646 Are You Afraid To Face Our Daughter's Hatred
“Just as you have seen me the last time,” replied the woman whose face was kept hidden under the hood.
Armen stared at the hooded figure for some time without moving. An uncharacteristic stillness settled within the stone chamber, as if each of the three people inside were lost in their own thoughts.
As someone who had sat on the throne for years, weathering all sorts of situations and schemes, Armen was long used to never letting his true emotions surface on his face. He had always been steady and calm, his expression the kind where no one else but him would know his real thoughts.
‘I should have known…’
Sierra was this kind of woman. Her reply held no particular emotions, casual as if they had nothing to do with each other. An insurmountable wall had been placed between them even before he could do more.
He hid the bitterness in his heart as he spoke as if her response never bothered him. “I was expecting you to come to visit our daughter at least once but you never did.”
There was no blame, merely a statement of fact.
“You know why I could not,” came her equally calm reply.
“There is nothing absolute in this world, Sierra. We have been protecting her for years. You could have found a way.”
“This is not a good time to talk about the past, Valen,” Sierra said, her voice growing firm as she addressed him in his old alias. “We have more important things to discuss.”
Armen held back what he wanted to say. He had to understand, to give in, to give way, as always. With a nod, he found himself a seat and faced the two women with an impassive face.
“Yes, you are right. After using our daughter as a tool for saving this world, we still have more important things to discuss.”
There was a bout of silence but then Sierra spoke to defend her choice, “It was to save her life as well. If not for that power inside her, they would have killed her the moment they laid eyes on her. I did it to save both our daughter and the world. Someone has to make a choice, and it happened that I had to make it.”
Armen nodded, his expression still calm.
“A mere human like me finds it difficult to understand the ‘important’ things of your world,” he said, his tone somewhat like that of an old man talking about the vicissitudes of life, a storyteller talking about another person’s life experience. “Perhaps it is because humans are innately greedy and selfish? “If I had the foreknowledge that I was going to have a daughter and her life would be nothing but living hell, I wouldn’t have–“
He stopped what he was going to say, and lifted his head to stare at the ceiling.
“I wonder if this too is destiny, or repercussions of my choices. I have chosen to follow your words, yet I have also chosen to love that daughter of ours. The pain these choices caused to Seren, I have only myself to blame.”
Sierra’s hands that were resting on her thighs clutched on the fabric of her robe. This was the only indication that his words affected her, and even with her outstanding temperament, she could not stop herself from reacting.
On the side, Evanthe casted her a worried gaze, but said nothing.
“Anyways, what do we have to do now?” Armen changed the topic.
“Evanthe will explain it to you,” Sierra replied, her voice quiet as she opted to be a bystander in this discussion.
Was Valen wrong to cast doubt on her choice? It was hard to say who was wrong and right in their situation. Maybe in his eyes…
Sierra silently sighed in her heart. It was a burden she had to carry–the past that no one knew, not even Armen, and because of that past, she and her daughter were getting punished like this.
Evanthe was glad to take over the conversation. In a matter-of-factly tone, she started “In this underground river, we have made preparations for when the sealed power inside Seren…”
The blond witch continued to explain the course of actions they would be taking, as well as the dangers they had to look out for.
The King of Abetha quietly listened to their arrangements. Rather than calling it a discussion, it was more a situation where they were informing him about what to expect on Seren’s coming of age. As a powerless human, he had little part in the actual situation itself.
“I will follow your arrangements,” Armen stated after Evanthe wrapped up the conversation.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard Sierra speak up. “No need to tell Seren who I am that I am her mother.”
The man paused midstep, and after several seconds of hesitation, he turned around to give the hooded woman a flat stare. “Do you think she doesn’t want to meet her mother? Or are you afraid you wouldn’t be able to stop your conscience once she starts to expect something from you?”
“Let the things long buried remain buried, Valen. That child has begun a new chapter of her life with her husband, and we should not let her past continue to shackle her.”
There was no fluctuation on the King of Abetha’s expression as he studied her hooded figure. His gaze landed on her exposed hands, and Sierra shifted to hide her skin under her sleeves.
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Armen’s brutal words were aimed to hurt her, but he himself was hurting as well.
“Are you scared to face your daughter’s hatred, Sierra?”
There was no reply from her. He scoffed, his eyes turning cold. “Don’t run away from reality. We know we both deserve our child’s hate.”
The grip of her hands tightened on her robe, yet she refused to let out a single response.
Fate. Destiny. Sacrifice. Beautiful concepts that brought nothing but pain to him and the people around him.
Was saving the world worth it?
Armen was about to leave, but in the end, he looked at the quiet woman once more. Even though he resented the choices she made, in the end, Sierra was someone he himself could never hate. This woman sacrificed her daughter, but she too made sacrifices of her own. He could not bear to see her wallow like this in pain.
“Sierra,” his voice was soft unlike how bitter it sounded before, “Just remember that your appearance changes nothing.”
Seeing her lack of response, he continued.
“You are still the same woman I loved, and beauty was never the reason I fell deeply for you. Our daughter, she is not the kind of superficial person you fear. She’s young, but she is not unreasonable. If you don’t trust me, at least trust Celia who personally raised her.
“Seren is not a lady who will judge a person from their appearance. She might feel bitterness towards you for abandoning her, but she won’t hate you for your appearance.”
The man departed, his last words a stab to her wavering conscience.
“There is no better coming-of-age gift for that child than to let her meet her mother. You can afford this much, after seventeen years of missed birthdays. Do not hide from our daughter, Sierra.”
The hooded woman’s entire body trembled as a single tear stained the front of her clothes.
His bitter words didn’t affect her as much as his genuine words of assurance. It was evidence that the feelings he had for her remained true, even up to this day.
‘Does hope still exist in your heart, Valen?’
Both Valen and Sierra knew there was no future where they would be together. It was Fate.
A love that cannot be.
Maybe, deep in her heart, a small flame of hope existed as well; otherwise, Sierra would not feel this kind of gut-wrenching pain.
All that was left for them was to protect their precious daughter.
There was no room for selfishness, only responsibility…right?
With King Armen gone, the tears Sierra had been holding back rolled down from her face, drenching the front of her robe.
Evanthe walked towards her and placed a comforting hand over her shoulder. She could understand Sierra’s pain. She was no different from her; she too had failed as a parent and she too would have to face her child as well.
Seren was a neglected child who never felt her mother’s love, while Drayce was a child who experienced love, only to be abandoned afterwards.
Between Sierra and Evanthe, these two mothers, whose sin was worse? Who caused more pain to their child?
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A/N- From 6th to 17/18th march, there won’t be any chapter.