In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 19

Chapter 19: The Truth Behind the ‘Goddess’s Curse,’ and the Lethal Power of Magic

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(Alto’s POV)

By the third day, the secret meetings in the underground archive were already becoming “routine.” That, more than anything, was terrifying. Amid the smell of mold and old books, I had even begun—unthinkably—to find the faint scent of white lilies carried by Princess Lilianna comforting.

“…Today, I would like to discuss this statistical data.”

Lilianna spread a thick, black leather-bound ledger across the desk. It was the kingdom’s “Demographic Survey Report” we had discussed yesterday. Moreover, this was the original, unrevised master copy that was not released to the public.

“…This is…”

I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw the numbers recorded there. In this world, the male-to-female ratio of one to five was common knowledge. But the ratio of recorded conceptions in this ledger was almost exactly one to one.

“You noticed, didn’t you, Alto-sensei?”

With a pained expression, she pointed to sections filled in with red ink.

“Girls are not failing to be born. …They are dying before they are born.”

I felt a chill run down my spine. According to the ledger, when a female fetus was conceived, roughly eighty percent suffered “cardiac arrest” in the mid to late stages of pregnancy, resulting in stillbirth.

Only one in five was able to cry out at birth. I had known that the mortality rate of female fetuses was high, but I had not known stillbirths were this frequent. Men were selected, women were not even allowed to be born. What a grotesquely twisted world.

“…The Church says that because women are vessels that house magical power—the power of the gods—their bodies cannot withstand the weight of their souls.”

Lilianna bit her lip in frustration.

“But don’t you find that strange? Living beings exist to preserve their species. Why would such an inefficient form of ‘selection’ occur?”

Her question was sharp. I mobilized all the knowledge from my previous life—biology and immunology—to think through the true nature of this so-called “curse.” Only girls died. And only the sex that carried magical power.

“…Your Highness. This is not something vague like a ‘curse.’”

I spoke quietly.

“This is a pure ‘rejection reaction.’”

“A rejection… Reaction?”

Lilianna’s eyes widened.

“This is only a hypothesis, but… When do you think a girl’s magical power begins to manifest?”

“At birth… No, faint magical reactions are present even during the fetal stage.”

“That’s the key.”

As I explained, I drew a diagram of the human body on parchment.

“As the fetus grows, a magical core organ forms. At that moment, a female fetus begins to carry powerful magical energy within the mother’s womb. …What if the wavelength of that magical power does not ‘match’ the mother’s?”

Lilianna’s blue eyes wavered sharply.

“…Are you saying the mother is attacking her own child as a ‘foreign object’?”

“Or the reverse. The fetus’s excessively strong magical power begins to repel the mother’s body, and the mother’s defensive immune instinct cuts off the nutrient supply to the fetus. …It’s akin to magical anaphylactic shock.”

At my explanation, she covered her mouth with her hand and fell silent. Yet the light of intelligence in her eyes was already testing my hypothesis at tremendous speed.

“…It makes sense. It aligns with the data showing that stillbirths are more common among higher-ranking nobles, families with stronger magical lineages.”

“The stronger the magical power, the stronger the rejection reaction with the mother.”

I continued.

“Men do not die because they fundamentally ‘do not possess magical power.’ To the mother’s body, there is no ‘magical threat.’ That is why they are not attacked by immune defenses and can grow normally.”

“…!”

Lilianna stared intently at my face. Under that gaze, my heart felt as though it might stop. She was convinced that I possessed magical power. Then naturally, she would think this.

“If so, why did you have no problems despite carrying such great magical power?”

She opened her mouth.

“…Then, Alto. You—”

It was coming. I raised my defenses. I could never admit it. If I said something like “my magical power is special,” it would be the same as a confession. Even in this situation, I still wanted a peaceful life.

“…Because I am a man.”

I cut her off and said it calmly.

“As I stated earlier, men have no magical power. …That crystal ball was merely a malfunction. That is why, even without a proper royal-class maternity facility, I was born perfectly healthy. Isn’t that the best proof?”

Perfect logic. If one accepted the premise that “men have no magical power,” then there was nothing unnatural about my birth. To conceal my greatest secret—my infinite magical power—I used this cruel world’s common sense as a shield.

Lilianna gazed into my eyes for a while longer, then softly smiled with a lonely expression.

“…That’s true. You are a boy, after all.”

She did not expose my lie. But her eyes said it clearly.

“You’re still not ready to tell me.”

Sorry..

I apologized inwardly. In truth, I myself did not know why I had survived, perhaps it had simply been luck. Was it because my magical power was close to “non-attribute”? Or because memories from my previous life had been controlling my magic since the fetal stage?

Either way, it was something even I did not know.

“…In any case..”

I returned the conversation to the main point, as if to brush away the awkwardness.

“If the cause is a natural ‘phenomenon,’ then countermeasures are possible. Even if there is no magic to lift a curse, we might be able to develop drugs that suppress rejection reactions, or formulas that temporarily neutralize the mother’s magical response.”

Lilianna suddenly lifted her face. I saw tears welling in her eyes. She must have suffered under this truth as well.

“…You are…”

She looked at me, her voice trembling.

“You are truly… ‘Positive,’ no matter the situation.”

That gaze was no longer merely intellectual curiosity. It was a clinging, heated trust. I realized I had stepped too far. This was bad. I had shared secrets tied to the very foundation of the kingdom and worse, I had even proposed solutions. I could no longer return to being “just a student.”

…An accomplice, then. Here in this underground archive, we might have shared a “truth” that could save the world or just as easily turn the world against us.

“…Alto.”

For the first time, she spoke my name without any honorifics. The sound of it was sweet, coiling around my heart like a chain.

“You’ll come again tomorrow, won’t you? …I want to hear more of what you have to say.”

It was not an order. It was a plea. A desperate wish directed at the only person in the world who understood her. I should have refused. I should have said, “I have no magical power. I’m just a background character,” and run away. But the words that left my mouth were ones of agreement.

“…As you wish.”

The dimly lit underground archive. How cruel it was. Even knowing it was dangerous, my intellectual curiosity still yearned to know the truth of the world.

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