Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 390 Maybe
Thales stared at the man before him, whose chest heaved and whose emotions were unstable, and remained silent for a long time.

"You care about them a lot."

Thales' gaze remained fixed: "Your father and brother."

Quick rope paused for a moment.

His expression darkened.

Do you have family, Thales?

Thales pursed his lips.

family.

An indescribable feeling welled up inside me.

Perhaps it exists in those scattered and fragmented memories.

But here...

Quick Rope raised his eyebrows, as if he had remembered something.

“Sorry, I forgot,” Quick Rope waved in the dim light, giving an apologetic smile. “Of course, this makes you the sole heir, a sensitive position that attracts attention from all sides.”

Thales nodded silently.

“But I have it.”

Quick Rope's smile slowly faded: "From the first day I was old enough to understand, I was told that I had a great and wise father and a role model older brother."

"My father is very strict and cold. As the monarch of the entire Dragon Kingdom, he always has endless political affairs to handle and reasons that cannot be refuted."

"My elder brother is outstanding, dazzling, decisive and capable, a veteran of many battles, and his prestige is deeply rooted in people's hearts."

Quick Rope shifted his shoulders, his face hidden in the darkness beyond the firelight, his expression unreadable: "And I, the second son of King Nuen, the younger brother of Prince Suliel..."

He paused for a moment, then looked up.

“Thales, with his father and brothers so outstanding, for eighteen long years, that poor second son could only live in their shadows. I tried to follow in their footsteps, chased after their world, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how well I did in my studies, how eloquent I was at banquets, or how many prey I hunted…”

The rope paused slightly.

Thales listened intently, but saw Quick Rope smile dismissively.

"Until Lady Jinx told me..."

His eyes reflected the light, revealing unspeakable emotions.

“I am his brother, born to assist and serve him—Suriel is destined to become the Grand Duke of Dragonstreet, and even the King of Exter. I must respect him, obey him, and be loyal to him from the bottom of my heart, and become his helper and arm.”

"I can only complete my studies properly and honestly, grow up, become an adult, and be an ordinary, unremarkable, neither outstanding nor bad Northern nobleman. That's enough."

Quick Rope took a deep breath, his tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of mockery.

"After I come of age, as the younger brother of the future king, I will have my own small fiefdom, which will be granted to me as a baron or even a viscount. I will have my own surname, my own family, and be bathed in the glory of the Dragonlance branch. Or I may be a pawn in a marriage alliance, marrying, having children, growing old, and dying under the king's watchful eye, waiting for future generations to write my name between the two family trees."

“Any act of usurpation is wrong, any disrespectful thought is sinful. If I behave too prominently or too unusually, people will suspect that there are disloyal ministers secretly instigating me.”

Thales looked at the rope, trying his best to imagine the former Prince Moral.

“This is the first half of my life,” Quick Rope said, returning to his original state without any emotion, “or, the life I once thought I would have.”

silence.

“But this didn’t last,” Thales began softly in the silence:

"Unexpected events always happen suddenly."

Quick rope turned to him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

“Yes, just as you think,” the former prince said calmly.
"Eighteen years ago, on the night before the war, I was taken out of the castle by Nicolai and his guards while I was asleep, to my remote fiefdom, which I thought I would spend my life in, and back to Dragonstreet."

Quick Rope's gaze was fixed on the air, his tone hollow.

“Suriel was lying there.”

Thales sighed, thinking of the eldest son of Nunn that so many people had talked about.

"Yes, that Suliel, the brother I once admired and revered, the brother who made me feel ashamed and resentful, lies quietly in the Hall of Heroes, motionless, pale-faced, gold coins covering his eyes, a longsword in his hand."

“We are quite different in age and don’t usually talk much, but I think that was the closest and most unreserved contact we’ve ever had.”

Quick Rope said blankly, "That day, my once heroic father seemed to have aged twenty years. Facing his second son, whom he had always been indifferent to and let go of, he talked a lot, from the king's power to the relationships between the dukes, his attitude towards the vassals, including the upcoming war... But I didn't hear a word he said. My mind was filled with Sulir's pale face."

