Abel was biting his thumb as he paced his room anxiously after failing to get any sleep during the night.
Cain was back. Those 3 words played in his head over and over again like a broken record player. Even if he was a neglected prince, he was still a prince. One word from him and his future was as good as gone.
"What the hell do I do?! Julia is useless. She has pretty much abandoned me. That whore is probably going to crawl to that bastard and offer to spread her legs for him!
He kicked the edge of his desk, sending a cup of pens clattering to the ground. His chest heaved with rapid, shallow breaths as he dragged both hands down his face. He could still remember the way people looked at Cain yesterday. Like he was someone. Like he mattered.
It made him sick.
"How dare they. How dare they."
He stared at his reflection in the window. Disheveled. Tired. But still handsome. Still brilliant. Still him.
"They forget who I am. I carried everything. I made myself into someone worth respecting."
He slammed his fist against the glass, rattling the frame.
"I'm not going to let some half-dead failure crawl out of the abyss and take that from me."
Cain was nothing. Always had been. Quiet. Weak. Pathetic. A stain on his family name. That's why no one paid attention to him before.
Without him around, Abel could showcase his splendor. He could be more than just Cain's retainer. With him out of the picture, he had enjoyed the life he had always envisioned. He was treated as a hero! They worshipped him...yet now, people whispered behind his back. Already speculating. Already shifting their eyes, watching Cain instead of him.
It was infuriating.
Abel's fingers twitched at his sides.
"No one looks down on me. No one."
He turned from the window and began pacing again, muttering to himself.
"I'm the one who should be feared. I'm the one with the charm, the power, the looks. He can't match me in anything but his luck in being born a prince!
He gripped the sides of his head, digging his nails into his scalp.
"I was supposed to rise. I am the one they should adore."
Abel's eyes darted around the room as if the walls themselves were mocking him. His carefully constructed image, the version of himself he had worked so hard to create, was already beginning to crack
Abel jolted as a sharp knock echoed at his door, breaking through the chaotic storm in his mind.
He took a deep breath, composed himself, and opened the door.
Standing there was Rin, a junior from the Student Council. Usually bright and polite, but today her expression was unreadable. She held a neatly folded form in her hands.
"This is an official challenge from Senior Cain," she said plainly. "A duel sanctioned by the Student Council. It is to the death. You may accept or decline."
Abel blinked, staring at the form as if it burned his fingers. A duel? Cain? The nerve. How dare he challenge Abel like this.
A cold smile spread across Abel's face. The insult was sharp. Cain was little more than a ghost, a forgotten stain on the family name. Yet here he was, daring to drag Abel into the spotlight.
And what a gift that was.
"This is exactly what I prayed for," Abel muttered. "To face him openly. To crush him where everyone can see."
He looked up, meeting Rin's quiet gaze with contempt barely concealed beneath his charm.
"Tell him I accept. I'll enjoy tearing him apart."
Rin said nothing. She simply nodded and turned away.
Abel closed the door and leaned against it, a rush of cold satisfaction washing over him.
He could have refused. He could have ignored it and stayed in the shadows.
But no. This was the chance to end Cain's return once and for all. To wipe away the last traces of that weak, forgotten prince.
He opened the challenge form again and traced his finger over Cain's name.
"Prepare yourself, Cain. I will make sure this fight ends with you kneeling at my feet."
Abel's eyes glittered with fury and ambition.
In the darkness that was starting to surround him, he could finally see the light.
Abel unfolded the challenge form with deliberate care, his eyes scanning the details printed in sharp black ink.
In seven days, Cain Sinthorne and Abel Tratorias were to face off in the Life and Death Arena.
The only rule was no outside interference. No allies, no tricks. Just the two of them.
Abel's lips curled into a cold, calculating laugh. A week. Seven days. That was all the time he needed.
He could almost taste the victory already. The look on Cain's face when he was defeated, broken in front of everyone.
Let him stew. Let him fester in fear and regret. That weak failure had no idea what was coming.
Abel's confidence swelled with every heartbeat. He was sharper, stronger, and far more ruthless than Cain could ever hope to be.
"Seven days," Abel whispered. "More than enough time to remind everyone who the real hero is."
He folded the form back up and slipped it into his pocket, already plotting how he would savor every moment of Cain's downfall as he got ready to head to class.
His mind was already racing with plans to make Cain's defeat a spectacle no one would forget.
His phone suddenly dinged with a flood of social media notifications. Curious, he pulled it out and unlocked the screen.
His jaw dropped.
Jayden Dawn who was a lone wolf who always walked alone was seen heading to the market with someone walking side by side with her!
Beside her was a mysterious man. White hair, sharp violet eyes that gleamed with an unsettling intensity.
Abel's heart slammed against his ribs.
It was Cain.
How could Cain be out with Jayden?
Jayden was his.
Not in any official sense, but she was his prey. His prize. His conquest. The one woman he had worked so hard to claim in every way that mattered to him.
A burning rage erupted inside Abel. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the phone tighter, feeling every ounce of control slip away.
This was more than an insult. It was a challenge.
He could not let Cain have her.
Abel's breath came fast, hot with fury and possessiveness.
He stared at the images again, at the way Cain looked so devilishly handsome, so composed beside Jayden's fierce beauty.
They looked like a power couple, like a pair who would make everyone else's blood run cold with envy.
The rumors would spread like wildfire.
And Abel was determined to be the one who crushed them both.
His mind snapped back to the duel. Seven days to prepare. Seven days to take everything Cain had stolen.
He slammed his phone down on the desk and stood, his eyes burning with a dark promise.
"Not for long," he muttered. "Not for long at all."