Published at 26th of December 2025 7:41 am

Chapter 497: No Matter How Pure the Feelings Were, if the Other Person Did Not Accept Them, They Were Nothing but a Curse

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DIE!!!

Whoa!?

The black hair of the witch who screamed turned into thorns and wrapped around Lukas body. It looked similar to the attacks he had been enduring until now, but for some reason, Luka grimaced and writhed.

Ah, this is tougher than I thought!? Senpai, help me! Help!

Hey, hey, what are you doing, Luka!

I rushed over and cut away the thorns binding Luka with my [Dawnbreaker]. Despite their appearance, they were surprisingly solid, definitely not ordinary thorns.

Thank you, senpai. I could handle thorns, but being wrapped in hair just felt so creepy that I couldnt muster any strength.

Creepy? Youre being too careless

C-c-creepy, you say!?

As I was about to caution the smirking Luka, the witchs crazed voice rang out again. Her eyes, which had been focused solely on Luka until now, rolled towards me.

All men are the same! They dont notice my charm! Then you dont need those eyes, do you!?

Whoa!?

Countless strands of hair turned into thorns and stretched straight towards my eyes. While dodging or intercepting would be easy, the sheer volume, being originally hair, was overwhelming. At this rate, wed get nowhere.

Tch! Luka and I will keep her attention like this. Tia, back us up with magic! Yuusha-sama, go for the witchs main body!

Got it!

Understood!

Alright, lets do this, Luka!

Ugh, its so gross~

Youre still saying that!?

The witchs hair expanded like a balloon and stretched out to envelop Luka and me, deploying thorns. Moreover, it began to swirl at high speed, threatening to grind us to death with its thorny surface if we remained trapped inside.

I wonder how this mechanism works?

How should I know!? More importantly, think of a way to deal with this seriously!

Eh? Deal with it? Cant we just leave it be? The witch has kindly surrounded us, so now we should be fine just protecting ourselves normally, right?

Luka gave me a puzzled look as I shouted. Indeed, if Lorenz wasnt watching, we could easily use [Invincible] to get through this level of attack unscathed. However, there was one big undeniable problem with that.

My Invincible can protect our bodies, but not our equipment! If we come out of this naked, wed be perverts!

Naked!? Oh my, senpai, youre so naughty!

Dont be ridiculous!

Ignoring Luka who was spouting nonsense while pretending to cover his chest with both hands, I desperately slashed at the gradually shrinking thorny cage. But because it kept spinning at high speed, no gaps appeared no matter how much I cut. As I desperately resisted the approaching crisis of dignity suddenly, the movement of the thorns stopped.

Nows our chance! Lets get out, Luka!

Ah, yes!

Seizing the opportunity, I sliced through a section of the surrounding thorns and leapt out through the opening. Outside, vines created by Tias magic were entangled with the witchs thorny hair, stopping its movement.

Ed!? Are you alright?

You saved us, Tia!

Giii! You milk-smelling little girl, how dare you interfere!

Tia-san is an elf, so isnt she older than you, Witch-san?

Hah!? You age-faking hag, dont get in my way!

Eh!? Isnt that a bit too harsh in various ways!?

Thats why shes a witch, cause shes so nasty!

Glancing at the shocked Tia, I lunged towards the witch. The witch seemed to try to counter me, but she couldnt move her entangled hair well.

First, one arm!

Gyaaaa!?

My single stroke cut off the witchs right arm, which couldnt attack or defend properly.

Then, Ill take this one!

Ugyaaaa!?

Next, Luka cut off her left arm. Then, as if to compensate for the lost limbs, thorns grew from the cut surfaces on her shoulders, forming arm-like shapes.

How dare you mar my beautiful body! Pay for this sin with your lives!

She aimed her thorny arms at both Luka and me, and darkly discolored thorns stretched out towards us. While it looked like a dangerous attack

The one who should pay for their sins is you.

Kaha!?

Lorenzs sword, having sneaked around while concealing his presence, pierced through the witchs chest from behind. With that, the thorny arms lost their strength and withered, and her hair reverted to just messy black locks.

No way why

We couldnt find out who you really were, no matter how much we investigated. Perhaps if we learned the truth here, we might have felt sympathy for you.

However, the act of forcing guilt upon a young girl simply because of her bloodline can never be justified, no matter the reason.

If youre going to question others sins, sleep while firmly embracing your own sins, Black Rose Witch.

Ah, aah Adonis sama

The Black Rose Witch reached out as if struggling, but unable to grasp anything, she collapsed. Perhaps as the price for wielding power beyond her means, her body wasnt even allowed to maintain a human state, turning into black ashes.

Simultaneously, the thorns covering the entire mansion also turned to ash, falling and accumulating like a gray carpet, as if to hide the sins.

Is it over?

Somehow, it feels a bit sad.

Battles are always empty, right? Did I get that right?

Well then, shall we investigate the mansion again?

Nodding to Lorenzs words that seemed to mark the end as he sheathed his sword, we began to explore the mansion once more. There, I happened to find a hidden room behind the bedroom, where we all ended up reading the Black Rose Witchs diary, but

Eh? This is the truth?

This is indeed a deep karmic sin.

Well, humans are often like this, arent they?

What was written there was the truth behind the incident, the witchs reality. 120 years ago, the witch fell in love with the lord who ruled this land, but the lord was already engaged, making it a completely one-sided love. She did confess her feelings, but was naturally rejected.

However, the witch couldnt give up. She devoted herself to self-improvement, believing she was more beautiful and more suitable, but the world isnt kind enough for that to make a difference. With time, youth was lost, growing feelings turned into a curse, and before she knew it, the witch had become an entity known as the Black Rose Witch in this land.

Needless to say, the lord she loved back then had long since passed away from old age. But if feelings could disappear just because the other person died, she wouldnt have become a witch. The witch continued to complain endlessly about the man who didnt choose her while using magic to spy on the lords family. One day, she was shocked when she saw the face of a newborn girl. That girl Misha, the current lords daughter, had a face identical to the woman who the witch arbitrarily believed had stolen her lover.

As past memories resurfaced along with humiliation, the witch, unable to control herself, cursed the girl. All that was left was to watch with eyes full of pleasure as the daughter with the same face as the hated woman gradually weakened and died and thats when we appeared.

Can people really become this self-centered? I cant understand it honestly, its a bit scary.

Ah, the conditions for breaking the curse are written here. Lets see Acknowledge that I am a more beautiful and wonderful woman than the sleeping daughter, and kill the daughter miserably with tearful apologies, and the curse will be broken?

So, its a choice between dying from the curse or being killed by her parent? What cruelty, born from mere grudge

Cant be helped. The heart is always uncotrollable and were not strong or wise enough to save everyone.

If I had been transported to the world 120 years ago, there might have been a way to admonish this person and guide her down a different path. But I cant think of any way to save a witch who has already reached this state.

We cant save everything. But there were things we could save. Glancing briefly at the fallen witchs ashes another conclusion was etched into our adventure.

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