Chapter 981: Alternate Timeline: The Betrayal

His voice sounded tired.

"Twenty-two years ago, you and Everson Drake were the ones who taught me that hatred destroys everything."

"Hatred is like poison hidden inside sweet wine. At first, it warms the heart. But eventually, it burns the person drinking it from within."

He closed his eyes slowly.

"Those consumed by hatred destroy not only others... but themselves too. And when that happens... even family abandons them. You said those words, Wester, which I still remember even after two decades..."

A long silence followed.

"How did you forget that, Wester...?"

That night, Emperor Alexander fell asleep with an empty stomach.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the palace grounds, inside the underground detention cells, Wester Silver sat alone against the cold stone wall.

The prison was only temporary.

Criminals stayed there before transfer to the Black Citadel.

Yet even this place already felt suffocating.

The air smelled damp.

Cold moisture clung to the walls.

Chains rattled faintly somewhere in the darkness.

Wester Silver lowered his head weakly.

His thoughts spiraled endlessly.

Fear.

Regret.

Anger.

Despair.

Everything mixed together until he could barely think properly anymore.

Then suddenly...

Footsteps echoed through the corridor.

Slow.

Measured.

Wester Silver immediately lifted his head.

Hope flickered inside his eyes.

The figure gradually approached through the dim torchlight until finally stopping before the prison cell.

It was someone familiar.

"Uncle Oswin!"

Relief exploded across Wester Silver’s face.

He hurriedly crawled toward the bars despite the chains dragging heavily across the floor.

"You’re the only one who can help me now," he pleaded desperately. "Please convince Xander Cross to speak with the Emperor. I don’t want to go to the Black Citadel."

Oswin stared at him silently for several long seconds.

His face remained expressionless.

Cold.

Too cold.

Finally, he spoke. "I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Wester Silver."

The tone shocked him more than the words themselves.

Wester Silver froze.

His breathing slowed.

"What... do you mean?"

Lord Oswin looked directly into his eyes.

"Are you truly unable to understand even now?"

His voice remained calm.

"All evidence against you was provided by House Silver itself. Do you think the petition used by the Emperor was something he forced upon us? We voluntarily turned against you. We have been waiting for it, for so long, after all..."

Wester Silver’s eyes widened completely. "What...?"

"It took seven elders, me, the Crown Prince, House Vale, and House Mist working together just to finally bury you for good," Elder Oswin said calmly, as though he was merely discussing the weather instead of dismantling a man’s entire life piece by piece.

"Now Neron Silver will take your position, and with the support of six of the twelve major Noble Houses standing behind the Crown Prince, namely House Silver, House Mist, House Vale, House Dawn, House Drake, and House Reed, the imperial throne will eventually fall into his hands without resistance."

Every word struck Wester Silver harder than a physical blow.

For a few moments, he simply stared.

His mind refused to process it.

The damp prison air suddenly felt suffocating, thick like mud filling his lungs, while the faint torchlight flickering through the corridor painted Elder Oswin’s face in shifting shadows that made him look unfamiliar, almost like a stranger wearing the skin of someone Wester once trusted.

Then realization finally crashed into him.

"You bastard..."

His voice came out hoarse.

Broken.

Wester Silver slowly grabbed the iron bars of the cell, his fingers tightening so hard that the veins on the back of his hands bulged visibly beneath his skin.

"I trusted you..."

The words trembled out of him.

Not angry at first.

Just hurt.

Deeply hurt.

For more than twenty years, he had treated this man as his closest ally among the elders. Whenever problems appeared inside House Silver, Oswin had always stood beside him. Whenever the clan opposed him, Oswin had spoken for him. Whenever he doubted others, he never doubted this elder.

Never.

Even the plan to involve the Church of Doom is his idea.

And now he suddenly understood why. It wouldn’t matter whether he succeeds in killing Kiara or not.

The elders will no doubt turn against him with all of that evidence, and his collusion with the Church of Doom.

Oswin merely shrugged lightly.

"I know you trusted me," he replied without guilt. "That is exactly why deceiving you became easy."

Wester Silver’s face turned red instantly.

Blood rushed upward violently.

His breathing became uneven.

"You..."

For a moment, it looked as though he might collapse from rage alone.

But Oswin continued speaking calmly, almost patiently, like an old teacher explaining a lesson to a slow student.

"Actually, if you think carefully, I never betrayed you," he said. "Because I was never truly on your side from the beginning."

Silence followed.

Wester Silver’s pupils trembled.

"To keep watch over your plans and report everything to Neron Silver, I stayed beside you for more than two decades," Oswin continued. "But we could never move recklessly because of your grandfather. As long as Vann Silver remained alive, the elders could not openly act against you."

