RISING FROM THE ASHES : FROM PRISONER TO SHADOW TYRANT

"Ethan, here is your bag," A prison guard handed the bag to Ethan, "please take care of yourself."

Ethan just nodded his head and took the bag.

"I heard he is from a prestigious family!" 

"Such a nice guy, but throughout the three years he was in prison, not even once his family came to visit him." 

"Poor guy, he suffered a lot!" 

Ethan walked toward the exit, those words clinging to him like invisible chains. This was nothing new to him.

At least those words carried some pity.

Inside, there had been none, only insults, humiliation, and three years of quiet cruelty.

A gust of dry wind swept across the prison gates as they creaked open, releasing a man who stepped into the sunlight after three long years. 

He stepped out through the same gates that had swallowed him three years ago.

The words spoken when he was pushed into the prison still audible in his ears, "if you've any consciousness left in you, you'll understand that you deserve this!" 

Those words ached more than the verdict ever had.

Paying for someone else’s sins, he had spent three years behind bars.

The sunlight was too bright for him after spending three long years behind those steel bars, but it didn’t sting half as much as the betrayal still burning beneath his calm expression.

The world outside was noisy, bright, and alive, but to him, it felt strangely muted, as if the air itself hesitated to touch him.

A shining black Rolls-Royce waited by the curb.

The window rolled down slowly, revealing Jenny, soft curls, glossy lips and heavy makeup highlighting her beautiful features.

She wore a diamond necklace and a glittery dress well suited for a party, rather than a prison pickup.

Her expression held a practiced tenderness, and elegance mixed with sympathy, but the bright sparkle in her eyes betrayed something else. 

It was obvious she wasn’t here to welcome him, but only to fulfill a duty before rushing elsewhere.

While checking her watch, she stepped out of the car.

Immediately her eyes landed on the person walking out of the prison.

Watching Ethan, now even more solidly built than when he went to prison.

"So Charlie hadn’t lied after all. He really had arranged for people inside to take good care of Ethan." Jenny raised an eyebrow, a trace of satisfaction flickering across her lips. "In that case, Ethan had no reason to hold a grudge, if anything, he should be grateful."

Jenny studied him with a blank expression, waiting for the familiar reaction she used to get three years ago, the eager smile, the unquestioning obedience, the way he would hover around her like she was his entire world.

But this time, she got nothing.

“You’re out?” she said coldly, taking initiative to break the silence. “Get in the car.”

Ethan walked past her without a glance.

Jenny’s eyes darkened at this behaviour.

“Heh. Three years inside and you’ve learned quite a few tricks,” she sneered. “Do you think acting like this will make me feel sorry or guilty? Don’t be ridiculous. It was just a mere spending of three years in prison." 

Ethan looked at her as if she had said something mildly amusing. Nothing more.

“Oh?” he said quietly. “Since it’s so insignificant, why didn’t you let Charlie take my place? Why did you try so hard to fabricate the evidence just to send me in place of him?”

Jenny choked on his words and frowned inwardly. “What was wrong with this guy? What exactly did he learn in prison? When did he learn to talk back?” 

Clenching her fist, she snapped at him, “What nonsense are you talking about Ethan? Charlie couldn’t survive somewhere like that, but you can…” 

“So that makes it reasonable?”

“Yes,” she replied without hesitation. “Someone had to take responsibility.”

“I see,” Ethan nodded slowly. “So I was the scapegoat.”

Those words carried more mockery than anger.

Seeing that Ethan actually seemed angry, Jenny also felt that what they had done back then might have been a bit excessive. 

Given her family’s influence, they could easily have reduced Ethan’s sentence by a year. Yet no one had cared whether he served two years or three.

For a fleeting second, she almost softened, but she quickly suppressed it, as she felt, if she gave him even an inch of sympathy, he would mistake it for weakness, and it would only encourage him to forget his place.

“If you’re still this upset after three years, then prison clearly didn’t discipline you enough.” Jenny’s voice remained icy cold as if Ethan has no right to express his displeasure no matter what she does, “Why are you even overreacting? It’s not like you were abandoned.”

“Not abandoned?” Ethan seemed to hear the biggest joke in the world. He laughed sarcastically. “Then why didn't a single one of you visit me in three years? Is that how you treat someone not ‘abandoned’?”

The sarcastic words of his made her stumble, as both Ethan and Jenny herself knew that she never visited him not even once in these three years of him being in prison as she doesn't want Charlie to get depressed because of jealousy again.

His words became a direct stab straight to dispel her fake act, and her smile faltered.

For three years, neither Jenny nor his family tried to know whether he was alive or beaten half to death, now she is pretending here as if they all cared about him.

Jenny’s eyes darted away, then back, irritation flashing beneath her composure because of Ethan's question, as she expected him to be grateful for her coming all the way to pick him but nothing happened as she expected.

"I was occupied," she said quickly as if she wasn't wrong.

“Moreover, visiting you would’ve caused unnecessary trouble,” Jenny said flatly, “You were serving a sentence…. That’s all.”

