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Dual blades formed in the hands of Aries as he called Vermillion but he could not slash it at Prince Sunrei.

Cursing himself for hesitating, he jumped away from the prince while clutching his bleeding abdomen.

The prince was not possessed. Aries would instantly notice it. If Merrick had come, he would not be able to rob the body within an hour. Prince Sunrei would surely struggle and Merrick had to possess people to help him in subduing the prince.

The last time Aries had checked, he did not notice a single corrupted soul hovering leisurely around the Northern Border. Prince Sunrei was immediately sending them out of the gate with his sword and bottles of holy water.

"You look confused," the prince was staring at Aries with restrained fury in his eyes. "Have you forgotten what you've done?"

Aries did not answer. He was saving his strength which was quickly depleting because of his profuse bleeding. It seemed that the prince knew where to fatally hit his opponents.

"I wanted to stab your heart like what you did to my sister."

Aries collapsed on his knees as those words further weakened him.

"How…"

"How did I know?!"

With a single stride, Prince Sunrei was already in front of Aries and grabbed him by his hair as he yelled, "HOW DID I KNOW?!"

"I told him," the possessed housemaid from yesterday had said. She came from a crack that formed out of thin air, right next to Prince Sunrei. "Are you going to deny it? Will you tell my brother that I am only a corrupted soul that is messing with his mind? Will you believe that princess over me?"

Her eyes brimmed with tears and Aries felt his heart ached more than his bleeding abdomen. It was his fault that Pieffer died. It was because of his cowardice that his beloved became a corrupted soul.

Aries dropped his hands on the ground and the dual blades he was gripping had vanished.

"Let's go to Hell," he had totally surrendered.

The housemaid smiled, knelt in front of him, and put both arms around his body. She was in a different body but Aries felt her familiar warmth. She was the woman he loved.

She was his Pieffer Celestine.

"Let's go to Hell, my love," Pieffer whispered to his ear and Aries felt a cold blade touched his back.

But it failed to stab his heart. Instead, he heard the housemaid screamed in frustration as his body was being pulled backward, away from his beloved.

Aries struggled to open his heavy eyelids. He felt so weak and dizzy. His vision was hazy.

"Brother, what are you doing? Why are you helping that corrupted soul?"

It was Princess Pieffer but her voice was in front of Aries. She was not the one who had pulled him away from his beloved.

He drowsily glanced up and got a glimpse of Siorre. She was clutching his torso with her left hand while on her right she was gripping her spear that was stained with blood.

The sight of the thick and crimson liquid on the sharp blade had shaken away his fuzziness.

Princess Pieffer was fighting the housemaid that had been wounded by Siorre in the right hand.

"Let Pieffer handle her brother and that housemaid. You are seriously wounded. You cannot help her," the spear-wielder was firmly gripping his bleeding abdomen. She must be trying to somehow stop the blood but it was not helping at all.

"Please… let go," Aries pleaded. "They should not fight…"

"Fine," Siorre immediately let go of his torso. "Do what you want."

Despite his depleting strength, Aries ran and grabbed both weapons of the princess and the housemaid.

"Don't fight," he pleaded.

Princess Pieffer stopped to catch him as he collapsed on his knees and coughed out blood.

The housemaid dashed forward to attack the princess. Her eyes were filled with rage. But her blade was caught by the sword of Prince Sunrei.

"Let's retreat for now."

His words confused Aries and Princess Pieffer.

"No!" the housemaid tried to attack but Prince Sunrei deflected her blade once again. "She should die! This is all her fault!!!"

"Let's just go," the prince had patiently said and taken the blade from the housemaid. "Plume! Open up a gate for us!"

A vertical crack had formed out of thin air in front of the prince and the housemaid. They were about to jump in it as it opened a bit wider but Aries grabbed the housemaid as Princess Pieffer seized her brother.

"Why are you going with that corrupted soul? Are you…"

"I'm not your brother," Prince Sunrei was staring coldly at Princess Pieffer. "I only have one sister and she had been killed by that man," he gazed angrily at Aries. "Let us leave or you will bleed to death."

