[bxb] The Moon's Embrace

Chapter 6

He was breathing heavily.

That child on that painting...why did he resemble him so much? The only difference was that the child looked younger than him.

The woman laughed in satisfaction, "What's with that reaction? Is this your firstime to see a royal family painting of the Eastern kingom?"

Alex's ears perked then he asked,

"Royal..family portait?" 

The woman used her dark magic to turn Alex's chair around to face the painting in front of him. She clearly did it on purpose and knew he would act this way, but why did she do it?

"That's right. You're lucky, not many people can see the official royal portait from a kingdom that belongs to one of the four major kingdoms."

Alex's eyes looked closely at the child but most especially at the couple behind. He thought that the painting of the child could've been made purposely to trick him but the painting of the couple looked too convincing! 

However there was one mistake. 

Alex had already seen the queen's face once at a parade 2 months ago! He was with Amanda when they were buying vegetables at the market when the parade happened. 

The woman at the portait didn't look anything like the real queen!

Alex then stared at the woman beside him with a terrifying glare. "Insulting my family is one thing, but to think you can make me doubt my own family's identity is out of the line!!!" He told her angrily.

She raised a brow as he continued to speak, 

"I had already seen what the queen look like! She and the person on this portait looks nothing alike!!" 

He had enough of her nonsense. She really went out of the line for him to bear anymore. 

The woman remained a poker face expression for a while before cornering him. 

"Is that so?" She scoffed. 

She leaned closer to his face threatening him, the closer she was to him the colder he felt the air around him. 

"I bet you've never seen your own sword after 6 months."

'sword?'

"The pheonix sword, what else? The pheonix sword is no ordinary sword, it's custom-made especially for you. When you were the crown prince of the Eastern kingdom-"

"Stop saying that!!" Alex interrupted her angrily

The woman grinned and continued, "The crown prince of the East was cursed when he was little. That curse was called.. 'The Moon's Embrace' It sounds harmless but it's pure torcher to anyone with this curse. The person with this curse can never feel warmth on their body, they will continue to suffer in cold until they die."

'Such a brutal curse...'

"However in the crown prince's case, the curse was done half-baked. So unfortunately, instead of the crown prince dying in one sitting, he would have to live his life avoiding chills and cold waters or else he would feel weak and sick. But.." The woman stopped then chuckled

"I don't see any difference from a fully baked curse. With a curse like that, the crown prince would be basically useless in terms of fighting. His body wouldn't be able to take the changing temperature outside, much less a battle field." 

She turned then sighed in disappointment, "However, thanks to that Pheonix Sword, he could fight back without suffering in the cold. The pheonix sword emitted fire on its blade which was very lethal to the opponent while beneficial to the crown prince's body. The flame was totally harmless to the crown prince, and only he could let out those special flames."

"In conclusion, whoever lets those special flames out using the Pheonix Sword is the crown prince of the East." She finished.

"That sword is powerful along with its scabbard. However, I'll keep that information for myself as to not spoil things. I'd like to see you find out for yourself." She finished.

Alex thought for a second before responding,

"Nonsense." 

The woman laughed. 

"I thought you'd say that. Why don't you ask that rat for answers then?" She told him.

'Rat? Who is she talking about now?'

The woman noticed his confused expression, she then took out a black cloth and used it as a half-mask.

Alex immediately realized.

 "Hugo?" He muttered to himself.

"Don't forget to ask him what happened to Ruyi, Jacob, Felix, and Sophia as well. One day you'll realize I was right all along." She continued then slowly fed the next words to him harshly, 

"The people beside you are fake, you'll always be alone, everything that happened was because of you." 

He was about to talk back when she walked a few steps back then placed her right hand on her chest as she bowed. 

"Until next time...

...Your Highness." 

---

Alex felt his body against something hard and cold. 

It was also raining hard.

It didn't matter to him how long he had been laying on the grown, he wanted answers.

He didn't want to believe the things she said, there was no way Amanda and Hugo would lie to him. 

However there were some things she said that he couldn't help but overthink. 

She also said that it was all his fault...was that a lie too?

Was he really meant to be alone after all?

The fall of the Eastern kingdom...was it really his doing? 

Alex has heard stories from Amanda about the four major kingdoms. The North, South, West, and East. The minor kingdoms surrounded outside of them, but in terms of power, people, and wealth they were no where near to be part of the big four kingdoms.

However, to everyone's surprise, someone actually managed to conquer 2 major kingdoms! They referred to him as the 'Moonlight Emperor' Everyone lived in fear for years because of him. He was also the person responsible for the strange dreams that occured in the Eastern kingdom 10 years ago.

Rumor has it that the Moonlight Emperor was actually from either the North or West kingdom out for revenge on all kingdoms especially on the East. 

A lot of people kept saying he was probably from the North since both kingdoms were the ones that were most eager to fight for the position unlike other major kingdoms. The West was just accidentally involved in the fight for stopping them, however there were also people saying the Moonlight Emperor originated there. There was no clear answer until now.

Nobody dared to defy or get in his way after his name became well known from all kingdoms. He also had a terrifying subordinate but often remained in his shadow.

The last news of him was around 6 months ago, nobody has heard from him ever since. 

Since then, the kingdom of the East eventually got back on its feet and rise up to power again.

Alex's thoughts were interrupted when he sensed footsteps running towards him. His vision was too blurry to identify the person running to him.

All he could hear was muffled voices.

He wanted to stay awake but he felt his consciousness slipping away.

"thank...

..you.."