut and asked anyway.
“Those body parts… where are they?”
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