Read Novel Full Chapter 1868: Ending the One Chapter.
Chapter 1868: Ending the One Chapter.
By the time they reached the parking area, Young Aether had heard almost every word of the conversation. He said nothing, however, his expression remaining strangely vacant as he followed Lily toward the car.
Thud!
The moment he opened the door, his legs suddenly went weak. He caught himself against the frame, his fingers tightening around the edge as he stood there for a moment, staring blankly at the ground.
“Unc?”
“N-Nothing… I just… lost something.”
Young Aether forced the words out quietly. For a brief moment, he looked like a man who lost something precious.
Lily tilted her head in confusion. Her uncle had been acting strangely since yesterday, and now he seemed even more distant. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but her father had already warned her not to question him about certain things.
“Come on, Unc. Dad is waiting.”
Young Aether glanced at her hand before silently following her.
“Dad, I brought Unc Aether,” Lily announced as she entered the house.
Allen emerged from his room a moment later.
“Good morning!”
Allen walked over and gave Young Aether a small pat on the shoulder before giving him a wink.
“Did you sleep well, buddy?”
“…Yeah.”
Young Aether answered after a long pause.
He walked past Allen, dropped himself onto the sofa, and leaned back. His eyes remained fixed ahead as he finally asked, “Why did you call me?”
Allen’s smile faltered for the briefest moment.
“Straight to the point… I see.”
“Dad, I’m going back to my room. Call me if you need anything,” Lily said as she walked away, giving the two men one last glance before disappearing down the hallway.
Only Allen and Young Aether remained in the living room.
Allen looked at his friend for a few seconds before speaking again.
“Man, I was seriously worried when I heard the news. They said a monster caused a rampage near the house you’re staying in. I thought something might have happened to you.”
He paused, studying Aether’s face.
“Are you alright, buddy?”
Young Aether slowly shook his head.
“Tell me why you called me.”
Allen’s expression tightened.
“I just told you. I was worried about you.”
“That isn’t why you called me.”
Young Aether’s voice remained dead.
Allen stared at him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“…By any chance, are you not trusting me?”
Young Aether finally looked at him.
“Do I?”
Allen’s expression stiffened.
He gave an awkward chuckle, trying to ease the tension.
“I know we’ve been apart for a long time, Aether. Maybe things aren’t the way they used to be, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped being your friend.”
Allen reached out and held Young Aether’s hand.
Young Aether looked down at their hands. He calmly pulled his hand away.
“So?”
Allen’s smile disappeared.
“What did you call me here for?” Young Aether asked.
Allen stared at him for several seconds before lowering his hand.
He could feel the distance between them now.
It wasn’t the awkward distance between two old friends who had lost touch.
It was something different.
“About that…” Allen said quietly.
He hesitated.
“I found… Penelope.”
Young Aether’s expression barely changed.
“You think?”
Allen frowned.
That wasn’t the reaction he had expected.
Why?
Why did he look as though hearing Penelope’s name meant nothing to him?
Allen forced himself to remain composed. He raised his hand, and a holographic projection emerged from the ring on his finger.
An image appeared in the air.
A young and beautiful woman stood inside a children’s park, holding a baby in her arms. She was smiling gently at the child, her expression warm and peaceful.
Young Aether stared at the projection.
“This was taken months ago,” Allen said carefully. “She was spotted in Gamma Cit—”
“Is it real?”
“Huh?”
Young Aether slowly raised his hand and pointed toward the holographic image.
“Is this actually a real image?”
Allen’s expression changed.
He hadn’t expected that question.
“W-Why do you think it isn’t real?”
Young Aether continued staring at Penelope’s image.
“I don’t know.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Maybe… someone is trying to trick me.”
Allen swallowed.
“Trying to trick you?”
Allen’s face hardened.
“Are you doubting me?”
Young Aether looked at him for several seconds.
Then the corner of his mouth slowly lifted.
“Do I?”
Allen’s frown deepened. “Why would I trick you, Aether? What are you talking about? What could I possibly gain from doing something like this?”
Young Aether nodded slowly as he stood up. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he walked toward the dining table and stopped beside the place where he had sat yesterday.
His fingers moved under the table.
“I wonder about that too,” he said quietly. “What is the point of all this?”
“I keep asking myself the same question. Why would someone go this far? Why would they spend years building lies around a person who trusted them?”
Allen’s expression tightened.
“What are you saying?”
Young Aether’s lips curled into a faint, humourless smile.
“Hurt them? Look down at them? Enjoy their suffering? Humiliating them? Laughing at them? Or… did you just want to kill me?”
Allen blinked.
“What are yo—”
His words died in his throat when he saw Young Aether pull out a circular device resembling some kind of audio device.
Allen’s face immediately turned dreadful.
His eyes locked onto the device.
His throat moved as he swallowed hard.
“A-Aether… Th-This is… this is—”
“Lies…”
Young Aether stared down at the device.
“After lies.”
His thumb slowly moved across its surface.
