Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 418 A Different World
"Listen, Sakel!"

Seeing that the other party was not buying it, Samir, who had received a signal from Ricky, became slightly anxious:
"It wasn't easy for us to come all this way, not just to catch up with you, but..."

“Then let’s not waste our time,” Sacel said nonchalantly, stroking his stubble and holding up a small stone knife. “Unless you have a razor? This one’s a bit dull…”

Sackel turned his head and looked at Ricky's waist, his eyes filled with disdain:

"Hmm, your sword is quite good?"

Ricky snorted coldly, pressing his hand against his uniquely styled sword with hostility.

Just now.

“Here,” Thales, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: “the razor.”

"for you."

The next second, as if by magic, the boy pulled a sheathed dagger from his shirt and handed it between the fences.

Sacel paused for a moment before realizing what was happening and instinctively took Thales' dagger.

Ricky and Samir both paled as they saw the JC dagger that had somehow returned to Thales's hands!
Samir looked at Thales in disbelief:
"when……"

Thales gave a faint smile.

“During the melee just now, Marina pinned me to the ground, she pinned me so hard that I didn’t even feel my hands.”

Ricky frowned, then smiled knowingly.

“Good lad, you managed to steal the dagger, you really bring honor to your ancestors,” Samir said, looking at the prince with displeasure.
"It's a real shame they didn't become pickpockets."

Yes.

I think so too.

Thales sighed inwardly.

Sacel chuckled and shook his head, looking at the dagger in his hand with interest, fiddling with the scabbard but not drawing it, let alone shaving.

In the firelight, he glanced sideways and uttered a seemingly random sentence:
"Does a true king not value lineage?"

"Is it?"

Ricky and Samir both looked puzzled, but Thales smiled.

Under the questioning gazes of the other two, the prince took a step forward.

"Who is that?"

Thales smiled and said:

“Sakel, who was that person who was just talking to you…?”

Ricky and Samir both frowned, seemingly displeased with the prince interrupting.

But others don't think that way.

"Ah, after all these years, someone has finally asked this question."

Sacel's gaze froze on the dagger in his hand for a few seconds, then a slight smile appeared on his lips: "This means you're not hallucinating—are you?"

Thales smiled.

"Of course not," the prince said calmly.

"But the person you were talking to, is he?"

Samir's expression turned somewhat grim as he listened to the incomprehensible conversation.

But Ricky shook his head at him, stopping him from speaking and interrupting.

Sacel smiled.

"that person……"

His gaze was somewhat unfocused, as if he were about to revert to his previous neurotic state.

“When I first got here, everything was fine,” Sacel said absentmindedly. “Just treat it as another solo workout, only longer, dimmer, more empty, and without that big mouth of a blabbering Brie. How nice.”

He pondered, the chill in his words making Samir reluctant to lower his head.

"Later, after who knows how much time had passed," Saxeel suddenly laughed out of the blue:
"He's here, that man."

Samir's expression tightened:
"What? Who's here?"

Sacel was once again lost in his own world: "One day, I saw him talking, right on the other side of the cell."

He pointed to a corner outside the fence, his face slowly hardening.

“Sitting there, smiling…”

"say."

"he."

Sakel stared blankly into the distance.

Ricky and Samir glanced at the spot he was pointing to, a dusty corner that had clearly been untouched for a long time.

But Sacel's gaze froze, his expression blank, as if he had seen something.

Like a sculpture.

Seeing the other person's expression, Samir understood and sighed indignantly.

"he?"

“Look closely, Sacel, there’s nothing there, and it’s the same for you here—nobody, no light!”

Samir's words carried a hint of reproach: "Sakel, listen to me. I know you don't want to recall all the torment of the past, but no matter how terrible it was... what you've seen isn't real! I've seen what Barney and the others looked like; it's all this damned prison's fault! And you've been trapped here for eighteen years, with only darkness and loneliness..."

