Kingdom's Bloodline, page 682
Kessel rubbed his fingers together as he scoffed, “Tackling King Nuven with meticulous calculations.
“Fighting Chapman Lampard by staking everything in one bet.
“Handling Williams with dominance…
“Or like last night.
“Using the weakness of human nature to play a game of virtual chess with the kid from the Covendier family.”
Thales stared blankly at the king.
‘He knows.’
The king’s words echoed in Thales’ mind.
‘Usual tricks…
‘Pretend to be like him, in order to face him…’
The youth had an illusion that he had been stripped bare from top to bottom and was standing naked before the king.
With nowhere to hide, uncomfortable, and unable to escape.
“But some things can’t be disguised.”
Kessel the Fifth looked up.
“Like last night.”
‘Last night.’
Thales’ pupils shifted.
The Iron Hand King stared at him from afar.
It was that feeling again.
That oppressive feeling that neither King Nuven nor King Chapman had ever given him.
The helplessness that made it seem like there was a weight on him restricting his every movement and a lump in throat whenever he tried to speak.
“Why?” the king asked, catching him off guard, “Why did you risk yourself last night?
“By getting personally involved in the situation, yet still enjoying it?”
Two figures appeared before Thales’ eyes.
It was the faces of Anker and Doyle.
The youth took a deep breath, regained focus, and tried to explain, “The situation at the banquet last night was tricky. It was an impossible situation, there was no appropriate choice between the two that were presented.
“That’s why I got personally involved. It was to create a third choice. To show them an entirely different Thales Jadestar, for us to…”
But in that moment.
“Lies.”
Thales was cut off.
“You didn’t get involved because of ‘us’.”
King Kessel surveyed him from afar, as if looking at a game of chess.
“But purely because of yourself.
“You wanted to save both the chess pieces and the game of chess itself.”
Thales felt a chill in his heart.
“Because that’s you.
“Whatever the situation, you always attempt to find a win-win solution, a perfect choice, to meet your own high expectations.
“It’s best that no waves are created and no harm is caused.
“Avoiding the ugliness and sacrifice you are least willing to face.”
Thales felt his breathing stagger.
“I—”
He wanted to speak to relive the tension, but…
‘It’s useless, Thales.’
The youth opened his mouth but closed it again in vain as he thought bitterly, ‘Useless.
‘He knows.’
Thales lowered his head in a daze.
‘Just like he said, there’s nowhere to hide.
‘No excuses.’
“But what I don’t understand is…” the king was still speaking, “Hasn’t the damned fate given you a damned answer every time?”
Thales was stunned.
King Kessel’s gaze seemed like it was cutting his chest open.
“You fought off attacks from all directions at the National Conference, but faced the malice and suspicions of more people.
“You turned the tide in Dragon Clouds City, but propped up an enemy more formidable than his predecessor.
“You spoke up for the archduchess in Heroic Spirit Palace, but put yourself in the risky situation where you faced public anger, and had to turn to a worse ally.
“You were ambiguous at Blade Fangs Camp and tried to benefit from both sides. Just when it seemed like there was renewed hope, you were given a rude awakening last night at the banquet by the endless conflict between the two sides and ended up embarrassed.”
As he listened to his personal experiences being narrated to him, Thales’ body turned numb.
Was it so?
That towards his choices…
Fate had given him a response every time?
“Just like last night, you wisely saved the chess pieces and the game of chess, won moral approval and reputation…” the king’s tone was sarcastic, “But left the shit on your ass for the entire kingdom to clean up.”
Thales was stumped.
More justifications started to bubble up to the surface, but just as the words reached his mouth, he found himself unable to utter them.
“A third choice? Hah. Just like how you are used to the willfulness of a street beggar, but delusional about the status and dignity of the kingdom’s bloodline.”
These words shook Thales.
“You walk along steep cliffs but are delusional about clear skies.
“And continue to hold the belief that, as long as you are unafraid of death, you will be able to stride forward steadily.”
Kessel’s reprimand was like a sharp blade that carved at his heart.
The king removed his piercing gaze from Thales and stared into the void.
“Just like you and that girl from Dragon Clouds City.”
Thales, helpless, allowed the voice of the supreme king to drill into his ears.
“You tell yourself that, out of values and stance, a strong ally will benefit you.
“But you further tell yourself that, out of feelings and desires, a dear lover will make you give willingly.”
King Kessel’s words took a sharp turn. “But if you confuse these two points and drift between the two, thinking that you can easily handle and balance both.
“Then you’re wrong.”
The king’s gaze was ice-cold as he emphasized his words. “Until you understand that every time, your every self-righteous perfect choice, involves a greater price.”
The youth gulped again.
