Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 463 Rebirth (Part 2)

Thales wasn't feeling well.

Very bad.

The aches and pains that rise and fall throughout my body, the cold that makes my joints tremble, the hunger that feels like it's burning through my stomach, the pain, itching and numbness after old and new wounds have healed, and the dizziness and fatigue that have exhausted my mind...

All sorts of negative feelings came crashing down on me like a flood.

The sobs and gasps of the guards seemed to echo faintly in my ears.

The stimulation caused Thales's vision to flicker slightly.

Meanwhile, the ever-restless and unruly Sin of the Prison River lay dormant, lifeless, like a wild beast recovering from a serious illness, refusing to offer him any further assistance.

Thales knew that this could be a side effect of the River of Sin's restorative power, a consequence of abusing magical energy, or even a result of the Alchemy Orb's flash explosion.

I have already tormented this young body too much.

But he had no choice.

No.

Amidst the worried shouts of the ropesman and the anxious gaze of Belletti, the boy mustered all his strength to stand firm.

But he couldn't fall down.

In a daze, Thales, feeling equally heavy-hearted, said this to himself and waved his hand, refusing the help of others.

Not yet.

He bit his tongue hard a few times, which made him shudder.

It was as if this would allow me to draw enough strength from the almost numb pain and concentrate my mind.

In the unusual stillness, Thales, holding a torch, turned around with difficulty.

I looked at the man who was leaning against the wall, clutching his injured arm, his face full of dejection and dejection.

Following Thales' gaze, the others also turned to the poor man who remained silent, staring blankly at the two corpses.

Belletti stared intently at the man with bloodshot eyes, as if expecting something.

Cannon and Tardin looked ashamed and unable to face the situation, while Samir's eyes held an unspoken meaning.

But the closer Thales' torch got, the more his opponent cowered and retreated, even turning his head to avoid it, as if filled with fear of the light.

"Quail Barney".

"Chief Vanguard Officer".

Thales let out a weary sigh:

"I know you've been through a lot today."

The indifferent figure seemed to sense something and instinctively shrank back.

Thales stopped in his tracks.

In the boy's blurry vision, Barney's figure gradually became clearer.

Not long ago, it was this man who extended his calloused, rough hand to her.

But at this moment, the bright and energetic look in the other person's eyes had long since disappeared.

Instead, there is gloom.

It was filled with despair, self-blame, pain, and confusion—a bleak atmosphere.

“No, Your Highness,” Little Barney’s head was pressed against his shoulder and the wall, half of his face was hidden in darkness and could not be seen clearly:
"Do not."

His words were filled with hatred, which made the brand on his face even more prominent.

"Don't try to use those sentimental tricks on me..."

"Don't comfort me, and don't forgive me..."

Barney didn't finish his sentence.

He clutched his injured arm, huddled weakly in the corner, avoiding the light.

Like a trapped beast that has lost its will to live.

At the end of the road.

All that remains are the walking dead.

What took him away?
What took this man away?

That resolute and fierce warrior, wielding his sword and shield, charging into the enemy ranks with sweeping, powerful strikes.

That powerful expert who remained unfazed even when trapped in dire straits, covered in blood?
Thales took a soft breath and gently tossed the torch away.

The dim, hazy light flickered.

Without the stimulation of the torch, Barney finally turned his head slightly.

"of course not."

The young man smiled gently.

"And I don't intend to do that."

Thales gazed at Barney, his tone becoming steady:

"Because you did nothing wrong."

Little Barney, trembling, was stunned for a moment.

The dungeon fell silent.

Until Thales' words continued:
“Eighteen years ago, as the ever-loyal vanguard of the Royal Guard, Barney, your path has always been clear, straight, unidirectional, and singular.”

"You live in the purest world, where you only need to stay true to yourself and protect your companions, and you never need to choose between difficult options."

Barney's gaze slowly froze, but he remained motionless.

The boy turned to the others in the dungeon, his voice deep and tinged with regret:
"Unlike them."

Sakel stared blankly at the two bodies on the ground, his eyes unreadable, while Samir bowed his head deeply, seemingly filled with resentment.

"Unlike Naki, who was filled with regret and guilt, he yearned for inner peace but could not find it."

Cannon, Brie, and Tardin each had their own concerns.

"Unlike Nai, who knows the truth but feels like she has a fishbone stuck in her throat, she is tormented by the hesitation of not being able to speak."

Thales stared intently at Barney's unchanging face, and finally sighed:
"Not like..."

"Unlike your father."

Father.

The moment the word left his lips, Thales saw little Barney tremble violently.

The prince sighed inwardly.

"So, you think your father should have told you the truth back then, right?"

