Princess Chanel's room was nothing like a typical princess' room. Contrary to bright colors, Chanel used dark colors to decorate her room. The walls looked gloomy, with dark brown paint and a lack of light through the royal red curtains covering the windows. Chanel decorated the room with numerous things she had collected through visits to other kingdoms. Her room was a chaotic mess, but it had a certain rhythm. On the corner, she put a sofa set facing the fireplace. Several book racks filled with texts, scrolls, and artifacts were a few meters away from the fireplace. Next to these book racks, she had a wide closet containing all her dresses, and at last, her bed was located between a study table and a six feet tall bonsai tree. The tree had grown out of shape and looked as though no one had pruned it for weeks. The lack of light made leaves look a little paler than their usual jade green.

In the dark room, a couple of people gathered around the bed where Princess Chanel was groaning in pain. The princess was a charming beauty with striking blond hair inherited from her mother and hazel eyes from her father. Her smooth, silky skin lost its glow due to the curse, and the princess herself looked thin and weak. Even her collarbones and cheekbones became visible to others because she hadn't eaten for weeks. The curse affected her very soul, and as a result, her body couldn't sustain itself using arch energy. Princess Chanel squirmed and kicked her legs in excruciating pain. She closed her eyes and clenched the royal red bedsheets under her as tight as she could.

Princess Chanel's mother, Queen Clarice, gently brushed the hair flowing onto Chanel's face and sobbed. Tears rolled out of the queen's red eyes sitting atop dark circles.

The Queen held Chanel's hands and sat beside her while the others looked at the princess in pain helplessly.

"Your majesty," an old man wearing golden robes embroidered with silver threads raised his voice, cutting through the silence in the room. King Porter Forbes was not in his kingly robes but wore a plain shirt and brown trousers. He looked more like a commoner than a king with his messy dark hair and untrimmed beard with patches of white hair.

Porter Forbs sat at the end of Chanel's bed with his hands folded. His hazel eyes glimmered with helplessness and grief. He was desperate for help. Even the Six-star Alchemist Hendrix Gardner couldn't do anything to lift the curse. All he could do was ease Chanel's pain and make her life easier until her body and soul gave up. The sight of his daughter groaning in pain was eating him from within.

"It's time we break this news to the citizens," said the old man, one of the most loyal people who worked for Porter Forbes. Everyone in the room shared the same pain as King Porter and Queen Clarice because they saw Chanel grow up to be a young lady from a baby. They loved the princess like she was their own. Unlike the royal courts, everyone loved Porter Forbes. He was a kind and benevolent king.

The old man's voice stuttered as he couldn't say what he really wanted to. Everyone who checked Chanel had told them one thing, the curse cannot be lifted. Some even said the king and queen should make peace and say goodbye to Chanel. King Porter's last resort was the Guardians, but even though Noah was a god, he lacked the powers to perform the miracle of lifting the curse.

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"How can I?" The King muttered.

"ARGH!" Suddenly, Chanel began to scream and frantically wriggled on the bed. Queen Clarice quickly wrapped her slender arm around Chanel's waist and stopped her daughter from rolling out of bed. Meanwhile, Porter grabbed Chanel's legs and tried to lessen her squirming. Princess Chanel's scream echoed through the room, making everyone shudder. The way she screamed and shouted really made them want to leave the room as soon as possible. They weren't strong enough to stay there and see the princess in agony.

Princess Chanel continued to suffer for almost an hour. By the time she stopped screaming, her body had no strength left to move. Except for the muffled groans, no words or sounds came out of Chanel's mouth. Porter's heart told him to have hope and expect Noah to return with a cure, while his mind told him to accept the inevitable. He was unfortunate enough to know how powerful elven curses are. One of the elven runemasters who examined Chanel's soul told him that no one could lift the curse, including the one who put the curse in the first place. The curse was unliftable and shouldn't have been used on a human, according to the elf. So nothing would happen even if the empress herself ordered the elf who put the curse to lift it.

Porter's eyes became watery as he slowly turned around to address everyone in the room.

"Please leave us alone for a moment," Porter's voice broke off.

"Take all the time you need, your majesty. We will take care of everything else," said the old man before leaving the room with the others. After everyone left the room, Porter finally let go of the tears in his eyes. His legs refused to take a step forward. He moved like a snail, reached his wife's side, and collapsed on the bed. Chanel was their only daughter, and the memories they had with Chanel flashed before their eyes.

