The Conquerors Path
chapter-707

"Please, please don't hurt him...."

Carmel, the princess, begged as she looked at the flame spirit. She who lived looking down on the world now looked like a small leaf that would be blown away with a little breeze. This scene, if looked upon by another member of the Empire, would release the greatest anger, yet none of that pride can be seen now, only one seemingly living in regret.

"You seem to care deeply about him, yet you seem to be hurting him more than anyone else. Quite the contradictory path for someone that pretends to care."

The words of the fire spirit made Carmel's face turn red. The actions she had taken until now, compared to what Austin was doing for her, seemed lacking in comparison. She looked like an entitled girl taking everything, seemingly like an entitled prick that just tries to have her way, and the guilt of it still fills her mind.

'I know, I know I am wrong but I won't let him be hurt by me! This I cannot let be!'

"Please, I know it's my fault, everything is my fault, so please give me a way to help him."

A creeping silence fell upon the place, the fire spirit seemingly contemplating something after which it started to speak.

"Traditions are an important thing here and Austin has broken them. For you to rise above it, show a bravery that's better than everyone, overcome your trauma."

The mention of trauma made Carmel's body flinch, a past she didn't want to remember flashing through her mind. Her nails dug into the ground, she bit her lips hard enough to bleed from them. Yet seeing the sight of Austin suffering in that scene of fire made her body burn up with him. She just couldn't let him be hurt by her.

So with all her emotions ruffling through her body, her eyes turning red, while she held the ground tight, the memories she so wished to never visit slowly flowed into her mind, yet the scene of Austin suffering seemingly covered over it. Thus with her hardened gaze looking up to the fire spirit Carmel spoke.

"Fine, I will do it."

The stress in her voice was ever-present. What she wants to face is something she never wanted to look back at, something she wants to run away from, yet her kind heart couldn't see Austin suffering from it. Thus her voice stayed resolute, her will to face the past and rise from it. Thus the fire spirit's voice sounded out.

"Good, go and face the past. From what I could read through the kid Austin's memory, I shall let you see the lies you have been swimming in."

"What does th-"

Carmel wasn't even able to finish speaking as her mind started to waver. She suddenly fell to the ground, and the world around her started to waver and twist as everything turned blank for a moment after which the truth started to be seen.

.....

'What is this?'

Carmel, very used to her own phantom state, floated within her memories. The scene started to play, as a very little and extremely cute Carmel could be seen. She was at the age of 6, running around like a normal child, the palace walls looking very bright to her, with her life looking bright. The maids loved her as they kept warning her to be careful as she kept running all around.

Life seemed simple back then as floating as nothing, Carmel guided through the memory, a small smile gracing her lips. With light steps, she moved around. After the opening of her bloodline, Carmel had become the more important one to everyone around her, her position of perhaps becoming the next Empress very probable.

This meant the number of enemies she had within the palace was huge. The current Emperor is a very lustful man, which means that he has a large number of wives and concubines, which means a larger number of children, older brothers, and sisters who are vying for the throne and her death.

This meant that she had extremely extensive protection all around. Thanks to that, Carmel's mother also had blasted into a top position, becoming a very important part of the Emperor's harem for giving birth to a daughter with this bloodline. But the young Carmel, knowing this, didn't take it much into account.

Her lively mind kept the same as she strolled all around the palace, lost in her own bubble. These situations made the floating Carmel smile wistfully as she strolled through her own memory lane. Yet the next scenes to happen, made Carmel's smile turn for the worse as she experimented with her powers and found something she shouldn't have.

When Carmel turned 8 years old, she met with the Bow Empress boasting of her talent. Eleanor started to teach her, Eleanor becoming like a second motherly figure to Carmel, who respected and adored Eleanor, who in turn took good care of Carmel too, painting a very happy picture

Her talent was a good match for the bow too, thus under the guidance and teaching of Eleanor, Carmel started to widen the uses of her bloodline abilities, trying to find out more ways in which she would be able to use her powers. It was the constant push of Eleanor that led to Carmel's experimenting, and the day she found out about her phantom ability, she started another experiment on it.

'No.....not this scene!'

Carmel, biting her lips, screamed inwardly. But no matter how much she wanted to reject it, she couldn't. Activating a certain ability she had long since closed off in her mind, Carmel, in the light of the night like a shadow that can't be seen, floated through the mansion, the light of the moon floating high in the sky.

Right now Carmel can't be identified by anyone as she floats around and she feeling mischievous floats directly to the room of her mother intending for a surprise, alas the surprise actually fell upon on Carmel who entered to see her own mother's adultery, her affair on the bed for the widened Carmel to see.

As a princess and nobility, Camrel has gained dear knowledge and teachings of such, and with just one sight she understood that what she was seeing wasn't right at all and in the shock of the moment her ability came off.

'No.....no!...no!...I don't want to see this!.....please stop!'

Camrl had tried to keep her bravado but she couldn't the phantom floating older Camr tried to crawl herself into a ball to avoid seeing the scene but she couldn't, she couldn't avoid it at all, as a certain force took control over her, forcing her to see the scene in front of her.

...

"Mother...?"

The young, shocked Carmel shouted out as she fell to the floor. Her mother, caught in a very compromising position, called out.

"Carmel!"

Her voice held shock, despair, and a surge of madness at the moment. The man involved shouted out.

"She can't be let go."

And with a thud, he reached close to Carmel. Before the young girl could react, the man held her by her hair, his hand covering her face. The frightened Carmel turned her eyes toward her mother, who, looking at the scene, bit her lips until they turned red. Her gaze filled with a mixture of emotions toward her daughter, yet those eyes, very similar to the Emperor's who forced her into this life, burned a hole in her. With few choices, she had her own revenge.

Thus, after a split-second decision, after closing her eyes, Carmel's mother spoke.

"We need to make this look like an accident."

The final verdict made the tears run endlessly in the eyes of little Carmel. The trauma going forth placed a mark on her head, the fear and despair filling her eyes as she, by pure instinct, became a phantom and fell outside the door. It didn't take even a second later for her to open her mouth and shout.

"HELP ME!"

Her voice filled the entire segment, and within seconds everything was done. The whole thing was kept under a lid as Carmel, in protective custody, with her eyes fully blank, had to see her own mother soon being executed secretly by the Emperor himself, along with her hidden lover. The eyes of her mother, who looked at her with a daze, only seemed to mutter.

"I never loved you, love was never meant for you, I only loved him...."

Her mother's gaze, to the end, belonged to her lover, and it was that moment that first brought the very disgust for such love in Carmel. Later, she learned about how her mother's beauty was something the Emperor liked and took by force, his lust for beauty being the cause. This only went forth to strengthen Carmel's belief that such love wasn't needed in her life.

From then on, Carmel's life was like a shell, moving and zipping around as if she had lost her soul. Until Carmelia was formed and took control, trying to make everything right, yet even then the darkness stood in her life, the trauma etched onto her mind.