Thales looked at Barney's struggling and shifting expression and said softly:
"The question is, if he really confesses to you, what will you do, what will you choose?"

If he told me the truth...

Barney's silhouette distorted in the firelight on the ground.

But the vanguard officer, still resentful and stubborn, turned his head towards the wall, avoiding the light, and remained silent.

Only the ugliest mark was exposed in the firelight.

Thales calmly observed the other person's reaction and continued:
"I guess……"

"Will you listen to his grievances, stand with him, and then, like him, die a heroic death at the palace gates, never to return, to be buried with your choices and sins?"

"To sleep forever, bearing the blood debt of murdering the emperor?"

Barney remained silent, his head turned away, but the brand on his cheek twitched inexplicably.

Thales' tone began to intensify:
"Or should we remain loyal to the late king, stand against him, and, filled with disappointment, sadness, confusion, anger, and pain, confront him with swords and sacrifice our own family for the greater good?"

"Bearing the stigma of her father, a lifetime of nightmares?"

Barney's silhouette shifted, and the veins on his fist bulged out.

Thales chuckled softly:
"Or will you, like now, lose yourself in confusion and hesitation, refuse to accept reality, and leave alone to escape everything that is about to come?"

"Living a life of confusion, burdened by the guilt of a coward?"

The boy's gaze shifted to the sword that Sacel had snatched from Barney's hand on the ground:
"Even... to end it all?"

He decided to end it all by dying.

The vanguard officer, who was clutching his injured arm and trying to avoid everything, shuddered.

He seemed unwilling to give up, only uttering a few indistinct words:

"None of that matters anymore..."

But Thales didn't let him continue.

"I think that's his worry, his fear."

The prince's voice trailed off:
"He knows you, he understands you, and that's why he's afraid—afraid that when you know the truth, when you know his choice, you'll have no other way out..."

Thales looked disheveled and exhausted, but his eyes were bright and alert.

“I think this is also the tacit understanding and agreement between your father and your brothers and colleagues who have kept you in the dark for so many years.”

Barney's breath hitched for a few seconds; he froze.

Ignoring the severe injuries to his shoulder and arm, he turned his head again to look at Tardin and the others.

But they all lowered their heads, avoiding his gaze.

Thales ignored Barney's expression, a mixture of confusion and pain, and instead gazed into the nonexistent distance, letting out a soft sigh:
“Your father did not intentionally betray or deceive you, Vanguard Barney, nor was he hedging his bets and trying to please both sides as Naki claimed.”

The boy's words were tinged with regret and sorrow:

The truth is, he loves you.

"He wants to protect you."

Thales' voice paused for a moment, accompanied by Barney's increasingly disordered breathing:
"He just..."

I don't know how to express it.

The prince's voice was steady yet profound, containing an unreadable emotion:
"So, he made the choice for you."

No one knew that at that moment, Thales clenched his fist tightly.

The choice made for you.

Barney's thoughts paused for a moment.

The vanguard officer seemed lost in thought.

In his distant memories, the familiar figure that had haunted his nightmares for the past eighteen years reappeared.

That solid, strong, and stubborn figure that he had always thought would never fall.

And that voice from before.

Serious, forceful, and earnest:

Your grandmother wrote a letter... She wants you to go back home.

I think this choice should be made by you.

Barney's eyes were unfocused in the firelight.

Go back for a trip...

The choice is yours...

Barney instinctively hugged himself tightly, trembling, a nameless fear rising in his heart.

But the next second, what he heard in his ears was a rare, less forceful, even somewhat weak and helpless statement from the other party:

No, we can't escape.

My son.

The other person's voice became increasingly indistinct, but their face became increasingly clear.

It's my choice...

No.

Barney's expression slowly twisted.

He clutched his injured arm in agony, his breathing labored.

"Do not……"

Barney pressed his face against his shoulder, his body convulsing uncontrollably, his voice trembling and distorted:

"Father……"

Seemingly not wanting to appear too weak, little Barney, his face contorted, shoved his left index finger between his teeth, biting down hard on the whimper in his throat.

The guards watched silently as Barney looked on with grief and pain, an unspeakable sorrow spreading through the air.

Thales sighed slowly, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

"His plan has clearly failed."

The prince spoke in his gentlest, yet most earnest, voice:

Even though it was eighteen years late, you still faced the truth.

"Cruel, but true."

Barney started trembling again.

The vanguard officer squinted, as if that would stop something.

“I know your tricks, Your Highness.”

He gave a stubborn, cold snort.

"A common tactic of nobles—just like they did with everyone else—is to exploit their weaknesses, offer them conditions they can't refuse, and in return, get what you want most."

