Villain MMORPG: Almighty Devil Emperor and His Seven Demonic Wives-Chapter 1217: The Prince’s Tale [Part 1]

Villain Ch 1217. The Prince's Tale [Part 1]

The group moved aside as Allen summoned his sword with a flick of his wrist. The blade materialized in his hand. Without hesitation, he raised it high and brought it down in a single, powerful slash. The bottle shattered instantly, shards of glass scattering harmlessly to the ground as the water rushed out in a muted torrent.

Allen reached into the wreckage, carefully grabbing the two letters. He glanced at the lifeless prince for a moment, a flicker of something—pity, perhaps?—crossing his face before he turned back to the group. "Let's see what we've got."

Unfolding the first letter, Allen began to read aloud. The words, scrawled in a shaky hand.

[Journal of Prince Aedric – Part 1]

To the one who finds this letter, I was weak—weak in body, weak in spirit, and weak in resolve. I was a prince in name alone. My days were filled with shallow laughter, the hollow court life, and the ever-present pressure to prove my worth.

One fateful night, our court held a lavish celebration by the shore. It was there, amidst the merriment, that I first saw it—a shadow beneath the moonlit waters. It was fleeting. My curiosity burned brighter than my sense of caution, and I followed it.

The shadow led me far from the others, away from the fires and the laughter. There, hidden among the jagged rocks of the coastline, I found her.

At first, I thought she was a mermaid. I was captivated, unable to look away. But as she moved, the water revealed her lower half, and I realized she was not what I had imagined. Instead of a mermaid's tail, her body was that of an octopus, her tentacles swaying in the tide.

I froze. I was torn between fear and wonder, unsure whether to speak or stay silent. In the end, I chose neither. I simply watched her all night, my heart beating like a drum as I took in her every movement. She was unlike anything I had ever seen—wild and untamed, yet beautiful in a way that defied description.

At that moment, I fell in love. It was not the shallow infatuation I had known before, the fleeting dalliances of a prince sheltered from true passion. This was something deeper. I wanted to know her, to speak with her, to understand her.

As dawn began to break, I gathered my courage and stepped forward. She turned to face me, her wide eyes filled with a mix of surprise and fear. I must have startled her, for before I could speak, she lashed out. I could see the panic in her eyes, and I realized too late that she thought I meant her harm.

I struggled to my feet, desperate to calm her, to show her that I was no threat. But before I could reach her, the commotion had drawn the royal guards. They came running. They saw her as a monster, an enemy. Without hesitation, they attacked.

She fled. I watched helplessly as she disappeared beneath the waves, her form vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. My heart shattered. I wanted to chase after her, to call out to her, but I knew I could not. The guards were already surrounding me. To them, she was a creature of the deep, an enemy to be hunted.

When I returned to the palace, word of the encounter spread like wildfire. My father dismissed it as a drunken folly, but the general—oh, the general—he saw it as an opportunity. He mocked me openly, calling me weak for letting the 'beast' escape. When he learned of my feelings for her, he twisted the knife deeper.

Under the guise of protecting the kingdom, he rallied the soldiers and set sail with me at his side. It was a ruse, of course, a way to humiliate me further. They made it a spectacle, dragging me along on their hunt for the Kraken, treating me as nothing more than bait.

The journey was long and bitter. Each day, my hope dwindled, my heart breaking anew with every passing wave. I knew they would kill her if they found her, and I was powerless to stop them. I had become a prisoner of my own foolishness.

-----

"Okay," Vivian said, her voice cutting through the heavy silence. "This clearly has something to do with Zoe."

Bella crossed her arms. "Then why did he end up in the Queen's bottle? If this story's tied to Zoe, shouldn't there have been some kind of reunion?"

Allen frowned but didn't answer right away. Instead, he unfolded the second letter, its edges damp and tattered. The ink was smeared in places, but the words were still legible. His sharp eyes scanned the lines before he began reading aloud, his voice steady despite the ominous tone of the writing.

-----

[Journal of Prince Aedric – Part 2]

The journey was strange from the start. Each night, as I stared out at the endless ocean, I felt my choices bearing down on me. My love for her had led me here, and now it felt like my very presence in this cursed expedition was a betrayal of that love.

There were times when I stood at the edge of the ship, gazing into the black, heaving waves below, and thought about letting go. The thought came to me more than once.

Should I end it?

Should I spare her the pain I might bring if the others succeed in finding her?

If it meant protecting her, would my death be a mercy?

But as the water called to me, so did something else. Each time, just as I leaned forward, I saw it—a shadow in the water, dark and shifting, moving with purpose. I could never make out its form, but it seemed familiar, almost comforting. And so, I held on, clinging to the hope that maybe, just maybe, it was her. That she had found me again.

But then it happened. The attack...