“I think she—The Lady of Blazing Blood, has proven her value and stance in that battle.”
Thales cleared his throat in an attempt to not sound like he was at a loss.
But for some reason, his sentence was disjointed. “She’s strong… she can be strong.
“She can benefit us…”
The king scoffed.
“You know,” he stared straight at Thales and said coldly, “I’m not talking about her.”
Thales’ body swayed slightly.
The Iron Hand King ended sarcastically, “Polaris.”
Polaris.
Polaris again.
Thales never hated this title as much as he did now.
Just as how he hated that moment.
“What about you,” after a few seconds, Thales’ voice could finally be heard saying faintly, “Your Majesty.”
The youth spoke softly and his pitch was steady, but his words seemed like a weak interrogation after enduring much hardship.
“Is the respected Lady Jines your ally or your lover?”
In the dark, King Kessel’s eyes flitted.
The air around them was no longer frozen.
But there was an added tension as if there was an avalanche incoming.
“And are you really like what you claimed? A ruthless king who despises feelings and impulses, and only considers gains and losses….” like a drowning person gasping for air above water, the youth asked in an undulating tone, “Who is rational and calm, and prioritizes only the kingdom…
“And can separate everything clearly and unambiguously?”
Kessel’s gaze turned keen.
But Thales couldn’t tell whether it was anger or sadness that surged within it.
He did, however, realize that it was the first time he had refuted his father today.
Or was it… the first time ever in his life?
The statue that was King Kessel moved in his seat. He lifted his chin slightly and said in mild fury, “You…”
But Thales interrupted him.
“I’m a Jadestar.”
He strived to continue breathing, as if that was the only way to prevent himself from suffocating. He had to also clench his fists tight to maintain the pitch of his voice.
“As the prince of Constellation, as the kingdom’s bloodline.
“If I cannot be responsible for a, a girl who is suffering because of me.”
Thales realized he could not control his slight stutter, but he continued to finish his sentence, “Then during times of crisis, in critical moments, what right do I have to stand up for my kingdom and my compatriots?”
King Kessel’s gaze changed; it emanated a mysterious glow.
Thales stared fixedly at the king.
“That’s right. This has nothing to do with her.
“It’s only about me.”
A few seconds passed.
The waves in the king’s eyes finally subsided.
He looked at Thales again and said in an assured tone, “You care about her.”
Thales shuddered.
The youth lacked courage to raise his head and look his father in the eye.
But he had to face it.
Just like how Kessel questioned his past actions.
He had to reply.
“I do care about her.”
The youth could not imagine his own expression in that moment.
He knew that his words made it out of his throat only after overcoming many obstacles and barriers.
The same applied to his thoughts.
“She is a true friend of mine, and a friend in times of need.
“She is my savior, my schooling peer.”
Thales lowered his head and his voice started to fade.
“Of course I care about her. I am concerned about her, and possibly…like her quite a bit.”
‘Little Rascal.’
King Kessel did not respond. He did not even bother to scoff with sarcasm and contempt.
He merely looked quietly at his son.
Thales took a deep breath.
He drove away the pain in his gaze and forced it to be firm.
“So that’s not love.”
‘It doesn’t have to be love.
‘It can’t be love.’
The moment he said those words, Thales shuddered inside as if the ground under is feet was replaced by thin air.
He was weightless. Off balance.
Uncomfortable.
Thales looked at King Kessel as he continued to gasp for air and clear his mind in a daze.
Until the king asked indifferently, “Is that so?”
It was apathetic, non-judgmental.
Thales shut his eyes before opening them again.
“I’m very realistic.”
After overcoming the previous discomfort, Thales could finally adjust his sitting posture unhindered. He looked up with an inexplicable emotion.
“I am your son, the bloodline of Jadestar, the heir to the kingdom.”
King Kessel’s face shifted slightly under the sunlight.
“I have long understood that my destiny is fated to be full of ups and downs and ominous disasters.”
Thales glanced a little to the side and seemed somewhat melancholic.
“But just like you, I made a choice.”
He turned again to look at the king. It felt like he was looking at himself. He recited the subject of his next sentence in the language of the Ancient Empire, “For Constellation I was born.”
The king turned to look at him wordlessly.
Ballard Room was silent as before, but the air was no longer still.
Thales exhaled, like a prisoner who had broken free of his shackles breathing indulgently under the sun.
The youth continued through gritted teeth, “So I will not, and cannot have any outrageous thoughts, romantic feelings nor discourteous intentions towards her.”
‘And bring her…
‘The same disaster.’
“Because I care about her, care about Saroma, care about my friend.”
King Kessel did not speak.
