Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 621 The Broken Wine Glass

"But His Majesty is not your enemy!"

In the palace corridor, Gilbert was horrified.

"He is your father! You cannot be his enemy! You must not..."

Thales smiled and hummed:
"Can't you?"

Gilbert composed himself, trying his best to remain calm:
“Listen, Your Highness, I have indeed always looked up to you, trusted you, and been loyal to you, but that was never my intention!”

"What else could it be?"

Thales sarcastically remarked:

"Was I made a prince just to be a mascot in the Mindis Hall?"

Gilbert frowned, growing increasingly anxious:
"No, Your Highness, you should be the future that everyone expects, everyone! And that's what you've always done. Everything should have happened naturally, like water flowing into a channel!"

But Thales just stared silently at the other person's hand on his shoulder.

Isn't all of this a natural and inevitable outcome?

teacher?

“You are the heir to the throne, and of course I understand that you feel suffocated and oppressed, and dissatisfied with the status quo, but at least you should wait until…”

"Until the day I am successfully crowned?" Thales said calmly.

Gilbert hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and nodded:

"Of course, when that time comes, I will do everything in my power to assist you, no matter how difficult it may be, no matter how much sacrifice is required, I swear!"

“I, Sodor, Juke, Connie, Guy, and many other wise men of the kingdom, we will all help you, but before that—”

"help me?"

Thales coldly interrupted him:

"Help me like you used to?"

Gilbert paused for a moment.

Thales raised his right hand and slowly but firmly pushed Gilbert's hand away:
Six years ago, I asked you to search for my "friends" in the Lower City.

"I'm asking you to help me find them, save them, help...me."

Gilbert paused, then said sadly:
"Your Highness, I... I have failed in my duty and cannot shirk my responsibility..."

"I just returned from the Kingdom's Secret Service," Thales said calmly.

“You know what? I found out that they aren’t actually like you said, refusing to help me just because they dislike me. In fact, Miko is quite dedicated to finding my childhood friends.”

Gilbert's expression changed slightly.

"Your Highness, the Secret Service has never had a good relationship with you, so why are they being so enthusiastic..."

But Thales interrupted him, continuing on his own:
"And they also told me: In the past few years, Gilbert, you used your connections and influence to find the Commander-in-Chief, mobilize the City Hall and the Guard Department, and assemble the guards and tax officials to launch several large-scale clean-up operations in the Lower City and West Ring District—all to help me find people."

The boy looked intently into the teacher's eyes:
“I am very grateful, Gilbert.”

Gilbert was taken aback and didn't know how to reply.

"Until the secret police told me more."

Thales remained expressionless.
"For years, the city hall and the police department have been taking high-profile actions, directly intervening in the endless dogfight between the Black Street Brotherhood and the Blood Bottle Gang."

"They drive away the homeless and disperse the beggars, leaving the powerless and vulnerable at the bottom of society to suffer greatly. They crack down on street vendors and shut down shops, leaving honest and hardworking people destitute. They hunt down petty thieves and extort local gangs, but let the truly despicable scum escape. They arrest a few typical cases of organized crime to appease the public and appease them, but turn a blind eye to the greater and more severe oppression and exploitation. Their hasty and grandiose actions conveniently break down the forces hiding in the gutter."

Thales stared intently at the other person:

"They are brutal and cold-blooded, arrogant and conceited, like sweeping the floor with an iron plow, caring more about noise than cleanliness."

"And after they left, the already chaotic downtown area only became even worse."

Upon hearing this, Gilbert hesitated for a long time:
"Your Highness, I...I didn't know. I'm so sorry. If I had known earlier about the Commander-in-Chief and the others..."

But Thales wouldn't let him finish:
"Most importantly."

"Their actions have almost irreparably destroyed all the clues," the prince raised his voice:
"From abandoned houses to Red Town Street, everyone, everything, everything has changed beyond recognition. Now, trying to find those beggars from back then by following the clues is impossible..."

“Almost impossible.”

Thales carefully observed Gilbert's reaction:
"It's like, it's like someone did it on purpose."

"Just to stop me—from finding them."

At that moment, the Foreign Minister's expression changed drastically!

“Is that so?” the young man whispered in the dimly lit palace corridor. “Gilbert? When you asked the Guard Hall?”

"Is what the secret service told me the truth?"

