Death to Power
Copyright© 2025 by TheSmartOne
Chapter 31: Smoke Beneath the Stars
Kaden walked slowly outside, but he didn’t take the route toward his carriage. And still, Rea followed behind him in a slow and steady manner.
The night was quite beautiful, with stars filling the sky—making it one of the rarest things in the world of Darklore ... a starry night.
A perfect time for a date.
But none of the two young people here cared about that.
One, because he just didn’t care about any of this and wanted to go home and prepare for Fokay.
The other, because she was now in a bad mood after Nuke’s words.
All in all,
The atmosphere was quite awkward. And Kaden didn’t even try to change it.
‘What a bother... ‘ Kaden thought inwardly. He may have acted in favor of Rea back inside, but it was only because she was now officially his fiancée, so even if he didn’t actually hold any feelings for her—or anything at all—he had to act on her behalf.
That’s what honor does.
That’s what responsibility does.
It makes you act in ways you don’t want to. It makes you do things you’d rather leave undone, all for the sake of appearances, duty, and weight you never really asked for.
It was so ... constraining.
But what could you do?
In this world, even the most unfettered man has responsibilities.
So really...
What does being free even mean?
Kaden didn’t know. And truthfully, it wasn’t his goal.
His goal was to be strong. Strong enough that even the constraints—responsibility, honor, and reputation—could be crushed under the weight of his power.
And if his strength wasn’t enough?
Kaden smirked silently, his blood-red eyes glowing fiercely.
‘Then I’ll just have to die again. And again. And again. Until I reach the point where I’m untouchable. Until I reach a point death could never claim me, until even death starts to miss me.’
That was his goal.
But that was only his goal.
So—
“What’s your goal?” Kaden suddenly asked as he stopped walking. He didn’t turn back immediately.
They had arrived at a kind of a hill. A perfect spot to look up at the sky.
‘What made me walk this way?’ Kaden thought softly before snapping out of it as Rea’s voice broke the silence.
“My goal?” Rea repeated softly, her voice carrying an inquiring tone.
She hadn’t expected such a question—not from him.
Kaden nodded, his back still to her. “Yes. Your goal. What do you wish to achieve in your life?”
“If that can make you open up easily, I’ll go first. My goal is nothing incredible, I just want to be strong enough that nothing can threaten me or my family.”
Kaden said it in a nonchalant manner, like it was nothing special.
But how hard was it to be strong enough that nothing could threaten you in this cursed world?
That was something Rea didn’t fully understand. Her mind was still clouded with anger, and maybe she wasn’t mature enough yet to grasp the full weight of what he had said.
So,
She just brushed Kaden’s goal off as something basic. Something every man loved to claim.
“My goal...”
She paused. Then gathered herself.
“My goal is to revive my family. To make it stand again alongside the other three great houses. I also want to find the killer of my grandfather and take revenge. And I...”
She paused again.
She didn’t know why she was telling something like this to a man she had just met. But somehow, she just felt like saying it. Like the words needed to come out. Like the moment demanded it.