The Divorced Duchess

Chapter 18: THE HIAX AND CURSE

NESTLED beneath the towering citadel of justice, the Claverence dungeon was a grim and wretched prison cell, a place where hope withers and despair takes root. The massive iron door, reinforced with unbreakable chains, clangs shut behind the condemned with an ominous finality. Even the air within was thick with the fetid stench of decay, and the dim, flickering torchlight barely penetrated the suffocating gloom. At the entrance, the Emperor Kallixto held his head high as he walked in. His dangerous aura of prominence exuded only to those who oppose him. Each convict in the dungeon was looking at him with fear. Who wouldn't be terrified of seeing the other personality of the Emperor?

“Your Majesty,” Commander Farris greeted him.

“Open the door,” he commanded. His gentle and handsome face looked impatient, and his stance was intimidating.

Witnessing the middle-aged nobleman, Earl Paschal's vulnerability implied that his nobility changed after committing a crime.

Earl Paschal knelt while his hands were clasped together. “Your Majesty! I beg you, please!” he pleaded. “I, too, am a victim of the scheme!”

“Scheme of who? Who ordered you to steal the divine scepter of the temple?” His tone sounded like a formidable lion.

Earl Paschal creased his eyebrows. “Divine Scepter, Your Majesty?”

“Yes,” Kallixto briefly answered.

“B-but I have never seen a Divine Scepter before. I think it was an old tale created by folks.”

This time, Kallixto’s turn to be bewildered, “Are you telling the truth, Earl Paschal?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. That is why I am pleading for my freedom from this prison.”

“If the investigation against you comes out unfavorably about the Divine Scepter, your crime will be lessened.”

If Earl Paschal wasn’t the person who stole the divine scepter, then there was a chance that Holy Priest Mikhail Wood wrongly accused a noble, or even the chance of lying as a part of the temple’s scheme to destroy the Empire Claverence.

“I don’t understand, Your Majesty. Has someone framed me for stealing a Divine Scepter?”

Kallixto didn’t answer. Instead, the Imperial herald came in with a scroll in his hand.

“Royal herald? Your majesty, please reconsider your verdict.” Earl Paschal cried as he begged.

“Announce the royal verdict,” Kallixto ignored the Earl’s plea.

The herald stood beside Kallixto, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“In the presence of Emperor Kallixto Imperial IV, I declare that Earl Marius Paschal, lord of Paschal's house, shall be punished for the crime of embezzlement. In the process of investigation, it was proven that lord Paschal had committed an act of bribery, fraud, and human exploitation. According to the royal decree of the Claverence Empire, a noble person who commits an abhorrent crime shall be deprived of noble titles. Thereupon, the Council, alongside the Emperor, had pronounced the verdict that Earl Marius Paschal and his descendants would be deprived of a noble title. In addition to the crimes he committed, all his property will be given back to the empire to be allocated to the victims of his crimes.”

“This is unfair, Your Majesty!” Earl Paschal flew into a rage. He couldn’t accept his fate for his crime. “I’ve been loyal to your father and to you, Your Majesty. All the good deeds I contributed to the empire turned out to be in vain.”

“Your deeds to the empire will never be forgotten, but as the Emperor of this empire, it is my duty to protect my people from a person like you.”

Earl Paschal shut his mouth as if he had given up pleading, but as before, Kallixto left the prison cell, the fallen Earl wickedly laughed.

“The cursed Emperor has a heart, but he can't deny the disgusting blood of Ruin Berserk is flowing in his blood.”

“Your mouth needs to be cleansed, Lord Paschal,” Kallixto spoke with displeasure.

The once composed and affable Emperor was triggered upon hearing the Earl’s factual statement. Kallixto couldn’t control his rage as he threw his arm around the Earl’s neck, then he pushed him to the wall while strangling the middle-aged man to death. The tense lines on his face etched deeper, while his hand on Earl’s neck trembled with contained fury. The air around them felt charged with an ominous energy. Eyes that were once warm pools of kindness now blazed with anger, the irises darkened to fiery embers. Kallixto’s jaw was set, and his lips, once ready to break into a smile, were now tightly sealed. The dungeon itself seemed to shrink in the face of his unleashed wrath. The Ruin Berserk curse was awakening into a tempest of emotion.

“Gak! Argh!”

“Your Majesty! His highness should control himself. Many of us here will be doomed.”

His grip loosened until he slowly let go of the Earl’s life. The Earl fell on the ground as he was suffocated and fainted from the Emperor’s rage. Kallixto felt the curse of Ruin Berserk’s blood. It was a tremendous and uncontrollable sensation that would kill people. If Commander Farris didn’t intervene, the Earl on the ground would surely be sent to his manor in a coffin.

