Despite the soul-shattering revelation of the letters—despite the grief that should have paralyzed him—the Jaguar of the North had moved with impossible speed and did what the other knights and guards couldn’t have done.

"Ah, a pity, you ruined things," Julian mused, his voice smooth and unaffected. He turned his head slightly, his lips curving into a smirk. "But hey, we meet once again."

Alaric’s eyes widened. The touch, the weight of the arm, the physical presence—it was Julian’s body. He knew it. He hadn’t known before, but now that he was this close, how could he not know the body he had held in his hand no more than an hour ago?

But the voice, the mockery, and the chilling lack of warmth were entirely alien. This was the stranger he had met a week ago. The one who claimed he was Julian Von Astrea.

He was creating chaos with this body.

"Do not let him escape!" a knight roared.

The ballroom transformed into a forest of steel as the nobles had mostly cleared out in fear of being the next whose throat would be threatened by a blade.

Knights and Golden Guards swarmed the dais, surrounding the Duke and the assassin in a suffocating circle. Aurelian slowly reached up, his fingers touching the wet, warm blood on his neck. He looked at the red on his white, gloved fingertips, then at the man wearing Julian’s everything.

Across the hall, Seraphina was being wrestled to the ground by four knights. She didn’t struggle. She just knelt in her blood-soaked lace, laughing like a maniac, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as if she could see the gods laughing back.

"So, what will you do now?" Julian asked Alaric, his tone peculiarly thrilled as he trailed his free hand over the Duke’s exposed chest, tracing the line of his shirt. "Will you let them take me?"

The tension was heavy, so much so that no one knew what to do. The knights didn’t trust Alaric—not after his roar of betrayal, not after he’d drawn his own blade in an attempt to lunge at the Emperor.

So, they waited for the Emperor’s word, their halberds leveled at both men.

Aurelian looked from his brother to the masked assassin. His golden eyes were hollow, stripped of their usual glint of dark glee.

The weight of the Empress’s death wasn’t that heavy because he had already been preparing himself for it. He never truly loved her to begin with and had her out of ’obligation’ to sire heirs for the throne.

But then there was the Duke’s hatred that seemed to have aged him in seconds.

In one night, Alaric had attempted to kill him twice in one night.

How pathetic.

"This is such a mess," Aurelian whispered. He couldn’t bring himself to look Alaric in the eye. "Escort the Duke as he takes the assassin to the cellar. Watch them strictly. Until I give further instructions... nothing shall be done to the body."

He didn’t mention the assassin, as if he was being considerate of Julian, who was probably unaware of the mess someone else was making with his appearance.

"Your Majesty?" the head knight stammered in disbelief. "He tried to kill you! To simply escort them is..."

They couldn’t understand. Assassins aiming for the Emperor’s throat were never treated with courtesy. Escort the assassin? With the Duke who nearly rushed at him?

What if they were accomplices? They needed to both be taken away and put under strict interrogation immediately.

But that didn’t seem to be happening.

They just couldn’t make sense of it, but the Emperor snapped.

"Do as I say!" Aurelian said, his voice cracking.

He looked at Julian, his brow furrowed with a sick, growing skepticism. This was a manipulation—a trap designed for reasons he didn’t know yet. If he executed this body now, he would be doing exactly what this ’demon’ wanted.

"Wow, what a letdown," Julian laughed as the guards moved in to bind his arms with heavy hemp and coarse ropes. "I would’ve definitely liked to have seen this body be subject to torture. What a waste of a good cage."

Aurelian winced at the words, turning away as he was led toward the Royal Wing for treatment.

"And what about Princess Seraphina?" the head knight asked, gesturing to the deranged woman.

Aurelian didn’t even look back. His voice was a flat, dead iron. "Seraphina has spilled the blood of the Moon. She shall be executed immediately. Hang her, and leave her body to rot under the sun for a month."

And with that, he made his exit, giving no deep thought to the fact that he had just issued an execution to his very own sister.

The knights obeyed, dragging a laughing Seraphina away and then, after binding Julian’s hands, moved to strip the mask from Julian’s face, but Alaric stepped between them, his hand on his sword hilt.

"The mask stays." He growled and they all stood at alert, reaching for their own weapons. "No one is allowed to take off the mask while I am taking him down. Now, move."

The knights were skeptical, but they gave way and watched Alaric’s back as he led Julian away.

Julian hummed, delighted and very much pleased.

Then, he said to Alaric.

"You saved him," he mused, and Alaric looked down at him. "Any more than this, if you had just let me finish what I started, he would’ve definitely been a gonner, haha. No amount of intervention could possibly save the man who killed the Emperor,"

Alaric was vexed, so much so that he wanted to find the culprit behind this and rip them to shreds.

So, was his plan to ruin Julian? Or was there something else?

Either way, he was a threat in his lover’s body. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Really," Alaric began, barely keeping his voice down as his veins crawled up in his neck in anger. "Who are you? And who are the people behind you?"

"Demons." Julian purred, tilting his head forward with a fantastic light in his eyes. "I work with the demons. And as for who I am... I already told you, I am..."

"Shut up!" Alaric snapped at him, and Julian shrugged.

"Well, it’s up to you to believe it or not. But it’s true." He said, and then they got to the cellar.

As the knights finished binding Julian’s limbs to the heavy chair, Julian let out a short, melodic chuckle.

​"I understand that you don’t believe me," he said, his voice light, almost airy. "But hey, anything is possible. So, instead of asking me who I am and not even taking a word I say, why don’t you ask that other guy who he really is?"