I Became a Slave to the Man I Abandoned Novel (Completed) - Chapter 2

“Ah, aaah!”

Duran collapsed to the ground, clutching his blood-soaked head with both hands. The future he had envisioned where the son who once ignored him would kneel and admit his foolishness crumbled before his eyes.

He had believed he would finally take revenge on those who mocked him as a fool and a greedy man. But all his efforts had ended in a lump of flesh he now held in his arms.

This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be. Beoranz’s scream echoed hollowly through the throne hall, but Peltion looked down at Duran coldly and declared:

“Crown Prince Beoranz Dietrod Dydalons is summarily executed for the assassination of the Emperor and attempted murder of a royal. The Empress, his accomplice, is to be deposed and placed under house arrest. A trial will proceed. And…”

The reddish-brown eyes that once gleamed with warmth now sliced through the room like blades.

“Everyone present is under strong suspicion of participating in the Emperor’s assassination. They are to be detained and interrogated.”

“We we’ve done nothing wrong!”

Voices pleading innocence rang out, but the knights in grey armor herded them like helpless animals, forcing them to their knees.

In the midst of the chaos, Nox stood frozen, staring blankly as though detached from reality. People rushed toward the terraces, desperate to escape, so no one noticed or reached for him.

He stood still, scanning the room calmly until his gaze met Peltion’s. There was a faint glimmer of contempt in his eyes. Nox instinctively furrowed his brow, sensing something had gone terribly wrong.

“And the one with concrete evidence of aiding in the Emperor’s assassination ”

Two knights approached from behind and seized Nox’s arms. His black formal attire wrinkled sharply as he was dragged forward and forced to kneel at Peltion’s feet right beside his father, who was still cradling the severed head of the crown prince.

Instead of pleading for mercy, Nox lifted his head and stared straight into those reddish-brown eyes.

“You can’t do this to me.”

His teeth clenched. Nox had long known that the Emperor intended to pass the throne to the second prince, not the crown prince. But his father, the head of the house, along with the family’s foolish elders, had placed all their bets on the crown prince, blinded by short-term gain.

Though frail in body, the Emperor had never been dull. Nox believed the situation would eventually reverse. After all, the second prince had always been far superior in ability. So he had passed on information to the second prince through a hidden agent embedded in House Rainerio.

*‘I didn’t know about the assassination plot but I’m the one who warned of the attack on the second prince…’*

He hadn’t expected to save the family name, but he thought he could at least save his own life. Yet now, faced with this turn of events, Nox could no longer read Peltion’s intent. He recalled the last letter Peltion had sent him:

*“A new sun will rise soon. Endure a little longer. Though it is a false sun, it shall be struck down from the sky. The message delivered by the bird was well received. My thanks.”*

Then came Peltion’s cold voice, like a blade:

“For the grave sin of bringing down the sun of the Empire, execute him on the spot.”

Nox’s brow twisted. So he was to be used and discarded? He had believed only his father was a fool.

And yet, he still didn’t beg for his life. Only a hollow sense of resignation washed over him.

Even as Nox’s piercing, nearly black-green eyes locked onto him, Peltion’s face remained unreadable. He raised a hand.

The knights flanking Duran and Nox raised their swords without hesitation. The chill of the blades grazed their necks, as if gauging the place to strike. Then

“Your Highness, I request something.”

A strange voice interrupted. Nox looked to the side of the second prince. The knight in grey armor who had delivered the crown prince’s head now stood beside Peltion, gazing down at him.

Though he had never heard the voice before, something about it was uncannily familiar.

“Speak.”

Despite interrupting royalty, the knight received no rebuke, only respect clearly favored by the second prince.

The blue eyes visible through the narrow slit of the helmet only deepened Nox’s unease. His heart, which had remained steady even with a blade at his throat, suddenly thundered in his chest.

“Give him to me.”

A request that made no sense until the knight removed his helmet. Nox felt his heart plummet.

Peltion’s response followed:

“Yes. I expected this.”

Nox didn’t even realize he had been handed over like a possession. He couldn’t look away from the knight’s pale golden hair streaked with grey and his piercing blue eyes. Peltion’s raised hand came down fast, and with a spray of blood, another head fell to the floor.

His father’s.

“Why… why are you…”

Nox couldn’t finish the sentence. Peltion spoke instead.

“To the knight who risked the greatest threat for me, I would deny nothing. Do you like your prize, Khalid?”

Khalid Bia, soon to be knight of the new Emperor, looked over Nox, who now knelt at his feet. His sharp eyes glinted with an emotion Nox couldn’t name an unnameable swirl of colors like mixed paints.

His gaze cut sharper than any blade. Nox stopped breathing for a moment. Amid the wave of grey armor and the screams of the corrupted nobles being purged, reality finally caught up with him.

*Khalid…*

He couldn’t speak the name after all these years. He mouthed it silently.

Only when Khalid’s brow furrowed with displeasure did sensation return to Nox’s limbs. Then he understood why Peltion had pretended not to know about his betrayal.

He had always been meant as a prize.

“I am most pleased.”

The boy he abandoned long ago had returned as a sword now poised to destroy him.

—

The weather had been lovely. The sky was high and blue, and the freshly sprouted leaves swayed gently in the warm breeze. Nox had been fifteen then. And Khalid, the boy he had cast aside was only twelve.

Yes. It was Nox who had driven Khalid away. More precisely, he had done it in the cruelest way imaginable. He’d long regretted it believing, in his youthful ignorance, that it was the only way to protect him.

“Khalid,” he had whispered back then.

Khalid had been Nox’s personal attendant. Far too beautiful to be called plain, with large, shining blue eyes. Unlike Nox, who had sharp features, Khalid had been radiant in his own way. And Nox had adored him.

“Off to training again today, my lord?”

“Yes.”

“Can I come too?”

Khalid, who had grown up poor, was small for his age. Nox found it hard to treat him like a servant. Though he gave orders harshly on the surface, Khalid knew Nox never made him do anything too difficult.

“Just come along and stand in the shade. Only come when I call you.”

“Yes, sir!”

That’s how it was. Khalid, with his smaller frame, used to sneak glances at Nox.

Someone from a completely different world. Someone who could walk forward with his back straight, never looking to the side or behind. In the sunlight, his black hair shimmered faintly green, and his dark green eyes cold in shadow sparkled in the light.

They were heading to morning training. As they walked down the long crimson hall, Khalid’s footsteps echoed behind. Sometimes, Nox would slow his pace to match, afraid the boy might fall behind.

But sometimes, that peaceful routine was disrupted.

“Where are you two going so early?”

Duran Rainerio. His wretched father. A man who had never held power in the house, crushed under the shadow of his imperial wife. His mother despised him. So did Nox. Because

“That boy grows more beautiful each time I see him.”

Khalid instinctively hid behind Nox. Nox stepped forward, placing himself between his father and Khalid.

“We’re heading to training.”

“And yet you bring along a servant you don’t need?”

“I do need him.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Mother instructed me to always have him with me during training.”

“…I see.”