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Everyone was enjoying the festival.

Loud laughter echoed throughout the streets, and groups of people gathered in threes and fives, drinking or playing event games while having a good time.

As the largest festival in the Empire, there were plenty of attractions to enjoy.

“…”

However, there was one individual who was particularly unwelcome.

Isabella Graham.

Recently, the venomous words she had spat at the audience during the ‘Leon Clendor’ incident still lingered in their minds.

“Welcome—”

Whenever Isabella visited a festival booth, the staff would freeze mid-greeting.

They would glance at her with cold eyes before greeting her stiffly with a changed attitude.

“Heh. You’re being too obvious, you know? You know who I am, right?”

“…Of course. You’re our guest.”

Perhaps it was because contempt now outweighed their fear.

Even when they attempted to threaten her, their disdain was overt.

As Isabella radiated a black mist, the staff sighed and said, “Aren’t you tired of it? Always picking fights with others like this?”

“…”

“What’s got you all twisted up? Just because you’re a scion of a Grand Duke’s family? Does sheer strength mean everything to you?”

“Uh. Here, strength is law.”

Isabella didn’t show a hint of emotion despite the staff’s icy demeanor.

As always, she simply used her unique talent to crush her opponents.

The curse, a special magic from the Graham family.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

The mental destruction spell struck the staff.

Soon, they collapsed to the floor, retching violently.

The grotesque scenes unfolding only in her mind made her stomach churn and her head spin.

“Know your place. How dare you look at someone beneath you with such open eyes?”

“Guh!”

What was once a cheerful atmosphere turned icy in an instant.

Cadets who had been happily drinking turned uncomfortable, casting glances at the conflict between Isabella and the staff.

Eventually, another staff member, unable to watch any longer, bowed to Isabella and apologized for their colleague’s rudeness, and only then did the situation settle for the moment.

– This is just too much.

– Is gaining strength this way even worth it?

However, the whispers about Isabella seemed to grow louder than before.

Her technique of unilaterally crushing her opponents had accumulated over time.

“…”

Yet, Isabella welcomed this situation instead.

Their negative feelings towards her became food for her power.

The more they spat venom at her, the more that negativity intensified.

She could become an unrivaled top cadet, one that no one could rival.

“This doesn’t match. Bring me the food again.”

Thus, Isabella wandered from booth to booth at the festival, repeatedly engaging in actions that would provoke resentment.

If there was anything to nitpick, she would latch onto it like a beast, pressuring her opponents, and such actions garnered public outrage.

Since it was a period when everyone should be enjoying the festival, their resentment towards her was magnified.

It was a perfect opportunity to accumulate negativity.

“What are you doing?”

Amidst all this, Enya approached Isabella.

With furious eyes, she uttered her next words.

“Have you just decided to act recklessly? Why are you behaving like that?”

“…”

Enya began questioning Isabella in an accusing tone.

Yet, within that was a warmth unique to her.

She had come to check on Isabella out of concern.

Fearing that leaving her would only earn her more hatred.

“What does it matter to you?”

“…What?”

“What business is it of yours? If you act so cheekily, you should be punished.”

But Isabella merely licked her lips and looked at Enya.

As if she were waiting for her to become enraged.

“…”

And in that moment, Enya could sense it.

Isabella was targeting her anger as prey.

She was hunting for a chance to trample her emotions, solely to fill her own negativity.

“Why… why…”

Enya looked at Isabella with tear-filled eyes.

She had been a close friend in their childhood.

But ever since she awakened the cursed magic of the Graham family, that inseparable friend had completely changed.

The once kind and gentle friend had transformed into a villain who slandered and exploited others.

‘Enya.’

Yet, within Enya’s memories, the image of the innocent Isabella from their childhood still lingered.

When they kicked stones on their way home, Isabella would pick one up, becoming fond of it and taking it to her room.

Or the time they got lost in the mountains and faced a wild boar, with Isabella protecting her with her whole body.

Isabella had been the kindest child above all else.

“…”

But now she had become a mad villain consumed by power.

Even now, she was licking her lips, awaiting an opportunity to devour her emotions.

She wanted Enya to be sad and angry.

– Huh.

Thus, Enya simply turned away.

Thump. Thump. She quickly exited the scene.

Isabella twisted her lips, watching her retreating figure.

***

In the deep of night.

While the festival was in full swing, Isabella climbed the hillside of the Academy.

Today was the day when the ‘Control Magic’ would be lifted, so she needed to be somewhere alone.

“Whew…”

Having reached the deserted hillside, Isabella exhaled deeply.

As her heart began to race, she realized that the ‘Control Magic’ would surely be lifted soon.

She had to brace herself, not wanting to end up like her sister.

“Cough!”

At that moment, the signal began.

A debilitating headache set in, making it hard to breathe as if her chest were being crushed.

It was a precursor to the imminent lifting of the Control Magic.

“Ugh… ugh…”

It became challenging to control her emotions.

An immense wave of sorrow and self-loathing surged forth.

