The further you run from your sins, the more exhausted you are when they catch up to you.

Hena was the Forth Crown of Dwarkam.

Crowns were the ultimate rulers and her father was one of them.

They were above the Halocrats and that was to say they also knew how much cruelty those gilded trash exerted on the people lower than them.

So if one such Crown got a taste of his own medicine, if one such Crown got humiliated and hunted what else was it if not karma.

For Zane, what happened to Hena and her father wasn’t tragic as for the young gutterborn, it only meant one thing.

"Your sins simply caught up to you."

At those words, Draxus snapped.

WHISH!

He arrived faster than light and before anyone knew it, Zane was pinned to the wall.

Draxus held Zane by his neck, glaring at him.

"Take that back." He growled.

Zane showed no fear.

"I have confronted the Emberlord, Draxus. What makes you think I will change my words for you?"

Xavier’s fists clenched on their own as with no second thought, he increased its size.

But Jammy patted his shoulder and instead of Xavier, he walked towards Draxus.

He stood beside him and said:

"Leave him, kid."

"Not before he is sorry."

Draxus gritted his teeth, his eyes on Zane.

"You already know what my hands could do. Take that back."

Draxus had melted the baton of Kairon with his hand when Zane had first seen him.

He threatened to do the same with Zane’s neck.

But if Hena had Draxus for her, then Zane had Jammy.

The janitor held Draxus’ hand. The same hand that had Zane on a choke.

"Let it go, brave man." He said.

Draxus shook his head.

"I said..."

The air changed.

It thickened.

Clouds gathered around the house as the sun stopped lighting up the room.

"Let him go."

Jammy’s voice fell heavier than a cloud filled with rain and not only Draxus, Zane was taken aback with the change as well.

The bodyguard gulped and he swore he saw lightning strikes inside Jammy’s eyes.

His lungs worked overtime just to throw out air and in front of a man with such a presence, Draxus’ anger turned into fear.

But what kind of man he would be if he gave in to his fear.

So he said:

"I am not afraid of you."

Just as Draxus finished those words, Jammy’s hand moved on its own and it went straight for Draxus’ eyes.

But then...

"Wait!"

He snapped out of it.

He stopped his hand and only when it stopped, did Draxus see it.

The Janitor was just inches away from puncturing both of Draxus’ eyes with his bare fingers. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Draxus wouldn’t have been able to save them as he didn’t even see Jammy’s hand moving in the first place.

He shivered at the thought.

Hena’s shout saved his eyes.

"Leave him, Draxus." Hena ordered.

Draxus gritted his teeth and since Hena had said that, he finally let go of Zane.

Zane fell on the floor, coughed and Draxus leaned closer.

"You don’t know anything about Crowns. So think before speaking next time."

Zane shot a glare at him.

"I don’t know about Crowns?"

He got up.

"Have you ever stepped in my world?"

Draxus rolled his eyes. "Not this again. Gutterborns are fucked. They are suffering injustice. Yeah. We heard you. Shut up about it."

Zane grinded his teeth.

"Shut up about it? Her father was hung in front of people, right? Well under the orders of Crowns, my parents were beheaded right in front of my eyes in the raid. And that’s not all, more than hundreds of children were killed. An entire orphanage was burned to the ground with the children still inside."

Zane stepped closer to Draxus.

"No one sits in the carriages we sit on. No one touches us. No one smiles at us. Not one eye has looked at us with the emotion of looking at someone the same as them."

Draxus stepped back.

Zane didn’t stop.

"Yesterday, a father blinded his own son in the slum because he wasn’t able to beg better. A father sold his newborn daughters in the brothel. A mother abandoned her son to become a concubine of a rich master. A father cut off the dick of his newborn son because he thought he would make money by selling that."

Draxus gulped.

Zane’s eyes turned red, his nails dug his palms making blood seep from them.

"She might have seen hell that day. But I live there. I spent my life there."

Zane held his head.

"My Milo, she is going towards her death with every passing second. Her hair turned white. Her body turned frail. She vomits blood. She caught an illness and all the healers refused to heal her because she was filth. She hides inside a hole. She doesn’t play. She doesn’t smile. She lives in constant terror of Discipline Sentinels barging in and killing me just as they killed her parents. The Crowns stole her childhood from her."

Zane’s eyes watered. His voice broke.

"I have been brick hauling all my life while your lady was being cradled in a crib inside her mansion. And do you know how much money I saved from brick hauling for fifteen years? Twelve bronze lumens. Fucking change people throw at beggars. She has a wall of money inside her house while me and Milo filled our stomachs with soot crust made of wild herbs growing in the Ashen Slum!"

Zane held Draxus’ collars.

"You expect me to feel pity for her? She was a Crown. They did things far worse than being hanged. Her father paid for his sins and my people are also paying for the sins of her father. Tell me, between a girl who suffered one day and those who suffer daily, for whom should I sympathize with?"

Draxus’ lips trembled.

He couldn’t form words and then Zane hollered:

"Me. My people. I will side with them! I have no pity for her and her father. I don’t care if he was a traitor or was wrongly accused. She saved my life? Fuck that. She can kill me again if she wants. Fuck her money. Fuck her help. I have hatred inside me. I am a monster. Do you know why? Do you know how twisted I am? I am so full of animosity towards her breed that..."

Zane brought his face closer and with his bloodshot eyes, he peered deep inside Draxus’ soul.

"I am happy her father died."