“Fake…”
His voice remained eerily calm.
“After fake.”
He looked at the device for another moment.
“You know what’s funny?”
Allen couldn’t answer.
“I spent so much of my life believing that my memories were mine.”
Young Aether’s fingers tightened around the device.
“I believed the people around me were real. I believed the things they told me were real. I believed the kindness, the concern, the apologies… all of it.”
“But when you discover one lie, you start wondering how many other lies were buried beneath it.”
Crack!
The device crumpled inside his hand.
Young Aether slowly turned toward Allen.
!!
Allen immediately stood up from the sofa.
The moment their eyes met, a shiver ran down his spine.
There was nothing in Young Aether’s eyes.
No rage or grief.
They were simply empty.
It was as if something inside him had already died, leaving behind only the part that had come back to demand answers.
“Tell me, Allen,” Young Aether said as he began walking toward him. “Where did I go wrong?”
His footsteps were slow and measured.
“Did I not show you that I cared?”
Another step.
“Did I not stand beside you when you needed me?”
Another.
“Did I not trust you when I had every reason to trust you?”
He stopped.
His voice weakened for the first time.
“Was I not even your friend to begin with?”
Allen’s eyes trembled.
“A-Aether… I… I…”
His voice failed him.
His face trembled violently, as though a deep fear had clawed its way into his mind.
Young Aether watched him silently.
Then he slowly shook his head and let out a hollow chuckle.
“Tell me something, Allen. Would you have let your wife seduce your… best friend?”
His expression twisted with utter disgust.
Allen’s heart trembled.
For several seconds, he could do nothing but stare at Young Aether.
“I… I…”
“What?”
Young Aether tilted his head.
“No words?”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“Of course.”
He gave a quiet, bitter laugh.
“What could you possibly say?”
He stepped closer.
“What could you tell your so-called friend after spending his entire life manipulating him?”
Allen’s lips trembled.
Young Aether’s smile faded.
“You watched me trust you. You watched me believe you! You made me believe the lie was my choice!!”
His eyes narrowed.
“Do you know what hurts the most, Allen?”
“You… YOU colluded with my father just to make my life miserable.”
His expression suddenly cracked into a hollow laugh.
“Hahaha… haha… AHAHAHAHA…!”
The laughter echoed through the room.
Allen’s eyes widened in shock.
How did he know about his father?
“Say something.”
Young Aether suddenly became quiet again.
“Come on, Allen. Tell me your story.”
His eyes locked onto Allen’s.
“Tell me how you became my father’s bootlicker.”
Allen remained silent.
Young Aether’s expression hardened.
“Tell me how you stood beside him while he tore apart my life.”
Still, Allen said nothing.
“Tell me, Allen.”
“Was I really that easy to manipulate?”
Allen’s eyes trembled.
“Was I so blind that I never noticed?”
Young Aether swallowed.
“Or did you make sure I never had the chance to notice?”
Allen’s tears began to spill more heavily.
Young Aether stared at them.
“Are you… crying for real? Or just to trick me again?”
“I… I… N..” Allen’s lips trembled with pain.
Young Aether slowly shook his head.
“I’m giving you a choice. Tell me where everything went wrong.”
He paused.
“Or maybe none of this was a mistake.”
A faint, bitter smile returned to his face.
“Maybe everything was planned from the beginning.”
He stared at Allen.
“Maybe you and my father were working together from the start.”
His voice dropped lower.
“Maybe every person who ever told me they cared about me was simply playing their part.”
He paused.
“And maybe I was the only idiot who believed the story.”
Allen’s shoulders began to tremble.
Young Aether watched him for several seconds before continuing.
“So tell me. Was I ever your friend?”
Allen remained silent.
“Or was I just someone you were ordered to keep close?”
Still, nothing.
“Just tell me the truth, Allen. Even if the truth destroys whatever is left between us.”
Allen lowered his head.
Tears continued spilling from his eyes.
He didn’t defend himself.
He didn’t deny anything.
He simply stood there, shoulders trembling, unable to form a single word.
Young Aether stared at him.
“So… that’s it? No grand explanation? No desperate excuse? Maybe… forgiveness?”
His tone remained blunt and emotionless.
He smiled faintly.
“I guess… that’s it, then.”
The smile on his face looked broken rather than amused.
“I’m nothing to you… right?”
His gaze lowered.
“Our friendship… all those years we spent together… none of it meant anything to you.”
“…”
Allen’s lips trembled violently as he lowered his eyes.
Young Aether watched him for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
“I… I really thought we were friends. I did. I thought you guys would be there for me when everything fell apart.”
“And you certainly were.”
He looked directly at Allen.
“But… to think everything…”
His voice faltered.
Then he shouted with the most emotionless fury Allen had ever heard.
“EVERYTHING SINGLE FUCKING THING WAS MERELY FABRICATED!”
SHATTTERRR!!!!
The reinforced glass windows behind Allen exploded outward.
Fragments of glass scattered across the room as a violent gust tore through the shattered opening.