"That night, I became the first heir."

Thales sighed softly, and for some reason, he remembered the day he was recognized as the second prince of the Star Kingdom in the Palace of Restoration.

"For the first ten years of your life, everyone scolds you to be a docile and obedient boy, not to overstep any boundaries. But overnight, everyone turns around and forces you to become a wise and brilliant prince."

Quick Rope's words were lifeless and devoid of vitality, tinged with a faint irony: "Damn fate, after I've experienced doubt, envy, jealousy, resentment, pain, unwillingness, and finally giving up and letting go, has once again dramatically befallen me."

He sneered.

"But do you know what I saw in that seat, in that hell?"

Thales raised his head and looked directly into Quick Rope's eyes.

“Twisted.” The former Prince Morar uttered these two words with a cold face.

"Conkley Peffert, the carefree boy from Fengzhao City who grew up with me, has become suspicious, preoccupied, and speaks insincerely and hypocritically, I don't know when it started," Quick Rope murmured.

“I tried to approach him as a friend, but… ever since Conkley’s grandfather and father passed away, ever since he became the young Grand Duke of Fengzhao City, ever since I became the heir to Longxiao City, there has been something inexplicable in the way he looks at me.”

Thales frowned, and Grand Duke Pefit's hysterical and painful confession at the end of the duel appeared before him.

“When my father was reprimanding him, I stopped him and volunteered to go and persuade Feng Zhaocheng,” Kuai Sheng said, his voice trembling slightly.
"But no matter how hard I tried, how I expressed my sincerity and apology, how I assured him that I would definitely... Conkley's smile had lost its warmth."

“Hatred, jealousy, madness, these are the things I can glean from him. We can no longer drink together without any reservations like we used to.”

His last few words were filled with desolation.

"As for Chaman Lumba, I understood when I first met him after the war."

Quick Rope chuckled: "That calm, gentle, and well-mannered Cousin Chaman of the past no longer exists. His eyes are now filled with deathly stillness and pain, emptiness and indifference. His body is now filled with the taciturn and sparing-of-words Grand Duke of Black Sand, as if the ghosts of his relatives still hang over his head, lingering for a long time."

“Every time I talk to him, I feel a chill run down my spine. Either I am talking to a dead man, or in his eyes I am the dead man.”

Thales clenched his fist as he recalled the Black Sand Grand Duke, whose figure flickered in and out of the firelight.

“Twisted, Thales, twisted.” Quickrope’s voice echoed.

“They were all twisted, captured, including my father and brother, Thales, captured, enslaved, and lost by power.”

The former Prince Exeter said coldly, "In those chains, they became something else: cold-blooded tools, cold-blooded scoundrels, suspicious tyrants, but they were no longer themselves."

Thales was stunned.

A conversation from a long, long time ago resurfaced in his mind.

What is truly terrifying and frightening is not the disasters themselves.

[It's ourselves] [It's us ordinary people... how we've degenerated, how corrupt we've become, what bottom lines we've sacrificed.]

“Because if you want to get into this circle, Thales, and even climb to the top,” Quick Rope’s tone became urgent:

"The first thing to do is to submit, open your mind and body, let their world and ideas rule over you, and transform you into someone you can't even recognize. Only then can you start playing this game and play it well."

“I heard you were found among the common people, Thales,” Quick Rope called softly, bringing Thales back from his reverie:
"Then think carefully, what did you become after you became a prince?"

"Can you still choose your own path? Follow your own heart?"

"After becoming a prince," Quick Rope's words were like a sharp knife, piercing Thales' heart: "Are you still yourself, still Thales?"

"Or has it... transformed into something else?"

What did you gain, and what did you lose?

Thales listened quietly.

Monty, you know, I suddenly realized that I... I almost don't recognize you anymore.

