Chapter 886 Who is Edward Falkrona?

"Edward Falkrona. Wasn’t that Thomen’s son?" Isaak asked, raising a brow.

Rosalyn let out a quiet sigh, looking almost annoyed by the question.

"Have you even been paying attention?" She asked. "He is Kleines’s youngest son."

"Nonsense. That monster is not my son," Kleines immediately snapped.

Belle’s expression darkened.

She slowly turned her gaze toward her brother, her eyes filled with disbelief and anger.

"Very hypocritical coming from you, brother."

Kleines’s eyes shifted toward her.

Belle didn’t back down.

"What would you call a father who disappeared and abandoned his own children?" She asked, her voice growing sharper with every word. "A father who kidnapped his own wife for who knows what purpose, then suddenly appeared again accompanied by his friends from the most inhuman organization imaginable, only to kill that same ’monster’ you refuse to call your son?"

The words struck the dining hall like a blade.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Kleines simply stared at Belle.

"You know nothing about him, Belle," he said. "And I am disappointed in you. You hid this from me? Since when have you been in contact with him? How is he even alive?"

Belle almost laughed.

"Disappointed because I hid him from you?"

She folded her arms tightly across her chest.

"Please, look in a mirror, brother. How many things have you hidden from us?"

Kleines’s expression hardened.

"You hid your own survival from your wife and your family. You let everyone believe you were dead!"

"There were reasons," Kleines immediately replied. "I did it to protect them—"

"Protect them?"

Belle interrupted him.

Her voice trembled with anger.

"You did that very well, didn’t you?"

Kleines fell silent.

"Connor is dead," Belle continued. "And you didn’t even show up for his burial!"

"I was there."

The answer came quietly.

Belle froze for a second.

"You were there?"

Kleines nodded.

"Yes."

"So you hid yourself even that day?" Belle asked, staring at him in disgust. "While your own wife and daughter were mourning him?"

Kleines’s expression became grim.

"Belle, please."

Alea’s voice finally entered the argument.

She looked uncomfortable, her hands resting tightly against her lap.

Belle immediately turned toward her.

Her anger had not disappeared.

If anything, it simply found another target.

"I am really disappointed in you too, Alea."

Alea lowered her eyes slightly.

"You have forgiven him that easily?"

"I did not forgive him."

Alea sighed, her voice carrying exhaustion rather than anger.

"But we have to move on. And he is Christina and Amael’s father."

"Yes."

Belle gave a bitter laugh.

"Their father."

She shook her head.

"But certainly not Edward’s father, from what I have seen."

Her eyes narrowed.

"He stabbed that boy in the back while you watched, after all."

"I—I didn’t know."

Alea’s voice rose, and for the first time, some of the frustration she had been keeping inside became visible.

"I didn’t know what he was going to do!"

"Enough."

Waylen’s voice cut through the argument.

It wasn’t loud.

It didn’t need to be.

The single word carried enough authority to silence everyone at the table.

The argument immediately died.

Isaak was visibly the only one enjoying the spectacle. A small smile lingered on his face, though even he knew better than to laugh openly under Waylen’s gaze.

Silas remained silent.

Rosalyn also said nothing, watching Belle and Kleines with an unreadable expression.

Belle looked away, crossing her arms more tightly as she tried to calm herself.

Alea lowered her gaze.

Kleines, however, looked even more troubled than before.

Waylen waited several seconds before speaking again.

"Belle."

His daughter looked toward him.

"You have some explanations to give us about that boy."

He paused.

"Edward Falkrona."

Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward Belle.

Especially Kleines and Alea.

Belle already knew this conversation was coming.

She had spent the entire journey back to Falkrona House preparing herself for it.

Still, knowing it would happen didn’t make it any easier.

She let out a soft sigh.

"Edward is not Thomen’s son."

Isaak raised a brow.

"Then whose son is he?"

Thomen’s son was Edwin," Belle answered. "Edwin died when he was a child."

"Edwin..."

