I'm The Princess's Twin?! (Lucas X OC)

45. She's Dying!

"So-So, what should we do to save her?"

"She did it in the first place for you two, she wanted to keep you two safe so, you need to stay close to her. Having that Chimera is stabilizing her but it won't do anything against the black magic. For that you have to be with her. If not, then she'll die quickly."

Lucas' words were like a lightning flash over everyone present in the room.

"You said... she has been absorbing it from me since she was 5, does that mean she knew about it since the very beginning?" Claude asked in a low voice.

"Her mana is quite strong, not to mention she had already been an accomplished Mage in her past life, so, she'd carried that trait in the present as well, she could see the black mana seeping out of you. She knew it would kill you and that... that would have hurt her and her sister, so, she went and took it from you..." Lucas chuckled bitterly as he recalled her saying.

"This idiot told me, 'It's fine if I'm not here, Lucas. As long as I can make Athy and Dad support and love each other till that time I'm gone, I'll be happy.' I didn't know who was the bigger fool amongst us, her or me?"

Claude felt like he was going to lose his world all over again. His child since 5 years of age when he had thought of killing her and her sister, this child had been taking away the thing that was killing him? She had just let go of the time when he'd completely forgotten about them and left them to fend for themselves in the Ruby palace...

"Is there a way for me to take it back from her?"

"And let all her efforts go to waste? No!... She'd rather die than let you take it back, don't you realise it?! She did it just so that you could be safe and happy!"

"Is there some other way?" Athanasia asked.

"I'll need to look for it, but my Tower is trashed by now too and she had asked me to wait so, at this moment I don't really know what I should do."

"What do you mean?"

"Up till now, she had told me what to do, she had been preparing for future on her own to keep you two safe and together while she battled against various things in secret and now she's come to this. But I know, this idiot would have thought of a way of securing it even further by taking out her enemy so that you'd have your happily ever after."

The present people couldn't say anything at that. Ara had been planning all of this all along? For how long exactly? And how did she know about all this?

"Did you know this all along?" Athanasia asked and Lucas sighed, he wanted to go back to his Tower and sleep for another few centuries.

"She'd... told me everything... I was shocked to hear it from her... Why did you think we were close?"

"Why didn't you tell me then?!"

"And what would you have done?"

"I'd have at least tried to help her!"

"As if she'd let you," Lucas laughed bitterly, "This little sh- she had always kept you in the safe zone and even your father. She knew about his curse, she knew about that black magic and even the bloody reason for it!"

"Sh-She knew?" Claude gasped.

"How did you think she was able to break your contract with that demon and take it from you? Be happy that she hasn't taken up your curse as it is, she had modified it by saying she'd do anything to keep you two safe. Had she taken it from you as it is then she would have already killed you two and then erased this whole Empire and herself in depression." He said as he put his head in his hands.