Chains of Vengeance

Chapter 175: Deep Feelings Part 2

Narinder gritted his teeth so hard that the sound of his jaw shaking became audible. His ears drooped back, his fur bristled, and his breathing became heavy and labored. His claws balled into fists until they nearly dug into his own skin.

"Why would you spare those scumbags?!" he roared, his voice filled with anger and despair.

His tail lashed furiously, his entire body seeming to shake with indignation. He couldn't fathom it. He couldn't accept that someone could do something so absurd.

"Were they kind beings in your world whose only sin was to extinguish an entire species?!" he snorted, his tone brimming with sarcasm and contempt. "Oh wait! Even if that were true, they would still be monsters!"

Narinder breathed heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He felt insulted, offended deep down. How could Ramael say such a thing? How could he speak so calmly of forgiving those who sealed him?

But Ramael did not react to his fury. He did not raise his voice, did not defend himself, did not even flinch at Narinder's hostility. Instead, his gaze remained calm, even kind.

"You... haven't you thought about it?" he asked with disconcerting calm, his tone imbued with an innate tenderness.

Narinder felt a chill run down his spine.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to scream. He wanted to throw some decoration on the ground and smash it to pieces. He wanted to tear apart the cemetery, destroy the statues of his brothers and pretend this conversation had never happened.

But he couldn't.

Because Ramael's kindness made him weak.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes tightly, and answered with complete sincerity:

"But of course I have thought about it!" His voice broke for a moment, but he continued. "I have even talked about it with my first spouse!"

His eyes, still blurred by the tears from earlier, stared at Ramael with a mixture of fury and despair.

"But bishops are heartless monsters!" he exclaimed, his tone desperate, almost pleading. "Don't you understand? You more than anyone should understand that they have never deserved forgiveness in any universe!"

His body began to tremble involuntarily. His hands rubbed his wrists compulsively, his claws grazed his own skin in desperation, as if he were trying to tear away from himself the anguish that consumed him.

Ramael looked at him with deep sadness.

Cautiously, without abruptness, he approached him.

Narinder barely had time to react when he felt Ramael's warm hand take his own.

It was a touch so soft, so delicate, that it paralyzed him completely.

His instincts screamed at him to push him away, to get away immediately. But something inside him refused to do so.

Because, to his own surprise, he liked the contact.

His ears tilted forward slightly, his pupils fluttered, and his breathing hitched for a moment.

Ramael, with infinite gentleness, lifted his arm and looked at the scars covering both of Narinder's wrists.

He said nothing.

He made no comment.

He just looked at them, a mix of understanding and sadness in his expression.

The silence between them stretched out, heavy as a shadow looming over them. Narinder looked down at his own wrists, where he still felt the ephemeral warmth of Ramael's touch.