Reine sat cross-legged near the pillar, her fingers tracing the cracked stone as if arranging her thoughts. The sound of the red wind outside the temple had quieted. Her voice, when she began, was low but clear.

"When the king died, the god came again," she said. "He demanded another daughter, because that was how the pact worked. One daughter from the royal bloodline, every generation. But the queen refused. Her husband was gone, and she had only her son left, who was just an infant. She refused to offer him."

Vencian watched her without speaking. Her hands moved slightly as she talked, not performing or acting, but as though she was repeating something she had memorized long ago.

"The demigod left in silence," she continued. "Then the crops began to die again. It started with the border farms. The famine spread slowly."

She paused, drawing a circle on the floor with her finger. "Two Solshifters came to the palace during that time. They were wanderers. They wanted gold, but the king was dead. So they made a plan."

Vencian's eyes followed her hand. The mention of Solshifters intrigued him further. They were the superior human beings of the ancient eras. The last he had read about them was during the visit to Quesil Migdol.

He stayed still, not wanting to break her rhythm.

"One of them used his power to go inside the king's body," Reine said. "He made the corpse move again. The other came to court as a traveler asking for payment. When the king answered him, the court believed the king had returned from death. They called it a miracle."

Roselys shifted beside Vencian, listening in silence. Reine's voice stayed even, without emotion.

"But the king's advisor, Eesha, saw through it," Reine said. "She delayed the payment. She thought the false miracle could be useful. The harvest ritual needed a royal daughter. The king was dead, but a false one would be enough to keep people's faith. Eesha planned to perform the rite using the corpse."

She drew a small cross within the circle. "The Solshifters would take their money and leave, but Eesha wanted to keep the act going. So she sent her agents to destroy the real body of the Solshifter who had entered the corpse. That way, he would never be able to return to it."

Vencian could imagine it. The rotting palace, the false king, and the quiet advisor behind it all. He didn't know if the story was history or legend, but something in it felt heavier than myth.

"The Solshifter found out," Reine said. "He went mad. His body was gone, and he was trapped inside a corpse that was falling apart. He ordered Eesha and her hundred children to be thrown into the old ritual well. Since he was the king and Eesha had kept her finding a secret, everyone considered him the king and followed with the order."

"The well wasn't dry," she added. "The water inside had turned black over the years. It was thick and smelled of old offerings. They fell into that. Eesha tried to keep her children alive. She failed."

Her eyes didn't move from the stone beneath her fingers. "They starved. The air was foul. The walls were too smooth to climb. When they couldn't move anymore, their screams stayed in the stone. There was food for one person only. Eesha said the one who could take revenge should live. The children said it should be her."

Roselys's eyes widened, but she didn't speak. Reine's tone stayed level. "She obeyed them. She lived."

Vencian's throat felt dry. This is some story… the sort grandmas would tell before bedtime.

"She sat among the dead until something stirred under the water," Reine said. "It helped her climb out."

Vencian frowned at those words. Climb out… What exactly helped her?

"She carried the false king's head to the temple and offered it to the demigod. The god ate it. But the Solshifter's spirit was still inside. It corrupted the god's essence."

The wind outside picked up again, a low whistle through the temple gaps. Reine's voice didn't change.

"The god of harvest turned into the Hollow Eater," she said. "He could no longer bless. He could only consume. He cursed Eesha and her people. Their soil would always grow crops, but from then on every harvest would cost a life."

She stopped for a breath. Vencian realized he hadn't moved for several minutes. Her eyes looked unfocused, as if she saw something far away.

"Eesha left the kingdom," she went on. "Before she vanished, she made the dead king's child the new ruler. The line continued, and the daughters were given to the Hollow Eater each generation. She left behind only ruins. But one of her youngest children had survived. He had hidden in the cracks of the well. He wrote what she said before she left."

Reine leaned back against the pillar. "She said the curse would end when the bloodline's daughters were gone, when the god's name was forgotten, and when the king's corpse walked again. Then the harvest would stop, and those bound by the curse would be free."

Vencian felt his heartbeat in his throat. The words carried the weight of something absolute. When the king's corpse walk again and daughters... he thought. Is that the prophecy Harin was talking about?

Reine's eyes flickered toward the far end of the hall. "The kingdom broke apart," she said. "The names disappeared. The old gods faded. But the harvests never failed. People kept giving daughters of the old bloodline to the Hollow Eater. They believed it was their duty."

Her voice dropped. "That's how it stayed."

Silence followed. Dust hung unmoving in the dull air. Vencian couldn't tell if she was finished until she pressed her palms flat to the floor and whispered, "And that is how the curse began."

Reine lowered her head, quiet now, as if the story had drained something from her.

The curse had a face now, and it was looking back through her voice.

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