The palace courtyard was bathed in warm sunlight.
Yiyi held Yaoyao in her arms as she found Lilia leisurely wandering about, carefully handing the little one over: “Lilia, could you please look after her for a bit? I’m going to find Xiamir.”
The moment Lilia caught the soft Yaoyao, the little girl hugged her neck instinctively.
Her pink heart-shaped tail wagged like a lively little pompom, rubbing back and forth on Lilia’s arm: “Sister Lilia! The Lady said you’d play blocks with me and tell me stories, right?”
“Of course.”
Lilia smiled and gently pinched her chubby little cheek.
Her gaze flickered to Yiyi’s tense profile as she softly asked, “Should I wait for you to come back so we can eat the osmanthus cake together?”
“No need. You two play first; I’ll be back soon.”
Yiyi forced a slight smile, reaching out to smooth the wisps of hair on Yaoyao’s forehead.
Her fingertips brushed the jade token in her palm, its touch cold as ice.
She looked up at Yaoyao, her voice extremely gentle.
“Be good and listen. Sister will bring you extra preserved fruit when she returns.”
“Okay~”
Yaoyao dragged out the syllable happily, nuzzling against Lilia’s shoulder.
Her pink heart-shaped tail swept joyfully across Lilia’s back, full of anticipation for their playtime.
A little later, in the office, Xiamir was sorting through documents when the door was gently pushed open.
Yiyi stepped inside.
“Hm? Yibao’s back? Where’s Yaoyao?”
Yiyi closed the door behind her with a flick of her hand.
The warm light in the hall fell on her tense shoulders but failed to dispel the heavy gloom in her heart.
Clutching the cold jade token in her palm, she quickly strode to Xiamir’s desk, her voice betraying a barely concealed urgency: “Xiamir, I just saw Aze in the alley—he was locked inside a prison carriage, so… where is he now?”
Yiyi clenched her small fists tightly.
Xiamir paused his filing and looked up, taking in her reddened eyes and strained expression.
His tone was probing: “What’s this? Little Yibao wants to kill him?”
“Yes!”
Yiyi’s voice suddenly rose, fierce and biting, yet her eyes uncontrollably reddened further, her clenched fists trembling slightly. “He betrayed all of humanity and caused the entire Holy Spirit Legion to perish! That traitor—I want to flay him alive!”
The images of the Legion’s destruction surged through her mind—the camp engulfed in flames, the anguished cries as comrades fell.
The smile on Xiamir’s face instantly vanished.
After a brief silence, his fingers lightly tapped the desk as he spoke in a low voice:
“Then go. He’s in the deepest part of the Dungeon.”
At his words, Yiyi trembled, clearly not expecting such a straightforward reply.
She hesitated for a moment before a fiercer hatred ignited in her eyes.
Her fingers gripped the jade token tighter, knuckles whitening until almost translucent.
“I understand.”
Without further words, she turned and hurried out, her footsteps brisk as if carrying the wind.
The palace door slammed behind her with a loud bang.
The sunlight was blinding but could not penetrate the hate-filled chamber within her heart.
The Dungeon lay on the palace’s west side—dark, damp, and seemingly a world apart from the bright courtyard.
Yiyi descended the stone steps quickly.
The torches on the walls flickered with an orange-red glow, casting her shadow thin and long.
The deeper she went, the heavier the damp mold smell became, mingled faintly with the metallic scent of blood.
Whimpers from prisoners and the dragging of chains echoed in her ears.
Each step felt like treading on wounds of the past.
Her heartbeat quickened, a mix of desperate vengeance and a hint of panic she wouldn’t admit to herself.
She both longed to personally end the traitor and feared facing him might awaken memories of their brotherhood.
At the Dungeon’s deepest point stood a heavy iron door, its lock rusted and worn.
Yiyi took a deep breath and pushed it open.
The harsh creak sounded sharp in the silence of the Dungeon.
Inside, the cell was dark and damp.
Only a faint shaft of light from a small window high above illuminated the curled figure in the corner.
The man’s clothes were tattered, covered in dirt and blood.
His tangled hair obscured his face.
Heavy iron shackles bound his wrists and ankles, clinking dully against the stone walls.
Yiyi’s heart clenched violently, hatred instantly drowning out any hesitation.
She strode into the cell and looked down at him with a cold voice like poisoned steel: “Aze… we meet again…”
The figure shuddered and slowly lifted his head.
Beneath the tangled hair was a face scarred and hollow-eyed.
His gaze was muddled, yet those once-familiar eyes were now filled with unfamiliar confusion.
He stared blankly at Yiyi, lips moving with hesitation as his hoarse voice croaked out: “Y-you… who are you? Are you the Dragon Clan’s princess?”
“The Holy Spirit Legion was utterly destroyed because of your betrayal!”
Yiyi stepped forward fiercely, shouting.
The hate in her voice seemed to tear at the very air in the Dungeon.
“Humanity lost its home because of you! Open your eyes and look carefully—do you even know who I am!?”
