Chapter 307: Chapter 307 : A message from myself

Charlotte sat motionless before her mother’s lifeless body.

Isabella lay on the bed, face peaceful in death, while Charlotte’s eyes stared ahead with a hollow emptiness—as if her entire world had caved in. Her small hands trembled in her lap, but she didn’t move, didn’t cry.

She just… stared.

Ominous energy seeped out of her body in slow, pulsing waves, coiling around the room like smoke. The aura was so suffocating that even the palace servants, waiting fearfully outside the door, didn’t dare step in.

Then they all felt it.

Her aura suddenly spiked—surging to a level no child should possess.

“O-One of you, contact His Majesty right now!” a servant stammered. “This is… this is not normal. Only he can calm her down!”

They scattered in panic, running through the palace corridors to reach Edward, who was away in a meeting with other monarchs.

Inside the room, Charlotte’s shoulders began to shake.

Not from sobbing.

From laughter.

It started low, then rose.

“Hah… haha… hahahahaha…”

Her hair, once pure white, darkened strand by strand into a deep, sinister purple. Her amethyst eyes dulled, turning into unsettling shades of grey.

The desire for destruction that had grown in her heart exploded—fueled by her grief, her hatred, and her curse. In her mind, every part of the royal family was to blame for Isabella’s death… including Edward.

And the curse amplified those emotions to monstrous extremes.

Charlotte stood up from beside Isabella’s bed, her movements strangely calm. She stepped out of the room and walked quietly down the corridor.

No one dared approach her.

Outside, she stopped in the middle of an open courtyard between her mother’s palace and the main royal complex. Kneeling down, she pressed her finger to the ground.

She began to draw.

Lines of dark mana etched into the stone as a complex magic circle took form—layers of sigils, runes, and forbidden symbols interlocking in an intricate pattern.

When she was done, she lifted her hand, bit her fingertip, and let a single drop of blood fall onto the center of the circle.

The magic circle flared to life.

It multiplied.

One circle became two.

Two became ten.

Ten became hundreds, spreading like a plague across the palace grounds and the city beyond.

From each glowing circle, shapes began to rise—monsters of all types and sizes.

Corrupted beasts with too many limbs. Shadowy hounds wreathed in black flame. Twisted humanoids with bone protrusions and dripping claws. The air filled with roars, screeches, and guttural howls as they erupted into the streets.

They began wrecking everything in sight—tearing through buildings, smashing carriages, ripping into fleeing citizens.

Above, corruption liches floated into the sky like skeletal kings of death—robes made of darkness, eyes burning with eerie light—as they hurled spheres of corrupted energy down onto the city.

A small number of the most menacing monsters, their auras thick with killing intent, gathered around Charlotte like an escort. Together, they followed her as she walked toward the main palace.

She had a destination.

Regina’s room.

—

Watching from within the memory, Alex felt his blood run cold.

’So she was the culprit… for Lily’s condition,’ he thought, fists tightening as he saw corruption liches raining destruction from above.

He forced himself to keep watching.

The scene shifted again.

Now Charlotte walked through the inner palace halls, monsters lumbering beside her. Royal soldiers rushed to stop her, blades drawn, spells ready.

“Stop her!” one of them yelled. “Protect the palace!”

They didn’t get far.

The monsters pounced—crushing armored bodies, tearing through flesh, ripping limbs apart. Screams echoed through the corridors as soldiers were devoured in front of her.

Behind them, Regina ran, face pale with pure terror. She hid behind the soldiers, barking orders at them as she fled.

“Protect me!” she shrieked. “If I die, I’ll make sure your families are destroyed!”

But no matter how many soldiers stepped up to shield her, it was futile.

The monsters shredded them one by one.

Blood painted the walls.

At last, Charlotte reached her.

Regina, in her panic, stumbled and fell to the floor, scrambling backward until her back hit the wall. Her legs wouldn’t respond anymore. She stared up at Charlotte, shaking violently.

“F-Forgive me,” Regina stuttered. “I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please forgive me! I admit it—I was the one who poisoned your mother! Please don’t kill me!”

Charlotte just smiled.

She grabbed Regina by the hair and yanked her up, ignoring the older woman’s screams. Then she turned and began dragging her along the floor, hauling her across the palace hallway by that handful of hair.

