Hero of Darkness

Havi kept thinking about what happened in the past which led to his current predicament and made his own daughter hate him while he couldn't even control her in any way and had to force her to a fate she would rather die than living it.

In his youth… he learned the real price one had to pay to hold such a big position as emperor.

The throne had too many knives and thorns and whoever sat on it must possess enough strength to endure and overcome these obstacles.

After bringing peace and order to the Vulcan empire… With his resolution, he started advancing through saint ranks using his bloodline and hard effort while being surrounded by enemies in every direction.

In the meantime, he had fathered two children with the two empresses as a formality because that would shut up and control the fireborne clans.

The other two… they had to unwillingly marry him just like he did. There was no love or sense of attachment even if they had to appear as his partners in front of the whole empire.

As for his third wife… while he was suffering alone and bearing the burden of keeping the empire safe and the imperial clan intact… his human wife stayed by his side.

While he was bearing the burden of responsibilities of billions of lives on his shoulder… Freyja comforted him, consoled him and unlike the others… she saw the real him. She became the friend he needed the most when he was at his lowest.

As years passed… Pure love bloomed between the two and soon, their bond deepened from a political marriage to that of a real husband and wife.

Havi could still vividly remember the day Venessa was born. It was the happiest moment of his life.

But Venessa's birth also indicated a great obstacle for the fireborne clans at the same time. Because rightfully… She too had a claim to the throne.

Soon, they planted their spies among Freyja's loyal servants and started poisoning her food and even the water she drank in extremely small dosages so that it couldn't be tracked.

And after 8 years… Frejya started falling ill because of the consumption of this untraceable poison and her body had lost its ability to function.

Their assassination plan was so perfect that even the experts failed to detect the real cause and called it a terminal illness.

Some even said that because empress Freyja was a normal human with no ability to use world energy and magic. Thus, giving birth to Venessa who possessed the imperial fireborne bloodline took a toll on her and hollowed her body from the inside.

And in just a couple of months… Havi saw the love of his life die as he could only watch from the side helplessly in her final moments.

Only a couple of years later, the emperor found out the truth via the Church of Hetrax about how the two fireborne clans meticulously planned Freyja's death.

He almost went berserk and wanted to wipe out the two fireborne clans for this treachery.

But his 4 advisors stopped him, telling him to think about the consequences and chaos it would bring if he were to exact his revenge.

Their subordinacy also came under an oath that was agreed upon since ancient times.

That the six clans should never harm the imperial blood and the reigning emperor or empress should never punish them for unjustifiable reasons.

And technically, Freyja wasn't the imperial blood and nor did have solid evidence that it was the two clans who planned her death.

Also, the other fireborne clans would definitely retaliate knowing that the emperor could come for them next.

Because these clans had more than 800 million people themselves…Havi was forced to control his rage so he could avoid war and not let innocent people get dragged into it and die and keep the empire running.

These six clans were also the six pillars of the empire at the same time.

On the other side, the Church of Hetrax was already full of foxes.

They'd disassociate themselves from any war or an uprising since they only cared about maintaining their institute regardless of who ruled the empire as part of the ancient pact.

Havi, who was only a 3rd stage saint at that time, felt like he didn't hold enough strength even if he was the emperor.

He couldn't kill the people who killed the love of his life because he needed them to keep the legacy of his family intact and had to avoid a war that would cause bloodshed so big that it would break the entire empire's foundation itself.

And the only way he could come close to exacting his revenge was to silently become strong until he became an absolutely terrifying force that could make everyone pay while scaring others to the point when no one would even think about retaliating.

And to make everyone not have any suspicions about him trying to exact his revenge and pose a threat to them…

Havi appeared as a cold and uncaring person as if he never loved Freyja.

It was then Havi made an imperial decree and placed those restrictions on the human race.

All that just to unify the empire by giving them a common point to hate. He had to become a cold-blooded tyrant and his decree made thousands of humans suffer a cruel fate while being ostracized and treated like animals in the Vulcan empire for the past 3 decades.

To bide for time and reach his goals… he condemned an entire race to damnation even if it meant going against everything he stood for as a ruler.

Soon, he cut off his ties with Venessa to make everyone think that he didn't care for her at all. To the six clans, it became evident that Havi was never going to make Venessa his successor either.

This was the only way he could use so they'd not see her as a threat to their plans and target her like Freyja for the time being.

"Freja… my love. I've failed you… and I have destroyed our daughter's life." spoke Havi as he wallowed, his appearance looking as miserable as it could be.

Because while Venessa was enduring and struggling, giving her best effort to become the empress… there was only one way Havi could protect Venessa's life and ensure her safe future. Thus, he made a deal…

A deal with the Pope.