Free Web NovelChapter 350: Family I Chose
"It’s been a long time."
"...?"
Albe spoke as he and Caribert faced their father for the first time in years.
The man looked at them suspiciously as though asking who they were.
Albe had not expected anything.
The fact that their father had never come looking for them had already told him everything he needed to know.
To him, they had never been important.
Still, realizing that the man could not even remember his own children’s faces made Albe feel his heart grow cold.
"I regret ever wasting time worrying about you."
Their father had never shown the slightest interest in them.
But at the same time, he had never directly said or done anything to them either.
Unlike their mother, he had never constantly berated them or struck them for disobedience.
That was why Albe had never felt much hatred or anger toward him.
Even when Caribrrt disappeared, their father had neither searched for him nor tried to stop Albe from searching.
But now...
"You laid hands on my family. Caribert cried because of you, and Qiong Xing... You mean nothing to me. You’re not my family."
Qiong Xing and the others were his family.
They laughed together, got angry together, and cried together.
They embraced one another and said, Thank you for being here.
They smiled and said, I love you.
Albe had learned how wonderful that felt.
He had learned how much happiness those moments brought.
That was why he would never forgive anyone who tried to take that away.
Even if that person was his father.
Qiong Xing would never blame him or his brother.
The one who had hurt Qiong Xing was not Albe.
But their parent had committed those acts, and as his children, they could not deny that they had failed to stop him.
"You reached out to him because of nothing more than curiosity. Maybe to you he was just an interesting toy. But to me, he’s precious family. Do you really think I’d stay silent after you hurt someone so important to me?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
The family revolved around Qiong Xing.
Albe himself was no exception.
Because Qiong Xing was there, everyone was happy.
Because Qiong Xing was there, everyone found the strength to keep moving forward.
When he was hurt, everyone worried together.
When he smiled, everyone smiled with relief.
That was because Qiong Xing always did the same for them.
He stayed by their side.
He wrapped them in kindness.
He accepted them without hesitation.
"Family? And what use is something like that?"
The man laughed dismissively.
Albe realized that they were fundamentally different.
This man trusted no one but himself and had no desire to stand beside anyone else.
The very idea of measuring family by whether they were useful or not was wrong.
"That’s why you’re going to die. Alone and miserable."
"Alone? How laughable. Unlike inferior humans who cannot survive without holding each other’s hands, demons are solitary creatures. The strongest stand at the top. Do not compare us to incompetent fools like you who cannot survive without relying on others."
Despite losing his right arm and continuing to bleed, the man rose to his feet and smiled eerily.
"If I had known it would come to this, I should have killed that human immediately and taken his magic power. I thought he might at least provide some entertainment."
"Shut up!"
Consumed by rage, Leander charged forward and swung his sword.
The attack was blocked effortlessly and Leander was thrown aside.
Even after suffering injuries this severe, the man was still capable of fighting.
"The weaker the dog, the louder it barks. What could filthy beasts like you possibly protect?"
Leander and Elias attacked again in fury.
Once more, they were repelled.
"Guh!"
However, the man failed to react to the blade approaching from behind.
Joa’s sword drove deep into his abdomen.
"Didn’t see that one? Don’t think you’ll walk away alive after hurting someone’s mate."
Unlike Leander and Elias, Joa did not display his emotions openly.
Yet the quiet fury radiating from him was enough to make even Albe’s hands tremble.
"...Heh. Hehehe. Hahahahahaha! Mates? An inferior human and filthy beasts became mates? I see. So that’s why he rejected me so completely. What a truly foolish man. To possess that much magic power and choose beasts as mates, to call worthless demons his children. How ridicu..."
Before he could finish speaking, his left arm suddenly exploded apart.
Everyone froze in shock.
"You will never be forgiven."
The voice belonged to one of the younger children.
After seeing Qiong Xing hurt and hearing their family insulted, the boy’s eyes burned with a level of fury none of them had ever witnessed before.
...
A voice echoed inside Qiong Xing’s mind.
He should have been unconscious, overwhelmed by pain and relief.
Yet the voice continued calling to him, demanding that he wake up.
Confused, Qiong Xing slowly opened his eyes.
"Are you alright!?"
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
Qiong Xing’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and Katarina and the others immediately called out to him in concern.
However, the voice still echoing in his head drew his attention first and he responded to it instead.
"Fenrir?... What happened?"
"I told you before, did I not? He is a demon’s child. He is on the verge of losing control."
He immediately understood that Fenrisúlfr was talking about Cari.
In that case, no matter how much his body hurt, he had to go.
As Qiong Xing tried to get up, Katarina and the others hurried to stop him, but he gently waved them off and somehow forced himself to his feet. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"Grandma, will you grant me a favor?"
"...Even if I say no, you’re not going to listen, are you?"
He was glad she was here.
Thanks to Lian’s healing magic, he was able to stand up, but his trembling limbs were in no condition to carry him there on his own.
"I want to go to everyone. Will you take me there?"
"Back to the castle!? No! Absolutely not! You’re badly injured. You should stay here and wait for everyone to come back..."
