Chapter 427 Love and Hate

Cassius II stumbled and scurried along the empty corridor like a fleeing wild beast. The once mirror-like marble tiles were now stained and grimy from chaotic footsteps. The ornate tapestry, half torn from its edge, hung limply in the air, its tangled tassels like the hair of a dead man.

The road to his chambers was so long that the few palace servants who passed by, seeing his blood-stained hands and his maddened appearance, all ducked in fear, as if they were avoiding the plague. Even a familiar court lady, frantically stuffing jewels into her bodice, froze when she saw him, her face turning pale.

Cassius II ignored them. He gripped his sword tightly, the unfamiliar, cold hilt rubbing against his palm. The sword offered him no sense of security; instead, it served as a constant reminder, like a red-hot iron—it was over. The king realized, despairingly, as if waking from a dream, that everything was over.

The door to the bedroom finally appeared at the end of the corridor. "Merry!" The king shouted his wife's nickname, but he felt that his hoarse voice was so weak that it was almost completely swallowed by the ominous noise that was getting closer and closer in the distance.

He rushed forward, pounded the closed door several times with his fists, and rammed it several times with his shoulders. The door opened, and the king, caught off guard, tumbled inside, losing his balance and falling to the ground.

"……what are you doing here?"

A cold and hoarse female voice sounded slowly above his head. Cassius II raised his head and saw his wife's golden eyes, which glowed like a wild beast in the dim light of the room.

She frowned at his bloodied and miserable appearance, as if wanting to pull him up from the ground. But just as she stretched out her hand, she retracted it as if remembering something. She turned her face slightly to the side and said coldly to the person beside her, "Help His Majesty up."

Two silver-helmeted knights emerged from the shadows and helped Cassius II to his feet. The queen, with her back to him, placed her right leg on the stool, bent down, threaded the buckle, and tightened a stubborn leather strap around her calf.

Only then did Cassius II suddenly realize that the queen was not wearing the bloody black dress that made her look like a beast lurking in the shadows, but a set of gleaming mithril armor. This heavy and cold armor was so suitable for her that it was as if she had been born with an extremely tough metal shell.

After Cassius II finally recovered from his shock, he immediately yelled at Esmeralda, "Let me ask you, what the hell are you doing hiding here? Are you waiting to die?!"

Long-term bossing of his wife had made him almost instinctively yell at her, like a spoiled child. But the queen, without even raising her eyes, simply lifted her right arm, which was covered with a metal arm guard, and clamped it with her left hand. With the cold "click" sound of metal parts rubbing against each other, she moved her wrist, as if adjusting the tightness. Then the king suddenly woke up and instinctively flinched.

"What I mean is, I still know some secret passages that can lead us out of Yuanxin Palace and out of the royal city." He muttered helplessly, "No one knows about it except the kings of all generations. Those mobs will definitely not be able to find us..."

This time Esmerel looked up and glanced at him.

"Then go." She said in an almost calm tone: "I will send someone to escort you, Cyril, Aidan -"

She named two silver-helmeted knights and signaled them to carry the king out of the bedroom. She then walked to a table nearby. On the soft velvet cushions lay an exquisitely crafted black sword, almost swallowing up all the light.

"What about you?!" Cassius II shook off the arms of the two silver-helmeted knights and roared at his wife, unable to bear it any longer: "Esmeri, I hate your half-dead look—"

The queen drew her sword, and the cold blade reflected her emotionless golden animal eyes.

"—I'm telling you, you clearly don't love me, yet you act so generous and calm, ready to die for me. It's so disgusting that it makes me want to vomit!"

The surrounding silver-helmeted knights dared not utter a single breath. The only sound in the chamber was Cassius II's heavy breathing. After a long silence, the queen finally spoke.

"...Don't say stupid things that you and I both know full well, Your Majesty." She said lightly as she slowly wiped the sword with a soft cloth.

Of course Esmerel didn't love him.

In other words, the ruler of this country, an ambitious, ruthless and decisive hero, would never love a cowardly, incompetent, indecisive man who has nothing to offer except his bloodline and status, but she must "love" such a noble puppet that is very useful, obedient and harmless.

Perhaps the young prince in his memory had once been ambitious and high-spirited, but fate had never provided him with any opportunity to leave a name in history books. He was destined to be an incompetent king who acted absurdly and unrestrainedly, a ridiculous monarch who was played around by his wife.

