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05: The Memories of Sin

06: The Memories of Sin

For a commoner to sit across a king with an anxious look on his face is a rare right. Its rarity is something that could even be written in books. Such occurrence is comparable to a luxury.

But to sit across King Adelio Fritzegerald, ruler of Diere, with a troubled look painted on his face, is quite unnerving. A royalty is showing weakness to a stranger. One would know that there is something amiss and this something would surely be enough to have you daunted.

King Fritzegerald was silently sitting across me with several opened books laying atop the table that separates us, with fingers gently tapping the edge of this wooden table.

After the quick introduction earlier, I was sent immediately to the library to meet with him alone. He showed me the recorded history of the past 100 years, starting from the fall of four families who were all part of the lost ministries - mine, and the three other families known to serve Diere. Those books were the remnants of the past years, written by historians of each generation.

The crown he was wearing at the courtroom was gone, replaced by a smaller crown with the same color of gem at the center. My anxiousness subsided as I watched the gem glimmer with the reflection of the now setting sun. The window casted an orange look around the room, and almost everything around us has shown the same color.

"King Adelio Fritzegerald." A formal tone escaped my lips as I started greeting him with the same tone I used, back when I  used to greet the head of the ministry we were serving.

His breathing became uneven, withdrawing what looked like a mask of calmness on his face. His lips quivered, slightly opened, as he stared at me with such look of...a combination of relief and trouble.

"The prophecy was true. You are indeed alive."

I reached for my skirt below the edge of the table and gripped it tightly. What he said didn't take me by surprise, but it has confirmed some of my suspicions. As much as I wanted to distrust him because of his family, I couldn't exactly do it completely.

"As I always am, King Fritzegerald."

"You have a lot of questions to ask." He whispered. I stared at him hardly. I wanted him to know that I want answers, honest answers if he wanted something from me.

He was the first to back away from our eye contact.

As he should.

"Our family can't hold eye contacts for too long...to certain families. I know you have always known that." He whispered again. He went back to face my direction and this time, his stares remained at the side of my face.

"What happened? Why were we asleep for a hundred years?"

He heaved a sigh and met my eyes briefly. "There was no record as to why your family and the three other families succumbed to sleep. Some may have tried to uncover the truth, but they all failed miserably. Until today, the mystery behind your fall is still unknown."

I squinted my eyes at his answer. "Then how did you know about my return?" I asked, voice laced with suspicion, and a little threat.

He must have felt it, otherwise, his eyes wouldn't shake.

"It was the prophecy." He shakily answered.

"What prophecy? Was there someone in your family who has the gift to see the future?" He slowly shook his head, looked at my eyes for a second, and looked at his crossed hands.

"No. It was someone from a neighboring land." I heaved a deep sigh. It must've been someone his ancestors met when they were traveling across lands, seas, and mountains to deliver news to the neighboring lands.