"Abs?"

"Yeah, I wanted to get them before I died. So that my wife tells me I'm cool. Actually, this time my body hurts a lot. The sentences of the curse haven't spread, but my body is getting weaker. Maybe I'm reaching my limit. I don't have much time left."

"....."

Baekhan was left speechless by the child's motivation.

"Keep this as a secret! Ancia will be upset if she finds out."

"....alright."

"Thank you."

Blake smiled brightly.

Listening to him, Baekhan felt like crying.

***

"My country is Asteric and Emperor Tenstheon is my only master. I hope you won't say that again."

Baekhan tried to persuade Eunhan again today.

But as usual, he was rejected again without fail.

He had never encountered this kind of Eunhan before.

Baekhan wondered if he should talk to Tenstheon.

If Tenstheon said it, Eunhan would surely follow his words.

But he didn't like the idea. Tenstheon had never visited the Crown Prince's palace before.

But these days, he frequently visited the palace, so there were a lot of nobles protesting against him. Baekhan didn't want to burden him when he was already dealing with so much.

What should he do then?

If Eunhan didn't return, Chang would collapse and the East would be thrown into chaos.

Countless people would die and Chang would soon perish.

But Baekhan couldn't force him to go back. Eunhan didn't have any good memories there.

Eunhan also knew about the situation and still refused to go back to Chang.

Knock knock.

I heard a familiar voice at the door.

"It's me."

"Come in."

Baekhan came into the room and stared at me.

"You look troubled."

"Yes."

"What are you thinking of?"

"Blake."

After much thought I had come to only one conclusion. I wanted to save Blake. I wanted to break the curse, regardless of the price.

"Do you hate me?"

"No, I just hate myself for being helpless."

"You're such a good person."

"Well, I'm not sure of that."

Baekhan smiled and turned his head towards the window.

"Your husband is working hard again today."

"You can see him from here?"

Blake was practicing his swordsmanship now.

"There's no way you can't see him when it's so clear."

I looked out of the window once again, but I still couldn't see anything.

"I can't see him."

"Of course. You're just an ordinary human being."

Did he mean to say that he could see him with the eyes of the White Dragon? I looked at his strange-looking pupil. What did the world look like in his eyes?

"Do you like the Crown Prince?"

"He's like me and my brother in our childhood."

"You must be older than you look."

He looked like he was just a little over ten years old going by his appearance, but from his behavior and his way of speaking, he definitely had to be older than that.

Baekhan burst into laughter when I said that.

"Haha, isn't that like you?"

"Huh?"

"You must've had a hard time pretending to be young."

My heart sank. He knew I wasn't a child.

"...how do you know that?"

"I can see the essences that humans can't see. Your soul, flow and strength..."

Baekhan reached out to me and touched my face as if to check on something.

"You must've suffered a lot, but your soul is very bright and clear."

His smile faded away slowly.

"Since you're kind, you'll save a lot of people. But you won't be able to save yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"The moment of choice will come soon. I can see you burning in the white light."

I couldn't understand Baekhan's words.

A thought suddenly came to my mind.

"You mean to say I can lift Blake's curse?"

"You're thinking about your husband first? As expected, you're foolish."

"Please tell me more."

"That's all I see."

He stood up. He was going to leave me with a vague hint again today.

"That..."

Just when I tried to hold on to Baekhan, he turned around and said, "Take me to the place where the stone plate is."

"Ah, yes!"

Perhaps he'd tell me more about the stone plate. I nodded hurriedly.

***

I headed to the secret room in the Phillion Palace with Baekhan.

"Why are we here?"

"Why not? Didn't you want to know about the stone plate?"

"But I...."

In the end, I couldn't convince Eunhan. But Baekhan smiled brightly and went to the stone tablet. I couldn't stop him.

"Will you really interpret the rest of the stone plate?"

"No."

He shook his head. Then why did he ask me to bring him here?

"I will restore the rest of the writing on the stone plate."

"You're going to restore it?"

"Yes."

How would he restore a stone plate that was already so worn out?

I had vaguely thought that it would be possible because of the White Dragon's power.

Baekhan kindly explained as if he read my mind.

"I will revive the power of light on this stone plate."

"Is there magic on it?"

"Did you not know? It contains magic which erased some of the engravings."

"So someone put a spell on it?"

It was an important stone plate that recorded the history of the Empire, so it was understandable if there was magic on it.

But an erasing spell?

Was it to prevent it from eroding naturally?

"Please step back for a moment."

I stood back and looked at Baekhan.

He raised his hand to the stone plate with a solemn expression.

White light flowed from his hands and spread all over the stone plate.

Baekhan's clothes and hair fluttered wildly in the wind. I also had a hard time standing in the strong wind.

A light flashed around the stone plate.

The concealment spell was resisting the light, leading to a fierce battle.

Then, it began to crumble, and at the same time, engraved letters began to appear on the blank stone plate.

— September of the 5th year, the third prince who was cursed by the Goddess died. Immediately after that, the Curse of the Goddess transferred to the sixth prince.

The fifth year was when Philip became the Emperor. But didn't Philip only have three sons?

Before I could question it, the next writings began to appear.

— November of the 5th year, the sentences of the curse engraved on the sixth prince's body changed.

The sixth prince died. Immediately after that, the seventh prince was cursed by the Goddess.

The sentences of the curse changed?

All the inscriptions on the stone plate soon burned up, and the white light gradually decreased. Then, the black light that was under the stone plate, suddenly flew toward me.

At that moment, I heard a girl's voice.

***

[Ancia, what are you doing! How could you run away as soon as you saw his face?! No matter how surprised you were, you shouldn't have done that!]

Ancia had run away in surprise when she saw Blake's face on the first day after their wedding. So she was sitting by the lake and blaming herself. Then came the sound from her heart.

[Let's go back and apologize to the Crown Prince. Afterall, he's the reason I was able to come out of my house. I should thank him.]

Ancia got up from her seat.

[Huh?]

Then something shiny in the lake caught her eyes.

[What is that?]

Ancia got closer to the lake. At that moment a light flashed and she lost her balance, thus falling into the lake.

Ancia desperately tried to get out of the lake, but a black thing came out from the stone plate that was at the bottom of the lake and stretched out like a snake to grab her ankles.

Ancia gradually sank into the depths of the lake. It was painful.

Then, she suddenly heard a mysterious voice.

[Whom will you pass on your strength to, Heir of Light?]

Ancia was distressed. She didn't understand what the question meant, nor could she think of the answer. She only remembered Diana, who was the only one who was nice to her in her memories.

[Ancia Bellacian, by your will, Diana Bellacian has been chosen as the new Heir of Light.]

Ancia closed her eyes at the end.

The black light from the stone plate tried to engulf Ancia. However, a pure white light erupted from Ancia's body and erased the black light. Even the stone plate was shattered.

When Ancia died the lights mourned and hovered around her small body. However, Ancia was already dead, so she could not contain the light anymore.

The light headed to the next heir. It was Diana, the heir that Ancia chose.