Upon hearing the other person's words, Sacel snapped out of his motionless, statue-like state and let out a cold laugh.

"I've been trapped here for eighteen years, and what about you?"

Sakel stared intently at Samir, his eyes gleaming coldly: "You've been trapped in your own mind for eighteen years, haven't you?"

The Knight of Punishment shook his head dismissively:

"On this point, we are no different, Second Chief Standard Officer, Samir."

Samir was stunned.

In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Thales sighed.

"So, this...Sakel."

"You said you saw 'him' appear here and speak?"

The prince looked at Saxeel with a complicated expression: "Who is this 'he' you're talking about?"

Sacel lowered his head.

"And who are you, young man?"

The royal guard prisoners narrowed their eyes: "I suppose you didn't come here to tour the Prison of Bones with these people voluntarily?"

Samir frowned and was about to step forward to pull Thales away, but Ricky stopped him.

Thales simply shook his head and did not answer.

“You see him speaking, but ‘words’ cannot be seen,” the prince sighed.

"I think you saw 'him' in person first, and then heard 'him' speak?"

Sacel stared at him for a long time, deep in thought.

But his answer was still wildly imaginative.

“That’s not important, is it?” The former star of the royal guard’s gaze drifted, as if lost in memories.
"Sometimes I see him in person, and then I hear his voice."

"Sometimes, I hear him speak first, and then he appears before me."

"it's the same."

"There is no difference."

After saying that, Sackel's expression froze again.

The four people in the hall fell silent for a moment during this unusually strange conversation.

It doesn't make sense.

He has gone crazy.

This was Samir shaking his head, giving Ricky a meaningful look.

But the leader of the Sword of Calamity paid no heed; instead, he listened to the conversation with great interest.

“Is that so? They’re all the same,” Thales forced a smile.
"So, 'he' is... talking to you?"

Sackel's face turned somewhat sad.

“Yes, he was just like always, chatting and smiling, even giving me orders,” Sacel said, seemingly lost in thought, staring at the corner he had just pointed to.
"But I know, I know, he's genuine sometimes, and that makes me very happy."

The next instant, Sacel's facial muscles tensed, and he gritted his teeth, as if he had seen something evil:

"But I also know that sometimes he is something else in disguise, just to lure out the weakness and darkness deep inside me, so as to break me down."

Thales's brow twitched:
"Something else?"

Seeing this, Samir sighed and whispered in Ricky's ear:

"Just more meaningless nonsense."

But Ricky clearly didn't care: "As long as I can get him to talk."

Sacel ignored the whispers of the other two and focused on his conversation with Thales:

"Yes, those things that want to harm you."

The long-faced middle-aged man stared into the empty void, his words filled with emotion: "You know, he's very good, but those things are very cunning, and I had a hard time distinguishing between them at first."

As he spoke, Sakel seemed to drift off into thought.

He seemed to be talking to himself.

“They would all tell me about the past, the training as children, the selection process as adults, their duties in the Palace of Restoration, their missions to the North, their expeditions to the desert, their journeys south to Blade's Edge, and of course, people—father, mother, brothers, sister, His Majesty, His Highness, the old captain, Big Barney, the old smoker, Glov, and of course, her, and then…”

At this point, Sacel trembled slightly.

Thales watched him intently, encouraging him to continue.

“Those things are especially hateful; they like to whisper while I’m sleeping,” Sacel seemed to have reverted to his previous state, his teeth clenched and his face contorted in a rage.

"Then they showed me something else."

"Trying to break me down."

He stared at the dagger in his hand, his eyes filled with a chilling intensity.

“What is it?” Thales said softly, as if guiding a child in learning:

"What did they show you, Sacel?"

Sackel suddenly looked up, clenching his teeth like a wild beast.

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared straight ahead, as if his mortal enemy were there.

"Sometimes, it's a face that's visibly rotting, crawling with maggots and flies..."

