Chapter 189 - The Broken Souls

"There are three, not two Alencica…"

Ivan and Fredek hadn't realized they'd been very tense as Alistair spoke. They sat ramrod straight on their seats, their breathing held as they listened.

It was Ivan who had recovered first.

"Three? How is that possible?"

Perun had the ability to break souls into pieces as he had done over and over again to his beloved child in order to save her throughout the millennia. But as far as he knew, the King of Heaven could only break someone's soul in half.

Alistair sighed heavily as he settled further into his chaise. "It must be the side effect of having been broken over and over again."

Since the beginning of time – since they first tried to break the curse, Alencica's soul had been severed into two a plethora of times they had lost count. They had no idea how the curse worked before which resulted in Alencica's death over and over again as well – the tragic cycle that she was in.

"It's possible."

Fredek agreed. He had the power of the wind and a bit of the earth as he was born with dual elements. Being an earth caster, he was also knowledgeable of some healing and cursed arts. A soul that had been tampered with numerous times could become so fragile and break into more pieces than intended.

If the Princess Alinea was such a broken soul, then it made sense.

"What are you thinking about Fredek?" Ivan of Kres asked upon noting his solemn but thoughtful expression.

Ivan was the only other person who knew Fredek's background on earth magic aside from the Ritz King. Although Fredek was very respectful of their positions, the three of them were actually close friends from school.

"I was just wondering why the princess seemed odd for her age before. But now that we know that there's probably another one of her out there it made sense."

Alistair's mouth twitched in self-disdain. He realized what Fredek meant now that he knew there was another one but not before. He was a foolish father.

"What do you mean? What odd?" Ivan asked before thinking, and so when he did remember something he continued. "Well, she's adventurous but very loyal to her brother. She would do anything – everything he asked of her."

This included marching towards her own death at her brother's command, although she didn't know it was not real. But Ivan didn't even mention it. Alinea was after all assassinated because of it.

"Well, she can be urhg…. Extreme," Ivan compromised.

Although it was different from other girls her age, Ivan didn't find it strange at all. He was just thinking that maybe Alinea was a bro-con as much as Alistair was a sis-con.

A bother-loving-fool of a sibling to a sister-loving-fool of a king.

So that was not normal?

"Broken souls tend to be more adventurous, risk-taker, and heroic to the point they…"Fredek glanced at Alistair, waited for him to nod his permission before he continued. "To the point, they wouldn't mind dying. They don't have an attachment – at least not much to the world. In a sense, they continue to long to be complete and since they can't achieve this, they find the thought of dying… appealing."

Huh?

Fredek just described Alinea well. Even Ivan found it so stupid of her to just blindly follow her brother even if she thought she would be in danger. The Immortal War too…

Which princess would dare take up an entire demigod army with only pure strength on her side? She nearly got killed, and so Alistair sent him his seal in a bid to save her life.

Only to get killed because of it.

"So you mean she's reckless because she's incomplete? But isn't she incomplete from the beginning?"

She was broken on purpose to save her and mankind.

"That was different," Alistair said. "I separated the… undesirable one to her original self. But she shouldn't have any other effect aside from being human. But since she was broken more, then she became like that."

"Oh…"

Ivan now understood. The only one which affected Alinea greatly was when her human part got broken as well.

"Then isn't that a great thing?" Ivan said with a chuckle. "If she's reunited with her other part then all her suicidal thoughts would go away, right? When we find her, it's easier to keep her safe." 

It was a good idea and it was true in a way. However, Alistair didn't seem to share the good news.

"We have to find her first." The Ritz King stated still solemnly.

Ivan and Fredek now found themselves clueless as to why Alistair still seemed depressed when the news of Alinea being alive should be a very good one. They couldn't ask him yet for the reason though. They were thinking he must still be in shock so he was not reacting much.

"So what now? How do we find her?"

Alistair sighed. "We search."

There was no other way. If that other part of her turned out to be the dominant one and didn't know how to use divine inheritance then she wouldn't have known she could still use Perun's seal and alert Alistair of her location.

"How do we know if it's her though?"

Hearing this question, the King of Heaven snorted. "Simple. Regardless that there might be some small differences, Alencica… she always had the same face. Even that… undesirable has it…"

Oh…

"It's easy then. We just need to look for her here," Ivan suggested. "I will form the search parties we need. It's easy to send a notification to the other kingdoms now to allow us to search in their territories."

With Perun on the lead, nobody would dare say no. It was not a secret what the King of Heaven could do. Destroying a nation was totally a child's play.

Alistair nodded, his face constricting into a more problematic expression which made Fredek and Ivan exchange looks, totally confused.

"What's the matter?" Ivan asked, and Alistair's answer sent chills down his spine.

"I was told she's with Kresnik now…"