How did this old man find out his curse?! No one in the empire, except his aunt and Kayne, knew the curse. He had to infiltrate the temple before he went mad.

Kallixto turned his back and walked out of the prison cell. “Commander Farris, call the dungeon healers. They need to tend the Earl before sending him back to his manor.”

“I will carry your order, Your Majesty.”

****

The afternoon arrived as a tranquil interlude in the day, bringing a sense of quiet serenity. Thalia entered the mage tower as a disguised commoner. It was difficult for her to leave the Count’s manor since a lot of eyes were following every movement she made, including the Count and her brother, Aston. As if they were not convinced of the changes she made. Thalia had had enough of those useless emotions. More importantly, she has to determine how to control her mana and the Hiax without distraction.

Thalia reached the great Mage room but wondered, since no one welcomed her inside. Even the apprentice, Aiden, who usually greeted her in the foyer, was nowhere to be seen.

Great! She was going to climb up the unending stairs until she could reach Kayne’s work room. Fortunately, she was wearing comfortable sandals that could help her move lightly as she ascended the stairs. Without using mana or any magical devices, Thalia reached the floor where Kayne’s workroom was located. She was about to knock on the door when she heard laughter inside. Hesitant to enter, she stood behind the door and her ear pressed against the wood; she strained to catch every whispered word on the other side. Her heart quickened as the muffled voices grew clearer, like distant echoes in a cavern.

“The Imperial knights almost caught me in the library. Fortunately, the youngest Chauvertheir was there to help me out,” said a familiar voice, Kayne.

Thalia instantly understood who they were talking about. This meant that the reason why Alice Chauverthier was locked up in the juvenile jail was because of Kayne.

“It only meant one thing,” said the other voice, which was familiar to her also. “You are strong enough to break through the barrier. Yet, the barrier of the forbidden book is made from the tears of the last dragon.”

Thalia did not care if the people inside would find her eavesdropping.

“I wish that I had met the last dragon since it can also cure you from your curse.”

“Are you saying that if I have the tears of the last dragon, this curse will be gone? Then, the Hiraya is useless if the last dragon is alive.”

Her eyes widened as she heard the Hiraya. Thinking about how that person could easily talk about her was quite an insult.

“I think you are misunderstanding the idea of the last dragon. The tears of the last dragon are only meant to temporarily seal your curse, but it doesn’t mean that they will heal you, because the prophecy shall be fulfilled.”

Arrogance was Thalia’s impression of the familiar man. For her not to be caught eavesdropping, she was ready to enter another room, but destiny was playing with her. The moment she ran to hide, the door opened, and the tall, handsome, familiar man with aureate eyes made contact with her. Thalia lost her balance because she avoided his eyes. Those gorgeous eyes shimmered as he looked at her. Mysterious yet elegant. Again, those familiar arms kept her body from falling.

“My Lady, I have saved you from the treacherous clutches of gravity for the second time around,” said the man in a friendly voice.

Thalia’s pupil enlarged when the man in front of her brightly smiled, showing a friendly manner.

“Unhand me this instant,” Thalia scolded him.

“Who is that, Your Majesty? The Duchess is here?” Kayne approached them.

Your Majesty? What does Kayne mean? Is the Emperor here? Or is this man, Kallix, the Emperor?

“Your Majesty? You?” She confusedly asked.

“Yes, I am indeed the Emp*

Like a misfortune of fate, Thalia clenched her fists over her chest because she felt a sudden sharp dagger penetrating her heart while the Hiax in her hand was radiating an otherworldly immense power. “Arghhhhhhhhh,” She screamed and caught her breath in a startled gasp of pain. Thalia made a clutch at Kallix’s body without realizing he was also battling his pain. Their mana and gravity pulled them down until they lay on the floor. There was a mark illuminated on Kallix's body as Kayne pulled up his tunic. Although she was on the verge of fainting, she saw how the mark reacted to her Hiax. Unlike the Hiax, the mark was a curse etched ominously across his chest, emerging from the obscurity of his past. The mark pulsed with an eerie, malevolent energy of berserk blood that tethered him to an ancient curse.

“Kayne, save the Hiraya!” Kallix panted.

Thalia could not move an inch, yet she saw Kayne using his mana to move their bodies, and he laid them on the bed. The Hiax and the mark were still evidently illuminating in the four corners of the room. And so, before her spirit is consumed by darkness, she unconsciously utters these words.

“The Emperor has the Ruin Berserk.”