"Oh! Xiran..." she tried to hug him but he kept her at arm’s length with his hand slightly pushing her back by her shoulder. He had never stopped her from hugging him before, his action mangled her already hurting heart.

"You know he made Frila watch as he ripped Carios’s heart out? And he almost pulled Rivan’s heart out as well. Just because they won’t tell him what he sought," the coldness of his voice and the gravity of his words sunk in and she began to quiver and shake her head vehemently, knowing where this all was going.

"And you know why this all happened? What my father sought?" he gripped her face so she wouldn’t escape his torturing gaze. So she would stare directly into his haunting eyes.

"This all happened because I chose to love you. Knowing who my father is. It happened because I made hollow promises. Promises I couldn’t keep, promises I wouldn’t be able to keep. To you, to my friends, to my city. It happened because I am a failure and a loser. It was you he sought, it was the woman I love that he wanted."

Those were the words of a broken man, a man who had lost all hope. These words tortured Aselia’s mere existence and she forgot to breathe for a second as she glimpsed into his dead eyes, looking for a flicker of hope, but she found none.

"You are not a failure, we are at war with your father and wars always leave aftermath. Look what he did to me, I still kept hope alive that one day this vicious cycle of death would end," she extended her free hand and touched his face, wishing he would understand that they can’t give up.

"No, I refuse to let more people die at my expanse. I can’t be selfish anymore and to let yourself be loved by someone is selfish, to let yourself feel all those emotions is selfish too. I can’t do that anymore, I shouldn’t have done that in the first place," Aselia’s heart was constantly being tortured by his words today. She knew he was hurting so bad, didn’t mean he didn’t deserve to have love in his life or could carelessly throw away theirs.

"What are you saying Xiran? When did our love become selfish? Don’t let your father have that much authority over you. Love is all we have, love will make us strong not weak. Believe in us."

He simply shook his head at her. The pain in his eyes had magnified as he stated the next words.

"I believe in us but I don’t believe in the world, that’s why I have decided to let you go Aselia. We can’t be together anymore. Being with me has only brought you agony and suffering. It will only escalate so it will be better if we end this."

A loud gasp escaped Aselia and her hand recoiled from his face. His words seemed to have submerged her in icy-cold water and she must have forgotten to swim, for she felt herself drowning.

"W...why? You promised to always love me, and now you are giving up?" her speech was slurred. Tears like pearls fell from her eyes again and she couldn’t breathe anymore. He had taken all his warmth back from her. Leaving her frozen, leaving her panting for his warmth.

"I will always love you for you are my only Leia, but we can’t be together, not anymore. It’s better to keep you away and alive, being with me and you will only be courting death," there was no softness in his voice when he said her name, his heart seemed to have darkened and her words failed to reach its core today. He had completely shut her out and closed his heart. He refused to feel for he knew he needed to be extremely cold and distant to be able to do what he had planned.

"By now you should know that I don’t fear death and I knew the risks when I chose to love you. I am not going back, so stop this now," her agitation was reflected in her words but it didn’t have any effect on him.

Today he wasn’t the Xiran she had fallen in love with, that angelic part of him had been shackled and thrown away by the devil inside of him, for it had decided to surface and turn him into just a cold-blooded vampire.

"I can’t stop now so forgive me for what I am about to do," using his vampiric speed he took out a piece of rope from his pocket and grabbed her other hand as well, he tied them behind her back. Aselia’s mind was still registering what he was saying and he had already bound her so she won’t be able to mobilise her arms. Climbing over her he immobilised her legs too and pinned her beneath him.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed realizing he had bound her. She wasn’t expecting him to do that. Aselia could hardly recognise him today for his actions were barbaric.

"I need you steady for what I am about to do and you won’t be if I didn’t bind you," he calmly told her talking her face in his hands. The anguish was ripping apart his insides but he kept a steady face.

"What are you going to do?" she hysterically asked with a screaming heart for it already knew the answer. Her tears were unstoppable today and her chest was about to burst.

He closed his conflicted eyes to hide away the pain that was surfacing there, he didn’t want her to see it for the words he was about to say we’re about to jolt the lives of both of them. He opened them after a few seconds and slowly spoke:

"I am going to erase my existence from your memories. From today onwards you won’t remember me or my father. This way you will be able to stay safe and lead a free life, I will ensure that."