Chapter One

“Mother, Father. I promise that I will take revenge on all of you.”

Keyller took one last lonely glance at the mighty palace he had lived in for the past eighteen years while tightly clenching his hands into fists. It was hard. His heart is aching with every step that he takes away from it. His face was painted with loneliness and longing. It pained him to leave and run away from that place that was once his sanctuary. But if he didn’t, he would be dead. He doesn’t want that to happen because he still has the promise to get vengeance for the justice of his family. And the promise to take back his throne.

Keyller stopped on his track and couldn’t help but crane his neck to look back at the distant palace one more time. His lifeless face drooped as his vision started to get blurry. A lone tear attempted to drop but he was fast enough to blink it away. It’s been a week, yet the pain and agony didn’t subside even a little. Every day that passed was a misery for the young Earl. His knee weakened and trembled and he was about to fall onto the rough ground when a set of arms quickly held him.

“Young master!” Montague, his butler, the one and only person who was with him and helping him, steadied Keyller’s body before he kneeled on the ground. “Young master, we need to go. We don’t have a whale of a time before the enemy can catch up and slaughter us.”

Keyller stood rooted on the ground. His head hung low while gazing straight against the rough asphalt road to hide his emotionless face. His aching heart twists even harder and he finds it hard to breathe. He couldn’t move. His ears were deaf and he couldn’t comprehend the words that his butler spoke. He didn’t even realize that his tears were running down, racing against each other as if in a competition. He let it flow to ease the burden and longing he felt. He missed his family so much and it’s killing him. He was suffocated by the pain, by the misery. And the tears were not helping him. This exiled young master was not ashamed that he broke down in front of his butler.

Keyller is a spoiled young master, and now that his parents are gone, he doesn’t know how to live anymore. He has his big thanks to Montague for staying beside him all this time. Helped and protected him against people who wanted to kill him.

In a matter of seconds, Keyller heard a screeching sound of a car coming in their direction. His body went tense and tears came to an abrupt stop in an instant. He lifted his droopy head and looked at Montague. The latter didn’t waste time and pulled him into a car. The sun was just peeping from the horizon and there was no one in the vicinity around them. The palace guards are far away from their view.

“They are here, young master. Let’s get going.” Montague held his hand as he forcefully dragged his unwilling body to the car parked beside the thick bushes. It was old and ragged and Keyller doubted that its engine was working well or it would break down in the middle of the road while the enemies were pursuing them. He didn’t have any idea where Montague picked this junk. The only important thing for him was that they could get away from here as far as they could and lose their pursuers.

Keyller let Montague pull him without complaining and not letting out a single word until he was shuffled into the front seat. They will be leaving Ireland and he doesn’t have any idea where their next destination is. All he knew was Montague would take him somewhere and avert his life from danger. He remembered the last words his mother uttered to his butler. Protect Keyller even if it will cost your life! He is the last blood of Ulster. Nothing bad should happen to the heir.

Keyller hugged his sword tightly. This sword was called Fergus, adopted from an Irish hero, an heirloom of their kingdom. He remembered his mother’s warmth. His body trembled in fear. Feared feeling alone. Fergus was a memory from the palace, from his queen mother who gave him the sword. He shut his eyes tight but there were no tears. It is now dry and no tears to squeeze because what he felt was rage for those who massacred his family. He vowed to himself that he wouldn’t give up and back down until he found the culprit. He will cultivate to become stronger.

“I will kill them. I will scrape their skin off and feed them to Mistral!” he gritted his teeth as he spoke coldly. Mistral was one of his pets, a lion, and he wouldn’t hesitate to feed him human meat.

Montague drove the car faster and when Keyller glanced at the side mirror he saw two cars were speedily following them. If he is not mistaken, these were the roaring engines that he heard a while ago. They are closing in on them. He turned to Montague and found him serious while stirring the wheel and serious while concentrating on the road. Like him, Montague also looked haggard and his tiredness was visible on his handsome face. They were on the run for a week, non-stop. Keyller’s handsome face even started to become tan. Their clothes were in a mess and dirty. Their hair disheveled and their bodies caused an unpleasant smell. Blood and sweat combined, but the two didn’t pay attention to those details. The most important thing right now was to avoid the enemy.

“You don’t need to worry, young master. They can’t catch up with us. I won’t let those assholes lay their hands on us.” After that, Montague stepped on the accelerator and the car’s speed increased. “As long as I am here, nothing will happen to you. I will protect you.”

Keyller’s expression softened. He is not used to violence and killing. Murdering is not his forte. He suffered a great shock because of what happened to the palace. He was not prepared for it. He is a soft-hearted Earl and sometimes people he is close with tease him that he has the heart of a girl, but he only ignores it. He is compassionate to those he loves, his family, and those people who always help him. He is already eighteen years old, yet his heart is still soft like butter to a hot knife. And looking at his butler’s dark face now, it’s giving him a scare, but he knows that if they didn’t sharpen their blades, they couldn’t cut even a piece of meat.

“Can we shake them off? They’re coming nonstop even though you have already killed them. Like a cockroach that was hard to kill. They won’t stop until I am dead, Montague!” His hold on the sword tightened as if getting a source from it while his heart was palpitating in nervousness. He could sense the incoming danger but he had to trust his butler. His breathing relaxed a bit after a while when he glanced at Montague and saw his butler’s reassuring face.

Instead of checking up on him, Montague stepped on the gas even harder and its speed increased once more. He needed to. They were approaching the main road. There will be a lot of vehicles upfront that will help them cover and Montague will use that opportunity to widen the gap between their pursuers. In the long years that he was with his butler, Keyller only realized how cool Montague was.

“Stop your bubbling, young master. We will be fine once we reach the main road. We are safe . . .” he trailed, “. . . for a while at least. Buckle up. We will be riding a roller coaster!” A smirk laced his handsome face. With that, the car sped up faster than it had, and Keyller felt his heart was going to burst out from his chest the way his butler drove. The car was already dilapidated but the engine ran smoothly and fast like that of a sportscar. He couldn’t do anything but hold tightly to the handle while constantly looking back. The cars were still pursuing them in a fast movement but now they are hitting them.