I had assumed it was merely the custom of their wild clans, and swallowed all my grievances.
But at the later coronation, I finally understood how tenderly and respectfully he treated Lena.
The wind seemed to cut through my empty chest.
Dawn was breaking.
This was the final day.
Kael, I am dying. The royal line of the kingdom you despise will soon be utterly extinguished.
Congratulations.
The hall doors suddenly swung open.
Kael emerged, looking down at me.
“I sent you to attend to Lena. Is this how you shirk your duties?”
Someone had just reported that Kael needed to attend to matters of state, and ordered me to quickly
go serve the Queen as she bathed and changed.
When I carried the water in, Lena’s face was flushed with health.
When no one else was around, the look she gave me was a blatant challenge, stripped of all pretense.
Our eyes met. I silently mouthed a single word.
I mouthed: Traitor.
Lena wasn’t annoyed. She simply smiled, casually assessing my disheveled state.
“Lyra, you’re still the same, aren’t you? Always breaking out in rashes when you touch peach pollen.”
She had once been my closest confidante, born to a general’s family. My King had always trusted and respected General Shen, never imagining that when our kingdom fell, the first to betray us would be the Shen family!
I remembered when I was first imprisoned in the secluded chambers, Lena snuck in to visit me. She
told me:
“The fortune teller said my family’s daughters are born for nobility. I was destined to be Queen!”
“Who told your King and Crown Prince brother to be so ungrateful?”
So, that was the reason for the betrayal.
Lena then pulled out the wolf fang bracelet, flaunting it in front of me.
“The taste of a thousand parasites gnawing at your heart… it’s not pleasant, is it?”
“You probably don’t even know, ten years ago, when you rescued Kael in the Shadowfen Thicket, why he suddenly became so cold to you upon his return?”
“Because… he thought *I* was the one who saved him.””
Lena finished speaking, expecting to savor my shocked, pained expression.
But my eyes didn’t even waver.
What lay between Kael and me was the hatred of kingdoms, a sea of blood.
What could a mere act of salvation possibly erase?
I scoffed.
“Had I known, I would have let him die in that Shadowfen Thicket.”
A cold laugh sounded from behind me.
I instinctively turned, and Kael’s hand clasped my throat, his gaze chilling.
“Lyra, do you truly hate me that much?”
“Do you really believe I couldn’t bring myself to kill you?”
The hand that had once caressed every inch of my skin now squeezed my windpipe with brutal
force.
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even breathe.
From my dead, placid eyes, Kael understood.
I dared him. I wanted him to actually choke me to death.
Kael’s brow furrowed, and he violently flung me away.
“Death is too cheap for you, Lyra. I want you to live, to suffer for the rest of your life!”
