Chapter 216
Yes, Your Majesty." Ronan bowed his head low once more, rose smoothly to his feet, and quietly backed out of the room. The heavy carved doors clicked shut behind him, leaving them in quiet isolation once again.
Lin Wan took a quiet, steadying breath. She slowly extended her arms, holding out the old leather volume toward him. "I should return this to you. You’ll be busy with the war council now."
Cassian didn’t take the book back. He kept his hands behind his back, looking down at her softly. "It can stay here in your chambers."
She looked at him with a slight frown of confusion. "It belonged to your master, Cassian. It’s precious. It would be much safer in your private study."
Cassian gently walked past her and gestured toward a small wooden side table near her favorite reading chair. "My teacher once told me a very simple truth, Lin Wan. He said, ’Books only have true value when someone actually opens them and reads their words.’ I’ve already memorized every line written inside it."
He looked back at her, his golden eyes steady and unreadable. "So leave it here with you. If you ever find yourself feeling lonely or curious during the long quiet hours... you may read it as much as you wish."
Lin Wan hesitated for a brief moment, feeling the strange, complicated kindness behind his gesture. She gave a small, respectful nod. "Thank you."
Cassian walked toward the tall window once more, his long black cloak trailing lightly behind his boots.
He looked out at the endless white expanse of snow covering the outer valleys. "They’re very close now," his deep voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper, barely carrying across the room.
Lin Wan walked up to stand beside him, keeping a respectful distance as she looked out at the distant, grey horizon. "I know. I can feel the change in the air."
"They won’t stop their advance," Cassian murmured flatly. "Not for the weather, not for our spirit cannons, and not for my threat of war."
"No," Lin Wan agreed softly, her thoughts drifting to the unyielding faces of Wang and Wei Xiang. "They won’t ever stop. They’re not the type of men to turn back once they’ve set their minds on something."
Another heavy, suffocating silence settled between them like a thick blanket.
Finally, Lin Wan turned her head slightly, looking at his sharp profile. She asked the single, terrifying question that had been weighing down her heart for days. "If they arrive at your gates tomorrow... what will you do?"
Cassian answered instantly, without a single shred of hesitation in his tone. "I’ll march out to meet them."
"And if they ask you to open these gates and let me go home with them?" she pressed, her voice trembling just a fraction. "What will you say then?"
"I’ll refuse," Cassian said plainly, keeping his eyes fixed on the snowy peaks.
Lin Wan turned her body sharply toward him, her patience snapping slightly. "You already know that’s the only reason they marched their army across the freezing wilderness! You know that’s all they want! They don’t want your land, your throne, or your gold!"
"I know," he admitted softly.
"Then why?" she demanded, her dark eyes flashing with frustration and pain. "Why drag two entire realms into a bloody war when you could end all of this right now by simply letting me walk out those front doors?"
Cassian slowly turned his head to face her fully, his grand golden eyes meeting her furious gaze without flinching. "Because I made a sacred, absolute promise long ago."
Lin Wan frowned deeply, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. "To whom?"
"To my people," he stated clearly. "To every single living soul who resides within the borders of the Supreme Citadel."
"What does my presence here have to do with your promise to your citizens?" she asked, her voice laced with bitter confusion.
Cassian looked at her calmly, his expression grave and absolute. "Everything, Lin Wan. You carry an ancient, legendary bloodline capable of shifting the entire power balance and future of this realm. And right now... you’re carrying my unborn heirs inside your womb."
His deep voice remained utterly steady, devoid of anger or pride. "As the King of this realm, I can’t simply pretend that neither of those monumental facts exist. I can’t hand over the future of my royal bloodline and the grand potential of your power to another clan just to avoid a fight."
Lin Wan took a slow, deep breath, her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides. "I’m not a grand treasure for you to hoard in a stone vault, Cassian. I’m a human being."
"I know that," he said softly.
"I’m not a political weapon or a tool to empower your kingdom!"
