“This is ridiculous. How on earth has that man gone and done it again?” Nadia glowered as she looked down towards the tracker Adona had handed her, a small little trinket made by Artemis which had mana infused inside it from one of her handy spells that allowed it to track whoever’s DNA had been rubbed into its fragile core, and it allowed them all to know exactly where Kallan was being kept. And as preposterous as it sounded, he was being hidden away underground on the most recent planet to have been afflicted by the progressively swiftening apocalypse, a planet known by the name of Rukshore that had fallen over twenty-three years ago now, and which had formerly been under Ophiuchus’ pristine control. That would’ve been very demeaning for him in any other circumstances, to know such people had been right under his nose this entire time, but after such a similar circumstance had happened to Nadia, who had been handed the responsibility of clearing out Viscendant after it corrupted, none of the other leaders decided to comment on it. Not to mention, Cadence was also already dealing with the backlash of discovering those laboratories on Pearalis and Trivanma, so everyone had their hands full, and the leaders who had not yet found those conspiracies on their planets were now looking diligently for them. But still, for Kallan to have put himself at risk in such a manner while actually succeeding in getting them such a well-hidden location? It wasn’t exactly unusual for him to do, but still. Nadia found herself very impressed.

  “I see he’s a great actor as always. We should give him an award when we rescue him,” Nikiva grinned with a scoff, Adona perking up in her silence after hearing such a thing. That was excellent news to hear, in her humble opinion. Even if Nikiva was only saying it out of sarcasm, she thought Kallan deserved an award as well, he’d worked hard this time. She’d been a bit worried about him before, since she’d heard him call Rose by Leo’s name for some odd reason, but she’d gathered that must’ve been another hint he was dropping for her to hear before he let himself get taken away.

  Adona trusted Kal with her life. Without him, she’d never be in such a grand position. He was the one who had helped her find herself, helped her find her power. She owed everything she was to him. That was why, whenever he fell apart, she always tried her best to help and get him back on his feet. She was overjoyed when he finally developed a concept that was true to him, rather than trying to force himself to use the blood concept his parents had always wanted him to master… she’d been so relieved to see him finally wanting to try again, and she’d enjoyed teaching him and sparring with him like they used to back when they were in school. She was so happy to see him moving again, living again, experiencing things again instead of sleeping for days on end, unable to move. Her and Kimith were the ones who’d taken care of him back then, and she felt like the two of them knew Kallan the best. They understood better than anyone else what he’d gone through and what now he needed. Though… there was probably one other person who knew him even better than that.

  Leocadies, fourth prince of Ovin, and youngest child to Queen Lizana and King Odipius. Adona remembered thinking he was a bit mysterious in school. He was friendly and nice, and he seemed like a really cheerful person, but… there was always something missing. It was like he wasn’t ever truly focused on his interactions at all. Leo always used to be spacing out about something, and she could never tell what he was thinking, although he did have a way of making people feel comfortable around him. That was her first impression of the man, at least. He was talkative, but never open about his thoughts or feelings. Like he didn’t know how he felt in the first place, and wanted to hide his heart because of that.

  Kallan, on the other hand, was the opposite. He was easy to read. He was open and hardworking, and he always seemed to be in a constant struggle to survive. He liked to act as if he didn’t care about things, and he was often very stoic, careless, and very relaxed, so Adona’s first impression of him was that he must be a slacker, and she took him to be a rather irresponsible person when they first met. It was just that his grades had been horrible, and it wasn’t until she started getting to know him better did she realize he wasn’t slacking off at all, he was working harder than anyone else, even her. He just had trouble reading, and often couldn’t understand the words he’d read on pages no matter how hard he tried to focus. Some of the other people in their classes had made fun of him for that, and Adona really hadn’t known how to help, either… until Leocadies came along, and changed things. He used his influence as a prince to make it to where Kal got proper accommodations. During tests, he would take his exams in a separate room and someone would read him the questions and write down his answers for him. After that, Kallan’s grades vastly improved, and it was revealed that he was truly quite intelligent. But only Leo had been able to bring that out of him.

