"I\'m still confused, how in mother phoenix\'s name, did he escaped the level seven prison? And with King Henry near him nonetheless. This is still eating my brain like no tomorrow….

And that peasant of a maid is now on the loose too and queen Elizabeth\'s retaliation. My years and years of planning, detreating because of a single four-year-old kid, why didn\'t you just die then, giving my dark liege the mana that he needed.

If we really don\'t find him within this year, we have to sacrifice more…., and I don\'t want to fall to that level like King Henry." He said, gazing at the burned carpets left by his precious daughter.

His heart tighten in the mere thought of castrating his daughter and turning her into life mana but even if such atrocity happened it would still not be enough to continue the ritual.

"We have to find him no matter the cost and start the ritual in time, the only power that needs to exist are the ones who are in the peak, no one, no one else has the right to exist." He bellowed.

As he spoke, a lite black mist started appearing around his body, black smoke slowly flowing down from his eyes, nose, and from his mouth, his lips turning into a smile and the same smile gradually turning wicked reaching the ends of his own cheeks along with the black smoke turning thicker and thicker.

The smoke gradually started gathering beside Apollo, slowly changing its form into a humanoid one, coming closer to his ear, whispering…

"yess…..yess….no one needs to exist but you all....you nobles are the chosen one and no one else…..now, find that ratchet brat then your deeeepest desires will come to fruition. Don\'t let our two years of contract break, my dear Apollo…."

"I won\'t my liege, following your commands, we finally found King Henry\'s weakness and fully gripped his heart. I will follow your order word to word, like always…" he replied, with the wicked smile still intact.

"….good, you will have your wish fulfilled according to the contract. Only the Phoenixia bloodline will rule, no one else…"

"Thank you my liege, I\'m sure the inevitable day would surely come, the war I fought for the Don family for many years, protecting our motherland while he ruled sitting on his throne as the famous \'Lightening\' doing nothing. With your help, their family line will finally be broken as I will reach supreme….."

"yess…..yess…..all will follow along with my strings...hmm…."

"what happened my liege?"

"...he is still struggling to fight me, brave soul, indeed.."

"King Henry?"

"yesss...I suggested to massacre his whole family, from his grandfather to his newborn daughter for the ritual and he denied it to his last will…."

"…..I see….."

\'I guess he hasn\'t fallen so hard after all…\'

"may ask this question my liege…"

"…..be quick…"

"I don\'t want to doubt your liege power but, how did you make king henry hate his precious son to this level. I have always been curious about that."

"hihihyahyahaha...you want to know…." He said with a deep voice.

"ye….yes.."

"look at that burned carpet for a second…" the mist said, the black smoke hurdling around his forehead.

As he was gazing at the burnt carpet, his daughter came into mind, remembering the moment when she walked off, her anger clear to be seen, but there was a strange feeling mixed in reliving the same memory, the anger he felt gazing at his daughter\'s defiance which was only a bare minimum, intensified to a whole new level, he was so angry with her attitude that he wanted to slap her only daughter to submission.

He felt the anger boiling inside him, but he stopped his heart as he loved his daughter even more so, then the scene again changed, where he and Julie fought when he ordered the guards to apprehend Atlas and Anny if they are ever seen and it happened again, the anger he felt intensified with the rage to burn her palm to give her a lesson.

And it continued on and on with all of his past memories with his daughter, where he was angry or had some form of dissatisfaction with her.

"sssstop….."

Thud!!

With a thud, Apollo fell down the floor, breathing heavily, his heartbeat erratic like never before, ….as he came back to reality, from reliving all those past memories but only one thing was different than before. The anger in his eyes, his crimson eyes burning like wildfire.

"I\'m sorry my liege but I need to discipline my daughter for all the digressions she made…." He growled.

The black mist said nothing as he opened its misty mouth wide open, slowly sucking the air around but it didn\'t just pull the air, it stopped Apollo from walking out the room.

"My liege?"

The anger and wrath were still boiling inside him and it only increased when he all of sudden halted on his path but the anger slowly leveled down as he saw a red like mist flowing off of his body, going straight to his liege mouth, like a black hole draining down what was around itself.

The longer the red mist flew out from his body, the more his anger subsided, his mind becoming more and more clearer by the second, until it dawned on him.

"wh…what was I going to do? I…I was going to harm my own daughter…..is this how he felt for his son…"

After sucking all the red mist-like energy, he slowly grew in size, floating towards the now lost Apollo.

"mmmnnn…..that was tasty, who knew, you hated your daughter to this level."

"no..no! I don\'t, my liege I don\'t. Please never use that on me. I beg you,…" he pleaded.

