Chapter 623: A flying boat

"Xavier Dawncrest! Listen to me! You still can’t seriously want to go into that place at a time when your family needs you the most!"

"And why not?"

Xavier turned toward her.

"With Father gone, that’s all the more reason why I need to go. If you expect me to take the reins after him, then first I need to use this opportunity to temper myself, grow stronger, and return capable of actually carrying that responsibility."

"You don’t understand!"

"It’s you who doesn’t understand, Mother..."

He cut her off before she could continue.

Xavier’s mother was quite a beautiful woman, but her features were currently marred by a deeply distressed expression.

The dark makeup around her eyes had already been ruined by dried tears, and even now, more threatened to spill over.

Thankfully, the black mourning veil covering part of her face did a decent job of hiding it.

Cain Dawncrest’s grand funeral had ended only earlier that day.

The entire family was still shaken by the Duke’s sudden and unforeseen death.

And yet, somehow, the very person everyone expected to step forward and fill the enormous void he had left behind had decided to simply leave the manor soon afterwards.

Of course, there had been only one person capable of following him and trying to change his mind.

His mother.

She had followed Xavier all the way to Haven with a small group of her followers within her carriage.

And even after all that... He still wasn’t listening!

William watched his half-brother and stepmother argue with a deeply distressed expression on his face.

Their little group was creating quite the scene.

Xavier’s mother had brought a sizeable entourage with her, and throughout almost the entire journey from Ashford, she had been screaming and shouting at William, telling him that all of this was his fault.

His and his whore mother’s.

And the truth was...

William had nothing to say in his defence, so he had simply endured her shouting all the way to Haven.

As for his own mother, unfortunately, she had been allowed to do little more than show herself during the funeral before disappearing again.

William couldn’t bring himself to care much about that.

He was angry too, and he had never paid much attention to his birth mother in the first place. If anything, part of him resented her.

She was the reason he was inferior to Xavier, after all.

If she had possessed a better bloodline, perhaps William would have been just as talented as his older brother.

His father’s death, however...

That was something he still couldn’t quite process.

Not long after news of Elion’s triumph in the Royal Court reached the academy, William had thrown an enormous tantrum.

The incident had become so severe that he had nearly lost his place among those entering the Legacy World.

And then, later that very same day... The message of his father’s death arrived. At first, William had refused to believe it.

There was no way.

Cain Dawncrest was a Duke. A powerful man surrounded by guards, servants, mages, and countless protections.

How could someone like that simply die?

But today...

William had seen the cold body himself.

There was no denying it anymore.

His father was gone.

And considering everything he had heard about that bastard Elion becoming closely allied with the Vampires, William knew exactly who he wanted to blame.

Everyone else was already whispering the same thing anyway.

Elion had to be responsible.

Who else could it have been?

William’s eyes became increasingly bloodshot as his hands clenched into fists.

’How dare he...’

This couldn’t be William’s fault.

It couldn’t.

All he had done was put some lowly commoner in his place.

That was all.

So how...

How had everything gone so horribly wrong?

To William’s shock, he watched as the mourning lady of the Dawncrest family desperately reached out and tried to pull Xavier back as he continued walking away.

Her hand caught briefly onto the back of his academy uniform, and then it slipped.

Florence stumbled forward, her cries suddenly going quiet as she watched her son continue walking without another word.

"My Lady Florence!"

Her guards rushed forward and caught her before she could hit the ground, but Florence barely seemed to notice them.

She simply stared after Xavier as he disappeared into the crowd.

Haven was incredibly busy, after all, and within only a few moments, there wasn’t even a trace of him left to follow.

Through the dark mourning veil covering her face, one could still make out the absolutely devastated expression beneath it.

"My husband is dead..." Her voice came out as barely more than a whisper. "And now my own son rejects me."

Her legs finally gave way.

"He won’t even listen to his own mother..."

Florence sank to her knees.

For several long seconds, she remained eerily still while the guards around her tried their best to help her back up without causing even more of a scene than they already had.

Remarkably slowly... Her head turned.

Toward William, her ghastly gaze meeting his own through the veil. William could feel the darkness behind that stare.

He flinched.

Panic immediately seized him, and his head snapped from side to side as he searched desperately for an opening in the surrounding crowd.

He never got the chance.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Florence suddenly screamed and charged at him. William stumbled backwards in shock.

"W-Wait!"

His heel caught against the ground, and he fell. Florence was on top of him, her nails raking across his face as she clawed at him wildly.

"It’s you!"

William threw up his arms in panic.

"You filthy half-breed!"

She clawed at him again.

"It’s all your fault!"

The sight was becoming increasingly unpleasant for those spectating. That was until their attention was suddenly dragged elsewhere.

A massive shadow swept across the street.

One by one, heads tilted upward.

"Hooooo!"

Shocked gasps erupted throughout the crowd.

"There’s a boat flying in the sky!"

A massive vessel was sailing through the air above Haven.

Most of those gathered around the Dawncrest family’s little spectacle had only just noticed it because their attention had been completely occupied by the ongoing drama, but elsewhere across the city, countless people were already staring upward at the never-before-seen sight.

Whoever was aboard that vessel...

They were making quite the entrance.

The ship flew far too high for anyone below to make out the figures standing upon its deck and bow, but its enormous silhouette was impossible to miss as it approached from the northwest, cutting smoothly through the sky toward the docks at the southern tip of Haven.

Even from the ground, one could tell that this was no ordinary vessel.

And naturally, those positioned higher upon the slopes of the mountain where the Royal Castle stood had an even clearer view.

Princess Bella stood upon one of the castle balconies, her narrowed eyes following the enormous flying ship as it crossed the distant sky.

A gentle breeze disturbed her neatly arranged blonde hair, sending a few loose strands across her face.

Bella calmly tucked them back behind her ear.

"So..."

Her gaze remained fixed upon the approaching vessel.

"The Goddess’ Empire has finally made its entrance." She muttered the words quietly to herself.