CHAPTER 4: THE PALACE UNDER SIEGE
1754 Words
Steel meets steel, and the sound does not stop.
The wedding hall is no longer a place for vows. It is a place where everything breaks at once.
Flowers that once decorated the aisle are now under boots, crushed into the floor. Lanterns swing broken from their chains. Blood mixes with petals and spills across polished stone like something that doesn’t belong there but refuses to leave.
People are shouting, but nothing sounds clear anymore. Everything overlaps. Everything shakes.
“Protect the civilians!”
“Don’t let them reach His Majesty!”
General Ron swings his sword hard enough to split the air. One assassin is sent crashing back through a pillar. Stone explodes around him.
Commander Ravel is shouting orders near the entrance, voice already rough.
“Escort the envoys out! Move! Move!”
Mizuno stays close to me without saying much. She doesn’t leave space between us and danger.
Two assassins rush Yue Xin.
I move before I think.
My sword comes out clean. No hesitation. No delay.
One step forward.
One strike.
Two bodies fall.
The hall goes quiet for a moment. Not because the fight stopped.
Because they remember who I am.
Even in a wedding robe, I am still Kuero Neko.
Morvane stands at the broken entrance. Watching. Not moving.
His golden eyes narrow slightly.
“So this is the man everyone loves.”
He smiles like he is studying something.
“No wonder.”
…
Another assassin rushes Yue Xin. Faster than the others. I turn to move, but I don’t need to.
Yue Xin bends down and grabs the fallen dagger from the floor.
She doesn’t look like someone who should know what she is doing. But her body moves anyway.
She blocks the strike. Turns her wrist. Pushes back.
The assassin falls. Dead silence again, just for a second.
Even I blink.
“…You know how to fight?” I ask before I can stop myself.
Yue Xin looks away immediately, like she regrets being seen.
“My father insisted noble daughters learn self-defense.”
Ravel shouts from across the room.
“You could have told us earlier!”
Mizuno cuts down another attacker without looking.
“Less talking. More fighting, my lord.”
I exhale a little, despite everything.
“You hid this from me?” I ask Yue Xin.
She avoids my eyes.
“You never asked, Brother Neko.”
It is a strange moment.
Chaos is everywhere. People are dying nearby. But for a second, I almost forget the noise. Because she is here, fighting beside me.
Not as a queen. Not as a symbol. Just as herself.
And I realize something simple, something I didn’t want to think about in the middle of war.
Whatever Morvane showed her…
This version of Yue Xin is still real.
…
More enemies flood in. Too many now.
General Ron slams his sword into the floor to steady himself.
“Your Majesty! There are too many! Get Lady Yue Xin to safety!”
Ravel doesn’t wait for permission.
“We will hold them here.”
I hesitate.
“I won’t leave you…”
“You can repay us by surviving,” Ravel cuts in.
Mizuno grabs my arm.
“Go.”
I paused at first.
“Now.”
There is no space left to argue.
So I move.
I take Yue Xin and lead her through a hidden door behind the throne chamber.
The passage is narrow. Old. Lit by weak lanterns that flicker like they are tired too.
Our footsteps echo too loudly.
Yue Xin keeps her head down.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers again.
I let out a slow breath.
“You’ve said that a hundred times already.”
“I almost killed you.”
“You didn’t.”
Silence follows for a few steps. Then she speaks again.
“I wanted to.”
I stop walking for a moment, then turn to her. She doesn’t meet my eyes at first.
“What if I try again?” she asks quietly.
That question sits between us. Heavy. Honest. I look at her properly now.
“If that happens,” I say, “I will stop you.”
Her eyes widen.
“…You trust me that much?”
I don’t answer immediately. I just breathe.
Then I say it anyway.
“I trust the woman who stayed awake to care for sick villagers.”
“The woman who fed exhausted palace workers when they forgot to eat.”
“The woman who scolded me for skipping meals like I was not a king.”
I pause.
“I trust you, Yue Xin.”
Her face breaks immediately. Not quietly. Not gently.
She cries like something inside her finally gave up holding itself together.
I don’t rush her. I just stay there.
…
The tunnel ends in an old shrine beneath the palace.
It is small. Quiet. Forgotten.
Moonlight falls through cracks in the ceiling like thin lines of silver.
Yue Xin sits on the wooden floor. Her shoulders shake slowly.
I sit beside her. Close enough that she knows I am there. Not close enough to trap her.
We stay like that for a while.
