CHAPTER 52
Inside the Dungeon Cell
The heavy air reeked of damp stone and blood. Sihyun stood before the sealed cell, his golden eyes dim under the torchlight. He raised one hand and, with a single pulse of red-tinted magic, blasted the cell door open. The force cracked the stone walls, smoke curling around him like a veil.
Ryu Vanyul stepped out of the shadows slowly, the chains on his wrists rattling faintly. His once pristine robes were torn, his hair loose and wild, yet his voice still held its usual silk.
"You've grown stronger,"
Vanyul purred.
"You wear those horns well."
Sihyun stared him down.
"You look pathetic."
Vanyul's grin widened.
"Set me free, Sihyun. We both know these walls weren't made to hold either of us."
Sihyun took a step closer, stopping just out of reach.
"And if I do? What happens next? You burn the kingdom down?"
Vanyul's expression darkened, eyes gleaming.
"Don't you want that too? They killed our kind, your mother — they made you hide, made you chain yourself just to live. Why pretend you've forgiven them?"
Sihyun's jaw clenched, fingers twitching slightly.
"You're glowing,"
Vanyul added, voice low and coaxing.
"Even now, you still have that fury inside you. Don't waste it on that prince's bed. Come back to where you belong — with me."
Vanyul tilted his head with a crooked smirk, eyes gleaming in the dark.
"Is it wrong to have feelings for a human?"
Sihyun asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Vanyul laughed under his breath.
"That, Sihyun, will be your downfall. You've seen what humans do — how they take and break. Fall for one, and you'll end up just like your mother. Weak. Dead."
Sihyun's expression tightened, but he didn't look away.
"Set me free,"
Vanyul whispered.
"We'll finish what we started. We'll burn this kingdom to ash, cleanse it of their lies. You were born for more than chains and stolen kisses."
Sihyun hesitated.
"If I do… you leave the palace. You don't hurt Yuhyun. He's the only reason I haven't given up everything."
Vanyul's face hardened.
"You think they won't notice? That chain-bound prince of yours will wake up and realize what you've done. And you—you'll be the one in chains again when they find out I've escaped."
"I don't care,"
Sihyun said quietly.
"I can't leave Yuhyun."
For a moment, there was silence. Vanyul's eyes searched Sihyun's, perhaps for weakness, perhaps for resolve.
"You've gotten soft,"
he said at last.
Sihyun didn't reply.
Just as Sihyun was about to speak again, a soft creak echoed from behind. He spun around, alert—but what stepped through the dark entrance wasn't a guard.
It was her.
Vanyul's only surviving female ally, cloaked and barefoot, eyes sharp and gleaming under the moonlight that slipped in through a crack above.
"So it really was you,"
she said, a small smile playing on her lips as she walked past the blasted entrance door.
"I saw the guards sleeping like corpses at their posts. No wounds, no fight… I knew it had to be your doing."
Sihyun took a step back, startled.
She dipped her head slightly in gratitude.
"Thank you. For coming. For wanting to set him free."
Vanyul's face lit up for the first time, relief softening his usual smirk.
"You're late."
She chuckled.
"Blame the royal patrols. But I got here, didn't I?"
Sihyun glanced between them, uneasy now that there were two problems standing before him instead of one.
She knelt beside Vanyul, pulling a curved dagger from her belt and slashing at the glowing Sorcerer's Chains.
Sparks flew. The metal hissed but held firm.
"It's no use,"
she muttered, frustrated.
"They've bound him with magic. Only a sorcerer can undo this."
Both she and Vanyul looked at Sihyun.
The silence pressed on him like a weight.
After a long beat, Sihyun finally broke it.
"You… promised to teach me. How to walk the earth like a ghost. Unseen. Untouched."
Vanyul blinked, then smiled faintly—nostalgic.
"I haven't forgotten. I never break a promise."
His voice dropped low, intimate.
"Set me free, and I'll teach you. I swear it, Sihyun."
Sihyun stared at the chains, his hand trembling slightly.
With a deep breath, Sihyun raised his glowing hand and touched the Sorcerer's Chain.
A crack of red lightning flickered across the metal, then a loud snap echoed in the dungeon. The chains clattered to the floor.
Vanyul gasped, magic surging back into him like a storm. His aura darkened with power.
"I can feel it… I'm whole again."
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Sihyun tightly.
"Thank you,"
he whispered against his ear.
"When you're ready… I'll be waiting."
His female ally smiled.
"You've done more than you know."
In an instant, her form shimmered and shrunk—transformed into a black-scaled snake that coiled gracefully around Vanyul's arm.
Vanyul gave one last look, his crimson eyes lingering on Sihyun.
"Goodbye… for now."
Then he vanished, swallowed by shadows.
Sihyun stood alone in the cell, the broken chain still glowing faintly at his feet. His expression unreadable, his heart pounding.
Sihyun stepped quietly into Yuhyun's room. His twin lay curled up, breathing softly. Guilt flickered in Sihyun's eyes as he gently pulled the blanket higher over Yuhyun's shoulder.
"Sleep well… you always worry too much."
He left as silently as he came and moved to Muwon's quarters. The moonlight filtered in faintly, casting silver lines across the sleeping prince. Sihyun sat by the edge of the bed, just watching him—conflicted.
Then, as if sensing his presence, Muwon blinked awake and, without hesitation, pulled Sihyun into a loose embrace.
"I thought you left again,"
Muwon murmured drowsily, voice thick with sleep and alcohol.
"Don't leave me… not like that… not when I'm drunk."
Sihyun froze for a moment, then slowly returned the hug, patting Muwon gently on the back.
"I'm here… just sleep."
Muwon let out a quiet breath and relaxed again, drifting back into slumber.
Sihyun stayed there a while, eyes unreadable, torn between the man asleep in front of him—and the shadows he just set free.