Chapter 89

Asad looked down at Kinaine. His lips slowly opened.

"Your punishment is ban..."

Ban?

Everyone listened intently for the words to follow.

But Kinaine could guess the next words without hearing them.

'Banishment from the dragon palace.'

Asad was undoubtedly thinking of saying those words.

Kinaine lowered his eyes.

...So I was right, he has grown tired of me.

If anything, it was stranger that he had been interested in him at all. With beautiful dominant omegas everywhere around him, there was no reason to be obsessed with a scarred, uninteresting man.

It must have just been his desire to torment a human he disliked, and interest in experiencing an omega for the first time. Now even that had ended...

But still, he didn't want it to end like this. He wanted to see Asad happy before leaving. Only then could he depart this world willingly without any lingering attachments.

He had lost everything he had, and couldn't even raise a sword of revenge against the one who made him lose it all. If there were those who knew his life, they would say he had lived a truly empty and fleeting life. But if he could recall his lover's smiling face before dying, he could leave satisfied even with such a life.

'Please...'

Just a little would be enough. One more year, no, even just half a year. Kinaine looked at Asad with desperate feelings.

Asad, if you're tired of me, you can abandon me anywhere and forget about me. I'll watch from afar and quietly disappear without a trace when the time comes. So... don't tear me away from you so emptily like this.

However, desperate feelings don't always reach their intended recipient.

His heart sank when he saw Asad's brow furrow as he looked at him. Unable to look at Asad any longer, Kinaine lowered his head.

But Asad's gaze didn't leave Kinaine's crown.

"..."

Asad's lips moved. Though it seemed he would utter the word "banishment" any moment, strangely, no sound came out.

This isn't right... Asad rubbed his face.

It had been since that day he made the human cry. That was when Asad's condition had started rapidly deteriorating.

The auditory hallucinations he had heard when saving the human from the lake were just the beginning. From the moment he returned, voices he had no memory of kept stirring his brain.

'Should you, shouldn't you take off your clothes just anywhere where everyone can see?'

'...Did you think, hehe, the servant would grow if you buried him in the ground?'

The endless hallucinations disappeared quickly like sand slipping through fingers, leaving him unable to properly remember what he had heard.

He simply couldn't sleep. His whole body felt like it was burning, and tears flowed endlessly from his eyes. Who could sleep peacefully in such a state?

Sometimes when he came to his senses, he found himself inflicting wounds on his own body.

His condition was worsening.

Hearing his condition was not normal, Shinsurial had come and purified the demonic energy as usual. Though the purification process always made him feel unpleasant, he had to endure it since the voices would stop afterward.

...He had to endure, but.

'Ugh!'

When he came to his senses at the scream, he was pinning Shinsurial down and strangling him. As if his body and mind were separated, Asad watched what he was doing like an outsider for a while.

Then suddenly, Asad realized he was continuously muttering something. He slowly felt the movement of his own lips.

Don't touch... This is my...

'Kuh, Lord Asad...'

'Ah.'

Fortunately, Asad regained control of his body before Shinsurial's breath was cut off. Though he had nearly died just now, Shinsurial calmly continued the demonic energy purification process. Soon whiteness spread through his mind and peaceful silence came.

As Asad became docile, Shinsurial let out a relieved sigh and advised him.

'Lord Asad, as you're probably already feeling, you're in a very unstable state right now. At this rate, it's hard to predict when you might go berserk again. Seeing you this corrupted by demonic energy when it hasn't been long since purification, I wonder if something stimulating happened... I hear your auditory hallucinations have worsened since encountering the human bride candidate.'

'...That's right.'

'You became demonized due to events in the human realm, Lord Asad. So encountering humans gives you negative stimulation. How about avoiding humans from now on?'

Every word made sense. If humans stimulated his demonization, he should avoid encountering them. Asad had many things more important than momentary interest.

'I'll do that.'

So Asad decided to remove the human from his sight. When making the decision in front of Shinsurial, he had no hesitation. If he put what he had and the human on scales one by one, it was obvious which way they would tip.

