"Take her away!" Claude ordered.
The guards held on to her but Athanasia wouldn't let anyone humiliate her any further.
With strong static magic, she was able to fend off the imperial guards trying to drag her away.
"There is no need! I will leave with my own two feet." She said with such coldness. "Then, I shall thank you your majesty for sparing this foolish one's life," she said, returning the same gaze Claude was giving her.
The princess who had been mocked by the emperor calmed herself down with grace and elegance.
"Why would you bow to such a man?"
Another cold, stern voice echoed down the corridor. Everyone's attention was drawn to the blonde-haired man who entered the hall wearing bloody clothes.
"I... Imperial Prince! Ayhan de Alger Obelia!"
Claude's eyes widen. The long-haired blonde boy ignored him the moment he walked into the hall. The boy extended his hand to Athanasia, allowing her to stand tall and proud.
Everyone has fallen silent.
With such grace, reddish and blue jeweled eyes met the gaze of the emperor.
"I see you have turned into quite a jerk, Your Majesty."
The cold-hearted prince who is said to be even colder than the Emperor spoke.
Claude trembled at the sight of the two. Their gazes meet; not a single speck of respect was shown to him.
"I doubt you will accept our congratulations on this happy occasion," they both said as they bowed in front of him. As you wish, we will take our leave."
Those cold and empty eyes stared at him. Claude's heart continued to beat in pain.
No... don't... don't...
"Blessings and glory to the Sun of the Obelian Empire!"
*BANG!*
If it's bothersome, kill it!
Claude subconsciously uses magic to attack the two.
He hissed, "You dare to mock the Emperor." He must eliminate them before they become too bothersome! He continued to disregard his emotions and conscience, but...
A beautiful silver shield shielded the twins from him.
The prince looked at him with contempt, and the princess did as well.
His heart continued to pound loudly. His mind went blank.
His greed, foolishness, and resentment make it hard to be carefree. How he hated himself right now. It was as if everything happened in a flash. And... Suddenly, it's all nothing more than a bedtime story. A distant memory that entangles his life and the last.
A smile raises ripples on the calm lake. His heart lit a flame whenever he saw those charming smiles.
Smiles began flashing inside his head.
His heart continued to contradict his mind.
No one to entrust worries too. With two trails of tears, a thousand thoughts flash from his head. The same smile was directed at him—losy. Suppressing this blazing fire inside his heart. Pray to tell; praises or blame, happiness or misfortune, are all given by whom?
Yet... If the gods were there and listened to his prayers... He will forever be indebted to them.
I didn't want this to happen.
But why would he think like that?
Why am I regretting everything I say right now?
Faintly, for whom is that lively memory played? Senseless yet wading forward. Heaven is cruel but his fate is in his own hands. Half a carefree lifetime all turns to dust. Longing and yearning to know his name.
Name... call their names.
His inner demon continued to whisper in his ears.
"You once said... to strike you and kill you at will," the boy's cold-hearted voice echoed.
"Dad..." the soulful voices continued to echo, "What have we done to deserve this?"
"And you are going to hurt us like this?"
Claude lowered his hand in response to that question.
Despair.
The Prince and Princess looked at him as if he did not know who he was.
"We knew our father would never harm us in this way."
Why? Why? Don't look at me like that!
"The father we knew would never betray us in this way."
Claude was about to reach out to them, but as soon as he did, the twins vanished.
He can no longer discern what silence is.
He hated himself with every fiber of his being for being a jerk. He should not be hurt because he was the one who led himself to this precipice.
Darkness.
Solitude.
Ink.
Nothing was visible in the path because it had been painted inky black.
The moment Claude realized it would never return, color vanished from his world.
To be broken, betrayed, left, hurt, or death approaches, to sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples fall in heaps all around, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.
I wasted it all, and let it rot... Until they got fed up.
Destroyed, to a point of no return.
"What...?"
He stood there blankly, everyone running away.
"Why?"
His next question broke his heart even more.
"Why did you smile if you're going to leave like that?
TBC
ВИ ЧИТАЄТЕ
What Universe is This Again?
Фанфіки"I can feel it!" exclaimed Lophe, the pope of Obelia's current religion. "The new Empress and the Saint of Obelia will be born soon!" Everyone was almost listening to a cult's proclamation, but the bright light currently shining at Obelia's Eternal...
