性心理聊天电话

Chapter 760  A Broken Kingdom

Silvan turned slowly, his movements deliberate, his expression calm and detached. Yet there was something unnerving in the faint, bitter smile curling his lips as he locked eyes with his father.

The flicker of warmth in his son\'s gaze was still there, yet there was also a chilling emptiness he had never seen before.

"Father," Silvan said softly, his voice calm, yet carrying an undercurrent that sent a chill through the room, "I really wished we wouldn\'t see each other like this. But I suppose it was inevitable."

Seron felt a sharp pang in his chest, uneasiness stabbing at him like cold blades. He raised his hand slightly, his voice trembling as he said, "Son...please tell me this is not what I am thinking it is."

Silvan let out a low, weary sigh. His head tilted slightly as if lamenting a truth he could not change, "I am sorry, Father," he said, his tone heavy. "It is what it is."

Seron\'s eyes widened, his breath catching as his hands began to tremble.

He stepped forward, his voice cracking under the weight of his disbelief, "W-Why? Why would you commit such a treachery, Silvan? How could you betray us when you are a prince of this kingdom? I...the queen...everyone trusted you to protect our kingdom! Not to help destroy it!"

His jaw clenched, and a storm of anger, pain, and betrayal surged through him, "You were supposed to be our future! How could you stab us in the back like this?"

"A prince?" Silvan interrupted with a dry chuckle that lacked any warmth.

His smile twisted into something hollow, "Are you sure I can truly be called one?"

Seron\'s chest tightened at the words, and his expression hardened, the weight of them digging deeper into his soul.

Silvan\'s voice softened, tinged with bitterness and resignation, "I know how angry and disappointed you are feeling now, Father. But have you ever stopped to think about how I\'ve been feeling all these years? Have you ever been brave enough to confront your own feelings, the ones you buried for the sake of this broken kingdom?"

Seron\'s brows furrowed, his voice faltering, "What... What are you talking about?"

"It\'s high time you stopped pretending as if it never happened," Silvan said, shaking his head slowly, his expression softening into one of quiet anguish, "Because I\'ve grown tired of pretending my mother never existed... my blood mother, who never had royal blood flowing through her veins."

Seron\'s eyes quivered, his voice barely above a whisper, "You... You remember what happened?"

"I know you tried to erase my memories of her when I was a child," Silvan said, his voice firm, yet there was a tremor of pain beneath the surface, "You followed the king\'s orders, of course. But thanks to someone... I remembered them. And when I did, the pain was unlike anything I\'d ever known."

He looked away briefly, his jaw tightening, "You fell in love with a maid. A woman of \'inferior\' blood, as the nobles would sneer. I understand why you tried to make her... get rid of me. But she kept me, Father. She loved me before I was even born, even though she knew it would cost her everything."

Seron\'s lips parted, but no words came. The weight of his son\'s revelations was like a vice around his heart.

"And even after I was born," Silvan continued, his voice dropping to a low murmur, "she couldn\'t even tell me she was my mother. When I played with her as a child, I didn\'t know... but I felt it. That warmth, that love—something I never felt from that deranged woman you had to marry, who treated her like filth."

Silvan\'s expression hardened, his voice colder now, "Not only her but everyone treated her like filth. Except for you. But even you... you never truly helped her, did you? You protected me, yes. But her? No."

Seron took a faltering step forward, his throat tightening, "Silvan, I—"

"The day I learned she was my mother," Silvan cut him off, his voice sharp as glass, "was the day she was executed. We didn\'t even get to say any last words to each other. Someone exposed her and your secret to the king, and she paid the price. Because in this kingdom, a low-born who dares to bear the child of a noble deserves death, doesn\'t she? That\'s the rule. The law. A law so twisted, it defies reason."

His eyes glistened briefly, but his voice remained steady, "I never understood it then. I asked myself over and over—why? Why are the low-born punished simply for existing, while the powerful do as they please without consequence? Why is this kingdom so broken like the world it exists in? Why was this world so unfair towards the weak?"

He paused, his dark red eyes meeting Seron\'s with a piercing intensity, "And then I found my answer. This kingdom is rotten from the roots up. It\'s a carcass pretending to be alive. That\'s when I made my decision."

Seron\'s voice cracked, his body trembling, "What decision?"

