CASTELLANOS' WINTER MANSION
Spring 3, 881
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WARNING!
MENTIONS OF INCIDENT AND 'DXXTH' WORD
Please skip reading if you're discomfortable towards mention of things stated above.
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I felt like I need to go out, but I was still confused. After I woke up in Alethea's body, all I did was locking myself in a room.
"Shit..."
My state wasn't at its best. Not only this body was weak as a starter, the idiotic previous owner thrown these fragile bones to the freezing cold lake.
The former Alethea visited Laskaris' central mansion that happened to be in the same territory with the Castellanos' winter mansion. She was planning to blame Laskaris household for the incident.
In the manhwa, she recovered after two months and shamelessly demanded a compensation, 'It's an improper thing that Duke Laskaris didn't cast a protection spell on a dangerous place. It's not only your guest that you failed to protect, but also a daughter of Castellanos household.'
The matter was settled with the wicked girl acquiring a gold mine. It was the only gold mine in Laskaris' possession. This soon will lead Laskaris household fell into strings of debt.
Despite of the former Alethea's bitchy attitude, Azeil still saw her as a colleague. But that changed after the death of his mother and brother.
He got a news that his 15 years old brother, Rafael died in a fire accident. Soon as he found out the culprit, he planted a deep hatred on Alethea. A week after his brother's funeral, her mother passed away with miscarriage. Fueling his hatred towards that scum even more.
"W-wh... what a nasty b-bitch." I sobbed, wiping tears from my face.
No matter how much I've read the chapter that showed the death of Rafael and Amina, I still cry. They reminded me of my little brother and mother that died in a helicopter accident.
"I wonder how dad is doing. Can he even defend himself from the assassins?" I mumbled.
The thought of my father, my sidekick-Lee Kyung, and my cat Nao made my mind wander. My fingers were still spinning the ballpoint as my eyes stared blankly at the void. The ballpoint dropped, pulling me back to reality.
Nevermind. We'll be fine without each other. We might be a family, but we were raised to be an individualist. It's a shame to not be able to see dad, but I wasn't sad or anything. I'm sure he felt the same way.
My attention was shifted back to the papers.
"Damn, I'm worthy enough to call myself a big fan of 'King of the Peak' and NYAN-nim!" I exclaimed.
Last night, I pulled an all-nighter to do a recap on how the plot will go. To think that I've noted all the events, along with the important details made me proud.
In my past life, I was born in a strict household of Andong Yeo family. It is believed by many that ancestors of my family were once big figures in Han, resulting their generations to live in glory and wealth. I don't really believe it, might just be a made up rumor to boost Yeo family's popularity.
I grew up, fortunately, in a family that values gender equality highly. That's why I have been trained many stuffs from the young age, because any worthy children or grandchildren can be the heir of Yeo's business empire.
The downside of having born lucky in such family is that I'll have no time to socialize with people. There's hardly anyone that I regard as my friend. My sidekick, Lee Kyung is an exception though, he's my soulmate and partner in crime.
I discovered 'King of the Peak' manhwa when I peeped at Lee Kyung's phone. Everything seemed to change after I read that manhwa. I started to know what it feels like to wait, to be curious, to be mad, to appreciate, and to comprehend in a way I never could. It wasn't enough to make up the lack of interaction in my life, but enough for me to grasp how the society is.
Oh! I suddenly remember that there was one cousin that was like a friend to me. But that was before he fucking stab me with a sword.
That fucker, Yeo Bomin!
"Thank you for your hard work on the finance report~ I'm afraid of ghost, so don't haunt me Hyeonnie~" was the last sentence that I heard.
I put a little trust in him these whole time. Yet, he killed me just to get a damn finance report?! I almost regard him as a close friend. Just because of a stupid competition made by grandpa, he killed me?! God, please send him to hell. Not only him, but whoever that is involved in the death of Yeo's family members.
"Stupid power seekers." I sighed.
Once I arranged my mind, I tried to recall what had happened and what will happen according to the manhwa.
