Editor: SleepyMango123
Garlan didn’t dare to stop on the way back anymore. For fear that something bad would happen again, he ran back to the small palace beside the crescent pool where he first started.
Because he was running too fast, he became very tired. He stood beside a huge grey-white column. With one hand against the pillar, he panted while slightly bending over, his sweaty face somewhat red.
At this moment, as he was gasping for breath, two teenagers strolled past him and were chatting at the same time. When they saw him, they stopped. One of them glanced at him from the corner of his eye, showing a look of disdain, and turned his head arrogantly, seemingly too lazy to look at him. The other round-faced teenager’s attitude was much better. He walked over to look at him, showing sympathetic eyes.
Sympathy?
Some inexplicable feeling made Garlan look down at the sight of the round-faced boy, and then saw a half-footprint on the side of his clothes, and suddenly realised.
Yes, the little boys who were beaten by him kicked him a few times when he was not paying attention, and left footprints on his clothes. Come to think of it, those bear children should have often bullied him before. Everyone here knew it. In addition to his panting, sweating and embarrassed appearance, in the eyes of others, it was probably that he was being bullied again, so the round-faced teenager showed a sympathetic look when he saw him.
“Did Tarl and the rest bully you again?”
“…”
No, this time, they were bullied by me.
Although he thought so in his heart, Garlan was too lazy to explain. He was not in the mood to deal with this passer-by, so he simply bowed his head, pretending to be sad and silent.
The round-faced boy looked at the child, who was a head shorter than himself. Garlan had his head lowered and did not speak, and he instantly felt more pitiful towards him. Although this child was also born a noble and belonged to the bloodline of the royal family, because of his skin colour, he was treated as a monster.
Although he was fair, delicate, loveable and made others feel pleasant at first sight, after he came here, those who were here first looked down on him behind their backs. They felt that the blood of the lower aristocrat in him had confused the royal family, and secretly ostracised him. Those who came first took the lead, and the other teenagers who came one after another followed them and continued to look down on him.
This child was very stubborn when he was being bullied. Instead of cowering, he showed a haughty look and ignored others, which made them angrier, so he was harassed even more.
Everyone took the bullying of this kid jokingly for fun, and no one took him seriously. Moreover, everyone here was part of the royal family so they were not afraid to cause trouble at all. In addition, this child was so young, coupled with his skin colour, they knew at first glance he was here just to make up the numbers. It was impossible for him to be selected as the King’s Brother, so they bullied him even more unscrupulously.
The round-faced boy looked at Garlan, with eyes showing increasing compassion, a kind of condescending altruism. Garlan saw it after a glance. So when the boy came over to express his kindness, he didn’t answer.
Seeing that he was silent, the round-faced boy felt that the child was weak, and felt even more sympathetic, but continued to look down on him. He directly raised his hand and stuffed a piece of bread in his hands, and said, “Mealtime has passed. Even if you were to head there now, there wouldn’t be any food. Here, take this for dinner.”
The bread was originally taken out of convenience and he wanted to go back and feed the birds. Seeing that the child was so pitiful, he gave it to him.
No more food?
Garlan was taken aback. He then realised that due to a series of bad luck, the sun had already set in the west.
After thinking about it, he didn’t refuse and took the bread from the other party.
With eyes like large gems, his appearance was adorable and he looked obedient when he pursed his lips and did not speak. He stood there, holding a big piece of bread with two small hands, and looked like a pet. The sweaty light blonde hair stuck softly to his cream-white cheeks, making him look miserable but cute. Even the boy who didn’t like him at first couldn’t help but glance at him. The round-faced boy who handed him the bread rubbed Garlan’s head even more.
“Just endure today. It’ll be over tomorrow, and you can go home.”
After speaking, he didn’t continue and went off with his companion.
Whether it was he, his companions, or the others, they didn’t take Garlan seriously at all. They all agreed that the title of King’s Brother would definitely not fall on this impure child.
Hearing this, Garlan’s heart jumped.
What this person was trying to say was… Tomorrow was the date to choose the younger brother from this group of candidates?
He suddenly became anxious.
This was too fast. He did not have time to do anything.
He had to directly go for an examination tomorrow?
He was unprepared, and it was a textbook test. Even if he were to cram before the test, he still had no idea what to study. How could he be selected as the King’s Brother like this?
His head grew big1 when he thought of this.
For this long journey of a thousand miles and yet not even the first step was taken, was the sand sinking and the halberd broken?2
Garlan thought bitterly.
If he couldn’t become the king’s brother, he would not have the right to succeed to the throne.
