Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 339 His and Her Eyes

"Haha, of course I'm not dead."

Hicksser leaned on his cane and walked laboriously toward them, chuckling, "You forgot, we had our fortunes told in the tent—I'll live a long life."

Grevo gave him a disdainful look that said, "You'd be a fool to believe that."

“As for you, Drew,” Hixser maintained his usual smile, glancing at the stunned Thales before turning his gaze back to Grivell in the wheelchair, his eyes lingering on Grivell’s missing legs:

"I can tell you've lost a lot of weight... Little hedgehog, I really miss the days when we ate sand together in the desert..."

This statement had a remarkable effect: both Thales, who was being held hostage, and Kevin, who was rushing to catch the train, were stunned.

A little hedgehog?
What little hedgehog? Who is the little hedgehog?

Griveaux shifted in his wheelchair and coughed awkwardly.

"Cough cough, alright, alright..."

But Hickser's seemingly wistful words continued: "I still remember you being forced into the tent with those skeletal women..."

In that instant, Grevo's face turned a deep purplish-red.

Only the darkness of night could conceal some of it.

Before the other two could turn their admiring yet suspicious gazes to him, Greaver angrily interrupted Heathcliff's cheerful chatter: "Shut up, shut up, shut up! You old man!"

Hicksher shrugged.

Griveaux stared at him with a grim expression, panting and deep in thought.

“Kevin, thank you for bringing him here. Now, you can go away for a bit…”

Greaver paused, seemingly uneasy, then narrowed his one eye and whispered a warning: "Um, you don't want to hear anything that will get you killed by me if you find out, do you?"

Kevin trembled slightly.

He glanced at the boy who was barely alive in the boss's arms and forced a smile that was both frightened and eerie: "Okay... Boss."

Today, he got to know Grevo in a new light.

No, no, no—Kevin shook his head—it should be said this way: As expected of the leader of the Shield and Hammer zones, from his domineering every move to his peculiar sexual interests, he exudes the demeanor of a leader among men.

Greaver finally breathed a sigh of relief after Kevin had walked away.

The veteran looked at Hixer with displeasure:

“Very well, old crow, since you’re in Dragon Sky City, great, I’ll treat you… as long as it’s on my turf, you decide the location…”

"but……"

Greaver's expression changed, and his tone shifted sharply as he said, "You're not allowed to mention the past...not a single word!"

He looked very serious.

Thales listened to their conversation with suspicion.

But he had already guessed some things, and at this point, he preferred to remain silent.

Leave everything to Hicks.

“Really? What a pity,” Hixser sighed. He seemed deeply regretful, clicking his tongue repeatedly: “Those precious years cannot be easily forgotten. In the Desert Beast Cage, we were enslaved and stripped of all dignity, while you swallowed blood, fighting to the death against human and non-human opponents, scrambling for the last stale bite of food, gritting your teeth to survive…”

"until……"

Griveo's expression changed again.

"Oh my god, I'm so damn pissed off..." He closed his eyes in pain and frustration, and spoke viciously:
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"I told you not to mention it again!"

Hicksor nodded with a smile, placed his hands on his cane, and coughed lightly.

After making sure that Hixser was silent, Greaver slowly exhaled, as if he had narrowly escaped a great danger, and shook the Thales in his hand: "Alright, now that you've said what you wanted to say, I'm in a hurry to make some money..."

Griveaux stopped abruptly at this point.

The veteran frowned, his gaze sweeping over Thales, who had stopped struggling and was trying to recover.

Then he looked at the newcomer, Hixser.

Hixser, still wearing that mysterious smile, quietly looked at him and said, "Well then, Grivell, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

Griveaux's expression froze on his face.

The next second, Thales felt a sudden release: Greaver had let him go.

“Damn, old crow,” the veteran looked at the hostage in disbelief, then at his old friend, “you didn’t just decide to meet me in this weird place on a whim, did you?”

Thales collapsed to the ground, feeling weak and sore in his limbs from prolonged lack of oxygen.

"This brat didn't just suddenly appear out of nowhere, did he?"

Faced with Griveor's bewildered question, Hixser smiled in agreement.

He shook his head:

"of course not."

He leaned on his cane and slowly walked forward.

“That’s right, I want to ask you to help him,” Hixer’s expression slowly turned serious: “Please, under all the obstacles, secretly and safely send Prince Thales out of Dragon City and to the designated place.”

“Grivo”.

"In Dragon Sky City right now, only you can do this."

The three fell into silence.

Thales pushed himself up from the ground with his arms and stood up with a smile that was rarely seen tonight.

Knew it.

The contact person Putila mentioned...

It's Hicks.

He, no, their shared, highly respected teacher.

“It’s you, teacher.” Following Putila’s instructions, Thales gave Hexer a friendly and grateful smile.

