The One King

Silence descended after Lilian's words.

Azrael's eyes remained fixed on her.

Leon was still suspended in his grip, while the black energy that had been gathering in his other hand had come to a halt.

Lilian's lips trembled.

Then she spoke in a broken voice:

"Leon... Leon is your twin brother. You are both my sons."

Her voice trembled as she spoke the words.

As if she were ripping a secret that had been buried in her heart for decades into the open.

Selena's eyes widened.

She looked at Leon.

Then at Azrael.

Then at Lilian.

"Leon and Azrael... brothers?"

The words escaped her as a stunned whisper.

As for Lunaria, who was still beneath the rubble, she began to move.

She pushed the stones away from her body and struggled to stand.

Her legs were trembling.

But she paid no attention to the pain.

She stared at Azrael with a pale face.

"Mother..."

She turned toward Lilian.

"What did you just say?"

Lilian did not answer.

Lunaria raised her voice.

"Mother!"

Lilian closed her eyes.

Then whispered:

"The time has come..."

Lunaria stared at her.

"The time for what?"

Lilian looked at Azrael.

"The time for him to know the truth."

Another silence fell.

One of the members of the Foyd family spoke from behind them:

"But... how?"

Another said:

"That's impossible."

The members of the family exchanged stunned glances.

"Azrael Netherval..."

"Leon..."

"Twin brothers?"

Even the soldiers below began whispering.

"Does that mean Azrael is from the Foyd family?"

"He's one of their family..."

"Then why did he live away from them?"

"What happened all those years ago?"

The whispers spread throughout both armies.

The battle was no longer the only thing occupying everyone's attention.

A secret had emerged that could change the world's perception of the entire war.

As for Lilian...

She began to reveal the truth.

"Twenty-six years ago..."

She lowered her head.

"I became pregnant."

She looked at Leon.

"When the doctor examined me... I discovered that I was carrying twin boys."

Despite her tears, she smiled.

"I was happy."

"Happy to the point that I couldn't sleep that night."

Lunaria whispered:

"I had two brothers..."

She paused.

Then looked at Azrael.

"I didn't know..."

Lilian answered her in a broken voice:

"You didn't know."

"I couldn't tell you."

Lunaria asked:

"Why?"

Lilian did not answer immediately.

Then she said:

"Because the Heavenly Council wouldn't allow me to."

Lunaria's expression hardened.

"The Council?"

Lilian nodded.

"That night, a divine phenomenon occurred in the sky."

She began telling them everything.

About the phenomenon.

About innate divinity.

About the prophecy.

About the Enlightened One.

And about the vision that revealed the Dark Lord.

Then she reached the most painful part.

"They told me that one of my children..."

Her voice trembled.

"...would become the Dark Lord."

Selena gasped.

"But they didn't know which one!"

Lilian shook her head.

"No."

She said:

"They didn't know."

Then she looked at Azrael.

"That was why they wanted me to abandon one of them."

Lunaria stared at her mother.

"And you..."

She hesitated.

"You chose one of them?"

A tear fell from Lilian's eye.

"Yes."

Her voice became quieter.

"I chose..."

She looked at Azrael.

"...to abandon Victor."

Lunaria froze.

Selena placed a hand over her chest.

"Victor..."

She spoke the name for the first time, realizing that the name the family had hidden was not the name of some stranger.

It was the name of the man standing before them now.

Lunaria spoke in a choked voice:

"Mother..."

"Why?"

Lilian raised her eyes toward her.

"Because they threatened me."

"Threatened you with what?"

"My family."

Then she looked at Valier.

"My husband."

Then at Lunaria.

"And you."

Finally, she looked at the rest of the family.

"And everyone I loved."

She said:

"They told me that if I refused..."

"The entire Foyd family would be annihilated."

Lunaria took a step backward.

"So..."

She struggled to comprehend it.

"So you abandoned my brother?"

Tears poured from Lilian's eyes.

"I was afraid."

Lunaria shouted:

"But you were his mother!"

