psithurism

epilogue: psithurism with the birds' hymn

I watched as Nara took her own life in front of me. I only told her the truth because I don't want to lie to her any longer but still, I lost her.

She hang herself and before I could get her off the rope, she already stopped breathing. I wanted to kill myself also but I know I can't.

When I was eighteen, I accidentally killed a wild boar while hunting. The boar happened to be the son of a witch and she was not happy with the incident. She cursed me to become a monster with a never ending life of misery and agony.

I thought she was bluffing until I realized I stopped aging when I reached 32. I was already 50 but the youthful look of my early 30's is still there.

I went back to the witch and she told me that the only way to stop the curse is if I have a lady love me dearly and accept me for who I was. I never thought much of it.

Why would a lady have to accept me for who I was? It's not like I have a contagious disease. It's just that I cannot die. As simple as that.

But as weeks pass by, my sense of smell became sharper and whenever the servants in the mansion get close to me, I can hear the blood flowing through their veins. I always get the urge to sip them and the feeling was creeping me out.

I was able to control myself until one full moon, I felt like a foreigner in my own body. I passed out and when I woke up, everyone in the mansion is dead with two dots on their necks. And I am a bloody mess.

It was my hundredth birthday when I met Nara Daffdil, daughter of a viscount. She's the prettiest girl I had ever seen and my heart immediately beat for her.

I courted her for a week before we became official. After three months of dating, we decided to get married and I was glad because finally, the curse will be voided. I can just forget my past as if it never happened.

We were happy although Nara hasn't bore me a child yet. I'm fine with that. I don't want to rush her to things. Everything's perfect until one day, the witch visited us.

"The woman is close to being your solution but she's not the one to break the curse," she said to me with a sly smile.

My jaw clenched. "She loves me," I said.

"Does she? Then why don't you ask her yourself, dear? Show her what you really are and see how far her love is."

I didn't want to but I did and now, she's gone. She killed herself on my 101st birthday.

That's also the day I decided to change the name of the patriarch of the duchy. Weagan Vandecois became duke. I even had a portrait of myself as Weagan to display in the office.

I made sure the paper I fabricated states that he's 32 because that's how old I look like. I stayed on the third floor of the mansion and I hired new people to work for me.

I always hire a butler and made sure to tell them my secret. They freak out at first but luckily I found loyal servants. And as weird as it was, those who didn't accept the job as my butler die. Those who did lived until 101.

Every full moon, I make sure to trap myself in a cage so I wouldn't be able to get out and hurt people.

The cycle of my endless life continued like that. Whenever my butler die, I change my name into a 32-year-old persona. I made myself out of the public's radar as much I can. I never met another woman after Nara which made me afraid that I won't be able to break the spell until the witch visited me again.

"Now's your chance to break the curse, Warren," she said.

Hearing my real name made me flinch hard. She brought a five year old girl in my mansion.