Tyrant of the Ruined Sun

Chapter 247: Letter from the East

Nizam left his brother’s office with an ecstatic expression. It’s been well over three weeks since his last correspondence with his betrothed, the princess of the Yue Dynasty, and he couldn’t have been happier.

For many a moons now, he has noticed her replies growing shorter and sadly, more formal, losing that sense familiarity they had so effortlessly had during the banquet. A symptom he thought inevitable due to the long period of separation along with the ever growing crises that have descended like locusts on her homeland.

But today was the day it would all be rectified.

Because he would finally receive her reply for the question he’d asked her in his last letter. Wherein he proposed to her the idea, if she were willing, to come to the Eclipse Empire, therein both rectifying the course of their straining relationship, while also being a powerful diplomatic tool for the Yue Dynasty, showing once more the strength of the bond between the house of the moon and the house of hell.

To Nizam, First Prince of the Eclipse Empire and my fiancée.

I sincerely hope this message finds well, and I thank you for your many wonderful letters.

I am, as always, well. Busying my time in these bleak times in the library in the mornings and the gardens in the evening, for that is all I can do these days.

Beyond that, I visit the palace’s shrine whenever I can, for even if I do not bear my father’s and brother’s divine favour, I still hope she answer’s my prayers, if only a little.

I do hope you forgive the lateness of my letters, the empire and palace have been chaotic since the wars began, with much needing to be done.

The maids and servants have felt this pressure the most since all this began, I can feel it in their eyes that never leave my side. Yet they remain true and full of conviction to their tasks. And for that I am at least thankful.

My warm regards, yours truly, Ziyi.

Nizam stared at the short and concise letter with utter disbelief.

There was no reply to any of the words he’d sent her previously. No mention of the invitation his last letter carried. Nothing.

Even if it were only for diplomatic purposes, there was no reason why she would reject his invite to such a degree as to act as though it didn’t exist.

He couldn’t believe it for a second. He thought there must be more, as he began to flip the paper in vain, trying to find more, only to come up empty.

He then thought that this letter must’ve been dispatched earlier than his last, and that it must have been delayed in arriving to him for some reason or another. But then he checked the date on the piece of parchment, and was in shock to find out that it was sent after he dispatched his, and the entrusted courier had assured him that she had received it.

‘What in the name of the Gods is happening?’ Nizam could feel that something was very much amiss, as he suddenly began to feel an eerie chill masked in the folds of this paper.

He then read it again and again, as though his efforts would make the contents of the latter change somehow. As though he would be able to see past some hidden veil and uncover her true words, Yet nothing was illuminated to him, even as he perused it for the twentieth time.

The only thing he did manage to do though, was become enraptured with a single line she’s written.

‘Why mention the states of her servants? And why write the words I can feel it in their eyes that never leave me?’ He thought in brow knitting confusion.

He’d always known Ziyi to be a compassionate person, a bleeding heart one could even say. A trait many would deem harmful in their dangerous world, but it is one he’d come to greatly appreciate in her. But now it just felt odd to him.

He kept going back to her choice of words, their eyes that never leave my side. Why say it like that?

‘It can’t be?!’ A thought came to him then, and his heart sank with it, before he was forcefully yanked from it all.

“Why the long face brother?” Cyrus’ booming voice echoed around him, interrupting his previously rampant train of thoughts.

“It’s nothing Cyrus.” He replied, moving to fold the letter and put it in the inside pocket of his robes.

“Is that another letter from my soon to be sister in law?” Yet Cyrus’ quick eyes were not to be fooled so easily, as he gave his brother a leering smile.

“Yes. Yes it is.” Nizam calmly replied, utterly unaffected by his clearly teasing words.