Chapter 75 A Bloodstained Kiss This was the first gift she gave him...
It was a kiss tinged with blood, mixed with the salty taste of tears.
Ashlyn never imagined what it would feel like to actually kiss Lucas, but her impression of Lucas was of the scent of mint and books, not blood.
The blood was from Lanrit's dagger on his lips, and now it was hers too.
When the green leaves of the forest conceal the kiss of true love, the true nature of the world is revealed.
That's right, she didn't forget the third element of revealing true magic: the green leaves of the forest.
To be precise, they weren't in the forest. But so what? These magic spells were always just word games, and she'd seen through them ever since she'd gone through the High Priest's trial.
She herself is the forest. The green leaves she manipulates are the green leaves of the forest.
That's completely wrong. She wasn't prepared at all, and she's not good at any kind of preparation. If she had been prepared, none of this would have happened.
But the moon goddess's spell was about to take effect, and they had no time. She needed to confirm her suspicions thoroughly, and the unveiling ritual was the most efficient way.
Isn't this what Lucas taught her? Prioritize tasks.
She herself will improvise on the spot.
To her surprise, Lucas gently returned her kiss.
For a fleeting moment, Ashlin opened her eyes and vaguely saw another tear slide down his face; but then she closed them again.
She could hear two heartbeats, both equally rapid and powerful. She could feel two hands, one hers, reaching behind his head to grab his cat ears; the other his, gently stroking her waist, barely perceptible unless you looked closely.
His black hair and her blonde hair fell down at the same time, their strands tangled together; their breaths mingled, and everything else seemed to cease to matter.
At the same time, countless leaves, like a torrential downpour of emerald green, engulfed them.
Ashlin gathered her magic, recalling how Cynthia had done it in her vision.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the dungeon of Helian City.
Lucas was behind the fence, and Elaine was on the other side.
“Unless you find a way to escape the duties of a prince, like gaining some kind of superpower… well, he'll accept that,” Elaine said. “But as long as you remain the prince of Helian, you must do as he says…”
Superpowers. Ashlinn's heart pounded. She already knew what was going to happen next.
Next, we went to the market in the lower city.
She had seen this scene once before, in Lucas's memory.
That was what the memory-sharing spell allowed her to see, but the spell has a time limit, and the memories seen in the sharing will become blurred over time.
Now that she's in that situation, she's remembered it again.
Lucas walked through the crowd, his face hidden by a blue hood.
He stopped at a herbal medicine stall, took out a purple-covered notebook with the title "Introduction to the Fundamentals of Magic" written on it, and signed LKD.
This is one of his uncle's notebooks, which he found in the basement. Unlike the one that ended up in the Orc Forest, this one is more mature and is Langley's most in-depth notebook.
He turned to the page about twin herbs in his notebook and handed it to the stall owner. The stall owner gave him a bottle of white and green potion. Under the moonlight, he held it high, and a strange, bluish light danced around the bottle.
Ashley realized that, like Billy, the Duke of Langrit, and Nicholas II, Lucas was a complete idiot.
He drank the potion made from the Twin Grass almost without hesitation, even though he knew it was a gamble. The notes he was reading were those that Lanrit had already thoroughly researched, clearly stating that both magic and death had a 50/50 probability; Billy, at least, was reading a draft, the truth of which even Lanrit didn't know.
Clearly, he wasn't as lucky as his uncle. What followed wasn't superpowers or magic, but poison. Like Billy, the poison seeped into his lungs.
The royal physician was never wrong; Lucas did not have a simple lung disease.
Ashlin couldn't believe that the guy she had gone to so much trouble to save had actually gotten himself into trouble because of his own stupidity.
Soon, she discovered that the truth had brought her to the palace.
"The story ends at the beginning," the forest goddess's words echoed in her ears.
At first, she thought it referred to the King's tears, Nicholas II's tears. But it was actually Elaine's tears that mattered, and the phrase had a different meaning.
She was so eager and anxious that she mispronounced the incantation.
It is sur, not sāneat. It is "May the body be healed by the light of the cat," not "May the body heal the cat in the light."
