How much time had passed since then?
“Theo... Theo.”
It felt like he had just escaped from being submerged in water—like the membrane covering him had just been ruptured. Theophilus’s consciousness suddenly became clear, and he saw a skeleton standing before him, stroking his cheek.
“Princess?” Although she looked nothing like her former self, Theophilus was confident the skeleton was his master.
“Yes, it’s me,” she giggled. “I’m glad I found you. It wasn’t easy.” It seemed she had adapted to the transformation faster than he had.
“My apologies. I should have been the one to find you.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, take a look around.” While the city hadn’t quite reached the point of ruin, it was certainly desolate, likely because the ones who had maintained it were now gone. Their fellow undead sporadically walked the streets, their bones clacking as they passed. “There aren’t many people living the same way they did before just yet, but the city’s transformation has been complete for a while.” Ixeris took Theophilus’s hand as she walked. She seemed to be headed to her estate.
“What about outside the city?” Theophilus asked.
“It’s awful! They put up a big barrier and cut the city off from the rest of the world!”
“A barrier technique that powerful must be a closely guarded secret.”
“I heard Lady Candy’s family specialized in that kind of spell, but there’s no way she’d betray us. I’m sure something unexpected happened!”
Theophilus didn’t believe the noblewoman had ever been an ally to begin with, but he held his tongue. “Then we’re trapped inside?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Had it truly been outside the mastermind’s expectations, or had she simply kept quiet about the possibility?
“What about your family?”
“I haven’t found them yet. Even if I could convince father to rule the territory once more, so few have adapted that it would make that quite difficult. I’m just going to wait patiently.” She truly was the same as she had been while alive. If anything, she actually seemed more relaxed. The curse really did allow you to retain your soul. “Oh, that’s right. Do you remember our promise?”
“Which promise?”
“Did we make that many? Maybe we did. I’ll give you a hint—flowers!”
“Ah, is it the season when those yellow flowers bloom?”
“It sure is! Let’s go look at them together.”
“As you wish.”
Theophilus returned to the estate and with Ixeris at his side, they observed the flowers. Although his vision and sense of smell both functioned differently from when he’d been alive, he could still perceive the flowers’ beauty and fragrance.
“I’ll be able to look at these flowers with you forever from now on.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a boring response.”
“My apologies. I believe I dropped my sword somewhere.” As a knight, not having a sword to protect his master with made Theophilus anxious.
“Oh, you mean before you adapted. There should be a spare somewhere around the estate, so—”
Ixeris suddenly crumbled to dust in the middle of her sentence.
“Princess?” Before Theophilus even had time to process what had just happened, he sensed a presence approaching. Purely on reflex, he leaped backwards, causing the incoming sword to cut through his left arm rather than its original target.
“Oh! You must’ve been a pretty good fighter when you were alive to avoid that!” There were intruders—a man and a woman. The man was wearing an outfit that resembled a holy knight’s uniform, while the woman was wearing a uniform Theophilus didn’t recognize. The closest thing was the clothes worn by holy women at the church, but the colors and design were far removed from what he was familiar with.
However, there was something more urgent. “What did you do with the princess?”
“Huh? You saw it yourself. I sent her to Heaven.”
Although the actual time it took for him to grasp the man’s words was no more than a few seconds, the agony Theophilus felt lasted for what seemed like an eternity. “So you killed her.”
“You all died a long time ago. I’m just setting your souls free. You should be thanking me,” the man sneered.
They clearly weren’t from the city—they had come from the outside. That must have been how people on the outside viewed the undead. For Theophilus, that moment was the turning point. He went from being an ordinary curion content to spread the blessing to being a unique specimen who couldn’t find happiness in it.
Theophilus had killed both the man and woman before he knew it. Turning them into curions didn’t even cross his mind. His desire for revenge had won out over the urge to spread the blessing. He frantically collected the dust that had once been his master and desperately cried out as it slipped through his fingers.
“Y-Yes. Let’s view the flowers next year, and the year after that. W-We promised, after all.” He had lost his master and, with her, his sanity. Barely conscious, he dug a grave and buried her remains. Then he decided that the least he could do was decorate the city she rested in with her favorite flowers. Using the ability to create plants he had obtained, he made sure the yellow flowers were always blooming. Seeing him defend the flower garden he had created, people from outside named him the Grave Keeper of the Golden City.
Then one day, Nemophila and her holy knight entered his territory. An intruder wearing the same uniform as the man who had killed his princess ravaged the grave he protected, so Theophilus killed them. However, when he went to finish off the holy woman, he realized something—she looked just like his master. He felt his heart tremble.
“Princess!” He knew at first glance that she was a different person, but he didn’t care. He sought salvation from the girl. He sought a chance to undo the regret of not being able to save his master.