After sending another message to Axel, Daphne decided to sleep early on the Christmas night. She would just wait for his response.
Lying on her bed, Daphne sighed, thinking how good her life was currently. With that man dead, and Astoria cured, and her mother finally happy, there was very little she had left to complain. Especially since Astoria's condition could have been much more fatal in a different situation. After all, the family's curse is not actually Blood Malediction. That's just a cover up.
'So, I should be happy with what I have. No need to worry too much about Axel.' Thinking so she went to sleep, hoping to dream of him.
....
Daphi! Daphi! This is bad!" Late into the night, the door to Daphne's room burst open, as Astoria ran in and made a dive for Daphne, who was sleeping in peace in her bed.
Since she wasn't in a particularly merry mood, Daphne had turned in early right after dinner. But right now, her night owl of a sister jumped on her out of nowhere, rudely waking her up.
"What the F— Astoria? You seriously have to stop waking me up like this!" She grumbled, covering herself in sheets again.
Astoria shook her head, pulling on the sheets. "No! It's really an emergency this time! It's about Axel!"
?!
That woke her up alright. The sheets were thrown off as Daphne sat up, looking at Astoria sharply "What happened?!"
In a different situation, Astoria would have had a few words to say about this behavior of her sister, but right now, she simply passed on the MM in her hand to Daphne.
"Axel is engaged," she said, making Daphne's eyes widen.
"Tory, if this is some sort of sick prank—" she began to say as she checked the Magi-mirror, but paused when she saw the news headlines on the screen.
"BRUTAL VIOLENCE AT THE VALENTINO CHRISTMAS PARTY!"
"THE VALENTINOS ANNOUNCE THE ENGAGEMENT OF PRINCESS MARTINA!"
"AXEL HUNT ENGAGED!"
"MAKSMILIAN MIKHAILOV CHALLENGES AXEL HUNT TO A DUEL!"
"SAVAGE AXEL STRIKES AGAIN!"
"AXELTINA SHIP SAILS!"
Daphne's heart sank and her throat dried up, causing her to swallow. She blinked her eyes repeatedly, desperately hoping that this was not what she was thinking it was. It's either wrong or she's dreaming. But, as she opened one of the articles, her hopes were Quickly shattered.
"The Christmas party at the Valentinos this time was anticipated to be an exceptionally big event. Because this party was going to be attended by the Mikhailov Family, the equally mighty and influential rival of the Valentinos from Russia.
But, no one expected the event to be blown so out of proportions! The Mikhailov family actually proposed marriage to the Valentino Family, possibly offering to make what would have been, the biggest political alliance in existence!
Maksmilian Mikhailov (19) and Martina Valentino (15) are certainly very good matches, and the talk of a possible relation between the two has always been a popular topic among the gossipers.
This was certainly a very huge event! Valentino and Mikhailov are two tycoons of the Wizarding world which everyone steers clear from. With a successful alliance, the two families might have turned out to be an unrivaled Magical Superpower, save for, perhaps, Atlantis, our sea neighbors.
But when it was about to become a reality, things suddenly took a turn as the Valentino family rejected the proposal because, 'they had already Engaged Martina with someone else!'
Yes, dear readers, Martina Valentino, the most eligible female bachelorette, and the dream of uncountable young men, is officially taken.
And the lucky man who is actually the one to win her heart is Axel Hunt, a fellow student at Hogwarts, more than two years her junior."
?!! Reading until here Daphne began to hyperventilate, as her hands holding the MM shook uncontrollably.
She couldn't believe it! But the article was from a trusted website, and the pictures were all real, in which Axel looked extremely dazzling, standing along with Martina. The two really looked like couples.
And here she thought he would only go to parties with her... Her eyes blurred, big droplets of her tears dripping on the screen as Astoria hugged her from the side.
Axel was engaged…
With Martina…
With fucking Martina!
Daphne knew she should have done something about the girl.
"Stop… there's nothing more," Astoria said, trying to take away the screen. She had just thought that her sister might want to know about this so she quickly came to her. But she had no idea that Daphne would be so deeply affected. Astoria felt like she made a mistake.
