A week had passed since the small altercation between Lidia and the king. Every other day, he seemed to visit their cells just to torment Lidia. They were fed after four days, but strangely, Maria refused to eat her food. Jacob begged her to eat but she still refused and gave her plate to Lidia.

"I’m not hungry. Besides, she’s the strongest of us here."

Jacob couldn’t help but feel the was a purpose in what she was doing but he didn’t have a clue what it was yet. However, he felt deep down that there was something different about the way his body was working.

’Is this it?! Did I really get bestowed a power?!’

Jacob had to contain his excitement as much as he could without seeming suspicious to the guard on duty. He tried testing out what it possibly could have been. He would randomly throw out his hand and whisper certain words.

"Lighting strike! Bone breaker! Crumple!"

After nothing happened when he would tell himself these things, he would embarrassingly put down his hand and hope no one heard or saw what he was doing. To his horror, Maria did hear him whispering to himself, but not what he said.

"... Are you talking to yourself, Jacob?"

Jacob’s face turned red, but thankfully Maria couldn’t see.

"N-No! I’m just... singing."

"Singing? Since when do you do that?"

The guard started choking on his food from laughing.

"The prince is a singer?! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all week! Oh my goodness, I can’t breathe!"

He rolled on the ground and started hitting the floor.

"What? Are you going to sing a lullaby and lull me asleep to escape?! BAHAHAHA!"

Jacob was getting really annoyed at the guard’s remarks, so he ignored him.

"Just forget it. Sorry I bothered you, Maria."

Maria smiled slightly.

"It’s okay. But I guess you need to sing for me some time then."

The guard laughed even harder.

"Oh my goodness! I’m going to pee myself! Stop talking!! HAHAHA!! Give us a performance blood boy but make sure to give me a front row seat!!"

Jacob covered his ears to drown out the man’s obnoxious laughter. He went back to testing what his power might have been. As if responding to his wishes, his head seemed to steer itself and looked at the root coming out of the wall again. As he touched it, he could almost feel it’s very essence in his hand... it’s desire.

He didn’t know how he knew, but the root wanted to grow and grow until it couldn’t grow anymore.

’What the hell? Does my power have to do with roots?’

He tried holding out his hand to see what would happen. The root stayed in place, but he could still feel it’s thoughts. It seemed to be waiting for something. Jacob tried whispering something.

"Grow?"

Suddenly, the root burst out of the wall and filled his entire cell. Dirt seemed to pour inside with the rapidly growing root. Jacob got immediately tangled in the mess. The guard jumped to his feet, not laughing anymore. He looked inside at Jacob with horror in his eyes.

"What the hell?! Why didn’t you guys patch this dumbass hole in the wall?! I thought you were supposed to keep me alive?!"

The guard didn’t know what to say.

"I’ll call for the king! Try not to suffocate!"

"Easier said than done you bastard."

The guard opened the door to the dungeon and called out to the king. Almost immediately, Leo was back inside the dungeon, staring at Jacob’s cell with curiosity.

"What the hell happened?"

"The hole in the wall sir, it seemed to finally collapse and almost killed the boy!"

Leo threw open the cell door and started cutting through some of the roots to get to Jacob. He grabbed him by his collar and yanked him out of the large mound of dirt.

"Well, aren’t you a lucky one? You get to share a cell with one of your friends now. Try not to play in any more dirt, or I won’t keep you alive anymore!"

The guard opened Maria’s cell and threw Jacob against the wall. Maria rushed over and embraced him gently. She was much thinner from the malnourishment, but he still loved to feel her arms wrap around him.

"Don’t get too comfortable. The only reason we don’t have you in another cell is because it would be harder to keep an eye on all of you at once. If you try anything, you know what will happen."

Jacob nodded his head.

"Good. Now go back to wallowing in your own filth."

The king left them once more with the guard. Surprisingly, he seemed a lot more at ease.

"Wow, this is much easier to see all three of you when you’re so close! We should’ve done this from the start!"

The charm around his neck kept glowing. Even though he couldn’t feel anything from it before, now it felt like something inside of him was being weakened. If the mess in his cell didn’t confirm it, the charm did. Jacob had officially received his own power. However, something bothered him about how exactly it worked. He seemed to have no idea how he was able to make the root grow at such an astonishing speed.

Suddenly, a dark thought entered his mind.

’Oh no... am I a bastard son of the Rose Clan?! Did my father and Lidia... no. No way that would ever happen in a million years... right?’

Jacob paled as he racked his mind with this thought. Not only that, but he wouldn’t dare ask Lidia. If he did. He may just be killed if he tried.

’Wait a minute... is that why she called me son earlier?!’

Maria saw Jacob’s face and started shaking him gently.

"Jacob? Hello? Jacob?"

Jacob snapped back to reality to see Maria’s face.

"What’s the matter? You kept mumbling something about your dad being a lecher."

Jacob scratched the back of his head innocently.

"I can tell you later."

He peered over Maria’s shoulder at the guard who was innocently reading but looking up at them every now and then. Then, he lightly whispered to her.

"I think I have a plan to get us out of here."

Maria smiled brightly at him and whispered back.

"Me too."