Lia returned to the room with the whole party following her. They walked in quietly, each one finding a place to sit—some on the bed, while others sat elsewhere in the room.
The person who sat farthest away was Aaron; he didn’t get too close to Silva. By this time, Silva had healed up enough to sit up, and he noticed that his clothes had been changed.
He sat up on the bed, looking at everyone in the room.
“What about Lena?” he asked first.
“Aaron secured her in one of the rooms. She will not be going anywhere anytime soon,” Lia responded.
“That’s alright,” Silva said and then took a deep breath before looking at his friends, family, and party.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and it was like a bombshell. They had no recollection of him ever apologizing or telling them that he wasn’t from this world, so this was the first time they saw him apologize based on their memory.
Seeing Silva apologize to them for an issue he could have easily blamed them for surprised them. What in the world was happening?
“I understand that in your minds, you are the ones who were wrong for harboring Lena and allowing her to manipulate you into showing your real intentions.
But stop beating yourselves up over something you had no control over. It wasn’t any of your faults. Everyone has had thoughts about one thing or another, and those thoughts do not define you.
Those thoughts are random, popping into the head at any time. Most of you had them because you knew me from long ago, and along the line, I might have gone a little overboard in your eyes, making you wish I were more normal.
I might have given the order to kill someone, and you didn’t really like it, leading to a fleeting imagination of me being a better person.
Those thoughts do not go away; they are stored in your mind, and now Lena was able to do what she wanted to do.
Amber was only unaffected because she never cared for humans or the human world. The me she met is the me she came to like, and she didn’t care what I did—she would follow me. That was because she had no connection to the people I have harmed.
All I have said is not set in stone; it’s only a hypothesis on my part about what Lena’s real power did to you all.
Regardless of what her power really did, don’t hold it against yourselves. You didn’t do anything wrong—I was the one at fault.
Especially you, Aaron. I really should not have snapped that way, and I hope that one day, you’ll be able to forgive me for what I did,” Silva said while looking at Aaron.
“Silva, what are you saying? You are the one I should be apologizing to. After everything I’ve done to you, I should be begging for your forgiveness.
You saved me. You took me away from certain death. The kingdom came after me and tried to assassinate me, and you started a war because of me.
You tore down the government, and even if that was always in your plan, the fact that my attack pissed you off enough to make you rush the attack is already enough for me. I can see how much you actually care, even when you don’t say it.
You have been a guardian over us. Our lives would have been wasted away long ago if you weren’t here. Even today, you fought a battle that none of us had any recollection of, nor even knew what led to it.
And we are very sure that the battle posed a danger to us. You took us away and kept us far from it to protect us.
Looking at all these things, what right do I have to ever hold a blade against you? Yet I did. I stood against you and fought you,” Aaron said.
“No need to play the blame game, Aaron. It’s all my fault. Ranin might not have been real, but she was a girl who lost her brother and had no one to help her at all.
It only made sense that I would have tried to help her, but I acted the way I did—I tried to leave her here. In essence, I am sorry,” Silva said. He adjusted himself on the bed and then continued speaking.
“That being said, we will still be heading to the empire for the demon blood. We will complete the mission, and we will do it together. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire
The empire is still the goal. They have started the production of a better demon blood that actually acts like some sort of transformation spell.
We need answers, and we need as much information as possible, so we will be forcing it out of her. We must ensure that we gain every morsel of information that she has, and then we will be able to head to the empire,” Silva finished. He pushed his feet off the bed and finally stood up.
“The last thing is that I’ve decided to have a home—to build my kingdom into a great kingdom. I want a place where I can actually be happy.
So BlackLight will continue to grow, and I want all of you to keep it at the backs of your minds. It’s our home, after all,” he said and walked out of the room. His feet were a bit wobbly, but he wore a smile.
“Was it just me, or did every word he said send chills up my spine?” Sage asked.
Everyone shook their heads, meaning it wasn’t just him—they had felt it as well.
“Silva is going through a lot, and we have to help out as best as we can. So let’s take some weight off his shoulders. He should be enjoying his youth as well,” Aaron said. “After all, he still is a kid, and so are we.”