The Curse and the Cure

“Let her run; with injuries like that, she shouldn’t be back anytime soon.”

“More importantly… let me see your hand.”

Iqiyah seized Seraphina’s arm, taking hold of the hand that had gripped Sevilya. Upon inspection, she gasped sharply.

“All these fingers are completely broken! And you claimed you weren’t hurt?”

Hearing Iqiyah’s startled cry, Seraphina silently glanced at the hand that had just held Sevilya. The delicate fingers, which had moments ago gripped Sevilya’s cheek, were now bent entirely backward towards the back of her hand, clearly shattered.

‘It’s over.’

As she gazed at her completely broken fingers, Seraphina’s heart plunged into an icy abyss.

Slowly withdrawing her hand from Iqiyah’s grasp, Seraphina tremblingly raised it before her. With her other hand, she gently traced the fractured points, confirming each break.

‘Damn it, what is this hard sensation? It can’t be bone, can it?’

Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but only now did the intense pain begin to sear through Seraphina’s nerves.

They say a broken finger is like a broken tooth, yet these were distinctly different agonies. Toothache burrowed deep into the bone, while a broken finger felt like a throbbing swelling, carrying not only the sharp, fracturing pain from the bone but also a persistent, aching soreness from muscle swelling that made one grit their teeth.

Under the dual torment of aching and pain, Seraphina could barely feel the existence of her own fingers.

“Seraphina…”

Seeing Seraphina drenched in sweat from the pain, Iqiyah’s heart twisted with anguish.

Yet, at the same time, a profound doubt bloomed within her.

She recalled that just moments ago, despite being only Level 1, Seraphina had unleashed an incredibly rare resurrection spell, along with immensely powerful divine healing and amplification magic.

Moreover, a few days prior, when a scout had clearly had their head bitten off, Seraphina had merely waved her hand with casual ease, as if breathing, and pulled them back from the clutches of death.

Such divine spells required an exceptionally high magic level to cast, consuming an enormous amount of mana with each use. Resurrection magic, in particular, demanded the caster’s very life force as a price.

Yet, Seraphina cast them as if they cost nothing, unleashing them at will without showing any side effects from the immense expenditure.

Even more baffling, despite possessing divine recovery magic, she should have been able to easily mend these “minor” broken fingers.

But now… facing such excruciating pain, Seraphina seemed utterly devoid of any healing spells. She merely clutched her hand, enduring the immense agony, drenched in sweat, doing nothing at all.

A myriad of contradictions intertwined in Iqiyah’s mind. She sensed that within this usually docile and endearing black-haired familiar, a secret far beyond her comprehension lay hidden.

‘Oh, never mind that for now.’

“Seraphina, give me your hand. I’ll heal you.”

She gently grasped Seraphina’s wrist, attempting to take her hand, but found that her own amplification had vanished. In her weakened state, she couldn’t possibly pull Seraphina, who was tense with pain.

“It’s no use, Iqiyah…” The intense pain assailed Seraphina’s mind, causing her to forget her honorifics.

“I cannot accept any form of healing.”

Iqiyah froze.

“I possess a [Blessing], which allows me to provide unimaginable assistance without any cost.”

“But at the same time… I also carry a [Curse]. I cannot receive any form of healing. All pain and injuries, I must endure on my own.”

‘Isn’t that the truth?’

‘Cast out by her father, bullied by teammates, enduring the disdain of various nobles, serving as a plaything for vampires…’

‘And now, these broken fingers… even a single broken finger constitutes a significant disability.’

‘Yet, almost all the fingers on this hand of hers were shattered.’

‘This meant that, unable to receive any treatment in a world where bone-setting surgery was underdeveloped, she was essentially doomed to a lifetime of disability.’

Large, pearly tears welled from Seraphina’s eyes, streaming down her cheeks, tracing a path to her collarbone and shoulders.

“Haha, cruel, isn’t it?” Seraphina raised her broken hand, examining it repeatedly before her, as if admiring a delicate work of art. “These fingers will likely remain like this, broken for life.”

“So… so……”

Suddenly, Seraphina’s voice became incredibly soft, almost inaudible.

“Just… let me calm down for a while…”

“No!”

Suddenly, something soft lunged into Seraphina’s chest.

Though not heavy, the suddenness of the action caught Seraphina completely off guard, and she was tackled to the ground.

“As my familiar, who permitted you to remain crippled like this?”

Pinning Seraphina down, Iqiyah straddled her, glaring with puffed cheeks.

“Though I don’t know your past…”

Her crimson eyes blinked, shimmering faintly with something bright and glistening.

“But didn’t you say you wanted to conquer the world, to trample those people underfoot?”

“How can you sigh in despair over a small disability like this!”

Under Seraphina’s astonished gaze, Iqiyah gripped Seraphina’s arm with both hands, lifting the injured hand before her.

“It might hurt a little, so bear with it!”

With that, she took one of Seraphina’s fingers, and like a hungry tiger pouncing, quickly enclosed it in her mouth.

“Iqiyah…” Watching Iqiyah take her hand into her mouth, Seraphina was somewhat surprised. “I told you, whatever you do, it will be useless for me…”

A muffled sound escaped Iqiyah’s lips.

As if warning Seraphina with her body, Iqiyah abruptly pushed forward.

“Don’t you dare resist!”

“Y-yes… yes…”

Even through the pain, Seraphina could feel the icy coolness of the jade-like nectar.

“Mmm… Mmm…”

Perhaps due to Iqiyah’s small mouth, she struggled to ‘eat,’ constantly opening her mouth again and again, repositioning to encompass Seraphina’s finger, striving to saturate every part.

Miraculously, as the finger rotated within Iqiyah’s mouth, the intense pain and swelling seemed to recede considerably. Gradually, a sticky warmth finally took hold, dispelling all discomfort.

“Phew~ All better❤” Releasing Seraphina’s finger, Iqiyah wiped the nectar from the corner of her mouth. “Next finger, don’t move~”

“Y-yes… yes…”

Staring in astonishment at her now pain-free finger, Seraphina cautiously wiggled it. She discovered that the finger, which had been completely broken, was now restored to its original state, without a trace of injury.

‘Iqiyah… she healed my finger?’

A buzzing sound echoed in Seraphina’s mind.

‘Right, that’s right, I remember now…’

‘The time Ailur killed me, even though the blade pierced my neck, after resurrection, I couldn’t feel any trace of a wound.’

‘Could it be… Iqiyah truly can heal me?’

Watching Iqiyah munching on her fingers before her, Seraphina’s heart swelled with ecstasy.

At the same time, a daring idea began to form in her mind.

‘I can provide her with invincible amplification.’

‘She can be my combat power, and also the only person in the world who can heal me.’

‘If I can completely conquer Iqiyah, making her my ally…’

‘Then wouldn’t I be… invincible?’

In an instant, various ambitions flashed through Seraphina’s heart.

‘Perhaps, I truly can… make those nobles kneel before me…’

‘Conquer this world.’