The Foreign Minister did not answer.

The only sound in the air was Gilbert's steady breathing.

The silence lasted for a very long time.

Thales shook his head and continued speaking.

"Six years ago, when I asked you to find them, you told me I couldn't because 'it's for the sake of secrecy.'"

“I became a prince at the state conference, but you still tell me no, ‘for their safety.’”

“When I went to the North, you wrote that you were working on it but progress was slow, and that you should not let anyone with ulterior motives notice.”

“Until I returned to China, you told me that you hadn’t found it, and at the same time advised me to stop looking, because—'you can’t go back.'”

Thales faced his teacher calmly, as if he were telling someone else's story.

no answer.

His only response was an unbearable silence.

Thales looked up and chuckled softly.

"Secretary said that it has been six years and you still haven't been able to find them."

"Because you don't want to find it at all."

Thales said softly:

"Or is the Secret Service lying?"

But Gilbert simply kept his head bowed deeply, his expression unreadable.

This silence lasted for a long time.

“Never mind, Gilbert, whether Miko lied or not, or how many lies he told,” the boy turned his head and said absentmindedly, “it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s no longer important.”

Just then, Gilbert suddenly spoke:
"The secret service didn't tell you anything, did it?"

“You’re just testing my reaction, just like you tested the Duke of Iris.”

Thales sighed.

The cunning fox of the stars.

"Correct."

Thales's gaze was dejected.

"The secret service is wary of me and hasn't told me anything."

"What I know is all based on my observations and experiences from revisiting the Lower City and West Ring areas."

Gilbert closed his eyes.

Neither Thales nor Gilbert spoke in the corridor; they simply avoided each other's gaze and looked away.

After an unknown amount of time, Gilbert finally spoke.

"sorry."

His tone was weary, and so was the content:
"But you can't find them."

With a mixture of pain and relief, Thales let out a long sigh.

The two fell silent again.

“You know, I’ve tried to convince myself, Gilbert.”

Thales faced the darkness of the corridor, his tone casual, even gentle and friendly, as if chatting with an old friend.

“Really, I tried. I tried to convince myself: Gilbert Cassel may be called a cunning fox, but he is in a high position after all. He doesn’t understand the ways of the lower city. He doesn’t know that he would deliberately destroy clues or stop me from finding people. That’s why I used the simplest and most brutal method in the world.”

"And he is my teacher, one of the people I trust most in this world, and I should not and cannot doubt him."

“I told myself, as long as you tell me you didn’t do that, I will believe you.”

Thales' eyes were lifeless.
"I tried it, really, I tried it."

Gilbert raised his head upon hearing this and spoke with difficulty:
"Your Highness, I, I..."

"why?"

Gilbert was silent for a moment before saying wearily:

"In the bloody year, His Majesty was hastily crowned, surrounded by enemies, and his throne was unstable. The Restoration Palace had no choice but to resort to unorthodox methods and severe punishments to quell the rebellion."

"Morat Hansen was a close friend of the late king for many years and had a long career. That's why the royal secret service was trusted so much that he was able to act arbitrarily and run rampant outside the law."

"At first, this approach was very effective, simple, crude, and straightforward. But in the long run, it encouraged His Majesty's recklessness and blurred the boundaries of the Secret Service's authority."

Thales frowned.

"They have His Majesty's support now, but what will happen once you ascend the throne and are crowned?"

"It is conceivable that, in order to maintain their power, the officials of the Secret Service will try every means and spare no expense to find a way to control you, and your past and background are the most criticized weaknesses. Your old acquaintances are exactly the handle that the Secret Service is looking for."

"But you are the future of the Star Kingdom, the hope for reforming the government. I cannot allow the Black Prophet or any ill-intentioned person to control you in the slightest."

Gilbert looked at Thales, his eyes dark:

"So you can't find them, you can't."

"Even if we find it before the Secret Service, it won't work. Your... their clues should be buried forever, unknown to anyone."

The Foreign Minister finished speaking.

Even the lights that were always on in the corridor were much dimmer.

"So, Gilbert, you deceived me."

Thales said in a daze:

"From the beginning."

In that instant, Gilbert's face turned deathly pale.

But Thales still gave him a reassuring smile.

“It’s alright, Gilbert, I understand,” Thales said wearily.

