Chapter 26: The Price
Yusuke's pulse thundered in his ears.
Everything around him blurred into nothing.
The only thing he saw was Keiko.
Pale. Motionless. Barely breathing.
Shigure's voice echoed, distant, hollow.
"If you want to save her, you must give her a portion of your remaining years."
Yusuke barely processed the words.
His breath was stuck in his throat.
The cost.
His life.
His years.
He had to give a piece of himself just to keep her alive.
His hands clenched.
"How much?" His voice was a rasp, a guttural thing, like the air itself was too thick to breathe.
Shigure's gaze didn't waver.
"That depends on her condition." His voice was calm, detached.
"But from what I can see..."
He turned his gaze toward Keiko—so pale, so still.
"...It could cost you everything."
Yusuke's heart stopped.
Everything?
How could he—
His thoughts scattered.
But then Shigure said something else. Something worse.
Something that shattered his entire world.
Shigure's fingers hovered over Keiko's body, examining her fragile form.
His gaze lingered, the quiet tension thick, suffocating.
"Yusuke…" Shigure's voice was softer now.
Careful.
"She is carrying a child."
Silence.
The kind that destroys.
Yusuke froze.
His mind blanked.
His breath stopped.
"...What?"
His voice barely existed.
Shigure's next words hit like a meteor.
"She's pregnant."
Yusuke staggered back.
The world tilted.
"She's six to eight weeks along."
Six to eight weeks.
Yusuke's lungs refused to work.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
His entire body locked up.
She had been pregnant all this time.
While she was bleeding.
While she was tortured.
While she was screaming for her life.
And he didn't know.
He never knew.
"She kept it a secret," Shigure continued. "Most likely so Mikuri wouldn't find out. She was trying to protect both of you."
Yusuke felt sick.
His knees almost gave out.
Oh, god.
Keiko had been carrying their child while enduring all of that.
And he wasn't there.
He had left her behind.
He had failed.
His hands shook violently. His breath came in ragged, sharp gasps.
Then—
His mind snapped back.
Two months ago.
Keiko. In his arms.
The way she clung to him. The way she kissed him deeper than ever before.
Her shaky breath.
Her whispered words: "Yusuke, if things were different… if we didn't have to fight anymore… what would you want?"
He hadn't thought much of it then.
Now, he understood.
She already knew.
And he was too blind to see it.
He left her unprotected.
He let her be taken.
And now—
Now, he knew what she had truly suffered through.
The beatings.
The starvation.
The chains biting into her wrists.
The nights she spent curled up on the cold stone, shielding her stomach with shaking hands, trying to protect the life inside her.
Yusuke's throat closed.
His stomach lurched.
How many times had she been kicked? Beaten? Cut open?
And the whole time, she must have been terrified for their child.
And she never once told Mikuri.
She never once begged.
Because she was protecting them both.
Yusuke squeezed his eyes shut.
His nails dug into his palms, shaking.
This was his fault.
She suffered because of him.
He should've protected her.
She should've been safe.
Not chained.
Not bleeding.
Not holding their child inside her while waiting for someone to save her.
Yusuke felt something deep inside him crack.
Then—
Rage.
Not the kind he'd felt before.
Not anger.
Not fury.
Something colder.
Something deadlier.
His eyes burned.
His demon blood howled.
The room shook under the weight of his aura.
His body trembled.
Shigure watched him carefully.
"You're telling me…" Yusuke's voice was barely a whisper.
He turned, staring at Keiko's lifeless form.
"I have to sacrifice my life for… them?"
His wife.
His child.
His family.
Shigure didn't answer immediately. But Yusuke could see it in his eyes.
He didn't have to.
The cost was clear.
And now—
Yusuke had everything to lose.
His body trembled.
His eyes burned.
He was going to be a father.
And now…
Now, he had to fight like hell to make sure he lived to see them both alive.
"…Do it."
His voice was hoarse, unsteady.
Shigure tilted his head. "Are you sure?"
Yusuke snapped.
"I DON'T CARE!" His voice roared, shaking the room. His fists slammed against the stone table. "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT COSTS! I'M NOT LOSING THEM, SHIGURE! I'M NOT LOSING HER! NOT LIKE THIS!"
The dagger gleamed in Shigure's hands.
His cold gaze sharpened.
"It will be painful."
Yusuke didn't flinch.
He didn't care.
His heart was already in pieces.
His body was already burning.
He had to do this.
Shigure sighed.
"Then let's begin."