Reborn as the Third Prince: To Build and Conquer my way to Royalty.-Chapter 54: I am...her soul?

Looking directly into his father’s eyes, Sylus asked the one question that started everything.

"Tell me the truth. The whole truth."

Under Sylus’s command, Martin couldn’t object, even though he desperately wanted to.

Elizabeth and Erica, though frozen like dolls, could still perceive what was going on around them.

As a result, they would hear whatever Martin said at that moment.

Guilty, Martin looked to the side, biting his lower lip.

He began, and his words went as follows:

A few years back, during one of his travels, he ran into a man—a strange man—who offered him a way to bring forth the Star Catalyst.

This man turned out to be a priest, one who had lived for over a hundred years.

The priest narrated to him the true origin of Layla.

While she was married into the family, she was blessed with the Star Blessing of Control, and everyone was aware of this.

Just like Martin, she too had the same authority.

Though she never used it, not even once.

It turned out, according to the priest, that Layla also had the Star Blessing of the Catalyst.

Martin was dumbfounded by this information, as he was sure the test only brought out a single Star Blessing.

Besides, it was unheard of to inherit two Star Blessings.

All his doubts were cleared when the priest told him to take Layla for another test before she gave birth to the baby she had in her.

At first, Martin took it as information from a madman trying to get money from the King of Astrodial.

But soon after, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to go through with it.

It turned out the priest was right.

Layla undoubtedly had the Star Catalyst.

According to the priestess, it was a recent scenario—and a strange one too. The Star Catalyst was almost not there, only a marking. He shouldn’t worry about it; it was way too small to ever awaken.

For such a rare star to appear and not be considered a big deal was almost impossible.

So the next week, Martin sought the man out, and just like the last time, he found the man in the same spot.

Martin told him about the Catalyst Star being in his wife; he figured it was best to meet the man who informed him before taking it elsewhere.

After telling the man, the priest confirmed it was true: if left alone, the star would never blossom and would just remain dormant in her.

This was because she inherited the Star Catalyst through marriage, meaning the single condition for the Catalyst to be met was unfulfilled.

Birth.

In order for the Catalyst Star to be at its best, the inheritor needed to have acquired it from birth.

Martin was lost. It felt like a waste, leaving such a rare star inside his wife, whom he never loved to begin with.

Thus, he asked the strange priest if there was any way in which he could get the star.

And to his surprise, the man told him exactly what he wanted to hear.

A way to extract the star.

After the queen had given birth, he was to extract her soul into a gem and transfer it into the body of a female capable of withstanding a large amount of mana.

In her place, a child would be born, having the Catalyst Star.

Martin was all for it.

But then something happened; right in front of him, the priest did the unexpected after placing a knife to kill himself.

"Hail the Killer of Worlds."

And then he killed himself.

Unbothered, he went back to his wife, telling her what he needed her to do in order to have a child with the Catalyst Star.

He told her he would use Elizabeth, her close friend, as the vessel.

As expected, Layla refused.

Furious, Martin punched her in the mouth, completely damaging it, before he locked her inside the room to think of a way he could force her to agree.

There were times when she would try to escape through the castle windows, only to get caught by guards under his command.

But they weren’t the only ones under his command at the time.

Elizabeth was a victim as well.

Throughout Layla’s imprisonment, he controlled her with his ability.

To her, she had slept with Martin and felt guilty about it, making her hide from the world and do as she was told in order for the secret to remain hidden. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

The public would hate her, and it wasn’t just that. She knew if she refused the king, she could die as well.

She had no choice but to go through with it, and not once did she remember her friend or try to question why she was never around.

Unbeknownst to her, Martin had continuously used his Control Blessing on Layla in order to counter her blessing, and the best he could do was put her in a deep slumber.

Still, that worked in his favor.

As it turned out, he was able to extract a part of her soul and transfer it into Elizabeth by making her swallow it.

Erica was born while Layla was unconscious, and not a single person questioned it.

Why did he keep Layla alive if he had gotten what he wanted?

Simply, to him, she was an unlimited source of supply.

If Elizabeth gave birth to the Catalyst and the child turned out to be unworthy...

He would go back, extract another portion of Layla’s soul, and start everything from the beginning.

As he revealed everything, one could see the tears dropping from Elizabeth, and little by little, Martin’s authority was washing away, and she was slowly remembering everything that happened all those years ago.

"Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear? There you have it—you are a clone of her, a simple shard of her soul. Do you feel fulfilled now? Answer me!"

Martin uttered, staring Sylus in the eye.

Sylus was dazed.

"I am... her soul?"

That can’t be right.

He was from a different world, with his own soul and memories.

Could it be two souls merged into one?

Arriving in this world, the system did tell him about the former owner of the body dying, but said nothing about the soul passing.

So logically...

Was he a clone?

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