"Is this the end, Porter?" Queen Clarice broke into tears. Words barely escape her mouth. Porter couldn't even give Clarice a few comforting words because he knew there was no way of helping Chanel. If there was a chance of remotely lifting the curse, Noah would have given them hope. Even he told Porter to strengthen his heart and mind and prepare for anything.

"Why do the gods want this for us? What did we do wrong?"

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"If there was a god, he wouldn't have let this happen to our daughter," Porter said, gritting his teeth. The helplessness he felt turned into anger, and when Clarice talked about the gods, Porter snapped. But little did they know that when they needed a god, the one who arrived to help was the devil. The curtains slowly swayed to the wind as Porter and Clarice felt a cold breeze. Everyone around them darkened as the dim light orbs flickered. At first, they thought the wind caused the orbs to flicker. But then, everything grew darker to the point Porter and Clarice couldn't see what was before them. The room turned pitch black. A few seconds later, the orbs flickered back to life, giving them just enough light to illuminate a third figure in the room. Porter's pupils shrunk as he saw someone sitting on the other side of Chanel's bed.

Porter's warrior instincts kicked in as he quickly rose from the bed. He instinctively reached for the sword and grabbed the side of his waist where he used to have his sword. Queen Clarice's motherly instinct made her pull Chanel close to her. A calm voice resonated through the room when Porter was about to shout out for the guards.

"You wouldn't make a sound if you want your daughter to live,"

The words made Porter's heart skip a beat and prevented him from making a sound. As much as Porter wanted the guards to come running into the room, he wanted to know if there was some truth to the intruder's words.

"Show yourself," Porter ordered the intruder.

A candle slowly flew past him and hovered beside the intruder. Then, the intruder lit the candle with a snap of his fingers. To Porter's shock, the candlelight illuminated the face that terrified everyone, the Dark Lord. Porter's heart almost stopped when he saw the Dark Lord's eyes that glowed like bloodstones.

"Dark Lord" Queen Clarice trembled from head to toe. Her fear of the Dark Lord paralyzed Clarice's body. As Porter was searching for words, the Dark Lord rested his head on his fist and sat on the throne with his leg atop the other. The King and Queen had no idea how he managed to enter the castle without raising any alarms. If he wanted them dead, there was nothing to stop them. However, his glowing eyes didn't contain any killing intent within.

"Where there is pain, let there be darkness," Porter and Clarice heard the Dark Lord's bone-chilling voice. Their minds were in too much shock to process his words.

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"I am the only god who listened to your pain and came here to help. Tell me, Porter, will you save your daughter or deny my help and let your daughter die in pain?" The Dark Lord's words sounded slow and deep. Each word struck them like an arrow. If this was any other situation, Porter would have called out the guards and fought the Dark Lord himself despite the obvious results. Still, Porter was a god-fearing man who would rather die fighting evil than serve one to live. However, he couldn't bring himself to refuse the Dark Lord's help when his daughter's life depended on his words.

"You have five seconds to decide. Your daughter's life is in your hands now," said the Dark Lord. He didn't give them much time to think about anything except Chanel's life. This was the small light of hope they had in days. Everything and everyone failed them, and in three days, their daughter would die in pain. Any parent at this time would give anyone anything to save their child, and Porter and Clarice were no different.

"One" The Dark Lord raised a finger.

"Two," he raised another finger and continued to count.

"Save her," Porter answered him when the Dark Lord reached count four.

"Two hundred million and your teleportation portal. That would be the price for your daughter's life,"

Porter wasn't surprised because he expected to pay the price when the man before him was the Dark Lord. However, Porter and Clarice felt glad that the price for saving their daughter was gold coins and the portal instead of their souls or anything that would forever bind them to the Dark Lord.

"You can take whatever you want as long as you lift this curse from my daughter," Porter rushed the Dark Lord when Chanel's groans got louder. They shuddered when the Dark Lord rose from his throne and stepped toward their daughter. Part of them wanted to keep Chanel away from the Dark Lord's reach, but they stood still like statues, looking at the Dark Lord placing his hand on Chanel's head.

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As soon as the Dark Lord touched Chanel, her body trembled. A glow appeared in Chanel's chest as Porter and Clarice watched the glow getting brighter and brighter until they heard something snap. After they heard a sound like a twig break, the Dark Lord took his hand away from Chanel and stepped back.

"Father," Porter heard the word he thought he would never hear again. Under his watery gaze, Chanel slowly opened her eyes.