As Evelyn contemplated her situation, Hannah entered the room.
"How are you feeling, darling?"
"I'm fine, mother. Now that I'm eating my meals, I'm feeling even better than a few days ago." said Evelyn. "If only I could get rid of this curse, then I'll definitely feel much better."
"You said you knew a lot of new things after you woke up, including that new healing spell. Don't you know any spell that could get rid of the curse?" asked Hannah.
"There is. But my mana isn't enough to cast it, yet." said Evelyn. "Don't worry, it won't be long before I gather enough mana to perform that spell."
Hannah then grasped Evelyn's hand as if she wanted to beg her daughter something.
"Then why don't you teach me the spell? Maybe I can perform it since I have more mana than you."
Evelyn smiled at her mother's suggestion.
"I'm sorry, mother. I don't mean to insult you, but it'll be faster to wait for me to generate enough mana than waiting for you to finish learning the spell."
"Ah... I see."
The woman resorted to just rubbing Evelyn's head and tucking her daughter nicely under her blanket.
"(Well, it's true. It takes a month for a mage to properly learn the first form of Angel's Touch spell. And each an additional month for the second form and the third form.)" thought Evelyn.
She sensed the Angel's Touch spell ever-continuously healing her body and stared at Hannah.
"(I can't possibly wait months for mother to learn the third form of Angel's Touch which could get rid of my curse when I'll be able to generate enough mana to perform the spell within several weeks.)"
After making sure her daughter was comfortable in her bed, Hannah clapped her hands as she just remembered something.
"Evelyn, have you finished reading the family grimoire I lent you?"
"Yes! I kept it in the drawer. You can take it with you now, mother."
"Great! Because I need to store it in the suitcase so that your father and I can take it for the pilgrimage."
The Leonardo Pilgrimage.
Every year, the Leonardo family would visit the Leonardo Mausoleum some distance away from the Leonardo Estate.
There a member of the Leonardo family would present the Leonardo Grimoire and chant a spell to wish good fortune for the year to come.
"You really takes good care of the book, aren't you, mother?"
"Of course! It's a very ancient family heirloom and we had to travel with it once every year. We can't risk damaging it any further than what time had done to it."
"I know what you mean. Many texts were missing on the pages. The inks must have faded over the years." said Evelyn.
She looked at the worn-down book more closely.
"(Other than the fact it contained watered down version of the light elemental magic collection from the Holy Arts Grimoire, the Leonardo Grimoire truly is a useless book if you consider the missing texts.)"
Evelyn sighed with disappointment.
"(Pity, I was hoping to find clues from the grimoire on why God sent me to this family.)"
Hannah suddenly laughed which made Evelyn curious.
"What's the matter, mother?"
"Oh I just remembered a time from our family's past pilgrimage, back when I was still a little girl. I remembered how terrified your late grandfather was back then.
"He was so scared to damage the grimoire he was holding in his hand that he trembled so much and could barely chant the good fortune spell. Your great grandmother was so angry at him, hahaha!"
Evelyn frowned upon hearing Hannah's tale. It was something that she just noticed about the pilgrimage.
"About that good fortune spell… Mother, I actually never have you tell me the actual spell earlier as you and father were also busy telling me so many other things. Would you mind chanting the spell for me?"
Hannah nodded, "Sure! It's a bit long but I think you'll find it interesting."
Hannah stood up and closed her eyes.
She then chanted the good fortune spell that the Leonardo family had been chanting in their pilgrimages ever since the founding of the family.
It turned out that the good fortune spell was not using the language that Evelyn and Hannah used to communicate with each other. But of another one.
As Evelyn heard Hannah chanted the spell, Evelyn's eyes widened and her breath turned heavy. Her body started to tremble due to shock of hearing the chanting.
Evelyn was surprised by what she was hearing coming out from Hannah's mouth at the moment.
As soon as the baroness finished chanting the good fortune spell, Evelyn leaped to her mother and grabbed the woman by the shoulders.
"Evelyn?! What's the matter, darling?!" asked Hannah confusedly.
With a trembling voice and a gaze so sharp it could pierce metal, Evelyn posit a question back to Hannah.
"Mother…. that spell you just chanted… are you sure that's the one our family has been chanting…in ALL of our past pilgrimages?"
Hannah nodded. She had no doubt about her response,
"Of course! It's a good fortune spell that the Leonardo blood needs to learn. One of the obligations of the family head is actually making sure that exact spell is memorized by the members of the next generation of Leonardo. I was planning to teach you that once you turned 12, but then the curse hit you--"
"DO YOU KNOW…what that spell means, then? The meanings of its words." asked Evelyn in a most inquisitive tone. She was desperate to hear Hannah's answer.
Hannah shook her head this time.
"Actually, no. Nobody knew what the spell means. Not my father, my grandmother, nor her mother, nor her mother's father. We only knew the spell is in some weird language but we couldn't ever figure out the meaning."
Evelyn slumped back to the bed, gasping for air for the pressure of the shock she experienced from hearing the Leonardo's pilgrimage spell.
"Are you okay, Evelyn? You looked drained."
Evelyn's shocked expression soon turned into a bright smile. Her gasps turned into great laughter.
"Evelyn? You're scaring me, darling."
Evelyn reached out to Hannah's hand.
"Mother, when will the pilgrimage take place?"
"It's on Saturday. Why do you ask?"
"Can I come with, mother?" asked Evelyn.
Hannah gasped at Evelyn's request. She thought it was absurd of her sickly daughter to ask for such a favor.
"NO! We can't bring you with us! You're still recovering!"
Evelyn quickly got off from the bed and walked around.
"Mother, I can walk with ease now. The mausoleum is only several hours by carriage from here, right? I can handle it!"
"No!" rejected Hannah once again. "I still want you to stay here in the estate. Where you're safe!"
Evelyn sighed at her mother's response.
"You're worried about that incident, aren't you, mother?"
Evelyn was referring to the moment Evelyn Leonardo was cursed. It actually happened when Evelyn was accompanying Bryce and Hannah on the Leonardo Pilgrimage.
On their way to the mausoleum, a wyvern-riding lich accompanied by a pack of undead three-headed dogs, each the size of a house, ambushed the family.
Thankfully, a convoy consisted of soldiers of Duke Shaughnessy who ruled the Euphrates Province, a group of adventurers, and a band of soldiers from the Zion Holy Nation was nearby at the time.
The convoy was a task force formed through a cooperation between the previous Emperor of Mortalia and the Church of Einsof. They were sent to hunt down the wyvern-riding Lich after it was spotted roaming in the Euphrates Province eight years ago.
The fleeing Leonardo family encountered the convoy and together they defeated the lich and its demonic forces.
Unfortunately, the lich was able to put a curse on little Evelyn before it was defeated.
Aware of this worry that the incident could happen again, Evelyn hugged her mother.
"I know you're worried, mother. But I really need to join you on this pilgrimage. It's very important to me that I come with you both." begged Evelyn.
"Oh, Evelyn, I don't know… There're more demon sightings in the Empire these days. It's more dangerous now."
"Don't you think I could recover better if I travelled outside and breath fresh air?" asked Evelyn. "And we won't have to be gone for long either. We'll just go on the pilgrimage and come back right away. I promise!"
Evelyn held her mother even tighter, trying her best to persuade Hannah into letting her go with them on the pilgrimage.
"Oh, Evelyn…"