To His Hell and Back-Chapter 34: Emptied Heart

Far away from the castle, Cassius tightened his grip on the reins of his black stallion. The beast, infamous for its wild temper and disobedience, yielded instantly to the subtle, commanding tug of the Crown Prince. Cassius dismounted with practiced ease, his boots landing softly on the forest floor. He adjusted his cloak, its dark fabric blending into the shadows that stretched toward the edge of the woods.

The forest loomed before him, dense and foreboding, its entrance shrouded in an eerie stillness. Cassius tilted his head, his sharp crimson eyes scanning the treeline as if searching for something, or someone, hidden in the depths. The faint rustle of leaves and the distant cry of a bird broke the silence, yet his expression remained impassive, unreadable.

A few men followed behind him, dismounting from their horses after a while. Each of them was breathless, as they had to gallop to be able to reach the crown prince’s pace, who had instead seemed at ease and relaxed.

"This is where the sorcerer is?" Cassius’s voice was low and commanding, cutting through the tension like a blade.

"Yes, Your Highness," replied Count Altharic, stepping forward. Though older and of high rank, the Count’s lighter red eyes and deferential tone expressed his unease of letting down Cassius’s trust in him. "This was where our last contact with the men ended."

Cassius’s gaze lingered on the forest’s edge, his presence a chilling force against the oppressive quiet. "Then let us see what fate they met," he murmured, striding into the shadows with an unsettling confidence.

"Perhaps, we should have brought more men, your highness?" Count Altharic asked as he turned his head backward, his eyes looking over to count their men, which was only five in number. The number felt woefully insufficient, considering the person they were going against is none other than the infamous sorcerer who had ruled this forest in terror for over a decade. His reputation alone had kept even the late human King from daring to cross his path.

In fact, Versailles, a kingdom of fragile humans, lacked the strength to endure the centuries as it had. The truth of their survival rested on a fragile balance, maintained by the very presence of the sorceress who had made this cursed forest her domain. The woods, shrouded in mystery and fear, bore a name whispered only in hushed tones: "Fogged Crown."

"Reminds me of how many men did I need to win wars, Count Altharic?" Cassius asked with a brief shrug as he strode over into the forest.

"None, your highness," answered him with a faint sigh.

"So ease that worry furrowing your eyebrows. Haven’t you learned by now that my words are far more reliable than your concerns?"

"That’s... true your highness, forgive this old man’s worries," Count Altharic immediately ceased his worries with a faint sigh. After all, it is true that Cassius is someone who had brought victory against thousands of armies single-handedly. Never once had he relied on other people or his men, and even rumors said it started since he was the age of sixteen, when his father, the current King, wanted to put him to the test by bringing him into a war he shouldn’t be able to win.

It was terrifying how he managed to survive alone, going to war at such a young age and with so many odds against him. His strength was so feared and respected that people often wondered where it came from, after all, even a pureblood vampire shouldn’t be able to win battles like that all by himself.

"Besides, isn’t it interesting that this forest shares its name with the royal family?" Cassius chuckled, "I wonder how a mere sorcerer made himself the king of this forest. And where was he when I tore Versailles apart?"

Many spoke of their fear of entering the forest, their voices trembling with dread, but Cassius felt none of it. Instead, he was intrigued, curious to see for himself the sorcerer who had long protected Versailles.

Most of all, he wondered why the sorcerer was nowhere to be found when he had taken the entire kingdom for himself.

As he traversed inside the forest, the fog thickened around him. The air became thinner and even his men had started to worry for their lives, confused as they couldn’t find their path deeper into the forest, as if they had been blinded to figure out which path was their front and their backs.

Count Altharic tried to dismiss the eerie whispers, convincing himself it was nothing more than the wind rustling through the pines. But the deeper they ventured, the more those whispers morphed into something unsettling, an erratic, ghostly laughter that sent a chill racing down his back. His men were visibly concerned, some stole glances at Cassius, wondering to themselves how he could the Crown Prince remain so unbothered- how could he still hold that faint smile between his lips even as if this was so exciting to him?

He even raised his hand, touching the fog, and grinned.

Cassius noted that there was something odd, as if man-made, about the fog. It means that the sorcerer is still alive somewhere inside this forest but refuses to show his face. Just as he was thinking of ways to bother the sorcerer and pull him out of this forest to face his presence, he heard the man from behind him yelping as if he had seen a wild beast.

"Your Highness!" Count Altheric’s voice trembled as he scanned the dense forest, his eyes darting anxiously. "My men... they’re nowhere to be found!" He sounded nearly frantic, his words thick with unease. "Is this... is this what happened to the previous expedition? Did they vanish like this, too, when they dared enter the forest?" freewebnσvel.cøm

"Who knows," shrugged Cassius, "Stop fretting," he then said with a frown, "Is this your first time seeing something dangerous? Someone more frightening than me?"

