Dimi and Felix stared blankly at their father, their young minds momentarily unable to comprehend what he meant.
Soon, however, Felix was practically jumping with excitement, exclaiming in shock, "All the other dukes and Her Majesty the Empress liked our ancestor?!"
"Everyone liked him?" Dimi was equally bewildered, an expression of total confusion on his face. "And two men and three women?"
Yet when Dimi looked up at the portrait before them, he instantly realized his own narrow thinking—for their ancestor, gender was by no means an insurmountable chasm.
"They say this portrait captures merely a tenth of our ancestor's charm," the Duke of Vosroda said. "Aside from his looks, what was even deadlier was his personal charisma. Throughout a lifetime of battles, he skirted death time and again, and every single time, subordinates willingly laid down their lives to buy him time. His legion fought to the last man and refused to retreat. He was captured three times, yet each time, high-ranking enemy commanders betrayed their own cause for his sake... One could even say the other four dukes were all won over by our ancestor; it was only for him that they pledged allegiance to Her Highness the Fourth Princess."
Felix was already floored by the revelation, but a look of suspicion appeared on Dimi's face. "Father, this sounds a bit too... even more unbelievable than the knights Mother criticized."
"That's only natural," the Duke of Vosroda said. "I didn't believe it either the first time I heard it. And what happened after is stranger still."
"What happened after that?" Felix asked with eager anticipation. "Who did Ancestor choose to be with?"
"Of those five admirers, four were legendary sorcerers, and one was the founding empress." The Duke of Vosroda looked down at the children. "What do you think would have happened if Ancestor had chosen one of them?"
Felix tilted her head. "They lived happily ever after?"
Dimi thought of a frightening possibility. "If Ancestor's choice couldn't satisfy everyone..."
"Then the newly founded dynasty would have become an offering sacrificed to their love," the Duke of Vosroda said. "In fact, during the campaigns, the conflict and rivalry between his admirers had already reached a boiling point and erupted into the open. At the Golden Rose Empress's coronation ceremony, aside from Ancestor, not one of the other four dukes showed up."
"Even if Ancestor had chosen to remain alone for life, that wouldn't have worked either. Everyone would only have thought he lacked the courage to decide, and then they would have made the choice for him."
"A civil war between legends was hanging by a hair."
The children swallowed nervously. Felix asked carefully, "Then how did Ancestor... solve that problem?"
For some reason, the Duke of Vosroda suddenly let out a laugh. It was the first time they had ever heard their father laugh, but there wasn't a trace of joy in it—only profound bitterness and mockery.
"On Ruby Mountain, Ancestor met the Dramatic Poet."
Dimi and Felix blinked. "The Dramatic Poet?"
The Duke of Vosroda said, "You will understand later. For now, you only need to know that he was someone full of miracles. Though I say he met him, no one knows whether Ancestor met the Dramatic Poet himself or merely encountered a gift he left behind... In short, the Dramatic Poet granted Ancestor a wish."
"The Dramatic Poet made everyone stop having feelings for Ancestor."
The children were bewildered. "Huh?"
"It wasn't erasing their memories, nor changing the past, but permanently twisting their feelings," the Duke of Vosroda said. "Even if they lost their memories, those bound to love him would still fall in love; even if they didn't love him now, they might be drawn to him again in the future. Only by making them forever incapable of feeling anything toward Ancestor could this catastrophe be completely uprooted."
"Later on, Ancestor married Lady Anlilian, who grew up with him and had secretly loved him all along. No one objected; the dukes and the Empress all came to the wedding to offer their blessings. And that was how our Vosroda line came to be."
He paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What do you think?"
"If this story is true..." Dimi thought it over and said, "Then Ancestor was a truly great man. He let his admirers let go of their attachments, and stopped their feelings from turning into a catastrophe."
The Duke of Vosroda neither confirmed nor denied it. He turned his gaze toward Felix, who looked troubled. The latter hesitated for a long while before saying, "I think Ancestor was... a bit foolish."
"Why?"
"Since he could have the Dramatic Poet grant a wish, why didn't he make everyone love him while loving one another too?" Felix asked innocently. "Ancestor must have liked everyone too, right?"
The corners of the Duke of Vosroda's mouth curved into a faint smile, but it vanished in a flash. "That was the exact question I asked my father back then."
"Because it happened so long ago, we don't know whether the Dramatic Poet could have granted such a wish, but Ancestor most likely never had that thought," he said. "In the future, when you read through the manuscripts and poetry collections Ancestor left behind, it will be plain to see that he was... a romantic purist."
