Che Quan froze.
Without meaning to, he met the other man's eyes, as fathomless as the deep sea.
He remembered.
The young prince.
He was his nominal "younger brother," born to the same father but a different mother.
Because his younger brother was frail and sickly, and the son of a favored concubine, their father had doted on him more since childhood.
But Che Quan had never been jealous.
He would always remember what his father had told him in earnest: "You are the future crown prince. One day, you will occupy that supreme throne. He is merely a feeble child born too soon. What is there for you to compete with him over?"
So when his father slapped him for his mistakes, yet gently coaxed his younger brother whenever he made one, Che Quan was not jealous.
When his father punished him by making him kneel at the slightest provocation, while bringing his younger brother delicious food and amusing toys, he was not jealous either.
When his father refused to accompany him to visit his late mother's grave, choosing instead to take his favored concubine and younger brother on an outing that day, he felt nothing at all.
He even felt a little contemptuous.
Comfort was something offered only to the weak, and he had never been weak.
But now, Father said he would give that position to that... useless fool?
Che Quan was not insulting him. He was merely stating the truth.
Confusion and a sense of absurdity flooded Che Quan's heart in an instant.
It took him several seconds to digest this.
Of course, he was not particularly angry, either. After all, this was a dream. In reality, the Pureblood Vampires had been wiped out, leaving only him.
With everyone gone, why should he care about that