Mother...
Just a single word was enough for him to rouse many emotions.
It would be a lie to say that he was not curious. At first, he was dying of curiosity just to know a bit about her.
He asked the Goddess and also asked his people to gather information and even asked Yvonne for help, but everything was for nought.
Even the Goddess didn't give any substantial detail about her and the only thing they said was that she died shortly after giving birth to him.
Maybe it was due to her death and some other complications, he had become an imbecile but still, he wanted to know about her origin, and her life and wanted to look at her picture.
The only one who could tell Alex about his mother was none other than the man before him staring at him weirdly.
Many times, he has thought of making an appointment and asking him directly but his last bit of reason held him back.
What if this person hates him and thinks he is the killer of his wife for giving birth to him?
What if he is an illegitimate child and The Emperor had taken pity on him and didn't disclose or if he isn't even his child still this might be bearable for him?
But what if this man hated his mother and left her alone to die, tortured him and his mother might die due to malnutrition and wasn't able to give a safe birth died?
If he heard the misgivings straight from his man's lips then he might not be able to hold himself back and pounce on him and tear him apart.
So, Alex decided to wait until he got stronger. Strong enough to defy the entire Empire where no one may find the courage to even raise their sword at him. Only then, he can fork out about his mother's past and soothe the hatred.
"How was my mother?"
Kevin smiled and looked up"She was domineering, valiant and as sharp as a sword."
"Ruthless enough to freeze anyone and kind enough to make even stone melt."
"No one knows her properly but everyone fears her." Kevin's expression distorted as he spoke the last words which made Alex feel as if he was his mother had harmed this man greatly.
"Do you want to know more?" Kevin raised his brows trying to tantalize him for something.
Alex shook his head and came to his senses.
"Are you trying to force me and make me do something in exchange for speaking about my mother's past?"
"You are quite sharp in matters like this."He smirked like a devilish wolf.
Alex's eyes became bloodshot and he clenched his fist trying to calm himself down.
"But I am not forcing you to do anything against your will. I am only saying that you are still not worthy enough to know about her."
"You need to prove yourself dependable and have the power to know about her. Because once you know about her, you can't go back."
"It will be the end of the road and knowing about her now may harm you more."
Alex tried to maintain his firm look but his expression wavered a bit.
'Why is he speaking as if my mother was a great immortal and comes from a very strong clan consisting of crooked and narrow-minded people?'
Alex took a deep breath and asked"So, when are you willing to tell me everything?"
"Naturally, when you prove yourself?"
"How!"
"Only time will tell whether you have grown up or not to the point of bearing the burden."
"What kind of burden are you talking about?"
"The burden of knowing her name."
"Even I wasn't able to take the burden of knowing her name."
"Did she deceive you or something with a fake identity?" Alex spoke while rubbing his chin. Maybe this man hates his mother for keeping a secret and breaking his heart which caused the fall out of the relationship.
"Haaaa….Mother, why did you do that?"
Kevin was perplexed for a moment and spoke in a flustered manner" You can say that."
"I see. I understand you old man."
Though Alex felt that this man was speaking unreasonably and trying to lead him somewhere and force him to do something, there was no way he could refute him for now.
Betrayal might have hurt him.
Kevin noticed Alex's gaze of pity and a thick vein bulged on his forehead.
"Stop pitting me. You are overthinking. It wasn't that bad."
"I understand. Your pride may be unable to accept it."
Kevin had an urge of slapping this boy and held him back.
"Follow me quietly."
Kevin walked towards the map, where a huge map of the world was placed and stared at it carefully.
Alex noticed the map and saw many red points around it.
Kinley lies at the centre with two human Empires beside it and at the top lies Elves Continent followed by Demon Continent in the Northern land.
Dwarves stayed in the southern rocky mountains and mostly stayed underground, the mountains contained a rich vein with flames.
"The red points are danger zones. The Dark Elves with the help of Demons were able to secure a portion of land linked with our Northern border and started to have a minor skirmish."
"Arkham Empire is at constant war with Demons."
"Only the Harold Empire is safe from the war but they are slowly baring our fangs at us from the East though we haven't fought, they are gathering troops."
"We have already had many minor wars against them."
"Everyone seemed to want a pie nowadays."
Alex waited for Kevin to finish and asked"Do you want me to go to the Northern part to finish things or the south to defend?"
"Tsk!" Kevin clicked his tongue and spoke.
"Neither of the two."
He pointed to his hand and said, "I want you to go towards the Western Border close to Arkham."
Alex's gaze rotated between the map and the man while wondering if he had heard something wrong.
There were no danger zones, no signs or skirmishes in that region so he wasn't able to figure out his motive.
"I am sure you are not sending me to a holiday spot there so I assume, Arkham will be waging war or The Demons might be sneaking in."
"Who Knows."
"I am asking you to prepare as per the situation arises."
"You can take your men along with you and you will be in charge of that area from now on."
"You are not general but your authority will be similar to him."
Alex nodded and asked some more queries to get a hang of the situation. Both the Northern and Eastern fronts are hanging out well so unless something odd happens, there is no chance of their falling.
As the time to leave drew near, Alex gave a profound gaze and asked"I know you don't want to say anything about my mother but can you at least answer me whether I am an illegitimate child or not."
"Was my mother a maid, or someone you have taken pity on or something happened in the spu-r!"
Alex wasn't able to finish the sentence as the temperature of the place pummelling suddenly and Kevin's figure radiated killing intent.
Alex heard a deep heavy voice, which gave him chills.
"Who!"
"Where did you hear this?"
"I remember the last time someone said this, his head had been cut and those who dared to utter the words were tongue cut so from whom did you hear?"
Alex swallowed his saliva seeing his father changing gears out of nowhere and spoke"No, one spoke about it. I just got the hang of the rumours on the search."
Kevin walked towards Alex and patted his shoulder.
Alex felt a current going down their spine.
"Listen, your mother is neither maid nor my lover. We have married properly and anyone calling you an illegitimate child or your mother low born is my problem to deal with. That's something I will oversee."
"Now, you can go back."
Alex nodded after giving him an odd look and started to walk out after looking at things.
For a moment, he thought that The Emperor looked quite lonely and desolate to the point, he was able to draw his pity.
Alex opened the door and went out but suddenly feeling his body heating up.
"Haa!"
"What happened?"
Alex felt uncomfortable and unable to breathe and his body heated up to the point his skin became red hot.
"System, what the hell happened?" Alex muttered but he felt no response from the system.
No, he felt as if there was no system.
A sense of distress welled up in him and his steps staggered and before Alex could figure out anything he fell on the ground.
His vision started to become blurry and his senses disappeared.
"Damn! I knew it, that old man must have done something."
This was the last thing, he muttered before passing out.
