His splintered heart began to heal a little. Vandalieu reconsidered, thinking that perhaps he should at least be thankful to Rodcorte for making Darcia his mother.

But if it weren’t for Rodcorte’s curse, he would be able to use death-attribute magic at the level that he had been using it just before he died for the second time in Origin. He would be able to employ countless Golems freely, manipulate many spirits simultaneously, turn an entire lake of water into deadly poison or reverse the process, turning deadly poison into pure water. If he had been able to do all these things, perhaps Darcia wouldn’t have had to die. When he thought about that, any gratitude that he might have felt towards Rodcorte was blown away.