Chapter 220: The Curse Has Rules (2)

He was still a young man at the very beginning of his career as a hunter, having barely participated in a handful of hunting expeditions.

Yet his examination revealed an alarming corruption level of 40%.

Under normal circumstances, hunters only reached such a level after decades of continuous hunting and prolonged exposure to the curse.

But Ethan had already reached it.

The officials conducting the examination concluded that his personal curse must have affected the reading, raising it to an unprecedented level for someone with his limited experience.

Ethan, however, suspected his Demonic Body was the more likely explanation.

Their readings differed, but the results were sufficient to establish that the survivors of Old Ashvarn had retained their humanity.

And yet...

They remained imprisoned.

All of them were waiting for orders from the royal family, which had explicitly demanded that they remain in custody until it decided otherwise.

"I have no idea what that damned family is thinking. I’ve fully recovered now, and I could break out of here without the slightest difficulty. But what would be the point? They can kill me without even lifting a finger."

Asterion spoke with complete indifference as he stared toward the chamber’s barred entrance.

"How much longer is this Blood Curse going to keep us chained down...?"

Raiden sighed in frustration.

Meanwhile, Chai tilted his head slightly, a question forming in his mind.

"Does the Blood Curse really have no weaknesses? I don’t know... Isn’t there something we could exploit to our advantage?"

It was an innocent question from the youngest hunter among them.

"Do you think we wouldn’t have discovered a weakness like that by now, boy? Wake up! Our clan has suffered under this curse for hundreds of years. If there were a way to escape it, our ancestors would have found it long ago."

Asterion’s irritation at Chai’s naivety was unmistakable.

The young hunter froze, shrinking back in fear of the old man.

"Go easy on him. He hasn’t done anything wrong."

Ethan quickly intervened in Chai’s defense.

Asterion clicked his tongue.

"Tch! He needs to learn how to use that head of his if he wants to survive in this world, especially as a member of the Heart Clan."

"Our history is long and soaked in blood. You wouldn’t believe how many times our ancestors tried to free themselves from the curse."

"I’d like to hear more about that. There’s still so much I don’t know about our clan’s history."

Ethan smiled as he spoke.

Asterion turned toward him with a frown.

"Oh... Sometimes you’re so damn capable as a hunter that I forget you’ve lost your memory."

Ethan’s accomplishments, and everything he’d achieved recently, made it difficult to believe that he was someone suffering from amnesia.

It was impressive.

And, in its own way, terrifying.

"Then listen carefully. Perhaps that brilliant mind of yours will manage to figure something out."

Asterion straightened his posture, resting his remaining hand against his leg.

And with that, the Uncrowned Emperor began recounting a portion of the Heart Clan’s history.

"The first heroes made a pact with the first Arden Emperor. A pact that left us cursed, unable to disobey his family."

"But the first generation of our clan refused to accept a life of slavery."

"And so, they tried to rebel... again and again."

"Direct attacks proved useless, so our ancestors tried assassinating members of the royal family, hoping to kill them before they had a chance to issue any commands. But every attempt failed. They dropped dead before their daggers could even reach a royal throat."

"After those initial failures, our ancestors tried a different approach. They hired mercenaries to attack the royal family in their place. Unfortunately, very few mercenaries were willing to fight a ruling dynasty, and those who accepted were wiped out before they could even approach the capital."

"That attempt ended in failure as well."

Asterion was recounting a history of crushing defeats, attempts that had never come remotely close to succeeding.

But then, everything changed.

"After years of failure, there came a raid that would later become known as the Execution of the Princes."

The name alone made Ethan straighten in his seat.

He immediately realized that this attempt had been different.

"As the name suggests, our clan succeeded in killing a large number of princes. There were quite a few of them, thanks to an ancient Arden tradition that, for some reason, encouraged their emperors to father dozens of sons and daughters."

"Now, you’re probably wondering how this attempt managed to spill royal blood when every previous one had failed."

"The reason is simple. Our clan discovered a dangerous loophole in the Arden family’s authority."

Asterion paused before asking a question.

"Tell me, Ethan. What do you think would happen if two princes issued contradictory commands?"

Ethan’s eyes gradually widened upon hearing the question.

"Contradictory commands..."

"Exactly. Kill and don’t kill. Obey and disobey. Save and don’t save. What do you think would happen?"

Ethan fell silent.

He sank into deep thought, unable to answer immediately, but it didn’t take him long to arrive at a logical conclusion.

"The commands cancel each other out?"

"Close, but not quite. When a member of the Heart Clan receives contradictory commands, they’re given the freedom to choose which one to obey! In other words..."

"If we somehow managed to bring a member of the royal family over to our side, we could use them to kill the others?"

Ethan finished the explanation for him.

Asterion nodded deeply.

"Long ago, there was a prince who coveted the throne for himself. He joined forces with our clan to exterminate the rest of the royal family, issuing commands that allowed us to kill them without their being able to stop us."

"That was how the clan managed to slaughter so many of them."

"But they still failed in the end? How?"

Ethan was bewildered.

This attempt had come remarkably close to succeeding, yet somehow, it had still ended in failure.

After all, if only one prince remained, the very prince who had conspired with them, they could eventually find some way to kill him.

He would be just one man.

But Asterion shook his head.