My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1206: Chapter 1207: Do What You Must

His words sounded ominous to her, but Abellona nodded. She wanted to see this through. She wanted to know the whole truth.

”You see, as you already know, Godric Ravenscroft was originally the betrothed of the vice squad leader.”

”What you’re saying is Godric found out she was not only alive but married to a commoner?” She scoffed softly. A normal man might not have tolerated such humiliation, much less a prideful noble.

”Yes. He did, and he did not find that amusing,” Linga said, his gaze fixed on the town below.

”He tried to make the vice squad leader see reason, to give up her current life and return to her father, but she refused. And Godric Ravenscroft did what nobles do best.”

His voice dropped until it was almost a whisper.

”In the battle that came, he intentionally sent a horde of lesser demons toward us. We were overwhelmed, and everyone died except me.”

His breathing became uneven.

”She didn’t even have any remains. None of them did. No one was left alive... just me. Just me. Only me. Why was I the survivor? Why?”

His voice cracked on the last words.

For a moment, Linga stood there trembling before forcing himself to calm down. He closed his eyes, and tears slowly slipped down his cheeks.

”I tried to report it. I tried to get justice for them, for all of them. But what did the military do? Nothing. No, worse than nothing. I was the one who was punished. They treated me like a madman and a liar while he was hailed as a hero.”

Linga pressed a trembling hand against his chest, choking back the tears and the indignation that threatened to overwhelm him.

”You can’t imagine how it felt when he ordered my execution. I was certain I would die without ever getting justice.”

His voice became little more than a whisper.

”But then the goddess was with me, and I was spared. I was disgracefully discharged and made an outcast from society with a broken body.”

He shook his head, his expression bitter and his eyes red from crying.

”That wasn’t the hardest part. It was the pain and the shame of having to go to the squad leader’s village just so I could tell his children that their father and mother were gone. I couldn’t even get them justice. I was too ashamed to face them. All I could do was pass on the final wishes of the vice squad leader to the villagers.”

He raised a finger and dabbed at the tears beneath his eyes.

”Who would have thought those cowardly villagers were even worse than demons? Vile excuses for human beings. They did not fulfill the wishes of their benefactors. Instead, they made their children suffer just to save their own skins.”

Years passed, and Linga lived as a vagrant, caught somewhere between life and death.

He fell silent for a while before continuing, his gaze settling on Abellona.

”I joined the caravan that led me here. It was there that I met a young man. That man was Damon Grey.”

Abellona’s expression remained still.

”He seemed so far removed from the child I remembered. His blue eyes, which once seemed like the sky, had changed into deep fountains of darkness that could pierce the soul. I never forgot the chill of his gaze.”

A strange chuckle escaped him.

”Ironic, wasn’t it? We were heading in the direction of his village, and it was all fated. Yes, fate. I told him everything. He asked me about his parents, and I told him everything. In return, he gave me a potion of unbelievable power. It cured my broken body and gave me wealth I couldn’t have even dreamed of.”

”Our journey ended there, and he left us to chart his own path. We didn’t have a real destination, only a vague hope, but the eccentric group of travelers who joined us helped us find this place. They said it would be safe here, that the war would never reach us.”

He smiled faintly.

”And that was how our town was formed.”

Linga slowly straightened, his story finally coming to an end.

”It wasn’t until a new group of settlers came here that I heard of the death of Godric Ravenscroft at the hands of Amon.”

Abellona listened to his entire story.

Then she bit her lip.

At this point, how could she not figure it out?

How could she not understand?

Godric’s assassination had been the first known instance of Amon killing someone. It was the incident that made his name known and his terror absolute, the immortal Unknown ruler who appeared and disappeared as he pleased.

Who had the greatest motivation to kill Godric?

Obviously, it was Damon Grey.

It had to be Damon Grey.

Abellona felt her legs weaken beneath her.

This was a disaster of epic proportions.

The secret Godric had been hiding was the truth behind the death of Ranar Brightwater, the only daughter of Grand Duke Damian Brightwater, one of the most powerful figures in the empire. She had been the apple of his eye, and if the truth ever became known, it could ignite a terrible civil war between two great houses.

House Ravenscroft would never simply offer Godric’s head.

And Damon had already killed him as Amon.

Of course it was Damon.

Who else could Amon be?

The timeline alone made it almost impossible to deny. Shortly after Damon learned the truth, he killed Godric, a man who had not shown himself to the world in years.

”Who else have you told?” she whispered.

Her hands slowly began to fill with magic power.

”No one but Damon Grey and yourself, Princess,” Linga replied.

He watched her carefully as she slowly raised her hands toward him.

”You understand why I must do this, don’t you?”

He nodded slowly and closed his eyes.

”I do. I owe this second life to him. Do what you must. I only hope my wife and children are spared. They know nothing of this.”

When he said that, Abellona’s hand subconsciously moved toward her abdomen.