She believed that because of that one word, she had cursed the prince into a black cat.
She was only half right.
Karl, a descendant of the sun god, possessed extremely powerful magic, yet his emotions were unstable. She recalled the story Lucas had told, and Manette's words in the illusion.
That night, Lucas's voice rang in her ears: "Karl is the son of the sun, you are the son of the forest; Karl wanted to kill Barry, you wanted to heal me; Karl killed Barry, but he also killed the princess; you healed me, but you cursed me into a cat! But a true curse wouldn't have such a strange transformation..."
Yes.
Because it was never a curse.
This is important; it will affect their next move. If they determine it's not a curse, then using the Moon Goddess's dispelling magic on Lucas would be pointless. This is also what Ashlin wants to confirm.
Ashlin stared at the scene revealed by the magic. It was too simple. Why hadn't they realized it?
Ashlyn was so impatient in trying to heal the prince's heart that she healed not only his illness but also his heart.
He wanted to escape the palace, and she granted his wish.
In that instant, she mispronounced the spell, mistakenly adding the word "cat" to her wild forest magic.
She turned the prince into a cat.
Forest magic became part of Lucas, manifesting itself in the form of cats.
This is Ashlin's first gift to him, but it won't be the last.
The palace scenes faded away. Ashlyn returned to the labyrinth, tears streaming down her face. She released Lucas, surrounded by a pile of green leaves.
“That’s why the ‘curse’ is becoming increasingly unpredictable.” Lucas clearly understood as well. “I… I’m accepting it, aren’t I? Accepting your magic, accepting myself. I can control it.”
“That’s right.” Ashlin brushed away all the green leaves and returned the magic flute to Lucas. “You know what to do next.”
Lanrit made a vomiting face.
"How sweet! I can't believe I'm watching a romance drama."
Lucas raised his magic flute and aimed it at Zack, the large, brown-gray rat, the truly cursed one.
Lucas began to play, and Ashlyn felt anger creep into the plants. She withdrew her hand, and the thorns retreated, their sharp points piercing Lanrit's arm.
“I admit Zack isn’t that smart, but he’s not a coward at all. No one’s life is meaningless,” she said calmly. “In fact, he was the key to defeating you, to defeating Cynthia. You love drama, Duke Lanrit. What’s it like to be defeated by the very rat you used and cursed?”
“Oh,” Langrit raised an eyebrow, “you think this is the end? You think I won’t hold back?”
Ashlinn wanted to say, "Yes, it's obvious he had no chance of resisting." But then she suddenly realized...
Lanrit's mouth did not move.
He wasn't talking to her in real life. It was some kind of spiritual connection. But unlike Ashlin's love for Susa, it was more oppressive.
"Get out of my head."
"Haha, too late." Lanrit remained silent, smiling as he looked at her. "Your plants can hold me in front of the wall, but can they hold me in your mind, child of the forest?"
The dark wizard licked his lips, as if savoring the most delicious chocolate in the world. A cold, sharp blade pierced Ashlin's mind, and images flooded back.
She saw the lower city of Helian.
Yesterday in the tavern, a heart-wrenching scream pierced the air. Glasses flew through the air, tables and chairs shattered. Blood splattered on the glass as people fled in panic, shoes falling to the ground. Several pitch-black monsters with horns on their heads followed closely behind.
Ashlin couldn't identify what kind of monsters they were, but that didn't matter. She knew they were the anchor points of their labyrinth that had escaped, and she was the one who had torn open the entrance and shaken the anchor points.
Although it was Lanrit who ultimately awakened them, without her reckless magic, none of this should have happened.
Next came Dragontooth Village, Ilovia, and Frostclaw Forest. All these places she visited were teeming with terrifying monsters.
Lanrit was right; she and he did it together. And she thought she was saving the world… If only she had realized it sooner…
“Well, that’s not the most exciting part,” Lanrit’s voice rang out. “Take a look at this.”
Before her eyes appeared Foxtail Bend, and that crooked wooden house. Her home. The roof of that house, once covered with vibrant green vines, was now the color of scorched earth.