Without the right of succession to the throne, he would not be able to ascend the throne.
If he did not ascend to the throne, he was afraid that Heimos would take the throne.
In this way, the trajectory of fate could not be changed, his mission would still fail. The kingdom would still be destroyed because of the gods’ anger, and he would still be cursed by the gods, causing him not to be able to reach adulthood…
In this way, even if he were to return to his original world, he would not live long,
because he would die before he was eighteen.
The blond kid opened his mouth. With ‘ah’ and ‘wu’, he took a bite of the long bread in his hand and chewed the bread as though it were Heimos.
While biting on the bread, he walked to his room contemplatively.
In any case, he must find a way to become the king’s brother.
But if he were not selected…
The child paused when he bit the bread.
He suddenly stopped in place, motionless, his mouth still maintained the weird posture of engulfing the bread that had not been bitten off.
At this moment, his pupils shrank violently
…What if he was not selected?
…
If he wasn’t selected, he couldn’t become the king’s brother.
If he wasn’t the king’s brother, he wouldn’t have the right to succeed to the throne.
This strange thought flashed through his mind, and Garlan felt his heart beat violently.
Subconsciously, he held his breath.
If he didn’t have the right to the throne…Heimos… Was there still any reason to kill him?
Garlan firmly grasped the long loaf in his hand, almost breaking it with his fingers.
His eyes lit up at this moment, and he seemed to see the dawn of his originally destined bleak future at this moment.
No, there wasn’t.
There was no reason to kill him.
If he wasn’t the king’s brother and didn’t have the right to succeed to the throne, Heimos would not kill him.
Then he could live!
…
Garlan became excited and felt that this approach was quite feasible.
The so-called curse of not surviving to eighteen was imposed on him by the gods after the fall of this kingdom. In other words, in this life, he did not have this curse on him now.
The reason why he died in the first four rebirths was because he fought against Heimos for the throne, not because he was killed by the curse.
From the beginning, he had no interest in fighting for the throne. If it hadn’t been for the voice warning him about the consequences of being unable to correct the trajectory of his fate, he would never do something he wasn’t good at.
From the beginning, his sole purpose was to just not die.
If it was just to avoid dying, then by changing his mindset, he now had another way to keep himself alive.
As long as he wasn’t the king’s brother, he would not compete with Heimos for the throne.
Then, he can live steadily in this world as Garlan, an ordinary member of the royal family with their bloodline.
He was not Heimos’s opponent.
Garlan knew this very well.
Not because of ability, but because of desire.
He lacked the terrible ambitions Heimos had.
He didn’t know the reason, but he could see that Heimos had an extremely strong desire for the throne to become his, even if it destroyed everything.
An obsession that was almost crazy.
That kind of mad obsession drove Heimos to bathe his hands in blood without hesitation, and step on the broken limbs of his opponents. He walked the road paved with bones, and eventually sat on the blood-stained throne.
And yet he couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t beat this lunatic.
So, time and time again, he could only be defeated.
…
Immersed in his wild thoughts, Garlan had unknowingly returned to his own residence.
He lied on the bed and stared straight at the roof in a daze.
To be honest, he didn’t really understand what the so-called gods thought. Why did he have to sit on the throne? Why must the so-called destiny make him the king of this kingdom?
He had always felt that Heimos was more suitable to sit on the throne compared to him…
A powerful, ambitious and passionate king was not a bad thing for this kingdom.
Moreover, outsiders had heard that Heimos was cruel and would definitely become a tyrant in the future, but as an opponent Garlan knew that Heimos’ cruelty and violence were only directed towards the enemy. He would never harm ordinary citizens.
On the wide bed, the child nestled on the soft bed closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.
So be it.
He thought.
He couldn’t beat Heimos, so he’d stay away from him.
He didn’t have the ability to correct his destiny, so he could only ask the divine envoy3 to search for his other reincarnations to complete this task.
Heimos, after tomorrow, you’ll become the King’s Brother, and I’ll return to my hometown.
In this life, you and I will have nothing to do with each other.
…
…
Ah, the weather is so nice.
The early morning sun was bright and not poisonous, and the cool night wind swept across the crescent-shaped water surface of the pool. It brought a little moist breath, gently passing under the sky.
Standing in the courtyard, the child bathed in the sun raised his head and looked at the boundless blue sky, his pale golden hair flying softly like catkins, reflecting a faint golden lustre.
Now that he had made up his mind to give up the throne, Garlan naturally had no pressure. He stepped on the steps and looked at the white and lavender hyacinths swaying in the wind by the pool, and he lifted it with ease. He stretched his hand and felt that he was in a very good mood.
