Plan

Inside a gloomy, rectangular room, even though it was during the day, the darkness inside made it look like the time was near dusk. Fortunately, there was still a dim light coming from the lamps that allowed some level of visibility. On the wall, there was a small rectangular opening, its size no bigger than the palm of one’s hand, which served as the only way to see a small glimpse of the outside world. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this room was made for confinement. The only thing that seemed different was that this room’s condition was better than normal prisons, albeit only a little.

Two young men sat on their hard beds in a tired and weak state. Both seemed to have become thinner as their cheeks had visibly sunken in. Though they were given three meals each day, their lives here were no different from that of a caged bird. They had food, but they had no freedom. Danesse lowered his head and looked at his unfinished food with dispirited eyes. But in this same pair of eyes, there was also resentment that had been etched deep inside. Mashelle was staring at the wall with eyes full of spite. He had marked the wall with sharp metal, counting the number of days that they had been stuck in this place. The high-pitched sound of metal scraping the concrete wall was torture to their senses. Every time they heard this sound, it was a sign that another day of them suffering pitifully inside of this room had passed. They never would have thought before that there would be a day when they ended up in this place.

But all of a sudden, a sound broke the silence of the room. It was the sound of someone’s footsteps that came from the corridor. Heavy footsteps, which meant it was probably not one of the female servants. At first, neither of them paid much attention to it, thinking that it was just one of the guards doing a routine check. But they started to notice something was odd when they heard the sound of the door being unlocked. Then, it opened to reveal a familiar face, the face of someone who they had been longing to see but had left them wondering why he never came to visit.

“Father! Have you come to get us out of here?”

Their eyes went wide with delight. Both got up from their beds and ran up to Merson with immense happiness. The two clung to his arms, feeling an unprecedented kind of joy that their father had come to get them out of the hellish place in which they had been suffering. For some prisoners, being locked up in a place where they can get three meals every day might not sound so terrible. Some might even consider it a blessing. But for Mashelle and Danesse, the heirs of the Scarcia Clan, being in here was both a shame and disgrace. But at last, they started to see a glimmer of hope. In his delight, Danesse started to shed tears.

“Not yet.”

Merson’s even voice was like a blade cutting right through their hearts. Whatever hope they had had before was now crumbling into pieces. The glimmer of hope was there for a moment, but now it had disappeared right in front of their eyes.

“Why, Father!? Why aren’t you taking us out of here? I’m so sick and tired of this filthy room. Grandfather treats me like I’m a prisoner and not his grandson. And you have never visited us while we're here. Why’s that? Why!?”

Upon hearing Merson’s words, it was as if his legs had lost all strength. Danesse dropped to the floor as his hope was shattered and he started to cry miserably. For the past month, he had been asking those same questions over and over, unable to understand why his father and grandfather treated him like this. In fact, a dark feeling of hatred had started to grow inside of him. The darkness that had clung itself to his heart was like an evil that constantly interfered with his mind. For Danesse, he never thought that what he did was such a bad thing. Why should he be punished, when all he did was try to get rid of someone worthless? He could not understand why his grandfather would take Arias’ side instead of him and Mashelle’s when Arias was nothing compared to him.

“Stop wailing! I did not raise my sons to be weaklings like this!”

Merson’s shout echoed inside the room. A hint of irritation started to show in his eyes as he glared at Danesse disapprovingly. Danesse who had been crying with his head lowered had no choice but to quiet down. Unable to disobey his father, he looked up and listened to Merson.

Merson took a glance at Mashelle and nodded approvingly. What he saw in Mashelle’s eyes was coldness and hatred, and a fire that burned with the feeling of spite. He was much more satisfied by Mashelle’s calm exterior than Danesse’s whining. The feelings of spite and pain were the lessons that he wanted his sons to learn for the sake of the great plan that he would execute in the future.

“Seems like you’ve grown, Mashelle.”

Pleased with what he saw, Merson praised his older son. The praise confused Mashelle a little, but he humbly accepted it.

“I have two important news for you. First, I have sent someone to kill Arias for what he did to the two of you.”

Merson said with a smirk and watched his sons’ reactions. Mashelle's and Danesse’s eyes widened with disbelief. It never crossed their mind that their father would be planning something like this during the past month that he did not show up. The indignation they had felt toward him before had vanished in an instant.