  There were other examples of Leocadies pulling the best out of Kal, of course, but that was probably the first time Adona had begun to see them as an inseparable pair. They’d been stuck as roommates, and from what Kallan had told her, Leocadies always helped him study by reading the books out loud for him to listen to. She always thought they were both very sweet, and when they started dating, she approved. She didn’t think anyone was better for Kallan than Leo.

  Until she learned Leo had faked his death. Not to mention Kya, as well. The two most important people in Kallan’s life had left him behind… and it shattered him beyond repair. It took him over a century to recover, and even after that, he had never recovered fully. Adona’s image of those two had been completely twisted since then, and she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d say when they met again. Would she get angry? Would she even be able to talk with them civilly? Would she start demanding answers so that she could possibly understand their perspectives on why they’d done what they had? Why they’d left Kallan behind despite how much he’d clearly needed both of them?

  Perhaps Adona shouldn’t get so mad. Kal didn’t seem angry about it anymore, only defeated. She was just glad he was no longer actively trying to take his own life, even if he pulled stunts like this and put himself in danger just because an authority asked him to. She did wish he’d value himself more. Back then, if Leocadies had told him to value himself more, he would’ve listened. But those words must feel empty now.

  “...permission to speak, my lord,” Adona bowed towards Cadence, the great king of peace glancing towards his royal knight who had always been such a dedicated and diligent worker. She knew her place and never spoke without permission.

  “Go ahead, Adona. Speak your mind,” Cadence agreed with a gentle smile, waving his fair hand in front of the other leaders to silence them for a moment as the woman raised her head, blue eyes still staring respectfully at the ground.

  “I didn’t mention this before, since I thought it was personal to Kallan and didn’t want to make him seem vulnerable, but I think the woman who took him away, Rose, has the ability to make people think she’s the one they love most. I have no idea how it works, but Kallan had called her by Leo’s name before he let himself get taken back. However, I know for a fact he was still in his right mind, as he’d thrown me the tracker directly after that and we made proper eye contact. I think it was his way of hinting to me what her concept might be, so I think we should keep that in mind.”

  “Ah… a concept that makes people think they’re talking to someone they love?” Lizana wavered, her mind racking for answers as she went to bite her fingernails. “Does it just bring back past memories, or does it only work on current emotions? Do you know the answer, Adona?”

  “I’m afraid not, your highness. I was listening in on the entire conversation, but everything seemed very vague just watching it from afar. I fear I would need to experience it for myself to answer your questions.”

  “Hah, well we can probably bet it’s not on current emotions, then. After what your son did, Lizana, do you really think Kallan would ever give him a second chance?” Nikiva snickered, the upright Queen of Ovin only frowning slightly as she lowered her head, as if she, too, were ashamed by the actions her son had taken.

  Adona wasn’t really sure she liked that comment, though. It appeared as if Lizana didn’t know how to respond to it either, and rightfully so. In the past, Lizana had taken Kal under her wing like he was her very own son after his parents had disowned him, and she’d approved of them when Leocadies requested to have his engagement with Kallan made official. Kal had never been fully ready for marriage, so they never actually tied the knot back then, but Lizana had invested a lot of time into their relationship as Leo’s mother. She’d always been excited to see them happy together.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Still though, no matter what Nikiva thought or if Lizana agreed, and even though Leocadies had faked his death and hurt Kallan far more than anyone could imagine, it… it still didn’t seem like Kal’s tender feelings for the man had left him. Adona didn’t know how she knew that, but perhaps it was just her intuition. She usually didn’t have very good intuition when it came to these sorts of things, often being referred to as dense in this area of expertise, but she knew Kallan very well, so perhaps that made a difference. And over all these centuries, he had never once talked bad about Leocadies, never once took his anger out on the man’s name, and never once seemed to ever move on. He had a lot of one night stands with men and women alike, but he’d never gotten into another real relationship since. It was like he was in a state of constant rebounds, and none of them ever worked or made him feel what he was longing for… which was very unhealthy, but Adona preferred it over him injuring himself, so she’d chosen to turn a blind eye as long as if his life was not in any danger.