No words. Just breathing.
Then she speaks.
“Do you… regret meeting me, Brother Neko?”
I look at her like I didn’t hear correctly.
“What kind of question is that?”
Her voice is low.
“If I never met you… you wouldn’t be in danger because of me.”
I turn my gaze toward the moonlight instead of answering too fast.
Then I laugh a little. Not because it is funny. Because I don’t know what else to do with the question.
“You know what I regret?”
She looks at me slightly.
“What?”
“I regret not meeting you sooner.”
She blinks.
“…You mean that?”
“Yes.”
My voice is steady now.
“You made meetings feel less like punishment.”
“You made General Ron laugh without realizing it.”
“You even managed to make Ravel apologize once.”
She looks up quickly.
“That only happened once.”
“It still counts.”
A small sound escapes her. A laugh mixed with tears.
I take her hand.
“We’ll survive this,” I say. “Even if everything outside falls apart, we will find a way.”
I paused for that moment.
“You can open your clinic like you always talked about.”
I tilt my head slightly.
“And I will be your assistant.”
She gives me a tired look through tears.
“You’d be terrible at it.”
“I’ll learn.”
For a moment, it feels like the world outside doesn’t exist.
Just two people sitting in an old shrine, pretending the future is still simple.
Like husband and wife who just survived a long day.
…
Then the air changes.
“…How beautiful.”
The voice doesn’t come from one place. It comes from everywhere inside the shrine.
Yue Xin freezes instantly.
“No…” she whispers.
Black mist seeps through the cracks in the walls. Slow. Patient.
Morvane’s presence fills the space like it belongs there more than we do.
“You would abandon the world for him?”
Yue Xin covers her ears.
“Stop!”
I stand immediately.
“Show yourself, Morvane.”
A low laugh echoes back.
“Tell me, Yue Xin…”
His voice wraps around her thoughts. Not just her ears. Her mind.
“What happens when the man you love destroys everything?”
Yue Xin shakes her head fast.
“No…”
“You’ve seen it.”
“No!”
“You’ve watched cities burn.”
“Stop!”
The mist moves faster now, wrapping around her arms, her shoulders.
I move toward her.
“Yue Xin!”
But her body stiffens.
Something changes in her expression. Slowly. Wrongly.
Her eyes lose warmth.
She looks at me, but it doesn’t feel like she is fully there.
“Brother Neko…”
Her voice is quiet. Distant.
“…Run.”
Then she moves.
She attacks.
Not like herself. Not like the girl in the garden. Not like the woman who laughed with me minutes ago.
I barely block the first strike.
My sword meets hers.
Metal shakes in my hand.
“Yue Xin!” I call out.
Tears are already falling from her face, even as she fights.
“I can’t stop!” she cries.
I step back instead of striking.
“Fight me!” she shouts.
“I won’t!” I answer.
“You have to!”
“I won’t!”
The shrine trembles as their blades clash again.
Morvane’s voice echoes through it all.
“This is love,” he says calmly.
“My wedding gift.”
Yue Xin charges again.
And for a split second…
I see it.
Not just the darkness on her.
But the fear under it.
Like she is trapped inside her own body, screaming without sound.
Her eyes meet mine again. Just briefly.
Please.
I understand it without words.
Her lips tremble. Then she smiles. Small. Broken.
“Thank you…”
“What?” I ask.
“For loving me.”
Time slows.
“I think…”
She struggles to speak through the corruption pulling her apart.
“…if there is another life…”
Her tears fall freely now.
“…I’d still choose you.”
The power inside her erupts. I move forward immediately.
My sword drives through the moment between us. It is not clean. It is not easy. But it is the only thing that stops everything else.
Silence hits the shrine like a wall.
The black mist disappears. Yue Xin falls into my arms.
Blood spreads across both of us.
I don’t move.
“No…”
My voice breaks in a way I don’t recognize. Her hand touches my face weakly.
“You finally stopped crying…” she whispers.
I realize I am shaking.
“…Stay,” I say. “Please. I can’t—”
Her smile is the same one from the garden. Soft. Familiar.
“Live…” she says.
“Find happiness.”
“I love you, Brother Neko.”
Her hand slips away slowly. Everything becomes still. The shrine feels empty even though I am holding her.
Outside, the war continues somewhere far away.
But here, nothing moves anymore. Not even time feels interested in staying.
I hold her closer.
And something inside me finally stops pretending it is still whole.
- Writer