“Hahaha, serve you right, you scum. You should have kept your mouth shut. Nothing but a piece of trash of the clan, what made you think you could stand up against me? I was planning to kill him myself, but it seems that you’ve been kind enough to do so for me already. Thank you, Father.”

Danesse laughed like a maniac. His heart was brimming with satisfaction upon learning that Arias was now dead. He lowered his head to his father to show his gratitude. Meanwhile, Mashelle only sneered with delight and chuckled darkly.

“As for the other news, you already know about it. I’m about to proceed with the plan soon.”

Merson said in a serious tone. A slight hint of murderous intent came from his eyes.

“Father, are you really going to kill Grandfather? I think…”

Danesse’s eyes showed that he was a little conflicted. A jumble of thoughts was flooding his mind. There was an amount of resentment in his heart, but there was also a lot of hesitation.

“I will help you with your plan, Father. Since that man does not see me as his grandson, then I will no longer consider him as my grandfather either. You are the only one who should take the position of the clan leader.”

Mashelle said in a cold voice. Danesse turned to look at his brother, unable to believe what he had just said. But now it looked like he had no other choice. He tried to push aside his feelings of guilt and forced himself to make a decision.

“I will help too, Father!”

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At the center of Bernier sat one beautiful manor. Its size was massive, not unlike a royal palace, and it was several times bigger than the Scarcia Manor. Its border was marked by a strong wall surrounded by several houses of Bernier CIty’s residents. This manor belonged to the Hargen Clan and was otherwise known as the Bernier City Ruler’s place of residence.

There was a beautiful garden inside the manor. The garden was full of flowers that bloomed beautifully under the sunlight. Tiny butterflies hovered around the flowers as if enchanted by their beauty. On a small bench inside the garden sat one maiden with a face as beautiful as an Elvish woman. She was staring into the distance absentmindedly like she was deep in thought, her eyes tinged with sadness. But once in a while, a shy smile would grace her face.

“Young Mistress, you are acting like this again. Don’t tell me you are still thinking of that young man.”

Another woman’s voice snapped the woman who had been lost in thought back to reality. If Arias was standing here, he would definitely recognize both of them. One was the beautiful maiden whose life he had saved, Helena. Another was the woman who was as brave as men, the same one who had pointed her spear at him with hostility, Jessica.

“Well, yes, I’m thinking about him. He saved me but I haven’t got a chance to repay him. I don’t even know what his name was.”

Helena sighed sadly, feeling disappointed.

“I’m starting to regret helping you hide the truth about what happened that day. In fact, I should have brought you to the family’s doctor. We don’t know if that young man put any kind of spell on you. Maybe that’s the reason why you’re being so absent-minded and thinking about him all the time.”

Jessica shook her head, feeling tired of the way Helena had been lost in thought so often lately. She did not understand why Helena was thinking about that young man so much when she did not even know what he looked like. This was the first time Jessica had ever seen her young mistress in such a state and of course, she knew what it meant. But every time she thought about it, she could do nothing but sigh with a heavy feeling. In aspects of their power and talents, that young man was nothing compared to Helena. The two of them were probably about the same age, but he was only a neophyte. Moreover, Helena was the daughter of Duke Coven, the ruler of Bernier. Jessica had no idea who that young man was, but if she had to make a guess, she would say that he was just some lowly peasant. The two of them were too different; one’s status was high as the sky, and that of the other was low as a chasm.

The middle of the woods was full of trees, some of which had even been standing there for hundreds of years. Their branches spread over the ground below. The pleasant atmosphere was making Arias feel uneasy. An area that was thick with trees as if no human had ever set foot on like this could only mean one thing: he had reached the depth of the woods. The only thing he could find on the ground was marks of beasts. So, he tried to stay away from their path as much as he could.

“Stop right there, kid! You have wasted enough of my time.”

The sound of someone’s shout startled Arias and made him turn to look behind his back. What he saw was Kyon who was heading toward him with quick speed. It seemed like the effect of those needles had completely worn off. Arias had no idea how this man was able to find him in just two hours. He did not have a lot of time to worry about it now that there was something else to worry about.

“Is that idiot trying to call all the beasts here?”

Arias cursed out loud as he started to run from Kyon, his eyes scanning around cautiously.