Novel Catchup
Chapter 282: Trial 3
Chapter 282: Trial 3
"So, is something bothering you?"
She was always like this-direct, yet laced with mockery, her words cutting as if they carried an unspoken dagger.
"Kuku, you're not here to beg me, are you? No, the planet would have to turn upside down before that ever happens."
The same unwavering smile adorned her lips, the one that spoke volumes of her disdain and amusement at the world around her.
To her, everyone-me included-was nothing more than a fleeting entertainment, mere pieces on her chessboard to manipulate or discard.
"Why so quiet? Don't tell me you're feeling regretful, are you?"
Her words were a venomous tease, her tone biting and cold.
Even though she was my mother by flesh and blood, any semblance of a maternal bond between us had been severed long ago, if it ever existed at all.
"Hahaha, if that's the case, you shouldn't have come. Did General Fudeus tell you how much time I've got left? If so, you shouldn't have garnered such baseless worries. After all, my disappearance is something you've always wanted, right?"
Each word was deliberate, designed to provoke, to cut deeper than any blade ever could.
This woman—lying here, half-dead and crippled, with her frail body hidden behind a facade of indomitable will-was the source of my nightmares.
She was my greatest mistake, my greatest sin, the reason every meaningful connection I dared to form had crumbled to dust.
"Mother..."
Her name, or rather her title, escaped my lips like a curse.
Codex-12. One of the 13 Codices. A general of the Empire of Gaia.