In a region of the vast Zerynthia Empire, more precisely at the location of the empire's seventh legion, the birth of the successor of the prestigious Amatsu family was taking place.
In a room of the enormous mansion, several people were gathered. Most of them were servants of the place, who carefully assisted in the delivery of Lumiére, the wife of the ruler Dorian.
"I need you to push one more time, miss," were the words of Yue, the head servant and Lumiére's best friend.
The latter was completely covered in her own sweat. She had spent several agonizing and painful minutes pushing constantly so that her child would finally be born.
"¡Aghh!" she gasped in deep pain as she exerted her strength once more.
She was exhausted. She felt how her body opened in an almost inhuman way to allow the child to come out, and the worst of all was that none of her servants could use healing magic on her.
Any use of magic during pregnancy or childbirth was strictly forbidden, as it was known to cause serious complications to the baby's well-being.
Yue expected the infant's head to appear after so much effort, but it did not… not until her lady gathered the little energy she still had left for one final, desperate attempt.
That last effort was so effective that part of the baby's head finally became visible.
"I can see the head, my lady… one last push!" she exclaimed, celebrating with evident emotion upon seeing it.
"¡Aghh!" she cried out one last time, using all her strength, until she collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling in a blurred manner.
'…It's— it's over', she told herself in a mental whisper.
But she did not hear her child's cry.
With noticeable concern in her gaze, she turned her head to one side, searching for the eyes of one of her servants. When she looked at them, she noticed that all of them had expressions of absolute fear etched onto their faces.
With effort, helping herself with her arms, she lifted her back and looked forward.
She opened her eyes in disbelief at what she was seeing.
Yue, who had assisted her throughout the entire delivery, was completely paralyzed with fear. Her eyes were visibly trembling as she held the child in her arms.
He was not a simple child in the eyes of everyone present in the room. Even for his mother, who had feared that her son had some problem for not crying, this exceeded any negative expectation.
A large amount of mana covered the baby, leaving no space to see him clearly. It was an energy completely different from any other they knew; it was repulsive and, for some reason, merely seeing or feeling it caused indescribable fear.
For Lumiére, who had been left in shock by what she was seeing, only one thing crossed her mind:
'A… a curse'.
Then, multiple bitter thoughts flooded her head. How was it possible that her son was born with one? She knew of their existence only from the old books she had studied during her youth.
Those born with a curse were extremely rare beings; in fact, in recent decades not a single case had been reported in the entire world. And now, what she had before her eyes was her own son bearing one.
'So much effort… so much time devoted to his birth… and he is born defective'.
All the hope and joy she had felt just seconds ago were erased from her mind.
Seeing that no one was moving, she called one of the guards protecting the room to enter immediately.
His reaction was different from that of the servants, demonstrating his strict discipline.
He looked at his lady and bowed. When he raised his gaze, he did not even need to hear her request.
He approached a Yue still paralyzed by fear and, somewhat roughly, took the child into his arms before quickly leaving the room.
As he walked through the corridors, his presence caused great tension among the other guards protecting the mansion.
The reaction of the servants in the corridors was immediate: even from several meters away, they felt that repugnant mana and hurriedly moved away in opposite directions.
The guard continued walking for several minutes through the enormous corridors, until he reached a large door that had no guards at all.
Upon opening it, he found a common room, like any other within the mansion.
He entered and closed the door, leaving the two of them alone.
He observed the child in silence. Inside his helmet, his gaze remained cold, without a trace of emotion.
At that moment, a magic circle suddenly appeared beneath his feet. An energy completely enveloped him and, when the light dissipated, the guard was no longer there.
In his place stood a short woman, with red hair tied in a ponytail and blood-red eyes, holding the baby.
This woman was a servant who had recently joined the ranks of the mansion's maids. Since her arrival, she had stood out for being strange compared to the others: always serious, speaking to no one, limiting herself exclusively to doing her job.
Her name was Kanna.
She observed the child in her arms without any emotion. The little one had his eyes closed and dark hair.
Gently, she ran her hand over his small cheek and, without saying anything, opened the palm of her hand a few centimeters above his head.
Then, a small magic circle appeared; it was the size of her palm, purple in color, and slowly rotated on its own axis.
"Let's start again," she murmured.
The magic circle disappeared, and with it the little one slowly opened his eyes, revealing a blood-red color.
His eyes were identical to hers. For a brief instant, the newborn's gaze met the woman's, holding it with unexpected intensity.
The little one remained silent for a few seconds, but it did not take long before he broke into loud crying.