Elizar was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a mirror in his hands. The left side of his head was disfigured by burns, sometimes bones and teeth were visible, his eye was blinded, and there were no eyelids. The burn went the neck and along the left side of the chest and the entire left arm. Two days ago, he took off the bandages and now when people see him, they flinch or scream in fright, once the maidservant fainted.

Now he was wearing black clothes, a black silk glove was on his left hand, and silk covered his head, leaving his face open. Next to him lay a mask of blackwood with golden patterns and a jewel in the left eye socket. The mask covered the entire face except for the mouth and the area around the right eye.

"Have you seen enough? I think we should go." the familiar voice of a reflection from the past sounded in Elizar's thoughts. That voice hasn't left him since he woke up a week ago. When Elizar asked who he was and why he helped him. He said. "You can call me Alem, then I helped you because I had a contract. Now because I want to." Elizar asked about the contract and why he wanted to help now, but Alem did not answer. In fact, Elizar was not sure that the name Alem was real either.

"When are you going to teach me magic?" Elizar muttered.

"Not now and not here." Elizar heard the already familiar answer to this question, but he kept asking. He wanted to feel mana flowing through his body again, but Alem blocked his mana so that no one would know that he could now do magic. And it was not in vain. One of the first people who came to him when he woke up was an old man in a gray robe with a crystal ball in his hand. The old man was the one who took his body, he asked Elizar to touch the ball, and then left. Then Rose told him that the old man was a royal mage, and the ball was testing magic abilities.

Elizar put on his mask, took a last look in the mirror and left the room. Four of his guards were waiting in the corridor. They were wearing the armor of the royal guards. They bowed their heads slightly. Elizar walked between them and went to the festive hall.

"Baron Elizar Vindrake, Lord of the Dragon Manor." the herald announced when Elizar entered the hall.

The feast hadn't started yet, but many seats were already occupied. Knights who had distinguished themselves in the war and barons were sitting at the entrance to the hall, then there were counts and obscenely rich merchants. The royal family was sitting at the back of the hall with the three dukes and their families next to them. Elizar went to the king to pay his respects, but the closer he got, the more attention he attracted and the more gossip he heard.

"Who is it?"

"The second son of Baron Davin."

"I heard his whole family died, poor boy."

"Who do you think is behind this?"

"Why is he wearing a mask?"

"He is disfigured, I heard that under the mask he has a bare skull without skin."

"Your Majesty," Elizar bowed deeply as he approached. "Prince Ren, Prince Sorrel, Princess Rose." he raised his head and looked at them. The king nodded, the princes ignored him, the princess smiled. Elizar got up and went to his seat. His seat was next to the princess and he was ready to swear that she was the reason for this. At first, no one paid much attention, but when Elizar sat down, he felt a lot of hostile looks looking at him. In some there was envy in others jealousy.

Elizar lifted a silver goblet and a servant filled it with lake wine. He raised the goblet to his mouth and muttered "Alem, do you think there are people here who are responsible for the death of my family?"

"Perhaps. But I think there are people here who are at least indirectly involved in this." Hearing the answer, Elizar emptied the goblet and looked at the royal family.

"Elizar, I'm sorry." Rose said.

"For what?" Elizar was looking at her. Rose was the only one in this hall with whom he had friendly relations. She hardly left his room during the daytime when he was unconscious and she sobbed when she told him that his whole family was dead.

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"I asked the royal mage to heal your burns, he said it was possible, but it was very very expensive." Rose spoke softly so that no one but Elizar could hear.

"How much?" Elizar lifted the goblet to be refilled.

"Several decades of the kingdom's income. He said that the fire hurt not only your body but also your soul." When Elizar heard the price, he started coughing. "I promised that I would help cure your burns, but it's too expensive even for me. Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize for that. I am grateful for your concern princess." Elizar said and emptied the goblet.

