The king hits his head on the couch when Kyrie delivers the punch without a single bit of hesitation. His eyesight spirals after feeling his brain jolt inside his skull. Dumbfounded, the king turns to look at Kyrie, who is currently standing with one leg on the couch.
No one has ever raised a hand against him for so long, and when someone did, he was a prince. He would have never expected that even with the status of a king that he will receive a blow and right to his face. Touching the side of his face that is starting to swell, he watches as if the wrath of God has molded into human form.
Kyrie takes out two ingestible mana stones and pops them into his mouth. The mana stones crack between his teeth, turning into powder. When he swallows, mana gushes through this body. Kyrie regains back the familiar feeling of mana rushing through his veins, and his body fills with power that starts to overflow. Mana steams out of his body, and his eyes sharpen with the sight of the king. His shadow casts over the king, whose power should shake thousands of lives with a couple of words from his mouth.
Without any mercy or even slight hesitation, he beats the king as if he is the one who has grievances against the middle-aged man. The king tastes the metallic bitter taste of blood in his mouth. His head and body feel the pressure and pain from the blows. If Nate and Ian have not stepped in to stop Kyrie, King Ethern would really have his life flash in front of him.
The king shakes as he tries to lift himself from the floor, staring at the door while wondering why no one is coming in to rescue him.
"Someone! Someone help!" The king yells, but there is no response.
Kyrie smirks at the king. Of course, there is no one! The room has been soundproofed by magic, plus the chancellor is guarding the door.
He is outside standing with Federline. From the start, the chancellor has already discovered this bunch and also has made the joke about how Kyrie and Nate have sneaked that other time, stealing away the black mana stone pendant.
However, Kyrie must praise the chancellor to let these kinds of situations happen to their monarch. He must have had it with the king!
King Ethern becomes dazed, looking at the door. The sound of footsteps that should come rushing in is nowhere to be found.
Kyrie looks at Ian, who has been silent the entire time. Unlike the angry stare that Kyrie would give to the king, Ian's eyes are filled with so many emotions. Maybe Ian has always had that little hope towards his father to give him a different treatment.
Now, he is in a swamp of confusion as to why this man hates him so much. Although Ian never met his mother, he also feels the emptiness of losing her, losing the chances and opportunities that he could have spent with her. But, no matter what he does, Ian is starting to realize that nothing will change in that man's heart. The king does not want to be his father, and he has already shown him for 18 years of his life.
Now, he could only think about reasons why he has taken upon himself to please the king so much. No matter which loop, he keeps doing the same thing. Maybe his memories have not come back at the right moment to stop him.
As if Ian's consciousness is diving deeper into the darkness within himself, Kyrie becomes scared when watching Ian's eyes turn lifeless.
"Ian."
Ian feels his consciousness go out from sinking deep inside his darkness, and his eyes start to focus on Kyrie, who is in front of him. He watches Kyrie worry, but watching Kyrie being by his side; he can now feel his heart is beating again.
[Should I have not let Ian come here? No. This is important.]
"Ian. It's time for you to decide what to do. I will grant you the result you want to see…"
Kyrie turns back to the king that flinches at the pressure heavily pressed on him. The stare from Kyrie's eyes is enough for the king to have enough nightmares for the rest of his life with some to spare.
Clomp.
Each time Kyrie slowly steps towards the king, the sound of footsteps seems to resonate in the king's ear.
"What do you want, Ian?"
Clomp.
"The destruction of this kingdom?"
Clomp.
"A slow torture?"
Clomp.
The king starts to slide back, pushing his weight with his arms and legs. He shakes as he stares into Kyrie's darkened expression, but he cannot yank his eyes off from staring at Kyrie's figure slowly walking toward him.
Clomp.
The king flinches as his back touched the desk. He looks around nervously, but his eyes suddenly focus on Kyrie's leather shoes. His eyes are registering all the intricate leather carvings, but his head stops functioning as if something has covered his entire cloud of thoughts with a blanket. He couldn't even have the guts to lift his head.
The heel of the leather shoes hits the floor, and a sudden thought rushes to the mind of the king.
"He is not my son," The king confesses with a trembling voice.
His heart races at the secret that he has kept with him for all these years, but out of impulse, King Ethern blurts it out. He senses the air of the room a few more times colder because the other party does not believe in him and feels like he is speaking gibberish to save himself.
"It's the truth… The woman I loved had a husband before me…"
King Ethern pours the story of his youth.
Back then, as one of the princes qualified to the throne, Austin Ethern was chased by assassins sent by one of his brothers during one of his excursions to some cities that the previous king sent him to investigate suspected embezzlements.
The assassins have chosen the dense forest to be the best place to wipe out Austin. Without much preparation for such an attack, the knights that followed Austin die from the onslaught, and only Austin manages to escape into the forest. He has been wounded severely and only some steps away from death's door.
However, he wakes up the next day alive, bandaged, and taken care of. That is when Austin Ethern has met Ian's mother, who went by the name of Ava. Ava and her then-husband, Enzo, have taken him in and brought him back to health without asking a single penny or his real identity. They introduce themselves as merchants from a foreign kingdom that just happens to pass by Ethern on their way.
Austin slowly falls in love with Ava. Her gentle and sunny side manages to take his heart. But, knowing that she is committed to Enzo, Austin hides his feelings for Ava. However, Enzo dies when he encounters a beast in the forest. Although for Austin, it feels like an opportunity. For Ava, the tragedy manages to strike her so hard that she wants to die with Enzo. It is then that Ava discovers that she is pregnant with Ian.
Everything has been going well for Austin when Ava decided to go back to the palace with him, claiming that the child inside Ava was his. Austin truly believes that he could build a life with Ava, and their relationship becomes better. All of that crashes when Ava dies from childbirth.
Austin has wanted to kill Ian for taking Ava away from him, but Ian looks like his mother- the raven hair and the shape of his eyes, although the color is from his father.
"I thought that time was the answer, but it wasn't…" Tears flow down from the king's eyes as he lets out the story that has been stored inside his heart.
Kyrie purses his lips at the man who seems to be irreversibly broken. Silence enters the room, and everyone feels constipated by the gloom.
"King Ethern…"
The king lifts his head to Kyrie, but the face that he sees has no sympathy.
"You are a coward!" Kyrie grabs the king by the collar, "Who in this world has not faced pain? But you… You not only chose to escape, but you also created pain for someone else to bear for the rest of his life. You chose to continue to stay hurt without knowing that the woman you loved left you with a life that she exchanged with her own."
Kyrie's fists start to shake, "You took her under your wing, and you couldn't take responsibility that comes with her. She must have trusted you so much, but…"
Like he couldn't breathe from anger, Kyrie lets go of the king. King Ethern falls to the floor with his eyes wide open like he suddenly understood what he has done.
Ian walks towards Kyrie, who is so angry that his body is shaking. Seeing someone being angry for him manages to smooth the struggles that Ian is experiencing. Kyrie is truly the miracle of his life. Ian pulls Kyrie into his arms, and when he stares toward the king, his confused gaze changes.
The king who meets the gaze loosens his shoulders.
The turmoils inside Ian's eyes have calmed.