Silvan\'s eyes burned with a cold determination as he said, "To tear it all down before building a better one from the bottom. To give everything I have to fix what you and those before you refused to confront."

The hall grew silent, the raw weight of Silvan\'s words pressing against Seron\'s chest. He could only stare at his son, the boy he once protected, now standing as the architect of a betrayal that cut deeper than any blade.

Seron\'s voice quivered as he finally spoke, his words trembling with disbelief, "So you\'re willing to let our people die? Including the weak ones you claim to protect?"

Silvan\'s eyes softened briefly, a glimmer of sorrow piercing through his calm facade, "I\'ve already evacuated those who wished to live in a better place," he said quietly, "The ones tired of fighting and dying for a kingdom that never cared about them. As for the rest…" He hesitated, his gaze dropping for a fleeting moment, "I can\'t save everyone. But their sacrifice won\'t be in vain."

Seron took a step forward, his hands trembling at his sides, "Do you even hear yourself? What is the point of all this? Do you think the vicious draconians you\'ve allied with won\'t turn on you and those who\'ve joined you the moment your use to them runs out?"

Silvan tilted his head slightly, his expression remaining calm, "You misunderstand, Father. I haven\'t joined hands with the draconians. I\'m simply using them to serve my purposes." His tone was matter-of-fact.

Seron\'s voice rose, tinged with desperation, "No… you couldn\'t have done this alone. Someone helped you. Who was it?"

Silvan\'s eyes narrowed briefly, a shadow of thought flickering across his face before he answered, "You\'re right. I didn\'t act alone. The one who helped me the most, who enabled the teleportation portals to bring the draconians here, was Kira. She wants everyone in this kingdom to know that her hand brought its destruction."

Seron\'s heart skipped a beat, his eyes widening in disbelief, "Kira? The last Caleumbra?" he whispered, shaking his head, "That can\'t be. You never went to her brothel—I\'ve never seen you two together."

Silvan chuckled dryly, his voice tinged with bitterness, "Of course not. A brothel isn\'t where alliances are forged, Father. Kira approached me years ago, in secret, just as she did with others who had been wronged by this kingdom. I was just a child then, but even I could see the truth in her words."

Seron\'s jaw clenched as he listened, his pulse pounding in his ears.

"The Eclipsion Kingdom was once a place of beauty and peace," Silvan continued, his voice growing harder, "Until your kingdom destroyed it out of greed. This kingdom, the noble lords —they never hesitated to snuff out the lives of innocents for power and land. She made us see the truth of how rotten everything in our kingdom was. That was when I decided I would never be part of such a kingdom and that I would try to set things right."

Seron\'s teeth gritted as he shook his head vehemently, "Silvan, how could you let an enemy brainwash you like this? That woman doesn\'t care about you or what\'s right. She is using you and everyone else to do her bidding."

"I don\'t care if she cares about my cause or what\'s right," Silvan said sharply, his voice unwavering, "All that matters is the truth she revealed. I made this choice, and our goals happen to align. That\'s all." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Seron\'s face contorted with anguish, his voice breaking as he took a tentative step closer, "Silvan… please, stop this madness. It\'s not too late. Come back with me. I\'m sorry… I failed to see your pain all these years, but give me a chance to make it right. Forgive me this once, and let me do right by you."

He extended his hand, trembling but hopeful, a silent plea etched into his eyes.

Silvan\'s expression softened as he regarded his father. A faint, sad smile touched his lips. "Father," he began, his voice quieter, "I don\'t hate you. I am not angry at you. Not anymore. You\'ve been the best father I could have asked for in a world like this. I know your hand was forced. But it\'s too late. Even if the portals are shut down now, it won\'t matter. This kingdom is already doomed."

He extended his own hand, as though offering a lifeline, "Come with me. We\'ll leave this broken kingdom behind and build something better. This kingdom doesn\'t deserve your loyalty."

Seron\'s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, his body trembling with the weight of his son\'s words. For a moment, his resolve faltered. But then, slowly, he lowered his outstretched hand. A black staff materialized in his grasp, its dark red orb glowing ominously at the tip, casting a sinister light across his face.

"I\'m sorry too," Seron said, his voice steady despite the moisture glistening in his eyes. "I can\'t betray my kingdom or my motherland. I am many things, but not a traitor who wishes to see his kingdom\'s fall. If you truly believe our kingdom is beyond saving, then you\'ll have to go through me before you take it down."