"A romantic purist?" The children tilted their heads.
"Simply put, he sought only one-hundred-percent pure love, and did not believe love could be shared." For some reason, the Duke of Vosroda's voice carried a hint of bitterness. "Perhaps because of what he went through in his youth, he cared deeply about emotional purity. He could not tolerate others—or himself—defiling love."
"He never even considered loving so many people at once. In 'Poems of a Summer Night,' he used a trash can as a metaphor for himself. He felt that even if it wasn't intentional, causing so many people to lose their hearts to him made him utterly filthy and laden with sin. When he made his wish to the Dramatic Poet, he intended to remain unmarried and live out his days in solitude. But Lady Anlilian stood by him through everything, never leaving his side. He truly could not bear to fail another person, and so he eventually married and fathered children."
Though the children understood only vaguely, both couldn't help admiring their ancestor. When they looked up at the portrait on the wall, their eyes held not only a yearning for beauty, but an added touch of heartfelt respect.
They thought the story ended there, but the Duke of Vosroda suddenly spoke again: "There was another reason Ancestor did not intend to marry: the Dramatic Poet's fulfillment of a wish did not come without a price. Other than Ancestor himself, every generation of our Vosroda line will be trapped in a curse from which they cannot escape."
"What?!" Felix cried in shock, hurriedly looking down and feeling all over her body, as if the curse were a centipede crawling on her skin.
"What kind of curse?" Dimi was far calmer. "Mother never told me about this."
"The details of the curse are behind the portrait," the Duke of Vosroda said calmly. "If you're bold enough, take it down."
The two children looked at the massive painting together. To learn about the curse, they had to take down their ancestor's portrait?
The Duke of Vosroda turned and walked away. When he reached the doorway of the secret chamber, he saw the two children running after him in a hurry. A faint, barely perceptible trace of disappointment rose in his eyes. "Giving up already?"
"Father!" Dimi cried loudly. "We can't pry it loose at all! Come help us!"
Ten seconds later, the ancestor's portrait was lying on the carpet of the secret chamber, exposing the back of the board. On the pitch-black board were several lines of elegant, enduring script. Felix pressed her eyes almost directly against the surface, her face exceedingly serious, before finally lifting her small head in defeat: "These words are so complicated!"
Not to mention Felix, even Dimi could barely read it. At his age, he only recognized standard formal script; Ancestor's elegant, aesthetic handwriting was far too difficult for him.
The Duke of Vosroda knelt on one knee between them, pointing to the words and translating them sentence by sentence:
"I thought I could make a choice, but in truth, any choice was wrong."
"I thought I could be kind, but in truth, any deed was a sin."
"I finally understand the Poet's words: my price is my sin."
"I presumed to judge whether another's love was right, and so Vosrodas shall fall in love with the wrong person."
Felix listened, barely understanding.
"I presumed to judge whether another's hatred was wrong, and so Vosrodas shall hate those they cannot hate."
Dimi tried his best to ponder the meaning of these words.
"I presumed to judge whether others lived happily, and so Vosrodas shall dwell in anguish forever, knowing no peace and receiving no recompense."
The Duke of Vosroda recited the words expressionlessly.
"I made others yearn for what they could never attain, and so Vosrodas shall yearn for what they can never attain."
"A century of trials, a lifetime adrift; at the end, looking back, profound favors completely betrayed, not a single deed achieved. Birth, old age, sickness, death, love, hatred, parting—everything is nothing but...
"Yearning for what can never be attained."
...
...
Inside Star Bridge Hall, the golden-haired young man looked at Felix and said gently, "Child, you have suffered."
Unbeknownst to her, two lines of clear tears rolled down the second young miss of the Vosroda family's face. She rubbed them away incessantly with the back of her hand, but the tears only fell faster, as though washing away all the grievances she had carried over the past dozen years.
Meanwhile, Yaxiu and the others realized it as well. Felix's ancestor, a legendary sorcerer from a thousand years ago—if he hadn't died, there was only one possibility...
"The Stars are the law; Her angels are the decree."
"I am the Angel of Sword Law beneath the Divine Lord of Stars." The Angel of Sword Law turned his gaze toward Yaxiu. Though effeminate, his stare was so sharp it made Yaxiu's eyes sting. "In accordance with the Supreme Decree, I have come to welcome Yaxiu Heath to take his place in Heaven."
Chapter 1090