<strong>+++</strong>


    <strong>In front of the Mortel duchy,</strong>


    "Please mydy...please give me the antidote..."


    "No." Herodpletely rejected the priest who was begging him in desperation whose blood veins were transparent on his face.


    When the priest was begging Herod from behind his back, Herod put his hand behind his back standing from the front of the duchy staring at the duchy, his old home two thousand years ago.


    He felt a little nostalgic and his feeling was tangling, his tear dropped without him knowing. Irene who finally caught up to the priest saw Herod, she wasn''t used to the ck soul of Herod.


    Herod looked at Irene with his tear dropped on his face, the priest and Irene never expected to see a cold person like him shed a single drop of tear.


    "You...do you know where''s Marte??" he asked Irene.


    "By Marte, was it the white-haired woman yesterday?"


    "Yeah, that''s right." he nodded. Irene kept getting the feeling of her talking to an elderly, she couldn''t look at him in the eyes.


    "By what I heard, she was caught up in the explosion."


    "I see...I don''t have to worry then." Irene was confused seeing his chilling personality came out again.


    Herod red at the trembling priest on the ground and told him to open his mouth, "I''ll give you the antidote."


    Herod took the small bottle of potion and dropped a droplet of it into the priest''s mouth going down his throat.


    "What??? The pain, it didn''t subside--"


    "Huh??!!!! The prey didn''t beg!! Shut up." he almost snapped and killed the priest if he didn''t remember Marte''s words for him.


    "You brat, take that priest to Aurora. And then do what she tells you." Herod summoned a big rose petal to take Irene and the priest to Aurora.


    Before leaving the priest to Irene, he whispered into the priest''s ear, "Touch anyone of them, you''ll die."


    The priest sat quietly at the corner of the petal as they flew to Aurora.


    "Hm??"


    There was a faint of simr magic around him, it wasn''t powerful but the magical energy around the duchy kinda remind him of the past.


    He step into the duchy pasting the knight of the duchy, they immediately bowed at him in a strict manner as if he was the boss of the duchy.


    Just like he was guessing, when he saw the empty bottle on the floor, someone really used the magic spell.


    "Body swap spell, I thought I destroyed all of it already...there was only one remaining, but I never told anyone--" the blood on the floor cut him off, his eyes became wide and his heart beat so fast as he ran out of the duchy in the woman''s dress ignoring his image of a woman.


    He arrived at the hospital following the scent of the blood owner, which led him to the VIP room of the hospital.


    He barged in without knocking and duke Jel was there lying on the bed with his bandage wrapping around his stomach.


    Herod burst outughing in excitement seeing the duke in that state. The duke woke up from the sound ofughing, was shocked seeing Herod in front of his eyes.


    "You brat, to think that you''re in the state."


    "Ancestor...?" duke Jel tried to get up and bowed at Herod but Herod stopped him. Herod pulled out a chair and sat beside Jel crossing his legs.


    "You beat me to pulp back then, and now you''re injured from an explosion?? Pathetic." he grinned and then ate the apple on the table.


    "How are...you here??" Jel was terrified seeing Herod.


    "I was resurrected, no it''s more like I wanted toe here myself."


    "Who...gets you out of the tombstone barrier?"


    "Who else? It was your daughter, no...your real daughter." Jel put his hand on Herod''s mouth to shut him up.


    "Don''t talk about that. And why did she go to you?"


    "It''s a deal, I can''t reveal the information to you. Just like how you made a deal with me back then."


    "..." Jel still had his cold expression on his face trying to analyze if it was the real Herod.


    "Your daughter is alright, Diana too as well. If they die, I would''ve known." Jel was relieved hearing that.


    Herod stared at the rose of the table, a faint breeze came into the room blowing the long white hair of Herod. Jel was extremely ufortable seeing Herod as a woman. He was confused since thest time they met, Herod was a man.


    "It''s been twenty years, huh?? I remembered the day when you carried your baby daughter all the way to me that year. Even with a daughter in your arm, you still managed to defeat me."


    <em>Cough cough</em>


    Blood dripping from Jel while Herod was speaking, Herod looked back at him indifferently since he already knew what Jel was going through.


    "Hold on a little more...your daughter still has a lot to show you."


    "Ancestor, can you watch over her for me...?"


    "I won''t stay for long either, at least till she''s married...stay with her."


    Duke Jel''s condition kept getting worse days by day, he started to cough blood ever since Marte''s birth.


    "I can still take back the deal...if you want to live--"


    "No!! Just a little more, my daughter will be free from the curse...for her to live, I can...do it."


    "Alright, alright. But...Jel, aren''t you afraid she will hate you for keeping her in the dark??" he sounded serious there asking Jel that question.


    "She already hates me. It would be best if she hates me, so she won''t have to be sad when I''m gone." Jel murmured rubbing his finger talking in a heartbreaking tone.


    "...Jel, I came here to end the Mortel''s grudge. I won''t let my descendant suffer any longer."


    "What''re you going to do?"


    "It was good in the recent one thousand years, but that person bears so much grudge. The curse will appear again if she holds onto that grudge."


    "By that person, do you mean..." Jel knew who Herod talked about, but it stabbed his heart when he asked to confirm it.


    "Yes, it''s your sister...Jessica Mortel, Diana''s true mother. It''s lucky that it was only her and not Marte too. Marte didn''t hold onto many grudges like Jessica. I will kill Jessica before she meets Diana."


