"That is actually something that I am curious about. Did they... really put the curse on my wife? If so, did you find out the reason?" Mars asked Maxim to share what he knew.
Emmelyn didn't really tell him everything. She basically summarized her experience by saying that when they did arrive in Myreen they found out the person who cursed her had passed away and thus the curse was automatically broken.
This sounded logical because Mars knew he could break the curse that Thessalis Morelli placed on his family if he killed her. That was the reason why he was so adamant to kill that wicked witch.
It was good if Emmelyn was right, the person who cursed her had died and she was free. But Mars wanted to make sure.
Maxim took a deep breath. He downed his wine and then slammed his cup on the windowsill. He had drunk a little bit too much tonight. He didn't know why he couldn't stop himself from chugging cup after cup. Usually, his self-control was really good.
Maybe it's because tonight he had to face his heartbreak and pretended he was okay, acting nonchalant in front of everyone while witnessing the love between Emmelyn and Mars and their friends.
Life was not fair, was it? They had family and friends, and Maxim was all alone. In this world, he only had his ailing mother. His own sisters hated him, enough to want his death since he was a child.
Friends? He didn't really have any since he was a loner. Emmelyn was his real true friend, but now he had to cut ties with her.
"You seem upset," Mars stated the obvious.
He wanted to clear the air between him and Maxim before they left Castilse. This place was so far away from home. So, he didn't think he would be back here anytime soon.
Well, make it ten years, at least. After he and Emmelyn reached home, they might want to have another child(ren).
Having small children means they couldn't travel to faraway places, especially a place which required them to travel by land and sea. It was just too much hassle. They might be able to travel again after ten years or maybe even more.
That's why Mars thought he needed to clear everything with Maxim tonight. So, he looked at the younger king and patiently waited for him to answer his question.
Between man to man, he could tell there was something big that really bothered Maxim's mind. He wanted to know if that had anything to do with the curse that befell his wife.
"I don't want to sound pushy, but I really need to know if Emmelyn is really free from the curse or not," Mars said again. "Emmelyn said the curse was broken because the person who cast the curse is dead and it automatically cancels her curse. Is it a woman? What did Emmelyn do to them so that they thought she deserves that much suffering?"
He added, "I want to know so I will be informed and in the future can prevent similar things from happening. I don't want to see my wife and children suffer because of this. I would kill or die for them before I let anything bad happen to Emmelyn and Harlow. So, please tell me what really happened."
Maxim finally turned to Mars and decided to tell the man the truth. They had got to this point and he didn't see the reason to hide the fact from Mars.
As a man, Maxim felt he needed to take accountability for what happened. Emmelyn suffered because of him and it was a fact.
He had taken responsibility to end all this craziness but it didn't erase all the bad things that Emmelyn had endured because he fell in love with her. Setting her free was the least he could do.
"Nothing of that sort will ever happen again, I will make sure of that," Maxim said. "The person who was responsible for the curse has died nineteen years ago. She was my mother's friend. She and my mother really wanted to see me marry her daughter."
He continued, "I guess, she was not in her right mind because of depression after she gave birth, or maybe because she had been sick for a long time. She cast a protection spell on me, protecting my heart to only belong to her daughter."
"What?" Mars couldn't believe what he heard. "So, the curse is related to you?"
"No, it's not a curse, it's a protection spell. She was using an ancient spell to protect my heart so I will only love Elise Leoralei, her daughter," Maxim explained. "That's why the spell stayed even after she died."
Mars was not well-versed in magic, but he could grasp what Maxim was trying to say. That's the difference between a protection spell that was cast in good intention and meant to protect.
The protection would last even after the caster died. While a curse to hurt other people would lose its effect when the caster died.
"So... when you fell in love with Emmelyn, the protection turned into a curse for the woman you love?" Mars asked Maxim in a rather confused tone.
This was really hard to believe. He gasped when he saw Maxim nod to confirm it.
"So, no wonder, all her sufferings started after she met you!" Mars clenched his wine cup and his face turned red from anger. "Her teacher's son was missing so he had to leave her alone... and then her family and kingdom were attacked... and—"
The man halted his words. He wanted to blame Maxim for what happened to Emmelyn, but immediately realized that he did bad things too.
He was the one responsible for the death of her parents and siblings. If Maxim caused Emmelyn to suffer, it was not out of his own doing.
Maxim might not even know until it was too late. While Mars... he knew what he was doing.
When he brought his army to conquer that stubborn little kingdom by the sea, he did it himself. He killed Emmelyn's father with his own hands. And even though he regretted it to this day, in fact, for the rest of his life, he couldn't wash his hands of their blood.
He should be the last person to cast the stone on Maxim.