Is It True Love?

Chapter 15: In Pursuit Of The Truth

"Justus, there is something we've meant to tell you for some time now. It hasn't been easy for us to keep such a terrible secret, but we decided to wait until you were mature enough to accept reality. I don't know how exactly to sugarcoat this, so I'm just going to come out and say it. We...We aren't your blood-related parents."

"Huh? W-What are you talking about? Is this some kinda joke?"

If so, it wasn't a funny one but they didn't appear to be pulling his leg.

"No son, my wife isn't the woman who gave birth to you. We took you in one winter day after visiting a church in Lunaville during our anniversary. The bishop told us that he found you in a basket left outside on the doorstep..." he took a breath to collect his thoughts, and Justus couldn't process anything to even respond. "Well he was planning to drop you off at an orphanage, but the two of us volunteered to take you in. We had been trying for a baby for a very long time and it just wasn't working. This seemed like the perfect blessing to raise a child we could call our own."

"...If you took me in then who-who are my actual parents? How could you both keep this from me for twelve whole years?! W-Why did they abandon me?!" One unanswered question poured out after another as he leapt to his feet and started to pace. This nice little happy home was nothing more than hollow roles built upon deceit. Emotions overwhelmed him as his heart began to race, unable to properly sort through them all.

"Yes, we shouldn't have kept you in the dark for so long on your roots. We just-we didn't want to see you in pain but that was selfish!" Hannah had closed the distance between them, and though he tried to push her away, Justus lacked the strength. She wrapped her arms around the boy motherly as done countless times in the past. "I don't know who your parents are or why they left you out there all by yourself. I can promise while there is still breath in us, we won't ever abandon you. It's understandable if you need space, but please don't let this anger turn into hatred."

The betrayal he felt then did remain for a few weeks but now is solely held toward his birth parents. To this day, Justus has no idea who his mother is nor why she gave him up. Despite how content he is at home this mystery drifts into his thoughts over and over again.

"Anyways, people in town said those adventurers and I have a lot of similar features. Others even mistook me to be some blood relative of theirs. That's why as far-fetched as this is I want to see them for myself," he finishes, finally turning to face them.

The two respond with silence, having him regret sharing in the first place. Just when he is about to storm off a large grin spreads across the dwarf's lips. She and the prince exchange looks as if they're somehow communicating through their minds.

"Well, I believe we have different plans for today."

...

Arriving at Pencent, the lushly green grass stretches as far as the eyes can see. The farmhouses are all spaced out to leave plenty of room for barns and fields. Between several windmills and sturdy fences, it's a much higher standard than he was expecting.

"So this is Pencent. I assumed with here and Aniex being the working-class level it would be a little more rundown. Actually, the village looks pretty cozy from an outsider's perspective."

However, there is another factor that surpasses his image of this farmland. Justus glances back at the pair who decided to accompany him on his mission. They hadn't hesitated to cancel their plans though the boy insisted he could track these famous adventures alone.

"Yup, the farmers live peacefully raising crops for the capital. Similar to Aniex there aren't many hotspots, so unless you're an animal lover travelers don't stop through often," Saelufu explains, and makes him wonder why Barric and Leila would want to visit this place.