Avoid The Lead!

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"Tell me child. Why were you so afraid of Prince Vitav...?"

Grand Mage Sidian's question made Celia's ears ring.

She had forgotten that sharing one's memories also conveyed their emotions at the memory's time.

"I- I was-! I'm not-!" She floundered, wondering what would be a satisfactory answer.

In past lives, Grand Mage Sidian hadn't done anything wrong that she knew, except perhaps in her last life, when he had temporarily suppressed all spells within the Scarlett Estate.

But at the time, he believed she may have harmed King Vien. And that was if he was even the real 'Grand Mage Sidian'... It might have been a fairy clone!

But could she trust him...?

Grand Mage Sidian gave a light chuckle and held up a hand.

"How about I say a few things, and you decide whether to tell me after that?"

Celia slowly nodded.

"You had not met Vitav before that night... Correct?"

Again, Celia nodded.

"You don't like him in the least. In fact you might hate him... Correct?"

Celia gave another nod. There was no point denying this. Grand Mage Sidian had likely sensed it in her memories.

"You find him manipulative, and you suspect he or his mother are behind the Crown Prince's ailment... Correct?" He held up a hand with another light chuckle. "Don't bother answering that. If I can't guess your answer, then I'm no Grand Mage! In fact, forget my initial question!"

He stood up suddenly. "From today, you're my Healing Mage in attendance! Let's go see the Crown Prince!"

Celia grinned. She really wasn't sure if she could trust Grand Mage Sidian or not, but she was fairly certain he wanted Taze to live.

And besides, she could finally see Taze!

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At the East Wing, Taze's eyes shot open.

'Celia?!'

She was so close!

He had known she was in the palace...had sensed her from the first day, and longed to go to her, but his father had grounded him to the East Wing as punishment for attending Elfsworth.

"You were so active, yet you've been acting sickly in the Palace! As your father, how do you reckon I feel, whenever I receive so many petitions to depose you?!"

"I- I'm sorry father." Taze hung his head. "But I really do have a strange illness!" He added in a rush.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! YOU ACTED NEAR-DEAD WHENEVER I VISITED! YOU LED ME TO THINK YOU WERE ALREADY AT DEATH'S DOOR!!!

Guilty feelings washed over Taze. To deceive Lady Flora, he let the illness take hold of him whenever his father or Grand Mage Sidian were approaching. "F- Father! I had a reason -."

"GROUNDED! STAY IN YOUR EAST WING AND SELF-REFLECT!" King Vien huffed in annoyance, then sighed. "The only advantage is that you found Dr. Sylvadeen Florence. His theories would be helpful in the future... But I won't spare you because of that!

"I hear Miss Scarlett is becoming a Palace Mage. You're not permitted to leave the East Wing and meet her!"

"B- but Father!"

"I will personally use a spell to lock you in. According to Dr. Florence, you're powerful enough to break it, BUT WIll YOU DARE??!!"

"I.." Taze sighed in defeat. "I won't dare." He bowed and hurried back to the East Wing.

He had nearly forgotten his father's temper! But he could understand...

It had been easy for him to ignore the worry and heartbreak on his father's face through the years, because his father presented a brave front, and most times, he would simply say,

"You resemble your mother a lot more this year."

or,

"You must be strong. Elves live a long life. I can protect the throne for centuries, but a strong Crown Prince will calm the Magic Council."

But despite his brave front, Taze knew such a thing was unbearable for any parent.

And it was his turn to face an unbearable punishment...

At first, he had been able to send out clones, but after the king found out, he had reinforced the spell against clones as well.

"No cheating!" King Vien had said as he reinforced the spell. "A good Leader must learn to resist temptations!"

Through the weeks, Taze longed for Celia... longed to hold her in his arms. He felt her so close, yet so far away...

But today she was even closer than usual!

He moved so fast that he seemingly appeared right in front of the East Wing doors.

'She's outside!' He was tempted to open the doors, but controlled himself. Grand Mage Sidian was with her... He was surely here for a visit.

He waited with bated breath, as the doors seemed to open in slow motion, and a smile broke out across his face as his eyes fell on Celia.

"Celia! What a surprise! When did you enter the Palace?!"

Celia boldly walked forward and hugged him. "At least try to sound convincing! Why were you right in front of the doors?!"

"I could have been going out!"

"You're grounded!"

Meanwhile, Grand Mage Sidian had frozen in surprise, as he watched Taze swing Celia around in a circle.

'He's agile!'

"Your Highness! Were you deceiving me for so long?!!"

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A short while later, all three were in Taze's bedchamber, and Grand Mage Sidian was magically studying Taze's body.

"Your Magic level must be advanced. You used such a complex spell to fool me!"

"It was necessary. I apologize." Taze said seriously. Celia sat beside him, and he hadn't let go of her hand.

Above them was a large round dome-like window which showed the brilliant skies and beautiful rays of sunlight, but all Celia could imagine was Taze wistfully lying here in loneliness, staring out at the clear skies...

"The illness is long gone..." Taze was saying. "But I must fight the original poison daily."

"Poison?" Grand Mage Sidian asked.

"Come now, I'm sure you suspected through the years... At first, I was given the strange poison, and then with every visit, in the name of healing, I was given more poison and infected with the Bone Rot disease.

"The original poison will weaken my fairy blood so the disease would affect me, and then strengthen the same fairy blood, so the cure would have no effect. It was clever... Using my own blood to kill me."

He recalled his alter ego's advice, "At some point, I began drinking less and less of the poison, so your cure for the Bone disease started working, and it eventually went away.

"Back then I didn't know who to trust, so I closed off the entire East Wing. But I was left with the poison which had formed a new illness... One that is determined to claim my life even faster.

"So I used the poison's original logic to trap it within my elf blood. It makes things worse when it flares up, but I can move around when it's dormant."

"If it's a poison, can't I eliminate it?!" Celia asked, squeezing his hand.

"It's not that type of poison, or Grand Mages Soren and Sidian would have already identified it. It's driven by a spell...a curse." He looked at Celia. "I suspect it comes from 'that' book."

Celia's eyes widened to twice their usual size, as she realized what book Taze was talking about.

The same book on dark magic that Vitav had used to freeze time!

Lady Flora must have found the book early in the fake lives... Probably something Vitav rewrote with the Time Spell!

It all made sense...

That book was a relic of ages past. The mages of their time wouldn't know much about ancient magic, and even less of ancient dark magic.

Which was why no one had been able to understand Taze's illness!

"Why didn't I think about dark magic?!" Celia wondered aloud.

"Because you're not like them."

"But where could the book be?!"

"Likely in the West Wing. But it's too well hidden. I've searched for years."

Grand Mage Sidian looked from one to the other.

"Are either of you planning to enlighten me on what you're talking about?" They looked at him as if they had forgotten he was there, and he shook his head.

"You can't use this method for much longer." He pointed out, ending his body-reading spell. "Which means we must work fast! You need -. No. We need all the help we can get!" He folded his arms.

"Ahem! I don't mean to sound important, but I should remind you. I'm the only channel through which the young lady can even come here!"

"Ehehe, Grand Mage Sidian, please don't be so serious!" Celia gave a nervous laugh. "We'll tell you ... We'll tell you everything!" She made to rise, but Taze tugged her back to his side.

"You can speak from over here!" He said simply, refusing to let go of her hand.

"Uhm." Celia nodded, and her heart broke a little, as she envisioned the lonely years he had spent through it all...

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