274 Hyrks Story (2/2)

”After that, they tried to enslave me. That was too painful, but I resisted with all my effort no matter how they tortured me.”

Yale guessed that at that point was when Hyrk's soul got damaged.

”I am very stubborn, but when I felt that I couldn't endure more, some men under the orders of the clan head brought my little sister... she was already enslaved by them and obeyed every one of their commands; they even tarnished her body...”

When he said that, Hyrk felt Yale's cold killing intent. After all, the True Empire almost did that to Ange; if Yale had been slower, he might have experienced that same as Hyrk when meeting his sister.

”They brought her to weaken my will, but that only strengthened me, and I made an oath that the True Empire would never enslave me. If I were to be enslaved by them, my soul would disperse. They can kill me, but they can't control me!”

That was the reason for Hyrk wanting to die after learning that the True Empire was using him; he didn't want to be used as their pawn.

An oath made by someone as weak as Hyrk didn't have any binding power, but that determination enhanced his will force to endure the torture.

In fact, when the clan head noticed that Hyrk would rather die than submit, he started to beat him to death and put that poison into his body before letting him flee.

The clan head decided that the worst torture for Hyrk would be dying being a pawn of the True Empire while betraying Nurvey and the Revgen Empire, despite Hyrk himself not knowing anything about the poison inside his own body.

”I was beaten until I was almost dead, you already saw how I was when I reached the Imperial Palace. At the start, I thought that they neglected me because of my injuries and that I managed to escape undiscovered, but now I understand that everything was within the plans of the Clan Head.”

Revgen looked towards Hyrk before asking him a question.

”How did you reach the palace? How many people walked near to you before reaching the Imperial Palace.”

Revgen was worried for the casualties provoked to the innocent people that walked near to Hyrk. On the other hand, Yale felt that Revgen's question was stupid because anyone who had crossed paths with Hyrk had also ignored his injuries, which wasn't different than sending him to his death due to his state, so Yale didn't pity those people.

If someone had helped Hyrk to reach the Imperial Palace, then Yale would have also healed that person as thanks, but for the people who ignored him, he didn't have any time to spare.

That was the main reason for Yale avoiding asking that question when he healed Hyrk.

”I didn't meet anyone after escaping until I reached the gates of the Imperial Palace. There is a hidden passage in the headquarters of the Hyeran Clan leading to near the gates of Imperial Palace. I used it to reach the Imperial Palace in secret.”

Thinking about it at that moment, the fact that the hidden passage was without any guards also seemed planned to let him use it. After all, with his injuries, he would have never been able to reach the Imperial Palace by normal means.

”Impossible. There shouldn't be any hidden passage leading to any place near the Imperial Palace, creating one is something punished with death.”

At that moment, Revgen was sure that the Hyeran Clan had betrayed the Revgen Empire from a long time ago; there wasn't any other way that they could have prepared a hidden passage that could be used to attack the gates of Imperial Palace without advice.

”I only heard that from some guards when the Clan Head was beating me.”

At that moment, Hyrk felt that he was truly a fool, even that conversation between guards had been planned to guide him to the Imperial Palace.

”Hyrk, what about the other members of the Hyeran Clan? Has everyone accepted that mark on the soul, or has some people refused?”

Yale felt that it was an important point because depending on the answer there wasn't any Hyeran Clan, only a True Hyeran Clan belonging to the True Empire.

”The Clan Head said that accepting the mark was mandatory for every one of the members of the clan. It seemed that some of the core members had already accepted that mark from before, but the rest of the people only needed to have their souls marked recently. I don't know if someone else also refused to accept the mark, but they wouldn't be better than me if they refused to accept the mark.”