"I know that as well."
"I’m not something that belongs to you or anyone else in this world!" her voice echoed sharply off the high walls.
Cassian met her fiery eyes with a look of quiet, unyielding intensity. "I know."
His honest, simple answer caught her completely off guard. The sharp retort she had prepared died right on her tongue. She blinked, staring at him in utter disbelief.
"Then why?" she whispered, her voice cracking with emotional exhaustion. "If you know all of that... if you truly understand that I’m my own person... why won’t you simply let me choose my own life? Why won’t you let me go where my heart belongs?"
For the very first time since she had met the grand Manticore King... Cassian had no immediate, logical answer to offer.
Several long, agonizing moments passed in absolute silence. The wind outside howled against the crystal pane, swirling white frost across the glass.
Finally, Cassian spoke, his deep voice carrying a strange, raw honesty that chilled her to the bone. "Because... if I let you walk out of those gates right now... I know deep in my soul that I’ll never see you again."
Lin Wan stared at him, her lips parted in complete shock. She had fully expected another logical lecture about royal duty, bloodlines, political stability, or ancient laws. She had expected him to hide behind his crown like he always did.
Instead... he had given her the raw, terrifying truth of his own heart.
Lin Wan was the first to break the intense eye contact. She slowly turned her head away, looking down at the cold stone floor beneath her boots. The quiet room suddenly felt painfully cramped and heavy.
After a long, agonizing pause, she spoke softly, her voice barely audible above the crackle of the hearth. "My family is waiting for me back home, Cassian. They’ve been crying for me."
Cassian gave a subtle nod. "I know."
"My young children are waiting for their mother to come hold them," she continued, her eyes filling with unshed tears. "They need me."
"I know."
"Wang..." She stopped herself abruptly, her throat tightening so hard she couldn’t say his name without choking on her emotions.
Cassian quietly finished the sentence for her, his tone completely flat and devoid of jealousy. "...is waiting for you."
Lin Wan lowered her head, letting a single tear slip down her pale cheek. "So is Wei Xiang. He’s suffered so much just trying to reach me."
Cassian’s rigid expression remained unreadable, though a dark shadow crossed his golden eyes. "I know."
Lin Wan let out a shaky, bitter laugh, raising her tear-stained eyes back to his face. "Then why make everyone suffer like this, Cassian? Why break so many hearts just to hold onto something that was never yours to begin with?"
Cassian closed his eyes briefly, taking a slow, deep breath of the warm room air. When he opened them again, his golden gaze was filled with a profound, bitter wisdom.
"Because sometimes, Lin Wan... in a realm as cruel as ours... there simply isn’t a single choice that can save everyone from pain."
Neither of them spoke another word. The tragic truth of their situation hung between them, heavy and unbreakable.
Far outside the grand walls of the Supreme Citadel, the vast Silver Leopard army continued its relentless forward march beneath the rapidly darkening winter sky.
The brave warriors had been marching through deep snow for hours without taking a single long break.
Their breath formed thick white clouds in the freezing air, and frost covered their heavy armor and long spears. Yet, their eyes burned with fierce, unyielding determination.
Captain Bren kicked his mount forward, riding swiftly toward the front of the column where Wang rode his massive silver beast. "Patriarch!"
Wang pulled slightly on his reins, looking down at his trusted captain. "Report, Bren. What did the western scouting unit find?"
"The Citadel hasn’t moved their primary garrison out from behind their main walls," Bren explained quickly, wiping a layer of frost from his leather helmet.
"Their spirit cannons are fully charged and their defensive arrays are completely active, but their commanders are keeping all their soldiers strictly behind their forward battlements. They’re still waiting."
Wei Xiang, who had just landed nearby in his human form with a flash of faint blue lightning, frowned deeply as he overheard the report. "They’re really not coming out to meet us in the open valley? They’re just sitting there, letting us march right up to their doorstep?"