No (straight to the goal)

Was this the curse everybody was talking about?

No!

"all fine it was just .... Nice" when you say that she giggles

You continue to follow the path through dense bushes
You step through a cloud of thick fog into a kind of clearing, maybe a pond would fit better, you stomp barefoot into the water, which is only a few centimeters high.
This small water pool was something that one could call a mixture of landfill and free air treasury.
In mountains of dirt and dark green mud you see it sparkle, shine and here and there mystically glowing.
On the other side you see a cliff-like inclination, it would be impossible to get up there.

If you are right and your navigation skills have not failed you, you are at the western edge of CessPond.
This borders on the private forest of one of the richest nobles in the empire.
Which was home to the most exclusive hunting club in the entire empire, where only the richest of the rich, the most beautiful of the beautiful, and maybe one or two emperors or empresses were allowed to enter.
Even many nobles were denied access, so exclusive was it.

This area was supposedly particularly dangerous no one had ever come out here.
You knew you shouldn't say too loudly where you got your loot.

"So here we are, watch your step, some things here are cursed, sometimes there are even human animals lying around. Even alive"
The fact that your companion was licking her lips was really disturbing to you.

But so be it, it's time to see what can be looted.