Regina wailed, hands clawing at Charlotte’s wrist. “Let go! It hurts! Stop—!”

Charlotte’s only answer was an unhinged, delighted laugh.

“Hahahahaha…”

She dragged Regina outside, out of the main palace and into an open courtyard torn by the rampaging monsters.

She released Regina and looked down at her, eyes cold and empty.

“Eat her,” Charlotte said softly.

Her monsters advanced, several of them baring their jaws, drool dripping onto the stone.

“Devour her. Slowly. Piece by piece.”

They moved.

But before they could touch Regina, stone spears erupted from the ground—massive spikes of rock impaling the monsters mid-lunge. Their bodies twitched once, then fell still.

A voice, filled with grief and anger, rang out. “Charlotte… just what have you done?”

Edward stood between Charlotte and Regina.

Charlotte’s rage spiked at the sight of him.

The remaining monsters roared as she pointed forward. “Kill him.”

They surged toward Edward from all sides.

He didn’t flinch.

With a flick of his finger, mana exploded around him. The earth beneath them shook as a colossal rock golem rose from the ground—towering as tall as a house, fists like boulders. It smashed down in a single sweeping motion, crushing the monsters into broken pulp.

Charlotte watched with growing fury.

She drew a dagger from her waist and lunged at Edward herself, aura flaring wildly.

He stepped forward calmly.

With a quick motion, his hand chopped the side of her neck. Charlotte’s body went limp and fell forward, unconscious.

As she collapsed, the purple bled out of her hair, turning it back to pure white. Her grey eyes faded into their usual amethyst, even behind closed lids.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she slept.

Edward’s own eyes grew wet as he caught her before she hit the ground. He looked between her and the distant palace where Isabella’s body lay.

He carried Charlotte back to Isabella’s room and gently laid her down beside the bed.

“Isabella,” he whispered, voice breaking, “I failed you again.”

He looked at his daughter, then at his dead lover. “The prophecy is coming true… but as long as I draw breath, no one will know. I’ll protect Charlotte. No matter what.”

He brushed Charlotte’s hair back from her face. “So rest in peace. As for the rest… I’ll ask for your forgiveness when my time comes to meet you.”

In the background, Alex watched Edward threaten Regina in another memory—forcing her into silence about what had happened that day, all to protect Charlotte from being labeled a monster and executed.

Alex exhaled slowly. ’This… really was a sad ending.’

The vision shifted.

He saw awakened fighters in the skies above the capital, battling the remaining monsters and corruption liches. Some fell. Some prevailed. The city burned and bled beneath them.

Alex flew upward within the memory, trying to track something.

He found it.

One corruption lich had pushed past the inner defenses and was gliding toward the outskirts of the capital—the poorer districts where small houses crowded together.

There, at the edge of the city, stood a tiny home.

The one where Alex and Lily had once lived.

He clenched his fists. ’If this were real, I’d rip that thing apart,’ he thought. But this was just a memory. He couldn’t change it.

He let out a long, controlled breath, forcing himself to calm down.

Then he saw him.

In a narrow alleyway, a boy stood alone, staring up at the sky.

No—staring straight at *Alex*.

As if he could see him.

Alex’s heart lurched. ’What the…?’

The boy’s blue eyes never wavered for even a moment. They followed Alex’s position in the sky with unnerving accuracy.

Alex’s chest tightened. He knew that face, that messy hair, that faintly annoyed expression even as the world crumbled around him.

It was him.

A younger Alex.

’How…?’ Alex thought, heart pounding. He felt an irrational urge to drop down, to stand in front of the boy, to see him up close, to confirm it with his own eyes.

He moved to descend—

And slammed into something unseen.

An unbreakable barrier stood between him and the ground, invisible yet absolute. He pressed his palm against it; it didn’t so much as ripple.

He drew his fist back and struck it with all his strength.

Nothing.

Not even a crack.

He gritted his teeth, trying again and again, but the wall refused to budge, as if it existed outside his control.

Then he noticed the boy’s lips moving.

The younger Alex was still staring straight at him, at his exact position—as if he really could see through the boundary of memory.

“You’re finally here,” the boy said, voice too distant to hear—but Alex understood the words perfectly in his mind. “Looks like I succeeded.”

