CHAPTER 129: FINISH IT TONIGHT

"Do you still want me to finish your spell?" asked Selmora, moving like a wisp of smoke in the now pitch-black room.

Amos placed his sword on the table next to the black book, which was currently closed.

"I have to finish it," said Amos, sitting down in a chair and opening his spell book.

Selmora transformed into a beautiful girl with long hair, moving gracefully to close the book. "You have me. You don’t need that book," she whispered.

Amos stared at Selmora. Even though he was now used to the demon, every time he saw her beautiful curves, he couldn’t look for long and had to look away.

Selmora moved closer to Amos, hugging him from behind. "You know what will happen, right? You’re really going to do it?"

Amos was silent for a moment. Selmora had explained everything to him.

"The king has a powerful spirit that protects his soul. The spirit that Bertha, your mother, planted. It protects him from poison and all the bad things aimed at him. Your spell actually weakens it..."

Amos took an uneasy breath. In truth, he had made everything worse for the king. He didn’t understand how his mother could be involved in this. But Selmora had clearly said that it was his mother’s spell that summoned the high-level spirit to protect the king.

Amos realized that ordinary people would die immediately from poison, even if it was made to be undetectable. But the king had stayed unconscious long enough for him to cast a spell.

Basically, he had made a mistake. His help was useless. Even so, Selmora praised him for managing to cast a spell for the first time that was strong enough to weaken the spirit protecting the king.

Amos’ spell didn’t work on the king but instead paralyzed the protective spirit. This left the king in a coma for quite a long time.

Selmora added that things got worse when the suppressing spell was cast. The healing spell. Selmora said that spell suppressed Amos’ spell that had weakened the spirit, giving the spirit control. But because the spirit was still under the effect of Amos’ spell, part of the king’s body stopped working.

Amos concluded that the spell had come from the doctor who had successfully "awakened the king."

"If you want me to complete the spell, I have to kill the demon and also the king’s guardian spirit. You know the consequences," said Selmora softly.

"I can’t do it without destroying the spirit, because that will make the king fall back into a coma, or die," added Selmora before Amos could ask a question. It was as if she knew what was on the young man’s mind.

Amos took another deep breath, for what felt like the hundredth time. "If I hadn’t cast the spell, maybe the king would be fine now?" he asked.

Selmora smiled teasingly. "That’s right."

Amos looked down. He hadn’t known the king had his mother’s protective spirit. Why had she never told him? He wondered why she had been so insistent that he become a palace knight. Could this be related?

Whatever it was, he had made a mistake and he had to fix it.

"If I don’t do anything—"

Selmora interrupted, "Your spell still binds the spirit and it is growing inside the king’s body. It will slowly eat away at his human body. He will die a painful death."

Amos stared at Selmora. "You know I have no other choice."

Selmora knew. She just enjoyed making Amos anxious, making his aura unstable so she could control him more easily.

The demon smiled. "So, you’re going to make the king lose his guardian spirit."

"I’m going to save the king," Amos corrected.

It was also to save himself from punishment. If by the end of the festival he still couldn’t "heal" the king, Sylas would take him to the royal court. That would only make things more complicated. If he could avoid it, it would be better.

And he had no other choice.

The most important thing now was that the king was alive and well. As for protection, he would promise to protect the king. After all, wasn’t the king already guarded by many knights and strong men?

"Let’s do it now," said Amos.

Selmora moved like smoke, whispering in Amos’ ear.

"Say your spell, Amos... let’s finish this tonight."

***

Meanwhile, Sylas kept his word and took Kai to the city center to enjoy the festival again. The guards had even asked Sylas to specially invite performers from the capital, but the prince insisted on taking Kai to enjoy the festivities.

He himself liked the atmosphere of the festival, filled with people and pure excitement everywhere, more than the exclusive performances at the palace. Not everything exclusive is good. Besides, he wanted Kai to see how ordinary people lived.

Kai sat in front of the prince on horseback, smiling now and then. He was still thinking about how the prince had placed the sculpture he had given him on a special shelf in his room. The man had even asked Sean to move the shelf closer to his bed.

Sylas had not only accepted his gift but also treated him very well. Kai was touched. Now Sylas treated him kindly and explained more things to him while they rode along the roadside, watching the crowds of people passing by.

