The Dining Hall of the castle was very lively as Emma, Lilith, Wallace, and the leaders of the Protector Clans sat down to have dinner alongside Ethan, Joanne, and Catherine.
They ate and chatted, with music playing in the background.
Catherine was truly happy that her son and daughter were finally with her.
However, she also felt a little sad because her husband refused to et Ethan at this ti.
She could understand that Lleu was still frustrated and guilty about his inability to protect their firstborn eighteen years ago.
However, it was a fact that if they hadn’t left Ethan back then in the world of the Ordinarius, the fate he would have suffered would have been much worse.
Perhaps his consciousness and even his soul would have been erased completely, leaving only a vessel behind.
When dinner ended, Catherine led Ethan and Joanne towards the hidden staircase inside the palace, which led deep underground.
The spiraling staircase seed unending, and only the torches that lit the surroundings in a purple light guided them toward their destination.
Ethan could feel sothing inside his body stirring, making his heart beat faster.
For so reason, a thought ca to his mind—he was going back to his origin. His body heated up, as if reacting to whatever was waiting for them at their destination.
After nearly half an hour of walking, they finally arrived at the bottom of the staircase.
A mirror, which was over six ters in height, stood there. However, it was not reflecting anything on its dark surface.
“Ethan, the Patron of the Valentin Family is on the other side of that mirror,” Catherine said softly. “The real reason why we were forced to abandon you, re days after you were born, lies on the other side.
“But, before you go, let just say one thing. We did our best to protect you, but unfortunately, it was not enough to keep you safe. I’m sure that deep inside your heart, you still carry resentnt toward and your father.
“I cannot even imagine the hardships you faced growing up without your parents. I know it’s a bit late, but I hope that we can start over again. This ti, we want to do it right. But before that, you deserve to know the truth first.”
Catherine’s voice broke a bit as she said her last words. Having noticed that, Joanne gave her mother’s hand a light squeeze as her way of telling her that everything was going to be fine.
“I’ll be back, Mother.” Ethan nodded. “We still have a lot of things to talk about.”
The young man then turned to face the mirror and walked toward it.
Just like what his mother had said, he felt like soone was inviting him to enter the mirror.
Since the answer to his questions lay on the other side, he didn’t hesitate to et the so-called Patron of the Valentin Family, whom he believed he already t in the Lands of Alastor.
When the young man’s body passed through the mirror, a faint gust of wind blew over Catherine’s and Joanne’s body.
A mont later, a man with long dark hair and red eyes appeared beside them.
“Dad!” Joanne cried out and hugged her father, who crouched down to hug her back.
“I missed you, Joanne,” Lleu said softly.
“Dad, why didn’t you show yourself earlier?” Joanne asked. “Why are you hiding from Brother?”
Lleu smiled bitterly before lightly patting his daughter’s head.
“I don’t have the courage to face your brother,” Lleu replied. “At least, not now.”
The handso man glanced at the mirror and sighed in his heart.
Earlier, he had tried to gather the courage to appear in front of his son, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t do it.
He would rather fight Daemons and Balors in the Lands of Saraqael than face his son, who might have resented him all his life.
Lleu wasn’t afraid to face the fiercest and strongest Champions that their enemies would throw at him.
And yet, the guilt he held in his heart made him unable to even appear in front of his son, who would soon know the true reason why he was abandoned when he was still a baby.
***
When Ethan passed through the mirror, he found himself standing on what seed to be the balcony of a castle and staring at a hellish environnt.
There was a river of fla in the distance, and he could see countless demons with bat-like wings flying all over the place, carrying black spears in their hands.
Monsters of all sizes were busy moving around, carrying weapons as if they were preparing for a war.
He wanted to observe his surroundings more, but a voice sounded in his ears, beckoning him to co inside the palace.
Ethan obeyed and walked toward a hallway.
Once he stepped into the hallway, he heard soone screaming, and the voice sounded familiar.
The young man followed where the scream was coming from and soon arrived before a giant gate.
Half of him wanted to open it, but half of him didn’t want to see what was behind it.
However, his curiosity won in the end.
Even so, he didn’t just recklessly open the gate and just stood in front of it.
