Chapter 501: In The Know (II)

"Since I knew my son’s soul was gone, how then was this Ethan Stark still alive."

"It then led me to believe one explanation," Nathan continued. "The body survived, but the soul inhabiting it was no longer my son’s."

"That was when I knew that whoever was inside his body now...was someone else."

Ethan then asked, "Do you hate that someone else is occupying your son’s body?"

Nathan shook his head and smiled. "No. Not at all. Although I must admit, part of the reason I came to Gritnia wasn’t only because of Carrion. I also wanted to know how you had managed to embody Ethan Stark so perfectly."

"I wondered what your reaction would be when you saw me," Nathan continued, a trace of amusement entering his voice. "How much of a pretense could you really put up? Would you recognize me the way my son should? Would you behave differently around me? There were so many questions."

A small laugh escaped him.

"I found the entire thing incredibly intriguing. So much so that I wanted to experience it for myself."

Ethan’s expression had only grown increasingly uncomfortable as Nathan spoke.

This was already a conversation he had never imagined himself having, much less with the father of the person whose body he had inherited.

Nathan noticed. His amusement faded as he turned toward Ethan. "But I don’t think you’re a sham."

"It would be perfectly natural for a different soul placed inside another person’s body to live differently from the person who came before them. To disregard their relationships, abandon their responsibilities, perhaps even take whatever they could from that life and make away with it."

His gaze stayed on Ethan. "But that isn’t what you did."

Nathan gestured faintly toward him.

"You treat Eduardo and Francesca as though they’ve always been part of your life. The same is true of your friends and everyone else my son cared about. You didn’t discard those relationships simply because they technically weren’t yours."

Nathan’s smile returned.

"And Stark Industries..." He shook his head slightly. "You didn’t just preserve what was left to you. You transformed it into something neither my son nor I could have ever achieved."

"But most importantly, there is Irene."

Nathan’s expression changed at the mention of her.

"You could have looked at all of this and decided she wasn’t your responsibility. Biologically, that body may be hers, but you know the truth of what you are."

"You know you aren’t the son she gave birth to and none of what she’s going through has to matter to you."

"But you have treated this entire situation with all the love and desperation a son would have for his mother.... You crossed into the Demon Continent for her. You brought the people closest to you into one of the most dangerous places in the world for her. And now you’re preparing to walk directly into the Dragon Emperor’s palace despite knowing exactly what could be waiting for you there."

Nathan exhaled slowly. "So am I sad that my son is dead?..I think I always will be."

"But I’m also glad that some part of his life was allowed to continue. I’m glad that you took what his life had become and turned it for the better"

"I’m glad that you chose to care about the people he left behind. And I’m glad you’re choosing to do this now despite knowing the risk involved."

Nathan looked away briefly, gathering himself before meeting Ethan’s gaze again.

"But more than anything, I’m glad that even after learning my son is gone, I don’t feel the emptiness I thought I would feel after losing my only boy."

Ethan’s expression slowly changed.

Nathan smiled at him. "Because when I look at you—when I see the people you’ve protected, the name you’ve carried, and the lengths you’re willing to go to for Irene—I don’t find myself thinking about the stranger who took my son’s place."

His voice softened. "All I still see is my boy."

Ethan wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about any of it.

For a while, he said nothing.

His gaze lowered slightly, his expression caught somewhere between contemplation and discomfort. Strangely, there was also a sense of relief buried beneath it all.

Nathan walked closer and placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. "So you see now why I wanted to thank you."

Ethan raised his eyes toward him.

Nathan hesitated before continuing.

"And I suppose there is another reason I chose to finally tell you...Watching you come this far, seeing you take all these risks and accept so much of my son’s life as your own... eventually, I began to feel guilty keeping what I knew from you."

"I knew you weren’t the soul born into this body. But I allowed you to believe I didn’t know because it was easier for me that way. I could speak to you as my son, rely on you as my son, and accept everything you were doing for Irene while never having to acknowledge that I knew all of these."

"But continuing like this was starting to feel unfair."

Nathan gave him a little smile. "You turned this life into your own. You accepted the people in it as your own. You accepted Irene as your mother, and whether you intended to or not, you accepted me as your father."

"The least I could do was stop hiding behind the assumption that I didn’t know."

Nathan gently squeezed his shoulder. "So, thank you, Ethan."

His smile grew slightly. "For everything."

Ethan quietly nodded. There wasn’t much else he could think to say, so he turned toward the door and began walking away.

After only a few steps, however, Ethan slowed to a stop as a thought had occurred to him.

He turned slightly toward Nathan. "Aren’t you curious about who actually inhabits this body."

Nathan considered the question briefly before shaking his head. "No."

Ethan looked mildly surprised.

"I don’t think I need to know," Nathan said. "Nor do I particularly want to."

Ethan stared at him for another moment, then turned back toward the door.

"But..." Nathan’s voice stopped him again which made Ethan glance over his shoulder.

"There is one more thing you should be aware of...Your mother doesn’t know."

Ethan turned fully toward him. "About any of this?"

"Nothing," Nathan confirmed. "I’m the only one who knows."

There was some surprise on Ethan’s face now.

Nathan sighed. "I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that something had happened to her boy. Not while she was trapped there."

"Irene has spent more than a decade imprisoned by the Dragon Emperor. She needed every bit of hope and support she could hold on to and I wasn’t going to take her son away from her."

Ethan’s expression gradually softened.

"So when we finally get her out of there," Nathan continued, "whether you tell her is entirely your choice. If you decide she deserves to know, tell her. If you decide you’d rather not, then don’t."

"But I won’t be the one to raise it."

Ethan remained silent for a second, then nodded.

"And Ethan... You don’t need to act any differently around me because of this. Nothing about what I’ve told you changes how I see you, so don’t let it change how you see me either."

A brief silence passed between them.

"Do you understand?"

Ethan looked at him for another moment before giving a nod. "Yeah."

Nathan smiled a bit.

Ethan turned back toward the door, opened it, and continued on his way.