Rosalyn’s expression changed slightly as she searched through her memories.

"Yes. That was Thomen’s son. I remember that child. He died very young."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Was that Ante-Eden’s doing?"

The atmosphere changed again.

Everyone at the table knew exactly what she was referring to.

Ante-Eden had been responsible for the deaths surrounding Thomen’s family. His wife, Oryanna, had died because of them. Thomen himself had eventually met the same fate.

And Elona had also died because of Ante-Eden albeit indirectly.

But Edwin’s death was different.

There had never been a clear answer.

The boy had been only three years old when he died.

Three.

Far too young to understand the world, let alone become involved in the conflicts surrounding his father.

"Thomen never told me much," Belle replied. "He only said Edwin died because of an illness. I just remember that child suffering..."

She paused.

"But I don’t think it was Brandon Delavoic. Brandon might have been a scumbag, but Edwin was a child. Why would he try to kill a three-year-old? Especially the child of an old friend?"

Belle couldn’t find an answer.

And that was what bothered her.

"A sickness?" Silas repeated.

His gaze shifted toward Alea.

The meaning behind the question was obvious.

Amael.

Kleines had already revealed that his son had suffered from a strange illness, or what he believed was poison.

Alea noticed his gaze.

"If you are asking whether Edwin’s illness and Amael’s sickness were the same, brother..."

She shook her head.

"I don’t know."

Belle answered honestly.

"But it is strange."

Alea’s expression became more serious.

"It looked like poison."

Everyone looked toward her.

"Amael was having a very hard time breathing," Alea continued. "It was almost as if he was suffocating. His body was so weak that I was afraid his heart would stop."

She clenched her hands.

"I had no choice. I sealed his Olphean Bloodline. If I hadn’t, his small body wouldn’t have survived."

Silence descended over the table.

"Isn’t that situation quite similar to what happened to Thomen’s son?" Isaak asked, raising a brow.

Nobody answered.

There was no need to.

Because, indeed, there was an eerie similarity between the two incidents.

A small boy

A strange and sudden sickness.

A body that couldn’t withstand it.

And a family that never received a satisfying explanation for what had actually happened.

There had been months between Edwin’s death and Amael’s sudden sickness.

Months.

Yet the similarities were difficult to ignore.

And what made the coincidence even stranger was what happened afterward.

Amael had been forced to leave Sancta Vedelia because of his condition.

Edwin had died there months earlier under circumstances that nobody could properly explain.

Belle slowly looked around the table.

Even though she found the similarities strange, she couldn’t help but wonder...

Was there really some kind of connection between those two events?

Edwin’s death and Amael’s sickness.

Perhaps it was nothing more than an eerie coincidence.

Or perhaps there was something much deeper connecting them.

"I thought Amael’s condition was because of Utopia," Rosalyn suddenly said, turning her attention toward Kleines. "Didn’t you go on and kill the Utopian King out of vengeance?"

Kleines’s expression darkened.

"I don’t know for sure that it was him. Perhaps it wasn’t."

Rosalyn raised an eyebrow.

"And yet you killed him?"

Belle stared at her brother in disbelief.

"I thought you were certain he was responsible."

"He was also responsible for many of our deaths," Kleines shot back.

His eyes narrowed.

"What now? Now that your newly appeared son happens to be the Utopian King, you suddenly feel attached to Utopia as well?"

Belle’s expression immediately became cold.

"I would rather feel attached to Utopia than to a criminal organization that experiments on children. Including that child, Myrcella."

Kleines’s expression changed slightly.

"You remember her, don’t you?"

She leaned slightly forward.

"One of the victims you sheltered for a while?"

Kleines said nothing.

"I wonder what she thinks of you knowing that you became a great ally of the very organization responsible for those experiments and worked alongside them for all these years."

"I did not work with those scum!"

Kleines glared at her, slapping his hand against the table.

Isaak, meanwhile, couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh.

"I have to admit, I’m surprised."

He leaned back against his chair, looking between the two siblings.

