ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʟᴇꜱꜱ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ | ᴢᴇʟᴅʀɪꜱ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ | ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴇᴅɪᴛɪɴɢ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

Author's notes: And I am back...to see that this story has over 20k views and 1k votes! Thank you so much you guys, this really means a lot to me :)

Hope you like the brand new chapter! ❤

"ɪ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ʜᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ." 

ᴄᴀʟᴜᴍ ꜱᴄᴏᴛᴛ

Gritting his teeth, Zeldris slowly rises from the ground along with the Pacifier Fiend and Napping Reaper behind him.

"Sir Zeldris, did you say something?" Grandpa asks the Demon Prince who shakes his head.

"Do you not remember?" Zeldris demands as he turns around to look at his mentor. "Do you not remember what truly happened to my mother?"

Grandpa opens his mouth to say something but instead starts to choke, and he grabs at his own throat. "Queen Oriana," he wheezes.

"Our memories," Grandad growls as he clutches at his own head. "That damn bastard Gowther has messed around with our memories of our precious Queen as well."

"It appears they have recovered," Cusack murmurs as the three of them turn around to see the other team has gotten to their feet as well. "But there seems to be one severely wounded in comparison to us. It's to be expected."

"How dare you!" Hendrickson cries out as Gilthunder tries to help the Archangel in any way possible. "What did you do to Lord Ludociel?"

"No, this wasn't their doing," Merlin states. "The cause of this is most likely another. My mentor Gowther, the spell; a forbidden spell that alters one's memories. This one would impact anyone who knew Mael, including the Demon King."

"Their memories?" Hendrickson repeats. "But for what purpose?"

"How incredible," Grandpa says as he itches his cheek with a small grin. "That crafty Gowther used a forbidden spell to turn Mael into Estarossa to force the Goddess clan to activate the Coffin of Eternal Darkness. But for some reason, the alteration has been broken, creating an aftershock which impacts those under the spell to their very souls. And from the looks of what's happening to Ludociel, it seems that the shock is more apparent the deeper your connection with Mael is."

"Estarossa of the Ten Commandments," Escanor murmurs.

"Is Mael of the Four Archangels?" Hendricksons asks with wide eyes.

"In addition to that, Gowther has altered all of our memories of Queen Oriana's true death in order to conceal it," Grandpa states.

"But why?" Zeldris snarls. "Why the hell would he do that? If Mael didn't truly kill Mother, then who did?"

"Prince Zeldris," Grandad says solemnly, "we may have to consider the fact that Queen Oriana is still alive."

"I know," Zeldris says with a pained face. "But I really hope that's not the case."

"And why's that?" Merlin asks gently from the other side of the battlefield.

"Where has she been this entire time?" Zeldris says, hand trembling on his sword. "Why the hell did she have to hide from us? From me?"

"I cannot answer that," Merlin says and then narrows her eyebrows. "But what I do want to know is why are you not affected by the spell at all?"

"I never once loved Estarossa as a brother," Zeldris replies with a slight smirk. "I'm actually feeling refreshed knowing that he wasn't my sibling by blood."