Chapter 266
“First, when you return from here, pry open the bottom of the third drawer on the left of my desk. Follow the instructions written there—it should prevent major chaos.”
“What kind of chaos are you anticipating, Your Majesty?”
“You’ll know soon enough. The fifth drawer’s bottom holds an envelope—publish its contents to the world. Given the circumstances, Ysaris will handle the aftermath. A blessing for the Empire.”
“Your Majesty, why are you speaking like this—”
“Now, the most crucial part. Duke, I need your sword.”
Kazhan bared his sculpted torso, fingers brushing the ring hanging from his neck before removing it. But unlike his discarded clothes, he wrapped the chain tightly around his wrist, clutching the ring in his palm.
So even if my strength fails, I won’t lose it.
“Your Majesty.”
By now, Temisian could no longer deny the dread coiling in his gut. Desperate to reject his own suspicions, he forced a question.
“Isn’t Her Majesty waiting for you? Once we return, you could share a long-awaited moment of—”
“What she awaits isn’t me, but the princess in your arms—Casilia Tennilath.”
Kazhan’s tone was detached, as if stating an obvious truth.
“And without awakening, the child will die. Time is short, Duke. I issue my final imperial command.”
“Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider! This is too rash!”
“I am perfectly rational. This decision accounts for all variables.”
Kazhan ignored the duke’s protests—the man who didn’t even grasp the full situation—and gazed at his child. Though her features mirrored his own, all he saw was Ysaris’s tear-streaked face as she pleaded for their daughter.
‘What did I feel, watching that?’
He couldn’t say.
Was it awe that Ysaris could love another so fiercely? Jealousy that the love he’d lost now belonged to another?
Or perhaps it was the hollow agony of knowing the only reason she’d sought him was this—that even now, her guard remained raised against him.
But this wasn’t an emotional decision. After surviving so much, he wouldn’t throw his life away over another wound.
Kazhan had simply weighed the scales. Casilia’s life outweighed his. For Ysaris’s happiness, for the Empire that would lose its Tennilath lineage, and for the children who could share joy with Ysaris in ways he never could—this was the best he could offer.
“Temisian Blake. By the blood covenant between us, I issue an imperial command you cannot refuse.”
“Your Majesty!”
Kazhan didn’t look at the ashen-faced duke. Instead, he uncorked a nearby vessel of preserved blood—a small gesture to prove this wasn’t reckless suicide.
For a Tennilath born without innate abilities, forced awakening required one method, consuming the heart of kin.
The late Emperor had interpreted this as parent-to-child, hence his attempts to kill Kazhan. Jebiken Barilio believed sibling sacrifice sufficed, hence his abduction of the youngest prince.
Jebiken had been right. Kazhan awakened after devouring his half-brother’s heart.
Now, that tragedy would repeat.
“Cut out my heart and feed it to the princess. So she may awaken and heal.”
“This is—!”
Ignoring Temisian’s horror—bound by covenant, he couldn’t refuse—Kazhan tipped the ancestral blood into his mouth. Even a Tennilath would die from a pierced heart, but who knew? Luck might spare him.
Closing his eyes, Ysaris filled his mind as always. Her voice lingered.
“I’ll do anything if you save Casilia.”
‘All I ever wanted was to see you smile at me again, just once.’
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. Do not grant me absolution.”
Kazhan let the duke’s anguished words fade.
‘But if Casilia lives, you’ll smile again. Perhaps even rejoice at my death.’
‘And if that smile is born of my end, may I pretend it was meant for me? Ysaa.’
…Thud.
The pain was brief. A master swordsman’s blade ensured little blood spilled as the heart was excised.
Kazhan collapsed without a sound, a faint tranquility settling over his features.
For the first time since Ysaris left, he slept without nightmares.
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