Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 452: An Ultimatum, Never A Choice [4]

[KAWAI]

Lord Sadako, who had just reached the three, started trying to understand what the ruckus was about. The king had left the palace fast, and it had taken a minute for Sadako to figure out where he had been exactly.

Now that they were here, it felt like a visit to the past, a past that one of them had been brave enough to face.

With a tired Kosta in the king’s arms, Sadako didn’t need to ask so many questions to understand just a bit of what had happened. This was not alright, and perhaps the mad king was right about what this woman had done.

"Your ultimatum is a cruel one. What if he succeeds? Then what?" Sadako asked the question that no one was ready to ask just yet. There were so many possibilities lingering around.

The kid had always been ready to sacrifice his father and the bond they shared for Kosta. He wouldn’t hesitate for a woman who had just tried to fuck with him. What if he truly succeeded?

What the fuck would happen then?

"He won’t succeed; you know it too. The reality is different from what he knows. Besides, Sanji might not even tell him the truth, so what is there to worry about?" Yilena asked, and this time, it was Kosta who laughed defeatedly.

He knew Tamiko.

He knew how intelligent the young prince was.

He knew without a doubt that the dice that had been cast would forever haunt them. It wasn’t even up for any more discussions, and yet the adults who should have used their brains had stalled and tried to buy time that wasn’t even there to hold onto.

It wouldn’t make sense one too many times, but this time, it was a chance at an impossible forever. One that Tamiko didn’t see as possible, because Tamiko was never letting Igor go.

They all knew it, but perhaps they didn’t understand what that meant just yet.

"You don’t understand, do you?" Danny spoke, and they turned to him, like this was the moment they would get their enlightenment.

"You’re the best friend," Yilena pointed out.

"And Igor’s biggest hater," Danny said, not mincing his words.

"Interesting. I assume you are here because you have something to say?" Yilena asked.

Danny just sighed.

"Tamiko won’t let Igor go. If you gave him a deadline of sundown, then for Igor, he would be here in half the time. From what you are talking about, it seems this Yilena personality is important to you, and you don’t want her dead.

"But that’s also interesting, because why the fuck would you challenge a Nakamura-Hinata kid who’s experienced loss more than once – into a choice between a world in which he has his Erasthai, and a world in which he never has Igor Konstantin?

"...The Tamiko I know could fight his father for me, but he would definitely kill his father, for Kostantin..." Danny pointed out the obvious.

"Sanjiro doesn’t know shit about Yilena," Yilena said.

Kosta stared at his guardian, pleading with his eyes. He knew what this would mean. He knew the danger was lingering and that what he had suspected years and years ago was possibly the truth.

It was not going to be easy for them to change the narrative right now, because Tamiko had already probably agreed to the choice that had been made. This was not okay. It was not how shit was meant to be.

Perhaps the world would have to forgive them for what was about to happen. The skies had long bent one too many times but just this once, the universe would lean in to whatever the fuck Tamiko Hinata wanted.

Because Kosta was the goal.

"But Tamiko will know. He is strong. He has connections with the afterlife and beyond. He has challenged the moon goddess before. He won’t stop at anything... as long as I am happy. You knew that when you gave him the ultimatum.

"Besides, he said he would only kill Yilena on the condition that you don’t leave; that I am not left alone. But we both know that won’t happen if he kills Yilena, don’t we?" Kosta said, and his guardian started to choke.

There were so many things that could have gone wrong and right there, but then this was the only one that seemed to be screaming at the group that had gathered.

It was even worse than what they had imagined, because the challenge was out there, and the hunter who had been sent out was good at his job, which was to see to it that Igor was happy.

That was the only thing that lingered a little too much.

"What do you mean by the afterlife?" Yilena asked, and everyone turned to Igor.

"Tamiko... he... He knew that there would come a time when the enemies of Kawai would try to push him into choosing between me and the kingdom again, and he didn’t want to risk that again. He didn’t want me to feel like a weight on his shoulders.

"So, he cast a black magic spell, one that forced the spirits of the underworld to give in to what he wanted. I don’t know what he offered them, but I know that the spirits in the afterlife would do whatever he asks.

"And if they get asked about Yilena, then there is nothing that will stop him. You already know that. He also has his father’s magic and connection. He has magic that makes him the most dangerous Lycan in the realm, even worse than his father.

"If you want to change your mind about the challenge, this is the time. I can call out to him and let him know that it is alright, that I am fine with whatever. I just... I can’t lose you, too, and you know that," Igor pointed out, and his guardian sighed.

This seemed like the worst dream out there. It was a horrible one, and yet in the middle of it all were the links that bound them so well to the kingdom. This was a different kind of hell.

This was one that they had dragged themselves into, without even having the help of someone. It was one that they had walked into and they had to figure shit out before Tamiko came back; because he was coming.

Tamiko wouldn’t stop.

It was up to them if they wanted to continue this charade or not.

"The truth is too huge a risk," Yilena said defiantly, and they stared at her in shock.

She couldn’t be serious, right?

Meanwhile, on the far side of the palace and the house that held so much power at the moment, was a prince determined to get what was needed to save his Erasthai and their bond.

"The King’s youngest sister. Yilena Sidorova is your aunt, and the one who lives with Konstantin," Sanji said.

Tamiko almost went insane from that confirmation.

He knew it the moment he had smelled the faint Hinata lavender on her.

He had only wanted to be so sure, but at the time, his desperation had led him into believing the impossible. It was not what he had hoped for, but it was what he had gotten; nothing could have prepared him for this.

Maybe that was why he had changed his mind from wanting to kill Yilena to insisting that Kosta’s guardian stay with him.

It was a last-minute change that had surprised Kosta, too, but perhaps Tamiko had always meant what he wanted to do, right?

"Looks like a family reunion is overdue, eh?"