Background

An infant�s cry shattered the silent dawn of Castle Aberleen. House Paxley, the
most powerful and influential duchy in the Moniyan Empire, finally had an heir.

The child�s father of Duke Paxley named him Aamon, and soon his younger brothers
were born on after another. But as the eldest son and the family heir, Aamon had
been subject to more strict discipline since his childhood. He was never allowed to
be as free-spirited as his brother
Gusion.png
Gusion, and since as early as his boyhood, he�d been occupied with studies and
official duties all day.

Aamon did not only learn the things required for a normal nobleman. His father Duke
Paxley also secretly teach him the spell that was only passed down to the family�s
direct descendants. It was a devious, ruthless spell that killed people neither
honestly nor honorably. Aamon once felt skeptical because the secret family spell
didn�t match the honorable history of House Paxley that believed in the Lord of
Light, and for this, he went out of his way to read on the family history.

However, fate didn�t allow him to find any answer. The year when Aamon just turned
18, his father who had high hopes for him went missing along with his mother in a
sandstorm while visiting Altair. After his father�s presumed death, Aamon had to
bear the heavy responsibilities of the family as the young heir and become the head
of House Paxley.

Aamon showed a degree of maturity that a young man like him barely had, whether it
was due to his father�s teachings or the heavy burdens of the family. He was
passionate in social circles but cold and aloof when facing his political enemies.
He displayed a perfect noble gentleman�s kindness in politics, but on the
battlefields, he seemed like a ghoul casting merciless spells. To most people who�d
worked with him, Aamon was a shadow that could never be caught.

After the late Duke Paxley was presumed dead, Aamon was not only left with the
responsibilities of the entire family, but also his younger brothers and sisters.
In fact, he was not as mysterious and inscrutable as others saw. His intention was
surprisingly simple: the duty of protecting House Paxley had been engraved in his
mind since he was the heir, so his family and the blood ties were everything to
Aamon. No matter what evil deeds or good things he�d done, they�d all been for one
purpose � the future of House Paxley.

Aamon once thought that protecting he house and protecting his families were
completely the same, until one day, the curse from the ancient prophecy befell his
younger brother, Gusion�

Aamon never showed it to anyone, but among all his brothers and sisters, Gusion had
been the one he�d paid the most attention to. Because Aamon saw the qualities that
he didn�t possess on Gusion � he was a free-spirited rebel who�d wreak havoc
without a second thought. But Aamon didn�t dislike his brother for it, and he
thought maybe they were supposed to resemble each other as brothers, except that he
had no choice but to turn into the person he was now. Whenever he looked at Gusion,
he seemed to see the person he could have been.

Therefore, even though the entire Moniyan Empire knew that Aamon had a trickster
good-for-nothing brother, he�d never discipline Gusion about his delinquent
behaviors. Even one time when little Gusion accidentally cut Aamon�s face with a
knife, leaving a permanent scar on his cheek, Aamon only patted him and didn�t say
anything more. Of course, Gusion didn�t dare to bring any sharp objects near his
respectable brother even again.
As the heir of the family, Aamon had heard about their ancestors� prophecy from his
father since still young. He knew that whoever in House Paxley had a dark mark
appearing on their body would be attached by the deity. So, when he found the mark
on Gusion, he immediately made the decision to imprison him and cut out all the
connection between him and the outside world, temporarily preventing the other
family members from finding out about the changes on Gusion.

Aamon was engrossed by immense pain afterwards. Gusion�s existence was without a
doubt a sword of Damocles hanging above House Paxley, but Aamon didn�t want to kill
his brother. However, what he did to protect Gusion didn�t buy them much time. A
few days later, the elders of the family found out about Gusion�s secret and soon
arrived at the place where Gusion was held. And they were obviously not here to
spare Gusion�s life.

The situation didn�t allow Aamon to hesitate any longer, so he made the decision to
ask the servant who�d been watching over Gusion to free his brother in secret. But
rather than just letting Gusion roam free, Aamon had been keeping an eye on his
brother, and as expected, his wayward brother didn�t follow his order and stayed in
hiding in Castle Aberleen instead.

The young Duke Paxley let out a sigh and decided to do it himself � to find the
root of the dark-mark curse and save his brother, while putting an end to the
fetters of tragedies that had confined their family for centuries.