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𝗳 𝗼 𝘂 𝗿 𝘁 𝗵 𝗽 𝗿 𝗶 𝗻 𝗰 𝗲
&
𝗺 𝗮 𝗴 𝗶 𝗰 𝘁 𝗼 𝘄 𝗲 𝗿 𝗺 𝗮 𝘀 𝘁 𝗲 𝗿
THE wooden door was creaked open. There, stood two men, one was young, and the other one was a middle-aged butler with his black suit. Elias greeted his guest with a hollow smile.
After Elias permitted the butler to leave, his forced smile wears off. His pair of lilac eyes stare flatly at his son. An illegitimate one. An accidental son. Even so, the fourth prince of the country undeniably looks like his father. The people said they're like a pair of identical twins.
Both Elias and Dylan had brunette hair and gem-like magenta eyes. Their smile was also very similar to each other. Hard for Elias to admit the hateful fact, but when he took a glimpse at Dylan, he couldn't run from the impression that he was facing his own reflection in a mirror.
Dylan, who came with a royal blue cloak with golden embroidery, stopped in front of the ruler of an outstanding empire. Dylan greeted Elias with courtesy.
His gesture was nearly... no, it's perfect! Dylan grew up into a majestic man with the prince as his title. There's no wonder his manner was elite even being an unplanned child.
Elias cares no less about it. Dylan lived in an abandoned castle in the south. Food supplies and allowances were barely obtained. Due to that, the servants there started to resign one by one. Elias thought Dylan would surely die due to malnutrition or any issues that would bring death to the child's face.
Yet, not any of it happened.
But how? How a child lived more than half of his life in an abandoned castle became this extraordinary? Elias babbled inwardly. He peeked at the young man in front of him.
The cloak that hides the top half of his face, slid away from his head as Dylan pulled the head cloak.
"This is the first time you call me personally. I'm honored, Your Majesty." The calm demeanor of Dylan pissed him off. He knew Dylan's real intention was to scoff at him.
Elias never looks at Dylan sincerely. And he too never wished to have any business with the son he didn't approve at all. Looking at Dylan was no different than looking at how his pride as the emperor being crushed. He ashamed of Dylan Cephalus as Dylan reminded him of how foolish he was to dupe on the late empress.
One night stand with Dylan's mother whose maid in the castle a long time ago was the most horrendous thing he ever did. Because of his idiocy, his beloved empress died. And until the end, the empress forbade him from coming to see her. His dear person died in pain and hate towards her own husband.
From that time, Elias ordered his people for the newborn baby to never appear in front of him again. He hates Dylan very much. The urge to slaughter his illegitimate child was slowly but surely boiling inside his head and soul, as Elias saw the accomplishment of the fourth prince.
"...jesty!"
"Your Majesty!" Dylan's voice heightened when Elias didn't reply to a thing he said. Only the emperor's eyes glued to him, desperately to convey the hatred towards him.
"How dare you raise your voice against me!" Elias's face reddened with animosity.
Dylan who just realized he stepping the line quickly bowed his head and with regret, he asked for forgiveness.
But the guilt imbued within Dylan's voice wasn't there in his pair of eyes. It just some stupid courtesy towards the emperor and nothing more.
"I admitted my rudeness, but I also have something I have to attend to, Your Majesty." Dylan's tone was low yet firm. He clearly shows that he has nothing to afraid of Elias, a father who threw him away when he was just a baby.
"Fine! Enough with the formality. I called you for a reason-"
"Of course you are." The fourth prince cut Elias's words. Without any hesitation, he sat down at the sofa inside the office room.
Elias's face blazed with anger. "I'm not done talking yet."
"Don't you understand the word you said just now? Enough with formality right?" Dylan didn't bother to take a look at the emperor.
"Just now, I attended to you as the vulnerable fourth prince you despised so much. But right now, I'm the master of the magic tower. You're the emperor and you know better than anyone, this person in your room is equal in status as you."
Elias's expression turned pale. He overlooked that fact just for a moment. His unlawful child he loathed was the master of the magic tower.