On the other side, the expressions of those holding Cannon, Brie, Tardin, and even Belletti changed slightly.

Little Barney hummed in a nasal tone and said to Thales:

"You are taking advantage of my feelings about my father right now."

Thales paused for a moment, seemingly reluctant to do so.

But he finally took a deep breath and slowly uttered the words:

"So, that's your weakness?"

"Your father?"

"When he deprives you of the opportunity to choose, so that you can be spared painful choices, or even avoid the consequences of those choices?"

Father.

Barney's arm began to tighten as he felt the pain of the fracture gradually intensify.

No.

He broke out in a cold sweat, opened his bloodshot eyes, and looked at the prince with resentment, hesitant to speak.

"Does his action mean something special to you?"

But Thales shook his head.

"Don't answer me," the prince whispered.

Answer yourself.

Barney paused slightly.

Thales turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Samir's complicated expression, over Belletti's hopeful eyes, over the three men, Tardin, whose emotions were hard to discern, and over Sackel, who had suffered a great change and was mentally confused.

The prince took a deep breath to relieve his dizziness.

"For example, would you do what you just did..."

Thales turned around, reached out with difficulty, and picked up the longsword from the ground.

"Just as your father foresaw, worried, and feared."

"To become that cowardly old soldier, Quill Barney, who, after learning the truth, loses his will to live, falls into despair, and becomes so destitute that he only seeks death?"

Barney's gaze was fixed on the longsword in Thales' hand.

His sobs gradually subsided, and his trembling stopped.

Thales sighed softly.

"Can you?" The prince lowered his head, his voice low and sorrowful.
"If you do that..."

"That only means one thing—your father was right."

Little Barney shuddered violently!
"Because whether you admit it or not, you have confirmed your father's worries and his judgment: you cannot bear what he is facing."

Thales took a step forward, fighting off the dizziness, and inhaled sharply:
"You have essentially endorsed your father's idea, agreed to the choice he made for you, and followed the path he laid out for you."

The vanguard officer gritted his teeth, his expression growing increasingly pained, his face contorted with rage.

His gaze shifted back and forth between the resolute and unyielding prince and the bloodstained longsword lying on the ground.

"You have proven with your actions that your father should never have told you the truth, he should never have shared his choices with you, and as weak as you are, you should never have known, nor deserve to know, this secret!"

Thales's words were forceful, and his gaze was sharp.

The people behind him, including Belletti, looked at each other in surprise.

But Thales continued, his tone growing stronger:
"Because of you, Vanguard Commander Quill Barney, because you can neither endure that pain nor bear that consequence!"

"You have no right to make your own choices."

Barney unconsciously clenched his fists, his breathing becoming rapid.

The vanguard and the prince stared at each other silently, one struggling and hesitant, the other resolute and cold.

Unexpectedly, the prince's tone softened the next second, returning to its weary state:

"However."

"Are you?"

Thales took a deep breath, then shakily turned his longsword upside down and handed the hilt to Barney.

"is it?"

Barney froze.

Your grandmother wrote a letter... She wants you to go back home.

A familiar voice echoed in his ears.

"Fine, then I won't go back."

His gaze, fixed on the sword, shifted back and forth, sometimes filled with confusion, sometimes with pain, and sometimes with grief and indignation.

Until Thales gently lowered the hilt of his sword, which no one had taken.

The dungeon fell silent again, with only the sound of breathing remaining.

It seemed like a century had passed.

Finally, Barney opened his mouth, took a deep breath in the oppressive dungeon, and tried his best to calm down.

“But if,” Barney’s next sentence was laced with sarcasm and disappointment:

"What if I am that person?"

"Is it the person who couldn't bear it after the truth was shattered?"

Barney's voice was nasal, muffled, and hoarse.

"What if I'm just that kind of coward, not qualified to choose for myself?"

But Thales laughed.

He gently tossed the longsword down, leaving it to groan on the ground.

“You once said, Barney,” the prince’s voice was soft and hoarse, as if afraid of waking the sleeping man.

"Those brothers you cherish, they are the reason you've been able to survive in the darkness and hold on until now, aren't they?"

Upon hearing this, the guards were in a state of confusion.

Barney's figure trembled slightly in the firelight.

Following Thales's gaze, the man blankly and numbly scanned the two bodies of his colleague.

The prince looked sadly at Naki and Nai's gradually cooling bodies and whispered:
"But I think the opposite is true."

Barney's fingers tightened slightly, and his breathing became increasingly erratic.

Thales raised his gaze and swept it over the underground storage room of the Bone Prison, which was filled with dust and mess.

The guards noticed that the prince's expression had become ethereal and bewildered.

