A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.1****1Watts Xirquit pushed himself up, hands beside his plate, while the utensils are still in his hands.
He's taking deep, shaky breaths. His mind is going blank and black.
"They... Who... T-Taint? M-Moon? Her...?"
His vision turn red.
His breathing hitched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his mother.
"Relax. We're not sure about that yet---" Her words of wisdom were cut short when his tears began streaming down his face.
Just then, King Liorei realized all that he's done to women now that it (maybe) happened to his own. He's feeling weak. He's regretting everything more than ever, and he's never been so sorry. His crimes are coming back to haunt him after all those years. It's sick.
"Do you understand now?" Ohms said to him, poking him to inflate him more into fragility and vulnerability.
"Ohms, stop. You're not helping," his father forbid him but Ohms is a man of his own.
"I'm just helping him realize what he did. Sickening, isn't it? Fine, you redeemed yourself. But that won't erase your deeds. You're a rapist and only a rapist can return the same karma---"
"ENOUGH!"
Watts shouted before turning the table upside down.
"Why are you being insensitive!? I can hear you! It's Moon we're talking about! The woman I love! Not just his daughter but the woman I LOVE! Seriously!? RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!?"
Elektra's children flinched and covered their ears in fright and shock. Ohms was too surprised to speak.
"WATTROID!"
Wattroid showed up as soon as he was called. His smile faded from the setting that welcomed him and from the analysis he got from his master. His master is mad.
"Take Ohms Xirquit out. I'll see him when I need him."
Watts distanced himself from them.
He got his brother scoffing in disbelief.
"You can't do that to me---"
"BUT I CAN!" He shouted again and turned around, glaring at his brother and gritting his teeth.
"Repeat what you said until you realized how infuriating it sounded to me! Karma!? You call that karma!? His karma is her getting raped by her own blood and flesh!? Does it not disturb you!? Does it not make you uncomfortable, Kuya!? Moon just turned of age! SHE WAS A MINOR JUST MONTHS AGO! A MINOR, AND YOU'RE SAYING RAPE IS KARMA!?"
Franchetti Xerene hugged her son and pushed him back when he's getting closer to his brother. His blue eyes are sparking furiously. The things around them---no matter how light or heavy---were levitating, shaking.
"That's so---That's so mean to say!"
"But we're not sure yet!?"
Watts pulled his breath. His shaking eyes widened at his brother. His jaw locking so hard that he could taste his blood in his mouth.
"Ohms, just leave! Wattroid, take him!" Their mother order but Watts raised his hand to stop Wattroid.
"Why do you think she got so scared when Celia put the blindfold on her, Kuya?"
King Liorei inhaled and crossed his legs. He gaze at Ohms. He couldn't describe the look on his face. How amusing, how the tables have turned. That's 'karma'.
Ohms stand up and approaches his brother, "I made a mistake. Forgive me---"
Their father stopped him before he could get closer.
"Stop and just leave. You're only provoking him more."
Franchetti Xerene turned Watts around so he would not see his brother. She pushed him to his bedroom and lock themselves together inside where he cried on her shoulder again.
King Liorei crossed his legs and smiled kindly at Ohms.
"Crazy how fast karma kick back. Don't try to be so clean, Ohms. It's not like you're so different from me. You and your weird...preferences. You got yourself a sadistic dom, Volt. Too extreme. That must be why he hasn't taken a wife yet. He's way to cruel."
Ohms Xirquit's eyes shrinked. He stand up, prepared to throw his fists and beat the shit out of King Liorei, when his instincts stopped him from doing so when he saw how the King gaze at him.
Death.
"Defensive, aren't we? I can see through you. Dated women from the top of the hierarchies just to break them. Did they cry? Did they beg for mercy? Who could tell what's BDSM from rape, Ohms? Are you as clean as they thought you are?"
"That's enough."
Voltage Xirquit stepped in and stood between him and his son. He pushed his son back with one hand. Elektra rolled her eyes and combed her hair back using her fingers. She found Bartholomew covering their daughter's ears.
"I'm not like you."
It made King Liorei scoff with a smirk. He pushed himself up, fixed himself, then stepped forward to face Ohms, only for Voltage Xirquit to meet him. To protect his son from him.
The King gave Voltage Xirquit a glance. His eyes half-closed, giving him a look only they can understand. Each are more than ready for a fight.
"Anywhere you look at it, what he said is wrong. My sin is mine to atone, not my daughters'. If I'm still the same Gerson Liorei, I would've killed your son and you know I wouldn't give a fuck about what happens next. I can protect my daughter. After all, I only have one to protect. You have a family. Who's going to lose more between us, Volt?"
Voltage Xirquit deflected the King's intense glare back to him with his own.
"Lorreign is like my own. You see Watts as your own. We won't hurt each other that way."
King Liorei chuckled; he fixed Xirquit's collar though it's already neat.
"That's a nice joke. Shall we bet? We're all in the same place now. Do you really think I wouldn't kill Watts?"
