Chapter 232: Willhelm's Words
Chapter 232: Willhelm\'s Words
Within the dining hall, all twenty seats were filled. The dinner had been set. However, no one was eating.
Aria sat at the head of the table. She was the only one eating as the others sat in the silence.
It was unusual silence.
Her daughters and sons were staring at their full plates in silence. It looked like they were waiting for someone.
At that moment, the door of the dining hall opened.
Willhelm entered the room with the help of a walking cane. He looked sick and weak, as if he could barely stand on his own two feet.
One of the daughters helped him to sit down.
"Thank you, dear daughter." Willhelm put his butt on the chair and let the walking cane drop to the ground. "Eat, eat."
After those words, everyone grabbed their fork and knife and began to dig into the delicious meal.
"If you\'re planning to be late, please let us know in advance." Aria said, taking a sip of her wine. "You made our children wait."
"At least they have manners to wait." Willhelm said. "I see that your plate is half empty. You were too hungry to wait, perhaps?"
"I don\'t ruin my schedule for you." Aria said and put more food into her mouth. "I am busy, unlike you. You sleep, eat, shit, and repeat. Drop dead already, Willhelm."
The daughters and the sons looked uncomfortable.
It was common to hear this kind of argument from both parents, but it didn\'t make it any less uncomfortable.
"Unfortunately, my body is breaking apart. I don\'t have a spring in my step anymore." Willhelm said. "It\'s sad that I got poisoned. Don\'t you think so, Aria?"
"What\'re you implying?" Aria said with a chuckle. "That I poisoned you? You\'re lowlife, but you\'re my husband. Why would I do such a thing?"
"I never implied anything," Willhelm said. "However, without me, you would have complete control of this family. I fear for the future of my daughters and sons."
"I already am in control of this family." Aria said with a chuckle. "I am the sole breadmaker in his household. You\'re head of the family in nothing but name only."
"What wondrous things you\'ve done with the family." Willhelm said. "You\'ve made a few of our daughters run away. Remember Amella, do you?"
"A worthless daughter." Aria said and took a sip of the red wine.
She had the usual pink skin of someone from Monstrym. Half of the sons and half of the daughters had the same skin color. It was quite exotic and beautiful color.
"Since when did it matter how much worth our children had?" Willhelm asked. "They all should be priceless to us."
When the daughters and the sons heard him, their eyes slightly turned damp. In this household, they hadn\'t heard such words many times, as they were only tools for their mother.
"Haha, what a hypocrite." Aria laughed. "When did you get your golden heart? You\'re a war monger, earned your fortune with arms dealing, and you\'ve suddenly grown a heart? Don\'t kid me, Willhelm!"
"Warmonger..." Willhelm laughed. "My weapons stopped wars. They brought peace and stability to regions torn apart by conflict. I don\'t claim to be a saint. However, I do believe in redemption."
"Redemption, haha!" Aria laughed. "You\'re as delusional as ever, Willhelm."
"Sigh..." Willhelm dropped his fork and knife, picked up his walking cane, and stood from his seat.
When he stood up, the daughters and the sons did so as well. Aria was the only one still standing.
"You may continue eating." Willhelm limped towards the door. "I am not hungry anymore." "Yes, run away from conflict, Willhelm!" Aria yelled after him. "While you run away, I\'ll need to get my hands dirty to protect the future of our family!"
When Willhelm opened the door, he paused for a moment and said, "Mortal Online."
"Hmm?" Aria frowned.
"You\'ve sacrificed our children for glory and life there. Your ambitions are high as the sky. Yet, I do believe, there\'s someone there. Someone special. That will one day kick down your little sand castle."
"I am protected." Aria rose from her seat. "I worked hard to get that protection. My daughters have pleased the King there. No one will be able to touch me!"
"That King, you speak so highly of." Willhelm turned over to him. "Can also die. Get defeated. Lose everything. Just one person is enough to undo everything you did."
"There isn\'t anyone that can do that." Aria said. "King Moriarty is an embodiment of greatness. My daughters will give him strong sons. Their sons will inherit the throne. Darkstar will one day sit on the throne."
"There\'s always someone," Willhelm said. "The world is a big place. I am sure someone has already been born that will challenge him for the throne."
"You don\'t think he doesn\'t know that?" Aria laughed. "King Moriarty is wise. He knows everything that is happening in the world. Whenever someone that can challenge him appears, he\'ll destroy that ember before it could turn into a flame!"Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn
"Hahaha!" Willhelm laughed and walked away. "I now wish to live a few years longer. I want to see this King of yours fall!"
"You want our family to fall?" Aria asked angrily. "You weak-minded fool. You were never ready to make sacrifices to achieve greatness!"
"I want my daughters to make their own decisions." Willhelm looked over to his daughters with a smile. "My dear daughters. Soon, you can do what you want. Doctor, teacher, or even an artist. The choice is yours."
The daughters looked over to him with a soft gaze. They had their own dreams, but whenever they dreamed of something, Aria was there to make sure their dreams would never be
achieved.
Knowing that there could be a future without Moriarty, they felt like crying tears of happiness. Yet they knew how strong he was. It would not be easy to defeat him.
They weren\'t sure whether it would even be possible.
The war was approaching.
Maybe, in this war, King Moriarty would fall.
\'Please don\'t let him win.\'
They prayed inwardly.
They hoped that both Imperial Order and Darkstar would fall in the war.
It didn\'t matter to them who won as long as it wasn\'t one of those two.
Aria\'s face had turned red. She was screaming inwardly and felt the blood boiling inside her.
\'There\'s no way King Moriarty will ever lose. He has never lost a fight!\'
Aria took deep breaths to relax himself. She started to feel better because she knew how
impossible it was to actually defeat him.
She felt extremely confident.
...
In a dark room with a computer screen radiating light, Moriarty drank from a can of soda, his
eyes focused intently on the screen in front of him.
It showed the page of Mortal Online forums. The dark web.
Crack!
He squeezed the can and threw it in a trash can across the room. It landed among the pile of
empty cans.
There were posts about the war. They were speculating about who would win the war.
There was also a poll.
At the top with an 88% chance of victory, Imperial Order was favored to win.
However, there was a heated conversation in the comment section. It was clear that not
everyone agreed with the prediction.
"Hah," Moriarty chuckled. "Everyone is mistaken. There\'s no such thing as war. This is just a
culling. It was about time for the Seven Ancient Guilds to perish." With a laugh, he closed the computer, and the room turned dark.