Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse: Where to Go After Carmilla

Beating Carmilla in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse does not change your objective. It still reads “Find Dracula and defeat him”, so the game gives you no clear next stop. The route forward runs through Brauner’s Atelier in the Main Hall, where you get an Arcana card that opens a painting leading to Notre-Dame.

Quick answer: Pick up Aerial Rush in the Library, take the Ferryman to Main Hall, Smash the gold-cracked sculpture in Brauner’s Atelier for The Artist, equip it, then interact with the Notre-Dame painting west of the Main Hall.

Carmilla rewards and Aerial Rush

Carmilla is stationed in the Observation Tower, overlooking the Planetarium. Defeating her awards the trophy “Blood for Blood” and the Arcana card The Occultist, which grants the spell Blood Spikes. The fight itself is in our Carmilla boss guide.

Exit through the Observatory. A short walk later, in a Library hallway, you get Aerial Rush. The prompt reads “PRESS [left stick]+[Circle] TO PROPEL YOURSELF SIDEWAYS WHEN ROSE IS IN THE AIR”. This sideways air dash gets you over gaps and spike pits for the rest of this stretch. The full ability order is in our movement ability guide.

How to get The Artist in Brauner’s Atelier

In the Library, go to the Planetarium pier, where the Ferryman stops. At “FERRYMAN’S WHARF / CHOOSE A DESTINATION”, select Main Hall.

Make your way upward through the Grand Hall, then enter Brauner’s Atelier. In the room’s center is a large stone sculpture split by glowing gold cracks.

Use the grapple to get above the sculpture, then Smash down onto it with Down + Cross in the air. Smash is the ability you unlock after Talos; more on it in how to break yellow blocks with Smash.

Watch the scene that follows. The sculpture shatters, Brauner comes down, and he gives you the Arcana card The Artist, whose spell is Masterpiece.

Optional stops you can make in this stretch

Aerial Rush and the grapple rings open several side rooms in the Library. None of them are part of the main line, but you can grab them before or after the trip to Brauner.

Item	Library room
Thorn Whip	Fine Arts Shelves
Durandal	Lisa’s Laboratory
Revenant’s Shard (relic)	Curiosity Cabinet
Fleuret and Tower Shield	Condemned Shelves

The Circle of Greed eye door in the Catacombs of Paris is another stop you can make here. The door is “MADE OF FLESH AND EYES” and opens when you have the Thrilling Eye, Oozing Eye and Trembling Eye relics equipped together. Mammon is behind it, and beating him gives you The Miser. Steps: how to open the Circle of Greed eye door and beat Mammon.

How to reach Notre-Dame through the painting

Open the Equipment menu and select your current Arcana. Swap it out for The Artist.

Get back to the Main Hall. One quick way is the Hall of Mirrors hub in the Tower of Worldly Reflection, which has a mirror to the Elevator Tower in the Main Hall.

Head west from the Main Hall. The “WEST HALL” banner appears, and past it you reach the Gallery of Eternal Night, home to a giant painting of Notre-Dame. Full steps for the card are in where to find The Artist.

Stand at the painting with The Artist equipped and press INTERACT (R1). A conversation plays inside the painting.

Near the painting, a tutorial line explains the mechanic: “Arcanic Resonances are hidden interactions that activate when the appropriate Arcana is equipped. Rose’s Tarot will react when it is near an Arcanic Resonance.” The Notre-Dame painting is one of these interactions, and The Artist is the card it reacts to.

When the conversation ends you are standing at the cathedral doors, and the banner reads “NOTRE-DAME”. Inside, the next task is the Great Organ, where three Melody Sheets clear the corrupted pipes; the solution is in our Notre-Dame organ guide, and the cathedral route is in walkthrough part 7.