Chapter 18: The Gathering

The news left Raffaelo flabbergasted, enough to make him sigh heavily for the nth time. He was expecting the arrival of his father as soon as he saw the knights marching home only to receive the announcement that's been causing him distress.

The dukedom fully knows about the king's anomalies. Fortunately, their people are tight-lipped which is why no words of their king obsessing a person, a duke in fact, and was a man at that, has gotten out to the masses.

He once again scanned the documents and the urgent matters he had to address as the acting duke in the position of his father's absence.

The embezzlement concern has yet to finish. The noble's emergence of a grand meeting his father needed to attend and so on.

All remaining paperworks was signed by Raffaelo. He had done a lot of work but the mountain of workloads seems no end. His mind still wondered about the matter concerning his father.

Raffaelo's head ached, he began grasping. The pain traveled down to his body. He felt it. Every nerve of his body was being torn apart, he was getting insane.

His vision was no less helpful, his eyes were getting blurry. Even his muscle reflexes were falling out of control, Raffaelo was on the brink of madness.

He bit his arm from trying to destroy everything on his table. The air coming in whenever he breathed was venomous in his nose and mouth.

Raffaelo screeched in pain, he grabbed a paper knife and stabbed his other hand. He had to because it was getting out of control as if he was not in his own body.

He confirmed, the curse is manifesting.

Uncontrollable reflexes, numbness, the rush of destroying something, blurry visions, unbearable pain. That was the signs of the appearance of the curse.

The curse of Glastieve.

Raffaelo kneeled to the floor, drilling in agony as he wounded his left abdomen.

Black inks were crawling, almost surrounding his left arm causing his torment to double. He felt discomfort of wanting to cut his left arm to sever the pain.

There are no medications or prayers to help lift the curse. As a bearer of the curse, you can only relieve the pain by inflicting yourself with a greater torment, which means the only option left is to hurt yourself.

To hurt yourself to stop the pain. It's ridiculous. But the curse is by no means a simple one.

The curse feeds itself from its host pain, the more painful and agonizing it is, the faster it will cease. It seemed intended to kill the bearer.

The door was slammed open, and the head butler dashed to the first master.

"Your Grace!" The butler hurriedly ran to help when Raffaelo yelled to stop in his tracks.

"Don't move. I'm fine. Stay where you are." The first young master tried to stand up, successfully he stood on his feet with a hand suppressing the wound on his abdomen.

"Your wounds, your grace." Said anxiously.

"Has Evyterr gotten home, Mr. Frey?" Raffaelo asks, eyes sunken like a dead man.

"I'm afraid...not."

Hearing those words made Raffaelo fall back. He was relieved. So relieved that the pain was ceasing, but, no, curses are one thing. It can't be stopped in just one stab or twice. As long as the curse's effect is still surfacing he can't get out of this room.

Raffaelo thought of his brother and his father. He was worried about what may happen to them.

His brother, Raffael, as short-tempered as he is, the man can get vulnerable and emotional. He can't blame him for trying to get away from this house because Evyterr is still here.

He worries about his father too. He knew his father and the king had an unspeakable and complicated relationship, even his father refused to talk about him.

His father may look cold and impassive, he was just miserable at heart. Despite being stoic, his emotions are assailable.

Easy to prey.

Raffaelo's heart began rising again. The screams echoed through the empty halls, devoid of anyone's ears.

***

Theseus observed his young master's chest rising and falling. An indication that his young master was sleeping soundly.

Theseus who sat in a chair right to the window kept his eyes locked at Evyterr until his raven eyes fell in his hands.

A mysterious bottle Crisis gave to him. It has a bluish liquid with some...

Glittering dust? You call this a medicine?

It's more like a potion witches sell if you want your other person to fall head over heels with you.

The medicine as Crisis claimed has drowsiness as one of its side effects. Visible changes are also feeling lethargic and increasing the period of sleep.

As Theseus noticed, the medicine Crisis craved to make Evyterr consume it four times a day did work accurately.

The medicine works, so it means his young master will be asleep for a while. Theseus will be keeping his promise to Raffaelo, don't let Evyterr go back to the dukedom in the meantime.

Theseus refused to stay in a cabin or a hotel inside the capital. He searched for a rental house outskirts. The capital, especially the central plaza, is too crowded, his master doesn't like crowds, and crowds equals disturbance. He can't rest like that.

Thus, renting a house was the ideal option. He can protect his young master better this way. There were soldiers outside patrolling and guarding the house.

Among the seven maids he brought from the dukedom, half of them are combat servants who guards inside the house. The rest were non-combat, they will be serving all the needs in the house.

"Sir Laux, may I ask for permission to enter?" A maid said behind doors.

"You may." Theseus permitted.

The maid unlocks the doorknob and enters. "Ceras, at your command," the maid kneeled and rested its hand on her chest.