"Don't!"
Daphne dabbed at her eyes with her sheets. Yes. The headlines were saying a lot more than this. There was blood mentioned as well. Axel might be hurt! Sniffing while stifling another sob, she continued to read.
"The said fiance, Axel Hunt, has quickly risen to fame recently, after his legendary Quidditch match in which he broke 22 world records at once, showing an unseen amount of skills and talent for the sport. There's no information available about Hunt's history or his background even after his legendary debut at Quidditch, which is definitely a surprise. But after this incident, that is certainly going to have to change, since he has caused too big an incident to remain anonymous anymore.
Yes, at the party, he did something which blew the event out of proportions! When Maksmilian Mikhailov, the heir to the Mikhailov Family and the ex-soon-to-be Fiancé of Martina, found out that the girl he had accepted to marry was already engaged to someone else. Like any man in love, he was devastated. In his resentment, he challenged Hunt to a duel, all the while calling him with provocative terms.
If there's one thing to be known about Hunt from his very little available history, it's that even though he stays out of trouble for the most part, he doesn't take lightly to provocations. Whoever has provoked him in the past, Hunt has managed to deal them with an excessively brutal revenge without fail, even getting himself the nickname "Savage Hunt" in the process.
So, when Maksmilian provoked Axel by saying vulgarities about him and his fianceé and challenged him to a duel, he must have known what he was getting into since the stakes were Axel would have to leave Martina forever and also grovel at Maksmilian's feet if he loses. It has to be noted that Maksmilian is a known duelist, possibly the best in his age group, and Hunt being more than six years younger couldn't have stood a chance.
But contrary to what everyone expected, instead of rejecting the proposal, Hunt instead accepted it, adding his own terms: No interference until one of them is unconscious, and the Mikhailov knife, the highest honour that can be given to outsiders.
Not expecting him to win, his terms were accepted by the Mikhailovs. But they didn't know that they had just made a rather terrible blunder. Even before the fight had started, Hunt had somehow managed to take possession of both of Maksmilian's wands.
Maksmilian then made the mistake of provoking Hunt further by saying things about him, his mother, and his fianceé, which somehow resulted in Maksmilian's tongue getting pierced by the broken end of his own wand. Hunt then proceeded to pin Maksmilian's hands and rain continuous punches on his face while telling him to stay the hell away from Martina.
The beating was extremely brutal, and terrifying, by the way Hunt unforgivably punched Maksmilian without stopping for a second, each punch extremely heavy. Maksmilian's screams didn't seem to affect, neither the pain in his bloody hands. He wasn't even deterred by the fact that he was beating the living hell out of the Heir of one of the most dangerous family in Existence, right in front of its boss.
By the time Maksmilian passed out, blood was everywhere, he no longer had teeth, and the skin of cheeks was peeled to the broken bones. The scene definitely was not pretty to look at, but we still have it below for our curious readers.
Click here—
With the duel over, Axel took the promised knife like it was business as usual as departed scene, leaving the chilled onlookers behind. Interestingly enough, Princess Martina, popularly known for her extreme kindness, did not even give a second glance to the fallen heir, instead choosing to follow her Fiance out of the party."
….
Daphne finished reading the whole article, and even saw the pictures and recorded memories of the incident repeatedly, hoping against hope that it was not true. But alas, the reality was shown cruelly right to her face every time, chipping away at all of her mentality.
Axel got engaged to Martina. He went to the party with her and he even offended the Mikhailov family for her. The two of them… really do seem to be in love, right?
Besides, now that the Mikhailov family is after him, there's very little help he could get by marrying into the Greengrass Family.
Looking at Martina, she also seems better in terms of beauty, right?
Why would he even pick her?
Why did she even have hope in the first place?
"Daphi? Daphi don't!"
??
Looking down at her sister pulling at her hands, she realized that she had been scratching her own arms, drawing blood.
"What are you doing?! Mom?! MOM! QUICKLY COME!"
