historical

"What?!" Kale was baffled to hear his words.

"Don't be surprised or think that I am doing this to show off before our royal father. As I said, I have to become the crown prince first to make you the emperor. And that means first I have to let royal father make me the crown prince after I take back the Shizar Kingdom."

Kale still had an unconvinced expression as he said, "I still don't get how you becoming the crown prince will benefit me. All I can see are disadvantages and getting forgotten slowly as everyone will flock towards you to get benefits."

Tristen patted his shoulder and said in a reassuring tone, "I already told you that you will just have to trust me. But if you can't do this, why don't you place a soul seal on me?"

"A soul seal?? Are you even in your right mind?" Kale couldn't help but wonder if this was indeed Tristen talking to him since what he said just now was the last thing he expected to hear from him.

"Of course. I am not joking.. I will willingly let you put a soul seal on me, and if I fail to keep my end of the bargain, you can go ahead and kill me. That way, we both have nothing to be worried about," Tristen said in a convincing tone.

Kale's expression alternated between shock and puzzlement as he asked, "Are you really serious? If I place a soul seal, then I can even kill you whenever I want. What makes you put so much trust in me?"

"Consider it a leap of faith and also because we are brothers in the end who started off on the wrong foot. For a common cause, it is best we fight together," Tristen said in a determined tone.

"Brothers?" Kale restlessly rubbed his fingers together as he looked at his brother, wondering what happened to him to have changed so much recently or if he was playing an act all this time.

He could see from Tristen's eyes that he was not joking about letting him place a soul seal on his soul.

In fact, considering how he had always been fighting against him for the crown prince's seat, it would only seem foolish and strange that he would place the matter of his life and death in his hands.

A soul seal can only be placed willingly, and even if the one placing it had higher cultivation by a few realms, they still can't forcibly place a soul seal since it would only result in the death of the one receiving the seal because of how the soul was mainly influenced by one's will power too.

But since Tristen was willing, he can place a soul seal easily, which indirectly makes Tristen's life being held hostage by him.

He can even blackmail Tristen to do anything he wants unless Tristen wants to die. But apparently, Tristen was willing to take that chance which left him in a state of confusion and conflict.

If he was in Tristen's shoes, he would never place his life in someone else's hands, not even his own family.

Damien was casually leaning against a corner tent pole as he saw how Kale was trying to make sense of things, though Damien wasn't too worried.

He knew that he might be probably sacrificing Tristen if things went wrong and Kale didn't act according to his expectations. But it was a gamble he was willing to take since there was no other way to achieve what he wanted to do.

He knew he could pull in Kale only using the temptation of revenge and the throne of the empire.

What more could a prince like him desire?

"Then let me place the soul seal first. After that, we will talk," Kale said with crossed arms as he tried to see if Tristen would chicken out. He wanted to see if this was all a facade Tristen was putting up.

Tristen's expression didn't change as he said, "Go ahead. I won't resist."

Kale's brows pulled together, seeing how Tristen was still being casual about it. Still, he came forward and placed his palm on Tristen's head, "Then I won't hold back."

Kale looked into Tristen's eyes as he began to add a seal to his soul and surprisingly didn't face any resistance from Tristen's side.

Damien wasn't worried about Kale finding out the fact that Tristen was an undead and the peculiarity of his soul since Kale had never come across an undead, and his understanding of the soul was only as good as his soul cultivation.

Most of all, he would never think of the idea that Tristen was already dead.

Since soul seals are always placed on one's soul essence, as long as there was any soul essence in one's soul plane, it would work. And if Kale tried to use the soul seal to kill Tristen, who was already an undead, Damien would only lose a useful slave in the worst case while not suffering any other negative effects.

Kale narrowed his eyes as the soul seal formation was almost complete but then remembering some of Tristen's words from before, especially about how he was doing this since he was his brother, it made him feel a sinking feeling in the stomach as he suddenly removed his palm from Tristen's head.

"Hmm?" Damien slightly raised his brows, seeing what happened, and smiled, thinking that Kale was a better person than he expected.

Still, Tristen asked with a confused expression, "What happened? Why didn't you complete the soul seal?"

Kale let out an exasperated sigh as he himself had the same question, wondering why he didn't finish it, and said, "Forget it. I will just take a leap of faith as you did and see how this goes. Killing you wouldn't gain me any satisfaction anyway."

Tristen slightly smiled as he nodded while Damien felt that things turned out a bit unexpected.