LUNA was surprised when the carriage suddenly stopped. Obviously, something bad happened for the coachman to halt the carriage without warning. But she was worried because she didn't feel any other presence around them.

This is bad…

"Stay here, Miss Luna," Captain Sherwood whispered. "I'll check what happened outside."

She just nodded, then pulled Lord Winter to her body closer.

The captain looked at the unconscious Duke Nystrom a look full of concern before he quietly and swiftly stepped out of the carriage.

When Captain Sherwood was gone, she created a barrier inside the carriage.

"Don't worry, young lord," she whispered to the child. "We will protect you."

Winter's huge round eyes focused on her face. Then, he put a hand on her cheek gently. His skin was cold, but the young lord's gestured warmed her heart.

He's comforting me.

She smiled at the toddler. "Thank you, Lord Winter�������"

Her voice trailed-off when all of a sudden, a woman wearing an elegant off-the-shoulder robe appeared beside Duke Nystrom.

How did she break in my barrier…?

The stranger also had long white hair, golden eyes that resembled the duke's…

… and white snake scales?

"Also, if you see a White Snake around him, kill it."

When she remembered the Supreme's instructions before she left a while ago, she felt goosebumps all over her body.

This woman is the white snake!

She immediately tried to envelope Duke Nystrom with a protective spell.

But she was already too late.

When the strange woman– the White Snake– bit the duke in the neck, their bodies started to fade in a very cold white smoke.

Lord Winter started to cry loudly as if he was trying to wake up Duke Nystrom.

But to no avail.

"No!" she yelled while trying to increase the range of her protective spell.

But again, she was late.

She tried to stand up and run after the duke by tracing his Mana. But all of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle followed by dizziness. When she plopped back on the sofa, she looked down and was shocked to see that a small white snake was wrapped around her right ankle. Based on the bite marks in her skin, it was obvious that she had been bitten.

Her body instantly felt weak and numb.

She knew that her arms would be rendered useless soon so before she accidentally dropped the young lord, she immediately put him in a "safe bubble." It was literally a breathable bubble made with her life force and Mana. That meant that as long as she was alive, the bubble wouldn't and couldn't be burst unless she died.

The venom in her body was the kind of venom that would take hours before it completely killed her. For now, she forcefully put her sleep to slow down the spread of venom in her body.

I failed, my lady, Luna said to herself miserably. The Black Serpent was taken away…

***

WHEN KALEL opened his eyes, he was greeted by his mother's relieved face.

After looking around, he realized that he was lying on his mother's lap while they were in the middle of a forest or something.

"My little Nystrom," his mother said with tears in her eyes. "You're finally awake."

If he had awakened, that only meant one thing.

"Soleil," Kalel whispered to himself, then he stood up and looked up at the dark sky. He could tell that it was midnight now, but the dark sky was being lit up by the familiar bright flame that he wouldn't mistaken for anyone else. "Soleil is awake, too."

"Soleil this, Soleil that," his mother complained. "We've just been reunited after so long and the first thing you said was that woman's name?"

He ignored his mother was trying to find the exact location of Soleil.

"Are you listening to me, Nystrom?"

"'Nystrom' is just my family name now," he coldly reminded his mother while giving her a blank look. "Also, you don't own me. Not after what you did before I got reborn as Kalel Moonchester, "Mother.""

Shame and guilt crossed his mother's eyes.

He didn't really care about that, especially not when he already found Soleil's exact location…

… and she wasn't alone.

She's with Aku.

"I need to go," Kalel said while his body was being enveloped in a cold, silver-ish light that resembled the color of his hair. And even without seeing his reflection, he knew that his eyes had turned red because his full Mana had already returned to him. "Don't follow me, Mother."

***

WINTER cried as loud as he could.

It was a cry for help.

Right now, he was inside the floating bubble that Miss Luna created to protect him. He couldn't feel any dangerous aura outside, but he could smell the blood in the air. It was an ability that he possessed even in his first life.

Captain Sherwood and the coachman must have been badly hurt.

Miss Luna was also in danger. He saw her getting bitten by a small white snake. When the witch collapsed unconscious, the white snake also disappeared.

He was the only one left unharmed.

But they took my father away!

Remembering what happened to his father made him cry harder.

I'm so sorry, Mommy…

"F*ck!"

Winter stopped crying when he heard someone cussed outside. The man's voice was so loud and so clear that his ears almost fell off.

How vulgar!

He was surprised when the door of the carriage suddenly opened. Well, it was more appropriate to say that the stranger with long magenta hair ripped the door off the frame.

"Roarke f*cking Sinclair!" the vulgar man yelled without taking his eyes off of him. "The young master is here!"

They know me?

The vulgar guy moved his finger as if he was motioning for him to come near him.

Much to his surprise, the bubble where he was in floated towards the vulgar man. As soon as the stranger touched the bubble, it burst easily.

It wasn't because Miss Luna's barrier was weak.

The stranger was very strong!

"Don't worry, Young Master," the stranger said with a grin when he was finally in his arms. "You're f*cking safe now."

He's so warm.

