Chapter 41

“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. Eun-han’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 Macul wouldn’t have dug such a complicated trap.

After a long walk down the stairs, a wall came to view. 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? Is it related to the curse of a goddess?

Bzzz!

While I was thinking, I heard the wall crumbling.

“Ah….”

The moment I saw the view beyond the collapsed wall, I was amazed. Deep underground, there’s a huge golden door.

The golden door with beautiful patterns is a piece of art and luxury. Even though I was used to the splendid treasures in this life, it’s still shocking.

The Maculs circled around the golden door. The white light emitted by Macul made the gold sparkle.

“I guess they’re telling me to go in there.”

“I’ll go.”

Eunhan strode 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 lock or a hole in the door…”

“I can feel a strong force in the door itself. It’s like someone seal it with magic.”

“What should I do to unseal it?”

“We either need to find out the password, or we need to unlock it ourselves. I’m not a wizard, so I don’t know exactly, but with this strength, it’s hard to force it from the outside.”

Philip set up numerous walls to keep people away from this place.

The magic that took a thousand years ago. Even if there was password, it is possible for Philip to have written in somewhere so thoroughly hidden, and now I could not find it.

“Is there any other way?”

“I’m sorry.”

Eunhan bowed his head. It meant 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 when Blake’s face, which was smiling helplessly because of the pain of the curse, came to mind.

“Your Highness…”

“I can’t give up here.”

I looked at the golden door. Perhaps the password is 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 at that moment, and 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 has 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. Then the heavy door began to open little by little.

At last, all the doors opened and the secret hidden space was revealed.

“…..”

I’m 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 when I saw it in person, it was even more dazzling.

I really felt like the goddess of light led me here. She gave Blake a chance to lift his curse.

“Go in.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Eunhan didn’t stop this time either. I walked in at a fast pace.

The macul stood outside without coming in and slowly swam around the golden door. They seemed to praise her 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 put into one corner of the golden room. The size and shape of the stone plate were almost the same with the one recovered from the lake.

“It’s just like the stone plate in the third floor.”

Eunhan thought the same thing as me.

“Yes, and besides, the stone tablets here are clearer.”

“Your Highness finally found what you wanted.”

“It’s too early to be happy just yet.”

I slowly interpret the stone plate, holding back against the rising excitement and expectations.

-In 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.

-In July, 504, the 5th prince won a hunting contest.

It was Rakshul. He must have been a prince who is attracting attention at Zelcan for his outstanding martial arts. Well, that’s why he led the revival movement.

-In August, 504, the Ninth Empress gave birth to the fifteenth princess.

-100 houses were lost due to flood.

“What does it say?”

“The history of the Zelcan Empire. It’s a brief description of festival, the birth of a princess, natural disasters and so on.”

“Only important history must have been engraved on the stone plate. The rest are written on parchment, but special things remain on stone tablets.”

“Then all the records on the parchment must have been burned down and this is the only thing left.”

On closer examination, the records gathered here was 500 years after the founding of the Zelcan Empire.

Maybe there was another place like this. Since it’s a stone plate, it’s going to be quite bulky, and when the original place is full, maybe the golden room was built to store the new stone plate.

But Zelcan was destroyed in 510. Perhaps they didn’t know that they would quickly disappear into history.

I read the stone plate quickly. It was a rather peaceful record for a country about to collapse.

-In October, 505, the Eleventh Empress gave birth to the seventeenth prince.

After that, records continued that the emperor had brought in a new queen, gave birth, and built a palace.

There was no clue to lifting the curse of the goddess.

-In March, 508, the northern part suffered great damage with the monsters, the emperor ordered people to defeat the monster.

-In May, 508, the 5th prince wiped out the evil monsters.

-In 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. Not only Tenlarn Palace. He burn up all the books and made the roum’s language an ancient one. He also polluted the land that was the capital of Zelcan, making it impossible for people to live.”

“He’s a real villain. It must have been more polluted a thousand years ago than now. Probably all inside was dead unless they could conjure a clean-up spell.”

Even though Phillip is the one who built the stone plate, the evil deed committed by Rakshul does not go away. It is said that he was eventually captured and executed by the Imperial Army. It was a very uncomfortable ending compared to the sin committed.

I headed for the next plate. While I was reading the record, my eyes opened wide when I saw the sentence.

-In July, 508, the Crown Prince was engaged to Laontel Bellacian, Count Bellacian’s daughter.

Laontel Bellacian…?

Laontel Bellacian was the wizard of light who, with Phillip, destroyed the Zelcan and founded the Asteric Empire.

Laontel, who was the number one contributor to building 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 nothing about the Crown Prince or the Crown Princess came out.

Instead, other contents stood out.

-In August, 508, the 8th empress catch a disease.

Beginning with the death of the eighth empress, darkness began in Zelcan’s empire.

-In September, 508, the 7th queen coughed heavily, vomited blood, and eventually her skin was darkened. It was the same disease as the 8th empress.

-In 508, the 8th Prince catch the disease.

-In 508, the 4th Empress catch the disease.

-In 508, the 11th Imperial Lady catch the disease.

-In October, 508, the Emperor was deemed responsible for the plague.

However, before receiving an instruction from the Emperor, he had already died. The face of the seventh emperor 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 broken. This disease is called “Tancinol.”

Symptoms of the other imperial family were not recorded, but the fact that the 7th emperor spread the plague suggests 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 ask carefully.