"... so, the wrongdoings that Alethea has caused until this point were destroying Azeil's properties, spreading rumors about the land beside Nox forest... and trying to capture him for the lake incident."
Good thing that I got into this body at the right time. This way, Azeil won't be framed for the incident. It's not too late to make up for the former Alethea's mistakes, right?
After several minutes of scribbling, I lifted a piece of paper in my hand.
ALETHEA'S SURVIVAL GUIDE
I felt pleasant just looking at it. Deep inside, I hope that this will guide me to live a long life.
"I, Yeo Juhyeon, hereby declared that I will not die!"
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SPRING 9, 881
Six fucking days of recovery has passed.
Pain was present in the joints of my hip and knees. Today, a mage from Aetos Tower visited at the command of Duke Castellanos. To check up on my condition.
The mage introduced himself as Gafan Vandverlos. If I wasn't mistaken, he's one of the best mages in Aetos Tower. NYAN-nim mentioned that Gafan was the candidate to be the next archmage, along with Sirius Balaskas and Ajzen Ravel.
I didn't know who will be the next archmage, though. I died before the spin-off manhwa was released.
Fuck you, Yeo Bomin.
"I will start the examination on your mana. Miss Castellanos, please excuse me." he politely took my hand.
I felt warm sensation on my hand. A sky blue light suddenly appeared. WAIT, LIGHT???
Gafan looked at the light with shock. Of course he would. Even I was. He noticed that I have reached the highest soulbound level known in history.
Heck! I would faint if I were him. Soulbound achievers were uncommon, let alone the high level ones. In the whole empire, only the heirs of noble households, priests, swordsmen, and mages that have succeed in achieving soulbound.
With a trembling hand, his hold tightened. I knew that he was confused, yet he intuitively tried to investigate more.
"Sir Vandverlos, please let go." I requested.
"... SIR!"
"A-Ah! I apologize, Miss!" he hurriedly bowed.
"Please stand."
There was a dead silence between us. Surely, we were still processing the fact that I have a very high soulbound level.
Alright, story time.
Human was constructed with spiritual and physical element. The skin covered body is the physical, while the spiritual element is the mana covered soul. It's possible to create harmony between both elements, though it's not an easy thing to strengthen it.
The common way to call the bond is soulbond. It required dedication and patience to train soulbond to a decent level.
To achieve a successful link between physical and spiritual element, one needed to have a good and sufficient balance between the elements to proceed the bonding process.
As I mentioned before, it's not a common and easy thing to achieve soulbond. That's why some people used a strategy which was strengthening only one element.
Once a certain element became strong enough, it will automatically linked with the other element. From there, the one element trainer would spend years training the lacking element.
"...how?" he mumbled in confusion.
Gafan coughed and hesitantly asked, "I have a question, Miss."
"Go ahead."
"You were attacked by the spirit wolf, yet you have a power strong enough to defeat it... How could that happen?"
There's no way I confessed that I'm not the real Alethea, right?
Come on, think!
"That's...,"
Oh! Season four! When Azeil was fighting earth golems, he lost consciousness for two hours after getting hit by a very weak magic. That was when he breakthrough to the highest soulbound level.
I'll just put it that way.
"Soulbound breakthrough."
"Just like what I've expected. You're really a one in a million talent, Miss Castellanos. I apologize for having doubts on your talent and achievement."
I shook my head, "You're speaking too highly of me, Sir Vandverlos"
"Truth is all I speak. I'm sure that Miss Castellanos is aware that you're currently the only person who has reached such a high level." he insisted.
"Thank you for the acknowledgment."
BAK!!!
Both of us looked at the source of the sound.
There in the door frame, stood a worried Ares Castellanos.
"Alethea..."
Damn. He's hotter in real life.
Gafan stood up, "Greetings, your Honor."
I was about to greet him, but then he spoke.
"Ah, my mistake. I-I will visit later."
I kept on staring as Ares' back disappear, "Such a DILF."