"Oh!" Just a single syllable came out of Ethan, as he felt she doesn't deserve more than it.

However, Jenny who was unbothered, continued further, "You know how sensitive Charlie is, moreover he needed support and comfort in such a difficult phase since he also suffered because of that accident, at the same time, I had so many responsibilities, you can't just blame me for not visiting you, you're an adult, how can you be so silly and petty, Ethan?" 

The name Ethan felt like a burden on her tongue, and a sigh left her. 

"Ethan, you can't be upset over small things, you know Charlie also suffered just like you," her voice softened dramatically as she was talking about Charles, "but still, he begged your family to let him help you, he used all his own savings to make sure you were safe inside, he tried so hard to ensure you weren’t mistreated these three years in the prison." 

A faint smile of admiration appeared on her lips as she spoke of Charles.

She spoke of him as if he was a saint.

“You’ve memorized that speech well,” he said flatly, and stared at her like he was looking at a blind fool. "So you believed in him?" 

Jenny nodded her head, unaware of the coldness slowly gathering in his eyes.

"Charlie wouldn’t lie," she said firmly. "That’s all that matters, he is someone with a great character!" 

Ethan almost laughed at those words, "great character? Yes, he truly has a great character, if not why am I one who spent three years in prison for the accident caused by him!" 

Jenny froze for a second at the mention of that accident from Ethan, slowly, she took a breath and folded her arms, slipping unconsciously into her usual tone, superior, and dismissive.

"It's because Charlie is sensitive unlike you, and honestly, Ethan… it was just three years, why are you even making a scene for just three years?" 

"Is three years of someone's life in a prison a joke to you?"

Jenny huffed in frustration, "Ethan there must be a limit to everything, you're really getting on my nerves today, rather than complaining like a childish person, why can't you be grateful that you had people around you who cared?" 

"People?" Ethan asked quietly. "Cared about me? Don't you think it sounds funny?"

Jenny frowned, she was annoyed that he wasn't playing the obedient role she wanted.

"Ethan, I’m trying to be very patient with you, but here you’re throwing tantrums again. I told myself I wouldn’t get angry today because you’ve been through a lot, but you’re making it very hard." 

Tantrums.

The word would have crushed the old Ethan, but the new Ethan didn’t even flinch as he doesn't care about what she thinks of him.

Jenny stepped closer, lowering her voice to a falsely gentle whisper.

"You should be thankful, Ethan, I’m still willing to marry you, I waited, didn’t I? I didn’t break off the engagement, I could have left you, but I didn’t." 

Her tone sharpened as if she was trying to guilt trip him.

"I sacrificed a lot for you, Charlie even asked me once to focus on myself… but I refused, I chose to remain loyal." 

Ethan’s gaze remained unreadable, as he felt she was far beyond foolish for him to react.

Jenny mistook it for guilt and pressed further, her arrogance blooming thinking she finally won. "Any man would be lucky to have someone like me stand by them after such a scandal, you should appreciate me, Ethan." 

Her voice, her words, her confidence, all of it built on the belief that Ethan was still the same obedient boy who worshipped her.

But she didn’t realize…

That boy had died long before he stepped out of the prison gates. 

Jenny finally broke the silence and stepped closer shamelessly, "Ethan, let's stop it here, you know I always make the right choice, don't you?" 

"Right choice?" Ethan scoffed, "protecting the culprit over an innocent, is that what you call the right choice?" 

Jenny clenched her fist, trying her best not to show displeasure on her face, "Come on Ethan, it's not about who is innocent and who isn't innocent." 

"Then what?" 

"You grew up away from home in college dorms, you’re used to hardship, but Charlie… he was raised in luxury, he is totally different from you, to you prison is nothing but another kind of place to live for three years, however it's different for Charlie, how can a pampered prince like him can be in a prison? He can't even survive for a day in such a place!" 

She said it like she was explaining math and logic which is hard for an ordinary person to understand, but in reality it's a baseless logic accepted by only her.

"Don’t forget," she added, with soft eyes trying to charm him, "I promised to marry you once you were out, I didn’t abandon you, can you stop being angry now? You know my love for you, don't you?" 

Ethan’s eyes flicked to her, emotionless, "You locked the cell door and called it love." 

Jenny's eyes reddened with anger, as she never spent this much time to coax anyone apart from Charlie.

For her, it was always easy to handle Ethan, as just two sweet words from her, he is ready to do anything, but right now, even after all these, rather than apologising to her for being cold, he dared to blame her.

"You’ve always been immature, Ethan, blaming everyone and refusing to see the bigger picture," Jenny proudly flipped her hair, "Do you know how many people would dream of what you have? You just spent three years in prison to become my husband, that’s a sacrifice worth something." 

Ethan’s gaze dropped, and she followed it, her breath caught for a second.

The engagement ring, gold with the Caspian crest was gone.

In its place was a dark, unpolished band, its shape was strange, almost like a trash wire wrapped around the finger.

It didn’t shimmer, it just made her disgusted.

"What’s that?" Jenny snapped furiously pointing at his ring finger. "Where is your ring? What did you do to your engagement ring?"