Chapter Forty-Nine: The Boy’s Heart

Strolling along the banks of the Emerald Fern River, Huey and Lilith looked like a pair of aristocratic youths, walking at a leisurely pace with calm and composed expressions.

Lilith boredly twirled the small parasol in her hand, occasionally fiddling with the ribbon around her waist.

"This thing binds me too tightly," Lilith complained.

"If you removed the hidden daggers close to your skin, you would feel much lighter."

"That's out of the question," Lilith replied with absolute finality. "A major battle is coming, and I must make my own preparations for defeat."

"You don't trust me?"

Lilith paused slightly. She raised her head, gazing at the young man before her with her light green eyes, and after a moment of thought, she said, "No, Huey, you are the most brilliant assassin I have ever met. Before this, I couldn't even imagine you defeating someone of Lierbogal's stature. When you first told me your plan, I almost thought you were crazy."

"And what about now?"

"Now, I believe you have the capability to accomplish many things you set your mind to. But Huey, even you cannot deny one fact: you cannot win forever. No one wins forever."

"Yes."

"Then, when the day of defeat finally arrives, I will not allow myself to fall into the hands of the enemy. My life is mine alone to end."

Huey nodded. "I understand. You may keep those items, but I will figure out a way to make some weapons better suited for close concealment, and by the way, I'll alter your clothing so you won't be quite so uncomfortable."

Lilith smiled brightly. "You know how to tailor?"

Huey shrugged. "Purgatory Island didn't have tailors. For a period, I frequently went out with Lancelot to hunt magical beasts. When we returned, our clothes would be torn, so I learned to mend them myself. No matter when or where, people appreciate someone who is capable, not someone who brings them trouble."

"Unless it's your own family."

"True, but neither of you nor I have one."

A flash of sorrow crossed Lilith's eyes.

Strolling along the riverbank with Huey and exchanging light banter felt surreal. Lilith felt as though she weren't facing a terrifying youth who could kill with a smile while orchestrating grand schemes, but rather a mature adult with profound emotional depth. She was amazed at how Huey possessed such mature thinking; his understanding of human nature and grasp of society far exceeded her imagination.

He possessed a maturity far beyond his years, yet he never deliberately displayed it. Most of the time, he preferred to let people believe he was just an ordinary sixteen-year-old boy.

This surprised her greatly.

"There is something I don't understand," Lilith said.

"What is it?"

"Why are you so insistent on fighting the Lance Empire? With your brilliance, there could have been many more ways to resolve this peacefully. I don't believe you are the type of person to throw caution to the wind purely out of hatred. If you were, you should have fought your way out and risked your life against them the moment you discovered the secret of Purgatory Island."

To Lilith's surprise, Huey answered, "You think I never considered it?"

Lilith stared at Huey in astonishment as a flush of burning anger suddenly suffused the young man's face.

He spoke softly to Lilith: "Yes, Lilith, I can tell you that on Purgatory Island, there were times I wanted nothing more than to tear off my mask, cast away the pretense, and have an all-out, public showdown with them. For no other reason than to vent the resentment in my heart."

"You think I was born the Huey Greir you see before you? No, I was once just as full of sunshine as you are. I am a man, and not very old either; I too have passionate, impulsive urges, yet I had to forcefully suppress them within myself. Do you know how difficult that is?"

"You must realize that when the human soul has no shackles, your anger and the instinct for revenge are locked in a life-and-death struggle every day against your restraint and enduring reason. Just like my battle with the Empire, reason cannot afford to lose either. Because the moment instinct triumphs over reason, even the slightest glance or the smallest gesture—the slightest leak of my hatred toward them—would instantly alert them."

"Do you know what hatred is? Hatred is that kind of thing which can burn your soul, cloud your mind, and scramble your sanity. It often drives you to act with reckless impulse. And I wrestled with that emotion every single day."

"For four years, under that nearly insane self-suppression, even a man made of fire would turn into ice!" Huey murmured.

Lilith stared at Huey in shock, listening to him recount everything he had endured over four years on Purgatory Island. Only at that moment did she finally comprehend the kind of psychological torment he had experienced.

She finally believed that it must have been an agonizingly difficult process.

Just as every memory of Kevin Beers filled her with gnashing hatred, the young Huey back then was metaphorically facing a crowd of Kevin Beers every single day, forced to smile subserviently and toil away in misery.

She asked herself if she could have done it, and she knew she could never have maintained such forbearance.

Perhaps she would have stepped forward long ago to seek a life-or-death end with the enemy.

And of course, the one who failed would inevitably have been herself.

Watching Lilith, who was beginning to understand, Huey suddenly smiled, his voice laden with sorrow:

"Yes, there were times I desperately wanted to shout at the sun, to scream out my ideals, to simply live a normal life. But fate did not give me that chance!"

