"There's no harm in checking it," Vlador said and took the object.
Certainly, from the pile of trash that looked to be witchcraft materials, a cloth-wrapped wooden stick with a strap was something to be suspicious of. Without having to open it, he was sure enough that it might be a letter or incantation.
Nimbly, Vlador's fingers pulled the red knot and unrolled it. The piece of white cloth that wrapped the stick was opened and fell. However, Vlador's other hand swiftly moved downwards, so the cloth landed on his palm.
Triana's eyes widened. "There's writing there,"
"It should be," Vlador said.
Then he studied the contents of the cloth a moment only to cluck his tongue. "This is the language of witches,"
"Oh…" Triana huffed. Her face went hopeless back. Then, her eyes widened again in no time. Her hand stretched out towards Vlador. "May I check it? I once studied the witches' language."
"You did?" Vlador's brow furrowed.
Turning her eyes elsewhere, Triana cleared her throat briefly and replied, "Well… I didn't do that too seriously. I was just a little curious so I peeked at some books. And… this is a secret. I hope you don't tell anyone because my parents might get in trouble because of it,"
Vlador looked at the girl who seemed to be holding her breath. Learning witches' language was an extremely inappropriate thing for nobles to do, let alone a higher class one like her. However, she seemed to be clearly aware that what she did was wrong so she was embarrassed to admit it.
"Then," Vlador handed the cloth to the weird girl.
Smiling forcefully, Triana accepted the cloth. "Thank you,"
Then, Triana focused on the cloth's contents. Her brow furrowed and her eyes blinked infrequently. Her blue irises moved from bottom to top, then repeated it.
"Curse, blood, them, red, blue, dead, heart, Mm… a girl?" Triana muttered.
Raising her gaze, Triana looked at Vlador who had been watching her for a while to see what useful thing she could do.
"Those… are the words I can read from it," Triana said.
"From the lines of sentences, you can only read a few words?" Vlador asked.
Trianna cleared her throat. "As I said before, I've only studied a little bit secretly. The witch language is one of the most difficult in the world. This was even written from the bottom and up."
Taking a deep breath, Vlador nodded and exhaled, "Very well. So, even though it's still unknown whether it's an incantation or a letter, it appeared that it does have something to do with the curse. There are also the words blood, heart, and girl. I think that pretty much represents the curse that befell us."
"I believe the same, Mr. Dracont," Triana nodded.
"Vlador." He said.
Triana's brow furrowed. "I beg your pardon,"
"Don't call me by my last name. Use my first name, Vlador." He ordered coldly.
"A-all right if that's what you wish, Mr. Vlador," Triana said, stammering a little.
Taking a quick breath, Vlador returned to the previous topic. "Since there's nothing else for me to find here, I guess only this rag has any hope of lifting my curse."
He looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow. "Or maybe you had time to look at the spots that I haven't checked yet?"
Reflexively hooking her fingers together, Triana shook her head slightly. "Unfortunately, I have taken all of my time to thoroughly search on this table and found something useful."
"Oh… So that's what took you so long to perch here, huh? I didn't know there was a human whose focus face visibly looked daydreaming like that." Vlador smiled crookedly and his eyebrows rose high.
Trianna cleared her throat. "You may see me that way, but you couldn't read my mind. If I indeed wasted my time daydreaming, I wouldn't be able to find that important thing," she replied quickly.
"Well, since you were lucky enough to find this thing among the trash and apparently able to read a few words from its contents, it looks like we can't lift the curse now, can we? I have to kidnap a witch to make her read out the contents of the rag." Vlador said, still with one eyebrow risen.
However, his brows quickly turned furrowed as he saw the girl across the table making a crooked smile on her lips.
"There's no need to trouble yourself that far, Mr. Vlador. I know someone who can read witches' language. I hope that will be of great help, won't it?" Triana said.
Unknowingly, Vlador gritted his teeth. Was that really the face of a girl that had just a moment ago stared at him so fearfully that her shoulders shook? He couldn't even believe the eyes that were staring at him now were filled with tears just now.
"Should I thank you for trying to be more useful?" Vlador smiled faintly with eyes staring coldly at her.
Gulping hard, Triana lifted her chin. "If you think you should, then I would be very glad to take it,"
The faint smile on Vlador's face instantly faded. Then he replied, "Only when it has proven successful. Humans are very boastful - You might be one of them."
Triana looked displeased at Vlador. Even so, Vlador ignored her and chose to step out of this disgusting house.
Once outside the house, Vlador realized that the sky was no longer as dark as before. This was the first time he breathed dawn air after being cooped up to dry in the dungeon. However, the appearance of sunlight meant that he should return to the castle soon.
"Mr. Vlador,"
He looked back at the noble girl who was walking while lifting her dress slightly towards him.
"What should we do after this? You should know that my parents must be looking for me right now." Triana said.
"We're going back to my castle," Vlador said, starting to walk towards the lush trees.
Triana stood silently, staring at Vlador's back whose tunic had been torn apart by the wings that had popped out last night. She let out a heavy sigh before walking quickly to follow his wide strides.
"Mr. Vlador, should we return to your castle on foot?" Triana asked in a slightly loud voice.
"The sun is rising. You said your parents are looking for you. The sunlight will hurt my wings and the bright sky will make me clearly visible." Vlador explained without turning to the girl. "Therefore, we are walking to reach my castle."
"I see…" Triana sighed tiredly.
The dense trees made the sunlight not penetrate much into the forest. It had been a long time since Vlador had roamed the forest and he noticed things had changed a little. Now, the forest animals were not as many as before and he was no longer able to take a peaceful walk because the sound of gasping for breath made him disturbed.
"Sir… Can we rest for a moment? I'm… exhausted,"
"Pausing will only slow us down," Vlador answered, still walking forward.
"I think… I… cannot walk further,"
The girl's fading voice made Vlador frown. He stopped in his tracks and turned around. His eyes widened and he quickly approached the pale girl who was standing with her back bent forward.
"You…"
Vlador left his sentence unfinished as the girl staggered to the side. He quickly caught her before her head hit the ground.
"Hey!" Vlador patted her cheek several times. However, her eyes remained closed and her cold body was drenched in sweat.