Kingdom's Bloodline, page 445
"What do you think?" he forced those words out of his mouth.
Quick Rope smiled.
"Just like you..." The former prince tapped the wall and leaned stiffly against it. "I don't know either.
"But I know… how it will end."
Quick Rope's gaze was focused, and his eyes sparkled brightly.
"I don't know how Soria died, and no one told me what that suspicious hunting trip was about. However, ever since I became the damned heir, I felt that I understood one fact: Soria was fated to die.
"Not because of a certain person, conspiracy or accident. It was due to his position. Even more so, it was due to him being born to tread this path and live in this environment. His resolution, callousness, and ambition were an omen. While he was used to advancing in the dark, navigating through cunning schemes with great ease, going back and forth when it came to politics, waving his sword in the battlefield and climbing the snow peak while wind and frost blew against his face in the Kingdom of the Great Dragon… it meant that he would one day die from them, sooner or later. If it wasn't this time, it would be the next time. One day, his way of life would come back and swallow him whole."
Thales inhaled deeply.
'Come back and swallow him whole.'
What the Raven of Death said about Soria was still vivid in his mind, but Quick Rope's words helped him gain more understanding.
"This has nothing to do with your power, Thales. On the contrary, the more powerful you are, and the bigger your influence is, the tighter these shackles will bind you. The deeper you're sucked in, the more you can't escape from it."
Quick Rope stared at him coldly. "Just like our fathers, and just like the current Chapman Lampard."
The room became silent again.
Just like that, a corpse and two people of unusual identities sat facing one another in silence. They were illuminated only by the moonlight and fire.
"That's it?"
After a moment, Thales forced himself to speak.
"That's the cause of your change?
"Are these all your reasons for running away?"
Thales relaxed his grip around the dagger behind his waist and sighed. "When both King Nuven and Poffret told me your story, there was always a girl involved."
Quick Rope stirred slightly.
He sat up straight without realizing it himself.
It was rare, but Quick Rope flashed a smile that was not gloomy. "If you heard it from them, they probably said nothing good."
Thales arched an eyebrow. "So?"
Quick Rope froze for a moment. He then glanced at the Prince of Constellation with a strange gaze. When he spoke next, his tone was profound and gentle.
"Thales, you're young. But… have you ever loved someone, or, been loved by someone?"
"Sometimes, immature love is all the more unforgettable," Quick Rope said quietly.
Thales was about to shake his head.
However, at that moment, he recalled a voice.
It was a gentle and pleasing female voice, which had only appeared in his memory fragments.
'"What? Love stems from affairs? It sounds so exciting…"'
His body went stiff, stopping him from shaking his head.
'"Then, is what we're doing right now considered an affair…"'
It was the voice that made him subconsciously tremble, and caused him pain everytime it appeared.
The voice belonged to someone he could never remember.
'Her?'
Thales quivered a little.
"Perhaps," Thales said instinctively before he nodded absentmindedly. "Perhaps I have."
'Her.'
Moonlight shone into the house, as though it was gently caressing the two silent people.
Quick Rope stared at the prince for a long time. In the end, he flashed a faint smile.
"That's nice."
Quick Rope hugged himself and shifted his gaze away from Thales to the moon outside the broken window.
"It is a form of happiness, whether it is you caring about someone, or someone caring about you…" he said airily.
Chapter 391: Happily Ever After |
Under night curfew, only the barely discernible sound of the wind could be heard in the streets of Blade Fangs Camp.
The two people in the small house stared at each other in silence while immersed in their own thoughts.
"After witnessing the tragedy that hit Black Sand Region, as well as the changes that transformed Beacon Illumination City, I sank into a period where I felt the most dejected, depressed, defeated, and fed up. I even argued constantly with my father during those days. I returned to my old fiefdom and locked myself up there." Quick Rope silently watched the flickering light from the lamp. "Then, in a field belonging to a remote countryside, I met Diana."
Thales could not help but frown when he heard the unfamiliar name. "Diana?"
Quick Rope remained absent-minded. "She seemed to be a shepherdess that was very plain and common.
"That afternoon, I told her impatiently that I was the relative of a nearby disciplinary officer, and that breaking into her goat pen was just an accident. I also told her that I would never steal her goats. Her eyes immediately sparkled and she asked for a compensation of twenty silver coins for her frightened dairy goat."
Quick Rope was immersed in reminiscing about his past, he giggled. "She lost a female nanny that was producing milk, but immediately afterwards, she went towards extorting a fat wallet with loads of money. Why shouldn't she?
"Just like that, we got to know each other, a domineering shepherdess, and a goat-stealing thief who abandoned himself to despair."
Thales observed his face and saw that his eyes were filled with incredible tenderness. He could not help but ask, "What's so special about her?"
Quick Rope lifted his head and curled the corner of his lips.
"Oh, Diana was the most special girl I had ever seen," said Quick Rope with an interesting face. He sounded smug, just like a man bragging to his neighbor about his wise and kind wife. "Especially since she was raised by a vulgar, short, old man with a quick temper."