"I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye to you before."

Hicksser responded with a smile and a playful wink, his eyes blinking back and forth behind his monocle: "It's not too late now."

Thales chuckled and nodded.

So, what Putilai meant by finding someone to help the Star Prince secretly leave the city was...

"No way!"

Griveaux's gruff voice rang out again.

Thales looked at the veteran in front of him with a puzzled expression.

Greaver looked furious, his breathing rapid, and he stared intently at the old raven before him: "Considering our past relationship, I can treat you to a meal or something... but this matter?"

Grivell pointed angrily at Thales: "This isn't 'a favor,' it's a huge problem!"

Thales raised an eyebrow.

"If I escort this prince out of the city, and if I'm discovered..."

“But they can’t find out, can they?” Hickser interrupted him with a laugh. “Just like always, we’re good at running away—whether it’s a beast cage or a skeleton’s tent.”

Thales's heart skipped a beat: the Bone People.

And...the Desert God?
Greaver seemed to choke, his mouth agape for a few seconds before he finally waved his hand dismissively: "Don't bring up the past... and besides, it's not a matter of whether it was discovered or not."

The veteran turned to Hixer, his face full of displeasure: "This is too risky, involving the lives of so many of my men—do you know how the Meteorite will deal with the Shield District if he finds out? He's one thing, but that Risban, and those scoundrels in the Order Hall, they're all full of evil schemes..."

With each word Greaver spoke, the elderly Heathcliff nodded slightly.

It was like listening to him pour out his troubles.

Griveor snorted in dissatisfaction: "You have no idea what chaos Dragonsky City has become after that Nunn died... Do you know what will happen to my brothers once I fall?"

"I just want to get as far away from this mess as possible..."

Thales coughed. "You were just trying to use me to exchange for a bounty..."

Greaver's face stiffened, and he glared at Thales fiercely after being exposed: "Shut up! Kid!"

He turned to Hicksher again and said, "Help him? And he's a Starman? No way."

“No matter how close the relationship is, it won’t work!” Grevo’s final tone was resolute and left no room for argument.

Hicksor sighed but said nothing more.

The atmosphere turned cold again.

After a few seconds.

“That’s all for now, old raven,” Griveaux snorted, gesturing toward Thales. “For your sake, I won’t take him for the reward—take him and find someone else, the farther away from me the better.”

"I'll pretend I never saw you."

Thales's face darkened.

what?
Hexer's eyebrows slowly furrowed, and his withered hands, which were supporting him on his cane, trembled slightly.

But then, his brow relaxed.

“Alright, Grivell,” Hicksser smiled again, “before I leave, I only ask you to do one more thing.”

Grevo's eyes widened, his head tilted, and he gave Grevo a "what else do you want?" look: "Hey, I'm saying you..."

“Sigh,” Hixer’s expression changed instantly, and he shook his head sadly: “You know, sometimes I dream in the middle of the night, thinking about our time in the flying squirrel tribe…”

Griveaux's expression changed again.

“Okay, okay…” Griveaux interrupted him pleadingly.

"Spit it out," the old soldier glared at the old crow again, then looked away and waved his hand dismissively, "I'll just pretend I accidentally inhaled some air while passing by a cesspool."

A satisfied smile returned to Hicksser. He nodded and said softly, "Look into his eyes."

Both Thales and Griveaux were stunned when they heard this.

"What?" The wheelchair-bound veteran blinked, completely bewildered.

"Whose eyes?" This was the same question on Thales' mind.

Hexer took a deep breath.

He took a step forward, the smile on his face slowly fading, replaced by an unusual coldness and sternness.

“Drew Griveor, for the sake of how many times I healed and saved you from the brink of death in the Desert Beast Cage back then,” Hixer said, emphasizing each word, “look carefully into this child’s eyes.”

Upon hearing this, Thales was the first to be stunned.

mine……

Eye?

and many more.

Wait, wait, wait... More than one person in this world has spoken to him about his eyes...

“Alright,” perhaps it was the unusual sternness of Hexer that had the effect, anyway, after a few seconds of questioning stares, Greaver gave in and reluctantly pushed his wheelchair closer to Thales.

"Snapped!"

While Thales was still pondering in confusion, he suddenly felt a pain in his arm and was pulled in front of Griveor.

The prince looked up and, unsurprisingly, saw Griveaux's menacing single eye.

This reminded him of the one-eyed duke in the Star Kingdom—Köst Nanthurst, who was far more aggressive than the old soldier before him in the Hall of Stars.

Grivell still looked displeased, but under Hixser's stern gaze, he approached Thales, narrowed one eye, and carefully examined the prince's eyes in the dim moonlight.

Thales felt quite uncomfortable being stared at; he coughed softly and tried his best not to blink.

The prince took a deep breath, wondering what Hixter was up to, but he still chose to believe his teacher.

