CHAPTER 3: OATH OF TERROR
1681 Words
It happens too fast to feel real, but the sound is real enough.
Screams fill the wedding hall. Not the kind that belong to celebration anymore.
The music stops halfway like it forgot how to continue. The last note just hangs there and dies.
Flower petals that were falling so gently before are now crushed under running feet. People don’t look up at them anymore. They only look for exits.
“Protect His Majesty!”
“Get the nobles out!”
“Seal the exits!”
Swords come out of their sheaths in one sharp wave. Metal catching light, then shaking in uncertain hands.
Noblewomen pull their children close. Foreign envoys stop pretending they understand what is happening and start moving. Everyone is trying to leave at the same time.
A few moments ago, this was supposed to be a happy hall.
Now it feels like a place that forgot what happiness means.
At the center of all this noise, I am still standing.
Kuero Neko.
My wedding robes are still clean. Too clean for what is happening around me. I don’t remember moving after the chaos started. I only remember looking at her.
Yue Xin is still in front of me.
She is holding a dagger, pointed at me.
Her hand shakes so much it looks like she is struggling just to keep it up. Tears don’t stop falling from her eyes. They run down her face without pause, but she still doesn’t drop the blade.
She still doesn’t step back.
Commander Ravel moves first.
“Your Majesty, move away from her!”
Mizuno is already drawing her twin blades.
“Lady Yue Xin, put the weapon down.”
General Ron’s voice is sharp.
“She’s an assassin.”
Minister Zhao raises his voice over the crowd.
“Arrest her immediately!”
But no one actually moves fast enough to touch her. Not because they are afraid of her strength but because they don’t want to believe it.
Not her.
Not Yue Xin.
Not the woman they’ve seen beside me.
…
I raise my hand slowly.
“Everyone.”
The hall quiets a little. Not fully. But enough.
“Stand down.”
General Ron turns immediately.
“What?”
“Stand down,” I say again. “That is an order.”
My voice is calm. I don’t raise it. I don’t need to.
Ravel looks at me like he didn’t hear me correctly.
“Kuero… she tried to kill you.”
I keep looking at her.
“No.”
That one word is enough to make the room shift.
Yue Xin’s lips tremble slightly.
I take a slow breath.
“…Brother Kuero,” I say quietly, “if Yue Xin wanted me dead… I would have been dead long before today.”
No one argues immediately.
Because it’s true.
I realize it too.
There were moments alone. Quiet walks. Tea in the garden. Nights when she could have done it without anyone stopping her.
But she didn’t.
I take a step forward.
Yue Xin’s eyes widen.
“Don’t come closer!”
I don’t stop.
“Look at me, Yue Xin,” I say. My voice is softer now. “I can’t… understand this if you don’t look at me.”
Her breathing is uneven. She doesn’t move at first.
Then slowly… she raises her eyes.
They are full of tears.
I almost forget everything else in the room.
It becomes only her.
“Tell me the truth,” I say.
…
Her knees give out.
The dagger slips from her hand and hits the floor with a small sound that feels too loud in the silence.
“I…”
Her voice breaks immediately.
“I don’t know anymore.”
No one interrupts. Not even the guards.
Yue Xin covers her face with her hands like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“They… showed me things.”
“Who?” I ask.
Her voice shakes harder.
“The… Black Veil.”
The name changes the air in the room. I feel it. So does everyone else.
Minister Zhao goes pale.
“…The enemy organization?”
Yue Xin nods slowly.
“They came to me months ago. I rejected them. I thought it was over… but they kept coming back.”
Her breath breaks again.
“And then they showed me visions.”
“What visions?” I ask.
She looks at me now. Fully.
“You.”
The word lands heavy.
The hall becomes still.
“You standing over burning cities… blood on your hands… armies falling… the White Oak destroyed…”
Her voice cracks as she speaks.
“They said if I didn’t kill you… the world would end.”
Noise explodes instantly in the hall.
“That’s impossible!”
“His Majesty would never…”
“Lies!”
But I don’t look at them.
I only look at her.
Yue Xin is shaking now.
“I wanted to believe they were lies,” she whispers.
Tears keep falling.
“But what if they weren’t?”
Her voice drops lower.
