"I still rember that day," Tiara said as the queen looked at her. "But it's not your fault, mother. Evil exists in the best of us, and him being your brother didn't change that."
"I wish I realized that too, before it was late," the queen said before rising from the desk and handing the book to Arthur. As he received it and read its content, which was in a language he didn't understand, Arthur used a rune to understand it.
[Intent Absorption-V]
Arthur began reading the book by understanding the intent behind each word, which was better than reading it. As he read the page opened for him, he realized it was a diary of the dark prince.
"My brother tried resisting it, at the very least," the queen said before she walked toward Tiara and hugged her tight. "But he still lost himself in the end."
Arthur looked at the diary and began reading the paragraphs, flipping pages as more madness unveiled itself. They were sparse out, spoken in with a touch of madness. However, Arthur could no look away from them.
[I have been touched by envy, and I can hear it calling for . A strange emotion now inhabits my every cell. It calls for justice and demands that I reclaim what is rightfully mine. I don't know how long it would take before this emotion consus .]
[At first, I thought it was a gift. The ability to take what others had and make it mine seed like justice for all the tis I was overlooked. But with every ability I stole, a part of felt emptier, as if I were losing pieces of myself.]
[It started small. A minor talent here, a harmless skill there. But envy is insatiable. It whispered to , telling it was not enough, urging to take more. Soon, I began targeting people with greater gifts.]
[The first ti I took soone's mories, I was horrified. Their life flashed before my eyes, their joys and sorrows blending with my own. I could no longer tell which mories were mine. It felt like drowning in soone else's life.]
[I tried to resist the urges, locking myself away in the palace. But the whispers of envy grew louder. It promised power, respect, and the love I had always craved. I convinced myself that I was doing this for the kingdom, for justice.]
[One night, I ventured into a village. I told myself it was just to see if I could control it. But as I walked among them, I felt their gifts calling to . A farr with strength beyond his years, a healer with hands that could nd any wound. I couldn't resist.]
[When I took from them, I felt powerful. But their terror and betrayal haunted . I saw the emptiness in their eyes as I left them without the very things that defined them. They were shells of who they once were, and I had done that to them.]
[My experints grew darker. I captured elves, humans, and giants, hoping to understand this power and perhaps find a way to undo it. But envy twisted even my noblest intentions. Instead of helping them, I used them. I tore their abilities from them, leaving behind nothing but despair.]
[Every ti I stole, the whispers grew louder. They praised , telling I was destined for greatness. But they also mocked , reminding of the monster I had beco. I could no longer look at my reflection without feeling disgust.]
[The Dungeon of Envy—Invidia—was where it all began. I rember the mont I touched the relic within its depths. It promised the world, but it took my soul in return. I should have known better. Power like this always cos at a price.]
[My sister, the queen, tried to reach out to . She saw the changes, the darkness that consud . But I pushed her away. I told myself it was for her safety, that she wouldn't understand. In truth, I didn't want her to see the monster I had beco.]
[As ti went on, I beca more isolated. The palace felt like a prison, the whispers my only companions. I began to lose track of ti, of who I was. The line between my thoughts and the voice of envy blurred until I could no longer tell them apart.]
[One day, I realized I couldn't rember my own na. The mories I had stolen had overwheld my own. I was a patchwork of stolen lives, a mosaic of envy and regret.]
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[I write this now as a warning. To whoever finds this diary, know that envy is not a gift. It is a curse; a poison that will consu everything you are. Do not let it take you as it took .]
[If there is any part of left that is still my own, I beg you to end this. Destroy the relic, destroy , and free the world from this curse. Let my story be a lesson, and may no one else fall to the sin of envy.]
Arthur reached the final page, where the prince seed to be pleading for soone to save him. The answer ca, written in a handwriting that seed to be bleeding through its letters. It was the final ssage that the prince has recorded inside his diary after having lost all sanity and humanity.
[I am envy itself now. The cries for justice have turned to whispers of domination. The longing for fairness has rotted into a hunger that will never be sated. I am no longer a prince, no longer a brother, no longer a man. I am the void that swallows all light, the shadow that devours identity. I have beco what I once feared: a hollow reflection of power, a mockery of the man I was. You pleaded for rcy, but I cannot grant it. rcy is a language I no longer understand. In my world, only envy remains, and envy does not forgive—it takes.]
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