Chapter 124: Innate Curse Master

Noticing Lola’s mother was fine with her taking a break, but Lola seemed uneasy and hesitant, Ace suddenly grabbed Lola’s wrist with a light, encouraging grip. “Come on, Lola,” he said with a teasing grin. “You heard your mom. Don’t be shy.”

Mandy and Danny exchanged puzzled glances. Mandy, especially, couldn’t help but frown slightly. Why was Ace being so familiar with Lola? To Mandy, Lola was a plain, average girl—hardly someone she imagined Ace showing interest in. She folded her arms, watching the interaction intently, wondering what Ace was up to.

“No, Ace, I have a lot of work,” Lola insisted, her voice firm but wavering just enough to show her discomfort. “Please understand.”

When it became clear that his persuasion wasn’t working, Ace shrugged and said, “Fine, then let me help.” He turned to Mandy and Danny. “You guys go ahead. I’ll stay and help Lola.”

Now even Lola’s mother and Luke exchanged startled glances, clearly taken aback by Ace’s determination. While they appreciated his polite offer, they couldn’t shake their unease. They wanted to tell him to leave their daughter alone and move along, but Ace wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was simply offering to help as a friend.

On the other hand, Lola bit her lip, torn between embarrassment and gratitude, as Ace remained steadfast in his decision to stay. So, she finally caved: “There is no need for you to help; I will take a break.” 

Hearing Lola decide to tag along with them, Ace nodded in satisfaction, a small smile playing on his lips. Mandy, however, frowned deeply, her eyes narrowing as she grabbed her nephew by the arm and dragged him a few steps away. She leaned in, her voice low but intense as she asked, “What the fuck are you doing? What about Rose?”

“What about Rose?” Ace replied, blinking in confusion, his brows knitting together as he genuinely didn’t understand what she was getting at.

“Rose—your girlfriend,” Mandy clarified, emphasizing each word as she swatted the back of his head with a light smack. “I’m telling you, Lola is one of the most sensitive, well-mannered girls in our town. If you have any designs on her, erase them from your mind right now.”

Ace groaned softly, rubbing the back of his head where Mandy’s hand had landed. “We’re just friends. Get your mind out of the gutter, Auntie,” he retorted, waving off her concerns with an air of exasperation. His gaze shifted back to Lola, who had just removed her hair net, mouth guard, and apron, neatly folding them before pocketing the money her father had pressed into her hand.

Ace’s eyes briefly lingered as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her natural beauty now unobstructed. Smiling, he walked up to her and, with a playful flourish, offered his arm. “Will you do me the honor, my fair lady?” he teased, bowing slightly for dramatic effect.

Mandy watched the scene unfold, her arms crossed tightly and her lips forming a pout. That arm—Ace’s arm—used to be hers. She glanced away, irritated but also amused at her nephew’s theatrics.

Lola blinked in surprise before breaking into a smile, her cheeks slightly pink. “Sure, my handsome knight,” she replied, slipping her hand into the crook of his arm and playing along with his joke.

As they walked away together, Luke and his wife exchanged uneasy yet hopeful glances. Watching their daughter and Ace from behind, their emotions were a tangled mix of pride and apprehension. They knew all too well the struggles Lola faced making friends due to their family’s financial constraints. While other kids played and had fun, Lola had spent her time helping out at their shop, pulling her weight for the family. Over time, her isolation grew with some tragic bullying incidents, and people began labeling her as “weird” never critizing their own kids for their behaviour toward their daughter. 

If it weren’t for them knowing their baby girl could talk care of herself and also Mandy’s presence, Luke and his wife would never have dared to let their daughter go off with Ace, even if he seemed kind. Yet, as they stood there watching the two walk off, a tiny flicker of hope sparked in their hearts.

There was a compelling reason behind Ace’s enthusiasm for his friendship with Lola even though this was his second meeting with this plain and introverted girl. When Ace first met Lola, Dame Wasp had immediately warned him that Lola’s heart contained a dangerous level of negative feelings—enough to birth a knight-tier curseling.

Ace had been stunned by this revelation. The idea that a human could harbor such immense levels of negative feelings and still be alive was hard to grasp. Typically, negative feelings sufficient to birth even a mortal-tier curseling was enough to cause catastrophic damage to the heart’s capillaries, leading to a fatal heart attack. Yet here was Lola, walking around with negative feelings capable of birthing a knight-tier curseling, appearing perfectly fine, and carrying out her daily activities with no visible struggles.

What shocked Ace even more was the fact that, despite the magnitude of the negative feelings inside her, Lola hadn’t attracted any curselings or been haunted by one. She seemed to be thriving, unaffected by the dark energy coursing through her. Her calm demeanor and untroubled routine defied all logic.

According to Dame Wasp, this anomaly was due to Lola’s extraordinary aptitude for curse energy. She speculated that Lola could be one of the fabled innate curse masters. It appeared that either unconsciously or as a natural function of her body, Lola had been gathering and concentrating all her negative thoughts and emotions into her heart since birth. Over time, this accumulation had reached an astounding level—far beyond the process Ace had undergone when Ria used the depression incense stick to evoke his worst memories and nightmares. Back then, Ace had been forced to focus all his anguish on his heart to form a curse core. But Lola seemed to have achieved something similar without external intervention.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep