Chapter 467
Ian:
There were entries after entries, but among them was something I could not look away from. It was one specific thing repeated nonstop. In my father’s exact words, it was this:
’My father made a mistake. He acted too soon and killed, thinking he had killed the bad one. Little did he know, the bad one got to live.
But I carried this burden. I wanted to do something so their sacrifice would not be wasted.
All my life, I tried to do good things, but there were moments when my flaws came out.
One of them was when I made the deal about the academy.
Even when I tried my best to be a better version of myself, or to make everyone proud of me, I could not stop myself from letting a few people die here and there. I told myself it was because anger filled my veins over what they did to my wife, but the truth was that I was a flawed individual.
In the end, I justified it as the right thing to do. If the alphas planned all this entertainment, then their generations should be the ones entertaining everyone p>
As I read those words, my heart started to thump louder in my chest. Everything began to make sense.
In all the tests my father put Zian and me through when we were kids, all the hard physical labor that left scars on us, he watched to see whose scars healed first.
Zian stood.
The bad one had more monstrous genes in him.
“I wanted to tell you this last time, but I did not know how you would look at me then p>
My father’s voice came from the doorway, and I instantly jumped to my feet, dropping the pillow onto the ground.
“What is this, Father?” I asked, showing him the diary.
He looked guilty. For the first time in his life, he started to take off his gloves and his coat, dropping them onto the ground.
He wandered inside in defeat, almost as if he were dragging his feet behind him.
“I did not want this outcome. I tried. I tried to convince myself that I should end the academy, but the bad part of me kept reminding me that there were still monsters out there. I have seen alphas worry for their sons, but I could not stop myself. I could not stop what I had started p>
My father paused as he gently lowered himself, placing his hand on the mattress before sitting down, like a man defeated by many wars.
“I had to take revenge for your mother’s demise. There were moments when part of me wanted to unleash the demons, the monsters, onto the south, east, and west. But I stopped myself whenever I thought of your mother. I could not let it happen. She was the one who helped me become a better version of myself, but at times it was difficult,” he explained, and a single tear rolled down his eye.
I sat beside him on the bed, staring at the wall where his picture with my mother hung.
“For someone who had such monstrous genes in him, you did a great job,” I told my father as I placed my hand on his shoulder. The moment I did, I saw hope flicker in his eyes.
He looked at me, and another tear rolled down his eye.
“You are just saying this because you want me to feel better about myself,” he commented.
“No, Father, that is not the case. I am being honest with you. I have seen monsters in the north, and I paused, taking a deep, heavy breath. “I have even seen Zian. I swear I would have never thought you were the— you were the monstrous one if I had not read the diary p>
I spoke confidently because every word came from deep within me. It was the truth. My father must have fought a great war within himself all these years. No wonder there were nights when he wailed in his room. He fought the monster, but Zian could not.
“I tried to help Zian do the same thing. I wanted him to overcome the madness, but– I do not know why it did not work with him,” he uttered, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Probably because he never found his mate. For me, my fated mate was already helping me,” my father began to explain, but then he sighed and looked down.
“I want you to be honest with me, Father,” I asked, slowly removing my hand from his shoulder and turning to face him on the bed. “How were you going to convince everyone that I died in the north p>
I watched him gulp. That was when I knew my fear had been right.
My father paused as he placed his hands on the edge of the mattress, clutching them tightly.
“I was going to present Zian’s body to them p>
The moment he said that, I threw my head back and let out a deep breath.
“There is a flawed one in you speaking,” I responded to him.
The fact that the monster in them was so deadly that, at this age, when his son was already grown, he was ready to make that decision proved that whatever they injected into them had scarred them badly.
“Father, you need to tell me all about who is preparing these monsters,” I asked him, without sadness in my tone. At this moment, we needed to take a stand. We needed to do something instead of feeling pity for ourselves.
“I have also found out who bought Clementine.” The moment I said that, my father looked up at me.
“Zian helped,” I added, just so my father would know that Zian was not entirely bad.
“Ian, do not trust him too much. He might help you a little, but remember, he has had the injection, the poison, in him for a very long time. When my mother was pregnant, the poison was injected at the very last stage of her pregnancy. But your mother carried both of you with the poison inside her. Zian might not be like me. He might never become like me. He might never fight the monster inside him,” my father explained, trying to make me understand.
I shook my head.
“That is because we never truly helped him, but I am ready to do that p>
As I said that, my phone started to ring. It was Troy. Hope flickered in me because I had given them the address to find out about the man, Lord Nook, or whatever he was.