Zhan's pov:-

"Yibo! Bring me Xiao Zhan's head!" the emperor spoke to Yibo.

"Relax, father." Prince Simon spoke as he walked beside me and stood before the emperor and the crown prince. "There is no need to harm anyone, you can just surrender. And I promise that I might spare your life."

The emperor spoke, "You lowlife! I should have killed you when I had the chance! How dare you betray me like this!"

Prince Simon suddenly became extremely angry and said, "How can you betray your people, how can you betray this land! How can you betray our ancestors and be so cruel to your subjects! Letting you live was a mercy but I have decided against it, you do not deserve to live!"

The emperor glared at him and said, "Yibo! What are you doing? Protect me, fight him!"

My eyes landed on Yibo, who did not look good, his eyes were fixed on the ground and his chest was rising and falling fast, his eyes were bloodshot and it seemed like he was not fully present.

Prince Simon spoke, "Commander Yibo, we will let you all go if you let us pass easily."

This did not look good, I slowly walked ahead towards Yibo and he finally looked in my direction but it seemed like he was not really looking at me.

"Yibo?" I asked and he suddenly raised his sword and attacked me, I quickly dodged his attack. Suddenly we heard more movement and someone said that the empress's family was here and what made me worried was that the Wang family had also joined them.

They entered the hall from the other entrance and suddenly a fight ensued, Roland joined us too.

"Yibo!" I called him out but he was not listening and he was not speaking as well, he looked like he was possessed, I felt so scared for him, I felt like I was losing him. "YIBO!" I called his name louder.

But he still did not stop and continued to attack me, while I only defended myself against him.

"Don't let the emperor escape." I heard the crown prince say and I finally kicked Yibo hard and then punched him and struck him, knocking his sword out of his hand.

And then I saw Adrian walking towards the emperor, I thought that he was going to help him escape but to my surprise, Adrian suddenly took out his knife and pointed it at the emperor's throat.

"STOP EVERYONE OR ELSE I'LL KILL THE EMPEROR!" Adrian yelled and suddenly everyone stopped.

Yibo got up on his shaky legs and he looked around, it seemed like he didn't even know where he was.

What was wrong with him, I was dying of worry. I quickly went to him and grabbed him.

"You traitor!" The emperor yelled and the crown prince was also captured by Roland. Adam and Yibo's father were caught by soldiers as they tried to reach the emperor.

Prince Simon walked towards the emperor and stood before him, the emperor looked at him with fury. "Simon you bastard! I should have had you killed with your mother! How dare you do this to me! You—"

Before he could say anything Prince Simon raised his sword and sliced his neck, beheading him.

The emperor fell and with that his reign came to an end.

But I had more important matters in my hands, I looked at Yibo who was breathing heavily and was grunting, he was trying to make me let go of him but he could barely stand on his own, and he was looking here and there with a crazed expression, I only tightened my hold on him and dragged him away.

With Roland, Duke Ashford and my brother I was sure that Prince Simon could handle himself. As I dragged Yibo away from the hall trying to find a secluded place, before I could find anywhere else, Yibo collapsed on the floor and puked, a black substance came out of his mouth.

"Yibo!" I called out his name, but instead of replying he just fainted in my arms. Shit! I was scared shitless now.

"Yibo! Yibo!" I called out Haoxuan and he came along with Ziyi, I picked Yibo up in my arms and took him to the nearest room and laid him on the bed. Ziyi was already trying to help him while I sat beside him on the bed.

Yibo looked weak and so pale, it was like he was dying and my heart sank. Ziyi spoke, "It's bad, Zhan, it's very bad, god knows what has triggered the curse, but the curse is slowly eating him... I can't seem to do anything to help him. I don't know what to do. We need Elder." she cried and seeing her panicked expression I got more and more scared.

In the end I asked Ziyi and Haoxuan to leave us alone and guard the room. Once they were gone, I sat beside Yibo and gently kissed his forehead and called his name, he did not reply. I noticed that he was sweating and he looked really uncomfortable in his uniform so I started to remove his uniform and once I removed his shirt and saw his skin exposed.

My eyes widened and my heart sank when I saw the bandages, I hurriedly took off his clothes and felt something on my hand, when I looked at my hand I saw blood, I quickly turned him around and was horrified that his back was covered in bandages and they were soaked in blood.

Anger, hate, worry and sadness filled my heart when I saw those wounds, who did this to him and why! I felt rage towards the person who harmed him and I wanted nothing more than to kill that person, at the same time I felt so much dread and heartache that my eyes were filled with tears.

My precious Yibo, my treasure, Yibo who was my heart and my world was treated so badly by someone and while he was going through this I was not there.

