Chapter 348 Chapter 348 Not Your Fault
The fires of tribulation would refine their love, allowing it to emerge resilient and enduring, like a masterpiece that had faced the crucible and emerged more beautiful and unbreakable.
Only by suffering together through the ordeal could they build a relationship that would be strong enough to last them a lifetime.
Despite what Christina believed, Zach was not someone who would let Christina suffer if he could help it.
He vowed to save her soon. He wouldn't let her stay away from him for long, especially after knowing that it was all his fault that Christina had to go in the first place.
Had he been strong enough, he would have kept her by his side even if he had to fight the empire for it.
Only Diana could read Zach's face like an open book. She could easily deduce what he was thinking from the subtle micro expressions that appeared on his face for an instant before vanishing. After staying with him for so long, this was one of the skills she had picked up.
It wasn't for nothing that the collaboration of Zach and Diana on the battlefield was so lethal. A field commander who was able to understand and act on the orders of the higher-ups without a shred of doubt was bound to be a devastating calamity for anyone unfortunate enough to be the enemy.
Christina was crying buckets despite not wanting to do so. She had tried to rein in her unwillingness to leave Zach, but her feelings outweighed her rationality and revealed the truth she had been trying to hide.
While George tried to comfort Christina, Diana felt sorry for Zach. She could sense how he was blaming himself. While the others were busy feeling sorry for Christina, she only had eyes for Zach.
She reached out to Zach and pulled him close to her. She rubbed his back and his arm as she hugged him from the side in an attempt to comfort him.
Zach tried to break free from her embrace, but Diana was unrelenting. She stuck to his side like the strongest superglue. She knew that if she let him go, he would only end up stuck in a quagmire of regret and pain.
"It's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up over it." Diana spoke as softly as possible as if afraid of hurting him with her words.
"How could you know that? If not for me, they wouldn't even know of her existence. She could have lived a carefree life." Zach muttered in an equally muffled voice, but Diana had all her attention on him. There was no way that she could miss any word that came out of his mouth.
"But I DO know it. She and I aren't very different. How can she bear to blame you? If someone is to be blamed, then it must be me for causing this situation in the first place. The only reason your power was exposed was because you were forced to do so to save me." Anger was evident in her voice as if she was snubbing Zach for thinking nonsense.
Diana knew that Zach had no other choice but to take drastic measures when the safety of the entire Smith family was threatened by the Hunter family. Had he not taken countermeasures in advance, the Hunter family might have destroyed Greenland anyway, but the tragedy would have been even greater.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Zach wasn't willing to listen to her patronizing words. He had chosen to go big on his own even though he could have passed it off as a happy coincidence that wiped out the entire Hunter family. Therefore, he felt responsible.
"Zach, you made the best out of that shitty situation. There was nothing else you could have done. You saved the Smith family and our home. You did all of that alone. Now let us carry the burden with you at least; otherwise, we would only feel like unnecessary weights pulling you down from your place at the top. I am sure Christina doesn't want to weigh you down either."
Zach couldn't keep his eyes from resting on Diana who had changed so much from the time they first met. The stubborn girl from before had turned into someone who could influence his thoughts and comfort him with logic and reason.
Successfully holding his attention to herself, Diana pushed Zach further to remove the dark thoughts from his mind.
None of his women would want to see him blame himself like this. She didn't need to hear from Christina to know her thoughts about the matter either.
"You don't need to feel sorry. You don't need to apologize either. You did your best. And as for the consequences, we hope to stand together with you no matter the circumstances. I am sure she feels that way as well." Diana outstretched her index finger and pointed to Christina who was trying to regain control of her emotions. It had been a long time since the floodgates had been opened. Therefore, the moment she let her emotions take over, the resultant flood of tears was unending.
Christina was too absorbed to know what Diana was whispering in Zach's ears, but she would have surely held a similar opinion.
Convinced by Diana's timely counselling, Zach began to take apart the situation piece by piece in order to analyze it. No matter how many angles or perspectives he viewed it from, the root of the problem remained the same.
His weakness was the problem; not just his individual strength, but that of the Smith family.
He had a gnawing feeling in his bones lately that his personal strength would no longer be enough in the grand scheme of things.
He had already made contact with the Royal family when he came across Prince Kolt. He couldn't bring himself to forget the hatred from that time even though the prince had supposedly been punished by the Royal family.
Given the inherent arrogance and haughty nature of the royal family, he inferred that it wouldn't be long before a conflict of interest arose between the two groups. As a result, the road to survival for him and the Smith family was constant improvement of strength and war potential.
The more united the family was and the more power they held within their grasp would determine if they would be able to hold their heads high even in front of the royal family.
Zach believed that strength spoke for itself. If the Smith family ended up becoming powerful enough, even the royal family would have to think twice before targeting any member of his family for fear of his retaliation. Only then would he have the ability to protect everyone close to him.
Thinking along those lines, Zach began to chart a course for the development of the Smith family in his mind.
While coming up with several ideas regarding the expansion of Smith family forces away from the sight of the royal family, Zach could not help but pause in fascination as he gazed at Diana. She had been the weakest of the women he had encountered in terms of potential and magical capability ever since his arrival in the new world.
Yet Diana had the talent to absorb everything he imparted to her. She not only turned into a fine general with the help of his technologically advanced weapons but was also trying to console him in his momentary self-doubt. It appeared as if she believed in him even more than he did in himself.
Although he hadn't made his intentions clear to her despite knowing full well about her feelings for him, he had to admit that Diana was wife material through and through. She was gentle, thoughtful, responsible and fully capable of leading his forces in his place like a queen.
Due to the time, she spent training the soldiers of the Smith family at Zach's behest, she was highly regarded in the family. Even Bruce didn't hold as much sway as she did.
Zach swore to appreciate her help more in the future even if he didn't end up marrying her.
Zach decided on his future course as he gazed at her worried but charming face softly. The Smith family would become the force with which he would deter all the forces eyeing his power or the strength of his technology. He would make sure that the name of the Smith family would resound across the world striking terror in all those who heard of them.
Only then would he be able to stay independent of the royal family. Failure to do the same would only result in the Smith family's annexure to the royal family where neither his life nor the life of his loved ones would be safe.
Even though it appeared as if the Smith family hadn't encountered a predicament as great as this, the reality was quite far apart from it.
After all, there was no obvious or serious threat to the Smith family considering that the royal family didn't try to offend him outright. They were only trying to keep him from aligning with other forces by using Christina as a hostage.
Since they intended to make an ally out of him. That could work in his favor.
Moreover, there was an obvious solution to his problem. It was so obvious that it was practically staring him in the face. To boot, it was the easiest solution to his problem.
Since the royal family was interested in him and Christina's safety was guaranteed as long as they remained interested in him, the only thing he had to endure was a long separation from Christina.
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