Their eyes widened. They froze to their positions, trembling from the threat that's standing right in front of them. Voltage Xirquit may try to play it cool, but he couldn't deny the chill that's scratching his insides.
Liorei really is on a different level, and he's still holding himself back. An enigmatic figure, only known about his evil deeds. There's no way a nightmare like him don't get nightmares, too. There is more about him than being Daro's son and a Veil Lord.
And it scares them to know that there's still more he's yet to show.
King Liorei gently pat his cheek while smiling so kindly, as if he's never done anything wrong throughout his life.
"Your hands are slipping from his reins. Tighten your grip around your son's neck, Volt. I won't give you a hint about my next move next time. Maybe I'll take the feisty one? Should I wait for her? Then, you'll be my Grandfather and Xerene will be my Grandmother?"
Faster than light, Elektra bolt to Liorei with a dagger in her hand. The tip is a centimeter away from his neck. She would've sliced it open deeply if only her father didn't stop her attack by grabbing her by the arm.
"Let me go, Dad! I will fucking kill him! LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE, YOU TRASH!"
King Liorei gasped and acted as if he was offended, "My, word. Ohms ignited this beef, though? Does it not excite you, mother-in-law? I'm way too overqualified already. Don't worry, I will be a good husband. Your mother will testify to that. Oh, and that I'm good in bed---"
Elektra screamed and pour out all her strength to stab him. King Liorei hated that she's struggling so much because of her father, so he helped her by holding her hand and pressing his chest against the blade.
"There you go, there you go. Feeling better, Mother? I will send you dowry, don't worry. Do you not like the idea of a Dragunovv-Xirquit union? C'mon, we'll be unstoppable."
"SHUT UP! You---fucking TRASH! FUCK YOU! JUST TRY, LIOREI! JUST TRY!" Elektra pulled her arm away, slicing the King from his chest down to his waist deeply. Blood spilled on the floor.
Dark red, almost black.
"If I see you lurking around Xerena, I will kill you. If I see you touch even a strand of her hair, I will kill you. I will not hesitate. I will kill you and your daughter. That bastard is no sister of mine. I'm tired of playing pretend with her and Selene. Never have I ever accepted those bastards! No, they will NEVER AND EVER be part of our family! Fuck you and your bastard little bitch! I swear to fucking god, if I can't hurt you, then I will hurt you by hurting Lorreign, THAT BASTARD!"
Voltage threw his daughter away when his instincts kicked in reflex. His heart almost came out when Gerson Liorei's hand went past his face. Had he not saved his daughter, she would've lost her head.
They stepped back when they saw how dark his face has become. Xerene went out of the room and was baffled from the scene that she seen.
"What's happening here? Elektra, what did you just said to your sisters?"
"Stop. Don't make things worse. Take them inside the room instead," Voltage Xirquit said in a defensive stance.
Bartholomew gathered his children around and evacuated from the area. They went inside their Watts's room where they found him already fast asleep. He was awakened when he felt bunch of new presences in his room.
Watts stood by the doorway of his room, assessing what happened in his living room and what will happen next.
Elektra marched to their elder brother and gave him the most solid punch she could pour to his face. If only Ohms is below the average, his head would've exploded.
"ELEKTRA!"
Their parents pulled her back. Their children were horrified. Even Liorei who did not see it coming.
"Talk to me only when you're going to apologize. Otherwise, we're not siblings."
She stretched her shoulders around and turn her head to where her family is. Then she looked at Wattroid. She tilt her head to where Ohms is, telling Wattroid to 'dispose' him.
"Do it, Wattroid," the cold-hearted Master ordered, final.
Ohms spit the blood in his mouth, chuckling. Elektra's punch was too powerful that it sent him back. His jaw dislocated, but upon forcing it back to its place, it healed.
"Really? I'm the bad guy now? You don't understand me. You don't know what I'm pointing out at all," he asserted as he brush the dirt off his clothes.
"No, I understand," Watts said, tone so cold and serious, "But you shouldn't have said it. You should've kept it to yourself. What's the use of your brain if you won't use it to think? You're insensitive. At first, it was tolerable, but you crossed a line this time. I can't stomach it. It made me feel sick. You disgust me. His sin is not theirs to shoulder. Take him out, Wattroid."
He stayed in the same place, gazing straight into his brother's eyes. He stood there, watched how Wattroid politely lead the way out of his office. King Liorei smirked victoriously at Ohms as to taunt him about his utter defeat. It pissed him off but he chose to hold himself back and left.
"Everyone, rest. Wattroid, bring them beds to rest to in my room. I'll be in the library. Do not disturb me."
Nobody get to say anything and left him be. King Liorei reclaimed his footsteps back to Moon's room to continue what he postponed behind inside.
Xerena sighed deeply as if she's carrying the whole world on her shoulders.
"Adults. How complicated. I don't want to be an adult."
She rest her head on her father's shoulder and giggled. She's so giddy. So excited. She feels like she's won the greatest tournament ever, even though it wasn't her fight. Ohms lost. Her mortal enemy. He lost and that's all that matter now.