“I guess you felt like shit,” I said after the silence lingered for a few seconds. “It helped in the end, though, so you should feel like dancing now, right?”

He smiled. “Yes, I must admit I’m feeling relieved it saved my life. I felt awful, thinking I wasted something so precious just like that. I’m also happy to finally be free from those pursuers.”

He really looked a lot more relaxed than when he was traveling with us.

“Are you sure no one will find out you’re still alive?” I asked.

He nodded.

“The assassin will bring that body back to my uncle,” he answered. “He will keep it in a storage similar to my ring, probably. If I’m lucky they will bury it like that and forget about it, but even if they discover something, I predict it will take more than a year for someone to come back here, given the distance. I’ll be long gone by then, and it will be hard to track me again.”

“That’s a long distance away,” I said, waiting for him to start his story.

He nodded.

“Indeed. I don’t think there’s any need to keep it secret from you anymore. I come from the Sasvata Empire,” he finally shared.

I tilted my head at the familiar name.

“… The one on Ademil?” I asked after a moment. It was in the book I was reading.

“Correct,” he answered.

“I was born as the fourth child of Emperor Zephyrus I. Ah, right, my true name is not Zeph,” he said with a hint of embarrassment, in his voice.

He straightened himself and said, “I’m Zephir Corvus Vihar, crown prince of the Sasvata Empire.”

I rolled my eyes. “You sure it’s not Zephir Peacock Vihar?”

The guy deflated.

“You’re really… always the same, I guess,” he said, sighing.

I shrugged. Should I have been awed?

“By the way. ‘Zeph’?” I laughed. “Was that your idea of a fake name?”

Even I could have come up with something better.

He didn’t look amused.

“I refuse to change my name for any reason. I am not a criminal. Also, that’s not a fake name, it’s the nickname my brothers used,” he said, suddenly incensed.

“Okay, okay, sorry. It’s a nice name,” I said, raising my hands to placate him.

Damn. I should stop laughing at people’s names. I could feel Freya’s gaze on me for some reason.

“You can continue with your story. I’m all ears,” I said, trying to bring him back to the topic. “Why were you the crown prince if you weren’t the firstborn?”

He paused for a moment, looking down, then said, “Right.”

Taking another few breaths, he started talking again.

“I was born the third son, as I said. I had two older brothers and an older sister. Even if our country doesn’t operate by giving everything to the firstborn, I wasn’t the one who should have inherited the throne. My oldest brother had been groomed for decades for the position, and if something happened to him, there was my second brother. They were the perfect candidates, not me,” he said with a faraway look.

“But then they died, along with the rest of my family.”

Oh, fuck. I knew he had it rough, but I didn’t expect he had his family exterminated.

He gritted his teeth.

“They called me a prodigy with the saber since I was young, and I also showed promise as a tactician, so I was at the southern border, in Ironhold, to learn from General Strom when I got the news. They said it was an attack from the elves.”

Zeph looked up at me, before continuing. “It… was hard to accept. It felt impossible. Five members of the imperial family assassinated at the same time? How could they have done that? It felt like a joke. Not once had this happened, and we’ve been at war with them for thousands of years.”

Sounds like a long time to be at war.

He shook his head.

“It was also the most believable thing. Elves are scum, and they’d resort to anything to weaken the empire. Who would have thought they weren’t the real threat this time? I certainly didn’t,” he said with a self-deprecating smile.

“I traveled back to the capital, escorted by my guards and the General with his men. Procedures demanded that I’d complete the ceremony to become crown prince before I could ascend to the throne. I received the Heavenshard and the Crown Heir Ring, during the ceremony.”

“Wait,” I said, interrupting his narration. “Was that cheap-looking ring the one you received?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

That wasn’t just a random ring, they could have done a better job.

“Yes, that’s the one,” he said, his smile returning for a moment. “I plated it. I found a random blacksmith to do it. It isn’t easily damaged, so just throwing it in the fire should be enough to melt and remove the outer layer.”

“Oh, I see.” I should have expected it.

“Anyway, the ceremony to become Emperor was scheduled for a few months later. General Strom went back to the southern border, and I stayed in the capital, in my old palace. They weren’t good days for me. I was completely unprepared to take the helm of the Empire, and having just lost my family, I wasn’t adapting well to my new life.

“I often went to the small house in my palace garden to sleep. My brothers made it for me when I was a kid, for when I played knight, and it felt better than staying in the palace. I only brought a few of my guards and passed my nights there. No one else knew.

“One night, while I was sitting on the balcony of the small house, I heard an explosion from my palace. I could see the flames coming up from the wing where I had my sleeping chambers. When I rushed back, there were already guards everywhere… I certainly didn’t expect them to suddenly attack me.”

“So you escaped and ended up here?” I guessed.

He nodded.

“The captain of my guards managed to hold them back long enough for the vice-captain and the others to take me out of the encirclement — our enemies were many, but their Level wasn’t higher than my men. I won’t bother you with all the details. Just know that we escaped the capital and the Empire. At first, we couldn’t understand why we didn’t get any support, or how they could keep it up. I already guessed, but I didn’t want to believe it. We were also always blocked from reaching the territory of General Strom.”

I could see and hear from his voice the fury when he reached this part of his tale.

“We somehow managed to escape through the sea in a contraband vessel of the Illen Republic. When I got there, I heard that my uncle declared I was kidnapped by the elves. He’s probably busy consolidating his power now. I thought I could have some respite after I crossed borders, but assassins kept coming. We guessed he contacted an assassination guild, so we tried to leave the continent to lose them, but it didn’t work.

“When I reached Seneza I already lost all my men aside from the Vice-Captain. I knew I couldn’t last much longer, so we tried a desperate act. I hid in the Arena’s Dungeon, while he tried to lead the pursuers away. Due to his background, he was good at disguises, tracking, and anti-tracking, so I thought he had a good chance to lead them away and escape if he was alone… but now I’m not so sure. We agreed to meet in Caldris if I had to leave the dungeon,” he said, somberly. “In broad strokes, this is my story.”

I scratched my head while Freya was looking sorry for him.

“That’s a sad story, Zeph. My… condolences?” I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t good with these things.

“Thanks,” he said, without minding my awkward attempt to console him.

For a few moments, no one said anything.

“Are you going to keep traveling to Caldris now?” I asked in an attempt to get the conversation going again.

He nodded.

“I want to wait for him there, then I’ll start planning my return,” he said, his eyes would have shot fire if he had the ability. “There’s no way I’ll let that usurper keep the throne.”

“That’s the way!” I exclaimed suddenly with a laugh, startling them. “Go back and rip him apart! That’s what I wanted to hear! I thought you were going to mope around and hide or spout some nonsense about talking things out. It’s nice to know we see things the same way.”

He blinked, then smiled.

“In this case, I suppose you’re not wrong,” he confirmed.

“Good! Isn’t it Freya?” I asked.

She nodded.

It was so nice when everyone was of the same mind.

I looked back at Zeph. “Are you leaving right away, or do you want to stay here for some time?”

“I’ll take the first ship heading to Caldris,” he answered.

I suppose he can’t wait to see the vice-captain alive. Given how he came back even for us, I couldn’t guess how much he was itching to see his man.

“Before I leave, I have a request, though,” he asked, looking at me in the eyes.

Uh-oh, what now?