💔❄️The Ballad of Blood and Snow❄️ - Chapter 4: The Prince of Darkness
Chapter 4: The Prince of Darkness
The blizzard raged for three days and three nights.
No one knew how Kaelen escaped from Black Hollow.
The surviving soldiers remembered only one thing: after Elara’s death…
The thing standing upon that battlefield was no longer human.
Blood stained the frozen chasm crimson.
Bodies lay scattered across the snow like broken puppets torn apart.
And Kaelen…
Vanished together with the body of the woman he loved.
Deep within the northern mountains stood an abandoned castle that had been deserted for decades.
Black Thorn Castle.
It had once belonged to a noble house executed for treason.
People believed the souls of the unjustly slain still wandered its ruined halls.
But Kaelen did not care.
He brought Elara there — to the place that had once been their secret refuge.
In the garden behind the castle, beneath an ancient snow-covered maple tree, Kaelen dug her grave with his own hands.
No one helped him.
No royal ceremony.
No mourning bells.
Only silent snowfall beneath the night sky.
Kaelen knelt before the freshly made grave.
His hands were covered in blood and frozen earth.
Clutched tightly in his palm was Elara’s silver snowflake necklace.
For three entire days…
He never left her side.
He did not eat.
He did not sleep.
He simply sat beneath the snow like a dead statue.
Until the fourth night.
Footsteps echoed softly behind him.
“Your Highness…”
It was Rowan — the loyal warrior who had followed Kaelen since childhood.
He froze upon seeing Kaelen’s condition.
Black hair buried beneath snow.
Eyes hollowed to a terrifying depth.
And that gaze…
Empty like the abyss itself.
“They’re searching for you everywhere,” Rowan said hoarsely. “They say you slaughtered more than a hundred soldiers at Black Hollow…”
Kaelen did not answer.
His eyes remained fixed upon Elara’s gravestone.
After a long silence…
He finally spoke.
“I begged this world to spare her.”
His voice was so quiet it nearly disappeared into the wind.
“But they still took her away from me.”
Rowan clenched his fists tightly.
“Your Highness…”
Kaelen slowly rose to his feet.
His black cloak dragged across the snow.
And the moment he turned around…
Even Rowan felt a chill run down his spine.
The gentle prince from years ago was gone.
In his place…
Was something far darker.
Far more terrifying.
“If this world wishes to turn me into a monster…”
Kaelen slowly drew his bloodstained sword from its sheath.
Cold steel glimmered beneath the crimson moonlight.
“Then I will show them a true demon.”
In the months that followed…
The name Kaelen became a nightmare across the continent.
He did not return to the South.
He did not reclaim his throne.
He did not seek glory.
Kaelen disappeared into the darkness.
And step by step…
He built an army of his own.
He traveled to lands ravaged by war.
Villages burned to ashes beneath the crushing taxes of the Third Kingdom.
Children left orphaned by marauding soldiers.
Exiled warriors betrayed by the very kings they once served.
Even assassins who had lived their lives knowing only blood and gold.
Kaelen accepted them all.
He did not care about their pasts.
He did not ask who they had once been.
As long as they hated the Third Kingdom.
Slowly…
An army born from despair began to gather beneath the black banner bearing the symbol of a silver wolf.
The people gave them a name whispered in fear:
“The Ghosts of the North.”
One year after Elara’s death.
Winter returned once more.
Inside the ruined great hall of Black Thorn Castle, hundreds of warriors stood silently beneath the flickering firelight.
All eyes were fixed upon the stone throne at the far end of the hall.
Kaelen sat there.
Black armor covered his body like darkness forged into steel.
His silver sword rested point-first against the stone floor before him.
His cold gaze lingered silently upon the flames burning in the center of the hall.
No sorrow remained.
Only hatred.
Rowan stepped forward and knelt.
“My lord… the scouts have returned.”
Kaelen did not lift his head.
“Speak.”
“The coronation ceremony of the Golden Wolf will take place in three days, within the capital of Valencrest.”
The atmosphere inside the hall instantly grew heavy.
That prince…
The man responsible for Elara’s death…
Was about to become king.
One of the warriors spoke through gritted teeth.
“Give the order! We’ll slaughter every last one of them!”
Kaelen slowly rose from the throne.
The sound of his armor echoed throughout the ruined hall.
He descended the stone steps one by one.
Then stopped before the great fire at the center of the chamber.
Bathed in crimson flames, Kaelen’s face looked as cold as death itself.
From inside his cloak, he pulled out Elara’s bloodstained handkerchief.
The last thing he had left of the woman he loved.
Kaelen clenched it tightly in his hand.
“I once believed in peace.”
His deep voice echoed through the hall.
“I once believed kindness could change this world.”
His gaze darkened.
“But this world understands only one thing…”
Kaelen drew his sword.
Kenggg—!
The steel reflected the firelight like blood.
“Violence.”
Every warrior in the hall immediately dropped to one knee.
Kaelen raised his sword high above his head.
And now, there was nothing human left in his eyes.
“In three days…”
His voice thundered across the ruined castle.
“I will turn Valencrest into hell.”
The flames in the great hall erupted violently.
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As though even darkness itself bowed before his oath of vengeance.
