𝖊𝖛𝖔𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖚𝖙 𝖎𝖗𝖆 𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖋𝖆𝖘 𝖘𝖎𝖙; 𝖗𝖊𝖌𝖓𝖆.

•••

Hues comprising the Khun Family palette were accentuated by the deepening moonlit night, as Khun Eduan wandered the outskirts of his estate under a spontaneous impulse to organize his thoughts. The sun long waned, setting beautifully across the shinsu-bound sky, leaving the torches made of suspendium-geode hybrids named ‘Everburn’ as the only source of light illuminating the entirety of the territory, which was something he had personally commissioned from the master blacksmiths of the Workshop. The only proof of his visit being the shoeprints that barely dented the sands of fine crystalline.

Now Eduan had always upheld a sense of pride as someone who is able to appreciate the visually pleasing aesthetic of things, but the fact that whenever he takes the time to ponder over the landscapes that surrounded his estate never settled well. He is reminded of why he aimed to usurp his father in the first place. Of hopeless wishes and childish yesterday’s dreams. Of him.

His feet led him further away from the grandeur of his palace, towards the forgotten section of the estate— a land he had granted ownership to the Twenty-fifth Bam when the brunet ranked first in a monthly examination. It’s not like his insolent, carbon copy of a son hadn’t been using it without his permission before they even met, but having the Khun Family Head gift the title himself became the perfect excuse to solidify Bam’s position within Khun Eduan’s personal heirarchy, despite his foreign origins.

“Fancy meeting you around here, Family Head. Are you lost, by any chance? Or perhaps,” when Eduan regained his focus, he came across a small figure leaning against the final cabin's pavements— Khun Aguero Agnis, flashing a sarcastic grin, then a pin carved in the shape and color of middlemist reds came speeding toward the patriarch. “You’ve found greater fulfillment in abducting your own vassals as a twisted form of entertainment?”

‘Ha Yurin.’

The irregular confirmed as he caught the pin before it’s tip could pierce his eye. Anyone who had spent as much time alongside the woman as Eduan did could recognize the damn insignia anywhere in a glance, but this was a method only meant to be used as a warning for the living, or a symbol for the dead. So why was this left at the scene where the son of V was last seen?

‘Did she already discover his identity?’

As an attempt to contain his anger, a scornful chuckle escaped his lips as he tossed the object back to Aguero, electric blue eyes narrowing sharply. “We’re tyrants, A.A. Not perverts.”

“You and I both know there is a fine line between madness and desire.”

‘What a smartass.’ “Then I think you should know as well. That little one, self-destructs.”

The young Agnis cursed profusely after realizing that the now blinking item still settled on his palm. Impressively, in a fit of sheer panic, he reinforced the pin inside a field of shinsu before throwing it as far as he could towards the sky— an explosion releasing a piercing gust of wind occurring with only seconds to spare from blasting his limbs off.

“Why are you looking at me like all this is my fault?” the elder bluenet questioned with sickening innocence lacing his tone.

“Was that a normal ritual between the Great Family Heads? Because, you seemed too used to it.”

“You can tell?” Eduan rolled his eyes at the resurfacing memories he never thought he would one day voluntarily recall. “She started attempting those around the early onset of the Great War. At first, I thought it was her way of making sure all thirteen of us were still alive despite fighting for opposite sides, but it got progressively worse when...”

The man’s breathing hitched as the scene flashed at the back of his mind before passing it off, but it seemed that Aguero had other plans tonight. “When she found me holding V’s lifeless body.” 

“No shit. Sources insinuate that you were the one who killed him.”

‘I did? Killed whom?’ Kill. Kill. Kill your thoughts before it could actually bloom—

Eduan smiled, tilting his head in nonchalance. “Do you actually believe that I could face Jue Viole Grace so brazenly like this if I did? Even I am not that thick-skinned, boy.”

“Maistresse Ha Yurin seems to think otherwise— and for good reason, at that,”  The twelve-year-old replied without meeting his father’s gaze, kicking the sand beneath his feet. “As you said, she was the first witness, and you did not even deny when word got out that it was you who dealt the last blow that took V’s life. Even if you set those aside, you’re pretty shitty. People naturally picture you as someone who can trade their relationships for the winning side.”

“V was,” he hesitated. No amount of sugarcoating could ever describe the extent of their relationship— if there was anything to begin with. And if, by chance, there was something, Eduan does not deserve to use it. “Like a brother to me. I could never betray him, even if the situation called for it.”

“Then why did you let him die in the first place? Suicide or not, it didn’t make sense how Jahad kept you alive and left you be, knowing your closeness might fuel a foreboding revenge. So, I had a thought.” Aguero stared back with intensity, crossing his arms as his cobalt orbs glowed a hue which showed more depth a boy as young as him should never have. “Maybe, there could have been a decisive moment that solidified Jahad’s trust. Perhaps, the rumors were right— that you were the one who slayed the traitor, or perhaps, V did wring his own neck and you just happened to be the only witness.”

