SUPREME ARCH-MAGUS

Silence. Deep, resonating silence filled the closed chamber.

Madam Clark stood before Kent, her face streaked with tears, eyes swollen with regret and sorrow.

Kent, frozen in place, struggled to comprehend the words that had just escaped his mother's lips. The revelation felt like a dagger plunged into his heart, twisting with every passing second.

For a moment, he couldn't speak, his mind reeling. If this was any other person, Kent could have shown his anger and rage. But before him, stood the very mother who is the reason for his existence.

"Why, Mother? Why did you do this?" he finally managed, his voice trembling with a mix of hurt and disbelief. His fists clenched at his sides, knuckles white as he tried to steady himself.

Madam Clark controlled her tears as he stared at Kent with regret. Continue reading at empire

"So, Thea didn't throw me out willingly? It was all… your doing?" Kent asked again with a serious look.

Madam Clark could barely meet his gaze. "Yes," she admitted, her voice breaking with every word. "It's my fault. I know that no explanation can erase the pain you felt or the betrayal you have experienced. But please, Kent, understand that I never wanted to hurt you. I… I made a mistake, a terrible one, and for that, I am truly sorry."

Kent's chest heaved as he tried to control the storm of emotions raging within him. "Mother, I need to know why," he demanded, his voice rough with anguish. "I know you're sorry, but I can't… I can't just forgive without understanding the reason behind this."

Madam Clark wiped her tears with trembling hands, gathering the strength to explain. "Thea's soul mark was set to break a few months before your eighteenth birthday. She contacted me, begging for help, asking me to take you with me and protect you. But at that time, I wasn't ready. There were too many eyes on me, too many threats linked to the Clark family.

I was in the middle of a war with business rivals tied to them, and I couldn't risk taking you with me."

She paused, her voice faltering as she recalled the painful memory. "I… I was desperate, Kent. I knew you were vulnerable, that you were emotionally fragile. I thought… I thought that by forcing you out, by making Thea push you away, you would find the strength to grow, to harden yourself against the world. I believed it would make you stronger, more resilient. But I was wrong, Kent.

I was so wrong."

Her voice broke completely, and she sank to her knees, her sobs echoing in the chamber. "Please, forgive me," she pleaded, her hands trembling as she reached out toward Kent. "I did it all for you, but now I see that I've only caused you pain. I was blinded by my own fears and ambitions, and I hurt the one person I should have protected above all else. I'm so sorry, my son… so, so sorry…"

As Madam Clark's sobs filled the room, Kent felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He had always known his mother to be a strong, unwavering figure, yet here she was, broken before him, pleading for forgiveness. The weight of her words pressed down on him like a mountain, leaving him feeling suffocated, lost in the turmoil of emotions.

"Mother," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I… I don't know what to say."

She looked up at him, her tear-filled eyes full of desperation, but Kent could only stare back, his mind racing. He could see the regret etched in every line of her face, but it didn't lessen the sting of betrayal he felt in his heart. The trust he had always placed in her felt shattered, like a broken mirror reflecting only fragments of the truth.

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly as they stood there, trapped in a painful silence. Madam Clark tried to speak again, reaching out to her son, but her words faltered under the weight of her guilt. "Kent… please…"

But Kent shook his head, taking a step back. "I need time," he said, his voice flat, devoid of the warmth it once held. "I need time to think about this, to… process everything. I'm not in the right state of mind now. I can't… I just can't…"

He turned away, unable to bear the sight of his mother's tear-streaked face any longer. The air in the chamber felt thick, suffocating, as if the walls themselves were closing in on him.

"Then, take your time." Madam Clark stood up and rubbed her tears away. While Kent was staring at the opposite wall, she sat in her chair and poured wine in a crystal glass.

The chamber was quiet, except for the crackling of the fire and the soft clink of a wine glass.

Kent stood there, still reeling from the earlier conversation, his thoughts a tangled web of confusion and pain.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kent turned towards her mother while covering all the turmoil inside him with a stoic face.

Madam Clark, now seated comfortably in her chair, swirled the wine in her glass before taking a slow, deliberate sip.

Her eyes never left Kent, who was staring back at her with a hardened gaze, his expression unreadable. She set the glass down, the sound of it meeting the table sharp in the silence.

"Take your time to think. I only hope that you will forgive me someday. This is also the reason why I'm sending you to see your father," she said, her voice firm, cutting through the thick tension in the room.

Kent's eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent. His mind was still lingering on the pain of her previous confession, the betrayal that had left him reeling. His fists released as he focused on what his mother was saying.

"In the future, there will be a certain war between me and your father's family. I don't want you to choose my side out of some forced obligation."

Madam Clark leaned back in her chair, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest as she considered her next words.

"Soon, Thea's sister, Lily, will ask you to act as her fake husband to avoid a pre-set marriage alliance. When she does, I want you to agree."

Kent's expression didn't change, but his eyes flickered with a hint of surprise. "A fake-husband?" he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief.