I leaned against the lamp post for a moment.
But I didn’t get to rest when I felt someone stab me from behind. I struggled to turn around. Arnav Chandler’s face greeted me, he was grinning from ear to ear. He used to be a minister but now, I heard he had become the king of Arameth.
He was the one who had schemed with Chrono to destroy me and my family. Chandler confessed it himself when he visited my family back at the dungeon. Nathan heard it all. That was the reason why Chandler was not around when the council killed Chrono.
And to think he almost became my father-in-law.
I was aware that Arnav used to be my father’s rival for the throne but the latter beat him to it. And during my time as the prince, the council wanted to endorse him as the next ruler. With his vast experience, he could have won the election but then I meddled with the state affairs and gained the public’s support. The council left him and started endorsing me instead.
Arnav quietly accepted his defeat. But considering how the old man collided with Crono just to take me and my family down, I would no longer be surprised if Arnav was also the reason behind the epidemic in the past because all of the council members got sick except for him and his family.
I should have doubted him back then, but I gave the old man the benefit of the doubt since the latter was going to be a member of my family.
Arnav stoop so low so many times just to be the king. But if the entire nation was in turmoil, if peace was destroyed, if the laws had been violated, and if the people were miserable, what was the sense of being the king? What good could be found in sitting on the damn throne?
“Why am I not even surprised, Arnav? Traitors like you would never dare attack me in the front.”
“It doesn’t matter. I finally got you, Sormont,” Arnav whispered, his eyes were dancing with absolute contempt.
I could feel buckets of sweat forming on my forehead. I shook my head when I started to feel dizzy and accidentally saw Arnav’s sword. There was a red serpent engraved on its handle. That was the same mark I saw on Theron’s chest.
In Arameth, the markings on our swords will also be the markings that will be left on the bodies of the people we fought against. I had never seen Arnav wield his sword before that’s why I didn’t know the markings on it.
“I-it was you?” I asked, still dumbfounded. “It was you who killed Theron?”
“The one and only,” the old man answered in a proud voice. The fury in his eyes earlier had changed into victory. “It was also me who gave my daughter the pill to kill your baby. You’re dreaming if you think I would let my daughter be involved with a man like you. I watched my daughter as she took the pill willingly as if her whole life depended on it. I also watched how Theron died.
“Since you weren’t there, do you want me to tell you about his final moments? He was important to you and I don’t want you to miss a single detail. You see, Theron still refused to follow my order to betray you even at the brink of death. And no one says no to me. He was the only one who refused me. That’s why I let him wither away slowly-“
“Shut up!” I roared.
My tears fell when I remembered all the years I spent with Theron, the only person who remained silent even if I accidentally confessed our family secrets to him when I was drunk. That was how devoted he was.
Arnav buried his sword deeper in my body but that didn’t stop me from standing up. When I glanced at his sword, it melted. Still stunned, Arnav took a step back when he saw the dragon marks moving around my wrist. They shone brightly in the middle of the night.
My parents put a spell to keep my marks hidden. But now that they showed up, it was a sign that I could no longer restrain my strength.
“H-how come that you have so many d-dragons?” he asked as he turned pale. “You are not a full-blooder Armethian so how is this possible?!”
“Don’t you think it’s a waste of time to talk about the hows and whys? Let me brief you of what these dragons can do instead,” I answered. Using my three fingers, I drew a half circle in the air. Suddenly, Arnav was thrown to a light post meters away from me.
In a blink of an eye, I was already in front of him. “That’s the most minimal damage the air dragon could do. This is the fire one.” When I grabbed his neck, I released the fire through my hand until his entire body started to give off fume.
For the first time, I saw fear crossed Arnav’s eyes. And I had never felt so fulfilled upon the thought of being able to impart fear in someone else than that moment. God… it felt wonderful.
“And this is the earth dragon.” In an instant, countless of thorns surrounded Arnav’s body. They pierced through his chest until he started throwing up blood. If he keeps that up, Arnav’s body fluids would be drained. That was the slowest way to kill him. And if I wanted to, I could easily pierce Arnav’s heart and I could finally avenge Theron.
“Stop it, Alex! If you kill Arnav, then you would prove to everyone that they were right to think the worst things about you!” Nathan exclaimed as he tried to stop my hands. He released me right away after he felt burned.
“I don’t care what they think about me anymore! What about them? Did they even consider what I feel? No!"