Invincible Blood Sorceror

Chapter 209: Im not a coward

Luke stared up at Jorghan, his face pale and slick with sweat, his entire body trembling as he knelt on the cold marble floor. The earlier calculation in his eyes had completely dissolved into pure survival instinct.

"Wait," Luke said, his voice cracking.

"Wait, please. I can explain. I can make this right."

"Explain then," Jorghan replied, his tone completely neutral.

Luke’s words came out in a rush, desperation overriding pride and dignity.

"I never wanted any of this. Father pressured me into helping with the operation. He said if I didn’t cooperate, he’d cut me off from the family, from my inheritance, from everything. I was just trying to survive, trying to keep my place in the corporation."

"So you sacrificed others to maintain your comfort," Jorghan observed.

"Yes! I mean—no—I mean..."

Luke was spiraling, his thoughts fragmenting under terror.

"I’m not like you. I’m not some powerful warrior who can just do whatever he wants. I’m weak. I’ve always been weak. I had to go along with what Father wanted because I had no choice."

"You had a choice," Jorghan corrected coldly.

"You chose yourself over what was right."

Luke’s desperation reached new depths. His eyes fixed on Grace, standing behind Jorghan, and something broke in his expression.

"Take her," he blurted out.

"Take Mother. Take her back to your world, keep her, do whatever you want. Just let me live. Please. I’ll give you anything, help you with anything; just please don’t kill me."

Grace gasped as if she’d been physically struck.

"Luke..."

"I’m sorry, Mother," Luke continued, tears streaming down his face now, all pretense of familial loyalty shattered by terror.

"I’m sorry, but I want to live. I don’t want to die for Father’s mistakes. I don’t want to die because someone decided we’re guilty. Take her. She’s what you came for anyway. Just take her and leave me alive."

"I can’t deal with this anymore. I got fed up with you and Dad."

For the first time since arriving in the Great Hall, Luke truly understood how naive he’d been. How utterly pointless it had been to hate Jorghan, to compete with him, and to try to prove himself superior to his half-brother.

Jorghan wasn’t just stronger. He was operating on a completely different level of existence. The gap between them wasn’t something that could be bridged by training or preparation or political maneuvering. It was fundamental and insurmountable, like the difference between a human and a force of nature.

Luke had spent days resenting his half-brother and his new life, his natural abilities.

He had been seeing how Jorghan was just killing the most powerful he knew, and from the day of the wedding, when he first met Jorghan, no one was able to lay a hand on him. He was terrifyingly powerful, and his abilities are on another level, and he finally realized that no amount of training or wealth can beat Jorghan.

He had been contemplating ever since he got back. His father’s foolish decision to kill Scarlett and his obsession with his mother made him reconsider deeply.

Now, kneeling on cold marble with death seconds away, he finally understood that all that resentment had been pointless. You couldn’t compete with something like Jorghan.

You could only hope he chose not to destroy you.

"Please," Luke whispered again, his voice broken.

"Please let me live."

Jamie Moorne, still kneeling beside his son, reacted very differently.

Where Luke had crumbled into desperation, Jamie hardened into stubborn rage. His face was red, veins standing out on his forehead, his entire body rigid with fury that overrode his fear.

He was even angrier after hearing Luke, and he wasn’t angry at Luke but at Jorghan. He thought Jorghan was the reason Luke was reacting in such a way.

"You arrogant bastard," Jamie spat.

"You think you can just walk into my estate, kill my people, threaten my family, and we’ll just bow down to you?

You’re nothing. You’re a pathetic loser. Your father was a broken murderer who died alone, and you’re following the same path."

Jorghan’s expression didn’t change, but something cold flickered behind his eyes.

"Grace is MY wife," Jamie continued, his voice rising.

"MINE. I married her legally. We have a son together. We built a life together. You have no claim on her. No right to her. You’re just some delusional bastard who thinks power gives you ownership of people who don’t want you."

"Father, stop," Luke pleaded.

"Don’t make him angrier. Just—"

"Shut up, Luke," Jamie snapped.

"Stop sniveling. Show some dignity even if you’re going to die."

He turned his glare back to Jorghan. "You want to kill me? Do it.

I’m not begging. I’m not offering you, my wife, like your cowardly brother. Kill me and prove that you’re just another barbarian who thinks violence solves everything."

"It is because of this barbaric nature that your mother killed you and abandoned you. You are nothing but a pathetic, blood-sucking leech sycophant!"

"She never loved you or your father. She was my possession, mine, my prize for enduring all those years while you and your father lived like hunting dogs."

Grace stood frozen, listening to both men, her son offering to trade her life for his own, her husband cursing while he thought she was some object to be passed around. Something was breaking inside her, some fundamental understanding of the people she’d lived with for years.

Jorghan stood silently for a long moment, processing what he’d just heard. Luke’s desperate betrayal. Jamie’s stubborn defiance. Grace’s shocked silence as she realized what her family truly valued.

Then he walked past the two kneeling men toward Grace.

She flinched instinctively as he approached, her body tensing, her breath catching.

But he didn’t attack.

Didn’t threaten.

Just moved close enough that he could speak to her directly without the entire hall hearing.

"Grace," Jorghan said quietly, his crimson eyes fixed on her face.

"You heard them; they seem... angry."

"So now I’m asking you... what should I do with them?"

He gestured back toward Luke and Jamie without looking away from Grace.

"Should I kill Jamie and let Luke live? Your husband dies, but your son survives. Or should I kill them both? End the family that attacked mine; eliminate everyone responsible for Scarlett’s death. Or should I let them both live and just leave, accepting that you’ve chosen them over me?"

Grace’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

She’d spent the last hour thinking only about protecting them, about keeping them alive, and about preventing Jorghan from killing her family. She hadn’t actually considered what came after, what her life would look like with people who’d just revealed their true priorities.

Jorghan reached up slowly, hinting at the movement so she could pull away if she wanted. When she didn’t move, his hand gently caressed her face, his fingers brushing against her cheek with surprising tenderness from someone who’d been killing people minutes earlier.

But his eyes weren’t on Grace.

They were fixed on Jamie, staring at the man who’d cursed him, who’d claimed ownership of Grace like she was property, who showed no remorse for the deaths he’d caused.

"I could kill just him," Jorghan said softly, still looking at Jamie while speaking to Grace.

"Let your son live since he’s at least smart enough to understand when he’s beaten. Your husband dies for ordering Scarlett’s death, but Luke survives.

Would that be acceptable?"

Grace’s breath hitched.