"But now, can you feel the weight and thickness of this net?"

"Your subconscious obedience to it, its silent control over you, including its influence on me and my vigilance towards it, must all take far more seriously than our sincerity."

Gilbert looked bitter and swallowed.

Thales stared blankly at the shadows in the corridor:

"Just like students facing teachers, employees facing bosses, wives facing husbands, and subjects facing kings, if they start on an unequal scale and stay in unclean waters, then what governs their relationship will be far more than just each other."

“When we are enveloped in an established power structure, Gilbert, when you have to do everything in your power to avoid being thrown off the scales of bias, when you are bound by heavy burdens, when your only choice is ‘adapt or perish’.”

"Before you even realize it, you have completely lost the right to choose freely."

"Unless you reject it, jump out of it, and transcend it."

"Defeat it."

Gilbert's breathing quickened.

"No, Your Highness, I don't understand!"

Gilbert's voice was low, almost an unconscious murmur:

"All of this, all of it, is for, for—"

"For my own good?"

Thales gently took over the conversation.

The Foreign Minister did not answer.

Thales smiled and let out a breath.

“Gilbert, have you ever thought about why Wyman is always reluctant to mention you, even though we are father and son?” Gilbert trembled slightly upon hearing his son’s name.

“I didn’t ask him the specific reason. But I think I know the deeper reason.”

Thales gradually drifted into a daze, his thoughts wandering to the northern lands:

"Perhaps you know, Gilbert, I have a friend in Exter, or rather, a friend I think I have."

“When she encounters difficulties, I worry about her day and night, and consider her situation.”

At this point, Thales chuckled:
"I was such an idiot. I always thought she relied on me and needed me. I always thought I was protecting her and helping her. I always thought I was..."

Thales' smile gradually faded:

"For her own good."

"But I was wrong."

"Because that's not what she wanted."

Recalling that familiar face, Thales closed his eyes tightly:

"And I have never treated her as an equal friend, at most just someone who 'needs me'."

Gilbert stared at him, stunned, and began to tremble.

“Gilbert, since we met, everything you have painstakingly done has been to make me a good king. You have even sacrificed yourself and gone to great lengths to help and protect me. I am grateful, but…”

Thales opened his eyes, his gaze clear:
“But I am not the kind of wise ruler you are looking for, Gilbert.”

"Just like my father wasn't either."

Gilbert jolted violently.

“You can’t create a mold for everyone in your mind and then use all your means to influence and guide them—and you’re not at all surprised, and even proud of it, thinking that it’s ‘for their own good’—just to fit them into that mold perfectly.”

“Because neither I, nor Wyman, nor even my father, nor even yourself, Gilbert, are people born to be molded.”

Thales' gentle and authentic manner:
"That's why I can never become him."

"No matter how much you teach me to emulate him in terms of clothing style, academic system, or even behavior, I will never become the next one..."

"Prince Midil".

"No matter how good the mold is."

Gilbert trembled violently upon hearing this and exclaimed:

"Your Highness, I..."

But Thales just smiled amicably, as always.

“You are a good teacher, Gilbert, really. You are meticulous and selfless in your treatment of your students, you teach them everything you know, you answer every question, and you are thoughtful and considerate—you are really good, so good that I can’t even find the slightest flaw.”

"But it wasn't until I met the old crow, and Mr. Hicksher, that eccentric teacher who always relied on the three words 'What do you think?' to get paid in class, that I understood."

Thales stepped forward, looking directly into Gilbert's red, moist eyes:
“Your biggest problem, Gilbert, is that you’re too good.”

"So good that students can rely on you completely, so good that you don't even leave them any room for 'badness'."

Gilbert opened his mouth to speak, but his lips trembled, and only two streams of tears came out.

"But it turns out that my friend could have lived a good life even without my 'good intentions'."

“Even better.”

Thales sighed, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his face:
"I'm happy for her."

The next second, Thales opened his arms without hesitation and put his arm around Gilbert, who was no longer able to speak.

“And I hope you will be happy for me, Gilbert.”

Thales whispered in the other's ear, his voice trembling:

"my friend."

The Foreign Minister trembled violently in his arms.

Thales suddenly realized that Gilbert, despite his glamorous appearance, was incredibly thin.

