Chapter 122: The Right To Mourn

Basil no longer knew what he was supposed to feel about her. The woman he had once trusted had committed an unforgivable betrayal, yet that didn’t erase the years she had spent raising him. Despite everything she had done, he couldn’t bring himself to regard her as someone who had never mattered to him. For that reason, he appreciated that the king and queen hadn’t chosen to treat her body as though she had never mattered. They hadn’t decided to simply discard her corpse because she had committed a crime. Instead, they had chosen to give her a proper burial, at least out of consideration for the relationship she had shared with him.

"If that’s what you’ve both decided, then I have no objections," he said after a moment. "Whatever arrangements you think are appropriate are fine with me."

"All right, then. We’ll make the necessary arrangements and let you know the details." The queen rose from her seat, smoothing her clothes as she prepared to leave. "I won’t keep you any longer." She turned towards the door, then paused and glanced at Darius. "Darius, do you intend to stay here with your brother?"

Darius looked at Basil before answering. "That depends. Does he want me to stay?"

Basil turned towards him. For a brief moment, he seemed to consider the question, but his answer came without much hesitation.

"Yes. I’d like you to stay. I still have something I want to talk to you about."

A small smile appeared on the queen’s face. Seeing how naturally they sought each other’s company now, she felt another wave of relief. Whatever had brought about the change between them, she was grateful for it.

"In that case, I’ll leave you two alone." She started towards the door. "I’ll see you later, Basil."

"See you later, Mother."

The queen gave them one last smile before walking out of the suite, leaving the two princes alone.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Darius shifted on the sofa, shuffling a little closer to Basil before turning towards him. "How are you feeling? Are you sure you’re all right?"

Basil turned to look at him, his eyebrows drawing together slightly. "Why do you keep asking me that? This is the second time you’ve asked if I’m all right."

"Because this is different," Darius replied. "Earlier, it was about your broken engagement, something you made clear you didn’t care much about. But this time, we’re talking about a member of your family. Someone who raised you, someone you cared about, despite everything she did. I just want to know if you’re really all right, Basil. Are you sure you’re not keeping your feelings to yourself just because you don’t want anyone to worry about you?"

Basil fell quiet for a moment, his gaze drifting towards the phone resting in his hands. "I won’t deny that I’m a little sad," he admitted eventually. "I know you never got the chance to meet her, but Nanny Linda was someone I grew up with long before I knew she was my grandmother. She was always there, even when I was being unbearable."

A faint, almost reluctant smile touched his lips as he continued. "She was probably the only person who could indulge me without making me feel as though I owed her something in return. I could be difficult, arrogant, and downright unreasonable, but somehow, she always knew how to handle me. She would scold me when she thought I had gone too far, but she would also be the first to defend me when someone else tried to do the same. No matter how badly I behaved, she always made me feel loved."

Darius listened without interrupting. His attention remained fixed on Basil, taking in every word and every small change in his expression. He had heard pieces of Basil’s past, but this was different. Basil wasn’t merely answering a question or explaining something that had happened. He was opening a part of himself that he rarely allowed anyone to see, sharing memories that had shaped the person he had become. Darius wanted to hear all of it. Every little thing Basil was willing to tell him mattered, because each detail brought him closer to understanding the man sitting beside him.

"That’s why finding out what she had done hurt so much," Basil continued, his voice growing quieter. "When I learned that she had switched us at birth, I couldn’t believe it. I kept wondering how someone who had loved me so much could do something that would change so many lives. She had deceived the royal family, taken you away from your parents, and made all of us live with a truth we should have known from the beginning. I felt betrayed. I thought I should hate her for it."

He paused, pressing his lips together as he searched for the right words. "But even after everything came to light, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her. And finding out that she was my real grandmother only made things more complicated. It was as though a part of me had finally found an answer to something I had never known was missing, even though the answer came with so much pain. She had done something terrible, Darius, but she was still the woman who had raised me. I couldn’t simply erase all those years because of what I had learned."

Basil lowered his gaze again, his thumb brushing absently over the edge of the phone.

"I know I might sound selfish saying this, especially considering what she did to you. Because of her, you were deprived of your parents and the life you should have had. You had to grow up without—"

"Hey, no. Don’t do that," Darius interrupted gently. "You don’t have to feel guilty for loving someone just because you think they hurt me. What she did was wrong, but that doesn’t mean the years you shared with her suddenly meant nothing."

Basil looked up at him, his expression softening slightly.

"Besides, I don’t feel as though I’ve missed out on everything," Darius continued. "Of course, there are things I can never get back, and I’m not going to pretend that what happened doesn’t matter. But I’ve had the chance to meet some wonderful people since coming here. I’ve found a place for myself, and I’ve come to know people I might never have met otherwise."

His expression grew warmer as he looked directly at Basil.

"And then there’s you. Had Linda never switched us, who knows if our paths would ever have crossed the way they did? I might never have met you, and you might never have had the chance to change my life the way you have. I met you at one of the lowest points of my life, and you helped me through it. You gave me a reason to keep going when I had barely begun to understand what my life had become. That’s something I will never forget."

Darius paused, his gaze steady on Basil’s face.

"And my forces? I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Those people have been through a lot with me, and we’ve had our share of difficult moments, but they’re my people. They’ve stood beside me, fought beside me, and become a family in their own way. I’m grateful for them, even when they drive me absolutely mad."

A small smile tugged at his lips.

"So, when I look at everything that happened, I can’t say Linda only took things away from me. Her actions caused a lot of pain, but they also led me to people who have become important to me. And if I’m being honest, I think meeting you is one of the best things that has happened to me. So don’t sit there worrying about whether you’re allowed to mourn her or remember the good things about her. You are, Basil. You don’t have to choose between acknowledging what she did and admitting that you loved her."

Basil stared at him for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words. Then he let out a quiet sound, somewhere between a scoff and a sigh, and shook his head.

"Sometimes, you’re just..." He trailed off, looking away as though he couldn’t find a suitable word to describe him.

Darius smiled. "I can’t help it."

"That’s precisely the problem," Basil muttered.

Darius chuckled softly before his gaze fell to the phone in Basil’s hands. He decided it might be better to give him something else to focus on rather than let him dwell on the conversation for too long.

"Anyway, do you want to open the phone now, or would you rather leave it for later?"

Basil glanced down at it. For a moment, he considered putting it aside and dealing with it another day, but he knew he would only keep thinking about what might be inside. Procrastinating wouldn’t change anything.

"Hmm. I think I’ll open it now," he decided. "There’s no point putting it off. I’ve had it hanging over my head for long enough, and I’d rather find out what’s inside than keep wondering about it."