The Great Lady marched towards her son with a disapproving gaze, stopping only when she was a few steps away.

“Theron, do you realize what you have done?”

Though her face showed she was angry, her tone carried how utterly disappointed she was with her son.

Theron only looked at her with emotionless eyes as he had nothing to say in his defence. He was guilty and no words were enough to show regret about his decision, but he had done it for a reason—it was his last resort to get his wife back to him.

The older lady couldn’t stand the silence she got in return. “Were you thinking that if you do this, Esther will come back to you? Was it worth it, Theron?”

His mother’s words were on point, and she captured the fleeting change of emotions in his eyes. She could not help but sigh.

“Son, your wife is not an ordinary human like us. Do you really think she’ll return if she hears such things have happened? The rules of her world are different and she has to follow them. Whatever you do, she will not go back on her decision. She has to follow the rules. Don’t you understand it?”

She thought he would remain stubborn as usual, pretending to be calm under a cold facade, but when his haggard face put on the most heartbreaking smile, her anger faltered.

“You are right, Mother,” he spoke with a bitter laugh, as if he’s about to cry. “She didn’t come. I can feel her presence around. I know she is nearby but she still didn’t show up.”

Great Lady Theodora’s expression softened seeing her son who was breaking inside. Such a strong man he was when facing the world, but he was unbelievably weak when it came to the woman he loved. Maybe calling him foolish wasn’t far from the truth.

She could see he regretted what he had done but that regret would not ease the damage he had caused to his innocent son.

The Great Lady walked closer to him and caressed his hand. “Son, I know you are hurt and nothing can comfort you but time. However, I cannot allow you to behave like this. You have to be responsible towards what you have with you rather than fixating on what’s not. Esther trusted that you would take care of everything, that’s why she could leave without worrying. You should not break her trust. That’s how you can show her your love…”

Tears rolled down his eyes as he stared at his mother.

“I don’t…I don’t love her anymore.”

As he said those words, the wretched pain in his face was so real, that no one would have believed such a blatant lie. Yet he continued to say those words over and over again, as if he was trying to convince himself.

“I no longer love her.”

“Theron…”

“If loving her is this painful, I don’t want it anymore.”

“Stop it, Theron. You’re hurting yourself—”

“No, Mother. The feelings I have for her…isn’t there a saying that love and hate are simply sides of the same coin? Starting today, I won’t love her anymore. I won’t think about her anymore. I had told her once that if she ever left me, I won’t be the same. She will lose the Theron she knew. I can live my life without her.”

The crazy look in his eyes worried his mother. “Theron, don’t say those words. You know you don’t mean them. You have to be a good father to your son as he had lost his mother—”

“He had lost his father as well. The moment I called him a monster, I lost the right to be his father. I cannot be the same with him either. Isn’t it funny? Both his mother and his father are failures. Just take that boy with you. Take care of him the way his pathetic parents should have.”

“Are you running away from your responsibility as his father?” the older lady asked.

“Look at me, Mother. I cannot even take care of myself. Do you honestly think I am in the right state to take care of another? I have lost myself. What can I give him? Every time I see that boy, I remember nothing but pain,” he said and looked at his mother with an earnest gaze. “Please, Mother. For my sake and your grandson’s sake, please take him away with you.”

Seeing his desperation, Great Lady Theodora had no choice but to agree in the end.

“Fine! I would have done it even if you had not asked. Still, you’re doing a really cruel thing to a child. I wished for him to have his father at least during such painful times, but it seems like he has lost both of his parents,” she said with a helpless sigh. She knew her son was suffering, but in her mind, Theron should have been strong enough to at least be her grandson’s pillar of support.

Just as she was thinking of leaving, Theron stopped her.

“I have one more thing to ask from you, Mother,” he said.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know when it is, but a day will come when he will ask you the reason why his mother left,” Theron started to which the older lady nodded.

“You have no need to worry. I will tell him why she left, and when that happens, I believe he will be mature enough to understand his mother’s sacrifice.”

“You cannot tell him the truth,” Theron commented.

It puzzled the older lady. “What do you mean?”

Theron took a deep breath, letting out a shaky exhale to calm himself first as he knew what he would say next will negatively affect his relationship with his younger son. It might even reach the point that it may never be renewed.

His son would harbour hatred for him.

“Mother, you love Dray, don’t you?”

“Of course. Why are you even bringing up such an obvious thing?”

“Then, you want him to hurt less, right?”

Great Lady Theodora gave her son a suspicious look but said nothing this time.

Theron took her silence as affirmation. “If you tell him the entire truth, he might think his mother didn’t want him—that she’s forced to have him as a baby— and he would question whether she truly loved him as her son. He had already lost Esther, but I want him to at least remember her without all those precious memories of her being tainted by the harsh truth. I want him to keep loving his mother the same way forever. I don’t want him to blame his mother for even a small thing.”

“Then what would I tell him if not the truth?” she asked.

“He will eventually know that he is not my son by blood, and then he will try to learn who his real father is. He will have so many questions. What I want is for you to tell him that when that Devil’s Curse fell on this kingdom, I, the King, had sacrificed his mother to save this kingdom. His mother could not bear to stand this husband of hers who sacrificed her and left.”

The Great Lady was horrified.

“Theron, what are you saying!?” she exclaimed.

“Mother, this is the last thing I am asking you. After this, I will not ask you for anything—-“

“But he will end up hating you,” she faltered as a more terrifying thought came to her, “hating you enough to kill you…no, this cannot be done…”

“Honestly, I will welcome death in his hands,” Theron said with a lighthearted chuckle. “But I don’t think so. Dray is still the son I raised. I know how kind that child is, and it is precisely the reason I want this to be done. His hate towards me is my punishment for not being able to be a good father to him.”

“Are you still spouting nonsense?” This time, Great Lady Theodora was truly angered. “Instead, why don’t you reconcile with Dray and be a good father?”

“I called him a monster. What right do I have—”

“I believe Dray has already forgiven you for calling him like that. After all, he did commit a mistake and you merely said that out of anger.”

“I know, Mother. He is as kind as Esther. Isn’t this a good way for him to learn that the real world is not a place for kind people?” Theron countered. “Let this hate become his motivation so that instead of crying for his mother, he will work towards becoming what he is meant for and what his mother wanted him to be.”

“I don’t understand your reasoning and I don’t know what to say to you even,” the older lady said, anger still written on her tired face.

“Trust me, Mother. Though not by blood, he is still my son and I know him best. Hiding one truth will make him love his mother more, and the hatred towards me would help him become stronger. It’s killing two birds with one stone. As he is meant to rule this kingdom one day, let him become a stronger person—a king with stronger willpower and heart than me. That way, he will become the greatest king of Megaris.”

“You really are—”

“If you really care for me, for him, and for this kingdom, please do us this one favour, Mother. Only this hate can help him turn stronger, or else, he will end up thinking about why his mother left him when he needed her most. Remember, he’s still just five years old, and not only his mother abandoned him, but his father also was a good-for-nothing who called him a monster. If she’s leaving, why couldn’t she wait for him to grow up? Don’t make him doubt her. Let all the blame fall on me. This is the last thing I can do for him as his father.”

Unwillingly, the older lady agreed to her son’s wish. That same day, she took the little prince with her to the Crystal Palace.

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