"What may it be that you need to disturb me this late at night, Ceras?" Theseus mused a commanding question.

Remaining where she was, Ceras answered politely, "A letter from the dukedom came; the conferrer was his grace, the first young master."

Theseus's eyebrows raised. A letter? Ceras handed the letter to him. As soon as he held the letter he saw the emblem of the dukedom.

He stood. Entrusting Ceras to look after the young master.

He reads the letter, closes it, and heavily massages the bridge of his nose.

Everything he read in the letter appears to be absurd to him. They didn't know about the Glastieve's soldiers' homecoming yesterday. He presumed, they already left the dukedom when they came.

The news broke to him about the duke too, confined in the palace and not able to go out unless he was to be married to the king.

Has the king gone mad?

The nobles knew the king could not touch the Glastieves. It was an unspoken rule. Hence, a marriage between the king and the duke will cause an uproar. The king can marry anyone, a noble or a commoner, if he wants.

Though it's a good thing it has never gone out to the public.

What on Agnes entered the king's mind? This is not a joke.

Marriage between men is not out of the ordinary now. Men and women can get married to their same gender. Since a long time ago, it has become more widely accepted.

If the relationship between the duke and king is established, nobles especially will go chaotic, to stain a royal's blood with a 'mad dog's' blood is utterly shameful to the empire's grace.

The nobles believed that the Glastieves, as prestigious as they are, were monsters carrying filthy blood because their ancestors weren't pure-blooded royalty; originally, they were wanderers, marrying other people of different kin.

Thus, it didn't leave a good impression on the majority of the aristocrats wanting to uphold a long line of prosperity in the monarchy.

The monarchy, after all, is the blessed descendants of their beloved God of Dawn, Agnes.

The Kingdom of Esthera, the graced kingdom of Agnes, is ruled by the blessed descendants of Agnes, the untainted blood, bearer of curse manipulation magic under the pretext of dark magic, and the current tyrant king on the throne, Ophelio Acan Emormiliue Ashea.

The bloodline of the Ashea monarchy is a treasure of the Kingdom Esthera. Eventually, if the rich bloodline cannot be kept the kingdom will be endangered.

The bloodline can only be prolonged if the king marries someone blessed by Agnes through a ceremony done by the church.

Anyone, even royal families outside the kingdom who wanted to marry the king could be blessed.

However, for undecipherable reasons, the Glastieves revoked the church's appeal to get the blessing. They were no law stating that a person should be blessed to be a citizen in Esthera. But, being a noble and not yet being blessed by Agnes in Esthera raised some questions and mayhem for dogmatic believers.

For decades, they were the gossip of people. The years of doubt only came to abrupt as the king preceding Ophelio avouch that the issue concerning the Glastieves would be dismissed as the Glastieves already swore their abiding loyalty to the monarchy and the generation that follows. Though some people still imprint the denial to accept, it still ended duly.

Theseus resigned for the night and went back to where his young master was. A servant followed to report and leaves right after. Twisting the doorknob he was greeted by three pairs of eyes. One was from the maid whom he left to keep an eye on Evyterr. The other pair was someone he knew, professionally.

"Ceras," Theseus called. The maid immediately fixed her posture.

"Sir," she answered.

"Go back to your post." He commanded. Ceras went out and the door was closed.

The butler sat on a chair on the befside and met the eyes of the silent personas behind the shadows.

"I didn't agree on this," a man came out in the shadows, fatigue was visible in his face.

"Then, why are you here, Casimir?" Theseus blankly stared as if he didn't care. "Ask the person behind me." He was referring to Crisis.

Crisis just nonchalantly leaned on the wall not meeting the blank stares of his comrades.

'As if he wasn't a dog in front of his master' Crisis said in his mind.

"I was dragged." Crisis claimed in defense. "Really? By who?" Eyebrows raised as the butler asks.

"Davy..." He replied.

Almost a bug could hear as he whispered but it was loud enough for men who have sensitive ears.

Casimir groaned as he covered his eyes with his hands, and Theseus looked blankly.

Another man came out in the shadows and punched Crisis hard on the head. His veins almost popped in his head showing annoyance.

"Who are you calling Davy? Idiot."

"Hey! Why did you hit me?!" Crisis holds his head as if he the man broke it.

"Oh, please," Casimir no longer tried to get in between. In fact, he is already in between.

"Stop calling me stupid nicknames, are you uneducated? You call people by their given names."

Crisis was speechless. No, rather he was irritated that he couldn't speak to this man.

He was the one who said he didn't want to be called Dav, so it switched to Davy!

One thing he can't believe is that he called him uneducated. Excuse me?! Him? Uneducated?

"Uneducated, you say? Says the one who keeps on stalking, hiding behind the trees as you follow the kid here!" Crisis rambled.