Then she saw a girl with braided pigtails and a puppy.
Ashlin's breath hitched.
Mia.
She ran as fast as she could, through the reeds by the river, across the stream, and occasionally throwing pebbles and twigs behind her. But a red, one-eyed monster was hot on her heels.
Before Ashlin could even call out or try to help with magic (in fact, there was nothing she could do), Lanrit switched her channels again.
Her beloved adoptive father lay alone in a dark basement, dressed in tattered clothes, his face pale, and it was impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead.
“Let me go, and everything will still be alright.” Lanrit softened his tone, and for the first time, he didn’t sound so much like a mental patient. “Your friends and adoptive father will live, and the people won’t die because of your mistakes. I will bring Cynthia a better world, a perfect world.”
"You summoned the monster. Why should I believe you?"
"Based on this. Look." Before she could finish speaking, Ashlin's vision blurred.
At Foxtail Bend, the monster behind Mia stopped as if sensing something, turned around, and stopped chasing her.
“Everyone you love will survive this crisis and live a happy and fulfilling life,” Lanrit promised. “Sanova, Mia, Lucas, Zach, Nova… as long as you let go of me now.”
“No,” Ashlin said. She wanted to tighten her control over the plants on Lanrit's body, but the mental connection was consuming some of her magic.
“Well,” Lanrit said regretfully, “then I’ll just have to use my dark magic to play with my dear nephew for a while longer.”
Lanritt's voice vanished from her mind; at the same time, Lucas dropped his flute, screamed, clutched his head with both hands, his fingers turning white, as if trying to rip his brain out.
Zach approached anxiously, squeaking loudly.
"What have you done?" Ashlin supported Lucas, glaring at Lanrit, the magic burning in her heart.
More thorns coiled around the duchess's body, but she had already lost her composure. The thorns were soft and powerless.
Lucas groaned, as if he were being choked by air.
He suddenly bent over, panting heavily. It has to be said, this was definitely not the time to memorize.
“All the torment you’ve inflicted on me will be returned to Lucas, twofold. Unless,” Lanrit paused deliberately, admiring Ashlin’s pale face, “I’m free. All will be well. How about it?”
Ashlin couldn't make a sound. Was she going to give up already? Perhaps she could let Lanrit go for now, and wait until she and Lucas had regained some strength before launching a counterattack...
No, she can't do that. This is her best chance. But what if Lucas dies while she's hurting Lanrit?
At that moment, something heavy and trembling rested on her shoulder.
It's Lucas.
He almost exhausted himself, resting his head on her shoulder, his hot breath spraying onto her neck.
“Don’t… compromise,” he whispered. “People… remember…”
Then, he twitched his cat ears at her.
People, referring to people.
Ashlyn couldn't be sure if Lucas was right; she could only trust him, just as he had just chosen to trust her.
They had to trust each other to make Lucas turn into a cat.
She took a desperate gamble, ruthlessly pushed him away, and then simultaneously activated two types of magic.
One is a living plant, and the other is the power within Lucas's body.
Vines, branches, and thorns rushed toward the black wizard's feet, climbing up his legs and intertwining with them.
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Lanrit asked. “Your prince will be buried with me, and will suffer even more than I have.”
“Yes,” Ashley said, “but you missed one thing. Lucas is more than just a prince.”
Before he finished speaking, Lucas had successfully shrunk. A black cat sat on the ground in the prince's place, smugly twitching its whiskers.
Dark magic can't harm a kitten. Does anyone know why? Cats are auspicious symbols among wizards and have always been popular with all magical inventors, including those dark wizards who write dark magic.
No one would go to the trouble of writing spells to torture a cat.
Now, it was Lanrit who turned pale.
Ashlin's plants, though wild, are precisely positioned.
Just like the statue she wove for Princess Sheeta of the Fairy Valley.
However, back then she was weaving for a ghost; now she's weaving to turn people into ghosts.
The mother had helped Lanrit and Nicholas, but her fate was death. Sanova helped Nicholas heal Lucas, but was imprisoned by Lanrit in the Moon Goddess Altar for months, and she couldn't even be sure of his current mental state.