"Pardon?"
Shit, he's still here.
"Ah- that... DILF is a short for dad is lovely as flower! You know, girls and our word inventing ability." I ended with an awkward smile.
"I see."
"So, is the examination finished, Sir Vandverlos?"
Gafan nodded, "The guardian's spell has been removed from your mana, Miss."
"Oh? Didn't it usually take a month?"
"Commonly, it will. But your soul is strong enough to repel it by the time you woke up."
"So, it only affected my soul, not my physique?"
Gafan pushed his glasses higher, "Yes, Miss Castellanos. The spell removal usually depends on the soul's strength, because it was related to non physical element. As for your physique, I believe that it was injured by the temperature and visible objects in the water."
"You're right."
I almost forgot that the former Alethea thrown herself to a freezing lake.
"Thanks for your help, Sir Vandverlos."
He stood up, about to give me a bow, "My pleasure. I'll excuse-"
"Wait! I want to let you know that I'm aware of your effort in conducting research on soulbond. I'm willing to provide informations if you'd like... Ah, and sorry for interrupting."
Gafan's eyes sparkled in a matter of second, "Thank you! It means so much for the tower, Miss Castellanos!"
He looked exactly like how NYAN-nim described him in the manhwa. Full of passion.
"I will send you an official letter upon my request on your cooperation. Also, I hope Miss Castellanos will receive this communication device. Please don't hesitate to call me if you need assistance anytime in the future." he happily handed me a stone.
"Thank you Sir."
"I wish you a fast recovery. Excuse me, Miss." he gave a polite nod before stepping out.
When the door was closed, I laid down and closed my eyes, "Ah, I changed the plot."
Gafan was supposed to do his research after discovering Azeil's soulbound. Which also made Azeil gain support from the Aetos tower. Now that Gavan had found it sooner, the story would likely progress in a different way.
Wouldn't that be me that will receive Gafan's loyalty pledge?
"Too many things happened in a week." I sighed, moving to the edge of the bed like a caterpillar.
My mind tried to recall the way to strengthen body using soul. I needed to figure it out so that I can train sooner. This body was currently useless as a viola in a large orchestra.
Triple knock came from the door, "Milady?"
"Come in."
"Sorry to disturb your time. Would you like to send Duke Castellanos back?" Ash offered.
"Huh? What for?"
Ash ruffled the side of her dress, "Well usually-"
"Not anymore. Please assist me, I'll go to him."
Ash looked shock, but she hurriedly rushed to my side. Of course, who wouldn't be shocked to hear this young miss wanting to see her father.
"Y-Yes, Milady!"
She supported me on the way to the door. The maid let go after a guard took over, then she lead us to where Ares was.
My footstep felt heavier as I walked. It's actually nerve-wracking. What should I say to my new father?
The former Alethea would ignore her father on a daily basis. She only came when she needed something. According to the novel, Alethea would send him back to the main mansion without letting him to see her. From that point, they started to live separately.
Well, I'm Alethea Castellanos now. I won't do stupid things like that brat would!
"A-Alethea...?"
Huh? He looked like he was about to cry... But still so attractive. As expected of my father.
This stiff face pulled the bestest smile it could pull, "Papa."
Ares fell on his knees and broke into tears.
EH?!
"P-papa?"
Soon, I let go of the guard's arm and went to his side on my knees.
I clung to his neck, "Papa, I'm sorry."
Ares' body was trembling as he cried louder. My arms on him tightened. He carefully bring his arms to my back. Soon as they reached it, he held me tight.
Fuck, I'm going to cry with Papa.
I could feel his hands caressed my hair. My damn tears broke. How could he be so affectionate? Old Alethea did nothing pleasant to him.
The moment lasted for a long time that my knees started to get numb. I was worried he would feel the same, so I broke the hug.
I reached his cheeks and wiped the remaining tears, "Alea wants to go home with Papa."
"Yes, my daughter. Let's come home, my Alea."
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Original work by Jia
2022