"Weren’t you two quite close before?"

Belle and Kleines both remained silent.

Isaak remembered how close they had once been.

Their personalities had been somewhat similar, and despite their differences, they had shared a rather good brother-and-sister relationship.

Belle had always been one of the siblings Kleines seemed to care about the most.

Yet now...

It was almost as if they were strangers sitting across from each other.

Rosalyn scoffed.

"There isn’t one better than the other."

She gave Kleines a disdainful look.

"But stooping low enough to join that trash of a criminal organization is still unacceptable."

"I wasn’t part of them!"

Kleines snapped louder.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? I never took part in any of their twisted experiments!"

"Then what have you been doing all this time?"

Silas finally spoke.

Unlike Isaak, there was no amusement in his voice.

His cold gaze remained fixed on Kleines.

Kleines gritted his teeth.

For a moment, it looked like he wanted to answer.

Instead, he looked away.

The silence stretched.

"You will have to answer eventually, Kleines."

Waylen’s voice finally broke the silence.

Kleines didn’t respond.

"However, that matter can wait."

Waylen’s eyes moved toward Belle.

"First, we have the matters in front of us. That boy is not Thomen’s son. And he is certainly not Kleines’s son, Amael. Then who is he?"

The question was directed toward Belle.

Belle had expected it.

She had known this conversation would eventually reach this point.

Before she could answer, Isaak suddenly spoke.

"Perhaps he is Belle’s son."

Everyone looked toward him.

"I mean her real son."

He crossed his arms.

"I was surprised when that Edward introduced himself as Belle’s son two years ago. But perhaps he really is?"

Belle’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Rosalyn also looked at her suspiciously.

"He seems to possess the Core Bloodline as well."

"He has the Core Bloodline."

Waylen corrected her.

"He used it in Veyra to fly away."

Even through a screen, Waylen recognized it.

Isaak’s eyes widened slightly.

"A fourth member of the Falkrona House possessing the Core Bloodline in the same generation? Isn’t that quite amazing?"

It was.

From anyone’s perspective, it was something almost unbelievable.

Waylen.

Kleines.

Silas.

And now Edward.

Four people possessing the Core Falkrona Bloodline while being alive at the same time.

The Core Bloodline was not something ordinary members of the Falkrona Household could awaken.

It was something that appeared only among the geniuses of geniuses.

For generations, possessing it had been considered one of the greatest signs of talent within the family.

Yet now there were four.

"This is ridiculous."

Kleines scoffed.

"He isn’t a Falkrona. He’s just a monster from another world."

Belle’s eyes sharpened.

For a brief moment, she wanted to lash out at him again.

But instead, she simply scoffed.

"He is certainly more of a Falkrona than you will ever be."

Kleines frowned.

Belle said nothing more.

She wasn’t going to reveal the truth.

Edward had already told her everything about his two lives.

His life as Nyrel.

His life as Amael Falkrona in which he was Horus’ grandson and the son of the legendary Princess, Belle Falkrona.

She knew where he had come from, what he had experienced, and how those two lives had eventually become connected.

But knowing something didn’t mean she had to tell everyone.

Especially not here.

There were simply too many secrets surrounding Edward.

And some of them were not hers to reveal.

"What do you mean by another world?"

Waylen asked, turning toward Kleines.

"He is a parasite from another world—"

"Don’t listen to his nonsense, Father."

Belle immediately cut Kleines off.

Kleines glared at her.

Belle ignored him.

"I’ll tell you."

She looked around the table.

"His name is Nyrel. He is from the same world as the Heroes summoned by Eden."

The moment those words left her mouth, everyone’s eyes widened.

Rosalyn’s expression changed completely.

"What did you say?"

"I am not lying."

Belle’s tone remained calm.

"In that aspect, yes. He is from another world but he wasn’t summoned by Eden."

Silas narrowed his eyes.

"You say he is from another world, yet he possesses all the traits of a Falkrona and he has the Core Bloodline."

"That is because our God granted him His Bloodline."