...But it was well known that Cassius II was soft-hearted at best and weak and incompetent at worst. Therefore, even if it was simply out of a habit of dependence formed over the years, he could not abandon his wife, who had desperately saved him countless times and shown him great kindness, and then flee alone. He could not kill her himself or throw her into the hands of the mob—even though he had once loved her to death and hated her with a vengeance, even though this woman had once colluded with the god of love to insult his dignity, tarnish his emotions, and completely destroy his life.

Esmerel finally managed to polish his sword and effortlessly executed a beautiful, sharp sword flower. Despite the passage of time, the fundamental skills he had diligently practiced under the whip for his acrobatic performances in the circus had never faded.

"I won't leave." She looked up at her husband with red eyes and messy beard and announced.

The turbulent love and hate seemed to have no effect on her, but the other person looked shaky and would have almost fallen down if it were not for the support of the silver-helmeted knight beside her.

"Analene is dead, I'm glad." Esmerel touched her newly smooth chest and addressed the Goddess of Love without hesitation. "As for what's next, I'll see with my own eyes what the outcome will be for my country. I want to witness it all myself—I want to see clearly who I've lost to."

She paused, and her voice suddenly revealed a strange tenderness: "...But if you don't want to leave, you can stay here with me."

"I can only promise you, your majesty, on my soul," the queen said quietly, "that you will not die before I do."

The king's lips trembled violently, but he said nothing.

"Your Majesty!" All the surrounding silver-helmeted knights knelt, one choking with sobs and pleading, "Please allow us to fight to the death, even if it means we shed our last drop of blood—please allow us to take action and buy you some time!"

"No, thank you." But the queen still rejected him without hesitation: "Those who can still stay by my side now, I have seen your loyalty - but none of you are allowed to make a move against the people's army."

"You are the most powerful sorcerers and warriors remaining in the Silver Iris Empire, the foundation of the nation's present and future. The people of Ferros are ruthless and ambitious, and will never accept such a fate." She said firmly. No one knew why the queen trusted the rebel leader so much. "That's why Ghost would never attack you at a time like this. He has always been a calm and rational person."

"This is the king's order," Esmerel added expressionlessly. Her golden eyes glanced at Cassius II, causing him to tremble and speak subconsciously, "Yes, this is my order..."

By the time he reacted, it was too late. The king's order had taken effect, and the Silver Helmet Knight would obey the king's order according to the oath he had sworn to the Okensele River.

…

When Jophiel Yialos once again stepped into the familiar Kite Heart Palace, his feet seemed to be dragged by something, and each step became heavier and more hesitant.

But he continued to move forward, step by step, and saw many familiar faces along the way. The queen's maid, the gardener, the palace attendant with whom he had once drank... When those people saw him, their faces were first confused, confused, surprised, and then solidified into a kind of horror after sudden realization.

This also made Ialos realize very clearly that he was no longer the Knight Commander of the Kite Heart Guard who fought to protect the glory of the royal family. He had long since become a pawn of the ghost, painfully but clearly, willingly serving its will and serving it.

Yialos gripped his spear tightly. He didn't attack the unarmed palace guards, and of course, no one dared to rush up to stop him... Surprisingly, no one stopped him. It seemed that the Yuanxin Palace had completely given up resistance. Yialos didn't even know whether he should be happy about this. He just felt like his soul was almost torn apart.

When he finally passed through the last archway, pushed open the locked door, and stepped into the council hall that once symbolized the highest power of the empire but was now shrouded in the dusk of its end, the Knight Commander's footsteps suddenly stopped.

Queen Esmerel of the Silver Iris Empire stood in the center of the hall.

She was clad in silver armor, clutching a black longsword, the tip of which pointed elegantly at the ground. Her posture was as calm as if she were simply preparing for a routine swordsmanship training exercise. Meanwhile, Cassius II, the current king of the Silver Iris Empire, sat upright on his throne, his face pale, his lips trembling, and his legs shaking, but at least he didn't jump up and run.

Apart from this, the hall was empty, and the silver-helmeted knights who were supposed to be loyally guarding it were nowhere to be found.

The pair of golden animal eyes slowly turned towards the direction of the Knight Commander. There was no surprise, no anger, no hatred in them - just a calmness that seemed to see through everything, and the calmness reflected on Ialos' pale face.

"Long time no see, Yialos." The queen greeted calmly in her usual tone, "I didn't expect that the first person I'd wait for would be you."