"She was always smiling, lively and wild, even after her adoptive father passed away. Even in the eyes of the Northlanders, she was not reserved. The dwarf she had for an adoptive father taught her how to herd goats by waving a hammer. Oh lord, it was painful when she struck me with her shepherd's crook."
Moriah (not really, since he changed his name and abandoned his family name) was still smiling. Thales could feel the relaxed tone that was unique to Quick Rope as he grumbled. Obviously, he did not dislike Diana's crook as much as he said it.
"Diana was working on two jobs, one was herding and milking the goats, and the other at the inn. She was a smart girl who couldn't be bullied."
When he spoke of the girl, Quick Rope beamed with joy. "She once brandished the cane and chased five or six thieves away. She also beat the sh*t out of the dirty-minded village chief. She also once used her flowery words to coax the guests who molested her into emptying their pockets. She knew how to trick the master of the inn, and even fought back against the master's daughter who bullied her."
As Quick Rope described her, Thales looked down and formed a picture of the unusual shepherdess in his mind. Fierce and cheerful, waving the crook in a way that made her seem like a fierce and adorable wolf cub, using its forelimbs to safeguard its food by baring its teeth and brandishing its claws.
"Often and with glistening eyes, she counted the coins that were hidden under the bed, but that money wasn't her dowry, she didn't keep one like what the other girls did. She did not rely on some man who was willing to marry her or make do with spending the rest of her life with him, neither was she dressed up to the nines, hoping to be some big shot's mistress… because she always believed that her life would not be restrained by anything.
"She was just the opposite of me." Quick Rope's eyes dimmed. He watched the light with an infatuated expression. "She believed that one day, she would earn enough money and ride a horse carriage that would carry her away from the village and lead her to the harbor in the Elaphure City. She would buy a boat and become a female seafarer who would explore the world, spend the rest of her life in perilous situations and mirages."
'A female seafarer.' Thales thought of something and instinctively glanced in Quick Rope's direction.
"But she didn't know that, other than passengers, sailing boats would never admit women as they think women on the sea are an inauspicious sign." Quick Rope looked down, the corners of his lips remained curved up. "An old sailor told me that the Maiden Guardian of the Ocean does not like her kind."
Thales did not say a word.
"I'm not sure if it was love or not, or if it was only naive affection, but at least when I lay down next to Diana, sniffed the sweet smell of goat's milk from her body, watched her cheerful and lively smile, or even when I tasted the softness on her lips, I could forget a lot of things that didn't turn out as I had wished."
Quick Rope said with a blank face, "It was only in front of her that I was Moriah, and not the heir who was a walking dead man. I could say my real wishes and thoughts out loud, I didn't have to disguise my globetrotting dream as wanting to become a mercenary to show that I was a tough Northlander warrior."
Quick Rope stopped talking, as if he was remembering how he felt at that moment.
The moonlight was hidden behind the clouds, the low-quality lamp oil was slowly burning away, the simple and crude house made of clay slowly became even darker in the night.
No one wanted to reignite the fire.
"What happened afterwards?" Thales asked in the darkness.
Quick Rope inhaled and changed his posture. He looked as if he had just snapped out of his daze and continued his story.
"Just like that, as I traveled between Dragon Clouds City and my fiefdom, I witnessed the dark twistedness of power while I basked in Diana's cheerful gentleness.
"For Diana's sake, for her dream to travel around the world, I went against my heart and did as my father asked except for his requests for me to get married. I tried my best to convince him again and again that the future Archduke of Dragon Clouds City must marry a wife that matches our political interest, so we couldn't rush the matter of my marriage.
"My father was actually pleased with me. He thought I had finally come to my senses since I knew that I had to weigh what was good and bad for Dragon Clouds City. Even though he didn't know the reason behind my sudden motivation in this game of power, he couldn't care less. He probably thought it was just the same as teaching Soria."
Quick Rope snorted, there was a faint hint of sorrow in his laughter.
"But, of course, this couldn't go on forever. My father still got me a potential wife who wasn't bad in his eyes. He wanted me to see her in the name of revising the Fortress Treaty, even though she and her family lived in the land of our enemies."
'Fortress Treaty… Land of the enemies.'
In that second, Thales looked up abruptly. He could not hide the surprise on his face. "So, your diplomatic mission six years ago…"
Quick Rope nodded and sighed quietly. "Yes. Six years ago, according to the plan, after revising the treaty, Dragon Clouds City was to propose to the noble descendant of the Empire, Duke Arunde's only daughter, who was also the Lampard Family's enemy for generations."
He shook his head in disdain. "Even though we hanged the former Duke Arunde in Cold Castle around ten years ago."
Thales frowned. "Miranda? How can that be?"
Quick Rope sighed. "Be it the marriage proposal or the treaty, both were only part of his strategy. My father didn't want to let Constellation recover slowly after the battle, neither did he want to allow the Archduke of Black Sand Region to use the fortress as an excuse to arm his forces and refuse to listen to his orders. He wanted to test King Kessel and the Arunde Family, and provoke the Archduke of Black Sand Region. The reaction of these three people would tell us what step to take next."
"So this was the importance of your diplomatic mission," Thales said dazedly.