Everyone froze.

Lilian lowered her head.

She did not defend herself.

Lunaria continued, tears streaming down her face:

"He was a child!"

"He hadn't done anything!"

"He hadn't become the Dark Lord!"

"Why didn't you trust him?!"

Lilian answered in a broken voice:

"Because I was a fool."

Silence fell.

"I was a frightened mother..."

"And I didn't have the courage to stand against the world for my child."

Lunaria fell silent.

She was angry.

But at the same time, she was crying.

Then she looked at Azrael.

"My brother..."

The word came out with difficulty.

"He was my brother all this time..."

As for Selena...

She was crying silently.

She said:

"And I was living with him..."

Then she looked at Lilian.

"You knew he was out there all these years?"

Lilian nodded.

"Yes."

"How could you live knowing that?"

Lilian had no answer.

Selena continued:

"All these years..."

"You knew my brother was living alone somewhere..."

"And you didn't know whether he was alive or dead..."

Lilian closed her eyes.

"Every day."

"Every night."

"I wondered if he was still alive."

Then she looked at Azrael.

"And I prayed that he was safe."

Selena whispered:

"But he wasn't safe."

Lilian fell silent.

"Was he?"

Lilian could not answer.

Because she knew the answer.

Azrael had not been safe.

He had lived a life that had transformed him into the very being whose presence now made the heavens tremble.

And in that moment...

A blood-red tear rolled down from one of Azrael's eyes.

Everyone froze.

Lilian slowly raised her hand.

She wanted to touch his cheek.

But Azrael avoided her hand.

Her hand stopped in midair.

Then she whispered:

"Victor..."

He did not answer.

"Say something... please."

He remained silent.

His eyes were devoid of emotion.

And after a few moments...

He said:

"Billions of years..."

Lilian trembled.

"You caused me unimaginable suffering for billions of years..."

Her breath caught.

"Because you abandoned me..."

Then he looked at her.

"And chose your other family over me."

Lilian cried.

"I..."

But Azrael interrupted her.

"No."

She fell silent.

He said:

"Don't look for an excuse."

His words were calm.

And that made them even more painful.

"I didn't come here to listen to excuses."

Lilian lowered her head.

Then he said:

"And now you look into my eyes..."

"And ask me to forgive your son."

Lilian trembled.

He continued:

"Simply because we were born from the same womb."

Selena gasped.

Lunaria stared at Azrael with tears filling her eyes.

At that moment, she understood...

Azrael did not see his mother's words as enough to erase billions of years of pain.

Lunaria spoke softly:

"Azrael..."

His eyes turned toward her.

She swallowed her tears.

"I don't know what those years away from us did to you."

"And I don't know how much you suffered."

"But..."

She placed a hand over her chest.

"I'm sorry."

Azrael remained silent.

She continued:

"I didn't know you were my brother."

"If I had known..."

She paused.

Then said:

"Maybe I would have searched for you."

Azrael looked at her for several moments.

Then his gaze returned to Leon.

He said nothing.

Lunaria understood that her apology...

was not enough.

As for Lilian...

Her heart shattered even further.

She reached out her hand again.

But she did not dare touch Azrael.

She said softly:

"I'm sorry..."

"I know that an apology isn't enough."

"And I know I have no right to ask anything of you."

Then she looked at Leon.

"But I can't lose another son."

For the first time...

Azrael's eyes slowly moved toward her.

Lilian said:

"I lost you once..."

"And I can't watch Leon die in front of me."

Silence fell.

Then Selena spoke through her tears:

"Azrael..."

"Please."

"Not for the Council."

"Not for the war."

"Just for us."

But Azrael did not answer.

He remained holding Leon by the throat.

And his silence alone was enough to tell them...

that learning the truth had not yet changed his decision.

As for Lilian...

She stood before the son she had lost twenty-six years ago.

And for the first time since this war began...

she did not know which frightened her more.

Azrael killing Leon...

or realizing that the son she had abandoned all those years ago was no longer capable of forgiving her.

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