Maxim was not a magic user, but he surrounded himself with several powerful wizards and he knew they could do unthinkable things that regular humans could only dream of doing. He decided to ask Renwyck about it and get his opinion.

The Leoraleis might lie to him about what happened, but Renwyck would be able to tell Maxim the truth.

"Can I see her?" Maxim got up from the bed. Since obviously he still couldn't sleep, he wanted to check on Emmelyn.

"Your injury is very bad. You can visit her when you are better." Soren advised. "You should focus on your own recovery."

"Your medicine doesn't even work," Maxim grumbled. "I haven't felt any drowsiness since you left me."

Soren didn't seem offended when he heard Maxim's complaint. He checked the bowl where he put his concoction earlier and turned to look at Maxim.

"It seemed your body is different," he said. "Is your tolerance for pain and cold higher than most people?"

Maxim nodded. "Yeah."

Soren nodded. "Well, then... I should give you double the dose for it to work."

"Hmm..."

Soren prepared the second concoction and this time made it double the dose, so Maxim could rest and the pain subsided.

"Have you always been this big and strong?" Soren asked. He was a man of smaller stature and he wondered if Maxim's physique was genetic.

Maxim shook his head. "No. Actually, I was born early and was very small. My mother didn't want to have any more children after she gave birth to me because she wanted to take care of me full time. I was always very sick and weak..."

"Really? That's quite unusual." Soren stopped what he was doing and looked at Maxim intently. "How did you turn this big?"

Maxim was 188 cm, very tall for people in his time. He was also buff and looked like he could kill a bear with bare hands. So, it was hard to imagine this man being a small and sickly young boy.

Maxim never really thought of it before, but today he realized Soren was right. He was actually a sickly child when he was young. His older sisters bullied him relentlessly. And one day they managed to almost kill him when he was fifteen.

Since he was the only son back then, they were worried he would definitely inherit the throne from their father. So, they made a plot to kidnap him during a trip to the countryside.

They paid people to kidnap the young crown prince, beat him up, and then threw him into a gorge. He was missing for an entire year and declared dead.

Maxim didn't remember much about it, he only remembered waking up with bloodied body in a simple hut in the middle of the forest and a hunter family took care of him.

Renwyck was the person who managed to find him and bring him back to the royal palace, much to his older sisters' shock. He could never prove that his older sisters were behind the plot, but his hatred for them became solidified.

After the incident, his mother gave birth to two more sons and the evil sisters never tried to pull the plot again, because they were worried they would be found out the next time around.

In addition to that, Maxim was no longer the only prince to inherit the throne after the king died. His younger brothers would take his place if they killed him. After that point, his older sisters just resorted to planning an open coup with their powerful husbands.

Maxim never cared about becoming the monarch though. He left home three years later, hoping his younger brothers would take over the throne when their father died in the future.

Unfortunately, this didn't happen because his father and both his younger brothers died early. And now he was stuck in this stupid throne.

Maxim remembered after the kidnapping accident and the fact that he almost died, he decided to force himself to train his body so he could protect himself.

He used to spend most of his time in the Archelaus Library, but after the life-changing experience, he worked mostly with warriors who taught him self-defense, archery, weapon-wielding, etc.

His father became really happy and proud when he saw his eldest son turned into a fierce warrior, thinking Maxim would be a great commander for their army and could lead their nation to be the supreme ruler of Atlantea.

The late king was disappointed when Maxim suddenly left home, in a clear act of giving their family a middle finger. He tried to send people to talk Maxim into going home, but only after the king really passed away did Maxim finally come back for good and took over the throne.

"I almost died when I was fifteen because I was weak," Maxim said to Soren. "After that, I worked hard and trained my body to be strong so people won't be able to kill me easily."

"Oh..." Soren nodded, looking very impressive. "It worked really well."

He had finished with the concoction and gave the bowl to Maxim. The young king accepted it and finished the content. 

"This time, I hope you will be able to rest," said Soren. "I will leave you and check on His Majesty."

Maxim gave Soren the bowl back. "Can you please ask Tides to bring my right-hand man here? His name is Renwyck and he came with us yesterday. I need to talk to him."

"Will do, Your Majesty." Soren bowed down his head and turned around to leave Maxim's chamber.

As soon as he left, Maxim felt drowsy and his eyelids became really heavy.

Oh.. so this time, Soren made the concoction properly, he thought.

Maxim decided to lie down on the bed and closed his eyes. Usually, he didn't dream when he slept after he entered adulthood, but somehow, today, after the conversation with Soren, his mind went back to the past, ten years ago, when he was dying in the gorge.

And he started dreaming. In his dream, he went back to his fifteen-year-old self, beaten up and bruised, dying in a dark and scary gorge.

How did he survive? Who took him to the hunter's hut? Where did he go for the whole year?

Maxim had been suppressing the memory for a long time because it was very traumatizing. He never really talked about it to other people. Soren's question today opened a can of worm that was impossible to close.

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There is an interesting part in Maxim's past that somehow connected him to Elise, long before he even met her.

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