Count Altheric gulped, not knowing if this was something he should laugh or cry at.

"However... it’s odd, this forest, Your Highness... Your Highness??" Count Altheric, who had just briefly turned to look at his back, then found Cassius, who had walked three steps away from him, was nowhere to be found anymore, baffling him. "Your Highness?! YOUR HIGHNESS!"

Though they were still in the same forest, Cassius had been separated from the rest of his men. He found himself in the field of white transparent fogs gathering around him. Even the worrisome Count Altharic was nowhere to be found again, leaving him stranded.

Yet regardless of this, he was at ease.

He tilted his head back, his gaze rising to the moon now swallowed by the thick, swirling fog. A wicked chuckle escaped his lips, the sound dark and amused. "Say, Sorcerer," he drawled, his tone laced with mischief, "I must admit, I rather enjoy those who defy my every command. After all, isn’t it far more entertaining to be around someone who despises you? Hate is far more genuine than any empty declaration of love. At least, that’s how I see it."

The forest uttered no words and it seemed as if Cassius had gone mad as the rumors about him entailed, but he was there, watching at the sky and speaking to it fondly, as if finding all this extremely exciting.

"They say everyone trembles at the sound of your name," Cassius mused, his voice smooth, laced with dark amusement. "So much so, that even the late King— whom, I must remind you, I had the honor of beheading— never once dared to disturb your slumber in this forest. Your name alone was enough to make Versailles quake with fear. Yet, it’s curious... how you’ve never been seen, not once, as though you were nothing more than a fable. But," he paused, raising both hands slowly, a wicked gleam flickering in his crimson eyes, "I must say, I am quite pleased to see you still here, still alive, albeit hidden."

He leaned forward slightly, his smile thin and cruel. "Unlike your late King, I have no fear against you. So, how about you show yourself now, before I reduce this precious forest of yours to ash? You might not be aware, but fire spreads quickly in places like this."

With a casual flick of his finger, the half-moon mark on Cassius’s neck gleamed with an eerie red glow, pulsing like a heartbeat.

The light flickered with an intensity that mirrored the darkness in his eyes, a silent promise of the destruction he was ready to unleash. In an instant, a wild, blood-red flame erupted between his fingers, crackling and roaring to life like a living beast— its heat scorching the air around him. The blaze danced hungrily, casting an ominous glow that reflected the murderous intent radiating from his every movement.

He was about to lean forward and lay his hands on the nearby tree when a sudden growl resounded from the stomach of the forest, its echoes were frightening like a lion that had been woken hungry from its slumber.

"Pureblood vampire," he scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain, "Always so demanding, always so haughty, so drenched in pride. Tell me, son, what is it that you need from me this time?"

Cassius smiled wider as he heard that the forest had spoken to him, finally.

He hummed thoughtfully, his gaze cold and calculating. "What can you offer me? Everyone who dares stay here must have something to offer, that’s the law. Unless you can provide me with something of value, I have no use for an empty forest."

"What I offer you, a mere vampire?" his tone dripping with sarcasm. "What could I possibly have to offer that would interest someone as... important as you?"

"Show me what you could do," Cassius challenged, "I’ve heard the stories, how you’re supposedly omnipotent, how you know things without ever lifting a finger, without even stepping outside this... dearest forest of yours. So, enlighten me. Show me what makes you so feared."

"Ha... hahaha," the forest echoed, its voice reverberating with a chilling, foreboding resonance, as though the very earth beneath Cassius’s feet was mocking him. The tone twisted, dark and suffocating. "Oh, dearest pureblood vampire, tell me— is it because you’ve tasted death once that you fear nothing? Or perhaps, is it the memory of having to slit your mother’s wrists that fuels your arrogance? Or could it be that you’ve come to find solace in death, seeking it from those stronger than yourself?"

The voice grew darker, the very air growing thick with a sense of impending doom. "Indeed, fascinating... There are so many gaping holes in your soul. You’re a vampire, yes, but that doesn’t seem to be the full story. Your heart is a void, dark and cold, yet—" The voice paused, a strange sense of wonder laced with malice. "Yet, there’s a star that has descended upon you, isn’t there?"

Cassius’s gaze flickered with interest, he chuckled, "What star?"

"Seems as though you haven’t realized its importance yet," the forest’s voice resonated, carrying an eerie, knowing tone. "If you’ve come here seeking power, son, you’ll find none. This forest is on the brink of its death, a hollow shell of what it once was. There is nothing left to offer you but barren land. However..." The voice trailed off, heavy with foreboding.

Cassius narrowed his eyes, finding it increasingly unsettling to converse with a man— a sorcerer— who seemed to speak as though the forest itself carried his words. It was uncanny, as though the trees and shadows around him held an awareness far beyond anything natural. The rumors, then, might be true. This forest did not merely speak— it knew. Not just of the present, but perhaps even of the future.

