The Power of a White Lotus!

Chapter 17 - The Cursed Prince

"Senior Bai?" Ming Ye appeared to be much more shocked than Bai Lian. Then again, Bai Lian felt this was understandable. Afterall, while he did not expect to meet his junior so quickly, he at least expected to meet him sooner or later.

But before he spoke, he quickly motioned for Ming Ye to stay quiet before silently taking a seat before him.

Ming Ye simply could not wait to dump a load of inquiries on top of Bai Lian's head. As soon as the other sat down, he brought his voice down to a whisper and spoke.

"Senior Bai, so you're here too QAQ." There is a mixture of grief and relief on his immature face.

"it's as you see, and why don't you explain to me how you were able to find this place so quickly? Not even a day has passed and you already seem familiar with this world."

Ming Ye instantly retrieved his 'QAQ' and wondered:

"Senior, do you not find this world familiar?"

"Why would I?"

"Have you never played the game: Altana: The World of Gods?"

"The name does sound familiar...." Then Bai Lian suddenly remembered. A year ago, a game with this name became immensely popular, to the point that it became the focus of all conversations of his schoolmates. Curious, he downloaded this game and tried it in his spare time. But he at the time was too busy confronting his younger brother, and well as tackling exams and getting ready to go to an university before taking over his family business. Soon, this game became forgotten in the background of his phone......

Anyways....

"So what made you think that this is a world inside a game?"

"Everything! The reason why the game is so popular is because it is aimed towards a wide audience. It's very interactive, and just about every character in the game hands out quests. Players have many choices of whether they just want to level up and be an adventurer or become an influential being inside the game. In fact, there is even a choice of "capturing" good looking characters. There is an infinite number of possibilities! It's so well made that I just wonder how much cost is put into its development. Such a game, there's no way I can't recognize it! "

Ming Ye then begin to realize that he went off track and continued:

"Anyways, when I arrived at this world, I obtained quite a bit of memory from this child. From it, I realized that various landmarks, as well as some of the more important characters in the game all exists here. There are even teleportation formations which I took to arrive. These formations are very rare, there's only around 2 in every kingdom. Luckily there is a formation right outside the castle where I am residing and I remembered its location from when I was playing the game....."

"Wait a moment..." Bai Lian lifted a hand to stop Ming Ye's rambling.

"The castle you are residing in? What's your identity?"

"Me? I'm the 4th prince of this empire."

"Prince?"

"Yep."

...

"A prince ended up being betrothed to the son of a Duke? What a waste of identity. Or is this world just that liberal?"

"No, it's just that... my circumstances are kind of unique, or to be exact, Alois Astrelle's circumstances...."

At this point, Bai Lian recalled the words of the god who sent them here.

They would be transported into the bodies that had a broken soul. Seeing Flynn's past, he believed that the past of the boy whose body resided Ming Ye is no less tragic than his. It's only in the case that the soul is unable to take the burden that it would shatter. What Bai Lian feel was strange is that why there are only two human in this world that had a broken soul? It shouldn't be that these two were the only ones with tragic circumstances right? But that will be a question he will ponder on later...

Anyways, Bai Lian sat silently as he listens to Alois's story...

.

.

.

Alois's mother is not the empress of this empire, but a concubine of the emperor's. Contrary to her identity, she was actually quite well treated by the empress, whose daughter (mother of Zyrius) was captured by the demons.

After the emperor and empress lost their only child, they wanted another to fill the empty space in their hearts. However, the empress's body is frail and cannot give birth anymore, so she could only ask for the king to take in concubines.

Out of the concubines the king had chosen, the youngest's name is Fleur, Alois's future mother.

Fleur is a rare light user and had the lowest ranking title of the other concubines. However, it was exactly her golden hair and eyes that instantly earned the empress's affection. While Fleur's age was older than that of the deceased princess, this did not hinder the empress's love. With her backing, she quickly became the most favored concubine.

Because the Emperor loved the Empress, he followed her wishes to pamper Fleur. Even when the other concubines conceived a child, he was still the most caring towards Fleur, even if not romantically. Once Fleur became pregnant, the emperor and empress treated this woman as a national treasure.

This woman obtained everything one can wish for with the backing of the two most powerful people in the empire. Even if the king's concubines are jealous of her status, they are also afraid of attracting the royal family's ire, so Fleur's life was extremely smooth sailing. Even when the other concubines gave birth first, her unborn child is still guaranteed to have the highest status out of the prince/princesses.

But who would have thought that it's precisely this child in her stomach that will put an end to all the special treatment she had obtained...

When hearing about Alois's life from Ming Ye, Bai Lian realized that this child's life is ever bit as bad as Flynn's, if not worse.

...One lost everything and one never received anything...

Right after Alois was born, Fleur became weak and bedridden. But what truly ruined her happiness is the color of her son's hair.

It is Black...

Both the Emperor and her have golden hair, and black hair is a trait that only exists within demons, so why?

The royal family is not foolish enough to believe Fleur had a child with a demon. Add on how she became sickened once she had the child, it became believed that...

...This prince is cursed by the gods...

A/N: I understand that some of you find it difficult to adjust to how Bai Lian/ Flynn is mentioned in two different ways. Since now a Ming Ye/ Alois is aboard, I will only use their original names in the narration.