Though Huey's voice was soft, the sheer power contained in his words struck Lilith with fierce impact.

"So I had to change myself, forcefully twist my personality and soul, and make myself deeper, more rational, and vastly more efficient."

"I had to learn to analyze people. From the very moment I laid eyes on someone, I had to dissect their personality traits and determine if they possessed any value I could exploit. I had to plan for the future from the very beginning and ensure my plans were foolproof."

"Back on Purgatory Island, I devised hundreds of plans, every single one meticulously scrutinized and repeatedly tested to ensure not a single flaw existed. Even so, I had to prepare numerous contingency plans to adapt to any situation."

"For four years, Lilith, I grew accustomed to this lifestyle. I discovered that I no longer needed to forcefully twist myself, because I had reshaped myself—reshaped according to the principle of maximizing survival needs."

"That is why I survived."

At this, Huey smiled softly.

"You wanted to know why I insist on fighting the Lance Empire to the bitter end? This is why. My hatred for them goes far beyond your imagination. They robbed me of some of the best years of my life, forced me to live in a hell of suffering, and even compelled me to forcefully alter my very personality. I became like a beast; everything I possessed was considered solely from the perspective of survival. I forged myself into an upgradeable combat machine. A person like me, without combat, cannot manifest his value. So who else could I fight?"

"Only the Lance Empire," Huey said with absolute certainty.

"You didn't have to go this far. There are many other ways to prove yourself."

"Yes, but none would be better than this. Do you know what a volcano is? For the vast majority of their existence, they remain dormant. Yet the day they awaken, they unleash a power capable of destroying the heavens and the earth—a power far more terrifying and mighty than the strongest forbidden magic in this world."

"Lilith, I am that volcano. My hatred has accumulated into a sea of fire, burning fiercely. I need to give them a space to vent; only by doing so can I prevent them from erupting all at once and destroying everything, destroying myself."

"Oh, my god," Lilith gasped softly.

For the sake of survival, Huey had encased his exterior in a thick shell of ice.

Yet this did not change the fact that he, too, had once been a passionate youth.

The moment he stepped toward freedom, the ice shell atop the volcano began to melt, and the flames deep within his heart burned in full fury.

At that time, Huey knew that the hatred in his heart could only be washed clean with oceans of blood.

He did not want a distorted soul to control him.

Yet this was not easy.

He needed to walk in this world, to feel its warmth, and let more sunlight shine upon him to reheat his frozen heart.

Yet in the process, he also needed a channel to vent the anger and hatred burning inside him.

Choosing to confront the Empire and fixing his sights on a single target for revenge was both a dangerous and clever method.

The danger lay in the fact that during this confrontation, he could fail and die at any moment.

The cleverness lay in the fact that this method was undeniably effective.

Through passive defense and counterattacks to kill designated targets, he could vent his anger and grievances, relieve the pressure in his heart, and prevent himself from losing his way in endless slaughter.

Finding sunlight along a bloody path of revenge and striding toward a new tomorrow was undoubtedly the best solution.

"Yes, you understand now, don't you? I am not the Huey Greir you thought you knew. Such a Huey Greir never truly existed in this world, because he was merely an illusion. He was neither deep nor wise; on the contrary, he was a warped freak whose mind was twisted by four years of imprisonment. The only saving grace was that this freak still held a sliver of sunlight deep in his heart, along with a remnant of sanity. So he swiftly found a way out."

"That is why I abandoned peace, because I needed a channel to vent. I refuse to become that volcano that accumulates power only to explode at the very end and burn everything away. If you want to know my true purpose, this is the reality. Walking the world allows me to feel the sunshine of life, believe in its beauty, and retain a person's basic conscience and morality. Slaughtering those who hunt me brings me a satisfying thrill, granting me the pleasure of revenge and venting the anger in my heart. Formidable opponents and crises to my survival keep me constantly alert and rational, preventing me from sinking into madness and chaos."

"And the final reason... is that it allows me to grow strong swiftly."

Huey murmured, pouring out all the hardships and torment hidden in his heart. Over the years, he had never shared his innermost thoughts with anyone. In the eyes of all, this young man was mysterious, powerful, and even terrifying.

Until this very moment, he finally allowed Lilith to see the other side beneath that deep and calm exterior—that there were fragile things there as well, which he simply guarded fiercely so that no one would ever notice.

Deeply moved, Lilith pulled Huey close, pressing him against her full bosom. "The path you chose is far too lonely. From now on, I will bear this burden with you."

"Thank you. That is precisely what I needed," Huey said softly.

By the side of the small river, the two clung closely together, no longer resembling a pair of siblings, but rather a pair of lovers.