“Naki said that everyone suffered terribly in this dark, bottomless dungeon.”

"But there was only one such person."

"He lived in the only place where the light shone."

Barney's gaze froze for a moment.

The royal guards were all taken aback.

Thales' voice was very soft and careful:

"There, he had what they had lost, what they longed for most."

The boy, his face bruised and battered, looked down and gave Barney a calm and cheerful smile.

Barney was stunned.

"Compared to the unspoken understandings or secrets of others, you are able to maintain the purest persistence, the purest fidelity, and the purest sincerity."

Belletti looked down in confusion, Tardin bowed his head in pain, Samir's hand was on the hilt of his sword, and Cannon and Brie remained silent.

Thales spoke in his brightest and most regretful tone:
"This is what they have long lost, what they envy most, what they are most jealous of, what they admire most, what they yearn for most but cannot reach, what is the most precious thing. It is the spark that your father preserved for you at the cost of his own downfall and your brothers at the cost of eternal guilt."

"A spark that makes them feel ashamed, desire it but dare not look directly at it."

The pronunciation is clear and the aftertaste is lingering.

Barney stopped talking and just stood there, stunned.

The remaining guards had varying expressions, some confused, some resentful.

Thales glanced at Naki and Nai lying on the ground, their eyes closed in death, and a smile crept onto his face:

"The truth is, Quill Barney, before I came here, you were them, the light in the darkness for your brothers and comrades: bright and fiery, burning and dazzling, representing the brightest and most beautiful side of them that they were unwilling to accept, dared not think, and dared not destroy."

Every word Thales said made Barney's chest heave, and made everyone else sigh, including Sackel.

"Whether you admit it or not, Quill Barney Jr..."

Thales bent down with difficulty, his palm hovering for a second above the blood-stained broken sword before slowly moving it sideways.

He picked up the torch next to him.

"You are the only one in this desperate world of betrayal who still hopes to remain loyal."

"It is their only compass when they are immersed in self-blame and guilt, and doubt themselves in a meaningless future."

"It was the only light they could see when they looked up, battered and bruised, in the blood-soaked darkness."

"They are the only beings they can respect, love, admire, and be jealous of, and can look up to without reservation or scruples."

"It was their last bit of solace when they looked back on the past in the bitter cold and darkness of their remaining years."

Thales sighed deeply:

"For eighteen years, you were the reason they kept living."

"And after all this happened, did you..."

But Barney interrupted the prince.

"fake."

He appeared slightly embarrassed and angry, but his hands, feet, and expression seemed rather bewildered.

"Fake!"

“These are all illusions, something they created with despicable acts and betrayal,” Little Barney shook his head absently, clenching his fists as if that would bring him some clarity.
"It never existed."

He growled hoarsely and weakly:

"Whether it was my father or anyone else... back then, they didn't give me a choice at all!"

"no!"

Barney Jr. was somewhat agitated, and his words caused most of the guards to look away in shame, unable to meet his gaze.

Just then, Thales suddenly stepped forward!

He raised the torch high in his hand!

The firelight approached, flickering incessantly, startling little Barney into instinctively raising his hand to avoid it.

“No, they didn’t give you a choice,” the boy said quietly.
"But you've given it your life."

Thales spoke slowly, which gradually calmed down the excited little Barney.

Thales sighed again:
"However, compared to others, your choice came later, but it is more crucial and more important than theirs."

"Right now, right here."

"Eighteen years later."

Thales turned and looked at everyone, including Sackel, who was also immersed in gloom.

“Yes, Barney, when the truth comes out, when all the pretense is ripped away, and there is a brutal confrontation,” Thales said quietly.
"You will then understand that everything you have gone through before was for the sake of what choices you can make today."

select.

Thales, recalling the dreamlike experience in the "critical zone," endured the physical pain and turned back.

He stared intently at Barney, who was dodging him.

“And that choice is,” the second prince said softly.

"When you face all the darkness in this world, when you are angry because of betrayal, resentful because of deception, painful because of hatred, desperate because of failure, when everything you fought for is gone from you."

What kind of person would you choose to become?

No one spoke.

Another period of awkward silence ensued.

But Barney's gaze was no longer unfocused; he was staring intently at the prince, his expression complex and enigmatic.

He let out a sneer, a sound both sorrowful and helpless.

“Easier said than done,” Barney said through gritted teeth, his chest leaning forward as if he were struggling against something.
"Because you're not there!"

He gritted his teeth fiercely.

"If it were you, if you had gone through all of this: betrayal, deception, hatred, failure..."

Barney raised his voice and said angrily to the prince:
"What choices can you make, and what kind of person can you become?"

