Chapter 140: Chapter 140: A Blissful Death
Kenneth Yates stared into Asher’s eyes, terrified. His gaze seemed to plead, ’Save me, save me!’
A masked man raised his blade, poised to strike Kenneth down. Just then, Asher lunged at the assailant, pulling Kenneth away and shielding him with outstretched arms.
"Argh...!" A sharp pain pierced his back. The attackers in front of him had vanished. Now, only he and Kenneth were here. ’Which means...’
Asher struggled to turn his head, his gaze falling on Kenneth, who was drenched in blood. His eyes filled with confusion, despair, and fury.
"Young Master, wh... why!"
Asher gripped the sword in Kenneth’s hand and wrenched it from his own chest. Blood gushed forth, soaking his clothes. He never could have imagined that Kenneth would give him a fatal wound, striking silently from behind.
Why would the person he wanted so desperately to protect betray him? And in such an extreme way? Only now did he truly understand the tragedy of the Brown Family. They struggled to survive, scorned by all. If discovered, most of them were killed. People feared them because they could obtain anything they desired, even forbidden things. So, to protect themselves or something they held dear, people would hunt them down and kill them.
"But... why?" Asher struggled to keep himself upright, but his body finally gave out. He collapsed with a THUD, and blood pooled on the ground around him...
’But what was this physical pain compared to the wound in his heart...?’
Kenneth stared at the scene before him, staggering backward. ’Is this what I wanted?’ He was utterly lost. That sword... it was the first gift he had ever given Asher. And now, he had used that same sword to personally wound his closest friend. ’Why?!’
Blood still dripped from his hands. ’Of course,’ he thought. ’How could the very symbol of human suffering dry so quickly?’
"Because... because..." Kenneth was too flustered to speak, his eyes avoiding Asher’s as he continued to back away. What a pathetic creature he was. He was the one who had done this, and yet... it wasn’t what he’d really intended.
’All I wanted was to stop the curse affecting Asher. That’s it. Nothing more.’
"Because... because I have to protect her! I’ve read your book. I won’t let you hurt her..." Yes, the woman. Kenneth latched onto the thought, desperately trying to convince himself that he was doing this for her—not because he, like the rest of the world, was terrified of where Asher came from.
’I have to make Asher understand,’ he thought. ’Even at the end, he’s special to me!’
Asher suddenly let go of the hand pressed against his wound, his body relaxing as he lay on the ground. He stared at the sky and began to laugh, a wild, broken sound. Soon, tears streamed down his face, mingling with his laughter. ’So, in the end, it was all because of a woman.’ He thought, ’If I had the chance to do it all over again, I’d still save him without a moment’s hesitation... even knowing this would be the outcome.’
’There were so many times I could have killed that woman, but I didn’t,’ he mused. ’I wanted to see Kenneth look at her with contentment, not with that cold, heartbroken expression of his.’ Knowing he was not long for this world anyway, perhaps this was the best end he could have hoped for: to have his life taken by the one he loved most.
A smile on his lips, Asher closed his eyes for the last time, a look of contentment on his face as he departed from the world.
Kenneth buried Asher in his family’s cemetery. He visited once a year, every year. He never brought the woman, of course. After Asher died, Kenneth broke up with her. To this day, he remains alone, a solitary figure.
The truth was, the assailants that day were no accident. Kenneth, realizing the gravity of the situation, had gone to The Azure Brotherhood and asked them for help. He had orchestrated the entire attack; the masked men were never going to actually harm him. It was all just an act put on for Asher.
