Chapter 240

Kazhan didn’t accompany her to the meeting. He sent another guard instead, terrified he might lose control and cut down the suitor where he stood.

His face remained still, but inside—chaos. He wrestled with directionless rage for hours.

The storm he’d dismissed as a distant threat was now here, drenching him in helplessness.

He’d never raised his voice at Ysaris, not since their academy days.

He didn’t now, either.

Logically, he understood. The Chernian royal family would never permit their marriage. As a princess who loved her people, she couldn’t easily elope. The risks were too high.

He knew she was buying time by entertaining suitors without commitment.

……Yet fury still coiled in his gut. Every time she left for a meeting, he wanted to scream.

‘You’re mine. Why must I watch you discuss marriage with another?’

Reason and emotion collided. No matter how he rationalized it, the bitterness remained.

‘What if she marries someone else? What happens to me then?’

‘Do you ever think of our future? Can you really love only me forever?’

‘You won’t even let me try to propose—’

He gritted his teeth and swallowed every doubt. The only outlet left was claiming her in bed, branding her with his desperation.

She never pushed him away, even gasping beneath him—as if she owed him this penance.

Once, after an especially rough night, Ysaris fell ill with fever. When Kazhan stiffly apologized for losing control, she smiled weakly.

She even joked she’d have been hurt if he wasn’t possessive. The apology that followed.

“If this eases your anger, I don’t mind”

Struck him like lightning.

His jealousy was justified. Because Ysaris was wronging him.

Yet knowing this didn’t make him cruel. Even when rage choked him, even when frustration clawed at his throat—one glance at her sapphire eyes softening with love, and he could still smile.

Then one day—

Bariteon Kelloden came to see him.