Sacel's words carried a chilling aura, his body trembling slightly: "They're so rotten they're unrecognizable, yet they're still moving. But I just know they're the guards, their faces, emerging from the darkness, suddenly appearing before you..."

Samir looked at him with pity and shook his head softly:

“He’s really crazy.” Ricky ignored him.

"Sometimes, it was countless heads stuck on spears, filling every corner of the cell, leaving me nowhere to go, and I could only sleep standing up against the wall."

Thales listened silently, his eyes filled with compassion.

“Those heads had all been dead for a long time, yet they could still speak. They liked to suddenly open their eyes and make a sound when I squeezed past them to get food, and some would try to bite me,” Sacel gripped the dagger tightly in his hand, his left hand covering his shoulder as if the monster he described had bitten him there.
"I have to say, that head that looks a lot like Prince Bank is quite similar. His words kept me awake for days."

Sacel gave a half-smile and a squeak.

He stared at Thales with wide, intimidating eyes.

“One day, I even woke up to find the ceiling covered with hanging corpses, all of them with their eyes rolled back and tongues lolling out, as if they were looking down at me…” Sacelle pointed to the ceiling, his breathing becoming increasingly rapid:

“They swayed back and forth above my head, twitching slowly, and sometimes the dead men’s feet and robes would brush against my hair. This would probably last for the time it takes to eat three meals.”

He said quietly.

Samir couldn't help but speak up.

"But there's not even light here!"

The standard-bearer looked sadly at the former top guard: "Wake up, Sacel, there's nothing in the cell, it's just a hallucination you've created! We're here to rescue you!"

Sacel sneered and looked at Thales again.

"Sometimes, they simply don't let me see anything, leaving me only with sounds in the darkness."

he said coldly.

Thales forced a smile: "A voice?"

Sacel nodded, his face becoming blank:

"The baby is crying."

"Like the constant crying of a baby in boundless darkness, over and over again."

“It goes back and forth, in all directions, sometimes so close to your ear that you can hear it clearly even with your ears plugged, sometimes so faint that you can only hear it if you concentrate, sometimes it is mournful and tragic, sometimes it is full of malice, and sometimes it can even turn into a strange baby's laughter.”

Sacel sat down against the wall, curled up, and looked dazed.

Thales swayed slightly, trying his best to maintain his composure.

"That must be very difficult."

He said with difficulty, "Living in...a different world."

Sacel's expression became somewhat indifferent and numb.

"A different world..."

"At first, yes, I could only tell myself over and over again: this is a test. But later, I got used to it..."

He raised his head and said dreamily, "You know, the good thing about this is that, whether it's him or those things... at least when they appear, I can hear his voice."

"Whether it's true or not, that was his voice before he died, his laughter, his words, his commands."

Sacel pressed the hilt of his dagger against his forehead.

"Let me find some solace in eternal purgatory."

Thales was a little sad. He took a deep breath and asked:
"Who?"

Whose voice is that?

This question caught the attention of the other two.

Sacel was momentarily dazed.

“Of course it’s him,” the former Royal Guard Watchman said with a sorrowful yet relieved smile.

"The former Crown Prince."

Samir swayed slightly.

Thales was also slightly taken aback.

"The one I saw, the one who spoke to me, the one who smiled at me, the one who tested me, the one who tormented me, the one who visited me at every moment, was him before his death."

Sacel hugged himself tighter and said in a trembling voice:
"The eldest son of the king, Midil Canxing."

A long silence fell over the hall.

Only faint sobs could be heard from Sakel.

Thales' face darkened, and he gently closed his eyes.

Living in a different world.

He repeated it weakly to himself.

But when I close my eyes, Thales in my mind seems to be thrown into a raging storm.

Drifting with the tide.

Until he stumbled upon a long-forgotten fragment of memory, which brought him back to a world he had long neglected.

It evoked the same long-lost, unfamiliar feelings.

That voice.

It's still the same voice.

