Phantom spirits

The glass jars had a spirit seal attached to it. This aided in preventing spirits from escaping.

Due to the dragon poison already ingested, the royals have about less than thirty seconds before their hearts stops beating.

Apparently, it seems the royals were cursed with a phantom spirit possessing each of them with exception to the Emperor.

The spirit main objective was to feed on anyone nearby.

The goals of the ones who cursed the Empress and her children could most likely be to see the direct demise of the Royal family once their current state becomes discovered by the military officials and Ministers.

Their aim could also be to see the Royal families cravings become unsatiated as they remain in seclusion for a long time by those trying to hide the fact from the world which would eventually result in the queen and her children loss of weight before death follows right after.

With the potion already given to the royals, Cecilia and I each opened an empty jar and placed it directly into their mouths.

This was because, the phantom spirits were going to rush out of their bodies once it notices that its current host health was on the brink of death.

And so to avoid it's own death, it then comes out to possess another target. But luckily for us, we came prepared.

And just a few seconds later, a huge thick mass of darkness exuded out of their mouths and entered straight into the jar.

Once captured, Cecilia and I corked the jar to prevent it from escaping.

"Haaa"

The phantoms began to shake the glass jar vigorously while making a long creepy horrendous sound which at first sounded like someone making a prolonged exhausted sigh before sounding like someone inhaling a huge chunk of air incessantly.

The sound was so irritating to the extent that it felt like they had come out of the jar and had started sucking the souls of its targets.

This was because with the sound reverberating within the room, our bodies felt weakened by the minutes.

But right now, there was a more pressing issue to solve and this was the fact that the poison had yet to be taken care of.

"Dante!" Using the same neutral tone as always, Cecilia called me before tossing two blue potions at me.

I uncorked the vials before drowning Prince Royal and the Queen's throat with the blue potion.

For now, it would take a while before the antidote circulate around their body system.

And just a few minutes later the Empress body began to twitch a little before...

"H....huh? Where am I? What happened?"

I saw the Empress behind me who had just awoken. And so to avoid any abrupt misunderstanding due to her current bareness, I immediately stood up and brought the three glass jars out of the room.

Princess Royal and her brother had yet to be fully awake but there were signs of life in them both as their chests kept rising and falling which hinted that they were breathing.

Cecilia and the head maid who had entered offered the Empress something to wear from the clothes Cecilia had asked the head maid to bring before we were done.

With the glass jars in hand, I dropped them in the hallway before heading out of the Empress quarters.

Now outside, I spread my awareness across the vicinity.

I aim to find two things, with the first being the talisman of the curse. The talisman was what triggered the curse in the first place.

Hmm? How does the talisman look like?

The talisman is made up of corn husk dolls tied with the hairs of the victims so as to inflict the targets directly.

Using my skill <Awareness>, I've been able to discern the exact location of the talisman.

But I've been unable to acquire the desired result of my second aim till now.

The truth is, I believe the ones who cursed the Royal family should have at least one or two spies still lurking around the Emperor or Empress quarters.

I swept my gaze around the female guards standing outside in the night but none were able to produce the desired result I was expecting.

Which means none of them were the targets.

"Thank you so much," I turned towards the source of the voice and it was Cecilia, she had a huge grin on her face.

She was really glad to have fulfill her duty as a guardian.

"You're welcome," I replied back with a huge smile on my face.

"But all isn't over yet," I said with a serious face, which made Cecilia to do the same as well.

"There's a talisman underneath the Queen's bed. Once you find it, you must burn it immediately." I said while explaining how the talisman looked exactly.

Burning the talisman would allow the phantom spirits to putrefy inside the glass jar.

Cecilia nodded in response and headed back inside but before she could completely vanish from my sight, I notified her to do the same for the prince and princess bed chambers as well .

Not wasting anymore time, I headed straight back to the Emperor's bed chambers.

It's funny really because for the past few hours now, my heart had been beating unsteadily.

I do not know why but it's like my body, heart and soul was craving to be by my girls side once more.

The longer I had remained here, the more ired I felt by the fact that I should have been by their side right now if it weren't for the idiots who cursed the Royal family which resulted in them seeking my aid.

The thought of turning a blind eye towards their plea came to mind, not once, not twice but countless times.

But I have to save the royal family to ensure the safety of the Empire.

Well that's partly the truth. I'm more concerned about the safety of my girls. I do not want them to grow in a world ruled by the enemy.

Nothing matters to me more than protecting them. I miss their smiles, their giggles and most especially their incessant obsession over me.

I won't lie. Something weird has been growing in me for the past few weeks now.

I'm a little bit scared because I had never felt this way before. And most importantly, I've been keeping it a secret from my beautiful four girls.