Ch. 25: A Deal [3]

Alexander stared coldly at his mother.

"Mom. I'll be honest here. I know the truth."

Not feeling threatened at all, Cameron glared right back at her son's eyes fearlessly.

"What truth do you know?"

"That I--"

Before Alexander could finish his words, he was cut off.

"The only truth you need to know IS, that the Emperor humiliated me and my family. That's all."

"I see. So, you have no intention of backing away?"

"Our conversation is over. Please return to your Palace."

Unable to contain his anger any longer, Alexander shouted.

"Mom!"

She took a bell from the table and rang it. Alexander turned to the door when it abruptly opened and maids entered the office.

"The Prince is not feeling well. Please escort him to his Palace."

The boy scoffed in disbelief and looked at his mother in skepticism. Her lady-in-waiting walked toward him and bent her back lightly.

"Your Highness. Please, this way."

Getting his attention back to his mother, he recited his last words.

"You should thank Her Majesty because she agreed to call off the Trials that would separate your head from your body."

With that, Alexander whirled and got out of the room. He clenched his fist hard, so hard that it turned pale and blood dripped from his palm. He was pissed off right now.

"Everybody get out."

The maids bowed before leaving and closed the door. Once again, Cameron was left alone in the room. She gritted her teeth and clenched both of her fists. Her eyes and heart burned with rage. She moved to the table beside her and threw whatever on top of it. 

–Clattered!

"Aaaaaaah!"

Cameron screamed in frustration and papers flew dramatically as she knelt. Sobs escaped her mouth and tears streamed down her face. Why did her son not understand at all?

Who did he think that she was doing all of this for? She had done everything for him! Her heart ached every time he asked her to stop, simply, her hands were way too dirty to stop now.

'It's too late.'

.

.

.

After calming herself down, Cameron wiped her tears away from her face. She didn't know how many times had passed since she began crying. Even her room had turned pitch black and the only light was the rays of moonlight that fell upon her.

She peeked towards the light and a full moon was visible through the windows. Getting on her feet, she walked to the window and a soft breeze greeted her as she opened it. Cameron gazed at the faraway dark sky.

"I... have no regrets."

She brushed the tears from her cheeks.

"It's not my fault. It's your fault, Dariush."

Cameron strode to the standing candle and lit it. Her reflection could be seen in the mirror and she heaved a long sigh when she saw how swollen her eyes were.

She marched to the door and got out of her room. Realizing that her lady-in-waiting and maids readily followed her, Cameron immediately stopped them.

"I just want to visit my son. There's no need to follow me."

"But Your Highness--"

"It won't take that long."

"We understand."

With that, the lady-in-waiting and maids eventually gave up. After thinking so much she decided to visit Alexander tonight. She wanted to settle the problem with her son as soon as possible. She didn't want this matter to drag on. Entering the Blink Sphere, she headed towards Alexander's Palace.

She came out of the room the moment the guard opened the door. Since she knew every corner of this Palace, Cameron rolled her feet to Alexander's chamber. Upon arriving, she knocked on the giant mahogany door.

Alexander sipped the wine from his glass whilst enjoying the night view from his balcony. His hair danced along the winds while his body bathed in the moonlight.

He loved the sensation of how the wine burned his throat and warmed up his body. He glimpsed at the door the moment knocks were heard.

"Alexander. This is mom."

The boy rolled his eyes boredly and clucked his tongue in annoyance. Ignoring the voice, he returned his attention to the fast dark sky that was present in front of him.

"Alex?"

Unbothered, he continued to take another gulp of wine.

"Alex, I'm coming in."

He could hear how the door opened and footsteps approached him. Just as Alexander was about to drink his wine, someone snatched the glass away from him. He twirled to the doer and an angry shout greeted him.

"Are you crazy?! You're only eight years old and yet you dare to drink wine?!"

Alexander exhaled a long sigh and massaged his temples. Oh, please. His mental age was more than thirty.

"What is it that you want?"

"You're drunk."

"No. I'm not."

Cameron eyed his golden eyes intently. as he tired of waiting because his mother didn't say a word, Alexander sighed once more and moved his feet. However, he halted his step.

"'The Empress agreed to call off the Trial', what do you mean by that?"

The corners of Alexander's lips lifted. He smiled widely and turned to face his beloved mother.

"Hmm... I see. You're curious, aren't you?"

Cameron furrowed her eyebrows seeing how his son chuckled. He was definitely drunk.

"What kind of agreement did you make with her?"

"Well, I made an Elemental Oath with Her Majesty."

–Clatter!

Cameron dropped the glass in her hand as her mind went blank. Her face was devoid of any expression due to how shocked she was and then she scoffed in disbelief. Afterward, she shouted angrily at her son.

"Have you gone mad?!"

Irritated, Alexander yelled back at her.

"It was your uncontrollable madness that left me no choice!"

Cameron covered her face with both hands and sobs could be heard. Her tears started anew.

An Elemental Oath meant waging your Elementals on the line. If the oath was broken, the person who bet their Elementals would lose their elementals.

Losing an Elemental didn't mean that their Elemental suddenly disappeared from their Mana Pool. But, the Elementals within Mana Pool would break themselves and lead to Elemental Poisoning. 

Truthfully, there was nothing to be afraid of when making an Elemental Oath. Everyone could form as many Elemental Oaths as they wanted with whomever they liked.

The scary part was if you broke your oath because Elemental Poisoning was not something that you could take on lightly since there was no cure for it. 

There were three phases of Elemental Poisoning. The first phase was your health deteriorated and you could feel as if your body was being burned.

In the second phase, you began to lose your sight and hearing, then you became paralyzed. In the last phase, your skin would rot day by day and only death awaits you.

However not many were willing to wait until they reached the third phase because most of them committed suicide during the first and second phases. Simply put, Elemental Poisoning was worse than death.

Cameron put down her hands and looked at her son with her bloodshot eyes.

"What... What is the Oath content?"

Alexander's smile widened and he bravely stared right back at his mother. Oh, he couldn't wait to say this part.

"The Oath is, 'If my mother, Cameron Atreilight hurts even a strand of Damian Atreilight's hair. I, Alexander Atreilight willing to lose my Elementals.'"

Anger colored Cameron's face and her lips quivered while eyeing his son.

"This is a joke, right?"

Alexander giggled. How fun, he never felt this kind of satisfaction before. It was so exciting.

"Why don't you order your men to kill Damian and let's see what happens next? I dare you."

His mother didn't say a word and just stupidly stood there; watching him. Hahaha. Just look at her, and see how her body trembled as she tried to tame her uncontrollable anger.

He really wanted to laugh out loud right now and roll on the floor if he could. Ah, it seemed he was indeed drunk. Alexander strolled to the door entrance and opened it.

"If you don't have anything to ask. Please leave."

However, Cameron shut her mouth tightly, she stood straight and unmoving as if glued. 

"You won't leave? Fine. You can have my chamber."

Alexander shrugged and left the room. 

'She didn't even realize that his son had just saved her neck.'

But, whatever. He didn't need compliments from his mother anyway. He didn't have a good relationship with Cameron to begin with, just like in his past life.

It stayed the same and he was sick of it. He brushed his hair with his finger whilst walking in the corridor before halting his step. 

'But, damn. Is it really okay to let the timeline flow like this? It started with that brat assassination and then I made an Elemental Oath. Those were something that never happened in my previous life. This is ridiculous. The story has changed.'

But at least, Alexander hoped that Damian would reflect upon this accident and the Elemental Oath part would stop his mother from hurting that little imp.

Let's pray that his mother wasn't crazy enough to ignore the Elemental Oath because he really did the Oath with Theresa.