How could the magic tower become as comparable as the emperor? It was because the magic tower was one and not only in the Caspian Empire but throughout the whole nation. Magic tower didn't exist until Dylan Cephalus Caspian established it himself. Although the magic tower was still green in the nation, it was influential enough as the master himself got the blessings from the king of spirit.
Who's in the right mind tries to oppose the master of the magic tower now? He's terrifyingly strong, intelligent, and supported by unthinkable people.
Elias sighed heavily.
"This is the right time you render your service as... as the fourth prince of the Caspian Empire." Elias asserted while his dignity and ego were mashed into pieces when the words 'fourth prince' came out from his mouth.
Dylan kept silent. He perplexed for a bit when the person who never acknowledged him as the prince uttered those statements.
"I want you to get engage with the second daughter of the Villaneuva house, Lady Layla Elvera, and form a blood contract with her."
Dylan closed his eyes. So that's it. You want to use me as your puppet. He never knows his place. Dylan mumbled secretly, annoyed.
No one in the Caspian Empire didn't know who is Lady Layla Elvera. Even Dylan who lived far away in the south knew the story.
"And what the reason behind it?"
Elias grit his teeth. He didn't have any choice other than to tell Dylan his justification.
"The head priest has announced to me that Lady Layla is the reincarnation of that woman. When she turned 18, she will regain her past life memories and take her revenge on the Caspian Empire. The next empress will be killed. The empire will fall to the brink of death. You're the only one who can overthrow that woman."
Dylan knows well the situation Elias tries to justify. That woman from 300 years ago was a witch who abducted the empress using her black magic. That woman makes a contract with the ferocious demon of the other world just to kill the empress. And so many more rumors circulating for the woman.
So that's what everyone in 300 years always thought.
"But... are you certain Lady Layla was the reincarnation of Lady Ritza Rosabella? And are you really sure Lady Ritza was using black magic?" At the end of his remarks, the violet eyes of Dylan became dreadful.
Elias widened his eyes. He slammed his work desk with fury.
"How dare you to utter that woman's name in front of me? This is an insult to the Caspian Empire."
That one name was the curse itself. No one has the gut to speak that name carelessly.
"And you just questioning the credibility of the head priest. It doesn't matter how powerful you are, but don't forget the head priest also got the blessings from the light spirit."
Dylan sighed inwardly. He gets confused for a moment. He learned a hint from the king of spirit that one of Villaneuva daughters was the reincarnation of Ritza Rosabella, the woman said who wanted to murder the empress.
But which one? Layla Elvera or Luna Embers?
Dylan twitched at his seat when he felt an indestructible aura suddenly appeared in the office room. He was familiar enough with this aura to recognize who's aura it was.
He quickly took a glimpse at Elias's work table. There, a young man with lemonade eyes and hair sat on the table.
"He's kinda tense, don't you think, Dylan?" The young man grinned while peeking at Elias's frowned face. Elias seemed like he couldn't see or hear the man.
Dylan cleared his throat. "I decided on it later."
The fourth prince stood up, ready to go. Elias gasped. He couldn't delay this matter further. His empire was at stake!
"Prince Dylan Cephalus Caspian! As the sole emperor, I can't let this slide. My people trust me! I swear in the name of Elias Calix Caspian to protect it!" The desperate voice of Elias echoed in the room.
Dylan's step halted. But the one who stopped him from walking away was not Elias. Elias was not the one who moved his heart. But it was...
Ryan.
Ryan Alistair, the young man who was relaxing on the emperor's table at this moment, suddenly declared,
"Get engaged with her. I promised you, you'll find her at the Villaneuva."
Dylan's heart thumping hard. The burning sensation was whirling inside him. I want to see her once more. This time, I swear, no one can hurt her.
Dylan turned his head towards his so-called father.
"I understand. Arranged the engagement with the Lady Layla Elvera Villaneuva, if that's what you want."
Dylan looked straight at Ryan. The king of spirit who had been with him since he was 10 years old was smiling with his cunning face.
He believed in Ryan as Ryan never lied to him and the spirit also the only one who took care of him when everyone rejected him.
Lady Ritza Rosabella, the name was still there in his heart. Dylan lived for the moment he and Ritza would meet again.
Slowly but surely.