King Dumas Dominic and his trusted subordinate Salazar were back in the throne room to have their usual discussion as ministers down below the throne were having heated discussions of their own.

It was then that a soldier entered the hall running in a disorderly manner seemingly scared of something as if he had just seen the devil.

Salazar saw this and decided to get to the bottom of this without the king knowing…but he couldn’t really keep it secret as it was happening before the king himself.

The throne room was a big one and even with the soldier running with all his strength, he would take at least twenty seconds to reach the king.

Thinking that the King already had much on his plate, another disaster happening in the kingdom would just be the final nail in the coffin and the king might finally lose his mind.

He stopped the soldier as the same shadow that was beside the king appeared in mere moments before the soldier.

“What now?” Salazar asked.

“Gen…General…young prince Clyde has been captured by a…a…gho…gho..ghost!” the soldier said with all the strength he could muster.

Salazar couldn’t understand the soldier’s muttering for the life of him and he was starting to get impatient.

Seeing the one hailed as the ‘Shadow of death’ frown, the soldier’s unstable mind started to become clear.

Before the soldier could explain further, two people entered the throne room.

Clyde was in front followed by Old Levi.

Those black eyes that seemed to be coming from the underworld were too conspicuous to be missed.

Old Levi wore a white pristine robe and his long white beard fluttered to an invisible wind as his bald head shone under the sun rays coming from the glass ceiling.

Salazar was rooted in place as he assessed the situation.

Clyde didn’t seem to be in any danger…on the contrary, he appeared completely fine and natural just like he had seen him the day before.

The old man however was something else entirely. He appeared sickly and too old to even be able to move around…but his eyes…

‘Ís it a variant of the darkness element? No, that's unlikely. I have the darkness element as well, but my body was never modified by it like this old man’s eyes. Is he from another unknown species?’ Salazar thought.

The ministers had quieted down and looked on with interest. They were shrewd individuals who reached their current heights knowing how to judge their surroundings.

They had the same conclusion as Salazar: The old man was just someone from another species.

What everyone wanted to know was the reason for the second prince to bring this Old man into the throne room.

Salazar looked into the second prince’s eyes and the latter smiled and just nodded in greeting.

Seeing this Salazar smiled and the latter turned into a vanishing shadow that instantly appeared near the king.

The soldier ran out of the throne room like he had received amnesty.

As the ministers created a path for the two newcomers to pass, king Dumas asked, “What is happening Clyde? Don’t you know that we’re busy at this time of the day? Why didn’t you announce yourself before you entered like you were supposed to?”

“Apologies father, the guard I sent to ask for an audience wasn’t in his right mind, i was afraid you would misunderstand as this is quite important for our kingdom.” said Clyde bowed on one knee.

Everybody else in the room remarked that the old man beside Clyde didn’t kneel.

Such blatant disrespect could be punished by death…but who would kill someone who appeared to be one foot in the grave already.

“Oh? Important for the kingdom?.. I’d like to hear it.” King Dumas said.

The king didn’t signal Clyde to stand up, which showed how angry he was despite not showing any signs of it.

Clyde didn’t take to heart, but the arrogance of Levi couldn’t take it…after all, in a way he was also the second prince.

Nevertheless, Old Levi knew how important the first appearances were and remained silent.

Clyde took a deep breath and said, “This is Master Levi. He is the one who cured me of my illness.”

The eyebrows of everyone in the room shot up at the news.

“I was wondering why he appeared so healthy all of a sudden…so he was cured.” A minister said.

“This dying old man could accomplish such an impossible feat? Once a Half-Breed fails to control his two sides of his bloodline, he is doomed to die young eventually…two elements or more wreaking havoc in your body and sapping your lifeforce is incurable.” Another minister said.

The King then stood up from his throne and deeply bowed towards old Levi shocking his ministers, “My sincere thanks, Master Levi. You do not know how happy I am that my son is finally healthy.”

Only Salazar knew how the king felt in regards to the second prince’s illness. The king had his first night of good sleep the day before when he finally learned that Clyde was cured. The health of his second son was more important than the prosperity of the kingdom…after all he owed it to his late second wife.

Old Levi just chuckled, “It seemed that I unburdened you from that ‘guilt’, didn’t I?” At this time, Old Levi was reading the King’s mind.

“What…How?”The king said as he his eyes enlarged like saucers.

Old Levi chuckled again, “Don’t ask yourself how I know, hehe, a mind as feeble like yours would explode from knowing it.”

That ‘guilt’ was part of the promise he had made to his late wife as she was dying in his arms. He had promised her a blissful life.

That day it rained unceasingly for hours as the king lost all his demeanor and wept like a newborn when the love of life was taken from him.

The princess of the Dawn Elves was too beautiful to have fallen in love with him. He had always felt that she was out of his league even though he was king of one of the smallest countries on a continent dominated by three giant empires.

His first wife got jealous and poisoned her to death before ending her own life in turn.

The marriage with his first wife was just an arranged one and there was barely any love between them, which is why when he truly fell for someone, the first wife felt abandoned. If she loved him, she would want him to be happy…alas fate had preordained it differently.

“I feel tempted to make you reunite. I am sure the late Kara wouldn’t want you to die because of so much guilt.” Old Levi said, “What would you say if you could see her again?”

King Dumas didn’t know how to react, instead he looked at his son, “Clyde, why is this old man wishing death upon me?”

Obviously, he thought the only way for him to see his late wife would be to follow her in death.

Clyde also didn’t understand what his clone was blabbering about, he asked the system, “What is he doing?”

{Beats me. But if I had to guess I’d say that he wants to resurrect your mother.}

“What? This wasn’t the original plan. Is it even possible to resurrect someone who has been long dead?” Clyde asked the system.

{The Underworld is one of the many destinations I can take you to harvest some ingredients. In passing, you can snatch your mother’s soul from the Underworld Gods and with my help, you can pay me to craft her a body like I did for your clone.}

“Wow…I can really see my mother.”