The boy’s lips moved again. “Remember, never trust the—”

He stopped and slowly pointed upward.

Alex frowned. “At least finish what you’re saying, damn it—”

Before he could finish his own sentence, the world lurched.

A powerful pull yanked at his consciousness, dragging him backward like a hooked chain. The city, the sky, the boy, the liches—all of it blurred and shattered like broken glass.

Alex gasped as his eyes snapped open.

He was back in the meeting room.

His hand was still on Charlotte’s head. Sweat dampened his brow. His breathing came out in heavy bursts.

“What the hell was that…” he muttered, trying to steady his lungs.

Charlotte’s voice cut through the air, low and menacing. “I told you not to do it,” she said. “But you still did.”

Alex looked straight into her grey eyes.

“Now you’ve seen it, haven’t you?” she continued. “You’ve seen that I’m a monster. That I’ve killed innocents. That my hands are stained with blood.”

Her lips trembled, but her stare didn’t break. “I never wanted anyone to know. Especially you.”

She clenched her teeth. “So tell me. You hate me now, right? You think I’m a monster that needs to be dealt with. I know you’re thinking exactly that.”

Alex was silent for a heartbeat.

“Yes,” he said at last. “I’ve seen it.”

He lifted his gaze.

“I’ve seen it all.”

He let the silence hang between them for a moment before he spoke again.

“But I have no right to say that to you.”

Charlotte blinked. “What…?”

“Not long ago,” Alex said quietly, “I did the same thing.”

“It wasn’t inte—” Charlotte began.

Alex cut her off. “Yeah, I know. You’ll say it wasn’t intentional. But the fact remains—people died.”

He exhaled heavily. “Back then, I told Evelyn to ’save as many as you can’… fully knowing that innocents will die.”

Charlotte’s words died in her throat.

“So I’m not that different from you,” Alex said. “I don’t have the right to accuse you of anything.”

He held her gaze. “I’m not saying what you did was right. It wasn’t. But what’s done is done. We can’t change it. The only thing left is to decide what we do now.”

Charlotte took a deep, shaking breath.

For a moment, the grey in her eyes seemed to dim.

“But,” Alex said suddenly, his tone hardening, “the fact remains—you’re too dangerous.”

Before she could react, his hand shot out and wrapped around Charlotte’s neck—not tight enough to choke, but firm enough that she couldn’t pull away.

Her breath hitched. “W-What are you doing…?”

“Relax,” Alex said. “I’m just going to suppress her desires.”

Cosmic energy swirled around his fingers, sinking into Charlotte’s skin and racing up toward her head. A cold, tingling sensation spread through her skull.

[ Using cosmic essence to temporarily override neural pathways tied to desire—All memories remain intact. ]

[ Emotional impulse tied to the target is successfully erased. ]

[ Target will experience neutrality and emotional detachment toward previously intense desires. ]

Charlotte’s eyelids began to droop as an overwhelming drowsiness washed over her. Her purple-tinted hair slowly faded back to white, the last traces of corruption retreating. Her eyes, still grey, flickered weakly.

“What have you… done…” she whispered.

“I’ve erased the desires and the emotions she’s been suppressing until now,” Alex replied softly. “The desires that gave birth to you.”

He gave a small, tired smile. “So… bye-bye. For now.”

Charlotte’s lips curved into a faint smirk. “It’s not… over,” she managed.

“I know,” Alex said.

Her body went limp as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Her eyes softened back into their usual amethyst along withbher white hair. Her expression relaxed, peaceful—like a child finally allowed to rest.

Alex gently laid her back in the chair and stroked her hair once. “Sorry,” he murmured, “but this was necessary.”

The door burst open with a loud bang.

Evelyn strode in, expression sharp—only for her face to sour when she spotted Alex and Charlotte.

“Your Majesty,” she said dryly, “if you’re not too busy being a douchebag, there’s an emergency.”

Alex’s mouth twitched. “What is it? Tell me fast. I’d like to enjoy my time being a douchebag.”

This time, Evelyn’s mouth twitched.

But she still sighed and answered, “The monarchs of the other nations… they want to talk to you.”

A slow smile spread across Alex’s face.

“Well, well,” he said, eyes glinting. “Looks like they finally found out about me.”

—–

A/N:

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