Look who's on a roll! Enjoy!
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Levi's PoV
"What are you talking about?" I gaped at the healer. "I'm cursed?"
Right after I almost fainted, Eren burst into the sunroom and took me away with Jean and the healer in tow. He ordered Hange to take care of Kenny and ushered him to his room while we sort things out.
We're back in our room with Eren, Jean, and Marco. Eren instructed to close the gates of the palace because Marco could sense that the suspect was still in the castle.
"Yes. I found dark magic running in your system." Marco approached me and pointed at my forehead. "And I can feel their energy here."
My hand quickly slapped at my forehead. "The witch altered my memory?"
"Not only yours," Eren growled. "The witched played as all."
"I knew it was a witch," Jean mumbled in the corner.
"Levi, I knew in memory that we exchanged letters together but then... I can't seem to recall how it started." Eren turned to me with a frown.
"About that, I found out that I was the one who send you those letters but it was my friend, Petra was her name, who wrote them for me," I explained. "That's what I discovered after talking with Kenny."
"So that means..."
"Yes," Marco confirmed. "My lords, your marriage was not an arranged marriage."
"What?!"
"When I found out that the Queen was cursed, I tried to make an antidote to retrieve my memories," Marco explained.
"Marco! You drank another experimented potion again?!" Jean exclaimed at the healer.
"I will if it will benefit and save My lords," Marco said confidently before clearing his throat. "I regained some of my memories and recalled that the marriage was not arranged. It was a normal wedding."
"Marco, that's not enough to solve the puzzle. I ordered you to dig deeper into this matter and solve this trick fast. Jean, I want you to hire more healers and track the witch. If they are still in the castle make sure they couldn't leave," Eren started booming orders and I just sat on our bed, with my mind running wild. I bit my lower lip nervously. This is so confusing.
"Understood, Your Majesty!" Jean huffed. "It is done."
"What?!" Eren and I gaped in unison. What does that mean? Did they catch the witch?
"Mikasa, bring her in," Jean called and the door opened. Mikasa came in dragging a very familiar servant and forced her to kneel in front of us. My eyes grew wide when I properly see her face...
"Hange!" I gasped in horror.
"You were wise enough to not run away," Marco glared at her.
"Marco, you know I won't do that right?" Hange forced smile at Marco.
"Hange... you're the witch?" I asked, feeling my heart grow heavy.
Hange... she's been playing me all along but... all those times when Hange helped me to fit in the castle on our first day, how she never left my side, how she was nice to me.
But she was my best friend.
"Yes... I can explain!" She cried at me.
"Silence!" Eren boomed. With a flick of his finger, a sword was summoned in his hand and he aimed the blade at Hange's neck.
I flinched when I saw the blade appear, dear gods, I didn't know Eren knew magic! As if on cue, Mikasa drew her sword and Jean pulled out his dagger.
"Wait!" I quickly grabbed Eren's arm and forced the blade away from Hange. "Let her explain! Isn't that the proper way of doing it?"
Eren was silent as he stared down at Hange. Then he sighed, the sword in his hands turned into smoke. "Very well, we'll see you in court."
"Wait, what? Why can't we let her explain here now?" I pulled on his sleeve.
"But that's the proper way," Eren muttered.
"That can take fucking forever! We'll let her explain and Marco can probably cast a spell of truth on her." I looked over at the said healer and he blinked at me.
"I can brew up it up, it might take a while, I apologized, My lords." He bowed deeply at us.
"That sounds fine, Marco brews it up and Mikasa helps him with the materials," Eren ordered.
"But-" Mikasa protested.
"That is an order Mikasa," Eren added sternly. "And Jean you stay here."
The two left and I could feel the tension in the room. "Hange." I started. "Why?"
Hange stared at me before looking away. "I did it for money... The Leonhart's offered me a huge sum..."
"The Leonhart's?" Eren repeated. "Care to elaborate before I declare war on them?"
"Eren!" I slapped his arm. He wouldn't do that... right?
"Please, don't!" Hange begged. "I can explain!"
"Then start explaining, it will be perfect timing when Marco finished the potion and you'll have to retell your story. I'll be the judge of the 'truth'," Eren stressed the word. I could tell he was angry but he was holding it in and keeping himself calm like a dignified king.
"I understand..." Hange gulped. "I was hired to break the marriage so that His Highness will have to marry Annie Leonhart instead of Levi... I acted as Levi's servant that day and cast the spell a week before the ceremony started... I erased his memories about you, Your Highness, and replaced them with bitterness and hatred."
"That's why..." Eren breathe.
"A week before my wedding... It could be the reason why I was mean towards my uncle and my friends..." I whispered. I noted what Kenny told me, that I didn't invite them because I said they were disgusting.
"The plan was, Levi will refuse to marry you and run away.... but he didn't..." Hange smiled at me. "The wedding continued."
I blinked at that. I didn't run away as Hange planned?
"I don't know why Levi didn't run away back then, I was helping him in his wedding dress while encouraging him to run away. He seems to like the idea but he walked the aisle anyway... My plan didn't work and Levi got pregnant. I became his royal servant so I could keep an eye on him and pinpoint what had gone wrong... But I didn't know what was wrong... and the Leonhart's were in raged of the news. So... I tried again. I erased and alter His Highness Eren's memories and everyone... I made everyone think that your marriage was an arranged marriage, that the late King forced it, but it didn't work... King Eren still cares for you, Levi..."