"To prepare for the next battle or negotiation, be it with Constellation or Black Sand Region."
New Star and Dragon's Blood. He tightened his hold on his arm.
Quick Rope snorted coldly. His voice was filled with sarcasm. "That's right. Regardless of if it was to bring the Northern Territory to our side, to cause division to Constellation's internal structure, to revise the treaty for personal interests, or to suppress Black Sand Region and take the opportunity to add to my prestige in the selection of the future king… My father... he always planned so well. He aimed to kill more than two birds with one stone. He could turn a simple matter into something else filled with all sorts of traps, and there will always be a profound and long-lasting significance behind each of his actions."
When King Nuven was mentioned, Quick Rope became quite low-spirited.
"Don't play against him in a game of chess, Thales, because you will never know how deep and profound his tricks are in the game. You wouldn't know how many trump cards he has up his sleeves either." Quick Rope looked indifferent. "As for the people who are wrapped around my father's finger and are completely ignorant about it… Well, they are incredibly sad existences, aren't they?"
'"Don't play against him on the chess board… wrapped around my father's finger and are completely ignorant about it…"' Thales' breathing quickened.
He recalled his conversation with King Chapman in the horse carriage. When King Nuven was mentioned, both he and Chapman could see the reverence and fear in each other's eyes, from the bottom of their hearts.
Who would have thought that someone who died years ago could still put them in such a difficult situation?
Quick Rope's words were filled with complicated sorrow. "My guess is that Chapman and Conkray finally realized this one point in their countless fights against the king: do not play against King Nuven."
Both men were silent for a little while.
"What happened next could probably be the template for a lot of knight's tales and bardic poems," Quick Rope said with a reluctant smile. "My father finally realized that his son and heir actually fell head over heels in love with a shepherdess from the countryside, and fought against his mission over this."
Thales raised his eyebrows. "So the Born King was not too pleased with this, I suppose?"
"'Not too pleased'?" Quick Rope snorted coldly and said with faint resentment, "Your choice of words are too polite, Thales."
"What happened after that?" asked Thales.
Quick Rope paused for a while. In that moment, his silhouette in the darkness became desolate and mournful.
"My father confidentially dispatched his men to my fiefdom, Thales."
Quick Rope said in a dejected tone,
"He found Diana. He found her."
There was a long period of silence. It was quite a while before Thales managed to open his mouth to force the question out of his mouth. "What happened?"
Quick Rope did not seem to have the motivation and desire to go on, but in the end, he spoke again. This time, his voice was hoarse.
"Diana died."
The man who spoke sounded like a walking corpse. He did not move and seemed lifeless. "She died on the day I received the news and rushed back to my fiefdom."
Thales held his breath. Quick Rope continued emotionlessly, as if he was narrating a story about another man, "I pushed the White Blade Guards away madly only to see her body, left out cold for a long time in her goat pen; there was still a smile on her face. She was poisoned to death."
Quick Rope's voice quivered. There was a slight hitch to his voice and it was filled with fear and regret.
"They told me that she took her own life by taking the poison, but… Thales…"
Poisoned.
In that moment, Thales recalled that night in Heroic Spirit Palace.
Thales thought of King Nuven's exquisite ring, Triumph. He thought of the girl who once lived, Alex.
Thales immediately felt a chill crawl down his spine. The Prince of Constellation held back from saying anything.
Only Quick Rope's agonized panting could be heard in the house. Finally, he calmed down his emotions.
"Shackles..."
Thales came around. "What?"
"The shackles of power, Thales." It was unclear when it started, but there was faint determination in Quick Rope's voice. "That night, I stared at Diana's dead body dumbly, just like when I had stared at Soria's dead body, and...
"...I suddenly understood that I never managed to free myself from those shackles."
Thales listened quietly, but the underground tomb of Renaissance Palace rose in his mind, along with the large and small pots and jars made of stone.
Raymond Pass in Black Sand Region.
Ghost Prince Tower in Blade Fangs Camp.
*Thud.*
Quick Rope leaned back, the back of his head hit the wall heavily.
"Ever since I was born, I was controlled by this pair of shackles. I was shackled when it wanted me to control myself to behave, when it wanted me to be content with the present situation and be a compliant and harmless viscount. I was also shackled when it pushed me to change the way I lived and become an ambitious king who intimidates all my people. I never escaped."
He gritted his teeth and said, "The shackles were loose at one time, then tightened at another. It dragged me forward and backward, and the whole time, I deceived myself and others into thinking that I was free from them... I finally understood."
Quick Rope came to the edge of the bed. He put his legs on the ground, his elbows were on his knees as he leaned forward and fixed his eyes on Thales.
Quick Rope's tone caused Thales' heart to tense up. "I had to either obey, yield, and let it chain my body and mind tighter and tighter, or abandon it entirely so that I can maintain my true self."
Thales stayed quiet.
"Moriah was long gone, Thales. He did not die when he was assassinated by the Constellatiates, or when he fled from Heroic Spirit Palace," Quick Rope said in a freezing tone, "He died when he became King Nuven's son and began his life as part of the Walton bloodline.
