NOVGO.NET Chapter 452: I am a man.
Chapter 452: I am a man.
The sky above the Heights was grey again. Clouds pressed down on the stone rooftops, dragging their shadows through the streets. Layers of fresh snow had settled on the ground; with time, the weather was becoming colder and colder, and in this weather, Kael and Lavinia walked side by side without saying anything.
The Council meeting had ended. In two hours, it would be time for dinner, and they would need to visit the Elderlies.
For now, however, they were heading back home.
Not because they wanted to rest, but because someone was waiting for them there.
The couple stared at each other as they turned into the narrow lane that led to their house and slowed down.
They both noticed it—a figure stood near the corner of the path, a woman wrapped in a thick brown shawl, her face pale, her hair tangled, her eyes sunken.
She stood still, almost like a statue.
Vandra.
Kael stopped walking. According to Imperia, the woman had been standing here waiting for them in this cold for the past twenty minutes, and from the looks of it, she was prepared to stay for hours if that’s what it took.
This was the reason the Ant wanted them to end the meeting quickly.
Just then, Vandra noticed their arrival and turned towards them.
For a moment, both parties stared at each other in silence, both standing in their positions without any movement whatsoever, until finally—
“You know, don’t you?”
Vandra’s voice broke the silence.
Kael’s chest tightened at those words, but he didn’t say anything. He continued to stare at Vandra’s face from the narrow lane; they were about ten meters apart.
“You know, don’t you?”
The woman repeated, louder this time, her voice trembling—not from anger or hatred, it was more along the lines of despair.
Her eyes were swollen, her lips dry, and her fists shook as she clenched them tightly.
“You know who I am, don’t you?”
She spoke again, her words barely leaving her mouth.
This time, Kael couldn’t stay silent.
“I do,”
He said quietly.
“You know what happened to my husband… you know what I did… you know everything, don’t you?”
Vandra asked more questions, her voice cracking with every word that left her mouth.
Kael didn’t move. He just looked at her with an unreadable face—it was a poker face he had been preparing ever since Imperia told him about the encounter he would be having, and because of the distance between him and Vandra, it was working.
Lavinia, however, since she was standing right next to him, could see the cracks in the fake front he was putting on.
“My husband… he didn’t believe in you.”
Vandra began in her shaky voice.
“He said you were a man, not a god, that you were fooling people, that we shouldn’t be too reliant on you.
And you knew that too.
You knew what my husband thought of you, you knew what he had been saying about you to not just me but everyone else around him.
And this is why you had him killed.”
She accused.
And Kael…
He stayed silent in front of those harsh accusations.
After all, because of Imperia’s Ant constantly watching her, he, at some level, knew what she was thinking and why she was here.
And after a thorough discussion with Lavinia, he decided it was best for him to stay silent and let her vent her feelings, and that was exactly what Vandra did—
“I hated you for it.
I hated you for taking my husband’s life, but at some level, I understood why you did what you did.
You are a God, and you graciously offered your help to lower beings like us, and yet, despite your benevolent, grand gesture, a lowly being dared to spread words against you.
His death was brought by himself, but…
Why did you kill Gerald!?
What did he do!?
He believed in you more than anyone, he used to pray to you every single morning before going to Watch duty, he adored you, he fought for you, he did everything a lowly human could do to earn your favor, and in return…
In return, you killed him!”
Vandra pointed her finger at Kael and raised her voice, her eyes burning with intense rage and hatred.
And still, Kael remained silent.
An action Vandra did not like.
“ANSWER ME!!”
She shouted.
“WHY!?
WHY DID YOU KILL HIM!?
He has a wife and two children!! What is going to happen to them!? Are you going to kill them as well!?
Are you going to kill all of us!?
If yes, then why are you playing around!? Why don’t you get rid of us all at the same time!? Why don’t you crush us like the bugs we are!? Why… why are you making people believe in you…?
Why are you… playing this sick game with us…?”
She asked, her voice breaking down by the end. Her strong expression, the will to stand against and question a god—it all began to fade away as her own despair engulfed her.
And finally, when Kael knew she was done venting—
“I did not do it.”
He answered, looking straight into her eyes. His expression was still neutral, strong.
“I did not kill your husband, neither did I kill Gerald. I simply do not have the power to do so.”
He began in a low but clear voice.
“Your husband was correct.”
Those words got a reaction out of Vandra, and seeing that, Kael continued.
“I am no God. I am a Man.
But he was wrong about one thing—
I am not fooling people.”
Kael stressed those words.
“I never once said I was the Dragon God or any God for that matter. It was you people who gave me that title, even though I denied it every single time.
I have said it again and again, and I will say it again,
I am a man. Yes, I am blessed with more powers than most men are, but at the end of the day, I am still a man, my means are limited.
I do not have the power to kill your husband or Gerald just because I wish to, neither do I have the power to kill all of you.
I am not the absolute entity you people think I am. If I was, I would have ended the very concept of death, hunger, and greed. I would have created an ideal world where everyone lived in harmony and joy.
But I cannot do that, because, like your husband said, I am a man.”
Kael repeated those words with a serious look on his face.
“I can try to protect people, and it is what I do to the best of my ability, but I cannot protect everyone all the time.
It is foolish to expect that from a weak twenty-two-year-old boy.”
For a moment, Vandra didn’t speak. Her mind was frozen. She did not expect that the being she believed to be a God would directly admit that he was weak…
But then—
“B-But you p-protected everyone from the Stonefangs.”
She stuttered.
“I was able to do it because I was stronger than everyone present there and I was present, which wasn’t the case when the enemies attacked your husband or Gerald. The enemy ambushed them; I did not know what happened before it was already too late.”
Kael answered directly.
“But you… you know everything… you know who I am… you know what I did…”
“I know because I started watching you after you stored the Divine Rations in your sanctuary.”
Kael spoke as he then held Lavinia’s hand.
“The Divine Rations are created with Faith Energy and her magic, so we know what happens to them. We can feel what they feel.”
Kael then stared back at Vandra and—
“We can feel when they are disrespected.”
“B-B-But…
You are a God…”
Vandra spoke in an extremely low, unsure voice.
“I am not.
I am a Man.”
Kael kept a straight face and finally—
Thud
Vandra fell on her knees, her mind collapsing as tears rolled down her cheeks.
All this while, she had been keeping herself sane by blaming everything on Kael, but now her belief was being crushed…
The true sorrow of losing her husband hit her.
Kael clenched his fists, feeling helpless as he stared at the woman in front of him. Slowly, his poker face broke down, and he finally crouched next to her, looking at her with a concerned look on his face.
“I am sorry.”
He apologized.
“I should have been able to protect your husband, I… I was too weak.”
Vandra didn’t answer.
What could she even say?
How could she blame… a man?
Her lack of reaction, however, made Kael even more tense. He had abandoned the script he and Lavinia had prepared because he couldn’t keep a straight face like Lavinia told him to the moment Vandra broke down.
And because of that, he did not know what to say here to comfort her.
Lavinia, however, was different from him.
Her boots crunched through the snow as she stepped forward, her shadow falling over the kneeling woman as she pulled Kael away from her and—
“Stop crying like a little bitch.”
She cursed.
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