Chapter 216: The past (d)

On his second birthday, he bestowed the child with the name Vincent, hoping that he would be able to surpass all the hurdles in his life, break his destiny, and become someone great.

The people didn't like Vincent.

However, the rumors of his loveable character had spread far and wide, and their hatred at the fact that he still exists had lessened

Not many people were coming for his life. Still, several people tried to assassinate him. Vincent's mother got injured trying to protect him. Aaron went mad as it happened right in front of him. But before he could make a move, his son killed the assassins in the cruelest and vilest of ways and then even devoured than in place of his vanilla cake!

The taste of blood engulfed the maddened young Vincent, and the look in his eyes terrified all the people present in the banquet.

Even Aaron was troubled as those eyes could only belong to a mass murderer.

Furthermore, the young Vincent had lost all sense of reason.

While standing in front of his injured mother protectively, he glared at everyone with murder in his eyes. Even his father was given the same look along with a vicious attack that aimed to kill him when he came closet.

Everyone was troubled by his behavior.

The young Vincent only calmed down after his mother embraced him and whispered that she was fine, that the danger had passed.

Her words snapped him out of his crazed state, and he started crying, just like any other child; he, too, was traumatized. He hated going outside and locked himself inside the palace. The palace maid refused to serve him after that day too, and one by one, they all left, fearing for their life. If young Vincent was to ever go berserk in their presence, wouldn't they all die? It was better to stay away from this monster that was trying to hide its reality in sheep's clothing than to serve him, hoping that everything would be fine one day.

Another two years passed. In those two years, two girls and two boys had come into his life. They were his friends. He became close with them. One of the girls even said that she wanted to become his bride after they grew up, causing him to blush and reluctantly accept her proposal.

Outside the Palace, riots and signs of aggression had increased.

Many people were dissatisfied with Vincent. Everyone thought that the young Vincent was wasting away his life, that he was emotionally too weak to be traumatized because of the attempt on his life.

Nonetheless, the truth was something else. Ever since that day, he had trained harder than ever to become strong. He didn't want his mother to get injured again. He wanted to protect himself and those he cared about. He trained so much that he had no time left to go out of the palace.

Only the people closest to him knew that, including his childhood friends.

For the rest, his hard work was a secret.

His parents were satisfied with him. Aaron went as far as to think that everything was worth it. At the rite of passage, his son will prove the masses wrong and become the legitimate crown prince. Then, he would pass the throne to him, letting him ascend to the rank of the tenth king of the blood moon race

No one knew that he had another secret. As early as three years ago, Vincent always felt that something was staring at him, and that thing knew everything he had ever done in his life. Later on, he started to feel it, and on his fourth birthday, he gained the ability to communicate with it. He didn't know what it was, but it gave him comfort like no other. It was as if it was himself or at least a part of him. It told him to keep his existence a secret from others, or else something terrible would happen to it.

As ignorant as he was, the young Vincent agreed. It was his little secret. Also, he didn't want it to get harmed.

The child was too pure. It took advantage of his ignorance and naivety to grow stronger. Three months later, it grew powerful enough to make a hole in the seal and manifest itself into the real world. It appeared in front of the young Vincent, glaring at him. The young boy cupped its face and played with it, thinking that it would never harm him, that it was his closet friend, a being that knew everything about him. And as it was red like the precious ruby around his neck, he named it crimson.

Of course, the crimson one lived up to his expectations and didn't harm him. Instead, the manifestation of the curse lost its initial desire to commit carnage and destroy everything. It's all because he was sealed inside Vincent for so long that it had come to like him and many other things.

The crimson one wanted to live and grow old with Vincent.

The two could swap places with each other, and so it was able to experience a lot of things, including the taste of ice cream, steak, and the warmth one can only feel from holding hands with another.

The thought of spending a lifetime with Vincent quickly became a distant dream.

Only after a month, it want to replace Vincent with itself forever! 

It wanted to take over his body permanently!

The crimson one saw how Vincent's parents had treated him over the thirty days, and it felt the desire to be the only one to experience it.

It was greedy for what was never meant to be his, but even though the crimson one knew that, it still wanted to make it possible!

It wanted to forever feel the warmth that one can only feel in the embrace of their parents.

It wanted to be the only one to hear the praise of its father to fill its chest with pride and its cold eyes with warmth.

It wanted to experience the joy of having friends that only cares about him.

For that, Vincent had to leave the picture.

And it needed to become Vincent!