With mixed feelings of anguish and distress, Thales blurted the words that had long been buried deep within, reaffirming the matters that he had already figured out, “So it’s definitely not love.”
‘It cannot be love.
‘Absolutely not.’
In that moment, it was as if he was a bird released from its cage, finally able to spread his wings confidently and soar in the skies.
Until he would fall to the ground from fractured wings.
“You asked me where I was,” the young duke said softly. He found himself appreciating the dimness of the stone room. “I’m here, in Renaissance Palace.
“Just like you.
“Father.”
Thales turned gloomy.
“And you don’t have to worry about…me and her.”
As his voice faded, Thales realized that, unbeknownst to himself, he had been sweating profusely and was short of breath.
It was far from the decorum befitting the Duke of Star Lake.
The silence in the room dragged on.
As if to leave room for this honest confession.
Until its meaning was thoroughly comprehended.
“Is she great?” King Kessel asked out of the blue, surprising Thales.
But the youth immediately felt downcast.
“I don’t know.”
He closed his eyes then reopened them, trying hard to erase all expression from his face.
“I… don’t want to know either.”
Ballard Room fell into complete silence.
After what seemed like an eternity.
Finally, the king’s figure actively retreated from the light.
He fell back into his seat in the dark.
His face was no longer visible.
Only his voice could be heard.
“Sometimes I wonder.”
His words were as pointed and mean as before, but it no longer brought with it that piercing sensation.
“Why your rationality is on par with your stupidity.
“Why are they both in the same brain,” the king sneered, “But still living harmoniously.”
Thales did not speak.
He sat by the long table in a daze.
Just then, the youth started to understand.
In his lifetime, he had faced three kings.
King Nuven’s wanton methods incorporated both strength and tenderness, showed both mercy and authority, and was as unpredictable and inestimable as the ocean.
King Chapman, on the other hand, persecuted and threatened him with tangible harms and benefits, like a blade pressed to his neck and a thorn in his back.
But the Kessel the Fifth before him.
The Iron Hand King.
He was entirely different from the previous two.
As the supreme king of Constellation, he did not speak dramatically nor know how to articulate grandiose words.
But Kessel had an even more bizarre and terrifying ability.
Relying on this ability, he could transcend mercy and authority and harms and benefits, strike at one’s innermost being and latch onto the damned crux.
Forcing Thales to face his true self.
Composed and placid.
But utterly heart-wrenching.
The king reached a hand out to pull a lever on the table.
The door to Ballard Room opened.
A few unfamiliar royal guards appeared at the entrance. Someone walked past them and entered the room.
It was the scar-faced man from the Secret Intelligence Department.
But Thales did not seem to notice. He sank into his chair with a blank expression.
“Take him out,” King Kessel’s voice rang out mercilessly, “Let him see for himself the terrible mess he left behind.”
Thales looked up in a daze.
“What?”
“Don’t dawdle.” The king lowered his head and started reading the next document. “Ballard Room has more important matters to deal with.
“Remember what you said here today.”
Thales could not recall much of what happened next.
He could not even recall how he walked out of Ballard Room in a daze.
And he could not remember how the scar-faced man, with a stony expression and awkward gestures, apologized stiffly to him about how he could not defy the king’s orders, but because Lord Mallos was preoccupied, he would be escorting His Highness instead.
Until Thales followed him distractedly out of the palace through a side gate, and got on a carriage.
“Where are we going?”
Thales pulled himself together and, with some effort, regulated his emotions as he felt the sway of the carriage.
“The Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Department, Your Highness—by order of His Majesty,” across him, the fierce-looking scar-faced man replied while scratching his face.
‘Secret Intelligence Department.’
Thales frowned.
But he realized something else that was off.
The scar-faced man in front of him…
His voice, sounded different?
Noticing the prince’s gaze, the scar-faced man grinned and started to peel off the skin from his face.
Thales gaped.
“Long time no see, Your Highness.”
The person before him threw the scar-face disguise away, lowered his head, rubbed his eyes and greeted Thales in a relaxed and mischievous voice, “How have you been?”
Thales was stunned.
It was him.
“You don’t look too happy. What happened…”
In the carriage, his old acquaintance, the Barren Bone man, Raphael Lindbergh opened his dark red eyes and stared directly at Thales. “Were you dumped by your girlfriend?”
Thales’ expression froze.
“Raphael.”
The prince, who was not in a good mood in the first place, leaned backwards.
“If you spout another word of nonsense…”
The Duke of Star Lake stared at the roof of the carriage and said expressionlessly, “I’ll ask the honorable Miss Miranda for her hand in marriage.”
Raphael’s face sank.
So the carriage became completely silent.
And no one spoke along the way.
Chapter 570: What Do I Need You For |