Even the looks of the other people around him who were ignoring him or giving him looks of disgust couldn’t affect his good mood. He felt that he shouldn’t bother with those little brats. Anyway, after today, he’d probably go back to his house. In this lifetime, he wasn’t sure if he would ever meet them again.
He had already begun to wonder how not to expose his abnormality in front of those “family members” after returning to his ‘home’. Garlan hadn’t noticed at all when some of the teenagers who looked behind him had an expression of looking forward to a good show.
Suddenly someone slammed into him from behind, causing him to stagger. There happened to be a stone step below his feet. As he wasn’t standing firmly, his whole body fell to the front.
At the moment he was falling, Garlan raised his eyes and saw a chubby boy standing on the steps and sneering at him.
This fatty.
He cursed in his heart, closed his eyes, and sat waiting to die.4
However, just when he was ready to fall on all fours in embarrassment, he did not fall onto the ground.
When he staggered down the steps, he bumped into someone from the back.
Then, a pair of hands firmly held his shoulders while supporting him.
Garlan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to thank the man who held him.
As soon as he turned his head and saw the person behind him, his eyes widened, and the words of gratitude got stuck in his throat.
At the same time, before he could react, his body lightened, and he was already being carried.
“Does your feet still hurt?”
The voice of the teenager in the adolescence period was a bit hoarse and unpleasant, but his tone was gentle.
Garlan, who was hugged, looked at this familiar face in front of him. The golden-red eyes that looked at him with questioning eyes made his feelings very complicated.
Now, there was still light in these golden red eyes. In eight years time, these eyes would be completely entrenched in hellish darkness, similar to the underworld.
Garlan couldn’t help but to think.
Within these eight years, what caused the boy in front of him to turn into a brutal and savage demon?
1
It means for the head to hurt while he pondered. It means that the matter was too troublesome to solve.
2It means that the broken halberd sank in the sand. Used to describe the failure of something disastrous. From the novel, “Red Cliff”, by Tang Du Mu.
3A messenger or representative, especially one on a diplomatic mission.
4Sitting and waiting for death; a metaphor of not taking active measures when encountering danger and waiting for failure. Does not literally mean that Garlan was physically sitting.
Editor: SleepyMango123
Garlan didn’t dare to stop on the way back anymore. For fear that something bad would happen again, he ran back to the small palace beside the crescent pool where he first started.
Because he was running too fast, he became very tired. He stood beside a huge grey-white column. With one hand against the pillar, he panted while slightly bending over, his sweaty face somewhat red.
At this moment, as he was gasping for breath, two teenagers strolled past him and were chatting at the same time. When they saw him, they stopped. One of them glanced at him from the corner of his eye, showing a look of disdain, and turned his head arrogantly, seemingly too lazy to look at him. The other round-faced teenager’s attitude was much better. He walked over to look at him, showing sympathetic eyes.
Sympathy?
Some inexplicable feeling made Garlan look down at the sight of the round-faced boy, and then saw a half-footprint on the side of his clothes, and suddenly realised.
Yes, the little boys who were beaten by him kicked him a few times when he was not paying attention, and left footprints on his clothes. Come to think of it, those bear children should have often bullied him before. Everyone here knew it. In addition to his panting, sweating and embarrassed appearance, in the eyes of others, it was probably that he was being bullied again, so the round-faced teenager showed a sympathetic look when he saw him.
“Did Tarl and the rest bully you again?”
“…”
No, this time, they were bullied by me.
Although he thought so in his heart, Garlan was too lazy to explain. He was not in the mood to deal with this passer-by, so he simply bowed his head, pretending to be sad and silent.
The round-faced boy looked at the child, who was a head shorter than himself. Garlan had his head lowered and did not speak, and he instantly felt more pitiful towards him. Although this child was also born a noble and belonged to the bloodline of the royal family, because of his skin colour, he was treated as a monster.
Although he was fair, delicate, loveable and made others feel pleasant at first sight, after he came here, those who were here first looked down on him behind their backs. They felt that the blood of the lower aristocrat in him had confused the royal family, and secretly ostracised him. Those who came first took the lead, and the other teenagers who came one after another followed them and continued to look down on him.
This child was very stubborn when he was being bullied. Instead of cowering, he showed a haughty look and ignored others, which made them angrier, so he was harassed even more.
