Julien had deactivated his Protector State. Both Cain and Lovis were now bound in chains from the neck down, their heads the only thing left unconstrained. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He was relieved to be free of the sorrow his execution ability forced him through. It was never pleasant. But with Purple here now, they could finally put an end to it.

Purple stood before him, holding the Blade of Purity, nearly three feet of it, radiating a blinding light as though the blade itself was impatient to cleanse Cain and Lovis of their impurities.

Purple furrowed her brow and turned to Julien, who still carried the weight of his depression from moments ago, not quite free of it yet.

"Hey... what did you do to them? They won’t stop crying."

He shrugged.

"All that matters is what’s in their memories. Whatever... just kill them already. I’d like to get some sleep."

Purple held Julien’s gaze, her eyes narrowing slowly, as though searching for something she couldn’t quite place.

"You look so troubled. Do you want to lay your head on my lap? I’d be happy to have you."

"..."

Purple chuckled.

"I get it. You are shy."

Julien sighed, disappointed. He never could understand what she got out of teasing him.

"Y—you... bastard."

Cain groaned and strained against the chains, the hatred radiating from him immense and relentless. He was close, dangerously close to breaking free, and Julien felt a flicker of panic before Purple rested her blade against Cain’s neck.

Cain remained stubborn, still straining, but the strength behind it had diminished. It was no longer enough to threaten the chains.

"Do you have no shame? You murdered my family members as if they were chickens, all for an artifact we refused you. And now you have the nerve to resist death?"

Cain snarled and snapped at Purple, but she sidestepped it with ease.

"Don’t panic. But make no mistake... your safety depends on your cooperation."

The moment Purple said that, Julien frowned. He had feared this would happen. The only way to permanently rid the Vey family of Lovis and Cain’s Inheritances was to kill them with the Blade of Purity, but Purple was the problem.

She had never killed before, and Julien knew exactly what was coming. Negotiations. Some way to avoid getting her hands dirty.

"You think I fear you? That Blade of Purity is powerless against my Inheritance. Only Theo could ever hope to destroy it."

Purple was amused, surprisingly so. She giggled as she listened to Cain speak, which was the last reaction anyone would have expected.

Julien exhaled. He was the reason Cain had the nerve to make such claims. The two people accompanying them weren’t their kin at all. Once they figured out what Julien and Purple were there to do, they quietly ensured their real kin never came anywhere near the meeting.

"Would you hurry up and kill him? He clearly isn’t the listening type."

Julien was fed up with Purple’s hesitation. He understood that killing wasn’t easy, and the first time was never simple. But this was the path Purple had chosen. There was no softening what that meant. Kill or be killed.

Purple’s eyes were closed, her breathing slow and steady, a futile attempt to calm her pounding heart.

She knew what had to be done. She had always been fine with thinking things through, giving orders, and letting others carry out the killing.

But she had heard too many screams from her ancestors, too many last regrets, too many voices yearning to live.

Most of them were killed by the Heart family, by the very bastard her blade had just rested against. And yet here she was, hesitating.

"Well, maybe I’m a coward—

Before the words were even out of her mouth, Julien’s hand had wrapped around hers on the hilt, and with a small, deliberate push, the blade pierced through Cain’s neck.

Her eyes searched for Julien’s, but his never came. He stared down at Cain, who choked on his own blood in agony below them.

Purple was shocked, but what unsettled her most wasn’t the act itself. It was Julien’s eyes. Not a single trace of regret or guilt as he watched Cain die slowly before him.

"Ah! This will do..."

Julien turned to Purple with a smile.

"Don’t burden yourself with guilt. Put it on me. In the end, I’m the one who forced you to kill him."

Julien was furious. He wanted nothing more than to take that blade and finish it himself, but the Blade of Purity answered to no one but Purple.

Purple, however, was in awe. The words were there, so many of them, and yet none of them came.

"How pathetic."

Lovis groaned, straining against the chains, repositioning himself just enough to get a better look at Purple’s face.

"When you knelt before me seeking information on that child, Scar, I believed you were pursuing something far greater. Yet you possess no resolve. You can’t take lives without pause, and still you accuse me of cowardice for choosing not to wield my Inheritance in battle."

Purple turned her attention to Lovis, a smile crossing her face. It was the first genuine smile Julien had ever seen from her, and it caught him off guard.

"The truth is, I’m much more of a coward than you think. I can’t even explain to my fiancé why he should marry me."

"Care? I never cared. I only wanted to watch you grovel before me, and you fulfilled that wish without being told."

Julien frowned through their conversation. He knew the Vey and Voss rivalry was nothing like what existed with the Hearts. There was no bloodshed, no real malice.

Which made the Voss family’s alliance with the Hearts genuinely shocking. But then again, Lovis’s arrogance and competitive nature had a way of pushing him into reckless decisions. This was no different.

But what did Purple want to know about Scar so desperately that she had lowered herself before that bastard?

Purple exhaled deeply and turned to Julien.

"So this seals our arrangement... doesn’t it? You will have the artifact, but before that, I will show you what these locs truly contain. I’ll tell you everything."

Julien swallowed bile. Purple’s calmness unsettled him, it always did. But what really had him on edge was the locs. Ever since she told him, he hadn’t been able to shake it. Just the thought of what would happen when she removed them had his body tingling.

Purple turned toward Lovis and gave him a pat on the head.

"You little rascal. I shall demonstrate first. Then you will tell me whether you can endure my bow when I unleash it with complete devotion."