"Are you mad?!"

Alice paced endlessly in front of Luca's limp body. From the looks of her wrinkled robe and its strong, soapy smell, she had spent the entire afternoon cleaning inside the shed.

"We can't trust that fool. What if he alerts the school? No, worse. What if he denounces us to the OCA?" Panic made her long hair curl and shudder, as if alive. "You may not incur any severe consequences, but unlike you, I have no influential people in my family. I'll get thrown into the nearest reserve and bled out just in time for the next Liturgy."

Helene hugged her knees on the floor, her eye occasionally steering toward the fumes that escaped Luca's mangled skin. After a brief pause, she sighed, "He has known about Luca for a while. There's no reason for him to sell us out now when he had more than enough time previously."

"Maybe it was a lie. Maybe he wanted to confirm a loose hypothesis. We haven't exactly been discreet with our business here." She held her face with a groan. "We killed three people this month alone. It was always a bad idea to keep Luca in the vicinity."

"It's too late anyway." Helene shrunk further, her head slumped. "Besides, we were making no progress. Three heads are better than two, right?"

"Make it five, my beloved!"

Leon barged through the creaky door without care, announcing his presence as brazenly as ever. Surprisingly, he wasn't alone.

The silver-haired, golden-eyed noble called Johann followed him with a sour expression.

A third person trailed behind, sporting strands of blond hair as long as Alice's. It was a gloomy young man wearing a plain, gray robe reminiscent of the Shrine Devotee's regalia, though his was adorned with the Department of Goetism's seal.

The Department of Goetism...

"What's happening here, Leon? Who are these people?" Helene nearly stumbled as she jumped to her feet.

Leon spun around before posing in front of her, punctuating his theatrics with a zealous wink. "I'm merely fulfilling my promise, dear love."

"You were supposed to keep it a secret, you idiot!"

"Believe me, I would've liked it to remain a secret to me as well," snarled Johann, his features twisting into utter disgust as he glimpsed Luca's state. "This is obviously the moon plague. Get rid of him already, or you'll doom us all."

"Watch what gets out of your mouth, Lehner."

Johann glanced at Alice with disdain, clearly irked by her use of his family name. "Oh, still alive, Alice? And here I thought you got roped into that streak of disappearances. The Others truly are cruel."

Alice's hair arose akin to live snakes, oozing their mistress' bloodlust. She was ready to attack him on the spot. Johann froze at that sight.

"Calm down, you two." Leon turned back to Johann, asking, "What did we talk about on the way here?"

Johann's chest puffed, and his expression twisted, unable to believe what he had just heard. "May I remind you, damn Leon, that you've kidnapped me from my own dorms in the middle of the night? You can throw yourself in a ditch for all I care. I won't wag my tail like a dog when you've dragged me here against my will."

Helene stared at them in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Leon tried to shrug off her question with a smile and a laugh, but Johann proved a little too petty, exclaiming:

"He broke into my chamber and threatened my life. Then he made me into his thrall and forced me all the way here."

"Thralldom has been outlawed outside ritualistic purposes." Helene pinched her nose from frustration. "It's basically slavery. That sort of act gives you an immediate criminal branding, Leon. You stupid fool."

Alice grimaced. "Isn't Lehner's father an OCA operative as well? Leon, you're really dumber than you look, and that's a low bar to slide under."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"H—Hey, we're all criminals here!" Leon blurted out in embarrassment.

"Not me, I'm a victim," Johann spat. "Just so you know, that binding of servitude lasts only one year. Once free, I swear I'll pit the entire OCA against you and your band of freaks."

Leon's lips curved into an eerie smile. "Well, for now, you're my slave. I order you to close that vile mouth shut until asked otherwise."

"How dare y—"

Johann instantly became silent, unable to speak or emit a single sound despite a very apparent struggle.

"After reconsideration, it's not so bad. At least there's a sure way to shut him up without hassle now," Alice sneered. She looked around. "What about the other one?"

For a moment, they all searched for the blond-haired young man, their gazes meeting a second later at Luca's resting spot. He was crouched in front of the fuming body, inspecting him with an inscrutable expression.

"What are you doing?—" Helene started but was quickly interrupted as he raised a bony finger. She frowned. "How rude. Who's this one, Leon?"

Leon grimaced. "Mhm. I was hoping I had misheard it the first time. You mean... you don't know him?"

Helene shook her head, incredulous.