[Hahaha, you troublemaker... It's not just you; many times, when I look at this man in the mirror, I almost don't recognize him.]

Thinking of this, he subconsciously tightened his grip on the JC dagger at his waist.

The dagger that was brought out of the abandoned house.

His past.

His past.

A few seconds later, Thales shook his head, his expression turning somber.

"I don't know," he said with difficulty.

"What do you say?"

Quick Rope laughed.

“Same as you,” the former prince knocked on the wall and leaned in stiffly, “I don’t know either.”

"But I know... how this will end."

Quick rope's eyes converged, bright and alert.

“I don’t know how Sulil died, and no one has told me what that strange hunt was all about, but since becoming that damned heir, I think I understand: Sulil was destined to meet his end.”

"It's not because of any particular person, any conspiracy, or any accident, but because he sits in this position, and more importantly, because Sulier was born for this path. Being in it, his decisiveness, ruthlessness, and ambition are all signs. When he gets used to moving in the dark, navigating intrigue, maneuvering in politics, wielding his sword on the battlefield, and climbing snow-capped peaks in the Dragon Kingdom... then one day he will die here, sooner or later, if not this time, then next time. His way of life will one day come back to haunt him and devour his life."

Thales took a deep breath.

It surges back, devouring life.

The words of Death Crow regarding Suril were still fresh in his mind, but Quick Rope's words gave him a deeper understanding.

“This has nothing to do with your strength, Thales. On the contrary, the greater your strength and power, the tighter and deeper these chains will bind you, making it even harder to break free.”

Quick Rope stared at him coldly: "Just like our father."

"Just like Chaman Rumba now."

The room became quiet again.

A corpse and two people of unusual status stood silently facing each other under the moonlight and lamplight.

"That's it?"

After a moment, Thales spoke with difficulty.

"Is this why you changed?"

"Is that all there is to your reason for leaving?"

Thales loosened the dagger from his waist and sighed, "Whether it was King Nunn or Pefit, when they told me your story, there was always a girl involved."

The rope twitched slightly.

He moved away from the wall and unconsciously sat up straight.

“If you heard it from them,” a rare, genuine smile appeared on Quick Rope’s face, “it probably wasn’t anything nice.”

Thales raised an eyebrow: "So?"

Quick Rope paused for a moment, then looked at Prince Star with a strange expression, his tone deep and gentle.

“Thales, you’re not very old, but… have you ever loved someone, or been loved by someone?”

All I heard was a quick, calm reply: “Sometimes, it’s the innocent, youthful feelings that are most unforgettable.”

Thales was about to shake his head.

But in that instant, he remembered a voice.

It was a soft and pleasant female voice that only appeared in the fragments.

What? Love stems from an affair? I'm so excited...

His body stiffened, stopping him from shaking his head.

Are we having an affair now...?

That voice, which always made him tremble and feel pain every time it appeared.

The voice that he could never recall his master's name.

she?
Thales trembled slightly.

“Perhaps,” Thales said unconsciously, nodding absently, “maybe so.”

she was.

The moonlight spilled into the room, as if gently caressing the two silent people.

Quick Rope stared at the prince for a long time before finally revealing a faint smile.

"very nice."

Quickly crossed his arms, turned his gaze away from Thales, and looked at the moonlight outside the broken window.

"Whether someone cares about you, or you are cared for by someone..."

He said softly:
"It's all a kind of happiness."

----

P.S. I heard that the manga adaptation of "Kingdom Bloodline" has been released. You might want to check it out on Tencent Comics (showing his front teeth, awkwardly laughing and making a heart shape with his hands).

The Lantern Festival is here, so it's not too much to tease single people, right?
By Wujian, who looked quite cautious.

P.S. I heard the manga adaptation of *Kingdom Bloodline* has been released. Everyone should check it out on Tencent Comics! (Shows front teeth, awkward laughs and heart emoji). Also, there were quite a few changes to the previous chapter; app users might want to download it again from the table of contents.

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(End of this chapter)