The midnight air was sharp, but the garden of the Ruo Han estate felt like a different world-a sanctuary of silver moonlight and the scent of sleeping jasmine.
Zaliyah walked unsteadily, his feet brushing against the petals of the flowers he had once tended with such care.
They sat on the cold stone bench, the silence of the night wrapping around them.
Karas noticed Zaliyah shiver, a tremor that seemed to come from his very soul. Without a word, Karas unfastened his heavy outer robe and draped it over Zaliyah's shoulders.
"It's cold, Zi," Karas murmured, his voice echoed with a protective warmth. He leaned in, his nose brushing against Zaliyah's hair.
He caught a scent that made his heart stutter-it wasn't just the jasmine of the garden; it was the faint, lingering musk of the "tanned bum" , a scent so ancient it clung to Zaliyah like a shadow.
Karas's face contorted for a moment, a flash of recognition and revulsion crossing his features, but he forced it down. He reached out, gently cupping Zaliyah's chin and turning his face toward the moon.
"Did you kill Eros? And those men?" Karas asked, his eyes searching Zaliyah's.
Zaliyah looked away, his breath hitching.
The silence stretched between them until Karas caressed his cheek, his thumb tracing the line of his jaw. "I really wouldn't care if you did," Karas whispered.
"I killed them because they killed you,"
Zaliyah finally muttered, the words sounding like a confession of both love and sin.
Karas felt a strange sense of vindication. He knew he had died that day-the memory of the darkness was too absolute to be a dream. "What have you done, Zi?"
"What I had to do," Zaliyah responded. He looked at the stars, his mind flashing to the contract, the marriage, and the King who owned his soul. He couldn't tell Karas the full price. He couldn't tell him that he was a Consort. "I feared I was going to lose you. I acted... irrationally."
Zaliyah collapsed into Karas's arms, the weight of the last few days finally breaking him. He wept, his sobs muffled by Karas's chest, while the elder brother held him with a grip that promised never to let go.
"It's okay," Karas consoled him. "I'm here now. In the morning, we go to the library. We will find a way to fix this poison."
They stayed there for hours, two ghosts under a human moon, before Karas carried him back to their room, where they slept wrapped in each other's embrace, tethered by a bond that had defied death itself.
In the Demon Realm, the atmosphere was far from peaceful. Empress Kizari sat upon a bronze couch draped in crimson silks, dressed only in her fine undergarments. She puffed on a long, ornate pipe, the smoke curling around her like a living thing.
Ryuna stood behind her, a sharp-toothed shadow, while maids massaged the Empress's toes.
"I got him a teacher to show him the portals," Kizari sparked, her voice a low, dangerous hum. "You need not have helped him escape."
"I helped him because I wanted to," Iruna answered, her voice trembling but her gaze steady. "My heart wanted him to be free."
Kizari's eyes shifted to Harun. "And you? What do you say for yourself, little star?"
"We are his chamberlains," Harun replied, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "We are bound to obey him."
"Incorrect," the Empress purred. "You are mine."
"Not anymore," Iruna countered.
The Empress let out a sharp, sarcastic laugh. In a blink, she was standing in front of Iruna.
CRACK.
The slap was so violent that Iruna was thrown to her knees, blood immediately leaking from her ears and nose.
Harun's face twisted in fury, his knuckles white on his sword. Kizari didn't even look at him. She sat back down, a maid beginning to brush her hair.
"Ryuna," she said casually. "Take care of them. A thousand cuts. Make sure they remain conscious for every single one."
In another wing of the palace, Lilith stood before a mirror in her chambers. The "pitiful" woman who had mourned in the shadows was gone. She reached out and touched the cold glass, her eyes hardening.
"I am done hiding, Elianis," Lilith said to her chamberlain. "I will reclaim my title. The God of War does not weep; she conquers." She turned, her gaze piercing. "Find my child. If he is truly dead, I want the closure of his bones. If not... bring him to me."
Elianis smiled awkwardly, her eyes darting away. She held a secret beneath her tongue, something about a boy with white hair and purple eyes, but she said nothing.
Morning in the human world brought a frantic, joyous energy from Riru and Riosuka. They rushed into the room, showering the brothers with hugs and tears.
"Don't you ever scare us like that again!" Riosuka cried, holding Zaliyah's face. "The physician is useless, , but I won't let you slip away. Not again."
Karas and Zaliyah washed together, a quiet, intimate ritual. Karas spent nearly an hour brushing Zaliyah's tangled white hair.
Zaliyah sighed, "Just cut it off, Karas. It's too much work."
"Never," Karas refused, his fingers gentle. "It's too beautiful to lose."
Downstairs, the breakfast was tense. The servants refused to look Zaliyah in the eye, and Caius tried to corner him with questions. "Where were you? Who is this Malachi you scream for?"
Karas cut him off with a cold stare. "He needs rest, Father. Not an interrogation."
They left for the library, but the reception was cold. People pointed and whispered. The librarian blocked their path. "You are banned, Master Karas! Your violence in the pavilion-"
"I am here for research, not a fight," Karas growled. "But if you don't step aside, I might reconsider."
As they walked away, Zaliyah looked down. "I bring out the worst in you, don't I?"
Karas smiled, strapping a veiled hat onto Zaliyah's head to hide his face. "You bring out the best and the worst, Zi."
They found themselves in a dilapidated corner of the town, standing before an old bookshop that looked as if time had forgotten it.
The shopkeeper was a man so ancient he looked like he was made of paper.
He welcomed them in, much to their surprise. Zaliyah removed his gloves, showing the dark smudges on his hands.
"The Night-Stalker?" the old man gasped.
"What is that?" Karas asked, his heart sinking.
"A poison with no cure," the man whispered. "I've read of it in the old texts."
Zaliyah rolled his eyes. "Old man, give us everything you have on demons. No fairytales. Real history."
The man rampaged through his shelves, coughing in the dust, until he let out a triumphant shriek.
He emerged with a book that made Zaliyah's skin crawl. It was titled The Nature of Demons. It was massive, heavy, and the binding was made of unmistakable, preserved human skin.
Karas looked at it with scholarly fascination, while Zaliyah looked at it with pure horror.
They paid a sack of gold and retreated to Karas's private library at home, locking the doors.
They read until their eyes burned. They learned of the celestial wars, the class systems of the Demon Realm, and the ancient monarchies.
Malachi was mentioned-not just as a King, but as an "Ancient Destroyer" whose lineage stretched back to the beginning of time.
Finally, they found the section on Demonic Poisons.
The Night-Stalker: An incurable venom of the high courts. It can only be subdued in two ways:
By the carrier becoming pregnant and passing the toxin to the offspring.
By consuming the blood of an Ancient Royal Demon. This does not kill the poison, but slows it so completely the carrier may forget it exists.
Riru came to call them for dinner, but they refused to leave. Eventually, Zaliyah's head lolled onto the table, his body giving out. Karas lifted him gently and placed him on the bed.
Karas returned to the books, his eyes falling on a section about Celestials and Elves. He read about their traits-their longevity, their connection to nature. But one sentence made his breath catch:
"Some rare male elves with a receptive core can develop a womb, allowing them to bear children in times of lineage crisis."
Karas looked at Zaliyah sleeping on the bed. A grim, dark smile spread across his face.
He finally understood Zaliyah's true nature-what he was, and what he could be. He climbed into bed beside him, pulling the covers over them both, his mind already spinning on what to do next .