But he was quickly interrupted.

"Simple."

Thales sighed.

"My swordsmanship teacher in the Stars told me this on the very first day."

The next moment, Thales moved his arm!
Barney was startled, but reacted quickly and caught what Thales threw at him.

It's a torch.

It was the torch that Thales picked up from the ground.

The firelight burned stubbornly before Barney's eyes, illuminating his entire body, from the blood, scars, and holes to the marks and brands.

Dispel the darkness.

She said to me: "Raise your shield."

Thales calmly and firmly stated:
"There are only two situations in which you can let it go."

At that moment, little Barney, who was holding the torch, was completely stunned!
The flames flickered violently in his hands, swaying back and forth.

But in the end, it did not fall.

"No matter how messed up this world is, Barney, no matter what facts they try to use to convince you, deceive you, and tempt you to open yourself to hatred, to fight back against loathing, to surrender to anger, to bow down to despair, and to become a prisoner and slave of their rules..."

Quick Rope, who had been observing silently, was the first to sense that Thales's emotions had changed.

"No matter what reality does to you, no matter how others hit you, hurt you, or torment you, no matter how limited and painful the choices life offers you..."

"No matter how many times this damn world betrays you, sells you out, hurts you, or forces you..."

Under the firelight, Prince Thales, who had been adventuring alongside Quick Rope these past few days, now revealed rare and complex emotions:

Grief, sorrow, numbness...

And vulnerability.

These fast ropes were things that Thales thought he would never have anything to do with for the rest of his life—the optimistic, humorous, strong, and resourceful Thales.

After a few seconds of pause, Thales took a deep breath.

"There is only one thing that matters most."

Faced with Barney's bewildered yet knowing expression, Thales gave a faint smile that seemed to convey more helplessness or melancholy than anything else:

"They won't change you."

"Don't even think about getting your shield down."

In the silent, dull, and dimly lit dungeon, little Barney stared blankly at Thales.

A scene from long, long ago suddenly flashed before his eyes, when he had just joined the Royal Guard.

He was young and self-satisfied, proud and confident at that time.

It's annoying.

That day, he swung the wooden sword in his hand at the country girl who had fallen and was covered in pain in the sand...

He once thought that the vain girl had climbed the social ladder by marrying into the royal family and gained the favor of the crown prince, and that was why the prince had jokingly stuffed her into his hands to "learn some martial arts."

Believe me, miss, I hate this mission just as much as you hate me right now.

He still remembered enduring the pointing and whispering glances of his colleagues on the training ground, and speaking with disdain and contempt to the "training subject" assigned by His Highness the Crown Prince:
【Now, Your Excellency Ginny, raise your shield.】

He still remembers the look in the girl's eyes when she gritted her teeth and got up from the ground.

There are only two situations in which you can let go of it...

I remember the sweat on her face, a mixture of dust and blood.

And the shield that the girl held tightly in her hand, no matter how badly she was beaten, never letting go.

Either you die, or the enemy perishes.

Barney's vision blurred for a moment.

“You don’t need comfort or forgiveness, Vanguard.”

Thales raised his voice:

"You only need to face yourself."

A few seconds later, Barney seemed unable to bear the prince's hopeful and bright gaze, and subconsciously lowered his head to avoid the prince's eyes.

At this moment, he was in a state of utter confusion and didn't know what to do.

"Is that possible?"

Barney turned his head away, looking at the two bodies on the ground, his voice hesitant with doubt and sorrow.

Thales glanced at Barney, who was gritting his teeth and holding a torch, and smiled faintly.

"of course."

"Because that's what I did."

Thales slowly turned around, leaving the vanguard with a swaying but struggling back view.

“From day one,” under everyone’s gaze, the boy strode forward, smiling as he raised his head:

"Until the last day."

This chapter took a month to write and went through seven drafts, just like Barney's emotions and my recent life have been in chaos.

I originally planned to finish writing the chapter "Rebirth", but I was not satisfied with the later parts no matter how I wrote them, so I left it for the second part to continue polishing.

Yesterday I chatted with Kuchiki, the author of "Aoba". Apparently, her new book "Strange Tales" did not do well, which made her very disappointed (although she had a haughty "I don't care" attitude).

You might want to check out "Tales of the Strange and Unusual," it has the same structure, with stories connected to stories, leading to the main plot.

Based on my understanding of the skill and writing style of "Green Leaves," it is quite possible that it will make a strong comeback later on.

Friendly reminder: The character "Li Yun" in the first dozen or so chapters is not the main character, but just a minor character (more than a dozen chapters and he only wrote a minor character, what a fool Kuchichi).

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(End of this chapter)