Chapter 244 244:Thier Woes
The sombre sky, draped in a veil of grey, echoed the heavy hearts of those gathered at the funeral. Mournful whispers mingled with the gentle rustle of leaves as they bid farewell to a cherished soul. Tears, silent messengers of grief, painted the faces of the mourners in shades of sorrow.
The casket, adorned with lilies and roses, stood as a silent tribute to a life now stilled. Fragments of memories danced through the minds of the attendees, each recalling moments cherished, now forever lost in the vast expanse of time.
Grieving parents clutched a handkerchief, a mother's sobs muffled as she sought solace in the embrace of her loved ones. Children, with quivering lips and tear-stained cheeks, tried to comprehend the irrevocable absence of a guiding presence.
The clergy's soft-spoken words floated in the air, a hymn of peace and remembrance, attempting to console the shattered hearts. Yet, the weight of loss hung heavily, a tangible presence amidst the hushed whispers and stifled sobs.
As the casket descended into the waiting earth, a final farewell echoed in the minds of those left behind. The sound of dirt hitting the coffin reverberated, marking the conclusion of a poignant chapter in the symphony of life.
Silent, teary-eyed, and with heavy hearts, the attendees lingered, sharing embraces and offering quiet words of support, knowing that life would never be the same without the light of those that had now faded away.
Herman's heart was filled with grief as he oversaw the process.
"This shouldn't have happened." Herman smacked his lips, staring at newly crafted graves.
14 died, 19 were still paralyzed with soul injuries and several students were now in trauma seeking aids.
What was worse was that this happened in the final stage, where everyone could be said to be a top prodigy of the current generation and their loss might be quite big when it comes to the long run.
Amidst the line of students paying their due respect, Lucas looked around. He suppressed his anger about not getting his rank.
"Those bastards are still enjoying themselves."
While most of the people had already returned, Frederick, Parth, and Charles along with children of higher nobility had yet to come.
Lucas asked the reason for not giving him ranks and the reply that he got was totally absurd and bullshit.
With Josh's absence and Herman being a candidate for Vice-Principal, he can't decide the matters on his own and a council of Professors would decide matters which fucked things up.
Due to the potion incident, they suspect foul play of him using Sensory Potion to increase his senses and boost his strength so they halted his rank until Josh took charge.
And due to the extended holidays, and the absence of Professors, Issac's side had the majority of votes.
He also put forward the reason that he is in 3-Star and if the battle went till the last minute, who knew if he would be knocked out and using points given by the Tower to rank up wouldn't opt for it.
The only solace for him was that he wasn't the only one who was in misery.
Parth should be in the top 10 based on the ranking system of the Tower and he managed to hide till the end of the novel but now that bastard was ranked around 20. The top 15 were occupied by those who had reached 4-Star as decided by Issac's squad even though some assholes among them hadn't even reached the third stage.
This is some next-level tyranny and misuse of power.
Lucas also knew that this was just a way to bring time to mess up his mind and agitate him during the 10 days. However, even after Vice-Principal Josh came, he might not get his desired rank as they might advocate that since the Tournament didn't end properly, his rank shouldn't be placed at the top and taking his realm into account, he should be below the rankers who were 4-Star during the tournament.
'My performance is enough to get me in the top 3 but Issac is gonna use all his connections to suppress me.'
'He thinks of me as a harmless snake in the absence of Princess Julian.'
'Just you wait.'
Sensing his thoughts running wild again even on such an occasion, Lucas shook his head trying to calm himself.
Slowly and steadily, he came toward the grave, put a flower on each grave and prayed for their well-being.
Despite being not close to the deceased, Lucas was sure that all of them would be unresigned to the way fate played with them.
Drifting along, Lucas came towards the grave of his so-called nemesis and his expression became complicated seeing Ezekiel's grave.
His corpse was taken by the Duke to be coffined in his estate and this was just a memorial grave.
Lucas saw Ezekiel's name crafted with golden letters along with a piece of sentence.
One who never gives up.
Lucas' lips curled upwards seeing the text.
"Why am I not surprised?"
'Isn't this a weird trait of each villain? Not giving up until death.'
Lucas, who was lost in thoughts for a moment, snapped out hearing a sharp cold voice.
"He admired you."
Lucas' brows creased and on turning his head, the sight of a sickly pale face, with dark spots and disheveled clothes reflected in his eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
Jeanette with a cold expression, stared at the grave with a melancholic expression.
