Chapter 27: Cursed Ring

"You're the one who's lying here." I told her. "You're not Vincent's childhood friend." I said.

"I am – " the female elf answered.

"Don't lie. I can see through you." I said. "You're a stalker." I told her. "You're always looking at him from afar. You can't go near him since you're afraid he might despise you for what you look like – " I looked at her.

"Stop it." she cut me off.

"So you're feasting your eyes by looking at him from afar. Then you fell in love – " I continued.

"I said stop it!" she yelled.

My room shook. I looked at her with a calm gaze.

Her face is so red with anger. "You damn lying princess. You're just going to marry Vincent to fulfill your duty." She said. "But you really don't love him, do you - ?" she asked.

"I do." I answered. "I love her." I said.

She scoffed. "I don't sense any love from that straight face of yours." She told me.

"I'm just having a bad day – " I said.

"Your eyes are dead. Your face is pale as a ghost." She said. "Your tone lacks emotions. And your heart – " she suddenly stopped, then looked at me. Her eyes went wide. "Did you just kill yourself?!" she asked, shocked. She went to me and touched my chest. "Your heart!" she said, panicking. "It's not… it's beating faint!" she said. Her hand suddenly glowed green. "Damn it! I don't want to help you, but I just can't ignore this – " she said, then sighed.

I suddenly felt a warm sensation filling up my body. I felt nauseous. I can't take it anymore. I puked. "Ugh." I grunted, wiping my mouth. I glared at her. "What did you do?" I asked.

She looked at me, serious. "If you're planning to die, at least save Vincent first." She told me. She looked at my pocket. "A cursed ring." She said.

"What?" I asked. She motioned her hand and a ring flew out my pocket. My eyes went wide. "That's - !" I exclaimed.

She looked at me. "Where did you get this?" she asked.

"Huh? A child gave it to me – " I answered.

"A child?!" she asked, shocked. "So the cursed items all went lost." she said. She looked at me. "This thing… it takes the opportunity to consume the negative emotions inside a human's heart and takes control of his soul." she explained. "And you just used this." she said. "What did you wish?" she asked.

"I – " I said, shocked. "I'm…I don't know. I got so angry at my friend that time – " I explained.

"Anger?" she said, shocked. "You couldn't…" she said. "This ring amplifies all the negativities the human feels. You – " she said as she looked at me. "That friend of yours… have you… killed – " she said.

"I didn't, idiot!" I said, crying. "But I did something so horrible…" I said. "Anger took me, so I – " I said. "God! What have I done?! I can't look at her now!" I fell on my knees.

"It seems like this friend of yours is so important to you." she said. "Tell me. She's the one whom your heart belongs to, isn't it?" she asked.

I glared at him. "Don't take advantage of my confusion, too!" I told her. "Damn it." I cursed, then sighed. "Damn it." I cursed. "So it was that damn ring's fault!" I said.

"But – " she said. "Did you really use this?" she asked. "Oh… not yet, I see." she said.

"Huh?" I am confused.

"The engraving here." she said and pointed to the ring. "It's still there." she said.

"Ah. You're right." I said, looking at the engraving. "'What the heart yearns, this ring will give. But only to those who don't desire to live.'" I read. "Yeah. That's right. I still haven't wished." I said.

"But it says here it will grant your wish if you don't desire to live." she said. "In short, you want to die." she explained.

I gulped and hugged myself. "Ah…" I said, suddenly I felt cold. "So that's it – " I said.

She glared at me. "Hey. So you really wished for something?" she asked.

"Err…" I said. "Anyway. What will happen if you wish but you don't want to die?" I asked.

"So you did wish." she said. "As I've said. This ring amplifies the negativities you felt. Even before you wish, as long as you have it, it will consume you." she told me. "It amplifies your negative emotions to the point that you want to die. That's what this ring is. It wants to be used, and be freed." She explained.

"'freed'?" I asked. "Sounds like someone from an anime – " I said. "This story breaks so many walls – " I muttered.

"Yes." The female elf nodded, ignoring her comment. "A thing was cursed by trapping all the negative emotions a human feels to an object. That's how a cursed item was created." she explained.

"Oooh… this story is really getting darker and darker – " I said, then sighed. "So that's why I can't control my anger that time?" I said. "And how I got to talk to the West King so calmly when I so want to punch his face." I added. "That ring consumes me?" I asked and looked at the ring.

She nodded.

I sighed. "Can you take the ring?" I asked her. As long as the ring is taken away...

"Unfortunately…" I heard the female elf said. "Once it started to consume a human's emotions, it can't stop – " she told me as she looked at me with pity on her gaze.

My eyes went wide. "Waaaaahhhh!!!!! Why?!!!!?!!?!!? I didn't know any of this - !!!" I screamed.

"Your Highness?!" Emil and Oril cried.

I turned. They're outside the room.

"You bastard - !" they said and glared at the female elf and then drew their weapons.

"Ah, idiot!" I said. "She has no fault!" I told them.

They stopped.

I sighed. "I, uh…" I said. "I'm cursed." I told them.

Their jaws dropped. "Huh?" they said, shocked. "HUH?!?!?!" they exclaimed.