But the next moment, the boy composed himself, forcing back the tears welling in his eyes, and gritted his teeth, saying:
"By the way, Count Cassel."

"I don't like your schedule."

Thales released Gilbert, who was staring blankly at him, and a smile crept onto his face.
"It's too full."

As soon as he finished speaking, Thales raised his hand to his chest and bowed respectfully and politely to Gilbert.

Just as six years ago, Gilbert bowed to him.

The next second, he used all the strength he had to suppress his trembling, straightened his back, picked up his feet, and turned to leave.

I dared not look at the other person again.

pat.

The sound of a cane hitting the ground came from behind me.

Thales felt a pang of pain in his heart.

But he maintained his perfect smile, took a step, and stepped into the unknown darkness of the corridor.

The palace was deep and secluded, its lights dim and dim.

But the absent-minded Thales hadn't gone far when he bumped into an acquaintance at the corner.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Highness,” said the chief steward, Baron Quentin, who had once reprimanded Thales for wasting royal wealth, rubbing his forehead.
"I... I didn't see you. It wasn't intentional."

Thales also pressed his chin in pain.

"It's okay, it was just an accident."

But he was glad that he had someone to talk to at this moment.

Even if it's nonsense.

"Your Excellency, Baron."

Thales forced a smile:
"I heard from Captain Adrian that you were not feeling well?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I used to fake illness to avoid work all the time." Quentin tugged at his delicate cuffs and wiped a notebook with a cracked cover, not caring at all: "It won't cause any trouble."

"I'm sorry to have troubled you."

The prince apologized somberly: "Whether it was the wine glasses at the banquet, or today..."

But Steward Quentin waved his hand to interrupt him.

"You know, the wine glass isn't really the problem."

"Anyway, they're not expensive—well, sorry, I mean, they're very expensive, but there are still many workshops and merchants who are willing to pay extra just so that the royal family and the Palace of Restoration can use the wine glasses they produce."

Quentin sighed:

"Besides, I've wanted to replace those glass cups for a long time. They're fragile and easily broken, always giving the little ones an excuse to be slow. Now I just hope that metal and thick wooden cups can be more reliable."

Thales smiled, nodded, and prepared to leave.

"But...why?"

Thales paused upon hearing this.

Baron Quentin was looking at him intently.
"Your Highness, I've always wondered why people from the North always smash their wine cups when they drink."

Smash the wine glass.

Thales was silent for a moment:

“You know, even though I’ve been there for six years, I still find it strange.”

Baron Quentin said, seemingly casually:

"Exerting force, throwing, smashing, colliding, breaking, shattering—but what does this prove? Extravagance? Overbearing power? Ruthlessness? Lust for power? Masculinity?"

Quentin stared at him, his tone suddenly softening:

"You know, why not use a cup that has been passed down from history, a cup that our grandparents and parents used, a cup that is rare, precious and of great significance? Everyone can drink a cup of wine with gratitude and peace of mind, and everyone will be happy. Isn't that better?"

Thales remained silent for a while.

"I do not know."

"But if I don't smash it in the Mindis Hall."

Thales raised his head and gave a weak smile:
"The Palace of Rejuvenation won't be changing its wine glasses, right?"

Quentin stared at him, lost in thought for a moment.

"A new batch of wine glasses is not necessarily better than the old ones."

“Perhaps,” Thales said, his feelings complicated.

"But you don't know."

“What if I knew?” Baron Quentin replied swiftly:

"What if I've already seen it?"

Thales looked at him.

“Perhaps you can’t imagine, Your Highness,” the Baron sighed, rubbing the chapped old notebook under his arm:

"But I've worked here for over thirty years."

“When I was a little kid, I would follow my father around with paper and pen, keeping records and accounts, and solving the problems of food, clothing, shelter and transportation for every star.”

The chief eunuch appeared in a trance:
"Every one."

Every single one... a shining star.

Thales did not speak.

The Baron snapped out of his reverie, looked at Thales, and his eyes held an indescribable emotion:

"So, I've seen every single batch of wine glasses."

"Each batch."

Thales paused for a few seconds, then nodded:

"You are so lucky."

Quentin chuckled self-deprecatingly, offering neither comment nor affirmation.

The next second, the prince smiled at the steward:

"But I remember Hicksser—Gilbert's teacher—once said something."

"Everything is new under the sun."