  Ah, though, enough of these mindless thoughts about the past… she just wanted Kallan to get the happiness he deserved. And recklessly throwing himself into the role of the enemy’s prisoner just to get them a location was something he shouldn’t do so carelessly. Sure, knowing him, he’d probably planned it out to the tenth degree and knew exactly what he was doing, but that didn’t make her feel any less comfortable with the fact he’d endangered himself yet again without warning. The man really didn’t have any regard for his own life, and it showed. Agh, what could she even do to get him to value his safety at this point in their lives? What could she do to make him see that whenever he pulled stunts like this, he really worried people? That he worried Cadence, that he worried Kimith, that he worried her? Speaking of, Kimith had nearly panicked and fainted when they watched his location move to some unknown lair on a planet already destroyed by the apocalypse!

  Though the entire room froze when Ophiuchus finished looking at a map of the underground hideout that Saffra had created for them to view. Nikiva’s wife had a very keen eye for architecture, and had researched it extensively until she developed a concept that allowed her to see the layout and structure of any building so long as she knew its location. And Ophiuchus was their keen strategist who usually developed the battle plans along with Nadia, so his opinion always mattered. “It looks like there's a part of this facility that is used to hold people. There’s several different areas that could be used as prisons, so I’m afraid I have no clue where Kallan will be in all of this, but I’m not going to worry about it. He willingly got himself in this mess, so he can get himself out of it if we don’t happen to find him. Either way, I’ve developed a strategy of scattering us around in groups based on where I’m predicting our enemies will be.”

  “Hah, you know I love your battle strategies, Ophiuchus, but you can’t seriously be suggesting we abandon the man who managed to get us all of this information in the first place,” Nadia scoffed, glancing at the infrastructure Saffra was projecting with a frustrated scowl.

  “I’m keen on agreeing. I will not abandon one of my best and most loyal soldiers,” Cadence agreed firmly, although Ophiuchus merely rolled his eyes at the two, like he didn’t really care.

  “And I’m not saying you have to. In fact, I was going to volunteer to find him myself,” the King of Betalina sighed as if he were talking to a group of idiots, although that was honestly just how he usually talked in Adona’s point of view, the king of stars leaning back in his throne with crossed legs, head resting on his fist with his elbow propped up on the arm. “The rest of you should have concrete goals, as we know I’m the most flexible of us all. And we also don’t know how many people we’re up against, so I’m suggesting we bring out the best of the best. All leaders should go, as well as all of our most trusted men and women. I’ll scatter us around in the facility in ideal places, and hopefully that will bear us fruit. We’re honestly running in blind here, so that’s about all we can do. It’s a pity we don’t have any further intel, but I do appreciate Kallan’s ingenuity. So I’ll look for him myself.”

  “You only do things like that when something’s in it for you. What do you want with that poor man?” Lizana protested, not liking that proclamation one bit as Ophiuchus didn’t even glance her way.

  “Of course. Because there is something in it for me. My oracle and lovely granddaughter said I would have an interesting time if I personally went to rescue Kallan. She also said he wouldn’t really need saving, but, well, who am I to assume the future that’s never going to be set in stone?”

  “You’re sick in the head… but fine, have it your way,” Cadence sighed in defeat, leaning back on his throne with a hand caressing his temples. “If you think it’ll be interesting, then I’ll trust you to handle it. I can admit you’re always thorough with what you say you will do, if nothing else.”