From a distance, someone came running toward them. The guards were on alert, but they immediately recognized the man. He was the one who had brought Vlad’s slave carriage.

The man told the group that the slaves were waiting. Sylas was a little surprised that it wasn’t Alvaro who came.

Sylas followed the guards to a field that looked deserted, with shady trees around it. He quickly got down and helped Kai off the horse.

"Where’s Alvaro?" Sylas asked Obi.

Obi, who had been running toward them while pulling Kai’s hand, immediately stopped and looked at Sylas. "Master Vlad took him," he said casually, still holding Kai’s hand.

"Oh!" Kai smiled at Obi’s broad grin. However, he held Obi’s hand and looked at Sylas.

"Where are you going?" Sylas asked Obi.

"I’m going to take him to buy food. I brought a lot of coins," he said proudly. He pointed at the many stalls along the street, which were now very crowded.

The festival was ending and more and more people were arriving.

Sylas sighed, looking at the excited child and at Kai, who looked happy. He finally walked behind them. John and the slaves followed, along with the guards.

Sylas looked at John. "Do you know what happened to Alvaro?" he asked.

John bowed respectfully, then told him what he had seen at the palace. "Master Vlad arrived, then an old man with the royal emblem came to confront him. I don’t know who he was. But he didn’t seem to like seeing Master Vlad with Alvaro. That’s all I can say. You don’t need to worry, Your Highness. Master Vlad won’t hurt Alvaro."

Sylas took a breath, wondering who had confronted them. Did he now know about Vlad and Alvaro’s relationship?

"Young Master! Please don’t run away!"

Sylas turned his head at the shout from the corner, louder than the noise around them. He saw a seven-year-old child in simple but neat clothes, laughing as he pushed through the crowd with a meatball in his hand.

The child’s laughter was so clear.

Sylas narrowed his eyes, knowing who the child was. He walked quickly toward him and blocked the boy’s path.

The child bumped into Sylas and fell to the ground.

The guards were on alert, as was the man who had called out to the child.

The boy groaned and looked up. When he saw who was in front of him, his eyes went wide.

"Your Highness!" the child exclaimed happily.

"Are you causing trouble for your servant again, Lucas?" asked Sylas, bending down to help the child up.

The boy giggled innocently. He noticed Sylas’s clothes, which were stained with sauce from the meatball in his hand. He tried to wipe it clean.

Sylas stopped him by holding his hand. "No problem."

Lucas beamed at the man in front of him. But his expression turned sad a moment later. "Are you going to the rest house again? You didn’t see me yesterday," he complained.

"Oh, sorry, Lucas. We just stayed there for a bit, then had to return to the palace right away," replied Sylas, crouching in front of the child.

The man who was with the boy hurriedly approached. "Your Highness," he said respectfully.

"Are you two alone?" asked Sylas.

The servant nodded. "Young Master has wanted to go to the festival since yesterday. Paloma only allowed him to go today. You know Paloma worries about letting Young Master wander around the capital."

Sylas looked at Lucas and smiled. "Luckily, I brought a lot of friends today. Do you want to go with us?"

Lucas immediately brightened. He nodded eagerly.

Kai and Obi walked closer, making several people stop to look. Luckily, the street wasn’t too crowded.

Kai looked at the little boy with green eyes and strange grayish-brown hair. He was handsome, neat, and had pale white skin.

Who was he?

Sylas looked at Kai, pulled him closer, then looked at Lucas.

"Kai, this is Lucas, my cousin," said Sylas. He didn’t mention that Lucas was Virouse’s illegitimate child. The boy’s mother had disappeared after giving birth to him. Adrien had ordered the palace servants to take care of him after Virouse declared that he would not acknowledge the child.

While in the palace, the boy had been very close to Sylas. Until he was five years old, when Adrien sent him out of the palace. He ordered Paloma to take him to the royal family’s vacation home and look after him.

Kai smiled and bowed politely. He thought the child was very cute and smiled brightly at Sylas.

Suddenly Lucas hugged Sylas tightly, staring at him. Kai swallowed hard under that gaze. It was cold and piercing.

"Lucas, this is Kai. You’ll probably see him often," said Sylas.

Lucas let go of his embrace. His sweet smile returned. He looked at Kai and grinned widely.

Kai shivered.