Casimir got numb from hearing Crisis yelling, and getting deadly stares from Theseus as he heard his young master getting stalked.

Davloise didn't have the chance to speak as Theseus shot them daggers made from shadow ability. They quickly dodged it.

Casimir just stood still and tilted his head when a dagger was flying towards his eyes and another to his forehead.

Meanwhile, Crisis handled two daggers from his chest with his right hand, and incoming three to his face with his other hand. Davloise didn't move an inch as his chains took the daggers.

"So, you people, followed us here? You didn't tell me? Are you trying to stress my young master?" Theseus gave them a deadly look, fixating his fists on his legs. The gentlemen only gave him a blank face.

'Ehh..' they said in unison.

"Now, now, Theseus. Don't be in a rage. You'll wake up the little master." Another voice from the shadows appeared. All eyes fell on him.

A man stood calmly, he was holding a cup of tea. He smiled and sat on a chair. Eyes followed him, and he embraced a soft chuckle.

Casimir, with his exhausted head and body, possibly, almost possibly, understands what's happening. He was dragged out of nowhere when he was strolling for materials in the plaza. He saw Crisis together with Davloise, together they were hiding in the alley.

He was told they were following someone, not in his exhausted mind would think it was Theseus and the Glastieve's youngest! The last thing he knew he was there! Tailing them!

'If I only knew, I shouldn't have gone out' Casimir internally cried.

"Percival?" Theseus gave him a questioning look. Why in the world is this man in here? And why are we meeting in this place?

"Oh, Theseus, never mind me, can we stay for the night?" He asked.

The other three left in silence.

'So straightforward! He didn't even hesitate!" Crisis thought.

'Ugh...' the other two could say in their minds.

"Why are you even here?" Although Theseus tried to stay neutral, Percival only smiled and took a sip.

"Oh, you know, I was walking down the streets, saw Crisis and the rest in the corner, I came up to them and they said they were following someone. I decided to help them, we took some rats in the way and decided to stay for a night."

"You were the one who said to stay for the night," Davloise corrected.

Percival was raising amusement in his eyes and grinned. "You're not going to---"

Suddenly, they heard a noise behind the door. Theseus immediately stood. The other three were alerted also.

'Oh, Agnes, who is it this time? Don't tell me another assassin sneaked out.'

Theseus is positioned to fire arrows made of his magic if the door opens.

Then door opened, revealing a man with gray hair partnered with a pastel hue of blue and a tint of purple in his eyes.

"Goodness, it's you," Percival said.

"Ehh, I thought you were on commission." Casimir's eyebrows raised.

"Why are you making noises? Someone's sleeping in here." Davloise added.

"You're cracking my head, why are you even here?" Crisis said.

Theseus wanted to say to Crisis that he should be the one asking that to him.

Indigo apologetically scratched his head, "Oh, my bad, I'm sorry." He said.

The rest of them engaged in small talk while Theseus only relieved a weary sigh.

'How am I supposed to explain to young master tomorrow?' Theseus thought.

He has a lot of worries but this was the one that's bringing him pain in the head.

"Settle down, men. We will talk about this." Theseus sat in the center on a long rectangular table. His comrades were sitting opposite to him.

There was a heavy and strained look Theseus possessed. Looking back earlier, in the same room where Evyterr was, the men which he claimed to be his comrades appeared one by one.

They were chaotic and loud.

Oh, gods, I can't comprehend why is this happening.

Theseus blankly stared at the ceiling of his young master's room.

Then, a soft hum caught the men's interaction to halt. It seems like their clamorous conversations almost wake the sleeping beauty in its sleep.

Theseus eyes widen fearing the thought that the young master will wake up and unfold what happening in the room. Immediately, he pushed them out of the room and led them to the dining area.

"Now, what do we talk about?" Percival started. Pouring another batch of tea into his teapot. A few remained unspoken expecting someone to fuel the conversation.

He shrugged, "I guess, I ought to start this meeting," he leaned comfortably in the back of the chair and started to look seriously.

The rest understood the vitality of that look. They were not here by coincidence, it was intentional. It was orchestrated to happen and it was this man who handled the strings.

As frustrating as it is they believe that there is something important behind it.

To break the ice Percival threw a dried irises with a recognizable seal on the table.

Now, they knew.

It's from the guild master.

***

You men gonna need to know what privacy is, alright?୧⁠(⁠ ⁠ಠ⁠ ⁠Д⁠ ⁠ಠ⁠ ⁠)⁠୨

Evy's sleeping! He needs sleep to recover!

Heheheheh...

I'm sorry for the long updates, my dear Descendants.

I hope everyone is doing well. In this time of the year, here in my home country it's getting more rainy. It's nice to have a longer sleep(⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

I hope you enjoyed today's update, dear Descendants!

I love you, all(⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥

~Lovelots(⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~