I turned to look at Eren, his expression didn't change as he waited for Hange to continue.
"The Leonhart's gave up on me and threatened to kill me if I come back, I got nowhere to go so, I stayed as Levi's servant. I deserved it..." Hange sobbed.
I gasped. Oh, my gods, what did I do to Hange? Did I hurt her?
"But I want to make things right," Hange straightened with determination.
That line... I recalled she kept saying those exact lines on several occasions.
"Even when Levi was under the curse as well as His Highness... you guys secretly cared for each other. Levi kept asking me if His Highness had skipped any meals, while His Highness even bought the hot springs in the mountains for Levi but what stabbed me right in the heart... That was when Rivaille was born... I didn't mean that the child will get affected by any of this! I didn't mean that this will go this far!" Hange cried. "But as I said... I want to make things right... With the accident after we visited the hot springs..."
"The attack..." I whispered.
"They were nothing but illusions, I made you and Erwin think it was real, so I can get away from this clean. I tried to reverse the curse but your memories didn't hit the right timeline, it was set back before your uncle took you in. I thought I can fix this-"
"Undo the cursed." Eren cuts off.
"I will and... I understand if this is the end of me."
"So be it."
"Wait!" I snapped at Eren. "But Hange admitted her mistake, she can undo it. Do you think killing her is a bit too much?" I pleaded at Eren.
"Levi, starting from now, I started to doubt who should I trust, and realized that I had failed you even before we became a family. How can I even protect my entire kingdom if I can't protect my own family?"
"Don't say that!" I almost cried at him. "Jean, please leave us for now."
"Yes, my Queen." Jean helped Hange and escorted her to the dungeon. My ears almost pick up her quiet voice as she said sorry before the door closed.
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Hange's PoV
I deserved this. I have failed more than once. Such a mess I made.
Pulling my legs up my chest, I sobbed as I regretted everything I did. My heart hurts when I vividly remembered how the curse affected the good people of this kingdom.
"Has... the king been eating well?" That's what Levi kept asking me after the wedding. The curse of bitterness and hatred lingered in his system yet, he never fails to ask about the King's health.
I recalled the times when I escorted Levi to the gardens but the king was there. I could see how much Levi wanted to join him but the curse kept pulling in, forcing him to turn around and walked back to his bland room. He did nothing but stare at the walls, he didn't even hurt me but the guilt I feel every day was torture.
There were times he cry and then he would ask himself why he does so. Because of the curse and his missing memory, that was the only way his heart tried to cope, and that struck me.
It only became worst when Rivaille was born. I didn't expect that the curse included the child. During those times, Levi refused to hold his own baby but his eyes reflected more. He wanted to hold his son, he wanted to spend time with his mate but the curse stopped him so.
I was thinking of ways to fix things but the damage I'd done was too great and I couldn't easily brew up a remedy since the King forbid using magic easily. That's when Rivaille, at an early age, came to me.
"Why does my mother don't like me?"
I broke down, right there in front of him. It was all my fault. I promised him that I'll make things right even if it means I'll get hanged.
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Levi's PoV
The first month of 1246...
A new year, a new life. My friends had a proper burial and I now lived with my uncle. I never thought my mother had a brother or that uncle Kenny recognized me as my mother.
It was snowing in the last month of 1245, and I was freezing in the street when this old Alpha came to view, he shouted my mother's name and started crying while he hugged me. But then he realized that I'm not Kuchel, he cursed and mumbled something about - eloping with a stupid guy. He took me in, of course, I was skeptical about him but when he showed me a painting of him and my mother, I broke down.
Now, I have a roof over my head and a little tea plantation at the back of the house. I'm slowly moving on from the deaths of my friends. And uncle Kenny was not that bad, he's quite nice.
"Umm, excuse me!"
I looked up from my garden and saw the mailman, waving a letter. "Yes?"
"I have a letter for Jean Kirstein, but it seems that there is a new resident at their address?"
"Yes, they moved out last week," I informed.
"Oh dear... perhaps you know their new address?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"Oh... well umm... I can't return this letter since it's a policy for certain... senders... but just in case if they come back, can you hold on to this?" The mailman handed the letter.
"Well... I think Petra might visit him," I whispered, recalling that Jean would host some sort of housewarming party. Petra and I were invited but I don't think I have the patience for those. "Alright."
After a week, Jean sent a letter to Petra that the party was postponed for now, because his family was still looking for a decent house. And currently, they are jumping from one hotel to another.
I glared at the letter. Then I decided to fuck it, I'm not a messenger boy.
I didn't open the letter but I wrote back to it saying:
"Your Jean friend of a horse moved out from our neighborhood and still doesn't have a permanent address. If your letter had urgent stuff. You better wait until they get settled.
-The annoyed neighbor that turned messenger, Levi"
The next day, I received another letter from the same person but this time it was for me. I curiously opened it and I almost vomited at the smell of roses and long messages, this person must be bored. I continued to read and in the end, a small poem was written... It was sappy but... good.
"Levi!" Petra popped out of the hedged fencing on our front lawn. "You have a pen pal?"
"N-no."
"Come on! Don't hide it from me! I saw you smiling like an idiot~" She poked my cheek.
"Damn it! Alright, I might... have a pen pal...." I dragged the words. I looked down at the letter in my hands. This person... isn't so bad. Maybe this could be good for me. "Petra, I need your help on this one."
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edited 05/01/22