The Cursed King

Chapter 273  Dante\'s Offer

Dimitri was sure that his brother would be furious to know that it was he who saw her in this state. He knew how much Dante liked Elise. Unfortunately, it was Dimitri who lived close to the humans in order to study them unlike his reclusive brother.

"Please get inside, Elise. It\'s incredibly cold outside and you might catch something nasty if you stay out," Dimitri immediately welcomed her in and let her take a seat.

"Thank you so much." Elise said.

Dimitri immediately prepared tea and set it down to join the queen of Summeria. "I wish you sent a message that you\'ll be visiting, but I think that you are here for a reason. I don\'t have to be a god to know that."

Elise managed a weak smile. "Yes, I came here for a reason."

Dimitri looked at her up and down and asked. "Is it by any chance related to the baby?"

Elise nodded. "Yes… but also something else. I plan to head to Dante and ask him about breaking a protection spell that my late mother cast on my husband. Nobody else has been able to break it, including my father and grandmother."

"I see…" Dimitri frowned and rubbed his chin. "While your family is Leoralei, your mother married into your family. However, she seems to have casted a spell of great magnitude. Usually only the spellcaster can remove it, but you thought correctly that a god can do it."

A hope surged in Elise\'s chest. "So it can be done?"

"Naturally," Dimitri chuckled. "But ah, not me… I\'m more book knowledge and not so much on the application so you have to look for Dante. Unfortunately, he isn\'t in his mountain but in Cretea. He\'ll be hosting the tournament for those who wish to become gods. We do it every one thousand years, by the way."

"I see… then I\'ll just have to get there," Elise said.

"Well, my brother said you were always a good candidate so I think you can get there. As for the other problem that you\'re facing, I am sure that all of your answers lie in the mountain of Cretea. Ascend it and find your solutions there."

"Okay, I\'ll go find Dante there and hopefully I can ask for his help or for someone else," Elise took a deep breath. She bowed her head and sipped her tea. "I will take my leave now, thank you for the answers."

"Wait, you\'re leaving already?" Dimitri\'s eyes widened. "You need to prepare yourself for the journey. Most of the humans, elves, or faes, or mermaids, trying to go up usually have a lot of supplies with them in order to prepare for the perilous path to Cretea."

"Elves and faes and mermaids?" Elise furrowed her brows.

"What? You think humans are the only creatures allowed to become gods?" Dimitri asked her.

Elise waved her hand awkwardly. "No… I just… never met any of them before."

"Well… they have their own worlds. There are some portals in your world where you can enter their realms, or they can enter yours, but we prefer it if you all don\'t mix."

Elise didn\'t know what to do with that information. So, she only nodded weakly.

"Thank you for your advice," Elise told him. "Please let me know how I can find Dante and Cretea…"

***

Elise\'s journey up Cretea took her about ten days and on her way there, she would encounter the very same monsters and creatures that Dimitri warned her about. She was a very powerful witch and could handle their attacks easily. As for food, while climbing up, she would use her magic to make trees and bushes grow and forage them for fruits and berries.

After some time, Elise finally reached the peak and found herself surrounded by a paradise that was unlike anything on earth. She had truly reached the mountain where the gods lived and all of them looked at her when they realized a human reached the top.

Before anyone could approach her, Dante recognized Elise at once and came to her. He grabbed her shoulders and smiled brightly."Elise! Did you change your mind?"

Elise shook her head. "Not really… but I came here after Dimitri told me that you could help me?"

Dante cast some looks over his shoulder at the other gods and then quickly led her to one of his private temples. It was a tall white building with beautiful column pillars and he let her take a seat as the two of them talked.

While Dante was thrilled to see her and even thought that maybe her husband had died so she came here… he soon figured out the reason why she came here.

"You want me to remove the protection spell that caused your husband\'s grief and to also save the baby?" Dante kept his expression calm for a moment and looked at the woman in front of him.

Elise nodded and clenched her fists. "I know that you have already repaid your debt, but this time, I will be the one indebted to you and will do everything within my power to repay you."

"I do not think that you have anything to offer to me that will repay your debt if I do this," Dante said. He wanted to ask for her heart… but he doubted that she\'d give it to him when everything that she was doing right now was for her husband and child.

"Then you won\'t help me?" Elise asked disappointedly and started to look around. "Do you happen to know where Raphael is then? Maybe he will be more accommodating and heed my plea."

Dante really wished that Elise didn\'t know that many gods. He was sure that there was someone who might help her. However, suddenly he had a brilliant idea. "Why don\'t you help yourself?"

"Huh?" Elise batted her eyes at him in confusion.

Dante thought that she was being incredibly cute and he really wanted to have her for himself. But that was an impossible thing right now.

He cleared his throat and presented the answer that would solve the two problems.

"Take a sip of the immortality potion," Dante said. "You won\'t have to worry about having a debt to another god if you become a god yourself. You\'ll be able to give birth to your child safely and your husband will be free from the protection spell.

"But that\'s…" Elise hesitated.

Even after everything that she and Loriel went through, she couldn\'t imagine being a god. But what if that was what it took to save her baby and free the man that she loved?

After everything that happened between her and Loriel… she doubted that the two of them could reunite again. There were just too many wounds between them that were hard to heal.

Could Elise raise her child by herself so she could no longer bother Loriel?

It was Dante\'s words that finally made Elise come to a decision.

"I know your human body is weak and you lost your first child. If you took this potion and become an immortal like us, you won\'t have to worry about human weaknesses. You can give birth to a healthy child, and he will become an immortal too."

Suddenly, a cup appeared in Dante\'s hand.