"I can tell you one thing before I vanish," the sorcerer spoke again, his tone dripping with ominous finality. "A doom of death looms upon you. That star, the one that hovers so precariously in your fate, it could save you, but it could just as easily deliver the demise you seem so eager to meet. That star is much more than you imagine. Though born into misfortune, riddled with ill luck, she alone will decide whether you are tangled further in your ruin, or untangled from it entirely."

"Star, star, star," Cassius drawled, his tone sharp with impatience. "What star are you even talking about? I’ve never been one for riddles, and I certainly don’t enjoy speaking in circles with something so infuriatingly ambiguous." His crimson eyes narrowed, the flicker of his fiery temper beginning to surface. "If you have something to say, say it plainly."

"Dear son," the forest replied, its voice thick with a cryptic warning, "stars often burn too brightly, consuming themselves in their fire. Don’t find yourself regretting it when, one day, you realize the star has slipped through your grasp. You wouldn’t like it, would you, to lose something precious again? What is it now... the fifth time?"

The words hung in the air, their weight pressing against Cassius, teasing at memories he didn’t care to revisit.

Cassius’s crimson eyes darkened, their gleaming intensity shifting into something far more dangerous. Darkness loomed all around him as if it had created another monster behind him. His fury oozed out of him like a dark fog, taking a form that was ready to devour the forest for provoking him to recall memories he wished not to touch again.

For a long, tense moment, his rage threatened to spill over, to ignite the world around him in an inferno born of his unrelenting anger. But then, with a visible effort, he drew it back, forcing the tempest within him to subside. Slowly, he donned the mask he wore so well, the one of the mad crown prince, the lunatic heir whose chaos masked a mind far sharper than most would ever guess.

When he finally spoke, his voice carried that familiar edge of manic amusement, hiding the storm still churning beneath the surface.

"Oh kind forest," his voice sweet as honey as he taunted, "That’s all the warning you could give to your poor, son? How could I ever treat anything precious again? Did you forget that I don’t have a heart anymore?"

"You do have a heart, even if it is not physically... Cassius Crown."

The fog around Cassius dissipated in the blink of an eye, retreating as if it feared to linger in his presence. The forest’s voice grew faint, its last echo whispering his name before vanishing into the stillness. Standing motionless, Cassius stared intently at the spot where he had felt the overwhelming presence, his sharp eyes scanning the shadows. Yet, the presence was gone, completely erased, as though it had never been there.

The oppressive power of the sorcerer that had saturated the forest moments ago had vanished without a trace. Cassius’s lips curled into a thoughtful line as he considered the possibility that the sorcerer had long since perished, leaving only a fragment of his consciousness embedded in the forest. It would explain the spectral nature of their encounter, the way the voice seemed to belong to the woods themselves rather than a living being.

It made sense. Yet, even as the forest returned to an unsettling silence, Cassius couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been left with more questions than answers.

"Your Highness!" Count Altharic’s voice rang out as he stumbled toward Cassius, his breath labored and his expression taut with worry. His wide eyes scanned Cassius from head to toe. "W- what happened, Your Highness? Did you get hurt? Oh, dearest heavens— heaven above—"

"Oh, for once, Altharic," Cassius groaned, rolling his eyes with dramatic exasperation, "spare me from your incessant clamor. I’m not a fragile vase that needs constant inspection. The magic is gone. This forest is nothing more than an empty wasteland now. Boring."

"What, but how... did you defeat the sorcerer, your Highness?"

"Defeat? I wish I could have. Tsk." His frustration was palpable, yet he masked it behind his usual air of arrogance. Turning on his heel, Cassius strode away with an unhurried grace, his crimson eyes glinting with residual irritation. Altharic hurried to keep up, stumbling slightly in his haste.

"Tell the rest of the men," Cassius ordered without looking back, his voice carrying the weight of command, "Search the forest. I want every trace of anyone who might have lived here found and reported immediately. No excuses."

Star. Star?

That reminded him, wasn’t his mother so fond of telling the future and pasts by reading the stars?

Though she couldn’t even read her future and dared herself to marry such a man who soon became her father.

Foolish.

For a moment Cassius thought about his new birdie but that thought faded as he wondered how she was doing, if she had become tame and learned how to be obedient to his demands.

But knowing her, she wouldn’t be. Maybe she was working her little head for a way to... escape.

That’s also a foolish thought.

"Y-you must be happy, Your Highness, for defeating the sorcerer," Altharic stammered, watching him carefully.

"Happy?" Cassius arched a brow, his crimson eyes narrowing.

As Altharic studied him, Cassius’s hand instinctively rose to his lips. He froze, realizing he was smiling, a smile unbidden, one that hadn’t been calculated or deliberate.

"Happy," Cassius then muttered again, "I wonder what kind of feelings that is. I have forgotten it."