  “Of course I am. Who do you think you’re talking to, Cadence?” Ophiuchus smiled cheerfully, lifting himself up as he moved to stand, shifting his body into a see-through pocket of stars and a shifting black galaxy to phase through the table and walk to the very center of them all, everyone watching him move so elegantly with such ethereal features. Ophiuchus was a mysterious man, and no one could ever really tell what he was thinking or what he actually wanted. He was as aloof as he was beautiful, as intelligent as he was sadistic, and as unpredictable as he was manipulative. And, honestly, Adona never knew what to think of him. Ophiuchus was mesmerizing, but also very dangerous. And when he lifted his shining arm that was mixing with pockets and clusters of purple and blue stars while shimmering white light drifted off his body in waves, he began to enact the rescue mission he had set into motion. “The stars will guide me. They will tell me exactly who to send where. Everyone, alert the most powerful among your forces to join us here today. I want Bethabelle, Listina, Kimith, Nivi, and Adona to be added to this expedition besides who we already have here. The stars will take you to your rightful places in the sky, so get prepared, alright? I’ll give you the next half hour. After that, it’s time we fight and finally get to the bottom of what these bringers of the apocalypse actually want with us. So hurry along, and don’t be late, unless you want me to take the liberty of killing you myself.”

  Oh… only Ophiuchus could get away with saying something like that, Adona realized. Though the only person they really needed to gather was Bethabelle, everyone else was already there, so wasn’t he just threatening only a single person? Ah, but it didn’t matter. For some reason, Adona felt that if it came down to it, Ophiuchus would even kill his own child if he was displeased enough. Maybe not over something like being late, but she didn’t think it would be a big deal for the sadistic king of celestials. He was just that kind of person. But when everyone did arrive, they all gathered around his stars regardless, trusting them to take them where they needed to go… and when Adona opened her eyes, she was alone… or at least, she wasn’t with anyone she knew. But there was a tall beauty of a man standing right in front of her, with soft and creamy mint hair that had wavy and luscious curls dancing around him with beautifully thick bangs, bright lavender eyes that were captivatingly elegant and rich in color, and dark, smooth brown skin that looked healthy and shiny underneath the dim lighting of the round study she now found herself inside.

  It was undeniable that he was incredibly handsome and very physically appealing, but Adona could immediately sense that something was off. This man… this man, he was… Wisteria Doruum, the disowned prince of the Millblu. A prince who was supposed to have been hanged for his crimes of molesting another young prince while visiting the planet to establish an allyship, though because of his actions, that had spectacularly fallen through… she recognized him immediately. There was no mistaking that man’s face. And she remembered all the disgusting stories she’d heard about him, which immediately filled her gut with such an unmistakable rage, she… she’d kill him. He was going to die by her hand if it was the very last thing she did. She wouldn’t be letting him walk out of here alive, and the temptation to permanently scar the beautiful face of his was almost intoxicating. And hearing that disgusting, sly voice of his out loud for the very first time only made her rage ten times more intense…

  “Oh, a pretty lady’s here to see me? Orvana said I’d be fighting someone very strong today, but you look just like a delicate little dandelion in summer. If you let me give you a nice little kiss and a delightful squeeze of your breast, I’ll let you run along free without any injuries. How does that sound, hm? You know, you’re just my type,” Wisteria laughed so leisurely, like he was talking to some random stranger while on a lovely morning stroll.

  Yeah, she wasn’t going to let him breathe another drop of the same air as her. Adona wasn’t about to let anyone talk to her like that. In fact, she didn’t even respond to the filthy words, keeping her lips sealed shut as she raised her arm, ready to use her concept to its fullest capacity… the protective concept of the forcefield. It was meant to protect others, to shield those she cared about. And it could also be used to trap those she despised. She wouldn’t let this man go, and she knew she shouldn’t let him meet Kallan, either, or else he might really be the one to snap. No, Adona would take care of this here and now… and she’d finally give this man the death sentence he should’ve gotten centuries ago.