A golden blur shot through the broken window.
“MOMMY CAME TO SAVE YOU, DEAR~!”
Allen barely had time to react.
The figure seized him by the neck.
Her fingers tightened around his throat as she lifted him effortlessly from the floor.
Crimson eyes glowed with terrifying intensity.
“Are you the one who hurt my baby?”
Allen’s eyes widened.
He immediately recognised her.
That hair.
Those crimson eyes.
The daughter of Mary Scarlet…
Lia didn’t even wait for an answer.
Her fingers tightened around his throat.
Allen’s feet kicked helplessly in the air as his hands desperately clawed at her wrist.
“Once I remove this pest, my poor baby will be happy.”
Her lips curved into a sweet smile that somehow made her words even more horrifying.
“And for his happiness… I will annihilate this entire world if necessary.”
“Lia”
She glanced toward him.
Young Aether stared back at her without changing his expression.
“This is mine.”
“B-But this thing hurt my poor baby.”
Lia pouted, looking genuinely offended by the request.
She turned her crimson glare toward Allen again.
“I don’t like this thing.”
Her fingers tightened slightly around his neck.
“Once I remove this pest, my poor baby will finally be happy.”
She looked back at Young Aether.
“And if destroying everything that hurt you is what it takes to make you smile again…”
Her smile widened.
“Then I’ll do it.”
Young Aether’s expression didn’t change.
“Lia.”
The single word carried a warning.
Lia immediately released Allen.
“Okay, dear!”
Thud!
Allen crashed onto the floor, coughing violently as he clutched his throat.
The marks of Lia’s fingers were already visible against his skin.
Lia stepped behind Young Aether and remained there, watching Allen suspiciously.
She didn’t want to disobey him.
More importantly, she didn’t want her beloved son to hate her.
Allen continued coughing as he slowly looked toward Lia.
“H-How did you…?”
He struggled to breathe.
“What… what’s going on here?”
His eyes shifted toward Young Aether.
Then back toward Lia.
She had called him her baby.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Before he could finish the thought, Young Aether suddenly reached down and grabbed his neck.
Allen barely had time to react.
He was pulled back to his feet.
“A-Aether… Aether… arh…!”
His body struggled against the grip.
Young Aether’s hand remained firmly wrapped around his neck.
“I could snap your neck right now and watch your lifeless body fall to the floor… and I wouldn’t feel a single fucking thing.”
When Allen heard those words, his face tightened with pain. His head slowly lowered, and whatever resistance remained in his body gradually disappeared. He stopped struggling against Aether’s grip, allowing his arm to hang limply between them.
Those words hurt him more deeply than any physical wound ever could.
It wasn’t the threat of death that broke something inside him. It was the complete absence of hatred behind it. If Aether had screamed at him, cursed him, or even struck him in anger, Allen could have endured it. At least anger would have meant that some part of their friendship still remained.
But there was nothing in Aether’s eyes.
“Waaah!”
A small figure suddenly rushed forward and struck Young Aether’s leg with his tiny fists.
Young Aether’s gaze slowly moved downward.
Noah stood there with tears streaming down his cheeks, his little face twisted with fear and confusion as he continued hitting Aether’s leg.
“Waahh!!”
Young Aether remained still as he looked at the child.
A short distance away, Lily stood frozen with a shocked and fearful expression.
Noah continued crying and punching Young Aether’s leg.
“WAAAWWAA!”
The child’s eyes were filled with nothing but fear and concern for his father. He didn’t understand the reasons behind their conflict. He only knew that his father was hurting and that the person causing it was standing in front of him.
Something in Young Aether’s expression shifted.
Then he released Allen.
Allen immediately dropped to his knees, clutching his throat as he coughed violently.
“Cough… cough…”
“Waaahhh!”
Noah immediately ran toward him and wrapped both arms around his father.
Allen instinctively pulled his son into his embrace.
Noah buried his face against his father’s chest and continued crying.
Young Aether slowly turned around.
Lia raised one finger and slowly dragged it across her neck, her crimson eyes making the meaning of the gesture unmistakable.
Without saying anything else, she followed her beloved son.
“D-Don’t… Ae….”
Allen’s voice trembled as he looked at his friend’s back.
Young Aether continued walking.
“D-Don’t leave”
Young Aether finally stopped.
He didn’t turn around.
“I never did…”
Allen’s expression froze, and his lips trembled.
Young Aether didn’t say anything else. He simply continued walking away.
“Aeeettthherrrr!”
Allen’s desperate cry echoed through the house.
He hugged Noah tightly against his chest, his tears finally spilling freely down his face.
Just as Young Aether was about to disappear from sight, a door opened.
Emily emerged from her room and looked toward the commotion with a confused expression.
Young Aether stood there for a moment, looking at her with a blank, emotionless expression. He seemed to consider saying something, but eventually, he only shook his head and quietly walked away.
“A-Aether…”
Allen mumbled weakly as he watched his friend disappear… completely forever.