"Big brother—it wasn't me—"
Demon Lord Silver Candle flinched beneath the man's gaze. Shame made his eyes dart away in his pain-twisted face.
The two of them had once been great Demon Lords who held the mountain ranges of Wangjiang Prefecture.
Back then, his brother had believed the rumors about the Demon King Decree. That, coupled with the friction between them on so many matters, had led him to Yong Province in the Liang Kingdom in search of a chance to rise higher.
Silver Candle had thought it an extraordinarily foolish choice: abandoning his own splendid territory to serve some Demon King he had never met.
Yet that choice had, by sheer coincidence, saved his elder brother's life and spared him this undeserved calamity.
Under the torment of the Spirit-Devouring Insects, however, Demon Lord Silver Candle had finally broken. Forced to write a plea for help bearing his own aura, he had sent it out.
He had not truly believed a letter sent blindly toward the Liang Kingdom would ever reach Jintang.
And after years of estrangement and conflict between them, even if his brother received it, he probably would not respond.
"I'm sorry. I really, truly couldn't bear it—"
He had watched friends and family flayed alive before him, and now he saw his elder brother beaten half to death. Silver Candle's mind, already wavering on the brink, finally collapsed.
"It's all right. If they'd arrived a little later, I would already have been on my way home. Just a bit of bad luck."
Jintang withdrew his gaze. He had no wish to show too much emotion and let the Immortal Scions watch him like a monkey.
He was telling the truth. After looking closely and realizing the rescue was impossible, he really had considered giving up.
"Finished talking?"