Just as Gilbert had advised.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

In that instant, Thales saw something unexpected:
Griveaux's expression changed.

The displeasure and disdain on his face had vanished without a trace.

All that remained was astonishment and surprise.

This gave Thales a thought.

The veteran turned his head sharply: "Turn on the light..."

But before he finished speaking, Heathcliff seemed to know what he wanted, picked up a still-burning torch from the ground, and tossed it to Griveaux from a distance.

Griveor frowned and glanced at the indifferent Hixer.

He waved the torch to make it burn brighter and moved closer to Thales.

The heat and blinding light of the flames made Thales instinctively recoil, but Griveaux held him firmly.

"Don't move, child."

By the firelight, Greaver examined Thales's eyes once more, this time with increasing seriousness and disbelief:

"And don't blink."

Thales clearly saw that as he observed more closely, Greaver's expression underwent a subtle change.

From surprise to hesitation, from hesitation to numbness, from numbness to excitement, and from excitement back to dejection.

The other person's brow trembled, and their single eye was filled with complex emotions: entanglement and pain, gratitude and relief, regret and remorse, sadness and bewilderment.

Thales was secretly alarmed.

how……

Time seemed to have passed for a very long time.

Finally, Griveaux slowly moved the torch away and bowed his head deeply.

In the darkness where no one could see, Griveaux suddenly slumped into his wheelchair, gripping it tightly as if he had instantly lost all his strength.

He spoke in a muffled voice, his tone slightly indistinct, as if veiled by a layer of mist: "Impossible."

Sixter, leaning on his cane, sighed softly: "Do you understand?"

Thales turned to the old crow with surprise and doubt, but could only see regret and loneliness on his face.

The prince blurted out instinctively, "What happened? My eyes..."

"No!"

The veteran in the wheelchair interrupted him.

“No,” Griveaux said, his head still bowed, but his voice began to tremble, breaking into broken phrases, even more so than when he had roared: “No, no, no…”

He held a torch in his right hand and gripped the armrest of the wheelchair tightly with his left, his shoulders heaving.

Hicksher shook his head, his tone certain: "You saw the color of his eyes."

Griveaux suddenly raised his head!

Thales stared at his face in astonishment: the veteran stared with one eye wide open, shaking his head in disbelief like a detective who had just discovered a cruel truth.

The prince touched his eyelids, looked at Hyxor, and then at Griveaux.

A strange sense of panic crept into my heart.

They all know something.

just me.

I'm the only one who doesn't know.

“No,” Griveaux trembled, blinking rapidly with one eye, gasping for breath as he gritted his teeth, “it’s just a coincidence… There may not be many people like that, but they certainly exist, and you might only need paint…”

"Thales!"

Thales jolted awake and turned to Hicks: "Teacher Hicks?"

The old crow interrupted the veteran with a soft snort:
"My friend may be highly skilled, but he doesn't pay much attention to the high-level politics of neighboring countries..."

His words were flat and monotonous.

In stark contrast to Hicks's usual animated lectures, his teaching style was lively and engaging.

“So could you please tell him,” Hixser said, not looking at any of them, but staring intently at his cane:
What is your full name?

Full name?

Thales was visibly shaken!
He got it.

He finally understood what they were all struggling with.

That is……

Night returned to silence.

Only the torch in Griveaux's hand was still crackling and burning.

“Thales,” Thales answered instinctively, his gaze fixed on the obviously abnormal Griveaux, “My, my full name is…”

"Tales Seranjelana Kessel Star".

pat!

The torch fell to the ground and rolled into the pool of blood beside it, struggling helplessly.

Griveaux sat blankly in his wheelchair, his only remaining eye staring blankly at Thales, who was also lost in thought.

His right hand was still in mid-air, holding a grip.

But he remained motionless.

It felt like living in a dream.

Griveaux spoke softly.

"This is impossible."

The voice that was once rude, irritable, and extremely unpleasant now seemed to come from distant mountains, gentle and calm.

It was as if they were afraid of disturbing someone's sweet dream.

Heathcliff slowly managed a tired but genuine smile.

“That’s right, Drew.”

The old crow slowly raised its head, its eyes conveying a complex and profound meaning:
"This is Miss Seran's son."

"It's her bloodline."

Nourishing.

With a final muffled thud, the torch that had been struggling to flicker on the ground, soaked in blood, was finally extinguished completely.

This chapter is dedicated to the Harry Potter series.

And also, by the way, a tribute to Georges Bataille's "The Story of the Eye".

That's right, it's past midnight!

(Starry-eyed) Praise, votes, tips, and all those comments vying to praise Wu Jian's handsomeness and beauty, and even saying they want to have his babies—let me see your hands! —by Wu Jian with a shameless expression

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(End of this chapter)