Chapter 305: Pride & Selfishness

While bodies kept falling from an unseen sky, something moved at an incredible speed, blitzing through the fog before its eyes found a golden armored knight with long red hair falling down her back like silk.

Soft, mocking laughter floated out like echoing whispers.

"Frey!" Isolde, who had kept walking but it seemed as if she was still at the same spot, shouted Godfrey’s name but her ears twitched, responding to the soft laughter.

Her eyes narrowed and she turned, fingers tight around the shaft of her spear.

"Isolde Pendragon... What are you trying to prove?"

Isolde’s eyes locked on where the voice came from and swung her spear in that direction. The fog cleared but nothing was there.

"Fierce. Hehehe... of course you are. Isolde Pendragon, the selfish woman with so much pride you’re oblivious to reality."

Isolde looked around, eyes keen.

"I know you hear me. We both knew if you stepped aside your uncle James wouldn’t have been your enemy. Women are not the alphas of dragons, your father was blinded by love and you by the boundless pride that what isn’t meant to be yours was yours. You could have aided him, you could have supported him, the family would still be strong, the dead wouldn’t have died. This is all your fault!"

Isolde felt whatever was speaking to her moved around her, staring at her with such a scornful gaze that made her feel like a wreck inside.

"No words? I’m not baffled, it was to be expected. You’ve never treated anyone properly, always aloof, always feeling superior. You think you’re protecting yourself from them because of your position but I’ll tell you the truth you’ve refused to tell yourself. You were like that because of your pride. Your selfishness wasn’t loyalty to your family, it was loyalty to yourself. The girl who wants the throne, who wants to lead the family. You as a dragon are meant to bow to the male... it’s the nature of dragons, it’s the nature of Pendragons. Haven’t you seen your mother!"

Isolde’s eyes gleamed. "I won’t do it."

A chuckle rang. "There she is. The woman who seeks to be alpha. You’ve ruined the Pendragon family and you can’t still rule it. Bow! Redeem yourself and bow to him."

The image of Bazzoit appeared in Isolde’s eyes. She found herself back in that cavern with Bazzoit gazing down at her from above.

Isolde’s eyes hardened like steel. "I will not. I might be prideful, selfish and ambitious but I won’t bow and I will take what is mine. The Pendragons will never have prospered under that snake of a dragon. I own myself, I will not be reduced to a mere mate. I chose my future."

She smiled as she lowered her spear.

"And I’ve chosen him."

Her eyes widened when the fog cleared to reveal Godfrey seated on a hill of corpses with more dropping. He was surrounded by blood and dead bodies. He looked... intimidating.

"Him?" A loud burst of laughter filled Isolde’s ears. "You ruined the life of that young man."

The fog moved as Isolde hurried toward Godfrey only to be met by fog and it seemed like Godfrey had vanished. He was there one second and now, there was nothing.

"I know what you did. You couldn’t stay away from him so you tore his future apart just to have him. Such love."

"What?" Isolde’s eyes trembled. "T-that’s rubbish." she spat.

"Did I hit a nerve?" Truth Seeker chuckled. "Was there any reason for you to go to that school? You had seen so much about him but that wasn’t enough for you. You were not supposed to be in his life yet you forced yourself in. Some so-called savior."

The fog gushed toward Isolde, forming a vague female face. "You used your knowledge to trap him between your fingers."

Isolde looked indifferent if one gazed at her helmet but inside, she bit her lower lip. Yes, it was because of her selfish reason that she went to Manhattan but the main objective was to help—

"Liar!" Truth Seeker screamed. "You knew fate wasn’t to be tampered with."

"Then it shouldn’t have shown him to me!" Isolde scowled but it came out as a scream.

"Oh really? You think you saved him but... you ruined him. You ripped away his glorious future because your selfish desire blinded you to the bigger picture. He wasn’t meant to be saved!"

Isolde’s breath trembled.

"He was feeding beast summons to Dirge... he turned entire cities into hells of shadow wraiths, he was mad. Cain... Cain made him mad and you think that’s his glorious future?"

"You sound terrified. Are you terrified of what he is now? Do you see what I mean? You made terror a weak king. Accept the truth, you ruined his future, you ruined the future of others doing this. What you are now is a mistake!"

The fog around her grew thicker, almost choking Isolde. Isolde felt her feet leave the ground as something tightened around her throat.

She was powerless. That’s what her mind told her.

’No! No I’m not!!’ Isolde screamed inwardly, summoning Luthor who unleashed flames everywhere in a fit of fury.

She fell to the ground, but just then, the fog swallowed Luthor and he vanished. Her eyes widened.

He was disconnected from her completely!

"We are not done!" Truth Seeker’s eerie laughter rang, ever close yet distant.

"You’re selfish. No gold becomes pure without the rigorous process of refinement. His training from Cain would have forged a perfect vessel but you poured water into the forge out of mercy for the gold. Your blunder ruined him. And you know this to be true."

"It’s...not."

"Why does your voice tremble then?"

Isolde looked up.

"Stop."

"Why should I? Because you’re an entitled princess born pampered from birth. You were a global figure the day you were born, praised by the world’s best, exalted by the world for awakening so early when in reality you were just a juicy meal spotted by a superior being. You were food, darling, and the world called you special for it."

Truth Seeker laughed wickedly. "I almost forgot, you left your food status. You fought against him being a Fanatic, you think you saved him yet you drank the blood and ate the flesh of the past mother of dragons to become what you are now. What a hypocrite."

Scenes flashed in Isolde’s eyes one after the other.

"You ruined him!" Truth Seeker screeched, so loud Isolde felt her eardrums nearly explode.

Her eyes moistened. Why did these words cut so deep? She tried to reason but it was as if her mind couldn’t process anything.

"You know what you did will affect fate, yet you went on babbling that mouth of yours."