The Tyrant's Pet

When Abel reached the balcony, his expression was something no one had seen before.

Anger.

Even though he was an infamous tyrant, no one had truly seen Abel get angry. He would get annoyed, but not to the extent he would get angry. But Joaquin… this man pressed his bottom line just by existing.

"Stop whining." Abel tossed Joaquin against the railing, not giving him a chance as he raised his wounded palm to the latter's lips. "Drink. I can't let you die tonight."

Despite resisting Abel, he was strong and Joaquin never felt so powerless against an opponent. As Abel roughly pressed his palm against his lips, Joaquin couldn't stop the blood filling his mouth that slowly trickled down his throat.

He kept his eyes on Abel's face. Although dim, he could see the unsmiling face of the person. Joaquin slightly felt he had seen this person somewhere. He just couldn't point his finger where exactly, and he didn't have the luxury to ponder about that because he knew this maniac would kill him.

"Good." Abel rocked his head and glanced over the balcony. "Now die."

Without a second hesitation, he pushed Joaquin's face, but the latter managed to grab the railings on instinct. The latter's muffled grunts caressed Abel's ears, causing his eyes to glint menacingly.

"What? Scared?" Abel tilted his head, barely blinking while looking at him. "Don't be, Your Highness. Thank the woman sleeping back there that I only plan to break your spine a few times."

The aura that exuded from Abel's back grew darker and thicker, pushing Joaquin's face over the railing until the latter's upper body was out of it. He wasn't even exerting too much effort, but the crown prince already felt powerless against him.

"How annoying." Abel clicked his tongue and, using a bit of force, Joaquin's body rolled over the railing.

Joaquin's world felt like it slowed down as he stared at the person who looked over the balcony, watching him fall nonchalantly. He reached his hands out, but his fingertips simply grazed the balcony, and then his distance from it simply grew wider.

'No,' he thought, heart skipping a few beats as he held his breath. Landing from this height would definitely kill him, but he couldn't ask for anyone's help. All he could do was keep his eyes on the balcony, watching Abel sit on the railing before flinging his legs out.

He couldn't even wonder why Abel jumped out of the balcony voluntarily. Even so, Joaquin's already widened eyes dilated even more as soon as he locked eyes with this maniac, and time ticked to its normal pace.

THUD!

"Ugh!!!"

Pain.

Joaquin initially thought he would die upon his landing, but instead of death, the pain he never felt in his life came. He felt like his lungs were constricting as if something was stuck in them when he breathed in heavily, wincing as pain traveled to the ends of his nerves. He didn't even realize the light thud near him when Abel landed safely.

"Don't kill him, Abel," he told himself under his breath, marching towards Joaquin with his eyes fixed on the man. "Just a warm-up so you don't kill her."

"Hey." Abel grabbed Joaquin's collar and lifted him up, smirking evilly as he tipped his head to the side. "I won't kill you, alright? I really won't. I promised! I swear to the demon I…"

Crack….

"Argh…!" Another loud grunt escaped Joaquin's mouth when Abel stomped his feet on his wrist.

"… won't kill you." Abel licked his lips as his eyes darkened, wondering which bone he should break next. But even before he could decide, Abel twisted his heel on Joaquin's wrist until he could hear the sound of his bone-shattering.

Joaquin's squeals and his bones breaking sounded like music to Abel's ears. Hence, to keep listening to this music in a loop, Abel kept beating him to release the 'unnecessary' excitement before meeting Aries.

While Abel was having the time of his life in 'getting to know' Joaquin, two figures who were around the area were watching this one-sided fight. Actually, it was more like torture than a fight.

p "He will kill him even though he keeps swearing he won't." Dexter cast Conan a side-eye, standing in the middle of the open balcony, connecting the Sapphire palace to another. When Conan scrunched his nose up, so Dexter added;

"You'll let him beat the crown prince to death? Giving up on this entire revenge plan?"

"Marquess, between me and that piece of garbage, I value my life more. There's no way I will go there and stop His Majesty." Conan shot Dexter a knowing look, eyes filling with criticism as if he couldn't believe the latter couldn't guess Conan's thoughts when it was too obvious.

"Make sense." Dexter ignored the look in Conan's eyes as he set his gaze back on Abel's standpoint. The emperor of Haimirich was currently dragging Joaquin's feet only to toss him towards the wall like a piece of paper.

"Death is never his way to punish people," he whispered as his eyelids drooped until they were partially closed. "It's life… a living hell." — Dexter knew that since he had received the cruelest punishment Abel had put onto someone.

Both men could only shake their heads, not even sorry for Joaquin. The man deserved it. Actually, this beating was not enough compared to everything he did to Aries. They were far from even.

"He should scream more, so he knows how it feels to scream for help and get help from nobody." Dexter smacked his lips as he pivoted on his heel, heading to the Sapphire palace as that was their destination.

Meanwhile, Conan stayed in his spot for a moment, eyes on Abel's expression that didn't bear excitement or anything of the sort.

Abel was just angry and he could barely contain himself.

"I've always known he dislikes the Maganti Empire, but I can't even recall the last time I've seen His Majesty get angry," Conan muttered, nodding, before following Dexter's tracks. "Maganti is done for, that's for sure."

Despite the conclusion that crossed both men's heads, they felt nothing about it. Still, one thing was clear to them. They now completely understood Abel's remarks, "if not for Aries."

If not for Aries, the Maganti Empire was already a wasteland of the dead. And another thing was… they wouldn't leave the Maganti Empire without Aries.