The child had a point. Aguero cannot fathom the thought that the V Eduan claimed to know so much— if he were to adore his child like the elder bluenet said he did— would think of ending his life in such a pathetic method. Framing V of suicide would turn out to be the greatest dishonor given to a traitor of an empire he once served and fought to protect with his life on the line, and that would be Jahad’s ideal outcome.

“Well aren’t you quite smart?” the former plastered up an impressed but devious grin, bolts of lighting emanating from his pointed finger as he motioned to slit his throat. “Shall I shut you up for eternity?”

“You can, but you won’t.” A triumphant smile morphed unto Aguero’s lips. “Haven’t you heard? Apparently, I am Father’s favorite child.”

Clearly, his confidence amused the patriarch, and the latter answered the unspoken. “Is that not the truth?”

Eduan shrugged his shoulders. “The main palace places their bets on Jue Viole.”

“Really?” Aguero’s expression contorted with confusion and faint awe. “He is not even your son.”

‘Not yet, but he will be. Eventually.’ Do not ever think Khun Eduan’s senses could overlook the hefty amount of obsession the Agnis monseigneur exudes whenever the topic of Bam is brought up. Yet, he had chosen to reply passive-aggressively to spite the young child. “Exactly.”

“Bitch.”

The man released an exaggerated, offended gasp at the response. “Hey, I am still your superior! Plus, I ain’t your favorite person either, so it’s fair game.”

“That is true, I do hate you. But now?” Aguero crossed his arms, looking at the patriarch from head to toe with obvious disdain before continuing. “Perhaps, not so much. I look at you, and all I can feel is pity for the you whose dreams died the same way V did. The you who signed the Contract of Immortality, because he thought that all of them would stay the same. The Khun Eduan who once believed in the lie that was unconditional happiness.”

‘Why did I choose to live such a complicated life?’ Those were actually some of the reasons he believed V and himself shared in common— indecision and an everlasting inclination to things they cannot comprehend.

The dead air lasted longer than the both of them preferred, but the Agnis’ young master broke the tension swiftly. “Oh, come on. You need not to wear such a grim face. I already swore I wouldn’t pry unless it is absolutely necessary. After all, it’s not like I am any different.”

Eduan’s brow raised in intrigue. “You speak as if you had gone through a rather similar experience.”

“Who knows?” Aguero smirked. “Maybe I did, or maybe I lied my way through getting some kind of truth out of you.”

“Well, I don’t need your pity.” Eduan liked to think he had already accumulated enough self-loathing to last for a lifetime. Well, his lifetime. “However, I guess I could let you in on a little secret.”

The monseigneur stiffened in startlement before adamantly standing his ground, refusing despite the obvious intrigue. “I already told you, I can find the answers myse—!”

“V did commit suicide.”

It was as if Eduan dropped a bombshell upon the smaller bluenet, and his composure faltered and mouth hung agape before snapping back to reality. “So, the rumors were wrong?”

“Not entirely.” He answered vaguely, like he always did to make the lies more believable. “While V indeed took his life out of his own volition, the Jahad Empire would have made it seem like suicide either way. Picture this, one of the most powerful wavecontrollers in the Tower, unable to handle the sight of his wife going insane over the corpse that was his dead son. Isn’t it shameful?”

Even after V’s last breath, Jahad spared no expense in ruining what was left of the poor man’s reputation. It was disgusting, how Jahad acted so banally and lorded over them like he had done no wrong, but more so, how Khun Eduan (and probably more that never lived to tell the tale) claimed to resent him yet remained under his rule. Still, the spearbearer kept his disdain well-hidden and exclaimed, clasping his hands together like he just had an epiphany.

“Well then! It is way past bedtime for you, Monseigneur Agnis. I, on the other hand, still have a bone to pick with that old hag so I must get going.”

“Don’t you dare try to dismiss a topic you opened, coward!”

Eduan smirked. “No prying, remember?”

The child bit his cheek as his dastardly father used his own words against him. “I hope you get choked and die!”

“Oh, mijo. V’s the only one I’ll willingly allow to choke me.” He winked then translocated Aguero inside the cabin’s bedroom, tucking him under heavy layers of sheets, then forcibly used shinsu to knock him out cold. “Sleep well my adorable, second-favorite, offspring!”

As the family head finished ridiculing his now unconscious son, the mirth from his eyes slowly vanished, expression turning emptier by the minute as he prepared his exit.

ー • ー

It only took a fraction of a second for Khun Eduan to finally reach Ha Yurin’s doorstep. With no time to spare, his willed his shinsu to freeze the semi-reinforced door rock-solid, crumbling and reducing to dust, revealing the aforesaid Great Family Head who had the actual audacity to impatiently glare at him as she sipped on a porcelain cup.