Daphne could not stop.
She needed something. Some kind of pain… to replace the excruciating pain in her heart.
!!!
Suddenly, darkness began to encroach upon her, slowly but steadily, and Daphne felt her pain lessening. Before she knew it, she was already swallowed, unable to put up resistance.
….
In the guest bedroom of the Valentino manor, Axel and Martina laid side by side on the bed, with their backs resting against the headrest as Axel processed what he had just been told by Martina.
"So, you're saying that you are actually a person from a different world? And you have been able to retain your memories and personality?"
Martina nodded, her eyes tightly shut as she processed she was finally telling this to someone. "Yes, it's the reason how I've invented those things in my lab, and the reason why I have so much magical knowledge at my age."
Axel sighed. He had come into contact with quite a lot of crazy stuff in the past two years, like magic being real, a talking system in his head, a whole Wizarding World hidden from muggles, and two other worlds which he knew very little about. So, his boundaries for crazy are quite loose. But, this is still quite difficult to process.
"How is that...even possible...?"
Martina shrugged as well. "I'm not too sure myself... but it's like this, when we die, our souls are reset, wiping away everything including our memories and personalities. But, that did not happen in my case. My soul is the same one that I had in my previous life."
Axel thought about it. Everything was a bit unbelievable, but if he put it into Martina's case, it would really explain a lot. Plus, he didn't think she was lying.
"So, you've been an adult since your childhood...And you're from another world... Martina, that's quite a dangerous secret." Axel looked at Martina with confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"
He had thought Martina was just hiding an embarrassing secret, but this? It was a secret that could cause a lot of waves if fallen into the wrong hands. He was freaking out for Martina for revealing it to him so casually. For fucks sake, they hadn't even signed a contract!
Martina just looked at him as she relaxed into the bed, a serene smile coming to her face upon finally being able to lift off the burden she had been holding back since forever. "It's to show you that I trust you, Axel. And to explain why I got scared," she said, looking at his hands that were stained in blood for her not long ago. "For that, I have to tell you the story of my previous life."
Axel still thought it was quite stupid of Martina to reveal such a big secret only based on trust. But... he was just too curious to back down now. "Alright..." he sighed, also relaxing into the bed. "Tell me then."
Laying back, Martina looked at the ceiling as she started to talk.
"My previous world.... it was quite similar to this one...at least in most aspects. The biggest difference was, it did not have magic. Everyone was muggle. But, the muggles had still managed to advance quite a lot through other means.
In that world, I was an orphan living in a foster home. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't pleasant either. I was different from other kids my age, and that's why I had trouble blending in. Then, I was tested to have a genius level IQ. Though along with that, I had a very mild spectrum of autism.
Freed from the foster home, I was entered into a special program for gifted children along with other geniuses. Each of us were given custom education, based on our strengths and weaknesses.
We were all given the most optimal living conditions, and I had even been able to make a few friends. If performed well enough, I was even allowed to have various means of entertainment from books to anime and mangas. Life was good..." Martina paused here, as her soft smile disappeared.
"But, there were some peculiar things. We were all strongly discouraged from forming romantic relationships. And Kindness, selfness, patriotism, humility.... these values were forcefully indoctrinated to us. Every day. They would train it into us until it was a deeply ingrained part of our nature. You see, we were geniuses being taught with knowledge with which we could destroy the country, if we decided to use it wrongly. So they had to be careful. From time to time, they would eliminate some of the kids who didn't "fit the criteria"."
Axel's fists clenched in anger. He didn't like this kind of thing.
Martina sighed, looking back at him. "So, that is the reason I am the way I am. Kindness and selflessness is something that's been deeply ingrained into me. It was the reason I died in my previous life. To save a lot of people, I sacrificed my own life without a second thought. And it's also the reason why..." she said, trailing off as she looked at him regretfully.
"The reason why you're disgusted with me," he finished.
Martina shook her head vigorously. "No! Who said I'm disgusted with you?! It's rather the opposite! I really admire your character. You're very strong, quite unlike the pathetic old me," she said earnestly.