Everyone took the bullying of this kid jokingly for fun, and no one took him seriously. Moreover, everyone here was part of the royal family so they were not afraid to cause trouble at all. In addition, this child was so young, coupled with his skin colour, they knew at first glance he was here just to make up the numbers. It was impossible for him to be selected as the King’s Brother, so they bullied him even more unscrupulously.
The round-faced boy looked at Garlan, with eyes showing increasing compassion, a kind of condescending altruism. Garlan saw it after a glance. So when the boy came over to express his kindness, he didn’t answer.
Seeing that he was silent, the round-faced boy felt that the child was weak, and felt even more sympathetic, but continued to look down on him. He directly raised his hand and stuffed a piece of bread in his hands, and said, “Mealtime has passed. Even if you were to head there now, there wouldn’t be any food. Here, take this for dinner.”
The bread was originally taken out of convenience and he wanted to go back and feed the birds. Seeing that the child was so pitiful, he gave it to him.
No more food?
Garlan was taken aback. He then realised that due to a series of bad luck, the sun had already set in the west.
After thinking about it, he didn’t refuse and took the bread from the other party.
With eyes like large gems, his appearance was adorable and he looked obedient when he pursed his lips and did not speak. He stood there, holding a big piece of bread with two small hands, and looked like a pet. The sweaty light blonde hair stuck softly to his cream-white cheeks, making him look miserable but cute. Even the boy who didn’t like him at first couldn’t help but glance at him. The round-faced boy who handed him the bread rubbed Garlan’s head even more.
“Just endure today. It’ll be over tomorrow, and you can go home.”
After speaking, he didn’t continue and went off with his companion.
Whether it was he, his companions, or the others, they didn’t take Garlan seriously at all. They all agreed that the title of King’s Brother would definitely not fall on this impure child.
Hearing this, Garlan’s heart jumped.
What this person was trying to say was… Tomorrow was the date to choose the younger brother from this group of candidates?
He suddenly became anxious.
This was too fast. He did not have time to do anything.
He had to directly go for an examination tomorrow?
He was unprepared, and it was a textbook test. Even if he were to cram before the test, he still had no idea what to study. How could he be selected as the King’s Brother like this?
His head grew big1 when he thought of this.
For this long journey of a thousand miles and yet not even the first step was taken, was the sand sinking and the halberd broken?2
Garlan thought bitterly.
If he couldn’t become the king’s brother, he would not have the right to succeed to the throne.
Without the right of succession to the throne, he would not be able to ascend the throne.
If he did not ascend to the throne, he was afraid that Heimos would take the throne.
In this way, the trajectory of fate could not be changed, his mission would still fail. The kingdom would still be destroyed because of the gods’ anger, and he would still be cursed by the gods, causing him not to be able to reach adulthood…
In this way, even if he were to return to his original world, he would not live long,
because he would die before he was eighteen.
The blond kid opened his mouth. With ‘ah’ and ‘wu’, he took a bite of the long bread in his hand and chewed the bread as though it were Heimos.
While biting on the bread, he walked to his room contemplatively.
In any case, he must find a way to become the king’s brother.
But if he were not selected…
The child paused when he bit the bread.
He suddenly stopped in place, motionless, his mouth still maintained the weird posture of engulfing the bread that had not been bitten off.
At this moment, his pupils shrank violently
…What if he was not selected?
…
If he wasn’t selected, he couldn’t become the king’s brother.
If he wasn’t the king’s brother, he wouldn’t have the right to succeed to the throne.
This strange thought flashed through his mind, and Garlan felt his heart beat violently.
Subconsciously, he held his breath.
If he didn’t have the right to the throne…Heimos… Was there still any reason to kill him?
Garlan firmly grasped the long loaf in his hand, almost breaking it with his fingers.
His eyes lit up at this moment, and he seemed to see the dawn of his originally destined bleak future at this moment.
No, there wasn’t.
There was no reason to kill him.
If he wasn’t the king’s brother and didn’t have the right to succeed to the throne, Heimos would not kill him.
Then he could live!
…
Garlan became excited and felt that this approach was quite feasible.
The so-called curse of not surviving to eighteen was imposed on him by the gods after the fall of this kingdom. In other words, in this life, he did not have this curse on him now.
The reason why he died in the first four rebirths was because he fought against Heimos for the throne, not because he was killed by the curse.
From the beginning, he had no interest in fighting for the throne. If it hadn’t been for the voice warning him about the consequences of being unable to correct the trajectory of his fate, he would never do something he wasn’t good at.
From the beginning, his sole purpose was to just not die.
If it was just to avoid dying, then by changing his mindset, he now had another way to keep himself alive.