"When you defeated him during the Class Battle Royal, though he was greatly dissatisfied he admired you. He is just too stubborn at times but Ezekiel respected you and looked at you as his rival, one he needed to overcome no matter what."
Lucas was slightly startled by Jeanette's words.
"How can I know that you are telling the truth? If he admired me, he wouldn't have spread those rumours." Lucas asked cautiously as who knows if this girl who might have gone crazy tried to push him into a pit.
Jeanette stared at Lucas' piercing eyes that were enough to make her shudder previously but now after going through such grief, all she felt was emptiness.
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe it. The person who matters and knows the truth is no more. I said this because I don't want you to think of him as a spoiled brat like others. He spread the rumours because you were ignoring him and he wanted to draw your attention. Everyone makes mistakes and being born with a silver spoon and being used to looking down on others, we nobles naturally had a conceited tendency.''.Jeanette paused a bit and stepped closer, caressing Ezekiel's grave.
"But that doesn't mean we can't change. Like others, we also grow as we learn. Yeah, some might still not learn and behave as idiots as always but he wasn't like that."
Lucas looked down remembering his confrontation with Ezekiel in the tournament and thought that Jeanette might be right as unlike before Ezekiel didn't hurl curses at him calling foul blood or low blood.
Or, he might be wrong and didn't pay attention to the barking dog.
"Before he aimed to be the strongest. Someone, who looked down on everyone thinking that he was superior but after his confrontation with you, he started to change. Watching you, he started to aim to be a better person instead of stronger, however, his defeat in your hands was like a knot in his heart which he wanted to unwind alas.."
Jeanette couldn't finish the last words as a drop of tears started to force out of her eyes.
Lucas stared blankly at her.
'She had fallen hard for him. Is this how Future Lucas felt?'
'Even though I joke about looking for a wife, still, I find it hard to believe that someone can fall in love to such an extent that your emotions cloud your every reason and judgement.'
'Ha....The world is quite complicated.'
Thinking for a moment, Lucas asked Jeanette to follow him to a less crowded place as people were still coming here.
As Jeanette followed Lucas towards the back with a confused expression, Lucas turned abruptly with a solemn expression.
"Say Jeanette, if give you a chance to have revenge, what will you do?"
Jeanette who heard this question almost stumbled upon her feet and then she gritted her teeth with a vicious expression.
"I...I will shred that fucker into pieces!" Jeanette screamed.
Hearing this, a strange grin appeared on Lucas' face.
"Then why don't we make a deal? Or you can say let's exchange some favors."
.....
In a broad room filled devoid of daylight, a man with disarrayed hair drowned himself in wine and alcohol.
He raised his chin and his trembling eyes fell on a picture frame of a family of three. It was the picture of his loving wife who hugged her son cozily.
The picture that motivated him to stay strong had now become a thorn in his eyes that didn't let him forget his misery.
His wife left early leaving behind his only son. After her death, many women tried to seduce him but his love for his dead wife had been deeply rooted to the point that he didn't want anyone to occupy the place of his dead wife.
After her death, his son was the only one reason for him to be alive but now even he was taken away from him.
Looking at the picture, he murmured in a painful voice.
"Why?"
"Why are you always cruel to me? Taking away everything I loved."
"It's not as if I committed a huge crime of slaughtering many people. This is too much."
His eyes became lifeless with tears bursting out from his eyes.
At that time, a knock resounded...
"Your Grace, there is someone who is asking for an audience."
"Ask them to go away. I am not in the mood to entertain guests.'' He spoke, wiping away his tears while lamenting the fact that he who always says that men don't cry, was now shedding tears of sadness.
The Butler on the other side of the door hesitated a bit before speaking.
"Your Grace, Lady Jeanette sent him and asked me to relay to you that you need to meet this man no matter what as he contained some valuable information that might help you.
The Butler took a deep breath, as no sound came out but after a minute, a grave voice echoed.
"Let him in."
"You can go, Sir." The Butler spoke respectfully to the scar-faced man wondering who this guy was.
Pushing the door open, the man entered and saw Duke Holmes with a haggard expression sitting on a velvet sofa adorned with diamonds.
"Who are you and what information do you have?"
"And get straight to the point. I am not in a mood to hear random blabbering."
"I pay my sincere greetings to one of the pillars of the Empire, Duke Holmes." The man spoke bowing his head respectfully and then pulled out the mask that startled Duke Holmes.
"You..."
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