Her true feelings, which she had blocked away with Control Magic, were now returning.

“Cough! Ugh!”

It felt like her heart was being torn apart.

The evil deeds she had committed played out like a panorama in her mind.

The first misdeed was killing the puppy she had raised with Enya.

– Drop it in front of Enya.

The first test handed down by her deranged sister’s substitute, her father.

It was to kill the puppy they had cared for.

Of course, the puppy had been sickly since they first found it and was destined to die soon, but there was a world of difference between dying in care and dying by one’s own hands.

– If you can’t do it, then just give up. You can always modify your sister.

However, there was no way to save her sister.

Not when she had always cherished her so that she wouldn’t break anymore.

– I-Isabella… w-what just… happened?

– Why? It’s just a toy we played with, isn’t it?

After that, Isabella was burdened with the cursed fate of the Graham family.

She began the mission of accumulating negativity to become the next head.

In place of her deranged sister.

– A-Apapa… please stop it… please… go back to how things were…

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

The Control Magic would often go berserk and collapse in just one day.

Each time, her father would always repeat the same words.

– Heh heh heh… What a wonderful feeling. Cry even more.

He had consumed her emotions, after all.

The pain of those close to her could be excellent nourishment.

From that moment on, Isabella realized that her life could never return to what it once was.

The warm image of her father was merely a facade for this moment.

– Bella. There’s a reason for this, right? You’re not doing this on purpose, are you? You wouldn’t.

– What nonsense. How bothersome.

From that point on, Isabella began to harden her heart.

To avoid going mad like her sister.

And to protect her deranged sister.

She learned how to accumulate negativity under her father’s guidance.

And absorbed every method of wielding that power.

Fortunately, she had an extraordinary talent for managing that power.

– Ugh… ugh… ugh…

But that did not make the accumulation of negativity any easier.

It was bearable while the Control Magic was maintained, but on days when it could not hold and went berserk, the depths of despair would leave her wanting to die.

Whenever the faces of all those she had hurt rose in her mind, she couldn’t help but self-harm to endure it.

Only then did Isabella understand why her sister had attempted suicide.

– Hah, isn’t it amusing?

Thus, after enduring the painful times, it had been six long years.

By the time Isabella turned 15, she had become accustomed to accumulating negativity.

The Control Magic, which would go berserk after just one day, could now last over a month, and she felt a sort of catharsis when using the power of negativity.

She began to understand her father.

‘Disgusting bastard.’

However, the more she understood him, the more she loathed him.

To commit such heinous acts just to gain such pleasure.

The Graham family, which had repeated such evil through generations, also filled her with endless hatred.

Ultimately, breeding descendants seemed merely a way to find sacrificial lambs for her own negativity.

The more she knew, the more insane the family appeared.

– You too will soon find yourself like this. You’ll never escape this fate.

– Who knows? I don’t share your twisted tastes.

Having realized the cursed fate of the Graham family, Isabella made a determination.

She would end this cursed fate in her generation.

When the time came to accumulate enough negativity to rise as head, she would not be addicted to it and would not bear children.

Thus, she vowed to live until her death, repenting for all the people she had harmed.

That was her resolution.

“Cough! Cough! Ugh!”

Yet this too was not easy.

To reach that point, she had to hurt countless people.

Moreover, the self-loathing, which served as the best nourishment for accumulating negativity, had already surpassed its limits.

Could she endure a lifetime of having to hurt those she loved?

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I was wrong…”

The time it took for the Control Magic to return was 30 minutes.

During that time, Isabella exploded with suppressed emotions, suffering through endless suicidal impulses and self-loathing.

She repeated her apologies while conjuring the faces of those she had wronged, aware that until she became the head, she could not reach them.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

How long had she endured this painful time?

Finally, the Control Magic was returning.

She would soon be liberated from the pain and guilt pressing down on her.

Isabella felt her heart becoming more at ease as she slowed her breath.

If she could hold on for another five minutes, she would return to how things were─.

– Thump.

But at that moment.

Footsteps penetrated her ears.

The crunching of leaves and twigs echoed, moving unerringly towards her.

Panic-stricken, Isabella hurried to rise and escape.

“Ugh!”

But her whole body was limp.

It took immense mana to release the Control Magic and to recreate it, and she had overexerted herself amid the emotional tumult.

– Thump… thump… thump…

Yet the footsteps continued unabated.

Each step, precise and assured, came closer.

‘Oh no…’

Isabella instinctively recognized her condition.

Disheveled hair and flushed cheeks.

A tear-streaked face and tattered clothes.

She had never wanted anyone to see her in such a pitiful state.

“…!!”

Clutching the earth as she gazed in the direction of the approaching presence.

Finally, the owner of the footsteps arrived.

Her disgraceful appearance had been laid bare.

“…”

And the first to witness Isabella’s downfall was none other than Edgar.

The path to Isabella’s route.

He had come to the event space to unlock that route.

Soon, Edgar wore a complex smile and said to Isabella,

“There you are. Are you okay?”

 

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