chapter 1

Nothing.

He felt absolutely nothing, not pain, not hopelessness, not despair. Just nothing as he knelt before the emperor waiting for his decree.

"Irianarrissa Dahl, your engagement from Reynard storm the first prince of the Dalorian empire has been cancelled due to unexpected circumstances," the word almost made him scoff, unexpected circumstances? They saw this happening from a year ago when the prince started paying attention to the youngest son of the Duke of Aphnia, but they never stopped it. Anyway it was in the past, now he needs to figure out how to deal with his father.

He knew he was done for the moment the emperor uttered those words, the only reason his father had kept him till then was to be used as an obedient pawn and join his family together with the royal family, but as fate had it the prince found a more likeable pet and found him a bother and since he was the crown prince and the emperor's favorite the engagement was canceled the moment he asked for it.

"Thank you your majesty," he says while still kneeling. The emperor looked at him for a while before waving his hand.

"You are dismissed,"

'useless,'

'bastard,'

'He thought he could be one of us,'

The whispers of the people around could be heard as he walked down the hall. The scorn and abuse he was used to hearing felt particularly loud tonight, it felt like thousands of weights were hang on him slowly pulling him towards the abyss of his making.

Maybe this was what brought out the feeling of nothing.

He wasn't one of them, the constant reminders made him sure of that. It hurt, even his father wouldn't look at him, he rarely called for him and when he did it was to clear his frustrations by beating him, other than that he couldn't bear the thought of being close to him.

'What is wrong with me? Why am I so different from them?' a question he never got answered.

Was it because he was born out of wedlock? He couldn't be blamed for that could he?

Humans were the most fragile creatures on the Aurelian continent, they were also the most cruel, greedy and selfish creatures on the continent. No matter how beautiful humans portrayed themselves to be, most creatures tend to avoid humans and even associate them with demons, he used to wonder why till he was forced to watch his father skin his mother alive, then feed her body to the dogs. He was only six years old.

From then on a rumor spread.

It was not 'THE KING MUDERED HIS WHILE DRUNK ON SUCCUBIAN ESTACY' no they called his mother a demon and the called him the devil's child. In a way it was true, he was his father's child and to him, he was the devil among devils. He grew up cold and gloomy which solidified the fact.

He sighed as he walked out of the castle, he couldn't stay their anymore. He kicked the thick snow as he his way to his carriage. He passed the fountain near the castle gardens and looked at his reflection, the only thing that had been praised about him was his face.

They called him beautiful. But he knew his face only brought out the lust in them. It made him feel even worse.

He walked slowly towards his carriage, cold wind ruffling his silver hair, tickling his skin, causing his cheeks to flush. He could see it from where he was, it wasn't as big or as grand as aristocratic chariots but it served him, the man in the carriage saw him too. He opened the door for him. Arissa stopped and looked at him motioning for him to sit, before entering the carriage. It wasn't the first time he'd done that so the man wasn't surprised. like countless other times Arissa got in and immediately placed his head on his lap and wrapped his hands around his waist as a sign of self comfort. Xanith just let him with out any sign of reluctance or disgust.

It always puzzled Arissa, he the only person among the nobles and servants that never looked at him with like he was a monster. He had grown with him as his personal servant, he never complained when he took his anger out on him or when he used him to free his tangled emotions, he never looked at him any differently. Sometimes this caused him anger knowing he was not like other people which made him difficult to predict and other times relief. The only thing that belonged to him and he was sure couldn't escape was the man he was hugging.

"Xanith,"

"yes master,"

"I may be leaving soon, would you like to come with me,"

"yes master."

He already knew this was the answer but couldnt help but ask

"you wont ask why,"

" I believe in my master, naturally what you choose cant be wrong,"

Arissa looked at him for a while before hugging him tighter, without saying a word but small praises like this from xanith made him feel something he couldnt understand.

The ride was silent probably due to his mood he felt as if then driver drove slower than usual. He got up from Xaniths lap when his emotions cooled down and turned to look at the beautiful forest through the carriage window, there was a faint blue glowing in the snow that covered the trees making it more beautiful. He knew across these trees was a lake which glowed an even darker shade of blue. It was the life blood of the empire, he wished he could see it one last time but he knew that wouldn't be possible.

As the carriage approached the Sothern castle, which was his family's home, he found himself staring at the silver designs on the gate as he clenched his fists unconsciously drawing blood. The forest view suddenly became unpleasant.

The carriage stopped and a letter was handed to him. He didn't need to open it to know what was in it. His father summoned him. He stepped down from the carried and walked towards the inner castle with Xanith behind him.

As they walked into the castle, he subconsciously started removing all his ornaments on his body, anything that could be pulled or used as a whip and handed them to Xanith ignoring the quite resentment in the others eye. He'd grown accustomed to it, he knew he was angry for him it felt nice.

He approached the wooden door and entered the room leaving a silently fuming xanith outside. Immediately he got in he was welcomed with a head spinning slap.

"Useless, couldn't even keep a spoilt prince at bay,"