"Nonsense."

Rosalyn immediately cut her off.

She glared at Belle as if she had just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

The idea that their supreme God would personally grant someone His Bloodline sounded absurd.

Especially someone from another world.

"You actually expect us to believe that?"

Belle raised an eyebrow.

"What are you so surprised about?"

Rosalyn fell silent.

"Eden granted his power to humans from that world."

Belle’s eyes moved across the table.

"If Eden can grant his power to someone, why couldn’t our God do the same?"

Rosalyn’s expression froze.

She had no immediate answer.

Because when Belle put it that way...it wasn’t impossible.

They all knew that Eden had bestowed power upon humans from another world.

So why was it impossible for Horus to do the same?

"Then why?"

Isaak finally asked.

It was the question that everyone at the table had been thinking.

Especially Kleines.

Why would their God grant Nyrel the Falkrona Bloodline?

Why would he grant him the Core Bloodline?

And more importantly—

How had it even happened?

"Who knows?"

Belle shrugged.

"Perhaps I simply asked him to grant Nyrel the Core Bloodline," she smiled faintly. "Just like Father did for Amael when he was a child and granted him the Falkrona Legacy."

Everyone at the table remembered that.

When Alea had sealed Amael’s Olphean Bloodline, Waylen had somehow managed to obtain Horus’s approval and have the Falkrona Legacy bestowed upon the boy.

But there was a big difference between receiving the Falkrona Legacy...

And awakening the Core Bloodline.

Even Waylen knew that.

"Why would our dear God even listen to you, sister?"

Isaak sighed.

"I’ve lived my entire life and I’ve never heard him speak to me."

Belle simply shrugged.

"Who knows?"

She kept the smile on her face.

Of course, she had lied about one part.

She had never asked Horus to grant Nyrel the Core Bloodline.

But it was the only explanation she could offer without revealing everything she knew.

She couldn’t tell them about Nyrel’s second life.

"So it is his original body, then..."

Alea, who had remained silent throughout most of the conversation, finally spoke.

Belle glanced toward her.

"Yes. His original body."

Alea’s expression remained complicated.

She slowly looked away.

The original body of his other life.

That was what Amael had told her, at least, the Amael of before.

It was difficult to comprehend but she understood enough.

"If he was truly acknowledged by Horus and granted our Bloodline...then we have to respect it," Waylen said suddenly.

Everyone looked toward him.

Kleines immediately frowned.

"Father, you can’t."

Waylen’s eyes moved toward him.

"That thing is a monster. Believe me—"

"Listen to yourself."

Belle cut him off before he could continue.

She looked at Kleines with open disgust.

"What happened to my brother?"

Her voice was colder now.

"I never thought you could turn into someone this despicable, Kleines."

Kleines’s expression twisted with anger.

"You don’t know anything about him, Belle!"

He slammed his hand against the table.

"I saw what would happen if he was left alone in my son’s body!"

Belle stared at him.

"What would happen?"

Her tone was almost mocking.

"Yes, he must have looked like some kind of monster ready to betray and kill you at any moment, right?"

She turned toward Alea.

"Isn’t that what you saw too, Alea?"

Alea stiffened.

Belle continued before she could properly answer.

"That must be why he risked his life and went all the way to Elyen Kiora to get you out of the place Kleines had put you in."

Alea’s eyes widened slightly.

"Belle...I don’t see him like that. I—I know he did a lot for us, and I wish we could speak—"

"You’d better not try."

Belle immediately cut her off.

Her sharp gaze shifted toward Kleines.

"Especially you, dear brother."

The words sounded almost casual.

But there was a warning hidden beneath them.

A very clear one.

Belle doubted she would be able to stop Edward if he genuinely decided to kill Kleines.

Edward was a surprisingly patient man when he wanted despite his intimidating aura. He often looked like someone who could murder an entire room without blinking, yet most of the time he was remarkably calm.

But there were certain subjects.

Certain people.

Certain memories.

