CHAPTER 353: THE SAVIOR ACROSS TIMELINES

[KAWAI]

"Sahina had always known where I was, so when she died, Nana came to look for me. But before she came, Nana went to the king with an ultimatum. My sister’s best friend went to the king to fight for me, when she lost Sahina.

"To this day, I wonder what relationship she had with Sahina for her to stand up for me like that. She told the king to choose between fighting the rogues and fighting an omega who had been loyal to Kawai from the beginning.

"Nana never let the king give her an answer. Instead, she came to find me in the free lands. The woman who had always been simple came for me while holding weapons. I was weak at the time, really weak, but something about Nana gave me hope.

"All she said to me that day was that Sahina was proud of me until the very end. That my family didn’t have any regrets about sacrificing their lives for me. That they had died happily even then.

"So, when the mad king came to the free lands with his high guards, Nana stood before me, ready to take her stand against the king. She was ready to die for me, like my family had. And I stepped beside her, after grabbing her twin blades from her boots.

"I could die that day, but I was ready. If Nana was going to fight the king, then I would too. If that was the last time for me, I didn’t mind. But something strange happened. Instead of a battle, the king pulled me into a hug.

"It was weird back then. The man was the devil himself. Hell, he was worse than the devil, and the first show of his humanity was to me, an omega, who had lost everything, and who had no use being in the kingdom. He didn’t look at me like an omega, though.

"If anything, he saw me as someone worthy of his presence, but I knew it was because of Nana. My sister’s best friend had saved my life. I don’t know what she had said to the king, or even how, but the king had come for me.

"And no one in their right mind would try to challenge the devil of Kawai. It was the first time, though, that I didn’t look at the king like a monster I had always heard about. That was the first time I saw a person. An actual person who had humanity and shit.

"Anyway, he told me I was the bravest person he had ever met, other than... Sahina. He talked about my sister like he knew who she really was. Like he had been there for her and everything.

"That day, I got to learn one other thing. My sister was Lord Sadako’s mate. He had wanted to come save us, but Sahina had insisted that it was a fight for the family. That she had made a vow, and she had to honor it.

"My sister denied her mate the chance to come save her, and I wasn’t sure what that meant back then. I wanted to be mad at her for leaving when we could have been saved, but over the years, I got to learn about her sacrifice.

"I got to learn that she had given her life up, so omegas like me could live. She had broken the Lycan Lord’s heart, and mine too. I wanted to be mad at her, but how could I be when she always believed that family was everything?

"To make her sacrifice worth it, I went to Lord Sadako and begged him to train me. I pleaded with him to let me join the battle, but he said he had already lost one person, and he couldn’t lose the only reminder of the love of her life.

"To him, I was family. Someone he would take care of until his last breath. He didn’t look at me as an omega, instead, he saw me as a person. And when I insisted on training, he told me to train with Nana, and never the king.

"When I asked why, he told me to focus on my skills. And that maybe, maybe if I were determined enough, he would train me to be worthy of the king. The rogues who came after my family were starved to death in the Kawai dungeons as a lesson.

"That was also how I knew the dungeons had vultures. It wasn’t the prettiest sight, but that day, my sister saved me. I wanted to leave this place, to go far and forget about the horrors of what I was born into.

"But the mad king sat me down a few months later, and told me it wasn’t a mistake to be the only omega in the Lycan kingdom. He said that he was always an angry man, but even he was smart enough to know that there was always a reason for something.

"That day, he told me to train harder and overcome the stigma of being an omega. He said I would be alright, even if he wasn’t hovering over me, or if Lord Sadako wasn’t protecting me. He said I could do it.

"The mad king believed in me, which was crazy, for a man who had made the realm believe that he was the devil. Over the years, rumors began that the king had saved my life because he needed an omega experiment.

"I wandered the same for a while, until he reminded me that life had to be lived, and not because we owed it to anyone. I couldn’t do it, though. I couldn’t stay in the place that had cost me my family.

"I couldn’t let myself lean into Kawai when I had nothing to hold onto. So, I begged the king to let me leave. But he refused for the first few years. He said he was never letting go and that I was Lord Sadako’s link to humanity.

"It was weird, seeing as Lord Sadako was the kindest man I had ever met. But when I insisted, the king said to fight Lord Sadako. It was a dangerous game that he was setting me up for, but I was determined to leave Kawai.

"The day of the fight, Lord Sadako didn’t fight me. He asked me if I really wanted to leave Kawai. And of course, I insisted. Kwai held so many horrible memories for me. My family sacrificing themselves for me wasn’t encouraging for me.

"It only broke my heart over and over. Once again, I begged the king. He was the only one who could help me out. That day, Nana came to watch the fight. She knew I needed space without being a rogue of Kawai. So, she suggested an outpost role.

"A task that would need me to report back to Kawai every few years, one that needed me to see Lord Sadako, and one that demanded I be alive each time. She said they would give me everything, the supply of suppressants, if I accepted the deal.

"So, I did. The first time I was out of Kawai for fifteen years, and when I came back, I found that Nana had turned our house into a full-blown omega nest. She said that this was what Sahina had wanted.

"That my sister wanted me to always come back home and never have to worry about what happened. So, on days that I’m free, I draw my family over and again, scared of their faces fading from my memory.

"This home was the greatest gift that was given to me, and even though it was forged in pain and loss, I have come to learn and accept that fate sometimes doesn’t work the way we want it to. I gained three family members on the day I lost everything.

"Without them, I would have been a goner. That is the tale of my beautiful family and the trio that had always kept me going. You already know the king, your father. Lord Sadako, your uncle, and Nana...she lives on the edge of Kawai, always watching over me.

"Today, the breakfast I got up to make... was her idea. She said she wanted to see her son-in-law healthy and would drop by to confirm it herself," Kosta said, and Tamiko went from being melancholic to straight-up horrified.

"Here? She’s coming here?" Tamiko shrieked as the smell of sex lingered in the air.

They were doomed. He was even more doomed because at least Kosta meant something to the woman. Tamiko was probably the product of the mad king that everyone wanted to murder, and that wasn’t so comforting.

"She already came... when you were inside me," Kosta said, and Tamiko felt like he would faint. He just couldn’t take this anymore. This wasn’t how he was supposed to meet any potential family that Kosta had.

"Excuse me while I go bury myself in a hole somewhere," Tamiko said, before realizing how that sounded. He didn’t know what the fuck he needed to do anymore because there was just a lot to process.

He couldn’t even run away because they had spent the entire morning fucking like dogs and if he left, Kosta would feel abandoned, even if that wasn’t Tamiko’s intent truly. This was a really complicated process and fuck if Tamiko knew what to do.

"Ah fuck... I mean—" Tamiko rambled only for a feminine chuckle to interrupt him.

"He’s cute. Zaffuto and Nakamura really worked hard for him. And you’re right, kid. My Sahina would definitely have loved him," the woman, who Tamiko assumed to be Nana said, and Tamiko felt like his world was fucked over.

"Oh, goodness," Tamiko sighed, before he fainted.

"I like him already," Nana said, and Kosta facepalmed.