Chapter 230 230:Heart's Knot
Across the training ground, surrounded by a vast grassy lawn, a bluish-haired man was practising his spearmanship.
The air across the place was torn apart.
Bluish scratch marks accompanied each swing of spear covered with a bluish haze.
The man swinging the spear was drenched in sweat and seemed to have lost the sense of time, as he kept on swinging and swinging.
He tried to put all his focus so that the messy thoughts wouldn't begin to haunt him.
The bitter expression of betrayal and words of mockery sounded in his ear again and again.
[I thought we were friends. But it seems, it was just a delusional harbour on my part.]
He felt his heart burst forth as he remembered those words.
Frederick didn't care that Lucas spoke about his trump cards without knowing about it particularly, even if they pried, it was useless.
Though he was curious about how much Lucas knew about his trump card and wanted to interrogate him madly, he didn't dare to face those condemning eyes staring at him as a sinner.
He didn't know how much the foreign entity talked about. If that was an angel, shouldn't that angel be on his side since he was chosen by the Goddess? So what was its motive to reveal those things?
"This is sick." Frederick spat with a sense of uneasiness.
Thinking about this, a series of questions arose in his heart.
Lucas' questions stirred his heart, making him restless.
It also made him aware of his prejudice.
Cause as Lucas said he would have acted if Rose was in danger but since she was safe, he tried to stay away as far as possible seeing that there wasn't any danger as their target was Julian.
This made him question what he thinks of Lucas and others.
What did they mean to him?
Did he care about them or is it just for personal benefits?
Would they step for him if he is ever in danger?
He didn't know anything. Now that he thought about it, he had never tried to understand them, rather he was always busy with his things thinking that he was the only one who had to bear all the weight.
He didn't have a great life in the academy previously, and his talents shone in the later stages after Ralph's tournament attracting countless eyes and stable squads.
Years later, he was chosen as a Hero to lead the mantle facing the demons and forming a team.
At the beginning of this timeline, he planned to observe and not make hasty decisions. Let everyone grow to a certain stage and then conclude things by the end of the year.
With the world imposing restrictions on them, if they push people of lower bloodlines around too much who can't bear the pressure, it might lead them to death.
He acknowledges his failure of not being a good leader but with ample experience, he was good at observing people and marking them.
However, out of all, there is this guy who always struck the cords of his heart like an immovable stone whose thoughts were always hard to fathom.
Unbeknownst to him, a smile formed over his lips as he remembered about their first meeting.
"At first, he tried to run away from me as if I was a menace. At first, I thought he wanted to avoid me but after staying with him a bit, I knew that this guy just found my presence bothersome."
Except for him, he was the only guy who sacrificed his sleep to train late at night.
On his first observation, Frederick was bewildered seeing such a rookie guy who didn't even have a correct sword posture making him wonder how the heck this guy got enrolled.
Yes, at first he was just curious about a guy who could enter the academy without even knowing how to hold a sword properly, making him wonder if he had a great hidden background and entered through the backdoor.
But his thought process changed as he observed him more.
From being unable to hold a sword properly, to being able to fight fluently, it didn't even take many days.
Contrary to his expectations, the guy wasn't a genius; rather , he worked hard and always kept note of his mistakes.
Frederick had already marked this guy as an oddity. And that's also the reason he sticks with this guy.
He always feels that he has a great number of secrets hidden beneath him which he badly wants to uncover.
At the time when he saw that ring, he felt a string in his chest and wanted to snatch away such a precious treasure.
Frederick's mind almost blew out when he heard that the ring had been used as Lucas might have died.
Lucas had always been humble, respected others' wishes , treated others kindly and always liked to stay away from troublesome people.
"But once you anger him...."A cold voice rang in Frederick's ears.
"Yeah, his personality changes quite quickly. As if a monster who had been caged waiting to be released devouring everything with sharp insanity and brutality."
Frederick, who kept swinging his spear, suddenly halted his movement.
"What happened?"
Frederick took a heavy breath feeling a bit tired and took a heavy breath.
"He isn't a guy who picks faults with others. It seems there is something...something which I missed which seemed to prick him."
Frederick, who was brooding over a complicated feeling and a sense of crisis, swung his spear to the left.
BOOM!
An explosion shook the place, with a sword arc cutting through the ground for a few metres.
Frederick retreated with a startled look as he saw a familiar figure emerging out from the smoke.
"Tsk...People are too blind to call you a genius. If this was a war, you would have already died."
"It is not a war that's why I let down my guard Brother Han."
Through the smoke, a tall man with long bluish hair and sharp-features walked out with a mocking expression.
"Do you know what we say at the border? Dead don't make excuses."
Frederick ignored his mocks and asked, "Why aren't you at the border?"
"I am on vacation." Han shrugged his shoulders.
Coming closer, Han pulled out an old rustic wine bottle which startled Frederick.
"Did you steal another one from Father's Rack?"