That beautiful, gentle female voice that made him feel at ease without him even realizing it, and that always made him laugh heartily.

Qiren, are you afraid of ghosts?

【…】

That wretched fellow, asking a question he already knows the answer to.

They'll probably laugh at him again.

Yes, I remember you were terrified of ghosts, you couldn't even watch horror movies.

really.

He sighed softly and scratched his head.

[But you've never seen a ghost, have you? Because in many people's world, it doesn't exist, so of course they can't see it.]

The woman on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, her voice sounding slightly dejected.

But imagine this: there are people who see a world where...ghosts exist.

[It exists.]

He frowned.

what.

So, they might see a hideous face on their pillow or on the ceiling while they sleep at night... or when they open their eyes in the morning, they might see a bloody head standing in the window, or a pale-faced corpse crouching in a corner... They might see a little girl in red with no face while walking, or bloodshot eyeballs while eating, and they might feel... at any time.

The woman's voice was low and slightly trembling, broken and intermittent, as if she was trying her best to suppress certain emotions.

Hey, hey, don't scare me, okay? My goodness... you know I'm most afraid of these things...

So...so...

The voice trembled.

He felt inexplicably uneasy.

So... for these kinds of people, ghosts are real, at least in their own world, they are real... real, they can see them... but they themselves can't tell if it's real or fake... in their eyes, they truly see ghosts...

The woman's voice seemed to have lost control of her emotions. Countless negative emotions, like her fragile and crumbling voice, surged out like a burst dam.

They didn't want to, they were terrified... but they weren't just watching horror movies, they were living in a world of horror movies... unable to escape... they were truly powerless, constantly witnessing the most real, grotesque, and utterly horrifying... ugh... ghosts...

Puzzled, confused, uneasy.

In addition, he was somewhat anxious.

What's up with her?
【Huh, is the signal bad? No, wait, why are you crying... Did you see something? Hey, don't cry, it's okay. No matter what strange things happen, I'm here for you. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid...】

【Qi Ren, please, don't be afraid, don't be afraid of me, I'm not... I, I didn't... Please, I just... I just... Waaah, I just live in, live in a world different from yours...】

That gentle voice was filled with panic and fear, its trembling sob echoing.

This made him extremely panicked.

What does it mean to have a world that is different from his?

he does not know.

He could only do his best to comfort her.

Come on, take a deep breath with me. Don't be afraid, there's nothing to be afraid of, right? If something really happens, we can always find a Taoist priest, a shaman, or a superpower expert... Feeling better? Come on, tell me... what happened? Why are you suddenly saying, saying...?

A soft sob came from the other end of the phone, but it was calmer than before.

Qiren, today, the doctor... the doctor told me the diagnosis.

The woman's voice became much lower.

It even carried a hint of despair.

He wanted to say something, but the words stuck in his throat, and he could only manage to utter three words.

【How about it? 】

The woman chuckled.

Have you heard of Schizophrenia?

schizophrenia.
A sudden wave of fear seized his mind.

[The Greek roots preceding and following schizein and phren are "disconnection, splitting" and "mind, thought," respectively.]

The doctor said this is a disconnect and separation between perception and thought, so some people translate it as 'schizophrenia'.

The voice was sobbing softly, as if it were trying to hold back a laugh.

It cast a shadow over his heart, leaving him deeply saddened.

He remained silent.

However, there's a more common translation used here.

He swallowed.

What's your name?

The woman chuckled weakly and feebly.

Schizophrenia.

In that instant, Thales snapped his eyes open, breaking free from the boundless sea of ​​memories, and returned to the dark and silent underground dungeon, drenched in cold sweat.

He gasped for breath, looking at Sakel, who stood like a wooden statue in the cell.

I felt an emptiness in my chest.

Something has been lost.

Three chapters were updated, and two were for anti-piracy purposes. It seems everyone is still very dissatisfied with the anti-piracy measures.

Then we'll improve next time.



(End of this chapter)