Chapter 207: Upgraded Relationship

A tense silence drifted between the two brothers, thick as fog, as they locked eyes.

Kaisen, with a sly smile that suggested he'd just told a harmless joke—except it wasn't harmless at all—faced off against Kayden, whose expression was as serious as a tax audit.

Kaisen braced himself. He was almost certain Kayden was about to lose his cool and kick him out of the palace faster than a bouncer at a shady nightclub.

Hell, Kaisen didn't even know why he'd said it in the first place. It was like a little gremlin in his brain had taken control of his mouth, whispering that the outcome might be different than he expected.

"Are you serious?"

Kayden asked, his tone as sharp as a dagger. Kaisen immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"Nah, just kiddi—"

"Of course," Kayden interrupted, his voice smooth as silk. "If my dear brother wants her, she's yours. I'm not angry; I'm actually glad. She's all yours, brother."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence. Kaisen's jaw dropped like a cartoon character who just saw an anvil hanging over their head. He wasn't sure if his ears had malfunctioned or if he'd just stumbled into an alternate dimension.

Seriously, who the hell offers their girlfriend to someone else, especially when that someone is your own flesh and blood?

Something was definitely fishy, and Kaisen could smell it like a week-old mackerel.

"Don't want her," Kaisen said flatly, his smile evaporating as quickly as it had appeared.

"Nah, you keep her."

Now it was Kayden's turn to grin, and it wasn't a friendly one. That sly, Cheshire cat smile was back, and it screamed, "Gotcha."

"Nope. I was just joking, bro. I know how much you love Helena. She's all yours, no take-backs."

Kaisen said, doing his best to keep his cool, even though his brain was doing cartwheels. Kayden leaned in, giving Kaisen's shoulder a reassuring pat, like a mafia boss about to make an offer you couldn't refuse.

"No, brother. I insist. She's yours."

"Huh?"

Kaisen blinked, trying to process the words. Helena? Batshit crazy? Was Kayden fucking serious, or was this some twisted joke?

"Yeah, man. All that power's gone to her head, and she's fucking corrupted. She wants to be treated like a Queen—and sure, I can give her that—but she wants me to be her fucking slave too. What the actual fuck!"

Kayden snarled, teeth clenched like he was ready to chew through steel.

"The only reason I haven't offed her is because it'd make me look bad. If I have her assassinated, it'll make the so-called impregnable Golden City of the new Emperor look like a joke. And if I kill her myself, well, then I'm the cold-blooded, power-hungry monster everyone expects me to be. I'm fucked no matter what, brother."

Kaisen's jaw dropped like he'd just seen a unicorn strutting down the street. Helena, batshit crazy? Now he was starting to think Kayden was the one who'd lost his damn mind.

"What the fuck happened between you two for you to even think about killing her? What the hell went down after I vanished?"

Kaisen stared at Kayden like he'd just sprouted a second head. The whole thing was beyond belief, like finding out your pet goldfish had secretly been running a crime syndicate.

But, hey, Kaisen knew all too well that people could change—sometimes in ways that made you want to strangle them with their own shoelaces.

Kayden sighed, shaking his head like he was trying to rattle loose the last bits of sanity.

"She's changed, I've changed. Power's like a fucking virus, brother. It's rotted us both from the inside out. I don't even know if there's any love left between us anymore. Fuck, maybe there never was. Come on, I'll spill the whole dirty story. Everything."

With that, Kayden threw an arm around Kaisen's neck, like they were two buddies reminiscing about old times instead of discussing the collapse of a relationship. Kaisen eyed the arm with a mix of suspicion and annoyance, but he didn't shrug it off.

Kayden led him deeper into the castle, spilling his guts, Kaisen couldn't help but feel a weird sense of satisfaction.

It was like they'd hit some twisted milestone in their relationship, the kind where an annoying little brother and his nagging older sister stop trying to kill each other and start having real conversations.

It was almost like they'd finally grown up—except for the part where one of them was plotting world domination and the other was thinking about ways to screw more women.

A perfect pair of twins, they were.

"It's only been two fucking months, Kaisen. Two goddamn months of me busting my ass to conquer the world, and Helena's out there getting jealous of everything that breathes. She wants me to treat her like a queen—no, she

expects

it. But me? Nah, I'm too busy playing goddamn emperor."

Kaisen found himself grinning like an idiot, which was a rare sight for someone who usually treated others with the same level of trust one might give a shady street vendor selling "genuine" Rolexes.