He had a feeling that whoever called him inside the palace knew where he was and what he was thinking right now.
“You can open it.”
The voice sounded inside Ethan’s sea of consciousness, giving him permission to look at what was behind the gate.
Placing his palms over the gate, Ethan pushed it open.
“Forgive eeeesssss!”
“Spare eeeeeesssss!”
“I promise not to tell anyonessss!”
“Have rcysssss!”
Ethan ca face to face with the Progenitor of Pestilence, Erras, who was bound by countless chains and hanging upside down.
The giant Yellow Rat of Pestilence was being burned by a purple fla from a giant brazier, making him scream and screech in pain.
It was the creature that had pushed Ethan to a corner and would have devoured him if not for the tily help of his Other Half.
“Have you seen enough? If yes, co. We still have things to talk about.”
The voice once again spoke inside Ethan’s head and led him to a place within the castle.
Ethan walked and walked so more until he reached another giant gate.
This ti, the gate had an emblem of a rose surrounded by thorny vines.
The young man’s heart was beating very fast.
He could even hear his own heartbeat resounding inside his ears as he stared at the gate in front of him.
“Enter.”
The voice sounded playful, mischievous even, as if he had been waiting for this mont for hundreds of years.
Ethan took a deep breath as he pushed open the gate.
Taking a peek, he didn’t see anything, for the room was shrouded in a black mist.
Knowing that whoever was talking to him was hiding beyond the darkness, Ethan entered the room and walked forward.
When his body had fully passed through the gate, it slowly closed behind him, as if making sure that he wouldn’t be going anywhere until he and the owner of the palace had talked to each other.
As Ethan’s vision adjusted in the darkness, he saw a throne in front of him.
Seated on that throne was an extrely handso young man, who seed to only be in his early twenties.
He had short purple hair, and his purple eyes were looking at Ethan with mischief.
The two small curved horns on his head didn’t diminish his beauty, and instead made it more profound, making the purple-
haired demon extrely charming.
The blood inside Ethan’s body stirred. With that, he instinctively knew that he shared the sa bloodline as the young man seated on the throne in front of him.
“Well t, Ethan,” the young man said softly before snapping his fingers. “It is hard to converse when only one of us is sitting, so why don’t you sit down as well?”
In the blink of an eye, Ethan found himself sitting on a cushioned chair and staring at the handso young man, who was looking back at him with a smile.
The young man then rested the side of his face on the palm of his hand and crossed his right leg over his left.
“Well, then. Introductions first,” the young man said in a teasing tone. “I go by many nas, but you can call Ashdai. The Progenitor of Good Looking n.”
Ethan blinked once then twice because he had a feeling that the being in front of him was just making fun of him.
Seeing that Ethan wasn’t biting on his prank, Ashdai chuckled and gave Ethan a nod of satisfaction.
“Well, soone got to it first, so I had to settle for second place,” Ashdai comnted. “But, all jokes aside, I am the Progenitor of Lust and Indulgence. But more than anything else, I also represent the deepest and darkest desires of mortals.
“It doesn’t matter if that desire is to be strong, to be smart, or to be successful in life. All of it falls into my Domain. I am also the Patron Deity of the Valentin Family. Nice to et you, Ethan.”
“Nice to et you too, Ashdai,” Ethan replied.
The two of them stared at each other for half a minute before the handso Progenitor coughed lightly.
“I don’t think you ca here to play a staring ga with ,” Ashdai comnted. “But, since I know the real reason why you ca here, allow to set the records straight first.”
The Progenitor of Lust and Desire raised a single finger and smiled sweetly.
“The reason why your family abandoned you when you were still a baby was due to my orders,” Ashdai stated.
“Ethan, I can't tell if you were born a lucky or an unlucky star. But, on the day of your birth, almost all the Progenitors in the Lands of Saraqael tried to descend and crossover into the world of Midgard just to snatch you from your mother’s loving embrace.”
The mischievous gaze that Ashdai was giving Ethan earlier disappeared, replaced by a seriousness that made even Sebastian, who was busy chatting with Ethan’s Other Half inside the young man’s Sea of Consciousness, quiet down out of shock from Ashdai’s revelation.
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