Chapter 753 - 280: The Truth of War (10)

"How can a king be someone like you!"

"How can you, how dare you use such an attitude to face all of this!"

"Why can you turn a blind eye to this, why can you discard them like garbage, when these are the things everyone cherishes the most, entrusted to you with the purest intentions!"

"So many kids look at you with such eyes, even if you really want to do something this disgusting, why would you feel no shame? How can you say so confidently that you're the one who's right? Are you fucking insane?"

"Didn't you proclaim in the kingdom that you love everything, that every magical girl is your child? How can you so easily abandon the love these children have for you, how can you be so cold-blooded!"

"What exactly do you see magical girls as? Our dreams, our beliefs, our emotions, these standards originally used to select magical girls, what do they even amount to? Were we taught these things just to die? Just to become materials for you to heal? To turn everything so disgusting, so worthless, so laughable, is that the only way you're satisfied?"

"Tell me! Continue preaching your warped logic to me!"

"Refute me! Continue arguing that you're right!"

"At least let me know you actually thought about all of this, right? At least prove you once realized their emotions, right? At least indicate you weighed all of this carefully, right?"

"Why won't you speak, why won't you tell me you've thought about it!"

"Hurry and say you've thought about it! Speak up!"

At the end, Cornflower was nearly in tears.

Just thinking about those comrades who died in the war, just thinking about the beliefs she once held, made her feel so much pain she could hardly breathe.

What was all of this for in the end?

What can a so-called war leave behind?

Every moment from the past, every time spent with her comrades, every word exchanged, all churned in her heart like blades.

Justice, glory, protection, love, trust, aspirations… All the words that should have shone in war, guiding and enlightening people, now shattered to pieces in Cornflower's heart, becoming shards that pierced her flesh.

She cried until she was on the ground, cried until she wanted to vomit.

Only when she had cried to the point of silence did the presence on the throne finally speak again.

—"So, are you willing to pledge loyalty to me, to become my Sapphire Wand?"

She inquired thus, explained thus: "As long as you swear to me now, then you can be crowned as the 'Hero of the Garden Defense Battle,' and take the position of the Master of the Magical Affairs Institute."

Cornflower stared at her blankly.

At this moment, she felt a certain string in her mind snap.

If not for knowing that this person couldn't die, if not for knowing that this country couldn't fall, if not for the greater good, she really wanted to rush up and kill this individual like an enemy, otherwise, there would be no way to console those souls who died in the war.

But she couldn't do that.

Just as that presence said, if she dies, it would cause all magical girls' powers to vanish, so even if she's a lunatic, a scumbag, this world still needs her alive.

But how ironic, how distorted, and how infuriating it is.

She stared at that person emptily, remaining silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"Mother."

The title inexplicably became intimate, but the emotion contained within was almost mocking.

"Have you made up your mind, my Sapphire?" Yet the presence on the throne seemed completely oblivious to this deep sentiment.

"Do you love me?" Cornflower asked.

"Of course I love you, my child." That person answered.

"I see."

Cornflower nodded: "I can't judge whether this statement is true or false, but I can treat it as true."

"It's indeed true." The other replied.

"So, I refuse." Cornflower was expressionless.

The presence on the throne suddenly fell silent.

"Refuse?" As if not understanding the word, she slowly chewed over this word.

"It means I won't do it."

Cornflower's voice grew larger again, but her face remained devoid of expression: "If what you say is just lies to deceive me, then I refuse to believe you."

"If what you say is the truth, then as your 'child,' I find it revolting."

"Born to be a Gemstone Scepter? What does it mean to be inherently different?"

"I'm just like them, I'm just an ordinary person."

"I absolutely refuse to become this ridiculous Gemstone Scepter, those children who died, and the ones still lying in the sanatorium, each one is more deserving of becoming this Gemstone Scepter than I am."

"You want me to betray their sacrifices, steal their efforts, and become a deceptive liar?"

"I won't do it."

This time, the presence on the throne was silent for even longer.

"You know? The power you're using now is also mine, refusing me is to refuse that power itself."

She said: "The wounds on your body, if you don't become the Gemstone Scepter, will accompany you for a lifetime, the pain of your body's broken form will erode your soul, until even transformation is accompanied by endless pain."

"You'll be rejected by this country, by this world, you won't be welcome here anymore, and you'll never again step foot on any land here."

"Even so, will you choose to refuse?"

"You should be a smart child, Cornflower. You should understand the weight of your name, I gave you this name from the moment you were born, you can't avoid this duty and power."

Listening to these words, Cornflower blinked.

"Oh."

She said.

"Then I won't use this code name anymore. If you want me to stay out of the kingdom, then I won't come."

She turned around without any hesitation, not looking at the throne behind her even once, and walked toward the exit of the main hall: "Let's leave it at that, staying here a second longer disgusts me. Sit on your throne till you die."

She knew that person couldn't be killed, and even if wounded, her power and authority were beyond Cornflower's reach, but even so, Cornflower had her ways to resist.

After walking a few steps forward, she suddenly paused as if she remembered something.

"Oh, almost forgot to say."

She said in a cold tone: "Even Cornflower was just a code name, never my name."

"I am not your daughter, whether true or not, I don't have a mother like you."

"I'm Lin Yun."

"I'm a damn man."

After saying all this, she strode out of the main hall's gate.

The presence behind her did not call her back.

And perhaps it was Lin Yun's illusion, or perhaps it was reality, as Lin Yun walked out of the main hall and stepped down the stairs, she suddenly heard a warning from behind sounding almost like a somniloquy.

—"Don't come back."

It sounded like the voice from the towering throne, but it was so faint that Lin Yun couldn't discern it.

"Never intended to come back."

She responded in a voice that didn't care if the other could hear, and then continued to step down.