This Bonus Chapter is dedicated to the reader "mayka_h" who gifted Dragon to the novel.
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'Sacrifice me? Did 'he' ask for me in return for helping Theron? But why? 'He' was the one who left me. 'He' cannot ask for me as we cannot be together.
'Wait. Does that mean I am related to the curse? Am I the one responsible for bringing this disaster to the kingdom?'
"Your Majesty, I suggest you return to the palace as the King requested," the High Priest said as he looked at the trembling woman. He was about to turn around and leave when he heard her call out.
"Please wait."
The High Priest stopped despite not wanting to and looked back at her with tiredness. "Your Majesty—"
"Please tell me what exactly happened inside the ritual chamber. Did the Devil ask him to sacrifice me and he refused? Will I be taken away? Is the Devil asking for my life? If so, I won't mind sacrificing myself. Tell me—"
"You should wait for the King to return," the High Priest said once again to stop her.
But Esther was adamant. To the point she even grabbed the sleeves of the High Priest, ready to go down on her knees if she had to. She could not bear it if all those innocent lives had to continue suffering because of her. She knew what the Devil's Curse was. It would destroy the entire Kingdom of Megaris if the curse wasn't lifted by 'him'.
Though her husband would remain safe due to her soul fragment, how would the future unfold for him? His family, his friends, and his subjects, all dead. The land he cherished and protected, ruined beyond redemption. There would be no one left but him and her. Even Little Keiren would perish.
How could she allow the man she loved more than anything to suffer such a tragedy?
"High Priest, please, I am begging you, if you care for our kingdom, tell me what I have to do." Her voice, her eyes were both desperate to make everything right. "Whatever the price is, I will do it," she said with determination.
The High Priest could no longer reject her earnest request.
"You have to bear the Devil's child, Your Majesty."
Hearing the High Priest's response, Esther felt like the floor under her feet had slipped away. She was so shaken that she was surprised to find herself still standing and not lying on the ground yet.
Only then did she realize that she had indeed lost her balance, and it was the High Priest holding onto her arm that kept her upright.
"Your Majesty!" the High Priest called out in fright.
Esther slowly staggered back to her feet, trying her best to keep her wits with her. "This…Is this what happened during the ritual? The Devil asked for me to carry his child?"
"I am afraid so, Your Majesty."
She could now understand why her husband was like that. If it had shaken her like this then what more Theron? She could not even imagine what he must have felt at that moment.
'No wonder he was so desperate. No wonder he asked me if I trust him and asked me to return to the palace. No wonder he made me promise that I should wait for him…'
"Theron…" she mumbled his name and stared at the High Priest. "W-Where did he go?"
Since he had already told her what happened, the High Priest deigned it unnecessary to withhold information again from the young queen.
"The King has gone to find another way to lift this curse."
Esther's forehead creased as she mulled. "Is that possible? Is there really a way to defeat the curse without relying on the Devil?"
"I am sure there is," the High Priest replied just to calm the distressed woman in front of him.
"What is it?" she asked. Being one of the supernatural beings blessed with a long life, she was aware that curses are never so easy to deal with, what more the more disastrous Devil's Curse. 'In order to gain something, you have to lose another of equal weight.'
"That I am afraid I am unable to answer," he replied, maintaining the same calmness on his face.
"If there is another way, then how come you, the High Priest, don't know what it is?" Esther asked, her tone rising.
At this moment, the Queen of Megaris shed off what's left of the civility she's trying to maintain, and her true nature started to emerge. In the first place, Esther was not a human but a superior being much older than the High Priest. The worry she had for her husband made her unable to keep her pretence.
The High Priest didn't mind the change in her behaviour and replied calmly, "I only know that there is another way. The reason I do not know what it is- is because, from the written records, no one has ever used that option. The Temple of the Divine has kept vigil for a long, long time, recording and guarding the history and knowledge of humanity for thousands of years, yet no one had ever dared deny what the Devil had asked them. All the past kings of the former affected kingdoms as well as the heroes that emerged with the Ivanov bloodline had accepted the Devil's demand, regardless of how precious these demands were for them.
"King Theron is the first person who refused to obey the Devil's demand."
Her husband's love for her was so great that he didn't wish to give her up. Tangled emotions engulfed Esther as she heard the High Priest continue to speak, "Of course, there were others who hesitated to pay the price that the Devil demanded from them. They too tried to search for another way. However, when they learned that the alternative path is meant to punish the summoner who had disrespected the Devil by not accepting his demand, they eventually gave in to the Devil's original demand."
A frown graced Esther's face. 'Punishment?'
Esther wondered what that alternative path must be. If many of the predecessors refused to choose the second option, then wouldn't that mean that its consequences were worse than the original demand of the Devil?
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