After some time and a few goblets, the feast began. "My Lords!" with these words, the king stood up. Everyone fell silent and stood up. "My Lords," the king repeated "Today we celebrate the victory over Krumer. The great people of my kingdom are gathered here. Many of you have covered yourself with glory on the battlefields." Then the king said a lot of kind words, but Elizar no longer listened to them. After a long speech, the king began to present rewards, someone received gold, someone lands, and someone lands and titles.

"Baron Elizar Vindrake your father and brother have done me a great service, but sadly they are dead, and the reward I wanted to give them to you is not suitable. So tell me what you want and if it's not excessive I'll do it. Of course, you don't have to tell me now, you can do it when you decide."

Elizar approached the king and knelt down. "I am Baron Elizar Vindrake, Lord of the Dragon Manor, asking for permission and assistance in selling my lands."

"And how much do you want to sell?" the king tried to hide the surprise in his voice.

"Almost all." when Elizar said that, the people in the hall began to whisper

"Are you sure?" the king's question plunged the hall into silence.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Elizar felt like all eyes were on him.

"I will fulfill your request. After the feast, come to the treasurer, he will arrange everything." Elizar thought there was discontent in the king's voice. "Thank you, Your Majesty." Elizar got up and went to his place.

"Now that the worthy ones have received rewards," the king said sitting down. "We can start feasting, especially since many have received new reasons for this." raising the goblet the king continued. "For Sorras!"

"For Sorras!" the lords shouted raising their goblets and then sat down. Music and fun filled the hall.

"Are you sure? Even if you sell everything, you won't have enough." Rose asked in a worried voice.

"Yes I do." Elizar didn't understand what she was talking about at first. It looks like she thought he wanted to cure the burns by selling the land, but that's not the case. Of course he didn't mind the burns disappearing.

Rose tried to start a talk with Elizar a couple of times, but each time she got simple answers. Realizing that he didn't want to talk to her, Rose stopped trying. Elizar believed that talking to the princess in public would not do him nothing good.

He felt out of place. Yes, not his place, the place next to the princess, the place between the royal and ducal family, the place his brother. But the brother is dead, as are the sister and the parents. Why were they killed? Because of revenge? Whose? Krumer or old family enemies? Maybe it was because of fear of the future great mage that other countries did it, or because of the envy of some of the lords in this hall? Or... .? Elizar looked at the royal family and didn't want to think about it. He didn't notice when the tears came out, but he was glad that no one could see them because of the mask. Elizar washed down his sadness with wine.

A few hours later, the feast was still going on, although the king and princess had already gone to rest. Many people got up from the table and gathered in groups in different parts of the hall, they talked about the future, argued and joked. Especially large groups were around princes and dukes. Some lords and ladies went for a stroll in the garden. Not many people stayed at the table, perhaps they liked the food and drinks or they could no longer get up.

Elizar was standing on the balcony and breathing the cool night air when footsteps were heard behind him. "Hey Lizardhead." a boy's voice sounded."Lizardhead are you deaf?" the boy stood to the side of Elizar.

"I'm not Lizardhead." Elizar said and looked at the boy. He was about the same height, red hair and green eyes, there was a stupid smile on his face, he was wearing expensive clothes, but Elizar's attention was attracted by a satin cloak, or rather its clasp with a coat of arms. Three scarlet feathers. Coat of arms of Count Givold. Looks like it's his son Hawk.

"You have a lizard's head on the coat of arms and if you are not Lizardhead, why answer when his name is called?" Hawk's smile got even stupider. "Anyway, I came here to tell you to stay away from the royal family, especially from Rose. You're not worthy of her." For a moment, Elizar thought about throwing this bastard off the balcony, but he quickly changed his mind, he's not worth it. Taking Elizar's silence for agreement, Hawk's smile became even dumber. "It's good that you understood." After that, he went back to the hall.

"Maybe it was worth throwing it off?" Elizar muttered. "It's not too late" Alem 's voice sounded.

"Lizardhead, huh?" a faint smile appeared on Elizar's face. After taking one more look at the city, he wandered to his room to sleep.