He also noticed that the guy's Mana was kind of similar to his mommy's. And after he called him "Young Master," he already figured out that he was one of the Keepers that his mother was waiting for. He felt at ease with the stranger so he knew right away that he wasn't an enemy.

They're late but at least, they can help us find my daddy.

When Winter realized that the vulgar man would leave without even a glance at Miss Luna, he cried loudly and pointed a finger at the witch's direction. He hated that the only way he could communicate with stranger was through crying but he had no choice.

"F*ck," the vulgar man cursed again. His eyes were wide open while looking at Miss Luna with disbelief on his face. "Sinclair, Lady Luna is here…"

""Lady Luna?"" another man's voice asked from outside. "You mean, Lord Winchell's…"

"Yes!" the vulgar man cut-off the other man in an excited tone. But he became serious when he realized what must have happened to the witch. "Sinclair, Lady Luna is in danger."

A few moments later, a man with deep purple hair and different-colored eyes appeared beside the vulgar man.

He must be 'Sinclair.'

It was Winter's first time to see a person with different-colored eyes. Sinclair's left eye was pink while the right eye was light blue. Both were pretty colors that matched his angelic face.

"It's really Lady Luna," Sinclair said, then he turned to the vulgar man. "Crawford, leave Lady Luna and the young master to me. Go and save the Supreme."

"Okay," 'Crawford' agreed, then he handed Winter over Sinclair. "How about that descendant of the f*cking Blue Dragon bleeding on the ground?"

"I already stopped his bleeding. I think he'd live. Not that I care about a descendant of that sc*mbag," Sinclair said. "I'll start creating a portal back to our island. You have one hour to save the Supreme, Crawford. After that, we'll leave this hellhole."

Crawford nodded. "`Got it."

Winter panicked when he heard the two's plan. Wait, how about my daddy?!

***

"GO BACK to the Royal Capital," Nia said while using her mind control to the Black Serpent Knights standing in front of her. Based on the dazed look on their face, she knew she had succeeded in controlling their mind. "Go back and don't ever think about leaving again."

Right now, she was in the border of the empire that the squad had to cross to leave the Royal Capital and travel to Oakes.

If she had a choice, she'd rather go after Lady Nystrom instead of dealing with small-fries.

But Aku ordered her to make sure that the Black Serpent Knights wouldn't be able to leave the Royal Capital. Worse, the emperor also asked her to not hurt the knights. According to him, he didn't want to earn Kiho's wrath.

He's very confident that Kiho will return to his side.

"I'm tired," Nia whispered to herself. Even though it had already been months since she woke up, she was yet to recover her power. And it wasn't easy to use mind control on strong people like the Black Serpent Knights. "Lucina, come out and make sure that the Black Serpent Knights will return to the Royal Capital."

***

WHEN LUCINA opened her eyes, she was greeted by a squad of dazed Black Serpent Knights. The knights were already moving to return to the Royal Capital. As expected, Princess Nia's mind control ability was still strong.

To make sure that the temporary captain of the squad was really under Her Royal Highness's control, she went to the carriage where she could feel the captain's Mana.

When she opened the door, she found a dazed Blake and two children inside.

But only one of the children seemed to be under the princess's mind control. The toddler was looking at her with round, clear eyes.

Your Royal Highness, you missed one.

Was it because children rarely get affected by mind control?

She clicked her tongue, then she raised her hand to touch the toddler's head. After all, it was her job to finish Princess Nia's mission.

"Stop," the toddler said while speaking in her mind. "Stop it, Mother."

To say that Lucina was shocked would be an understatement.

Did he call me "Mother?"

While looking at the toddler's strange eyes, she felt a sharp pain in her head.

And all of a sudden, memories of the past started to flash before her eyes.

"Julian,��� Lucina whispered to herself while watching the memories play in her head like a theatrical performance. "My child…"

***

SOLEIL smiled bitterly while looking at Kalel.

Just like her, he was already awakened. And just like before, he was still the reason why he couldn't kill Aku Moonchester. She hated that after so many years, their situation hadn't changed.

"Don't," Kalel warned her while shaking his head. "Soleil, you can't kill Aku."

Soleil smirked even though her chest was tightening in pain. But her smirk disappeared right away when she noticed that Kalel's chest was bleeding in the same spot that she stabbed Aku. She couldn't believe what her mind came up with as an explanation for that. "Lord Kalel… don't tell me…"

Kalel only gave her a sad smile.

No!

That slight distraction of hers was a big mistake.

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her chest area. She didn't have to look down to know that a sword was just pierced through her chest, barely missing her heart.

"Fool," Aku Moonchester said behind her. "You're still a fool for Kalel, Soleil Rosenberg."

Soleil couldn't deny that. Instead, she smiled and looked at Kalel with tearful eyes. "Lord Kalel, I'm afraid I have to ask you to choose again."

And Kalel could only close his eyes.

***

IMPORTANT NOTE: Hi! Volume 1 already ended at Chapter 181. I'm sorry, I can't do mass release right now. Volume 2 needs a lot of world-building again so I need to focus on that. Sorry. I hope you understand. :(

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