Vows and Bullets
Chapter 160 - 2nd week of September (Part 5)

Chapter 160: 2nd week of September (Part 5)

Please DON’T READ this Chapter yet. I will update this 2nd week of September!

Good news! My hands have healed now and I’m catching up on writing my missed Chapters. My apologies for all the delays. I will replace this Chapter with the real one soon, don’t worry, and upload a new one for the next day. I really apologize once again.

In the meantime, please enjoy the continuation of the story below titled "The King’s Beloved". This is the revised version I am planning to submit for paperback publication. Hopefully, I get a chance someday.

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(Part 23 - Continuation...)

First, she tried creating a barrier charm—a charm that would block all physical or magical attacks. Unfortunately, this charm only lasted for so long. It didn’t work on everyone. The king was also too powerful for it to work properly. The strength of his spiritual energy kept on countering the charm, rendering it useless most often than not.

But then, she tried again. The next thing she created was a spiritual summon—a creature with the ability to protect its master. But this same creation was too weak compared to the king and was not worthy of protecting him. One after another, she continued trying all ways possible that she could think of, but all was naught.

The king and queen were very pleased with her intentions though they advised her not to bother anymore and rest assured that they would be fine. But the kind sorceress didn’t stop. At last, she thought...

What if... instead of creating something that will protect the king, why don’t I create something that can read people’s hearts and minds? If I know what they’re thinking then definitely, I will be able to prevent disaster before it happens!

And so, she created Pandora’s Charm—a charm that could reveal the deepest and darkest secrets of the heart and mind. She first started it at a banquet held at the Grand Palace, telling people it was a charm to change hair color. Most Magi believed her since she was a Judge so they simply let her cast the magic on them.

To some, it was fine, showing the different colors of the rainbow until it accidentally cast itself to the wrong person—someone who didn’t agree to change his hair color. The kind sorceress was playing with a fellow Judge that time and accidentally bounced the charm to him. As soon as it reached his head, the man’s hair grew into a dark black color. This alerted the kind sorceress and immediately, she reported it to the king.

"Amare," the kind king called her. "The man you mentioned is my very own brother. It is impossible for him to wish for my destruction. He is a very wise man—full of honor. He will not betray me. There must be a mistake," he insisted.

"But my charms don’t lie, your majesty. Dark black color means death itself, either the wearer saw death, experienced it, or killed someone! And my charm is directed to you, your majesty. The color will change according to a person’s true feelings towards you. It means he wishes to—" she hesitated a bit but continued either way, "to... kill you."

The queen gasped in disbelief, her eyes teary. "My king, I understand he is your brother but we should not ignore what Amare speaks of."

"That’s why he didn’t agree to me changing his hair color—he knew! He knew there was more to it," Amare continued.

The king felt contradicted. He trusted both Amare and Sanguis, his brother.

"Then, what do you suggest that I should do to my brother?"

Amare felt the king’s heart break saying those words as his face furrowed in torment.

To soothe his heartache, she replied, "Innocent until proven guilty, your majesty. I will just monitor him and if he does something he shouldn’t, then I shall carry out my duty of protecting you both."

After the conversation with the king, Amare started wide-casting her Pandora’s charm. Each and every Magi’s hair had been enchanted with the charm. And this time around, the charm she cast was an Everlasting Pandora’s charm—something that would pass itself generations to generations. And so, everyone’s hair color changed according to their feelings towards the king who sat on the throne. One after another, dark green-haired, dark red-haired, dark gray-haired Magi revealed themselves. Amare strictly monitored all of them.

Aside from the hair color, she also wide-casted the Everlasting Pandora’s Charm to all the seeds that produced fiber which was where their clothes were made from. She did this as a countermeasure just in case there would be someone who would be able to put a countercharm on her magic. Since plants had weaker spiritual capacity and could only accommodate one charm or curse cast on it, this charm was weaker than the one cast on one’s hair. It could only discern what’s inside the deepest part of one’s heart and not directly the motives they had towards the king. Still, it was an everlasting charm that up to this very day, continued to work and revealed what’s inside a person’s heart.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Everyone’s hand chorused in an applause as they congratulated Rania’s performance. It was truly a splendid one, but what’s more intriguing was her dress changing its color to white.

"A human with a white Pandora dress? This is unbelievable!" one from the crowd blurted out. "What could this mean?"

"I’m not sure. Do you think perhaps, she’s—you know."

"What nonsense! A human? That can’t happen."

"But didn’t it say about being dressed in pure white?"

"That’s an old tale. There’s no way that’s true."

"But did you listen to her song? She was talking about God! It means she’s a believer," another one joined in.

"If she’s a believer then it all adds up. She might really be—"

"Oh, quick! Look! The Wise Judge is standing!"

Distracted, they all looked towards the direction of the king and his Judges.

Seeing as everyone was astonished, the stunning man sitting on the right hand side of the king, stood up and spoke. He wore white long sleeved shirt topped with a blue blazer that had platinum gold embroidery at the collar, hems, and cuffs. On his left chest rested a glistening brooch made of blue gems and silver metal designed to form a moon. This same man was the one who spoke with the king about the meaning of a black Pandora dress.