As long as he wasn’t the king’s brother, he would not compete with Heimos for the throne.
Then, he can live steadily in this world as Garlan, an ordinary member of the royal family with their bloodline.
He was not Heimos’s opponent.
Garlan knew this very well.
Not because of ability, but because of desire.
He lacked the terrible ambitions Heimos had.
He didn’t know the reason, but he could see that Heimos had an extremely strong desire for the throne to become his, even if it destroyed everything.
An obsession that was almost crazy.
That kind of mad obsession drove Heimos to bathe his hands in blood without hesitation, and step on the broken limbs of his opponents. He walked the road paved with bones, and eventually sat on the blood-stained throne.
And yet he couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t beat this lunatic.
So, time and time again, he could only be defeated.
…
Immersed in his wild thoughts, Garlan had unknowingly returned to his own residence.
He lied on the bed and stared straight at the roof in a daze.
To be honest, he didn’t really understand what the so-called gods thought. Why did he have to sit on the throne? Why must the so-called destiny make him the king of this kingdom?
He had always felt that Heimos was more suitable to sit on the throne compared to him…
A powerful, ambitious and passionate king was not a bad thing for this kingdom.
Moreover, outsiders had heard that Heimos was cruel and would definitely become a tyrant in the future, but as an opponent Garlan knew that Heimos’ cruelty and violence were only directed towards the enemy. He would never harm ordinary citizens.
On the wide bed, the child nestled on the soft bed closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.
So be it.
He thought.
He couldn’t beat Heimos, so he’d stay away from him.
He didn’t have the ability to correct his destiny, so he could only ask the divine envoy3 to search for his other reincarnations to complete this task.
Heimos, after tomorrow, you’ll become the King’s Brother, and I’ll return to my hometown.
In this life, you and I will have nothing to do with each other.
…
…
Ah, the weather is so nice.
The early morning sun was bright and not poisonous, and the cool night wind swept across the crescent-shaped water surface of the pool. It brought a little moist breath, gently passing under the sky.
Standing in the courtyard, the child bathed in the sun raised his head and looked at the boundless blue sky, his pale golden hair flying softly like catkins, reflecting a faint golden lustre.
Now that he had made up his mind to give up the throne, Garlan naturally had no pressure. He stepped on the steps and looked at the white and lavender hyacinths swaying in the wind by the pool, and he lifted it with ease. He stretched his hand and felt that he was in a very good mood.
Even the looks of the other people around him who were ignoring him or giving him looks of disgust couldn’t affect his good mood. He felt that he shouldn’t bother with those little brats. Anyway, after today, he’d probably go back to his house. In this lifetime, he wasn’t sure if he would ever meet them again.
He had already begun to wonder how not to expose his abnormality in front of those “family members” after returning to his ‘home’. Garlan hadn’t noticed at all when some of the teenagers who looked behind him had an expression of looking forward to a good show.
Suddenly someone slammed into him from behind, causing him to stagger. There happened to be a stone step below his feet. As he wasn’t standing firmly, his whole body fell to the front.
At the moment he was falling, Garlan raised his eyes and saw a chubby boy standing on the steps and sneering at him.
This fatty.
He cursed in his heart, closed his eyes, and sat waiting to die.4
However, just when he was ready to fall on all fours in embarrassment, he did not fall onto the ground.
When he staggered down the steps, he bumped into someone from the back.
Then, a pair of hands firmly held his shoulders while supporting him.
Garlan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to thank the man who held him.
As soon as he turned his head and saw the person behind him, his eyes widened, and the words of gratitude got stuck in his throat.
At the same time, before he could react, his body lightened, and he was already being carried.
“Does your feet still hurt?”
The voice of the teenager in the adolescence period was a bit hoarse and unpleasant, but his tone was gentle.
Garlan, who was hugged, looked at this familiar face in front of him. The golden-red eyes that looked at him with questioning eyes made his feelings very complicated.
Now, there was still light in these golden red eyes. In eight years time, these eyes would be completely entrenched in hellish darkness, similar to the underworld.
Garlan couldn’t help but to think.
Within these eight years, what caused the boy in front of him to turn into a brutal and savage demon?
1
It means for the head to hurt while he pondered. It means that the matter was too troublesome to solve.
2It means that the broken halberd sank in the sand. Used to describe the failure of something disastrous. From the novel, “Red Cliff”, by Tang Du Mu.
3A messenger or representative, especially one on a diplomatic mission.
4Sitting and waiting for death; a metaphor of not taking active measures when encountering danger and waiting for failure. Does not literally mean that Garlan was physically sitting.