"None, I guess," Siorre instantly appeared behind the prince and whacked his nape with the blunt edge of her spear.

He had been knocked unconscious and collapse in the arms of the princess.

"As for you…" Siorre turned to face the housemaid but before she could do anything, the corrupted soul swiftly moved out of the vessel and rushed towards the crack that was already fading away.

Aries watched the corrupted soul vanished along with the crack. He wanted to stop her from running away but the only way he knew was through absorbing her soul. He could not imprison her within him. Not after he had killed her.

"Pieffer…" Aries weakly whispered before losing his consciousness.

^######^

"How can you allow yourself to get stabbed?! You cannot die! Remember all the promises you had made! You have to keep them! You have to end this vicious cycle!"

Aries could not shut the voice of the axe-wielder inside his head. He was too drained to do it.

"If you want to talk to her this is the best place! Absorb her soul and talk to her all day! You do not have to kill yourself just to appease her!"

The axe-wielder had a point. But he was afraid that it would only add more rage to his beloved.

"Remember! You can only die after fulfilling all your promises! I will keep on shouting until you keep your promise to me!"

Aries did not want to wake up but the axe-wielder was getting more annoying by the passing of hours.

He forced his eyelids to open and the screaming voice inside his head had instantly vanished.

He was back at the room Quaria had provided for them and he was not the only one lying on the queen-sized bed. Prince Sunrei was sleeping soundly next to him.

Princess Pieffer and Siorre were sitting on the couch and staring silently at the fireplace.

Aries quietly sat up and winced as pain shot through his abdomen. He noticed only then that he had no shirt on. Scars were evident on his chest and a fresh one was on his upper left abdomen. The wound had closed but it was still painful.

He slowly moved out of the bed. The last thing he wanted was to awaken the prince.

"How was the Western Border?" Aries almost whispered after sitting on a couch adjacent to where the princess and Siorre had settled. "Who is guarding the Northern and Eastern Borders?"

"Don't worry about the borders," Siorre snapped at him. "Worry about your body. You nearly died back there. Your death means the end for all of us."

"I know," Aries was tired of hearing those words.

"I'm sorry," Princess Pieffer was not looking away from the crackling fire. "Please don't hold a grudge against my brother."

"I understand his reason," Aries joined the princess in gazing at the fireplace. "I killed his sister. I deserve worse."

The princess finally glanced in his direction and asked, "That corrupted soul… Is she…"

"Yes. She is Lady Pieffer."

"Wow. It must have been hard living in another body and in another world," Siorre was staring at Aries with astonishment. "And it is not only you but also Sunrei."

"Things got so complicated because of that," Princess Pieffer leaned her head on the backrest and closed her eyes. "But I will always be grateful that it happened. I know Aries feels the same way. That's why we both want to keep them."

"Why did you kill her?"

Prince Sunrei was already awake. He sat up and kept his serious gaze at Aries.

"I was thinking that if I treat the princess kindly, the same thing will happen to my sister. But you…" he looked away and it was evident in his trembling fists that he was suppressing his anger. "Why did you kill her?"

"I was a coward," Aries honestly admitted for regret was eating him up. "I was an assassin. I don't know how to protect life. That Celestial Knight Sunrei is stronger than me. And he wants to kill Pieffer. If I fight him and the entire organization… we will eventually die. I thought back then that death in my hands would be a better end for her than dying in the hands of my co-assassins. If only I…"

"If you didn't return to this world, the barriers around the House of Lion and the House of Maiden would not be reinstated. Those people and those children will continue to suffer. House of Scale would probably fall into the hands of those Celestial Knights," Prince Sunrei let out a heavy sigh. "I want to kill you for killing my sister. But if I do that…"

"Kill me after all of this is over," Aries seriously told Prince Sunrei. "Stay in that body until the time comes that you can kill me. If that Celestial Knight succeeds in taking his vessel, then you can never avenge your sister. For now, you have to endure working with me in taking down our common enemy."

"I have one more thing to ask from you," Prince Sunrei stared with the same graveness at Aries.

"Say it."

"You have to absorb the soul of my sister."

^#######^