Chapter 4: The Tenfold Path [2]
(Flashback Continues...)
"A Divine Artifact..." Garrick had crushed the armrest of his chair into dust when he heard those words.
"So, there is no hope? We must simply accept that demons have extinguished my lineage?"
The Saintess shook her head slowly. "Not extinguished, Duke Reinhart but suppressed. The artifact that drains the life force of the unborn before they can form a soul."
She hesitated, looking between the desperate couple. "There is... one method but It is forbidden because of the risk, but for a Saint-rank knight and a High Elf descendant, it is possible."
"Tell us," Lillian said instantly, her eyes burning with determination. "I don't care about the risk."
"The Soul Link Ritual," the Saintess whispered.
"The Duke must pour his aura constantly into the Duchess to shield the womb, acting as a barrier against the curse. And the Duchess... you must permanently burn a portion of your Life Source to feed the child directly, bypassing the curse."
"Burn my Life Source?" Lillian asked "You mean it will shorten my lifespan?"
"And permanently reduce your mana capacity. You may never cast high-tier magic again. And if the ritual fails... the backlash could kill you both."
The room fell silent. For a mage, losing mana capacity was like losing a limb. For an Elf, burning Life Source was a taboo.
But Lillian didn't even look at Garrick for permission. She placed a hand on her stomach.
"Do it," she said. "I would burn the whole world for my child. What is a little magic compared to that?"
Garrick looked at his wife, tears streaming down his rugged face. He knelt before her, kissing her hand. "Then I shall be your shield, Lillian. Until the day he is born, I will not rest. I will not sleep. I will pour every drop of my strength into you."
And they did. For ten months, the Sword King did not leave his wife's side, and the Duchess endured agony to keep the tiny spark of life burning.
(Flashback Ends)
[Present Time - Alex POV].
The memory of the backstory of the Reinhart family is still imprinted in his mind. Information I had written in a side-chapter meant for premium readers now flooded my mind.
I stopped sucking for a moment.
Because a terrified thought has come to my mind , that is that the Tragedy of this couple ends because he is born now. In the original plot even after their effort of saving this unborn child was destined to die along with his mother.
I looked up at Lillian. Her face was pale, much paler than I had described in the original novel.
Her mana, which I could faintly sense, was turbulent and weak. And Garrick... underneath that joyful smile, I could see the dark circles under his eyes, the exhaustion of a man who had held up the sky for ten months straight.
'I wrote that,' I thought, a sudden lump forming in my throat. 'I wrote that tragedy just to give the Reinhart family a "sad backstory" for the protagonist to exploit later.'
Now as he sees how his written characters are feeling, he feels guilty ,,,,heavy, crushing guilt hits me harder than the cold air of the room.
They didn't just "have a baby." They fought a war for me which made them nearly die.
My tiny fists clenched against my mother's skin.
'Okay. Screw the lazy life,' I decided right then and there. 'I wanted to be a rich, idle extra? No. That's not enough anymore.'
If they sacrificed their power to bring me into this world, then I will use this system to give it all back to them tenfold. I will cure my mother and I will make my father the strongest existence.
I am not just Alex Reinhart. Damn..I am the fu*king Author or a God of this world. And I am going to rewrite this family's destiny.
[Ding!]
[Hidden Condition Met: "Filial Piety"]
[Mental State Mature]
[ Determination Detected]
[Reward: Passive Skill Unlocked - "The Writer's Mind"]
[The Writer's Mind (Lv. 1): Allows the host to analyze situations with absolute calm and recall 100% of the information from the "Original Novel." Mental fatigue reduced by 50%.]
I mentally smirked, clamping my gums back onto the source of food.
'Good. Let's eat as I need to grow. I have a lot of work to do.'
[Ding!]
[The host has consumed High-Tier Elven Milk]
[Nutrients absorbed successfully]
[10x Gain Activated!]
[Constitution +0.1]
[Constitution +0.1]
[Mana Sensitivity +0.1]
The notifications chimed like a slot machine.
Oh yeah...This is going to be fun.
(To be Continued)