“What took you so long? Now, take a seat for we have so much to talk abou—”

Eduan’s eyes glowed viciously, like a predator born and ready to tear its prey apart, as he tightly wrung Yurin’s neck with his bare hands, turning the couch over and pinning her to the ground.

“ACK! Un...hand... m-me...!”

The hatred in the spearbearer’s gaze only solidified the more she struggled to free herself from his grasp, but he wasn’t tied to Arie Hon in rank for nothing, and Jahad never kept him in check for centuries just for ‘old times' sake’. 

“Where is the child, Ha Yurin?”

Yurin’s face turned into a sickly pallor, realizing she cannot use her abilities to free herself any faster than he can twist and snap her neck. Ha Yurin may be an immortal— an entity the closest thing they could ever become to a God, unbound by the physical constraints of the Tower. But, in case you forgot, Khun Eduan was an irregular as well.

“What. Did. You. Do.”

Eduan threw her against the wall which absorbed the impact, then swiftly asphyxiating the Ha Family Head once more as he lifted her higher, making Yurin muffle out both a denial and a sob— eyes blurred with tears and dotted vision.

“S...afe—” she coughed violently, her breath constricting. “He’s... safe—”

As if a triggering the resurfacing of his reasoning, a sense of relief washed over Eduan like the wintry cold as he finally decided that Yurin was telling the truth, rendering him to dropping her onto the cold, hard ground and still deathly glaring at the meistreisse as she catches every breath.

“You dare lay a hand on one of mine, knowing full well that he was off-limits? How brazen have you become for someone whose reputation have receded?”

“Student? Arlene’s son is your prized student?” the ravenette barely whispered as her fingers grazed over her bruised neck. “What the actual fuck, Khun Eduan?! Since when were you hiding him?!”

“Am I obliged to tell a mere stranger the truth?” The bluenet’s gaze steeled, making her involuntarily flinch, but as she was still a Great Family Head, she almost immediately regained her composure.

“Don’t tell me this was the reason behind you ditching the Tower?”

“Why? So you could finally have something to tattle about onto your King?”

“Make me understand however the fuck did you not even think of informing me know about this!” The dual-class wielder’s voice was hoarse— almost desperate, but Khun Eduan had been immune to that for a long time now. “I was your friend first before a Great Family Head, Eduan! I was... V’s friend.”

“Traumerei was the most attached to V out of all of us, was he not?” An incredulous expression flashed onto the bluenet’s face as the room started to reconstruct itself starting with the couch he ought to sit on, cross-legged, as he took a sip on the now cold camellia tea which miraculously remained unharmed throughout the whole fiasco. “Yet, who did he fight for in the end?”

“Do not compare me to that vermin!”

“I can risk everything I have, Yurin. My power, wealth, reputation, hell, even my own flesh and blood. But,” Eduan held back his laughter as he slammed the emptied out chinaware on the table. “I cannot risk V’s son. I cannot risk Arlene Grace— even if she is his own mother, taking him without my knowledge and then using him for god-knows-what. I cannot risk my only memento of V being stolen right in front of my eyes again. So, no. If given the chance to do it once more, I will never tell you.”

Ha Yurin seemed hurt by the final notion, but enlightened at the same time once she sat across him as if they were both civilized people not engaging in thoughtless manslaughter. “If I am right, what you are planning to do is treason, Khun Eduan.”

“You think I’m afraid? Have I not been welcoming your spineless attempts of killing me for centuries now with open arms?” the Illuminium appeared in his hands and Eduan watched as a faint panic set onto Yurin’s face as he twirled it between his fingers. “The moment they betrayed us first should have been the ultimatum.”

“Fine, fine! But get that away from me for fuck’s sake!” the dagger disappeared, and the tension ceased. “You’re using that to escape the constraints of the Tower and revisit the Hidden Floor— sure, that’s the easy part and then what? How are you going to make sure none of Jahad’s clones sense you? How are you going to return without getting your wandering soul drift too far?”

‘Am I too weak in this woman’s eyes?’ the spearbearer scoffed inwardly. “There are many people bearing a grudge against some— if not all— of us. I am sure someone will be smart enough to pull some strings to get to me. I just need my data to be aware of their arrival and give them everything they need.”

“So, what’s my role in this?”

The corners of the Khun Family Head’s lips quirked up. “I recall your granddaughter was quite the free spirit.”

“Yuri?”

Ha Yuri Jahad. Ha Yurin’s favorite granddaughter. One of the strongest Rankers in the Tower and among the fewest of the Princesses of Jahad who had been bestowed with the 13 Month Series. Someone who survived Phantaminium’s rampage on Jahad’s castle. To say she is an interesting child would be an understatement.

“Make sure they cross paths, but do not tell her anything. If she is the perceptive young lady I think she is, witnessing Khun Eduan’s son climbing the Tower with someone not of the same status would pique her interest. After all, isn’t she the most similar to you?”

‘Whether it’s us, them, the Tower of God; and whether it’s V or Jue Viole Grace, these novel and pretty things,

enamour us all the same.’