"hihihihi…..I won\'t, it goes against the contract if I did again, I only showed you an example nothing else….

And the feeling, the anger, the wrath which you just experienced. Double it five times over, then you will get the answer you were seeking…"

He was still breathing heavily, his lungs sucking as much air as possible. He felt tired, weak after experiencing that nightmare. He really didn\'t want to feel hate for his daughter, not again, not ever in his life.

"yes, my liege….."

"hihihihi…..and that wasn\'t all, I used his jealousy which was even stronger than anger itself. I am still amazed, how he controlled himself near his son….."

"pardon...jealousy?? Why jealousy…??"

"oh…don\'t playyyyy with meee...you also feel the same. The love he always gets from all the women around him…."

He floated near his right ear..

"your daughter…."

To his left….

"your wife….

No matter how much you all deny it. The jealousy, the wariness you feel towards a four-year-old child. I can see it, I can feel it… …hihihihi… you petty humans, so you have your answer….search for the boy within time…..otherwise you know the consequences of breaking the contract…"

With those final words, the black mist slowly disappeared, his expression and wicked smile coming back to normal…

"yes…..my liege….

I guess, there\'s no denying it now, it hurts my pride as a man but….he will die soon. So I don\'t have to think much about it…."

He stood up, the little bit of anger still lingering inside.

"haa….. it\'s okay, it\'s okay. You still love your daughter. Just put a little distance for while then everything will be back to normal…"

.

.

.

.

Redland, Lurtain

Red land, also known as the red garden. The only park, where you could find some form of greenery but half of them all, covered by the crimson bloomers spreading half the garden.

Tourists, civilians, and other people would often visit with their family, friends or loved ones. A popular site where people would come to see the beautiful red flowers and the long river, flowing around the wide garden.

With so many people roaming around, it was already easy for a certain someone who was now fully covered in the traditional shawls and full-body silk clothing.

She walked around the park, her steps clicking on the marvel pathway. Gazing at all the flowers and some couples along the way. No one recognized her as she was properly covered, and her face was half concealed by her own shawl. Only her crimson eyes could be seen but no one was there to waste their time looking at a single child walking around as most of the children would.

She walked to the corner of the park where there were fewer people. She wanted to run to her destination to meet her as soon as possible but kept her patience to the limit. She didn\'t want to blow her cover as it would only attract more attention and gaining attention was the last thing she wanted.

So with light steps, she walked towards a certain destination. The number of People around her slowly decreasing.

And finally, she reached her last stop, a lake with no crimson flowers to be seen around. There were some people walking around, here and there. Some were sitting, with their partner beside them and some of them were straight-up sleeping.

\'are those homeless people. They look so poor and tired. I wish I had some gold or silver to give them.\' She thought, searching insider her storage ring. \'hmm….i will give them after I have talked with Anny. I don\'t want to attract any attention as of now.\'

With that she turned to the wide lake, the memories returned where she and Atlas would play around. He had come to visit here with his father King Henry, for the birthday celebration of her father.

And when they finally met for the first time. She was taken away in a blink. His charm and cuteness oozing like fire and for the first time in many years, her heart started beating rapidly, awakening her phoenixia bloodline earlier than prior.

Every person with the phoenixia bloodline would just bear a normal child only awakening his or her bloodline at a certain age of twelve. Which highly depended on their maturity and the complexity of their heart and fortunately. Julie awakened her bloodline way earlier at the age of nine. People called her a genius. The new prodigy of Phoenixia household.

But she knew, why she awakened, why wouldn\'t she? Her heart was burning with passion every time he was around. His eye, his voice, his majestic posture. Even his scent would aggravate her heartbeat.

As she was reminiscing the great time they both had around the lake. A hand crept up at her shoulder, scaring her.

"calm down it\'s me, Anny." Said an old voice from behind.

With fright, she looked back and to her surprise, she saw an old woman with the many crimson bloomers in hand.

"w..who are you? You are not Anny?" she said in a meek voice.

"haa….."

With a sigh, she closed off her mana to her disguise ring. And the moment she did so, the wrinkles around her started to disappear. Her brown hair and eyes, gradually changing in color.

Her eyes turning, light blue, her hair elongating as it turned blond. Julie watched in surprise as she saw the transformation first in hand and after a couple of seconds. Her doubts cleared away as the one who was before her was indeed her friend, her rival, none other than the beautiful Anny herself.

*****

Thank you for reading! The next chapter is free on patr eon (https://www.patr eon.com/Highelder), eight chapters beyond that for three dollars, and many more for five dollars (five-chapter release a week at this tier).

And if you want to ask any questions I\'m in discord: https://discord.gg/QbWyAP3Y8j