"Ah..." Leon's cheeks flushed red. "He was on his way to the shed, so I asked him to tag along. I thought you girls knew him. My mistake."

Helene's hand slipped to the back of her skirt, reaching for her knife. Her legs tensed, and she stared at the stranger with unveiled hostility.

Lecturing Leon could come later. She had to focus on the current threat to their dreadful secret.

"Oh," the stranger said, unbothered. "Such strong bloodlust. You won't let me leave this shed alive, will you?"

He measured them with a sideways glance. "Two Primordialists, a Theurgist, and a Thanaturgist. The odds aren't in my favor."

"You should've thought about that before coming in."

"It would have indeed been worth a ponder or two had I entered with the intention of fighting," he sighed, pointing at Helene. Her hair stood on end. "You're the culprit, I assume?"

"Depends on the accusation."

He stood straight, making everyone but Leon back away. "It's always the Theurgists who make these mistakes. Goetism tends to feel the slightest bit similar to your craft, giving you confidence in following the same rites. This is a textbook example."

"The Others do not acknowledge the pacts of mortals," he sternly continued. "Unlike spirits, they're volatile and vicious. A Goetist's art is to please their whims so that they could feel entertained in providing assistance. Offerings, dealings, and petty rituals mean nothing to them. You haven't understood that. That's why your attempt has backfired. That's why your friend has been cursed."

Helene bit her lower lip. She knew that, or rather, she had learned it after the fact.

The study of Theurgism was centered around the fathomable knowledge within the confines of the World. It favored pushing the boundaries of sanity to their utmost limits, gathering whatever secret the Physical and Formulaic Planes had to offer through the invocation of spirits and other phantasmal creatures.

It was the exact opposite of Goetism, hence Helene's lack of judgment—a Theurgist's natural miscalculation.

Leon conjured his staff in a flash of reddish light. It was a crudely sculpted wooden piece encrusted with a single, fist-sized Lapis Phylaca at its end. Without it, one could easily mistake it for a random stick.

"You talk too much," he spat. "My love, should I blast him to smithereens for you?"

"Wait." Helene lessened the grip on her weapon, eyeing the stranger's robe. "What's your name?"

"Fremd."

"How come you bear that regalia, Fremd?" She gestured towards the embroidered symbol on his clothes. "The Department of Goetism has no students. Moreover, despite attending school here for two years, I've never seen you around."

Fremd waved nonchalantly. "I'm training to become a Shrine Devotee. My duties require a profound understanding of Goetism, which is why I've been recently tasked to attend a few classes here. Do you have other questions?"

"Yes. What do you know about Luca's curse?"

"It's the moon plague," he said tersely.

Alice rolled her eyes. "That was so helpful."

Fremd ignored her remark as he turned towards Luca. "You probably tried to reverse-engineer some part of the Liturgy. The third or fourth odes, if I had to guess. That reckless act attracted the attention of an entity that should never be probed, and its mere awareness of your existence exposed you to adverse effects. Now, how and why your friend bore the majority of them is unknown to me, but it's never advisable to ponder the thought process of such beings."

"The Liturgy..." Leon's bemused tone rang loudly in the quiet room.

"Goetism is an art forbidden for any who aren't part of the Church. Amateurs who still want to delve into its secrets often make the grave mistake of using the Liturgy as a template." Fremd walked carelessly between their encirclement, sitting in a corner. "I cannot blame them. After all, it's a grand ritual—a nationwide feat of esoterism, possible solely due to centuries... no, millennia of research, sacrifices, and trials. Without it, Hautefoi would be at the mercy of the Others during their yearly awakenings."

He stared dismissively at Helene, his thin lips and light brows giving him a constant scowl. "A lesson learned, I hope. The moon plague is incurable but not deadly. Your friend is conscious still, yet trapped inside that agonizing husk of mangled flesh until his last breath. It will come eventually, but not after years of debilitating pain."

Helene's heart sank even deeper. If Luca's mind was truly untouched, he was trapped in an unending torment. All because of her... because of her stupidity.

"No..." Alice muttered, holding Helene's shoulder. "There must be a way to save him. I'm sure of it."

As usual, her first reflex was to comfort Helene. It wasn't a bad one.

"There are three, actually," Fremd blurted uncaringly. Their eyes converged towards him once more, even Johann's.

Warmth bubbled shyly in Helene's chest, but she didn't dare give it too much ground. Another fall would crush her.

"What are they?" she cautiously asked.

"First," he started, "Marry him."