QUARTET ALLIANCE: LEND A HAND (Wild Duty & Judgement)

Chapter 43: Traitor In a Dilemma

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8:19 P.M

– Castle's Lockup –

"Come closer," Kazuo whispered in the thick silence. His gaze lowered for a moment as Zen shuffled closer towards him, "You too," He looked at Rehan and the blond complied silently.

"Why do your faces look like you want to give up?"

That certainly brought surprise to Zen's face, whereas Rehan looked a bit down.

"I'm serious," Kazuo nodded as he stared at Zen. A beat of silence followed—in which the redhead pressed his lips tightly and stared back at the older, trying to figure out his words and make sense of them. Rehan kept his head lowered and tuned in quietly. His left hand held the cloth Kazuo ripped off his own shirt on his forehead, the piece of fabric was almost soaked in blood as it absorbed it.

"What do you mean?" Zen's brows drew together. He never felt like giving up, but he wondered what made Kazuo think this way.

"You realize this is only the beginning, right?" Kazuo revealed, his voice tone less, but face pleading for some sort of agreement.

"Seriously, they haven't even started yet and I need you both to realize this. You take a beating—that's not the end of it. You can't let that be the end for you. Show that it won't affect you, no matter what. Currently, you both are precisely following the points they plotted from the beginning,"

"The prince is trying to make us think that we made the wrong decision, but he won't have a chance. Not when his plan is clear as daylight. He gave us two choices and made us think that the one we picked resulted in him going agaisnt us, but how can he go against us when he was never with us in the first place? Think about it, he would've most probably killed us if we picked the choice of 'peacefully giving up our powers' to silence any commotion."

"For example, let's say I had a very precious jewel that no one knew about except a few people who just about worshipped me because I owned it. Then, I find out that some specific people also had the jewel, but they didn't realize it's value, yet, thinking that it was fake. However, it's value would show one way or another. I captured these guys. Now, I'd either want to save myself the trouble of it all and tell them to peacefully hand them over or I'll tell them beforehand that I will use force to get the jewels if they refuse the first offer."

Kazuo wiped his forehead with his hand before continuing:

"The key action here is that I need to get rid of this whole thing. Obviously, I will kill them if gets to that because I need no one to know about this since I'm worshipped and loved because of these jewels. What value will mine have if others have it too? And what will confirm that these guys won't speak a word to anyone? Those are the questions the prince asked himself and then proceeded on do what he's doing now."

Zen nodded slowly before he tilted his head with an inquisitive look on his features, "....I get it, but how did you figure out this all?"

"I put myslef in his place. Simple. Then I considered how I would think with a mindset of his: messed up and merciless," Kazuo shrugged and he let his eyes trail over Rehan for a moment.

"Rehan?" Kazuo called and the ash blond glanced up at him, "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah," He nodded briefly, "Its just that it was awful—when you guys didn't bother with me that time. It hurt more than the a-actual beating and I don't think I-I'll be able to go through it again," Rehan mumbled and Zen shook his head.