Zhan's pov:~

I drew my sword and marched towards the hall, I was going to kill Roland. I was going to end his life, what he did to my Yibo was unforgivable.

He broke Yibo, he shattered his pride, he laughed at him when he was at his lowest, he saw Yibo like that weak and vulnerable, and made a joke out of his situation. Roland enjoyed seeing Yibo like that, he made Yibo feel small, he made Yibo feel ugly, he made Yibo feel ashamed of himself and laughed at him when Yibo cried. I would not forgive him.

I marched into the hall and everyone was looking at me, my brother immediately came forward, while Roland took out his sword, the emperor was worried too, Adrian and Duke Ashvald were ready to step in too.

But all I saw was red, I wanted Roland's blood on my hands, I was going to kill him, so I swung at him, and we engaged in a battle, the emperor and my brother called my name but I did not hear, I was mad with rage, I was bloodthirsty.

I swung at Roland again and again and my rage was so strong that I had an upper hand over him, he must have thought that I was going to spare him, but no I would kill him, I poured all my strength and swung my sword at him, knocking his sword out of his hand and kicked him, he looked at me but I stabbed him in the shoulder, I took my sword and aimed at his heart.

But before I could stab him, I was held back by my brother and the emperor stood before me, while Duke Ashvald went to Roland.

"Stop it! General." the emperor spoke.

"I will not! He crossed his limits." I roared, "he hurt my Yibo, this monster should not be allowed to live, laughing at a man who is barely hanging by a thread! Just how low can a person go! He is a bastard! He calls himself a soldier? A warrior? Fuck that, he went to a sick, unarmed man, who is weak and vulnerable and laughed at him?

Made jokes about his condition?! What kind of a human is he! He is no better than the previous emperor and he has to die!" I said as I tried to move but the emperor didn't move, "I know what he did was wrong! But you cannot just kill him!"

"I will! You can execute me if you want!"

"ZHAN XIAO!" the emperor roared, "no one is killing anyone! That's an order! If you all just start to kill each other then we are all done! Have you forgotten that our first duty is to serve this nation?! you two need to keep your personal issues aside and focus on the issue."

I spoke, "he went after my Yibo! He provoked me!"

Roland scoffed as he stood up and he looked angry, "how dare you compare me to that previous tyrant! I am better than him and than your Yibo, at least I would never kill a kid!"

I yelled, "how many times do I have to tell you that Yibo was forced to kill Gareth!"

"Wait!" Adrian suddenly spoke and we all looked at him, "you mean that kid from the Solmara tribe?"

"Yes." Roland spoke, "the kid who your commander killed!"

"No." Adrian spoke, "the commander did not kill that kid."

Silence fell in the room and Adrian said, "that kid is alive."

Roland's eyes widened, "what are you saying? what do you mean alive?"

Adrian spoke, "the commander was ordered to kill that kid, but after learning the true nature of the king and the crown prince, he couldn't do it, so he ordered me to feed Gareth a medicine that would make it look like he was dead and secretly take him away. He knew that Gareth was innocent.

Gareth is currently at my residence! Commander would never kill a kid!"

Everyone was looking at Adrian with shock, Roland took a step back, his eyes wide, his expression unreadable. He reached for a chair to steady himself.

And I spoke, "you trampled on the dignity of an innocent man! you monster!"

This time Roland did not respond, instead he kept his hand over his mouth, horror coming over him, realization hitting him at what he had done.

"I... I am sorry." He whispered.

I was shaking at this point, "it's of no use! you broke him! You took away his pride! He was once a respected commander! A noble and a dignitary, do you have any idea how much your words affected him!"

"I..." Roland stuttered, this was the first time I heard him stutter, "I will apologize to him... I..."

He tried to move forward but I did not let him, "don't you dare go anywhere near my Yibo! Get out of my house! I don't want a monster like you here! Fuck off!"

"Please let me say sorry."

"No!" I roared and the emperor finally spoke, "leave Roland, you have already done enough."

Roland looked at me and then at the emperor and finally after a few minutes he left.

I was still breathing heavily, there was silence for some time before the emperor spoke, "Everyone other than General Xiao please leave the room."

Cheng hesitated but gave me a soft pat on the shoulder before he left followed by Adrian and Duke Ashvald, and soon only me and the emperor were left.

I kept my sword aside and stood in front of him, the emperor looked at me with pity, "General you look wrecked."

"I am wrecked." I spoke.

"You can't go on like this."

I said nothing.

The emperor took a deep breath and said, "I knew that Yibo was in a bad condition but what I saw inside was horror, that's the only word I can describe it with. That man inside did not look human, he looked like a corpse, a rotting breathing corpse. An appearance so terrifying that it could make any man flinch.

I can't even imagine the pain he must be in. General you said yourself, that Yibo was a commander, the commander of the royal knights, a dignitary, a noble and elite, proud of his appearance, his talent, his status, and to be reduced to a corpse like that is torture General."

I looked at him, my eyes stinging with warm tears and the emperor looked at me with pity, he looked sad for me.

"General at this point it is you who is torturing him, this is worse than death, subjecting him to such pain and decay is nothing but cruelty, how long are you going to keep him alive? when he is literally rotting and in so much pain? When he is reduced to nothing, you are giving him a slow and agonizing death.

Don't you think that freeing him from this pain would be much better? If you truly love him then shouldn't you free him?"

I couldn't argue with that, I couldn't say anything in return to his points, because he was right.

I was keeping Yibo alive because I couldn't part with him, every day Yibo woke up in pain, so much pain. And I could only watch him suffering alone.

"Think about it General, what's more cruel? keeping him alive, or freeing him?" the emperor patted my shoulder before he walked away and I was left alone in the room, with my thoughts and a cold realization that maybe he was right.

~~

When I came back to Yibo's room, I saw that Yibo was lying on his bed, with his eyes closed, but he was groaning with pain.

"Zhan..." he was calling out my name, I gently went beside him and held his hand, "it hurts... it hurts so much Zhan."

"I know darling... I know." I spoke, I didn't know if he heard me or not but tears slipped from his eyes as he mumbled, "it hurts so much Zhan... please... I can't take it anymore...please..."

Tears slipped from my eyes as I looked at him, while he whimpered in pain, "It hurts...Zhan..." he was crying at this point his voice coming out weak, his face was contorted with pain, "Zhan... please...just...end it...Zhan please..."

And I broke down. "Yibo..." I kept my hand over my face and just broke down into loud sobs, I cried and cried and cried unable to hold back anymore, unable to let go.

"Yibo." I called out his name but Yibo was still in his sleep crying from his pain.