"What do you mean by steal? I just borrowed it." Han ignored his brother's glare, took two chalices and poured wine, and handed one to Frederick while taking a sip from the other one.
Frederick clicked his tongue but still followed his suit as it was a rare opportunity to drink such fine wine and asked,"So, why are you here?"
Walking closer to Frederick, Han flicked Frederick.
"Do I need your permission to be here?" Han mocked, irritating Frederick.
As the two drank, Han could see Frederick feeling a bit tipsy. Though his capacity was good, still he fell short of him.
As they got a bit drunk, Han spoke with a serious expression.
"Frederick, Second Mother is worried about you. You have been behaving weirdly for the past few days."
"It's my personal problem, why do you care?"
"Personal problem, are you a girl? Are you having your periods?" Han sneered, making Frederick choke.
"Shut up."
"You won't understand even if I say this. It's about friends."
"Friends, huh?.. Then it's about the mess in the tournament," Han took a sip while pondering over the recent things and asked,"So, you are troubled with Lucas putting his shit on you.''
"You can say so." Frederick said indifferently, taking a sip and trying to shake his worry.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I would have also done the same if I were in his position as per the circumstances. If you have the power to save but still hold back when your friend's life is in danger, one is bound to be dissatisfied."
"But-"
"I am not saying what he did was the right thing." Han cut Frederick with a commanding tone.
"In every situation, there are many plausible ways but it's difficult to choose a perfect solution. You might be right in yours but that doesn't mean he isn't. Moreover, you don't have the right to accuse him as he acted and saved you all in exchange for god knows what kind of backlash he might have suffered."
"An angel or monster descending into a mortal body is never a pleasant experience, nobody would want to become their vessel."
Frederick put down his cup and took a deep breath.
"Even though I don't want to blame him, there is a knot in my heart because I feel that we are still close yet so far."
"That's because some of your secrets are exposed while you don't know much about Lucas', right?" Han spoke scartiscally taking a sip.
Frederick blinked his eyes and stared at Han with a profound look while contemplating his life.
He had always been hailed as the brightest light while others basked in the shadow casted by his brilliance. Because of this, there had been much discontent and dissatisfaction among his peers. Though he had solved them, he didn't know that feeling of being in the shadows.
However, after this tournament, he can feel it.
That feeling of getting overshadowed. If Lucas hadn't acted, the thing with the Boss Monster might have gone worse.
He was also the one who noticed the ritual and abnormalities. In the end, it was also he who finished things and saved Julian.
He was also one to whom Luna had given a ring voluntarily which really made him feel uncomfortable as in the past, Luna didn't even let anyone touch it.
While all this was happening, where the hell was he?
Standing at the back, watching while being in a dilemma whether to act or not to take the risk of exposing some of his secrets.
Looking at his brother's back, Frederick felt a warm feeling.
Though he was a nuisance, he had always been there for him. Even when he was mocked during childhood, his brother never made things difficult for him.
Instead of commanding servants to stop harassing him or support him from the front, his brother would put potions in his food and support him from the back wanting him to fight back and earn the respect of others with his effort creating a long-lasting effect.
"So, what do you think about friends? One who doesn't have any secrets in between."
Han turns towards Frederick with a smile.
"Everyone has some secrets. Even your lover or wife or even your parents might have some secrets. As long as the secret doesn't impact one's relationship or something that had a major effect on one's life, there is no problem in having a secret."
"And about being a friend, it's simply a person whom you can trust with all your heart. One whom you have faith in the situation of deepest despair and can partake in your joys and fortune."
"So, the question is how much do you trust your friend?" Han cast a provocative smile.
Frederick didn't reply but the knot in his heart finally started to unwind.
'Trust....huh....It seems, I had never trusted others enough and had been covered by my vain sense of pride.'
"It seems, you got the answer." Han stood up facing the beautiful sunset and spoke with a reminiscent expression.
"Talk with him and sort out your feelings. Don't miss this opportunity for self-realization cause once you lose this opportunity and don't sort out things, you might regret it for the rest of your life cause this cruel world won't give you a chance to make up for your regrets."
Two days went by in the blink of an eye.
While most of the students were relaxing and calming themselves from the horrific incident, in the Vice President's Suite of the Student Council a deep solemn atmosphere prevailed making the people attending it shiver in fright.
A man with a heavy expression rotated the paperweight over the table, staring at people in front of him solemnly.
The temperature of the room seemed to be rising to the point that everyone who stood before them started to sweat profusely and felt difficult to breathe.
All of them bowed their heads, unable to meet the sharpened gaze of a young man spewing flames at them from his eyes.
"Hmmm!"
"So, you are saying that even though you monitored him for so long, he hadn't stepped out of his room since he entered."
"...."
Not getting any reply, a deep sigh escaped from his lips.
A brief silence lingered that was broken by a loud angry roar.
"Now, what kind of fucking bullshit is this?"
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