CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 26: HOW DARE THEY

Saar bowed deeply, his voice quiet but firm. "As you command, my lord."

Meical didn’t answer him. His gaze lingered on the grand gates ahead for a moment before he stepped past Saar and descended the steps.

The butler trailed after him in silence until they reached the courtyard, where the carriage waited, gleaming under the pale light.

When Meical climbed inside, he paused, his hand brushing over the hilt of his sword.

Why was he doing this? He had told himself he didn’t love Kaizar, not in the way a man should love another. Yet now, after seeing his tears, after hearing what those men had done, his restraint fractured.

He exhaled sharply, his jaw tightening.

No.

This wasn’t about love.

This was about justice.

"To Dorian’s estate.." he ordered.

The carriage jolted forward, it’s wheels biting into the gravel. The journey was neither short nor long, but to Meical, every second stretched into a taut silence filled only by the pounding of his heartbeat and the faint hum of fury growing inside him.

When the gates came into view, he didn’t wait for the guards to announce him. He shoved the doors open and stepped out, his boots striking the cobblestone like a storm breaking loose.

The startled house staff froze as he entered, their words tripping over themselves as they tried to speak.

"Tell your master to come down.." Meical said evenly. "Or I’ll start counting bodies until he does."

The servants froze. One of them stammered, "L-Lord Dorian is currently.."

"Currently what?" Meical’s tone was venomous. "Whoring himself again?"

The butler paled. "Please, Governor, if you’ll just.."

"Enough." Meical’s voice dropped to a dangerous calm. "You have ten seconds before I start slicing off all your damn heads.."

They didn’t need to be told twice. Within moments, a flustered, half-dressed Dorian appeared at the top of the stairs, irritation painted across his face.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Dorian snapped. "You think you can barge in here like—"

He didn’t finish. Meical’s fist connected with his face so hard the sound cracked through the room. Dorian staggered back, blood spilling from his nose.

"What the..." he choked, but another blow cut him short, this one to the gut. He doubled over, wheezing, and Meical’s next punch sent him sprawling across the marble.

"You dare.." Meical’s voice was raw, trembling with barely-contained rage. "You dare touch him and still breathe in my sight?"

Dorian coughed, wiping his mouth, his arrogance faltering. "You don’t understand, I..."

"Understand?" Meical stepped closer, eyes burning. "Understand what? That you cornered him? Violated him? Mocked him while you did it? Is that what you want me to understand, Dorian?"

He grabbed Dorian by the collar, forcing his face up. "You called him pretty, didn’t you? Told him he was too tempting, too soft to resist. You think I don’t know what filth came out of your mouth?"

Dorian’s breath came in ragged gasps. "It—it wasn’t like that..."

"Then what was it like?" Meical snapped. "A joke? A moment of weakness? You used your bloodline as a shield to humiliate him, and now you cower like a child."

He slammed Dorian back into the wall. The portrait frames shuddering. "Kaizar belonged to me. His safety, his dignity, his body were my responsibility. And you.." his fist connected with Dorian’s ribs, earning a pained grunt "touched him."

Dorian spat, blood and spit flecking the floor. "Don’t act like you care.." he hissed. "You don’t love him either. I know very well, it was Seraphine you wanted to marry, so why the heck would you love a man that forced himself into your life!"

That froze Meical for half a second. His jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached. Then his hand tightened, knuckles whitening.

"You’re right.." he said softly. "Maybe I didn’t. Not the way he deserved. I can see that now. But I will love him enough to destroy you for what you’ve done."

He threw Dorian down again, the impact cracking against the floor. Dorian whimpered, clutching his side.

Meical stood over him, breathing hard. "You and your father are cut from the same rot. Veynar’s next."

He turned to leave but paused at the doorway, voice dropping to a quiet, deliberate whisper that still carried through the silence of the hall.

"Pray, Dorian. Pray your father dies before I find him. Because when I do, I’ll make him watch as I erase your name from this world."

The servants came rushing from every corner of the house, voices trembling as they saw Dorian sprawled across the marble floor, his lip split, his nose crooked, and his pride shattered.

"Sir Dorian!" one of them gasped.

"Get off me!" Dorian roared, slapping the servant’s hands away. His chest heaved as he glared toward the doorway Meical had just walked through. "That bastard!" he spat blood, wiping it from his mouth, "he’ll pay for this. I’ll destroy him!"

Outside, Meical was already stepping into his carriage, flexing his knuckles. Blood stained the edge of his sleeve, but he didn’t bother to wipe it off this time.

The muscles in his jaw twitched, his mind replaying Min-jae’s trembling voice, those broken words..They hurt me...

His anger was no longer fire. It was an inferno.

By the time the carriage rolled through the Amagi gates, Meical’s composure had snapped thread by thread. He didn’t wait to be announced. He shoved open the door, boots grinding into the gravel as he stepped out.

There was Veynar, walking leisurely down the garden path, cane in hand, humming as if his world were untouched by guilt.

"Governor.." Veynar said, polite and small, as if the evening were a negotiation table. "To what do I owe.."

"You know why I’m here.." Meical cut in. His voice was even, hard as iron. He closed the space between them with three long strides.

Veynar’s smile did not reach his eyes. "I would not presume.."

Meical did not wait for excuses. He struck first, a clean impact to the jaw that spun the old man. He followed with another blow, then a knee into ribs, each action lethal.

The garden’s stone paths bore the rhythm of a man making a point: violence as punctuation.

"You touched him.." Meical said, raining another hit down, each word a hammer. "You let your son take him. You let your house call him a thing to be shuffled and used."