Chapter 486 – Peeling layer after layer (3)

"…What about my ancestor?"
"…I said that he was a criminal?"

'Is there something wrong with my ears?'

Alberu looked not majestic at all as he stuck his finger into his ear.

"I think something's blocking my ears."
"Ah. Then should I explain more clearly?"
"No need. My ancestor was a criminal, haha. How could I hear such nonsense?! Hahaha-"
"Your highness, you heard correctly."
"Hmm?"
"Huh?"

Cale and Alberu blankly stared at each other again.
The two of them were silent for a while. Alberu soon started to frown.

"This is probably the most shocking thing I've heard in a while!"
"…Is that so?"
"Is that so?!"

Alberu started to frown even more.

'I was planning on telling him about the royal family's secret and talk about if I deserved to be king… So, what the f*ck is up with this nonsense?'

He had decided to share this secret with Cale Henituse.
He was pretty much the head of the Crossman household already as he had the seal, but King Zed Crossman had seriously opposed his decision.
Alberu had ignored that opposition and brought Cale here.

Cale must have asked about information on the Crossman Royal family because he thought it might be useful to fight against the White Star.
Alberu knew this as well and wanted to help him defeat the White Star.
However, there was another reason as well.

'…My weakness.'

His actions today were pretty much showing Cale Henituse his weakness.

First was the royal family's weakness.
The Crossman Royal family was said to have received the blessing and protection of the Sun God. However, looking deeper into it, it was a curse rather than a blessing.
The Crossman Royal family's power and fame would fall to the ground if this was revealed.

The second was his weakness.
The fact that he had Dark Elf blood and the darkness attribute inside him. According to the curse, someone who should never become the head of the Crossman household had tricked the family into becoming the head.

Alberu was able to reveal these two secrets and weaknesses because it was Cale.

'Because he realized what I was.'

This bastard was someone who had recognized that he was quarter Dark Elf but had no negative feelings about them.
This bastard was someone who helped him.
This bastard was similar to him.
That was why he had brought Cale Henituse here today with a heavy heart.

But-

'He's speaking nonsense?'

He had thought Cale had a screw loose quite often, but Alberu could not stop frowning. He started to speak almost as if he was sighing.

"You see those words on the boulder?"
"Yes, sir. I can?"

'Ah, this bastard.'

Alberu held back his anger and continued to speak.

"That boulder is the only record of the Crossman household other than the orally passed down information."

Alberu focused on one sentence on the boulder.

< The moment a person with that darkness becomes the head of the household, the sky will be destroyed, and the ground will tremble. >

"It says the world will turn to chaos if someone with darkness becomes the king of the Roan Kingdom or the head of the Crossman household."
"I guess so."

'What?'

Alberu was at a loss for words after hearing Cale agree with it so easily.
He then realized something.

'…I thought he would be different.'

He thought Cale would not act like this.
He thought Cale would read those words and say something along the lines of, 'Why should we care about the Sun God's curse? Darkness my ass.' That was what he thought Cale would say.

"Ha!"

Alberu realized he had hoped to hear something from Cale and started to laugh.
He wanted to hear Cale say, 'forget the record and do a good job ruling the kingdom.'

Alberu subconsciously raised his hand to brush his face. He was feeling very odd right now. It was hard to describe the emotion he was feeling right now.

Dejection?
Disappointment?
Maybe embarrassment?
How should he explain this emotion? He could not tell. He just put a majestic smile on his face as he did when he faced his vassals. He then turned toward Cale.

"Cale. It should be terrible if I become king because of the Sun God's curse, right?"

Cale started to frown at that moment.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Hmm?"
"What are you trying to say?"

Cale grumbled quietly as if he as talking to himself before ignoring Alberu and walking toward the boulder. Alberu quickly followed behind Cale after seeing his unexpected reaction and urgently started to speak. Something seemed weird.

"There will be a curse if a Dark Elf like me becomes king!"
"Excuse me?"
"Something terrible will happen because of me if what is written on the boulder is true. I am someone who should not exist in the Crossman hou-"
"I don't think so?"
"…Huh?"

Alberu could see a blank expression on Cale's expression.

"Alberu Crossman. Your highness, your existence is natural."

Alberu flinched and repeated Cale's words as if he was saying it to himself.

"…I am supposed to be here?"

'Me?'

"Yes, sir. You are fated to be here."

'Unbelievable!'

Alberu subconsciously opened his mouth and retorted Cale's comment.

"…But you agreed with what I said earlier. You said, 'I guess so.' when I said the world would flip over and the Sun God's curse would rain down of someone with darkness becomes king."

'What?'

That was what Cale's expression was saying. He then started to mumble.

'The Sun God's curse, my ass.'

The words Alberu had been hoping to hear had come out.
However, he could not figure out what was going on because his mind was a mess right now. The chaos was visible on his face.
Cale looked toward Alberu as if he was being weird.

'Why is this smart person acting like this today?'

Cale had this thought because he had no idea how much this statement about darkness had weighed on Alberu since he was young.
He started to speak again as he thought he didn't explain enough.

"I read an ancient document. It was so old that it turned to dust as soon as I read it."

Cale suddenly started to talk about something else but Alberu chose to listen quietly.

'Your highness, your existence is natural.'

Those words were stuck on his mind. The things Cale was saying started to fill his mind over those words.

"That document had some information on the ancient White Star's appearance."

Cale said that it was from an ancient document because he could not say that he had heard it from the Super Rock, one of his ancient powers.

'Do the original owners of the ancient powers normally talk to other people like they do to me?'

He did not know for sure, so he chose this other explanation.
According to what Bud said on Wind Island in the past and what the Super Rock told him, you could not hear the voices of the original owners once the ancient powers became completely absorbed into the user's soul.
The Super Rock said that Cale's situation was unique, but he kept that to himself as he had no way of knowing whether there were others like him.

