Asael smiled faintly, watching Valentine sleeping peacefully, pressing against her chest the cushion instead of putting her head on it.

Valentine never liked it. She preferred to put her head flat on the bed, always.

Asael wondered where she got that habit from, but he knew well.

Rose was the same.

The Empire of the Damned was shrouded by the shadows of the night. Above, what looked less like a moon and more like a cracked rock put together bathed the empire in a dying luster.

It was a depressing light. One that smelled of the death of a moon. Yet the inhabitants of the damned were used to this feeling. On the contrary, anything else than this would feel alien to them.

And that, even to the sleeping Valentine.

Asael, sitting beside her bed, felt somehow bad to let his daughter grow in such an empire. But there was nothing he could do.

He tended his hand, intending to caress the beautiful red hair of his daughter, only to stop midway.

He stared at his hand.

It was clean and fair. Looking at it, none would believe that this was the same hand that slaughtered two main houses of the empire in one night.

The Prince of Shadows had killed the mothers, slaughtered the fathers, buried the children, beheaded the uncles and aunts, broken the old, and plunged their whole houses in blood before swallowing all of them into his shadows.

Even as he sat there, Asael could feel the weight of their deaths on his shoulders, threatening to break him down.

But break he would not.

Something more powerful than guilt coursed through his chest. And every time he stared at the peaceful smiling face of his daughter, his burden disappeared.

Then he would always smile, even though he stopped himself from touching his daughter with his bare hands.

Instead, he took out black gloves and put them on before caressing her.

Valentine groaned in her sleep, muttering something like papa and mama.

Asael's smile widened.

"Asael." Someone whispered.

Then his smile disappeared.

Without turning his head, he knew the culprit. The prince said nothing.

Rose stood behind him, hands clasped before her in a tense manner.

She had heard from her mother what Asael had done. And she had heard what he would soon do.

Today would be his last day before he went to the River Kingdom, to infiltrate.

Rose forced herself to say that Asael was doing it for Valentine. Just like how her mother venomously repeated to her.

But a part of her, one that still didn't forget Asael, begged that all of this was for her. That he cared about her and didn't want her to be bound by another man.

So she came today.

And today Asael would accept to speak with her willingly or unwillingly.

"If you do not respond to me, I will shout and wake Valentine up." Rose said, her voice rising in volume.

Asael flinched as he saw Valentine shifting uneasily.

He had spent hours making her sleep. He certainly could not afford to let her wake up.

"You don't dare." He hissed, turning his head toward Rose.

"Are you sure?" She asked, then, "I WIL—!"

A hand plastered over her mouth before she finished her sentence.

Her red eyes fixed on Asael's shadowy ones, filled with anger and irritation.

"Stop your foolishness." Asael hissed, "A woman should have dignity. I don't want to speak with you. Leave me alone."

A shadow barrier was erected around them, making their discussion private.

Asael took a couple of steps back from Rose. The woman stared at him, eyes bleeding with injustice.

"You are being unreasonable." Rose said, "Now more than ever, you should know why I went away."

"You have met my mother. You have seen how she is and how the only thing inside her withered heart is the love for this damned empire."

She balled her hands into fists.

"You have seen how she is ready to use everyone for her own sake. You know all of that, yet you still do not understand me?"

"I do." Asael answered, "I understood what you have done. I know you did this to save us from Lydia."

Rose frowned at how familiarly Asael said her mother's name.

"But understanding does not mean forgiving." Asael continued, fixing his eyes on Rose, "What did you take me for, Rose?"

He asked.

Rose didn't answer.

"I have given you my love, Rose. I have given you my life alongside it, for I had decided to live the rest of my life with you, as a family."

Rose trembled.

"But it seemed I fell for a liar. You never told me your background, and you used a fake name when we met. Next, you disappeared after you gave birth to Valentine."

"If you had explained your situation to me, then all of this could have been avoided."

Asael's eyes were cold.

"I wouldn't be here as a slave. And my daughter's life would not be used as leverage on me."

And I would not be the monster I am becoming.

"You just needed to believe in me. You didn't. So please don't come back here trying to find excuses."

His eyes were like daggers, piercing mercilessly through Rose's heart.

"There are none."

Rose fell silent, her red eyes shimmering with restraining tears, but she bit the inside of her lips tightly. She tasted blood, but the Princess didn't care. She needed to do it to stop the tears from streaking down.

The worst was that Asael was right.

She didn't believe in him. And she had thought it better to leave him unaware than aware.

Rose believed that the knowledge would be heavy on him. That if he knew she was the daughter of the Tyrant Empress who made his baron family wither like that, he would not like her.

He would leave her.

Something she couldn't afford.

Asael was the man she loved since before he even knew of her existence. She knew him way before, during childhood, when there was an event in the capital.

That day, she had a fight with her mother and ran away from royal duty.

That was when she met Asael.

The man wore a noble dress like her, though less opulent. Yet he was playing in the dirt with beggars around.

His smile was loud and contagious. Uncaring about anything.

He liked to call all of them "my friend", as if seeking something he never had.

To Rose, Asael was a breath of fresh air. A man who lived in freedom despite the cage nobility was.

That image was stuck inside her mind.

And that day, Asael played with her even though he didn't know her.

They were seven at that time.

Asael forgot. She never did.

She succeeded next in having his heart. Yet the fear of her mother made her act in a way that put all her efforts into dust and even worse.

Her Asael hated her. And Rose felt like dying.

Every day.

Every night.

But she had enough.

So at that time, she slowly approached the Prince of Shadows, her steps unsteady, her tears falling down her cheeks.

Asael shuddered. He pressed his lips together and turned his head, unwilling to see such a sight.

The Princess of Drought came close, stopping inches from him.

"I have dignity." Rose finally said, her voice like a whimper. "I am Rose Drought, descendant of Melantha Drought, The Damned Maid of Sun."

"My mother is the Tyrant Empress, Lydia Drought."

"My lineage is not weak. And I am a Legendary Origin holder."

She stretched her hand and grasped Asael's cheeks, forcing him to face her.

Surprisingly, Asael let her do so.

He looked at her tear-filled eyes and remembered the day when those tears fell on her face when Valentine was born.

They were tears he knew all too well.

Tears of love.

Asael bit his lips harder, his heart screaming at him. Yet he ignored it.

"Look at me, Asael." Rose ordered.

Asael did.

And then…

"I am sorry." The Princess of Drought said. "I am sorry for all I have done. But if, for you, having no dignity means no longer talking to you, then I have none of that."

"I want us to be together again, Asael. For me first. But for Valentine too."

She smiled sadly.

"Anything. Tell me what I need to do. I will."

Asael looked at her.

He felt all her emotions crashing down on him and knew their sincerity.

He knew she regretted it.

And she wanted them all back together.

And his heart, damn his traitorous heart, wanted to believe her. It wanted to be with her again. He missed her warmth, and her soft touch.

He did. He truly did.

But…

A shattered glass, even if mended back together, would never feel whole again. Some parts, no matter how insignificant they might be, would be missing.

And in matters of the heart, it was a deadly thing.

So Asael took hold of Rose's hand on his face and slid it away like fading warmth.

"I am sorry too."

—End of Chapter 375—

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