Chapter 11 - Kai

'Breathe in, breathe out. Relax. This is just practice. This is not the real deal. This is normal; challenges are normal. You can do it! Fighting!' Malia told herself as she placed her wounded hand on her chest while walking back towards the room.

After she entered the room, Kai and Ian were already sitting comfortably. Ian was laughing at his own jokes while Kai was wearing his poker face.

Ian suddenly uttered in a low voice, "Do you think she's really good? I mean the girl dragged earlier was playing a little bit decent, although I cannot say which part was incorrect."

"We'll see," Kai answered. He then faced Malia who pretended that she wasn't eavesdropping. "Lady Malia, if you don't mind, will you play the guitar instead of piano which the Marquis mentioned earlier? We want to hear the song while using your guitar."

'Tsk! You just want to badmouth me in the end. As if I didn't hear your whispers', Malia wanted to protest, but what's the use? Also, she's best when using a guitar than using a piano anyway.

"Ok", Malia then simply exhaled.

Everyone else, except Ian and Kai, was greatly anticipating and excited to see her performance using the guitar.

'I think her guitar skills will be good like last time.'

'But her hand is injured, do you think she could play well this time?'

'Will she sing the lyrics today?'

Malia grabbed the guitar by the neck, it was the same guitar used by Ashley earlier, and she started adjusting the tuning pegs.

The guitar was quite heavy for her current body, so she wore the straps of the guitar then she positioned her fingers on the fretboard and started strumming.

"…There I was ---

Forcing laughter ---

--- lonely place

Walls of insincerity ---

Vanished when ---

All I --- enchanting to meet you"

Apart from the Marquis, it was everyone's first time hearing the lyrics of the song. It was also their first time hearing her sing, they initially agreed that her piano skills were outstanding, but they could not possibly prepare to hear her soothing and calming voice. Unbelievable!

Ian was speechless. His heart was beating fast. 'Her voice is so angelic', he could not think of anything else. He knows a little bit about guitar and he could tell that Malia's technique was something on a different level. He was dreaming while listening to the song.

Ian wasn't aware that he was a diehard fan in the making.

"All I --- enchanted to meet you…

This --- sparkling, don't you --- go,

I'm wonderstruck, blushing ---

I'll --- wondering if you knew

I was enchanted --- you"

Everyone was IN LOVE! Men and women alike, it was no exaggeration to say that they were in love with her.

Bewitched, captivated, hypnotized – whatever the term for what they were feeling at that moment, they don't know.

Kai, on the contrary, cannot breathe. He feels like the song was choking him, his heart was heavy, and he hates the feeling of it. It felt like a buried familiar feeling was trying to free itself or burst his heart open.

"Please --- love with someone else

Please don't have --- waiting on you…"

Malia opened her eyes and she accidentally locked eyes with Kai. Malia cannot explain but Kai was looking at her with a hateful gaze.

'What's wrong with this dude? His cold gaze was better,' She was wondering if Kai didn't like the message of the song.

'No way he hates it. The song TS made was magical and loved by a lot back on earth'

Right after the song ended, everyone was shouting praises, and giving endless compliments, and some were tearing up. They remembered their first love and the feeling of wanting to know someone after meeting them for the first time. They heard multiple folk love songs played a million times on the radio, but none can express the kind of love conveyed in the song "Enchanted". The song itself was "Enchanted".

Kai excused himself while everyone was busy praising Malia's performance. When Kai reached far enough away from the room, he leaned his back against the wall and then started breathing aggressively.

"Haaa, haaa, haaa,.."

He cannot explain yet whatever he was feeling at that time. There was pain, fear, hate, despair, and sadness all together at that moment. He, however, at that time was recalling one face from his shrouded memory… it was Katherine.

The song reminded him of his old foolish self. No one saw it, but his cold eyes turned soft. The tears welled behind his eyes and willed them not to escape as he reminisced about the past.

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Kai is the second prince of Sorav born from a concubine. His mother died when he was 11 and from a young age, he endured the cruel and cold palace alone. He was mistreated and abused by the maids, he experienced days without food, and his older brother, Kier, son of the Empress, would humiliate him every chance he gets.

After two years of enduring all of it alone, he met Katherine.

Katherine Aster, 3rd princess of a neighboring Aster kingdom, also a concubine's child, and Kai seemed to understand each other very well. Although not to the same extent, Katherine was also an outcast in her own family. She was given to the Sorav as a political hostage and became a bridge for a stronger alliance for both kingdoms. In simpler terms, she was sold like a goat to the Sorav Kingdom.

To Kai, Katherine was an escape from his ruthless reality. She was there to ease the pain, to give comfort, and to give him hope for better days. Katherine's beautiful face and calm voice would soothe his heart after an agonizing day.

However, everything was a façade. Nothing was real and the truth was even more painful than everything he had experienced thus far.

After two years of staying at Sorav, during the King's 58th birthday, The Emperor asked Katherine who she wished to marry among his two sons.

Kai's heart was crushed when Katherine, without missing a beat, chose his older brother—Kier.

Kai was confused, how could she choose his brother? 'Was it because I'm too young to marry? Did Kier threaten her? I must be dreaming, right?'

When he confronted Katherine after the Banquet, he could only wish he hadn't learned the truth.

Katherine smiled viciously at him, a smile he never witnessed her wear before.

"I admit that your appearance is better than your brother's. Anyone can see that. However, when Kier confessed his feelings for me, who do you think would I choose-- a crown prince next in line to the throne or a useless son of a concubine with nothing but his looks?... Don't hate me that much, your brother only requested me to make sure you're not hiding when he wants to punish you or make sure you'll not run away from this place. I didn't harm you myself, right?", Kai can still remember her smile and his blood boiling with rage and resentment. Katherine continued, "Blame your mother for being a concubine and blame yourself for being better at things than your brother."

Katherine left him devastated and hurt.

He could only blame himself for believing and trusting her too much. He should have known better. She never saved him whenever he was being punished. She never gave him food when he was starving. She never once tried to help him heal his wounds—all she did was stay with him and gave words of comfort. They were nothing but words that gave him false hope and it clouded his ability to assess things rationally.

'Everything is my fault. I allowed them to treat me this way. It's my fault for not fighting back! I will never let them or let anyone look down on me anymore from now on. There will come a day that you will all pay for this!', he promised himself to change and get his revenge no matter how long it will take.

Kai was more competent than before; he survived all the schemes of his older brother and didn't let anyone step on him. He made sure that anyone involved in his agony was not left unscathed.

Yet life played him like a fool. His asshole of a brother died before he could get his revenge.

He died after contracting syphilis from low-born prostitutes he had fun with during his leisure time at the academy. His brother and Katherine suffered from dementia, paralysis, and multiple failed organs for months before they succumb to their death.

It was indeed karma for the two of them, but Kai was not pleased. Their death was only a result of their stupid actions; it was not something he caused himself. It was something they only suffered for 5 months which can never compare to his years of pain.

The itch to take revenge was never satisfied, hence, even after he was announced as the next crown prince of Sorav and even if he had everything he could wish for, his heart never healed. His heart only grew darker each day and made him cold and cruel.

For this reason, at present, he could only feel hate for the song that stirred his heart and made him remember the stupid Kai, the naive Kai, who allowed himself to be used and toyed around. The younger Kai, whom he doesn't want to bring back to life.

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--- end of chapter 11 ---

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