To His Hell and Back-Chapter 308: Tales of The Old-I

The first king.. of Versailles?

Arabella’s eyes moved to the stained glass door, finally understanding everything- including why the King was here and why there was almost nothing in this place yet it was so guarded that unless a ghost had told them about this place, perhaps he would continue to be sleeping for the rest of centuries that were about to come.

As the three of them stared at the King, wondering what they could do to fix this problem, Karnala was the first to pop a suggestion, "How about we move from here first?" She then turned back while looking at her pocket watch, "We are only half an hour away from sunrise and there would be servant gathering here soon to take care of this place. We should avoid crossing path with them as much as possible."

Arabella agreed as she turned to the King, "Your... Majesty?"

The blue eyed man for a moment seemed conflicted. He had been asleep for so long so he knew he isn’t the King anymore. How could he be called a King when his kingdom had passed centuries ago?

He softened the corner of his eyes and though saddened, he had smiled instead, "No," he whispered, "You ought to call me by my name now, Atlas Northen. I am the King but my kingdom is gone thus the title should also be stripped away from me."

Though he sounded composed, Arabella could see that at the corner of his eyes he was panicking. Perhaps because he is a King that he could control himself and school his expression to remain calm but truthfully he still couldn’t accept everything that’s happening to him yet.

She also wondered what she would do if she was the one sleeping inside that glass box only to be awake when the people she knew had gone and the place she had once lived in turned foreign.

Thankfully though despite saying he is ill, Atlas was quick on his feet. He followed them nimbly outside the chapel, perhaps walking even faster than all of them as he was most familiar with the place.

When he stepped out of the chapel’s door he then stared at the castle far beyond him for a long time, like a man lost in time.

Then he noticed her eyes and smiled, "Seems like I have really slept for fa too long." A hint of sadness brew in his words but he didn’t ponder in the sadness for long, quickly following the rest of them to their hidden study room without anyone to notice thanks to Renard’s escort.

By the time they reached into the study room, Arabella felt Atlas’s shadow moving all around the room and his expression was beaming with delight. He took the paper, frowning because he couldn’t read any letters written in it due to the language that had took a change when being written. But he still seemed happy walking around, staring into the inside of the steaming pot.

"As I have guessed, you are the witch," said Atlas, his hand pointing toward her, "I knew it. The green eyes you have is far much too similar to my witch. She also looks a little like you but after looking closely you two are quite different... are you perhaps her descendant?"

Arabella blinked a few times. Right. This man said that he was ill and his witch suggested to put him into sleep for a long time to heal him, right?

That means that he once worked with the witch- perhaps working together was an understatement as the witch was not only his loyal retainer, but a friend, a doctor, and a weapon. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Your witch?" She questioned Atlas who was still looking at the potions, "You own the witch, Your Ma- Atlas?"

"Own the witch?" Atlas turned to her and smiled with a frown, "That is simply not possible, Little miss witch. I never own her, I call her my witch to prevent others from trying to harm her, it’s a habit of mine but rather than me owning her, we are quite close friends who had known each other since childhood."

Arabella could see how Renard and Karnala all were confused but this was the chance for her to extract information from someone who had once lived through the centuries ago.

If her guess was correct then... the witch that he had been speaking about is none other than the same witch Lastor had served, the one who had turned back to Morpheus, causing for him to be cursed... correct?

She didn’t want to make it obvious of how curious she was about the witch, trying to ease the tension so she wouldn’t make Atlas too apprehensive that he wouldn’t want to answer her questions anymore.

"Childhood friends?" She stared at Atlas blonde hair and his bright blue eyes, a perfect picture of a King. He seemed to be young and under the lamplight his youth shone, like a young man who had just passed the early ages of his twenties. Though he’s a king and one known for tricking the witch to be cursed, he seemed gentle, so gentle he didn’t feel like a King.

"Yes, of course," Atlas held his hands together, staring at the ground as his eyes went into a brief daze. He whispered, "Circe and I, we have known each other since I was young. I stayed in the far East of the Castle, I don’t know if the place is still there however, it’s quite an old building that connects to the forest. As the bastard of a royal family," he chuckled a little, "I used to live there or chased by my siblings to the forest. Circe would usually appear in the forest. I don’t know if she lives there but she told me that ever since she could remember she has always been inside that forest. That’s a lie of course, I know that she has a parent who had abandoned her in that forest... but I wouldn’t want to expose her lie, so I often call her a nymph."