I don't like Royce, and neither does he like me. To me, Royce was just like another Owen. They are both my biggest haters and the two of them even look alike with their blond hair and blue eyes. Blond hair and blue eyes are very common in Kassiel but, that very fact felt like torture to me. Everywhere I go, I get reminded of the people who made me suffer the most. In every street and road, I get flashbacks of all the shit that I had to go through because of the two of them. The citizens weren't any nicer to me either.
I don't want to hate people. I don't want to blame others either because the person that I always use to blamed a lot before just so happened to be very close to me. She was like a mother to me, but the memories that I received made my mental state deteriorate and my mind that had always blamed her saw her as 'bad'; which resulted in me pushing her away. I don't want to hate others because of someone else, so if I get rid of Royce... maybe I'll dislike others less.
I grip the dagger in my hand tighter as I made my way to the window. If I jump down and enter Royce's room through his window which is directly under the attic window, I could quickly end Royce and escape the scene.
Before I could reach the window, bright golden flames blocked the window and I felt someone grab my hand. I immediately turn around and try to injure them with the dagger, but they caught my other hand as well. Shit, it's looks like I've been... caught?
In the dimly lit room, I could see a transparent blond male with red streaks in his hair. He looked exactly like the third head of the Infermel family however, isn't the third head already dead?
"Let go of the dagger. Even if you are mad at your family, you shouldn't take out your anger on them by ending their life," said the man who looked shockingly similar to the third family head.
"Who are you?" I asked him, yanking my wrists out of his hold.
"Ah," the male showed a sad smile, "have I really been exiled from the Infermel family after I went with the people from Floran? Even my portrait is here instead of the hall. They probably burnt my other portrait too didn't they? Even a child from the Infermel house doesn't know of me. Do they not bother telling you about me?" the male asked a lot of questions. He seems like the type to over think but I guess it's reasonable in the current situation where he thinks someone in his family doesn't know him. No one really wants to be forgotten by the ones they love, that also includes me even if I have trouble with the topic of 'love'.
"Are you perhaps the third family head 'Alberu Infermel'?" I questioned him. He's got to be, right?
"Why do you think that I'm him?"
"You're talking as if you're him. You even said that portrait is yours and you also said that you went to Floran just like what the third head of the Infermel family did to free a hostage. You even look like him," I pointed out.
"You happen to be right! I am 'Alberu Infermel'," smiled the former family head.
"You gave out all the proof that you're 'Alberu Infermel' yourself," I said. "Please move the fire blocking the window."
"I can't do that or you'll kill the boy in the room bellow. If you have any problems with him then you two should talk it out. You're siblings after all right?" he placed his hand on my shoulder.
"We're not blood related."
"You should still be able to accept each other as family though."
"It's him that doesn't want to," I said, "if he could, he would've already killed me but he doesn't have the guts to. After I awakened the power of Cyrus, I bet he cursed me all day yesterday."
"Awakened the power of Cyrus?" the pervious family head raised his eyebrow, "right, I should've known from the red hair. Hm, do you want to know why Esper chose you?"
"You're going to tell me?" he nodded, "do you even know?"
"I do. Do you know how it was said that the third king of Kassiel, his majesty 'Alaric Kascis' was very close to Esper?" he questioned.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm his reincarnation," he placed his hand on his chest. "You see, I never actually fully awakened the power of Cyrus, Esper just let me borrow a bit of her power to help me get over my curse however, it couldn't be avoided."
"What curse?" I asked.
"The curse placed on my soul. All reincarnations of this soul will die early. Alaric Kascis died at 19 and I died at 21. I only managed to live a little longer because of Esper's powers however, it seems that the Goddess of Floran also knew of this curse so in the war, her apostle demanded that I go see the Goddess herself," he explained.
"Why?"
"So she could end me. She wanted me to go to Floran where she could kill me without Esper's interference. She believed that if I didn't die early then the curse would be broken."
"What happens if the curse is broken?" I questioned. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Maybe Nova is afraid that if the curse is broken then Kassiel would have someone who's intelligent and strong for a long time and it could bring trouble to Floran.
"The curse is also a seal. Once the curse is broken, it will release the phoenix," he said. My eyes widen. The phoenix he's talking about could be the one that's going to destroy Kassiel.
"Then that means your reincarnation is here right? Where is he?"
"I heard he was named after me. Is he the one down there?" the third family head pointed down. I froze.
"No..." I mumbled with widened eyes. The cursed one is Alberu. He won't be able to live long or else the phoenix would appear. That means the phoenix wasn't summoned, it was released from its seal because Alberu lived longer than he was supposed to. The one that I have to kill to save Kassiel is... Alberu.
"Do you get it now?" a familiar looking white haired male entered through the window pass the flames blocking it, "you shouldn't do anything you're not supposed to or Kassiel will be ruined. Also, the illusion you created with your mana is quite convincing, former Infermel head."
"..." I lowered my head and clenched my fists.
"But don't worry, your younger brother isn't fated to die like the other two," the hero Felix said, making me look up. "Because Esper helped the previous reincarnation, the curse will only be broken if your brother loses control of himself and the last time I checked, you were the reason why the phoenix appeared."
So that means that my execution was the trigger. "If you know that me getting executed could cause Alberu to lose control of himself and release the phoenix, then why are you trying to get me killed?! Do you want this nation to be destroyed?!"
"I don't. I want this nation to be kept intact for Theodore."
"Then why?!"
"Because you're 'true evil'. You will team up with villains in the future and cause harm to Kassiel. You will get in the way of the hero and mess things up. You will be the trigger to the release of the phoenix but, I can stop all of that now if you die. Your brother's not that attached to you yet, so before you get closer to each other, you need to die," the hero Felix pointed at me. "You want to save Kassiel but at the same time you don't want to kill your brother right?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Then I'll help you out. I want to save Kassiel for Theodore too," smiled Felix the hero. "These," he snapped his hand and hundreds of papers appeared in the air, floating, "will help you." Felix the hero extended his hand out the window and the papers blew away, carried by the wind that he created by magic.
"What do they say?" I asked.
"You wanna know? Here," a piece of paper flew towards me. The writing on the piece of paper said:
'Greetings to the people of Kassiel, this is 'Felix', the kidnapper of the first prince 'Theodore Kascis'. I will give you one month to execute 'Felix Infermel' or I will kill your prince. You don't have to kill him now. Let him enjoy life before death, but after the deadline, your prince's head will be sent back in a box.
My sincerest apologies for taking your prince without permission.'
"What the hell..." my hand clutched the paper in my hand, shaking in both anger and confusion. This letter was basically putting both my and Theodore's worth on a scale. It was either me; a hated person who awakened the power of Cyrus, or a crown prince who's not related to the king at all.
"Ah, I think it's about time I leave now," said the hero Felix, hearing multiple footsteps and voices shouting my name. He disappeared in the wind and so did the third family head.
The attic door slammed opened and a maid walked in with a group of servants behind her, carrying weapons. As soon as the maid in front walked into the attic, her head fell onto the floor.
"I don't think my mental state is quite stable right now," I said, taking one step forward which set the attic floor on fire, "leave," I glared at them with anger clearly shown in my eyes.