Chapter 168: Finding Answers

Although he was said to be an elder mage who had lived for centuries, Anthony didn’t look like an old man with a cane. He wasn’t a cranky middle-aged man with a load of fat in his stomach either. He had a good physique, which didn’t fall behind a healthy human in his forties. He didn’t have a beard, but a thin mustache that Lauren thought looked out of place on his face. He wore decent clothes, but not the flashy ones you could see the aristocrats wearing.

Right after breakfast, Alec and Lauren went to Anthony’s house as planned. The man wasn’t at home when they arrived, but it didn’t take them an hour of waiting before the carriage Anthony was riding stopped in front of the house.

Anthony’s house was located in a secluded part of Acheron, somewhere down in the forest far east. Alec had been to the place a few times before, so they did not ride a carriage and used his portal. No one else lived near Anthony’s house, as the folks believed the forest had wild beasts at night.

When Anthony saw the couple waiting on his house’s porch, he immediately knew that they came to meet him for something important. He had known Alec for years, but he never came for a simple chitchat over a cup of tea, it was always when he had things to ask. Anthony gave a welcoming smile to Lauren and invited them to come in.

Anthony was a weird person, Lauren thought as she came across tall racks consisting of strange things inside his house, such as eyes of animals, small plants on bottles, bubbly liquids on cylinders like acid, huge gemstones she had never seen before, insects and black spiders on glass containers, and more things she found too peculiar to describe. She even found an owl sitting stiffly by the window whose eyes were red. Did owls have dark red eyes? She thought it was either yellow or orange.

The second floor was more normal. There were two doors upstairs; one led to the only bedroom in the house, and the other was the living room where Anthony entertained his guests. One clap and the curtains rolled to the sides, showing the glamour of the sunny day outside. Once they were seated at the table, Anthony served them some tea.

"Thank you," Lauren said.

"Nice to meet you, Queen Lauren. It’s a pleasure to meet Evardin’s new queen." Anthony then turned to Alec and said, "I know it is a little bit late, but I want to congratulate you on your coronation, King Alec."

"I would rather skip the formalities, Anthony. We are here for something very urgent. Do me a favor and I can give you any kind of compensation."

Anthony grinned. "You are still so grim even after you married. Same old Alec, same old."

"I have never tasted this kind of tea before. It tastes nice. May I know what kind of tea this is?" Lauren asked.

"Well... it is a mix of different kinds of herbs, but I’m afraid if I named them one by one, you’d get a long list, Your Majesty," Anthony chortled. "But rest assured, nothing I included was poisonous. It is called longevity tea. It is my own, and it helps a lot in strengthening one’s vitality. You should have more if you please," he said and poured more into Lauren’s cup.

"If it helps one’s vitality, I must say I really should drink more," Lauren replied in a light tone, and Anthony immediately knew what the couple came for.

An elder mage like him who had been honing his skills for centuries could tell Lauren was in bad shape at a glance. Unlike normal illnesses when people’s pulses were affected, Lauren’s pulse seemed normal, which made Anthony conclude that she must be suffering from a curse or an illness related to dark magic.

"She is ill, Anthony," Alec informed.

"Then it must be a healer mage you must seek."

Alec eyed Anthony sharply. "If it was that simple, we wouldn’t be here today. Surely you are not at the end of your wits to fail to comprehend that."

Lauren tapped Alec’s thigh under the table, silently telling him to calm down. Alec held her hand, reassuring her that everything was under his control and there was nothing to worry about. Anthony was an old acquaintance who was used to the way he talked to people.

Anthony sighed. He turned serious as he looked at Lauren. "Perhaps anyone cast a curse upon you, Your Majesty?"

"No, I believe no one did. I have studied different kinds of curses, Mr. Anthony. I also went to different healer mages and asked them about the curses they knew, but I read nothing about my condition, nor did I hear it from anyone."

"I see..." Anthony nodded. "It seems like your condition is an unusual one. May I have your hand for a moment?"

Alec nodded to Lauren, urging her to do as Anthony requested. She gave her hand to Anthony with her palm open for him to see. Anthony held her hand and touched some parts of her palm with his eyes closed. A few moments later, Anthony opened his eyes and gave Lauren her hand back. The critical look on his face made Lauren feel uneasy.

"You don’t need to sugarcoat it if you find something unpleasant about my condition, Mr. Anthony. I have heard from a priestess I encountered some months ago that I have an incurable illness and I am dying. Tell me, what did you found out when you held my hand?"

Lauren heard Alec hiss when she mentioned that she was dying.

Anthony cleared his throat. "I’m afraid... that is correct, Your Majesty. The illness you have, I believe, is similar to an ancient curse called the cold curse. It is a curse from eight centuries ago, and it is tied to a bigger curse..." Anthony seemed a little hesitant to continue because they would be tackling a more serious subject. "The curse that brought the first generation of black mages."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read