"The appearance of the ancient White Star?"
"Yes, sir."

Cale pointed toward Alberu.
Of course, he pointed respectfully with both hands.

"Your highness, I thought about you as soon as I read the description. It was very similar to the appearance of the man who would become the sun of the Roan Kingdom."
"…Just what-"

Alberu closed his mouth without finishing his sentence. His mind quickly started to move.
Cale's hands started to move and headed toward the boulder in the stone chamber.

"Alright then, the words here talking about the descendants of the cursed blood. And the part about never setting your eyes on taking over the sky."

Cale pointed to the word darkness on the boulder.

"And finally, this darkness over here."

He looked toward Alberu and continued to speak.

"Your highness. There is something that I am hypothesizing."
"What is it?"
"The White Star's sky attribute. I believe it may be from the Demon World."
"Ah."

Alberu gasped.
He heard Cale's cheerful voice at that moment.

"Now then. Please let me explain the words on this boulder using my hypothesis as the basis."

< Descendants of the cursed blood. >

"The descendants of the ancient White Star."

< The touch of the Sun God will always be by your side. >
< Never set your eyes on taking over the sky. >

"Do not seek out the sky attribute."

< The Sun will always rise. >
< The moment darkness is planted in your bodies... >
< The moment a person with that darkness becomes the head of the household, the sky will be destroyed, and the ground will tremble. >

"If one of you receives the power from the Demon World and ends up in possession of the sky attribute ancient power… The sky will be destroyed, and the ground will tremble as the world turns into chaos."

Cale pointed to the last two sentences.

< The moment darkness is planted in your bodies... >
< The moment a person with that darkness becomes the head of the household, the sky will be destroyed, and the ground will tremble. >

"This seems more like a prophecy than a curse? Or maybe a warning?"

Alberu brushed his face with both hands.

"Pfft."

He could not help but laugh.
He opened his mouth to ask.

"What about when I said the world would turn to chaos if someone with darkness becomes the king of the Roan Kingdom or the head of the Crossman household earlier? You said, 'I guess so.' Why did you agree with me?"
"Because the world would turn to chaos if the White Star bastard becomes king?"
"Ah, this bastard-"

Alberu could not hold back as he shouted toward Cale.

"You should have clearly explained yourself from the beginning if that was the case!"

Cale flinched at Alberu's shout that sounded like a scolding while looking at the smile on Alberu's face with a confused expression.

'Why is he smiling?'

Cale found it odd that Alberu was smiling.

"…Your highness."
"Hyung-nim."
"Yes, sir. Hyung-nim. Umm, it might just be a hypothesis, but your ancestor might be the ancient White Star?"

Based on what Cale knew, the ancient White Star had suddenly appeared in the world and died in the final battle.
There were no records of his family, his past, or his relationships.
That was why there was no way of knowing whether he had any descendants, but for some reason, Cale felt like he was right.

'Either way, it's not something good.'

Cale frowned at Alberu who seemed to be happy for some reason. Alberu raised his chin and asked him back.

"So what?"
"I guess that's true. You're right. There's nothing you can do about that."

Alberu used his hand to suppress the corners of his lips from twitching after seeing Cale nodding his head.

Alberu had been shocked to hear that the ancient White Star could be his ancestor.
However, he wasn't a villain like that.
Furthermore, the past kings of the Roan Kingdom he knew about were never evil nor harmed the Roan Kingdom's citizens even if some of them were useless kings. The kingdom had been in difficult times because of their inability to lead properly, but the future generations took responsibility and fixed it in order for them to survive until now.

'They thought that they could avoid the Sun God's curse only by being the king of the Roan Kingdom.'

It was funny, but the heads of the Crossman household for generations had fought to survive.
That resulted in the Roan Kingdom being the oldest kingdom on the continent.

Alberu's goal was to take the Roan Kingdom past this point of being just the oldest kingdom and making it even greater.

"Ah! Your highness, I told you that I was going to meet a sage, right?"
"Yes."

He gently responded to Cale and waited for Cale's next words with a relaxed mind.

"That sage was the World Tree."
"Huh?"

'Who did he say?'

Alberu's jaw dropped. The World Tree was an existence he had only heard about in legends. However, Alberu's expression calmed down after hearing what Cale said next.

"That World Tree said that you were fated to exist in the Roan Kingdom, your highness."

Cale could now tell why the World Tree randomly mentioned that Alberu was fated to be here. That was why he calmly shared his thoughts without any hesitation.

"Hyung-nim, doesn't that mean you becoming king and living as you wish is the right way to go?"

The crown prince truly needed to become king for the Roan Kingdom to prosper.
Cale once again made up his mind that he needed to push for Alberu to be king in order to live peacefully as a slacker without having to worry about the Roan Kingdom.
Cale firmly shared his desires with Alberu who was standing there looking at him with an odd smile.

"Hyung-nim. Please become king."

Alberu started to speak as if he was accepting that will.

"Of course. I must become king."

Alberu quietly brushed his face.
Cale could see his true quarter Dark Elf appearance as his dye magic was removed. Alberu looked at his reflection in Cale's eyes as he started to think.

'Fate. I am fated to be here.'

Alberu thought that bringing Cale here was one of the best things he had done in life.

It helped him get rid of his self-doubt.

He quietly looked at Cale who seemed to be thinking about a lot of things while looking at the boulder before starting to speak.

"By the way, little brother."

Cale's stoic gaze headed toward Alberu.

"The Molden Kingdom. No, you want to flip over the Molden palace and capture the Monarch?"

He could see the corners of Cale's lips twitching as they twisted up.

"Yes, hyung-nim. Should we do it together?"

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]