ALDRIC

"Your Highness, this woman is dealing with the Dark Realm! Look at my brother—he doesn’t even remember us. She’s convinced him he’s her grandson and does everything she commands!"

The woman threw herself at my feet, sobbing.

"She’s blackmailing me with my brother’s life and my parents, who are prisoners in that hut, just like she tried to blackmail Valeria. Look—look at what she’s wearing around her neck!"

She lunged forward, ripping a locket from the other woman’s neck amidst screams and resistance. The woman froze when I stepped closer.

"Activate it. Only for me," I commanded, taking the pendant from the girl and grabbing the other woman’s hair tightly. "Try any trick, and you’ll last less than you think."

Trembling, she muttered a few words, activating that cursed magic, which revealed the truth through a memory.

I stepped forward, facing the strange creature I had never seen before.

It wasn’t a vampire, nor a witch, nor a specter—nothing familiar.

But when she raised her ga