Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel

Chapter 190: The Crimson Night [18]

The War for The North [77]

Chapter 190: The Crimson Night [18]

Footsteps...

Footsteps...

In the pitch black mental space, an endless void of nothingness, the only thing echoing was the sound of heavy, rhythmic steps.

With every passing second, they grew louder, more oppressive, tearing through the darkness as they approached the curled up figure of Cassian.

Until they stopped right beside him.

A silhouette stood over the boy, who had his knees pulled to his chest.

A man, slightly taller than average, with messy white hair falling to his shoulders.

He looked no older than eighteen or twenty.

His blood red eyes stared down at the broken figure at his feet with a strange mix of judgment and pity.

His face...

It was identical to Cassian’s.

Only sharper, more mature, like an older version of him that had endured years, no, centuries of weight.

He wore noble black clothing that carried both elegance and death. Upon his head rested a matte black crown.

Parts of the crown were adorned with crimson ancient stones, while other parts were filled with deep cracks, as if scarred by countless brutal battles.

The young man broke the silence, his voice tired, worn.

"I told you, didn’t I?"

A heavy silence followed.

When Cassian gave no response, he continued, each word striking like a whip.

"I told you that you didn’t need anyone..."

"I told you that no one could help you..."

"I told you that you could become the strongest by isolating yourself from everything and everyone."

He let out a mocking smile.

"Who knows, maybe you really could have become the strongest. But you held yourself back. In the most pathetic way possible. I told you those childish games of friendship, those dreams of living a warm, normal life, were impossible for you."

The red glow in his eyes flared with anger.

"How are you any different from the Child of Dawn? He had endless, absurd potential just like you. But those little friendship games, that pathetic little harem, those fake bonds... they led to his downfall. You judged him. You despised him for being that weak. So tell me, what’s the difference between you and him now?"

"THERE IS NONE!"

He leaned down, staring closer at Cassian’s unresponsive face.

"What did you really expect? Playing friendship games, letting girls flirt with you while you acted like some cold and mysterious teenager... was that fun? Did you enjoy playing that detached, uncaring fool? Did it satisfy you, pretending to be a hero while people admired you from behind?"

His voice thundered across the void.

"Did you seriously think you could stand against the entire world and the gods with that tiny little army of yours and that pathetic power?! What kind of ending did you imagine? Becoming the king of the world and celebrating your victory with your friends?!"

"The universe does not need someone like that!"

His outburst faded into the darkness.

Cassian did not move.

Not even a twitch.

His soul was so crushed that even these words could not reach him.

The man let out a long sigh.

His anger faded, replaced by something quieter, almost accepting.

He slowly bent down and sat on the ground, leaning his back against Cassian’s.

He tilted his head upward, toward a sky that did not exist.

When he spoke again, his voice was softer. Understanding.

"You’re in pain... and drowning in regret. You want to know why you lost everything again, where you went wrong... but at the same time, you don’t want to think at all. You just want to fade away... disappear... and escape this pain."

A faint, bitter smile formed on his lips.

"From my perspective, it’s a familiar sight. You made the same mistakes back in the Duchy of Inferna. Maybe the faces were different. Maybe the circumstances changed. But the result was the same. You really are hopeless, aren’t you? Even with everything you had... you still lost."

He turned his head slightly toward the body behind him.

"Aren’t you going to say anything? Tell me to shut up? Tell me I’m wrong?"

Silence.

He let out a quiet chuckle.

"I guess you’re too broken to even defend yourself now."

He paused briefly.

"There’s just one thing I’m curious about... do you think it was worth it?"

Knowing no answer would come, he slowly turned toward Cassian.

"You can’t escape your fate."

He ran a hand through his white hair.

"I think I’ve judged you enough. After all... the real reason you exist, the reason you made these mistakes, the reason you’re suffering like this... in a way, that fault lies with me."

His red eyes drifted far beyond the darkness, into something ancient.

"Since we’re both going to forget all of this by the end anyway, I probably won’t get another chance to tell you."

He took a deep breath. His voice now carried the weight of a legend.

"Have you ever wondered? In that story you trusted so much... why the last child born with Lilith’s Curse wasn’t you, but someone else? How you even exist in this world when you were never part of the original story? Or why those rebellious witches kneel before you and call you their prince?"

His lips curved slightly.

"Have you ever thought about why Olivia, the eldest among the witches, looks so much like you? Or the truth behind your strange connection with Zevstyle? Even without a contract, your existence has been tied to hers from the very beginning."

His words sparked faint reactions in Cassian’s numb mind.

"You... or rather, we. We were the first to be born with Lilith’s Curse. The third son of a fallen dynasty, one that has long been erased from history, its bloodline completely extinguished by that cursed fate."

"Eclipsion County. Avaris Eclipsion."

A strange warmth flickered in his eyes.

"Unlike Bladehaven, our family did not cast us aside for being cursed."

"We were not abandoned."

"They supported us with everything they had. Even as the curse consumed us day by day, we endured. We kept living."

His expression darkened.

"But when the inevitable moment came... when the curse devoured our soul completely, we stood at the edge of death."

Then, he smiled faintly.

"Until the Moon Goddess Artemisia found us... and made us her avatar. I suppose now you understand where your obsession with the moon comes from."

The smile faded.

"Power always brings responsibility. And enemies. Back then, we were far more stubborn... far more aggressive."

He scratched his cheek lightly.

"And I will admit... we were cruel."

"I don’t remember everything I did. Or who I crossed. But most likely, the thing I was fighting for back then is exactly the same as now."

"Stopping Yavres."

His eyes darkened.

"But I failed. At the end of that war... I fell into Serena’s hands. That obsessive witch took everything from me."

He paused.

"Or at least... she thought she did."

A terrifying light ignited in his eyes, filled with hatred and madness accumulated over centuries.

"To stop her from fully claiming me, I tore a piece of my own soul away and hid it."

"I shattered myself."

"And I waited... for centuries. For the day we would become whole again. As the Crown of the Abyss."

He let out a quiet breath.

"She must have gone mad, knowing she never truly had me."

He slowly stood up.

Then leaned over Cassian’s motionless body.

His voice was no longer soft.

It was absolute.

"Don’t worry... you won’t have to think about anything anymore."

"You won’t have to worry about others, fear losing those you love, or shed those weak tears."

He gently removed the cracked black crown from his head.

"And from now on... you will become what you were always meant to be."

He knelt down and carefully placed the crown onto Cassian’s white hair.

The moment it touched his forehead...

Time and space collapsed.

Two beings.

Two fragments of a soul.

Began to merge.

Forgotten memories, ancient massacres, the faces of the Eclipsion family, the silver light of Artemisia, the disgusting touch of Serena...

Everything flooded into Cassian’s mind.

Pain, regret, sorrow...

All of it was replaced by something else.

Something raw.

Something primal.

Something uncontrollable.

Cassian’s dim red eyes suddenly opened.

But there was nothing human left in them.

They burned like hellfire, filled with a madness that could tear apart even a god.

Avaris’s voice now echoed from within Cassian himself, from his own lips.

With a wide, terrifying smile, filled with bloodlust and absolute insanity, he whispered:

"If the universe wants us to be a monster..."

"Then let’s become one."