The second test was a good pretext. By giving punishment of banishment from the dragon palace, he could simply remove the human. Whatever gift he brought, the human was destined for last place.

And everything flowed as Asad had thought.

Yes, surely it had, but...

'Banish the human from the dragon palace.'

Like something stuck in his throat, those few words simply wouldn't come out. Asad painfully moved his lips again.

"Ban..."

But let's think about it.

If he banished the human from the dragon palace, wouldn't that human surely live promiscuously like an unbridled colt? Even if he got a promise to live properly, the surrounding alphas didn't seem likely to leave him alone.

If alphas fought over possessing that human... then families would collapse, society would collapse... big problems would arise in both the spirit realm and human realm.

No matter how he thought about it, wasn't this an issue he couldn't ignore as the dragon protecting the two worlds?

Very seriously, Asad weighed his own wellbeing against his duty as protector of the two worlds. The scale that would normally have definitely tipped toward his own wellbeing somehow tilted the other way this time.

At last, light returned to Asad's eyes that had been downcast all along.

It can't be helped. As a protector, I have no choice but to take some risk.

And thinking about it, the signs of demonization had appeared when the human nearly died or cried.

'Then I just need to not almost kill him or make him cry, right?'

Peace came as he changed his mind. Only then did he notice everyone's gazes directed at his mouth. Since he had stopped mid-sentence, they were all listening for the rest.

Asad finally continued speaking.

"...dance."

What?

At the unexpected words, Kinaine raised his head with surprised eyes.

"That's your punishment."

Asad gestured toward Kinaine proudly, as if he had meant to say those words from the start.

...Dance?

Kinaine truly couldn't hide his bewilderment. Dance, suddenly?

Of course, it wasn't that he couldn't dance. But it was only at the level learned as cultivation, and even then all were dances performed with partners. He couldn't suddenly find a dance partner here, and since he alone had to receive punishment, a solo dance would be appropriate.

"What, you can't do it?"

Thinking Asad might really order his banishment if he didn't dance, Kinaine quickly answered.

"No, but I only know one solo dance, and it requires a sword."

Those invited to the banquet had all come without weapons. Even Asad didn't have any since he didn't use weapons.

Seeing Kinaine's predicament, Shinsurial stepped forward sympathetically.

"Come to think of it, didn't they say the spirit beast gifted by the horned tribe could transform into weapons? If Lord Asad permits, how about changing that spirit beast's form into a sword to use?"

Asad readily nodded.

"I permit it. Bring the spirit beast here."

Kinaine bowed his head toward Shinsurial in gratitude. Shinsurial returned the bow with a gentle smile.

Soon a servant approached Kinaine leading the spirit beast by its reins. Kinaine carefully stood before the spirit beast and asked.

"Sorry, but could you help me just once?"

The spirit beast merely snorted "hmph," showing no sign of transforming.

He didn't panic and calmly asked again.

"I heard you like eating metal. If you help me this time, I promise I'll definitely give you something good next time. I promise."

Perhaps Kinaine's sincerity got through. The spirit beast that had been yawning lazily stared at him intently. And soon its body turned to flames just as they had seen before.

Where the flames disappeared lay a black longsword engraved with golden patterns. However, Kinaine couldn't pick it up right away. His black eyes shook more than ever as he looked at the sword.

'This can't be.'

Though the color was different, the sword's shape was very familiar.

The shape of the hilt and the kingdom's symbol engraved below the blade.

No matter how he looked at it, this was identical to the sword Kinaine had used as a prince.

'How...?'

The frozen Kinaine picked up the sword with trembling hands. Even the thickness and feel of the grip were the same. It was undeniably his sword.

Just then, he sensed a presence behind him. Kinaine hurriedly turned around. Asad was standing very close, though it wasn't clear when he had come. Asad was staring intently at the sword Kinaine was holding.

'His eyes...'

Kinaine felt a chill run from head to toe.

At some point, Asad's yellow pupils had become vertically slit.

"I..."

The instincts honed through years of fighting in dangerous places sent continuous warnings.

"...have seen that sword before."

That this was dangerous.

At the same time, Asad's snow-white skin became covered in black scales.