"When I was reincarnated into a Mafia household, it was quite difficult for me to adapt to them. In fact, I sometimes hated them as well. But… they loved me so much… that they decided to change for me! It was then that I slowly started to change my black and white world view," she told him, a smile coming to her face. "Seeing them, I realized that not everything is good or evil. And sometimes, you have to do what's necessary."
Gathering her resolve, she forced herself to hold his hand in hers, which were shaking due to her inner struggle. "I've been trying to change, Axel. And slowly, I'm making progress. You're the only true friend I've had, and I won't give up on you no matter what you do," she said, looking into his eyes. "Can you please also… not give up on me?" She asked sincerely.
Her mother wanted her to be truthful. Well, this was her being truthful. And turns out, it really wasn't as scary as she had thought. For some reason, she did trust Axel, despite everything. So, it was, in fact, surprisingly great. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, making her feel quite light and giddy. She wanted to stay in this moment forever. Sighing, she rested her shoulders against Axel, no longer feeling the aversion.
Axel nodded his head. He didn't know if Martina was still high due to the poison to be talking like this, but he had to accept, he was touched. And he was glad to know that he wasn't the only one who valued their friendship. She went so far as to reveal such a dangerous secret for him. Overall, everything was fine now, wasn't it?
*Knock* *knock*
A knock came to their door, making Martina jump in surprise. "I'll…. I'll get it." She said, truly furious at whoever it was who had decided to interrupt them at such a great moment. Opening the door, she found that it was their butler.
"What is it?!" She hissed, being rude with a servant for the first time.
The butler bowed his head in apology upon seeing, Axel laying on the bed and the state of her hastily put on robes, quickly interpreting the situation. "My deepest apologies for interrupting your… leisure, princess, but the situation is urgent. The mistress has asked for you to check your Magi-mirror. The Mikhailovs have begun their retaliation. Our side is currently trying to minimize the damage as we speak."
"WHAT?! What did they do?! Did they attack us?!"
"I apologize, princess. But I must go. Everything will be clear to you once you check the Hive. "
The butler then looked at Axel and bowed deeply. "The Mistress sends her deepest regret and apologies over the situation. She'll be personally servicing your wand as soon as she's dealt with the situations."
And with that, the butler was gone, leaving a panicking and frustrated Martina, the moment she had been cherishing ruined. "I don't even HAVE my Magi-mirror on me!" She complained to no one in particular. She had only brought her wand. Just as she was about to apparate, Axel called out to her.
"Even though I don't use it, I still have one, you know," he said, digging out his own Magi-mirror from the depths of his pouch.
"Oh, of course!" Martina was embarrassed. Just what was happening to her?!
She quickly took her original place on bed at Axel's side as Axel handed her his Magi-mirror. Opening it, she found a lot of notifications piled up.
Daphne
100+ calls, 100+ messages
Patricia
2 calls, 12 messages
Akiko
3 messages
Unknown
100+ calls, 100+ messages
Unknown
20 calls, 23 messages
.
.
Axel realized what he had forgotten. Checking his phone. It's always on silent mode to avoid distractions.
Martina's finger paused briefly upon seeing them, but then she quickly swiped up to get to business. She was curious what these girls wanted to talk to him about, but right now she was in a bit of an emergency.
Her thumbs worked fast on the Magi-mirror, and within seconds, they found out the main reason for all the fuss.
The Magi-hive was filled with various types of news about the party, like their engagement and all the other stuff about the duel, but Martina went to the latest news.
?!
?!
And what they saw, managed to surprise the hell out of the both of them.
BREAKING NEWS!
AXEL HUNT, PAST REVEALED!!!
AXEL HUNT: A MUGGLE ORPHAN?
THE WONDER BOY WITH SURPRISINGLY HUMBLE BEGINNINGS!
…
A.N.: Nice, huh?
Next Chapter: Axel Hunt, Exposed!
next next: New Wand, Surprised Francesca
Next next next: Daphne was in love with me?
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