Her poor adoptive father was locked up for months... Even if he gets out, will he still be the same person he was before?
Ashley couldn't imagine it. She didn't want to imagine it. Lanrit was simply the most disgusting, evil pervert she had ever seen, locking up a living person like that and leaving them to their fate.
She couldn't help but think that she hadn't actually suffered much harm growing up. In Foxtail Bend, apart from those few bullying children, her life was pure and happy. Perhaps the most painful thing in her heart was losing a mother she had never met and almost losing the adoptive father she had loved since childhood.
Both of these incidents were orchestrated by the Deville brothers.
King Nicholas is dead. Ashlin was saddened by this, her eyes filled with tears, for Lucas and Elaine had lost their father, Queen Gracia had lost her husband; and the kingdom had lost a king who had taken it back from the clutches of the dragon.
But that's all.
She couldn't heal Nicholas the same way she healed Lucas, firstly because his wounds were caused by the labyrinth monster, and secondly because...
She just couldn't. She didn't know why.
As for Langrit...
She wanted to turn him into a tree.
“No!” Realizing what she was about to do, Lanrit struggled even more fiercely. “You can’t do this. I’m the king’s brother!”
"And then?" Ashlin asked coldly. "You can go see your brother now."
“My mind can still cast illusions, Ashlin.” A small, cool voice pierced her mind like shards of ice. “Don’t look at me, my dear. Look at your beloved Lucas.”
Ashlin turned around, and suddenly, Lucas turned into a corpse with a Lannister dagger stuck in his chest; she saw Elaine staring at her with hateful eyes, questioning why it was her father who died and not her.
“No,” Ashley held her head, “this isn’t true.”
“How do you know, Ashlin? How do you know? You've ruined everyone. You cursed the prince. You tore apart the labyrinth's anchor points, it's all your fault. Lucas's death was your fault, the king's death was your fault too…”
At that moment, a hand gently rested on her shoulder.
“Don’t…don’t listen to him, Ash.” Lucas coughed a few times, put down his flute, and said with difficulty. “You did nothing wrong, you will always be yourself.”
Ashlin nodded, and the vines grew wildly again according to her will, finally enveloping Lanrit. The world's most powerful dark wizard, Knox, Duke Lanrit of the Deville family, Lucas's uncle, was thus transformed into an oak tree growing in an underground labyrinth, with white cross-shaped flowers blooming beside it.
The era of these two mad and foolish nobles has come to an end.
When Lanrit's voice and face were finally hidden by the foliage, Ashley couldn't quite describe her feelings. This was the first time she had killed a life, but she had to, or she and her friends would have been killed by the monster.
Suddenly, several vampire bats, along with some strange-looking dark magic creatures, rushed over.
Lucas also returned to human form and completed the performance.
Ashlin was amazed by how smoothly he switched between human and cat modes in just one hour, admiring his learning ability.
The moon goddess's spell took effect.
The white light dissipated, and the mouse vanished, replaced by a tall boy with brown hair.
Zach was strong and simply dressed, and he touched his face in surprise with both hands.
He raised the dragon fire, swept his arm, and the vampire bats withered and fell to the ground.
“Zack, find the anchor point corresponding to Dragon's Breath Mountain from the tunnel to the north,” Ashlin said immediately. “Aisusa will be working with you up there! I’ve already contacted her.”
"Go quickly!"
She looked at Lucas.
His mouth was covered in blood, mixed with tears, and his face bore an expression she had never seen before: broken, sorrowful, and forcing a smile.
“You did the right thing, Ashlin,” he said calmly.
Ashley lowered her head. "I'm so sorry... they deserved better."
Lucas sighed. “No. They don’t deserve it. They always will be, and I’m not Lanrit, nor am I my father.”
Lucas gave a slight smile: "Thank you, Ash."
They exchanged a listless glance. At a time like this, nothing they said would make a difference.
Author's Note: Just wanted to say something. Don't worry about your adoptive father, he's actually having a lot of fun (???)
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