1. Prologue (His Past) - 3. Mission

Angel entered the main hall. Like the rest of the castle, the hall interior was dominated by ivory walls. Several large pillars line up on each side with a member of elite troops standing in front of it. The floors were made of dark brown marble, a long red carpet lined from the door to the throne stage and a large paint of his uncle in a golden frame placed behind the throne.

Angel walked to the middle of the hall and bowed to his uncle who sat with a perfect posture on the throne, his hands held his armchair.
"Uncle, did you call me?"

His uncle, the current King of Asteria, King Gervis Eryes Reinheart. He began to reign ten years ago after Angel father's death. King Gervis had slightly curly golden hair, brown eyes and a serious face with a thin beard and moustaches. He wore the same uniform as Angel and Ilex, what distinguished him was his badge was not on his collar but on his ascot, signifying he was the king. A white cape with the lion's head crest of Asteria threaded in gold hanging over on his left shoulder.

King Gervis looked at him with a cold expression.
"I have a mission for you. It has been a week since a fierce monster attacked Springwell City and the casualties are increasing every day. I have assigned a platoon of city troops but still haven't heard any news from them. Now, I order you to go there and conquer that monster. "

Angel lowered his head.
"Yes, uncle."

"One more thing, you must return immediately after completing your mission. The peace alliance meeting will be held in seven days," added King Gervis with an emphatic tone.

The peace alliance was an alliance of several kingdoms that had signed a peace agreement and formed a diplomatic relationship fifteen years ago, this alliance founded by the Kingdom of Asteria.

"I understand." Then Angel bowed and left.

After Angel came out of the main hall, King Gervis glanced at his trusted spy who wore a black robe and stood behind the first pillar.
"Follow him. If he does something suspicious, report it to me," ordered King Gervis.

The spy quickly nodded and walked out of the hall, following Angel.

'For the sake of this kingdom, I can't let my guard down,' thought King Gervis as he exhaled tiredly. Soon, some of his elite troops entered the main hall and bowed to him.
"Your Majesty, we have returned."

King Gervis leaned forward and looked at them with a serious expression.
"How was it? Did you find him?" he asked curiously.

They shook their heads and looked down with a regretful expression.

King Gervis leaned into his chair again. A tired sigh escaped from his mouth. It had been ten years since his brother's tragic death, but all the investigations he did were fruitless. Besides, his nephew, Angelus Raizel, hadn't been found yet. He closed his eyes as he recalled how he had found his brother who died in a cave with a boy who had a similar face as his nephew. At that time, though his nephew's hair colour changed, he still believed that the boy was Angelus Raizel.

After the boy did not wake up for days and the doctor had given up on him, King Gervis sought out an expert magic user who lived in exile in the Eastern forest Asteria. But as soon as the magic user examined the boy, he was thrown away by the boy's strange power. The magic user said that the boy had the dark power that sealed inside him.

King Gervis could remember how confusion filled his head since his nephew had never had strange powers and more than that, the Reinheart Family was the Holy Knight family. They could not have the power of darkness, especially the power that was similar to the dark king. But before the magic user had a chance to say anything else, he melted before King Gervis' eyes. King Gervis could only be silent in shock when he saw the magic user's skin, flesh and bone fall one by one in front of him and melted like a candle in the fire until it did not leave anything behind.

And what shocked King Gervis even more, when he turned his head to the boy, the boy had opened his eyes and looked at the magic user's remnants with a piercing cold gaze. A gaze that his nephew never had. Then the boy fainted again. After that incident, King Gervis was sure that the boy was not his nephew, but it was someone else who tried to disguise as Angel. King Gervis had tried to banish the boy out of the castle, but at that time he had just taken the throne. He had to stabilize his position and face nasty accusations that he was the one who killed his brother. Many nobles and ministers still believed that the boy was Angelus Raizel Reinheart, his late brother's son. If he kicked the boy out, he was considered trying to eliminate the royal bloodline. Besides that he didn't have any evidence regarding the magic user's death, even the corpse didn't have any remains and there were no other witnesses besides him. After all who would have believed a seven-year-old boy could kill an expert magic user? He had also asked other magic users to check it, but they all said that boy was an ordinary person who didn't have any magic power. So he had no choice but to take the boy as his nephew and let him live in the castle as the second prince of Asteria.

Even though King Gervis had moved the boy's room to the back of the castle, far away from the royal family corridor and told Ilex to keep Ophelia away from that boy, his worries still seized his heart. So, when the boy reached twelve-years-old, King Gervis began sending him to the battlefield, hoping he would die there. But no ... The boy always returned with victory, completing his duty, turning him into the Kingdom of Asteria's sharpest sword.

Therefore rather than wasting him, King Gervis decided to make him his war puppet. King Gervis did not hesitate to send him to the front lines without any help. Because either the boy was dead or alive, both were the same for him. But now his worries were back to seize his heart since the competition to prove who was the most suitable for the crown prince position would be held after the two princes reached the age of seventeen.

King Gervis opened his eyes. His gaze turned cold.
'I will not let Asteria fall into his hand.'

Note : Character pic in Glossary