"What does that mean?"

No way.

Phillip wanted to cure the curse and save his children.

He nearly went mad looking for a solution.

"His Majesty always kills the child that's been cursed! It's my John's turn now! As soon as John was cursed, the Emperor imprisoned him. He can't contact anyone, not even his own mother. The Emperor forbade from meeting him. If this continues, John will die!"

Day after day, the children died, but the speed of their death kept getting faster.

Turns out it wasn't because of the curse.

Phillip killed his own children with his own hands.

So that's why the children were dying so fast.

"Save my John! His Majesty will listen to you! Please help me!"

"...okay."

I nodded after much consideration.

I wanted to save the child.

I couldn't turn a blind eye to a mother's cry for help with saving her child's life.

And I wanted to see the inscriptions Ser left on them.

***

I headed to the underground prison where the 6th prince was locked as the 5th wife guided me.

Countless knights blocked my path.

But I had the Power of the Goddess too, and other than Phillip, there was no one who could match me.

As I used the powers to subdue the knights, I heard a woman's voice resound in my ears.

[Laon, save me! I'm scared. Please save me!]

Ser.

It was Ser's voice.

As expected Ser was still alive.

She had been calling for me.

She had always been screaming desperately in my mind, but I couldn't hear her because Phillip had blocked her voice.

"Ser, where are you? I'm coming. Where are you now?"

At that moment, a bright light came from the necklace Ser had given me.

If I follow this light, could I meet Ser?

"Ahh!"

Then suddenly, the 5th wife who was next to me fell down screaming.

The knights that went after us were crushed by the lights.

The lights encircled the underground prison completely.

It became warped and distorted, unable to overcome the evil Power of Light, and the people nearby vomited blood and died on the spot.

The necklace which was shining brightly also returned to its original state.

This was Phillip's power.

I thought he had left the palace. Was he back?

I ran to a place where the power felt most concentrated.

Phillip was about to commit another crime.

I opened the door to the deepest part of the palace.

On the floor was a spell made with blood and in the center lay a young boy. He had silver hair that was just like Phillip.

'That kid is the 6th prince.'

I recognized him at once because the boy had black inscriptions on his body.

I went nearer to his body and inspected it.

[I am the Goddess of Light. I was deceived by Phillip, deprived of my powers and trapped in the Valley of Chaos. He has committed numerous sins using my powers. He spread the contagious disease and framed Prince Rakshul.]

Only now did I realize why Phillip was going crazy.

He wasn't worried about his child. He was afraid that his sins would be revealed to the entire world.

He killed his children to hide his sins.

"I told you to not get out of the tower, Laontel."

Phillip said as he stood outside the spell formation.

"You want to harm your son! Are you really going to kill your son like this?!"

"I didn't want to kill them either! I did my best to save them! I even went to the Valley of Chaos! She tried so hard to come out and I put her back in, but that curse still didn't go away! Damn it!"

Phillip's eyes were full of madness.

He was already out of his mind.

"You locked Ser up again?"

"Ser, Ser, Ser! Shut up! Stop saying that girl's name!"

When Phillip screamed, his powers rushed over to attack me.

As soon as his powers penetrated my body, I felt pain all over my body.

I fell to the floor as Phillip looked at me and said, "Don't disturb me. Stay where you are."

He used his powers to restrain my limbs.

Then, Phillip turned his gaze to the 6th prince.

"This time, I'll really get rid of it."

Phillip chanted the spell and his power began to spread out around his body.

He poured out the power he received from the Goddess.

The power twisted violently and became evil.

The 6th prince screamed in pain as the inscriptions on his body gradually faded away.

Or rather, another inscription appeared on top of it.

I realized what Phillip was trying to do.

He was putting a curse on his child.

The prince trembled in pain. Phillip's curse was powerful enough to erase the Goddess of Light inscriptions.

Soon, the inscriptions from Ser disappeared completely.

Instead of the message she sent, a new set of sentences covered his entire body.

Eventually, the 6th prince failed to overcome the pain and passed away.

I forgot the pain in my body out of shock.

Phillip's laughter resounded in the prison that was originally filled with silence.

"Hahaha! There you go! I win! It's my victory. Serphania, are you watching? You lost to me! You've got nothing now. No matter how many sentences you leave, no one will know now!"

He laughed and screamed madly.

I crawled on the floor, trying to ignore his laughter.

Phillip poured out all of his powers and the powers spread into the boy's wounds.

I crawled towards the boy, squeezing out the last bit of my strength while vomiting blood.

I was worried about the boy.

Soon, I managed to reach next to the prince, but the boy was no longer breathing.

"Dead."

"Hmm..."

Phillip responded to my words.

"Your son is dead."

His eyes grew bigger in delight.

"Yes, I knew it!"

He smiled and opened another door in the prison.

Boys and girls with silver hair resembling Phillip were squatting in fear inside the next prison.

"Who is it? I killed him, so the curse must've transferred to another one! Who is it this time?!"

Phillip inspected the children's bodies as he was shouting.

The frightened children burst into tears as soon as he entered.

Then, he saw a boy with a sentence engraved on his face.

"There you are!"

Phillip exclaimed joyfully.

The message sent by Ser disappeared completely and only the letters that he engraved were visible.

"It's completely my victory!"

Phillip rejoiced as if he had won a war.

I closed my eyes when I heard his laughter.

***

The 6th prince died and the curse was transferred to the 7th prince.

Phillip was full of joy as he gathered the nobles in the Capital.

He showed them the letters engraved on the 7th prince's face.

"I heard a rumour going around that I betrayed the Goddess. It's all a lie. Look! This is a curse sent by the Goddess, but it's not because I betrayed her! The Goddess gave me strength to establish the Asteric Empire and she hoped that the Asteric Empire would receive eternal glory, so she marked the seeds of the tyrants that would lead the Empire to destruction!"

Phillip escaped the blame again, but he marked his innocent children as the seeds of a tyrant and corrupted souls.

The 7th prince spent every day in terrible pain.

The Power of the Goddess and Phillip's power collided inside his body and tormented him.

He wouldn't live long if this went on.

No matter how long he endured, he'd die before he became an adult.

Phillip tried to get rid of the Zelcan inscriptions.

He was afraid that his sins would be revealed.

So, after the curse appeared, he began to obsessively get rid of the Zelcan inscriptions.

Once again, he blamed his many terrible deeds on the Roums.

Ser's message was overridden by his spell and the Zelcan inscriptions gradually disappeared.

With that, Phillip began to relax more.

He moved me to the South Star palace. I would die soon anyway.

I didn't have any more strength to endure this pain.

After Phillips' attack, my body had been completely destroyed.

Even sitting was too painful.

I couldn't use my powers or hear Ser's voice again.

"Laontel, I'm sorry. I was out of my mind back then."

Phillip apologized to me everyday.

"I'll heal you. I'll heal you for sure."

He held my hand and wept.

But it was impossible.

Originally, Phillip had an enormous amount of light.

However, he lost it all because he used it to fight Ser.

He sealed the place where Ser was stuck and also used his power on the former Capital in fear of the truth being revealed.

No matter how powerful Phillips was, he had already strained his powers to the maximum.

Moreover, he had used the last of his power to hide the messages from Ser.

Now he only had a little power left. If it was the Phillip from before, he could cure me right away.