CHAPTER 497: CHAPTER 428: GOD, I PRAISE YOU FOR THE LIFE YOU HAVE GIVEN ME (TWO-IN-ONE)

"Father King, what bewitchment has possessed you?!"

Below the throne, Prince Rowley asked fiercely, his body tensely coiled, desperately seeking an answer to this question.

King Nimirda had never seen such an expression on his eldest son’s face.

It was so persistent.

It was as if he needed an answer, he had to know, what bewitchment had snared him.

Indeed...

What bewitchment had ensnared me?

To the point where I have committed so many mistakes.

King Nimirda’s eyes welled up with profound weariness.

At this moment, he was equally perplexed, equally lost.

"What exactly is it..."

He muttered softly, as if he were on his last breath.

King Nimirda reminisced about the past.

In a moment of fury, he stabbed the Whale King and prepared to face execution, oblivious to the people’s cries. But as they called him Dertulian over and over, he slowly began to feel, perhaps they were right.

And in the end, his father died, and he was exiled, leading his people to this land.

"O King, you are so wise, so intelligent, why have you fallen to such a state?!"

Rowley pressed on, yearning for an answer.

The people’s voices praised their King, the Holy King’s name engulfed the land, the people looked up to the throne, and the King, who accepted his mission, had wisdom far surpassing all sages of the past.

Nimirda leaned against the throne, wandering in deep thought.

He was meant to face death, yet he ended up on the throne.

He was so discerning, even in prison, he believed he saw the truth... but in the end...

Why... did he choose to believe what his people said, why... did he think they were right, why did he believe he truly was another Dertulian?

Ultimately, a wise man often considers himself above others.

"With much wisdom comes much folly..."

Nimirda tensed up, discovering something in his contemplation.

His expression froze as if he had touched the real answer.

"Turns out...

I have bewitched myself!"

That answer, deep within his heart, was now slowly surfacing; the aged heart trembled intensely.

Upon the throne, the silent King Nimirda shook like a leaf, his face filled with a bitter smile, struggling and in pain, yet his eyes conveyed the relief of a truth unveiled.

The answer was so simple, wasn’t it?

King Nimirda gradually calmed down, looking towards Rowley before him.

Rowley stood still, unable to believe King Nimirda’s words, frozen like a statue, doubting his own ears, convinced he must have heard wrong.

The truth couldn’t be this cruel, could it?

"Rowley, my eldest son,"

"It is just so... there was nothing else, except for myself..."

King Nimirda’s voice softened, as if he had seen through everything.

Rowley’s breathing suddenly became labored, smoke filling the air, his eyes widened, his father’s figure now so indistinct...

Merfolk Po Han reacted similarly, staring blankly, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

No one noticed the flames growing fiercer, starting to consume the entire Palace.

"No, this is impossible!"

Prince Rowley said hoarsely,

"My Father King,

You are the Holy King, you are the one who accepted the mission..."

"You are another Dertulian!"

How could the Holy King of Logos bewitch himself?

Looking at his eldest son falling apart before him, Nimirda had already calmed down, his voice weak, softly recounting:

"There’s a piece of history...

In the past, a Prince, driven by hatred, murdered the Whale King.

He caused his brethren to splinter and crumble, plunging the Nus Kingdom into divided turmoil.

But his people thought he acted by God’s will, that God had granted him a mission to become the new King.

Thus,

Nus exiled him, as though casting out sin.

Yet the people still followed him, supported him, believing him to be another Dertulian, and even he himself came to believe he was imbued with a mission."

The flames no longer burned in unseen corners, but raged throughout the Palace, and the three within had no time to notice.

And King Nimirda, facing the growing inferno, continued calmly:

"In this slice of history, there was no mission from God, no guidance from Angels,

There was only a man overcome by greed, one who believed only what he wished to believe.

He was not Dertulian, he was Nimirda, the Exile."

Prince Rowley stared at his father, his face horrifically pale, desperately trying to discard his father’s words from his mind.

A faith was collapsing...

Something was shattering, the sound grating to the ear.

Merfolk Po Han was similarly struck, his eyes wide; after so many years, even he, most skeptical of Nimirda, had deeply believed that their leader was on a divine mission, yet now he heard such a subversive statement.

"No... this isn’t true..."

Prince Rowley said, dazed.

King Nimirda gazed at his eldest son, sighing deeply.

He lowered his head, stroking the venomous snake in his arms. The snake, nestled against the King’s bosom, stared alertly at the two below the throne, baring its fangs.

King Nimirda slowly began another tale.

"And in another piece of history...

Nimirda acted by God’s intent, he was another Dertulian.

He led his people away from the increasingly corrupt Kingdom, received guidance in dreams, accepted God’s mission, and came to this land to become the King of Logos."