    "...but--"


    "Jel, I know you also care about your sister. But if her grudge passes onto Diana, the curse of the Mortel will appear again. Our entire family will be executed if it happens." Jel clenched his hands as he watched Herod walking away out of the room.


    <strong>''It''s all my fault...''</strong> Jel med himself in the room.


    <strong>+++</strong>


    <strong>Way many years ago, before everything started.</strong>


    <strong>The ce where it all started, the basement,</strong>


    "You''re just a disgrace to our family."


    "Even at this age, you can''t even cast one single spell yet."


    "Pfft, father adopted you...they picked you from the trash HAHAHA."


    Sitting in the corner of the filthy basement, even he was born with white hair...his hair was filled with dust till it turned a little brown. The red eyes with tears watching them locking the door of the basement. He hugged his knees unable to cry out loud because if he did, he will get in trouble again.


    All family members from generation to generation were treated the same, they had to master their magic at the age of three, if they didn''t, they will be locked inside the dark basement to learn to do it. And Jel wasn''t any different. He didn''t even have the magic energy to cast a spell.


    "Jel...you have to try hard, okay?? Don''t worry, you will master the magic one day." Jel''s mother, the third wife of the duke Mortel whispering to Jel from the other side of the door and slid the chocte bar under the door to him.


    "Mom!!" he smiled brightly knowing his mother still cared for him, he rushed to the door.


    Every night, his mother always came to visit him never miss for one night. To Jel, it was such an enormous motivation for him to master his magic quickly. But it was only for one year until his happiness was taken away from him.


    "Butler...where is mom...?"


    "Herdy is pregnant...so..."


    "Really?? Will I be a big brother??"


    "...his grace wasn''t the father, your mother is already kicked out of the duchy...young master."


    "No...you''re lying...it can''t be." his hands were trembling when the butler tossed thest chocte bar his mother kept for him.


    ''Sorry. I can''t continue this any longer.''


    His tear dropped on the letter his mother wrote on it, his heart broke to many pieces as he went back to the small bed of him to cry all his sadness away.


    "I can''t either...mom..." he was sobbing under the ray of moonlight shining onto him.


    His mother ran off with another man and left him behind, he waspletely forgotten from all of the people, even the one who gave him a meal for a day was also gone.


    He had to survive by catching rats to eat, and the watering from the rain that poured into the basement. Every time it was raining, unlike his older brothers who were sitting in front of the firece sipping hot tea, he had to find the bucket to store the water to drink.


    It was the fate of the unlucky child of the Mortel. When a room like a basement existed, not a single one of the siblings dared to ck off, they had to push their limit not to be left behind, or else they would meet the same fate.


    That was why the Mortel never had someone weak in their family because the weak usually died in the basement.


    Only two people survived the basement, Jel, and Marte. Jel stayed in the basement for ten years from the age of three and Marte, twenty years since birth.


    Jel would have already died if it wasn''t for the one who kept on telling him to live during those days.


    "Jel...psss...I''m here!!" a young girl with the chubby cheek and pigtails, rushed to the iron bar of the basement with a rope and the crowbar just like how she came to visit him every time.


    "Go away, te!!" Jel was training with the wooden sword te gave to him in the basement.


    "Come on, you can go out!! I even brought the crowbar today."


    "I won''t disobey the rule." his wooden sword broke, he started to be sulking when the only one thing for his training broke like that.


    He scratched his head trying to find a way to make it usable again, but it was hopeless.


    "Ahh, this magic book is too big...what should I do?? It won''t fit the bar." te talked to herself like a robot with the big magic book in her hand trying to push it in the basement like an idiot even though it could fit in. But that attracted Jel''s attention as it was his first time to see a thing called a book.


    "What''s the book??"


    "Huh?? You never knew about it?? Hey!!!!!! How did you practice your magic all these years??" she was dumbfounded by Jel''s clueless face.


    Jel wiped his nosebleed and kicked the dead rose to the dark, he was blushing since he only used it cluelessly all those years.


    "Come on, just get out of there!!!"


    "No, my father would be angry."


    "I won''t listen to you today, if you don''te out here, then I''lle in instead!!!" she threw the crowbar and pulled her sleeve.


    She twisted the iron bar with her bare strength, with her little hands, Jel was shocked seeing how strong she was.


    "...wh-what...how did you--"


    "I''ming in!! Urggh...how do we use this rope??" she had no idea how to tie the rope so she jumped down to Jel.


    "You could have been injured!!!" Jel knocked her head gently.


    "Teehee!! You will catch me anyway." her heart was beating so fast, and Jel didn''t know about that. Because at that time, he didn''t know what love was yet.


    "I''ll go outside."


    "Heh??? Then why don''t you tell me that earlier??" Jel put te down.


    "Teehee, just want to y with you." he copied her and teased her jokingly.


    "Oh!! Oh!! We can get the beef screwer too. Oh!! I heard there was a thing, you know kite...we can y it together."


    "You''re really noisy, let''s just climb up first." Jel giggled.


    "Jel, I''ll lend you my novel too when we get out. You''re gonna love the character Marte in the novel, I might name my daughter Marte in the future."


    "Let''s go...te. I want to see the blue sky with you first." Jel smiled at te and held her hand tightly ready to go out to the outside world.


    <strong>To be continued....!</strong>