Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 456: The Return Arsonist’s Guilt??

[YILENA]

[Today]

The room was empty as always, but it felt emptier than it had ever been. Of course, the walls were familiar, always with the warm shade of honey-brown still reigned within these walls even after eleven years of distance.

It had been a long time.

Gods, it had really been a while.

The painting had been redone one too many times, but the warmth that had once been within these walls was gone; there was nothing to bring it all back because that warmth had packed up and left.

Now, as the bells rang in the distance signifying the banquet that had been prepared, uncertainty was all that was left here. Nothing had made sense since that day, and today was just another byte of what lives had been ruined.

Perhaps shelter was the time to fix it all, right? Perhaps there was a belief that all would be well because that was what life did. What realities looked like. What sanity looked like.

But would it ever matter at this point?

"The banquet had begun, your highness," a familiar voice snapped her out of her trance.

She had been staring at the walls for too long; she had been stuck here for way too long. She had come to see for herself what the house was like, but she had found herself in a different haze.

It was never supposed to be like this. Never this long.

Vengeance was never supposed to take forever, but then she had made that decision for all of them back then. She had struck the one chord that even her brother, the mighty king, would never be able to undo.

She had rendered him and everyone else powerless against anything she had done to protect the one she loved. It was never out of spite. Because even she had eyes to see what her little boy had become.

What the kid that had once been left in her care had grown to be.

She knew they were genuine about each other, that theirs was a love that strangled nations as the rumors said, and for a split second, she wondered whether things would have been like this if she hadn’t thrown that condition in Tamiko’s face.

This was the worst possible thing she could have done.

"Are you sure about this?" the feminine voice asked, and Yilena just turned to look at her servant of years and years.

For years, Yilena had remained a myth, one that was only ever known by her maid servant. She had remained a shift in the world of the living, a world that only her brother and the evil that they had made were aware of.

It was never supposed to be as complicated, but here she was. This wasn’t a decision she had come to with ease. She hadn’t just woken up and decided on it because it had taken her everything.

Every single thing she had done had brought her to this particular moment.

"There’s only so much that the shadows can hold, Haein-ah. Eventually, even myths have to step out and face the music for what they have done. If I don’t come back, you know what to do," Yilena said calmly.

It felt like goodbye, even though it was more of a confirmation with her lifelong servant. The moment had come, that would either tilt the scales of mercy and justice or fuck everyone up.

It wasn’t even a question anymore.

But then a woman could try, couldn’t she?

"But Mistress—" Haein tried, but Yilena just smiled at her.

"You know the procedures. Get on them if I don’t come back. And thank you for serving all these years," Yilena said earnestly as she stared at her. There was nothing she could do now.

The shadows had been a good place to be and watch everything, but even she had known this moment would come. She just didn’t think it would because she’d have to stand to watch the kid she was given be sad again.

The past week since the battle, Yilena had watched Kosta from a distance discreetly and still managed to lie about what she had been doing all his life. She had expected to see him and Tamiko happy.

But there was nothing.

Not even a forced smile.

They were always busy, both drowning in loneliness.

And it hurt Yilena to an extent because she knew her kid loved her brother’s kid. She knew they deserved to be together. She knew that this was just a hurdle for them, but she couldn’t help but feel like there was more of this.

Perhaps that was why she had broken her oath to never interact with people, just because she wanted to see for herself if this was just a game by the kids who had learned to love each other the hard way.

Or if this was the first reminder of the ultimatum that she had given them. It was never going to be easy, and Yilena understood that like the back of her hand. But then there wasn’t much for her to say or do.

"It was my life’s greatest honor," Haein said as she bowed before the myth of Kawai. It was almost an unreal moment, but then she understood Yilena, too. This was not something that anyone could do, and she had to confirm it herself.

"I shall take my leave now," Yilena said before taking one last look at the room she had been standing in.

Her last memory of the place still filtered through her ears, and once again, she was back in the space where she had ruined herself. It was not just about ten years ago, or even eleven years ago.

They were memories.

Moments.

A timeline that she had not meant to toy with, but one she had ruined completely.

Gods, she was fucked.

"All the best, your highness," Haein said in earnest as she watched her mistress leave.

The road to the palace was not a long one.

It has never been.

At least not for Yilena.

It was a road she had walked countless times. It was a road that had been part and parcel of her life, long before their father left the crown to Zaffuto, since her brother was the best prospect for everything.

Zaffuto had long shown his leadership skills, and the home that had once been theirs was now her brother’s.

Yilena wasn’t bitter.

She understood and had made her own choices. Funny how one of the many choices she had made had left her with a broken coupe. Maybe she needed to work on her people skills.

And perhaps that was why she was going to the ball. Not because it was the one place she wanted to be in, but because it was time. It was time for her to see the kid that was left in her care.

"Welcome, miss," a Lycan warrior greeted Yilena when he got to the wide field where the banquet was being held. She was nervous, but this was something she had to do.

"Thank you," Yilena said with a smile before she looked ahead.

And the first face she saw...

...was that of Igor Konstantin.

And boy did he look constipated and uninterested in the ball.

"What have I done..." Yilena trailed off in defeat for the very first time in a long time.