“What if saving everyone means losing you?”
She swallows hard.
“…I was scared.”
That is the only honest thing in the room.
…
Voices rise everywhere at once.
Arguments split the hall in half without anyone deciding it.
General Ron slams his fist against a pillar.
“She’s lying!”
Mizuno speaks quietly, but clearly.
“No.”
Everyone turns to her.
“I’ve known Yue Xin for years,” she says. “This is not deception.”
Ravel’s jaw tightens.
“So what then? She still raised a blade at the king.”
Minister Zhao adjusts his glasses, thinking too fast.
“If the Black Veil is involved… then this is not just an assassination attempt.”
His voice lowers.
“This is manipulation.”
The nobles whisper behind him. Some angry. Some uncertain. Some afraid to choose a side at all.
For the first time, the kingdom doesn’t feel united around anything.
Not even me.
And I realize I don’t have an answer yet.
I only know she is still standing there, the same woman who used to laugh beside me in the garden.
…
Yue Xin moves suddenly. She bends down and picks up the dagger again.
“Yue Xin!” I shout.
But she is not pointing it at me anymore. She turns it toward herself.
“I can hear him,” she says.
Her voice is unstable, like it is coming from somewhere else.
Even now.
General Ron takes a step forward.
“What are you talking about?”
“He won’t stop,” she whispers.
Her hands press against her ears.
“He keeps talking… he keeps saying…”
Her eyes widen suddenly.
“That you’ll destroy everything…”
Her breathing becomes faster.
“That I have to kill you… and if I don’t—”
Her voice breaks completely.
“He’ll take control.”
Silence spreads again, heavier than before. I take a step closer slowly.
“Yue Xin.”
She looks at me like she is trying to stay present.
“If that happens…” she says, voice shaking, “…then kill me, Brother Neko.”
That stops everything. Even the guards don’t breathe for a moment.
“Please,” she says again.
A weak smile appears on her face, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“It would be better than hurting you.”
I stare at her for a long moment. Then I shake my head.
“No.”
Her eyes widen slightly.
“…What?”
“I won’t kill you,” I say.
Her hands shake harder.
“What if I become a monster?”
“I won’t,” I repeat.
“What if I destroy everything?”
I step closer.
“I still won’t.”
My voice lowers.
“Yue Xin… we will find another way.”
Something in her breaks completely after that. She falls forward and presses her face against my chest.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
I wrap my arms around her carefully. Not tightly. Just enough to hold her there.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I say. “I should have noticed sooner.”
For a short moment, everything outside feels far away. Just her breathing. Just mine.
Just something that still feels human.
…
The wall suddenly explodes. A deafening sound cuts through the hall. Stone and wood scatter everywhere.
People scream again.
Dust fills the air.
Black-cloaked figures rush in through the broken entrance, Assassins.
One of them laughs.
“We found them.”
General Ron draws his sword instantly.
“Protect the king!”
Mizuno moves first, cutting through the dust. Ravel pushes nobles behind cover.
I pull Yue Xin behind me without thinking.
She grips my sleeve tightly. A cold voice echoes through the hall.
Calm. Controlled. Familiar in a way I don’t like.
“How disappointing.”
The air changes.
Black mist spreads slowly from the entrance. The temperature drops.
The assassins kneel immediately. A man steps forward from the shadows.
Golden eyes. Calm face. Gentle expression that doesn’t match the feeling in the room.
Lord Morvane.
He looks around once, then smiles. Finally his eyes land on Yue Xin.
“You couldn’t do it?”
Her body stiffens. Morvane tilts his head slightly.
“You chose love.”
Then his gaze shifts to me.
“And you…”
His smile grows slightly.
“…still don’t understand.”
I slowly draw my sword. Metal slides cleanly from its sheath.
The reflection of burning lanterns runs along the blade.
“I understand enough,” I say, “Morvane.”
He chuckles softly.
“Good.”
He opens his arms slightly, like he is welcoming something.
“Then let us continue the wedding festivities.”
The assassins move at once. Yue Xin grips my sleeve tighter. I don’t look away from Morvane.
But I feel her behind me. And for the first time today, I don’t feel like a king. Just someone standing between the world and the person he loves.
- Writer
