Chapter 28: The Life and Death of Mother
Lin Lei cautiously glanced to both sides, then said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, please wait a moment. I'll send the people outside away." With that, Lin Lei walked out the door and barked at the two guards standing outside the hall, "Get out, both of you. Without my order, no one is to enter this courtyard."
"Yes, Lord Lin Lei."
The two guards respectfully withdrew, and in an instant the entire private courtyard held only Lin Lei, Clyde, Melite, and Lansom.
"Creak." Lin Lei quietly closed the door.
"Lin Lei, what's so secretive that you need to close the door?" Clyde said with a smile.
Lin Lei glanced at Clyde, a cold laugh echoing in his heart. He knew full well that Clyde had already been afflicted with Blood Dissolving Poison. The poison posed no harm to the body—it only disrupted the flow of Battle Qi. As long as one didn't circulate Battle Qi, there was no way of knowing the poison had taken hold.
"This matter is indeed very important," Lin Lei said, his expression solemn.
But at that moment, Lansom quietly edged closer to Clyde. As the king's personal attendant, Lansom sensed that the atmosphere had turned somewhat "threatening." Though in his view, with the king's ninth-level strength combined with his own eighth-level power, there was no one here who could pose a real danger to them.
Still, caution never hurt.
"Your Majesty," Lin Lei said, fixing his gaze on Clyde. "My mother passed away when I was very young."
Clyde nodded. He had looked into Lin Lei's background. Lin Lei's mother had died in difficult childbirth while delivering Lin Lei's younger brother, little Wotton.
"In my memories, I never felt a mother's love. All I remember is a strict father. My father was very harsh with me—whether it was warrior training or all manner of noble education. My father's demands were high and his standards severe."
Lin Lei looked at Clyde as he spoke, his voice measured.
Clyde was somewhat puzzled. He didn't understand what any of this had to do with the so-called "very important matter." But as a king, Clyde had the grace to refrain from interrupting.
"I'm sure Your Majesty already knows that my Baruch Family is the Dragon Blood Warrior family," Lin Lei said, a flash of pride crossing his face.
"Yes, one of the four great ultimate warrior families—the Dragon Blood Warriors. A truly glorious ancient house," Clyde remarked admiringly.
Lin Lei shook his head. "That glory belongs to the past. My family has fallen so far that we've even lost our ancestral heirloom. For centuries, generation after generation of Baruch ancestors have tried to reclaim it, but none have succeeded. Your Majesty, do you know what my father said to me on the day I left home after being accepted into Ernst Academy?"
"What did he say?" Clyde asked, watching Lin Lei.
"My father said that if I failed to recover the family's ancestral heirloom, he—dead or alive—would never forgive me!" Lin Lei's body trembled slightly.
Clyde, Melite, and even Lansom could not help but widen their eyes. A father, saying such a thing to his own son.
"Your father went too far," Clyde said.
"No."
Lin Lei shook his head firmly. "I understand the wish that filled my father's heart. My Dragon Blood Warrior family has wallowed in obscurity for centuries, with not a single true powerhouse emerging in all that time. My father understood that I would be the strongest member our family had produced in hundreds of years. The hope of centuries rests on my shoulders. Tell me—would my father tolerate my failure?"
Clyde was beginning to understand.
"My father's lifelong hope was that the war blade 'Slaughter' would return to the family." Lin Lei's voice grew sharper and more intense. "At Ernst Academy, I never dared slack off. I trained with everything I had. I was driven by my father's hope, my father's earnest charge!"
The three of them were beginning to grasp what lay beneath Lin Lei's words.
"Just over half a year ago, after my stone sculpture 'Dream Awakening' was auctioned off, I went home. That time, I brought the war blade 'Slaughter' back with me." Lin Lei's voice rose.
Clyde, Lansom, and Melite all froze.
Because they knew that on that occasion, Lin Lei's father was already dead.
"But when I rushed home, elated, the news that greeted me was that my father had died. He never got to see the blade 'Slaughter' before he passed. I couldn't even see my father one last time. All those years of bitter training—just so my father could be happy. And now..." Lin Lei's facial muscles began to twitch, his expression twisted in agony.
The three of them understood the emotions roiling inside him.
"Lin Lei, don't be too sad," Clyde sighed.
Lin Lei let out a cold laugh. "But do you know how my father died?"
Clyde, Melite, and Lansom all went still.
"My father was murdered by your brother, Duke Padesen!!!" Lin Lei's eyes began to redden.
"What?!" Clyde was shocked, and Melite and Lansom beside him were equally stunned.
"So I killed Padesen," Lin Lei said, his voice turning venomous.
At that moment, Lansom was the first to sense that the atmosphere in the room had shifted. He instinctively edged closer to Clyde, on high alert against Lin Lei. But just then, Lansom felt a rush of wind. As an eighth-level powerhouse, he knew there was no time to turn his head, so he could only swing his arm up to block.
"CRACK!"
A sharp, searing pain shot through him, and then Lansom could no longer feel his hand. At the same time, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of—
A mouse-shaped magical beast fully half a meter long, its mouth drenched in blood, looming right in front of him. Beyond the blood-soaked fangs, he also noticed the lightning-fast claws swiping at him. At this close range, Lansom had no chance to dodge.
It was far too fast!!!
"Shhk."
The claws sliced clean through Lansom's throat. He stared blankly at the scene, his gaze gradually dimming.
He could never understand when this half-meter-long magical beast mouse had appeared. He had been the first to enter the room and had carefully surveyed it. All he had noticed was a small shadow mouse no bigger than a palm, lying on the carpet.