Curse Returns: What did the human-shaped wishing machine do wrong this time?

As dusk settled, the moon rose high in the sky.

In the night wind, the rain gradually blurred the boundaries of heaven and earth. Through the fluttering bamboo curtain, the black-haired boy slightly raised his head and met a pair of ice-blue eyes that emitted a faint light.

"Has the white-haired older brother arrived?"

He slowly turned his head, revealing an innocent and gentle smile.

Upon seeing Sugawara Satoru, Alluka reached for a paper lantern on a low table not far away. Through a window, the dim candlelight cast a warm glow around them.

"Little brat."

Seeing that no one was around, Sugawara Satoru pushed aside the bamboo curtain, raised his long legs, and jumped directly in through the window.

Once he was on his feet, he looked around the room and casually said, "I've been looking for you for a long time. I didn't expect to find you here."

Some time ago, Sugawara Satoru was sent by his superiors to exorcise a demon in Harima. That thing had been causing trouble for quite some time, and he had a very bad feeling about being suddenly assigned this task.

Sugawara Satoru secretly turned back during the mission, and it was then that he noticed something was amiss.

His father and his cousin, who was expected to become the chief steward of the Kujo family, both became abnormal.

His eyes detected a kind of magical power in the two of them that did not belong to them, and his father would occasionally stutter when speaking to him, as if a puppet had lost control.

The unusual circumstances reminded him of the child named Alluka.

After the Fujiwara family took the child away under the guise of a high-ranking monk from Todai-ji Temple, strange things began to happen frequently in various places, especially various twisted rope figures and a two-faced, four-armed monster that appeared out of nowhere.

Sugawara Satoru's intuition told him that these things must be related to that child. He investigated in secret for a long time without disturbing his father, and finally found the shrine hidden in the mountains of the Fujiwara family's fiefdom with his eyes.

The exquisite, nameless shrine was surrounded by layers of tight barriers in the very center, and unregistered people were not allowed to enter or leave. Fortunately, he knew someone who was skilled in barrier techniques and managed to sneak in after the Fujiwara family left.

He indeed saw the child there.

"Do you know what the outside world is like now?"

Sugawara Satoru pointed to the north of the shrine, which was the site of the latest rope man incident.

"Is there a problem?"

Alluka tilted her head, her eyes were wet, and her gray-blue pupils were pure and clear.

"From what I've seen, there have been at least a dozen large-scale rope-human incidents in various places. These are all related to you, just like Sugawara Kentaro was back then."

Sugawara Satoru's eyes could tell that the child's body itself had no cursed power. He believed that those events were caused by the cursed spirits on Alluka's body, so he had no hostility towards Alluka and did not take any action.

"They will be very happy."

Contrary to Sugawara Satoru's expectations, the child simply clasped his hands together, his innocent and naive face displaying an expression devoid of joy or sorrow.

A sorcerer's magical power comes from their own negative emotions. Alluka has no magical power in his body because he formed a bond with Nanika, who appeared with him before he was born. All the magical power in his body is transferred to Nanika.

Sugawara Satoru's expression faltered slightly; he didn't quite understand why the child would react this way when he learned that so many people had died because of him.

He even saw a trace of unaware divinity on the boy's face, no different from the expressions of the high monks he had seen.

"you……"

"Brother, do you want to make a wish? Like those adults? Nanika really likes you!"

Alluka gave a sweet smile.

The instant he finished speaking, Sugawara Satoru saw that the aura of the cursed spirit on the child's body had become stronger.

"Lord Alluka! No!"

Just as Sugawara Satoru was about to say something, a shrill female voice interrupted their conversation.

A girl dressed in a cherry blossom-colored Tang dress appeared before Alluka in the night.

Without saying a word, she picked up a dagger-shaped magical artifact and launched an attack on the white-haired boy in front of her.

Every strike she made was aimed at a vital spot, but each attack was deflected by her opponent beforehand.

Sugawara Satoru effortlessly deflected her attack with his folding fan, then curled his lips in a provocative smile: "Why bother, Miss Guard? If I'm not mistaken, you were just on a secret rendezvous, weren't you? Were you so forceful because you were afraid I'd reveal it?"

The reason we can guess that this girl is a guard is because her palms are covered in calluses. Dressed so beautifully on such a night, she must be going to meet her lover.

The Fujiwara family wasn't very good at disciplining people either.

"Go to hell!"

As if her secret had been exposed, the pink-haired girl became angry and embarrassed, and began to gather magical power in her hands.

If she had arrived even a little later, and this person had secretly used Lord Alluka's abilities... then they...

She didn't really dare to imagine that outcome.

The principle upheld by Riyuexing in the team has always been "to eliminate selfishness and serve the public good." Her sneaking out during the escort was already a serious crime. She knew that she would definitely be killed by the master, and she was determined to execute this person before she died.

"Henko, you're going to destroy this place."

Alluka looked at the stack of scriptures on the low table with some worry in her eyes.

These books were sent to him by the Fujiwara family, who had hired teachers who were all high-ranking monks from temples.

The Fujiwara family believed that Alluka possessed the ability to influence the rules, and they hoped that he could study Buddhism and let go of his personal emotions so that Alluka could better serve the Fujiwara family.

That stack of scriptures was the homework that the master had left for Alluka, which would be checked tomorrow.

"You...you knew?"

The pink-haired girl's voice trembled slightly, and her body shook with fear.

She was abandoned by her family in a temple as far back as she could remember. The Fujiwara family gathered these orphans together and selected the one with the strongest abilities. She emerged victorious from a series of battles.

Actually, things were already quite good for her while she was alive with Lady Alluka. She didn't need to go out and carry out assassinations every day, but... human desires are endless.

She had a connection with Fujiwara-sama, who even gave her a name.

Her name was the thing she was most obsessed with in the first half of her life.

She carefully concealed this news, but it turned out that Lady Alluka already knew all along?

"But I think Hengzi's new name sounds really good."

In the flickering candlelight, the black-haired boy unconsciously smiled slightly; the smile was gentle and bright, ethereal and unreal.