And Kleines could step directly onto every one of those dangerous lines.

If he kept provoking Edward, Belle wasn’t sure even she could prevent the inevitable.

Kleines glared at her.

"So what have you done, then?"

His voice was bitter.

"You truly adopted him? How long has this been going on?"

"Since you cowardly stabbed him in the back, if you want the exact moment."

Belle crossed her arms.

"And by formal adoption, he is my son."

She looked directly into Kleines’s eyes.

"That makes him a member of this family so you better watch your tongue."

Kleines’s jaw clenched.

"I warned you, Belle. You will eventually see his true face. And when you do, you’ll regret ever believing him."

"Certainly his true face couldn’t be worse than my brother working with scums who torture children."

Belle snorted.

Kleines gritted his teeth.

Before the argument could continue, Waylen interrupted.

"He was indeed adopted by you."

Everyone became quiet.

Waylen had already received enough letters from Belle confirming it.

The matter had first become public when Edward appeared during the world broadcast alongside Freya Ruvelion, and Belle had already arranged everything beforehand.

Even now, she had confirmed it herself.

"There is even more reason for us to meet him, then."

Rosalyn immediately frowned.

"Father, I don’t think that is a good idea."

She glanced toward Belle.

"Krona may have granted him our Bloodline, but he is still an outsider."

"I adopted him."

Belle immediately answered.

"He is part of my family."

Rosalyn scoffed.

"Ridiculous. Is that your last resort because you couldn’t find anyone who suited your tastes, Belle?"

Belle’s eyes twitched.

"Please, older sister. We all know how you treat your own husband."

Rosalyn’s expression darkened.

"I pity the man."

Belle glanced around the room.

"Is he even here? Certainly not. He should stay away. Wouldn’t want him to embarrass you, after all."

Isaak suddenly raised a finger.

"They are officially separated, actually."

Belle immediately laughed.

Rosalyn’s glare snapped toward Isaak.

He quickly lowered his hand.

"..."

Waylen, meanwhile, simply ignored his children’s bickering.

He had long since learned that trying to control every argument in this family was a waste of energy.

"Invite him, Belle."

His voice immediately regained everyone’s attention.

"Bring him here for a discussion."

Belle’s expression became slightly serious.

"He now carries our name. And he uses that name as the Utopian King."

Waylen paused.

"If he truly is your adopted son, then he should come here."

The meaning was obvious.

Edward had the Falkrona name.

And that name carried enormous weight.

As the Utopian King, Edward was already powerful enough to make enemies across the world, but carrying the Falkrona name gave him another layer of protection.

Anyone considering targeting Utopia would have to think twice.

The Falkrona Household was not a name people could casually challenge.

If Edward wanted that privilege, he could have it.

But there were responsibilities attached to it as well.

And if he was truly Belle’s adopted son, then meeting Waylen Falkrona, the Supreme Head of the House was inevitable sooner or later.

Honestly, Belle thought it might even save her from several future headaches.

She sighed.

"I’ll bring him, Father."

Waylen nodded.

Kleines, however, wasn’t finished.

"He will bring nothing but ruin to this house, Father."

Rosalyn immediately scoffed.

"You brought shame upon this family for generations, and you’re talking about ruin?"

Kleines looked toward her.

"You—"

"You’re the only one ruining our family right now."

Belle had to suppress a laugh.

She had been thinking almost exactly the same thing.

She simply would have phrased it far more politely.

Rosalyn had apparently decided subtlety was beneath her as always.

Kleines’s expression darkened.

"You’ll see it yourself with your own eyes."

He looked toward Belle.

"But I certainly won’t let that monster ever hurt my family."

Belle’s patience finally snapped.

"I’ve heard enough."

She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor.

She had no intention of sitting there and listening to Kleines repeatedly insult Edward any longer.

Her anger was already dangerously close to boiling over again.

"Father."

Waylen looked toward her.

"If you need me, I’ll stay the night."

Without waiting for another word, Belle turned around and walked away from the dining hall.