I remembered when he had come to attack the tribe, was he injured back then? And he fought in this condition? Why would he do that, it must have been so painful. Tears spilled from my eyes as I removed the bandages and saw the state of the wounds. I called Haoxuan and Ziyi again and they were equally horrified when they saw the wounds, I asked them to arrange water and some bandages.

I was going to kill whoever dared to hurt him, and I was never ever leaving him behind, in my absence someone dared to hurt him so badly, I will not let that happen again.

But Yibo was not someone anyone could easily hurt, and these wounds were not from fights, they were lashings, someone had beaten him, the only people who could actually harm him like this were the royals or his family.

I clenched my fists, anger filling my veins, however I controlled myself and focused on bandaging his wounds with utmost gentleness and care.

Once I was done taking care of him, I got up. "Ziyi stay with him and Haoxuan I want you to guard him, make sure that no one hurts him."

"Where are you going?" Ziyi asked.

"I am going to find out what happened to him."

The only people who could answer me were his family, Gideon and his closest soldier Adrian, but before I could move out I heard some commotion outside, I quickly went out and saw Roland and my brother standing there.

When Roland saw me he smirked and said, "Where is that bastard, I will kill him." he said and tried to charge into the room with his sword out, but I stopped him. "Back off Roland, I will not let you touch him!"

Roland glared at me and said, "Out of my way Xiao."

"No Roland, I will not let you hurt him!" I said and took out my sword as well. "Get lost."

"HE KILLED A FUCKING CHILD! THAT CHILD WAS MY BLOOD RELATIVE! HE WAS MY MOTHER'S SISTER'S SON! I CANNOT LET HIM LIVE!"

I yelled too, "WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE THAT HE DID THAT! HE MUST HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY THE KING, THE CULPRIT WAS THE KING AND HE IS DEAD! IF YOU WANT TO TAKE YOUR ANGER OUT THEN TAKE IT OUT ON GIDEON!"

"NO! HE IS EQUALLY EVIL!"

"He is not!" I yelled, "If you cared so much for that kid then why did you let him go alone! Where were his parents huh?! Why didn't you keep an eye on him! Don't blame Yibo!"

"Are you seriously blaming us? If people are not safe to go out of their house then what is the use? He was just a kid who wanted to explore."

"The people who threatened people's safety, who made it hard for them to get out of the house, who killed innocents, are dead or captured, go and take your anger out on them!"

"Get lost Zhan!" He said as he swung his sword at me but I blocked his attack, my brother stepped between us and then Prince Simon, or rather King Simon came there. "What the hell are you two doing here huh?! Is this how you guys are supposed to behave? Instead of helping me and re-establishing order, you two are fighting like idiots!"

I looked at the emperor and said, "He is trying to harm Yibo, Your Majesty."

Roland spoke too, "Yibo killed my cousin, he has to die."

"That's not up to you to decide." I said and added, "Your Majesty, I have kept my promise, I did everything I said I would, you have to keep your promise too, I want Yibo's life."

Roland spoke, "I demand justice, Your Majesty, my cousin was killed by that man, that man came to slaughter my tribe, he should not be allowed to live!"

King Simon looked conflicted and my brother spoke, "Roland, it was the previous emperor who had ordered him to kill Gareth, and it was on the emperor's orders that he came after the tribe, because there was a rumor that the tribe was sheltering the rebels, as a member of the Wang family he had to do it.

Even the Xiao family has done a lot of evil things without realizing that we were wrong."

Roland however was not ready to listen he tried to argue but the king spoke in a firm voice, "That's enough, Roland. I had promised Zhan that I will never harm Yibo, I will never order his death as long as he is not a threat, as long as he does not commit a great crime, and what Cheng said is also right. And Zhan has done a lot for us, a lot for me and a lot for this kingdom.

Honestly we are here because of him, he saved my life, he helped me build my forces and in return he only asked for one thing, hence I will grant him that, I will not hurt Yibo."

"But—"

"But." the emperor continued, "I will strip him of all his titles and take away all his power and influence, he is no longer a noble, he will be reduced to nothing but a mere commoner, he will never be allowed to hold a position ever again, all his money, resources and everything he has earned till now will be taken from him."

My heart clenched when I heard that, everything that Yibo had earned, he had worked too damn hard for it and now it was being taken away from him.

"Your Majesty but—" Roland tried but the emperor silenced him firmly, "That's enough Roland! I will compensate the family of that boy, and I will personally apologize to the Solmara tribe, but that's it! You will not hurt Wang Yibo. You are dismissed."

Roland glared at all of us before he turned and walked away, my brother sighed and said, "We should talk to his elder brother Kennedy and ask for his help to keep him in check."

The emperor nodded, "With how unpredictable he is, we don't know what he will do, the only one he listens to is his elder brother... I will talk to Kennedy."

I nodded before I asked, "Where is the Wang family?"

The emperor looked at me and said, "Where they should be, in prison."