Murmurs spread through the crowd like a virus. Lidia's face was completely shocked. She didn't expect Maria to answer that question in such a way. Maria still held her posture and continued looking at Lidia as if what she said wasn't shocking at all.
"That's... good enough! Welcome to the Rose Family Maria!"
The crowd was still recovering from the strange answer Maria gave before slowly starting to clap out of respect. Jacob himself felt the world freeze. A few of the passerby's noticed his presence and started whispering amongst themselves.
'I think it's time to call it a day.'
Maria, along with all the other members of the Rose Clan, all filed their way into the palace one after another. Jacob had to wait patiently for some of the crowd to disperse before he could squeeze himself through with his crutches.
He climbed the stairs one step at a time to make sure he wouldn't lose his balance and fall backwards. When he reached the top, he made his way inside to try and go back to his room.
'I'll just read or something the rest of the night. I have a feeling whatever just happened isn't going to be too good for me when the news reaches my father.'
After throwing himself down the hall for a while, Jacob finally reached his room. He slowly crept open his door to walk inside. However, when the door flew open, he saw his father already waiting for him in his room. He was staring out Jacob's one window with a distant expression.
'Oh shit...'
"Please have a seat, Jacob."
Jacob didn't say anything. He just crutched his way towards his bed and sat down.
"My oh my. Where do I even begin?"
The king slowly turned around to face him.
"So, what is it you're hiding from me?"
Jacob met his father's gaze with a stern one of his own.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Are you lying to your own father? Are you lying to the king?"
His father slowly crept forward with a foreboding gait. Jacob couldn't contain some of the pent-up anger he had and let something slip from his mind.
"King? Are you sure that's what you are after all that you've done? All that you do? What is it that you do, exactly?"
The king was glooming over Jacob like a building, but Jacob didn't back down. He held his chin up making sure his father knew he wasn't scared of him.
"I protect this kingdom. That's what I do. That's what I have always done. This kingdom is everything to me."
"No. You are the one who's lying now. This kingdom doesn't mean anything to you."
"You have no idea of the sacrifices I've had to make for this kingdom, boy."
"Oh, I have an idea alright. Tell me again why we have the great clans? Is it to 'balance the power' or is it just a pretty way of keeping an eye on the threats?"
"Hmm... I wonder who you got all these crazy ideas from."
"They're all my own original ideas. Believe it or not, your son is actually more capable than you may realize."
"I didn't come here to argue with you today, so don't push me any further."
Jacob's instincts were screaming at him to retort, to throw a punch, to yell at the top of his lungs. However, against his better judgement, Jacob decided to remain silent and listen to his father.
"I want to talk to you about your mother."
"Why? Why now at of all times?"
"I think it's time I told you the truth about her, Jacob."
Jacob's anger was slowly being drowned by curiosity.
"What do you mean? What's wrong with her?"
"Your mother... she was a commoner."
Jacob's world spun upside down upon hearing this.
"A commoner? What do you mean?"
"I met her when I was a young prince. She worked at this bar that me and some acquaintances would frequent. The very moment I saw her, I immediately fell in love. I would purposely go to the bar every single night in hopes she would be there. She was the loveliest woman I had ever laid eyes on."
Hearing this story from his father felt alien to Jacob. His father had never been so open or honest with him before. Jacob didn't know what to say so he just kept listening.
"Eventually, I finally worked up the courage to ask her out. To my amazing luck, she actually said yes. We spent days upon days in each other's presence. She would be with me when I trained, be with me when I ate, and I would even escort her back to her place in the kingdom every night making sure she got home safe. Every now and then, we would go outside the kingdom and roll around in the boundless meadows of flowers. We would lay down and let the grass pierce our backs while we looked up at the incredible vastness of the night sky."
For the first time in his whole life, Jacob saw the king getting a bit emotional.
"She was my world; she was my everything. She felt like a piece of me that I had desperately desired to be a part of my whole. I couldn't look at anything without thinking of her. The very ground I walked under had me ponder if she had walked a similar path I had. Luckily, years later, I was able to have her hand in marriage and be blessed with you."
Jacob still didn't know what to say, but he noticed something odd about the king said.
'Did he just say he was blessed to have me?'
"Everything in my life was perfect. I had power, a lovely family and riches that would last generations. That was until we discovered something terrifying outside the kingdom's walls."
Jacob leaned off of his bed to hear his father better.
"We discovered people. A large group of people who had their own kingdom hundreds, possibly thousands of miles away from us. However, the leader of these people was not friendly. He was evil beyond all measure. All he craved was power and when he found out our kingdom existed, he started hunting us down like prey. I sent a multitude of forces to deal with them as well as your uncle to get become a spy and gain an understanding of this man's power. However, it was useless. Your uncle failed his mission and returned home with nothing. In response to this, your mother volunteered to lead a desperate siege to halt this threat in its tracks."
Tears started coming out of the king's eyes.
"I pleaded for her not to go, I got on my knees and begged, but it was no use. Her mind was made up. That was just the kind of person your mom was. That man out there took everything from me; this world took everything from me. So, I ask you this: what is the reason why I lost everything?"
Jacob hesitated to realize his father was asking him a question now.
"I-I'm not sure."
"It's because I am weak. Your mother as well, was weak. If she was strong enough, if I was strong enough, she would still be here with me. From that day on, I decided to prepare you for this harsh world myself. I couldn't allow myself to take it easy on you anymore. You were the only part of her that she left behind for me. You are my only son, who I love more than anything in this world."
Tears started coming out of Jacob's eyes as well. For the first time in years, he had heard his father say he loved him. And yet...
The king wiped his own face with his hand and continued.
"I'm sorry I hid this from you for so long. It feels like if I would have told you sooner, you would not have taken training as seriously."
The king stood up and started slowly walking towards the exit of his room. Without looking back, he said his final few words.
"Just... make sure no one holds you back. Stay alive, for me."
Jacob was left to the silence of his room. He was dumbfounded. However, this information he heard wasn't shocking to him. In fact, it was absolutely infuriating to him because Jacob knew almost every word that came out of the king's mouth was a lie. All of it was an act.
The first indication was his father opening up to him about something, which Jacob initially thought was possible at first until the next few things happened. The second thing was the king started tearing up. If there was one thing Jacob knew about his father, it was that he was one emotionless bastard. Even when it came to his own mother, he was always stone-faced. The last thing was the dead giveaway. His father told Jacob that he loved him. Jacob had never heard those words from his father for as long as he was conscious to understand words.
The king slowly walked down the hall, back towards the throne room and rubbed his face.
"This was a final desperate gamble to get that woman away from my son. Hopefully I put on a good enough performance for the little brat to believe it. No son of mine will be with a common blood."