Chapter 426
Alex took a slow breath and sipped his wine. “Can I ask you something p>
Logan chuckled, refilling his glass from the bottle he pulled from his space ring. “Sure, anything. We’ve got all night p>
“Between your family’s revenge and the comfortable life you’ve built here,” Alex asked, “which one really matters more p>
He wasn’t asking out of curiosity-it was personal.
He was a king now. He could live peacefully, without the ghosts of old grudges.
He’d been too young to remember his parents, too young to truly feel the bond everyone said he’d lost.
He had to admit—his bond with his master ran deeper than blood, deeper than anything he had ever felt for his own parents.
And now that he sat on the throne, he sometimes wondered if it was better to bury the past-to stop chasing vengeance and start living.
Logan laughed again, louder this time, then leaned forward and poured more wine into Alex’s cup.
“Good question. A damn good question p>
He stared into the crimson swirl of his glass, eyes softening.
“I’ve thought about that for a long time,” he said quietly. “My family have a big estate back in Prussia-bigger than most people can imagine p>
“But it’s empty. No laughter. No voices. Just walls and echoes. Here, I live in a small house, but it’s full. My wife, my kids, people who matter p>
He looked up, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “So if you asked me now, I’d say this life is better. I’d rather stay here, in this poor country, where I’m happy and well-fed, than go back to that hollow palace p>
“But if there’s a way to get my revenge-without losing all this-I’d take it p>
Alex nodded slowly. He understood. Maybe he felt the same. Maybe he too wanted to forget revenge, rule in peace, and finally breathe.
“Next question,” Alex said after a pause. “You’ve had… what, dozens of wives? Hundreds of mistresses? Out of all of them, how many did you actually love p>
Logan froze. His eyes flickered with something raw.
He took another drink-long, heavy, deliberate. Then he sighed, as if the answer had been buried inside him for years, waiting to crawl out.
“I’ve loved hundreds-all of them,” Logan said with a faint smile, though his eyes carried a tired ache.
Alex whistled. “That’s impressive p>
“Not really,” Logan muttered. “Out of hundreds, only two or three ever truly loved me p>
Alex grinned. “So you’re running a romantic deficit p>
Logan snorted. “Yeah. My heart’s bankrupt, but at least the interest is still high.” Alex laughed hard.
“Do you pity me?” he snapped, then softened.
“Maybe you young men don’t get it. A lot of beautiful women look at me like I’m dessert-like I’m their sugar daddy. I’ve got money. I’ve got power. I can give them a comfortable life p>
“They come to me to be happy so they can crawl onto my side-for my money, for my power, for a life with fewer teeth marks. But do they come because they love me?” He snorted.
“Never. Rarely. They treat us like cash machines, like we don’t have hearts. We see it. We feel it. They’re faking everything. And we pretend to enjoy it. The truth is, we feel empty-surrounded by hundreds of people, yet not one truly loves us.” Alex let out a long breath. He knew that feeling all too well. When he first became king, women from every state had surrounded him-smiling, bowing, trying to please. Behind every glance was fear, greed, and calculation.
They wanted his power, his wealth, not him. No one had ever loved the man beneath the crown. That was why he’d walked away—not as a king, but as himself.
And still, even after leaving everything behind and living as himself, he hadn’t found anyone who truly loved him.
He’d thought he had once, maybe twice. Sophia hadn’t worked out. And Josephine… she’d loved Charles. Women, he realized, could be cruel.
Logan suddenly exhaled, worn. “I’m old now. My children have grown up here. I never told them about my Prussian papers-no one knows, except you p>
“And honestly? I don’t want revenge anymore. But if I were your age, I’d go to Prussia in a heartbeat p>
“Why?” Alex asked.
“Because in Prussia you see things you’ll never see here,” Logan said, eyes brightening with a distant hunger.
“Their wars they don’t fight like us.
They fight with machines, with
artificial minds. They build ships leave the
ky and space You’d see
their worst and their best-with your own two eyes p>
Logan straightened up, pride glowing in his voice. “Even if you’re a king, you’re still just the king of the poorest country on earth. A big fish in a small, dry pond p>
“You’re young, Alex. You’ve got time. Don’t you want to see what the world really looks like? Don’t you want to meet new people—maybe even find your real soulmate p>
Alex gave him a dry look. “I already met her p>
“Oh? And p>
“She married my enemy p>
Logan chuckled. “That’s how you know she was the one p>
He leaned back and grinned, his tone deep and honest. “That’s the romance of being a man. You fight, you fall, you climb, and you keep going until you find your place p>
“You meet people stronger than you. You hit your limits. Then you fight to break them. That’s how men grow p>
His eyes turned sharp, his words cutting through the air. “But you can only do that while you’re young. When you’re old, regret hits like a storm p>
“You’ll ask yourself why you never left home, why you never saw the world when you had the chance. That’s what being a man means p>
Alex sat there, quiet, lost in thought. Then something in him shifted-like a light breaking through fog. His chest loosened, the knots in his heart untied.
A calm, pure clarity filled his mind.
When enlightenment frees the heart, heaven and man become one.
Power surged through him. The energy inside that had been coiled and restrained suddenly expanded, no longer afraid, no longer hidden.
It was time to let go. To grow. To become.
The ground trembled beneath him. His body lifted, rising ten meters into the air as
a wave of force exploded outward like a magnetic storm, rippling through everything around him.
The table shook. Wine spilled across the wood. Logan stumbled back, eyes wide in shock.
Alex was floating. His body lifted effortlessly, his power roaring through the field like a storm.
The energy around him flared, rising beyond anything human—his level surging from 105 to 115 in a heartbeat.
He felt light. Free. Connected to everything-the air, the stars, the pulse of the universe itself.
“All men are born free,” Alex said, his voice echoing with something ancient and vast.
“Fear chains the heart. Let go of fear, and you reach the universe itself. Man is born limitless. Only worry and doubt make him small p>
Logan dropped to one knee. “Long live the King,” he said, voice trembling. “Congratulations on your enlightenment p>
Alex looked down at him, his gaze sharp, calm, royal. “You knew I was king all
along p>
“Not before,” Logan said, lowering his head. “But now, I do p>
He pulled a ring from his finger and placed it before Alex. “Take this, your majesty. It holds my Prussian citizenship. I ask you to accept me as one of your men. I swear loyalty to you until my final breath fl break that oath may my family carry the curse of my betrayal p>
Alex’s voice hardened. “Tell me one truth—and I’ll forgive all your sins p>
Logan hesitated, then exhaled heavily. “Because the rumors said the king was weak,” he confessed.
“That you cared only for women and pleasure while the country rotted. I thought p>
for the sake of the people, I had to act p>
He bowed his head lower, his voice steady but filled with remorse.
“Your Majesty, I see now that I was wrong. You are not weak. You’ve been shaping this nation, fighting for it, guiding it from behind the curtain with wisdom greater than any man I’ve met p>
He took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the floor. “When a man sins against his king, he must confess and face his fault, I stand before you to admit mine. You are the true sovereign worthy of loyalty, and the only one I will ever serve p>
A guilty man who admits his sin cleanses half his shame.