Her clenched fist slammed heavily against the nearby stone wall, sending dust cascading down.
The jade token in her palm pressed painfully—it was the Legion’s emblem from years past.
Aze stiffened at her roar.
His murky eyes suddenly focused, staring hard at Yiyi’s face as if struggling to recognize her.
After a moment, his eyes widened in disbelief.
His hoarse voice trembled: “You… you’re Hades!? Brother!? How did you become like this!?”
Before Yiyi could respond, Aze burst into a mad, hoarse laughter that echoed chillingly in the dark Dungeon, full of tragic madness: “Hmph—hehe, hahaha! The mighty Holy Spirit Knight, turned into a Dragon Clan? Hahaha!”
He laughed so wildly he nearly toppled over.
The chains scraped loudly against the floor, as if providing a cruel soundtrack to this absurd comedy.
Tears streaked down his scarred face, mixing with dirt and blood, yet could not wash away the madness in his eyes: “Hades, oh Hades! Weren’t you the most hateful of the foreign clans? Didn’t you swear to guard humanity’s purity to the death? So why are you dressed in Dragon Clan’s clothes, wearing the skin of the foreigner? Do you have the right to wear the Legion’s badge? To speak for the brothers who died fighting for you!?”
“Y-you shut up! You have no right to accuse me, you human sinner!”
Yiyi’s roar exploded within the cramped cell, her chest heaving violently, her eyes red to the point of bleeding.
She stared hard at Aze’s mad face—the boy who had once fought alongside her, whose smile once shone with light—now nothing but a wretched, crazed wreck.
But his brutal words stabbed like poisoned ice picks into the most painful parts of her past.
“No matter what I’ve become, it’s better than you, the traitor!”
She suddenly drew the short sword at her waist, its cold gleam reflecting her trembling eyes.
“You sold the Legion’s defense plans to the demon race, opened the human defenses with your own hands, watched your brothers get torn apart without flinching—what right do you have to talk about badges? About brothers?”
The tip of the short sword hovered just an inch from Aze’s throat.
He showed no fear, only laughed more wildly.
Tears mixed with bloody froth spilled from his mouth.
“Traitor? Hahaha… Hades, do you really think I betrayed you?”
He abruptly stopped laughing.
A sharp clarity flickered in his murky eyes.
“Do you know why the demon race could precisely find our granaries? Do you think I’m the only ‘traitor’ in the Holy Spirit Legion?”
Yiyi’s grip on the sword tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Anger unleashed her Dragon Clan power uncontrollably, the tips of her fingers shimmering with cold dragon scale light.
She flung open the cell’s iron door and lunged forward, grabbing Aze’s neck with such force it seemed she might snap it.
“Cough, cough… hehe…” Aze choked, his face flushed red from suffocation, but still twisted into a smile.
The clarity in his eyes pierced through the pain, his hoarse voice breaking into Yiyi’s ears.
“The high command… wants us dead! Do you know that?! The only one I sold out was you! But those cannibals in the command… they! Are the true accomplices! Traitors!”
“You’re lying!”
Yiyi’s voice was hoarse, filled with extreme anger and a hint of panic even she wouldn’t admit.
She locked eyes with Aze, searching for any sign of deception, but the pain and clarity in his eyes were real enough to terrify her.
“The high command is the pillar of the Holy Spirit Legion, the hope of humanity’s protection. Don’t you dare sow discord!”
“I’m going to avenge the Legion and everyone who died because of you!”
The short sword hovered midair, its cold light reflecting the bulging veins on Aze’s neck and the turmoil flickering in Yiyi’s eyes.
“Why stop?”
Aze coughed up blood.
His hoarse voice was mocking.
“Scared now? Or afraid I’m telling the truth—that everything you stand for is a joke?”
“Hades, come on, kill me! You’re not the Holy Spirit Commander you used to be!”
“I dare!”
Yiyi’s roar shook the stone walls of the Dungeon, dust falling in clumps.
Yet her wrist felt nailed in place, the sword’s tip forever suspended just an inch away.
The Dragon Clan power raged within her, the dragon scales shining brightly at her fingertips, but the chain called “the past” gripped her heart, holding back her actions.
She remembered when she was seventeen, Aze carrying her through the snow with her injured, his hands red from the cold, clutching her cloak tightly as he said, “Brother, with me here, no one can hurt you.”
She remembered the Legion’s celebration—the boy raising his wine skin, eyes brighter than the bonfire, shouting, “We’ll protect humanity’s home together, brother!”
Those memories overlapped with the scarred, mad face before her, like a dull knife repeatedly cutting the scabbed wounds of her heart.
“You bastard!” Yiyi threw down the short sword and raised her small fist, striking Aze’s face.
The muffled thud echoed distinctly in the Dungeon.
Aze didn’t dodge and took the blow squarely.
Blood froth at his mouth surged stronger, but he laughed all the harder: “Well struck! Hades, you’re finally facing your conscience! Ha, you don’t need me to say it—you know how hypocritical the high command really is!”