His old eyes narrowed slightly.

"So we waited."

"We waited for you to lose the Emperor’s favor naturally."

"But aside from corruption, which nearly every official in the Empire commits in some form, you were careful. You never crossed lines severe enough to destroy yourself."

Oswin sighed faintly.

"And that left us with only one path."

"Assassination."

The prison suddenly felt colder.

Wester Silver’s fingers tightened around the bars.

Oswin looked at him quietly.

"You hid your cultivation well," he admitted. "Very well."

"But your mistake was trusting me."

"If you had never revealed that you stepped into the 5-star rank nearly twenty years ago, we would have poisoned you long ago."

A bitter smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

"But instead, we learned that the man we wanted dead was already a powerful Spirit Warrior. Then you gained Vann Silver’s favor. And after that, killing you only became harder."

Wester Silver’s breathing grew rougher.

His mind replayed countless memories now with entirely different meanings.

The conversations.

The advice.

The sympathy.

Everything felt disgusting now.

Oswin continued mercilessly.

"As your strength increased, our hope became thinner and thinner. Do you know how exhausting it was for us?" he asked softly. "Watching you grow stronger while pretending loyalty every single day?"

Then his expression darkened slightly.

"We even tried attacking your mind."

"We attempted to kill Arceus Silver multiple times through outside organizations."

"But every attempt failed."

"Again and again."

At the mention of his son, Wester Silver’s body stiffened.

Oswin noticed, but he continued.

"You, meanwhile, continued strengthening your position," he said. "Using your own son as a marriage tool to build ties with House Vale."

"With House Storm standing beside you as well, the Crown Prince’s future started becoming uncertain."

His voice slowed slightly.

Then he smiled faintly.

"And then Kiara appeared. God knows what secrets she had, and what kind of background is supporting her... but she ended up lucky for us."

Wester Silver’s eyes twitched violently.

Whether from hatred or regret, even he no longer knew.

Oswin clasped his hands behind his back.

"To this day, I still wonder whether it was your bad luck or Heaven finally taking pity on us," he said quietly. "You picked a fight with Kiara during your very first meeting and ended up in a coma because of it."

His words sounded almost sincere.

"Afterward, House Vale’s grand elder stepped into the 7-star rank, your engagement alliance collapsed, and House Vale began moving toward House Reed instead."

"Everything started favoring us."

A pause followed.

"But then Xander Cross interfered."

"And somehow, even you broke into the 7-star rank."

Oswin shook his head slowly.

"At that moment, we thought everything was over."

Wester Silver lowered his head slightly.

His eyes looked hollow now.

"But hatred and arrogance," Oswin said softly, "became your greatest weakness."

"Your obsession with Kiara gave us another opportunity."

"We only needed to quietly dig the grave."

"And you..." his voice lowered further, "walked into it yourself."

The old elder slowly approached the prison bars.

His eyes met Wester Silver’s directly.

"You were so blinded by hatred that you never noticed the coffin placed behind you."

"All we had to do afterward was hammer the nails shut."

Wester Silver’s body trembled faintly.

Not from anger anymore.

From collapse.

Complete collapse.

"The elders searched for your ledgers together," Oswin continued. "They became witnesses against your actions toward Arceus Silver."

"House Vale prevented House Drake from supporting you."

"House Mist bribed the Church of Thanatos using the dwarven cannons to keep them away from this matter as well. Because rather than the Church of Thanatos, which had a significant presence in Western Phoenix, we want the Church of Doom to be involved."

"And you..."

A cold smile appeared.

"You charged ahead alone like a furious beast cornering itself."

"You never once stopped to consider the Emperor’s growing interest in Kiara’s abnormal weapons."

Oswin spread his hands lightly.

"And now here you are."

"Buried."

"With no way out."

"This is the end for you, Wester."

The prison fell silent again.

Only distant dripping water echoed softly somewhere deep underground.

Then Oswin spoke one final time.

"If you truly wish to blame someone, Wester Silver..."

"Then blame yourself."

"Blame yourself for openly supporting the Third Prince and standing against the Crown Prince."

"Blame yourself for treating the House Elders like servants."

"Blame yourself for letting hatred consume your judgment."

"And most importantly..."

His eyes became colder.

"Blame yourself for believing power made you untouchable."

After saying those words, Oswin turned around calmly and began walking away.

His footsteps echoed slowly through the corridor.

Wester Silver did not stop him.

He could not.

The strength had already left him.

His fingers slowly loosened from the prison bars.

Then his knees gave out completely.

He collapsed onto the cold stone floor.

His eyes remained unfocused.

Dazed.

Empty.

For the first time in many years, he finally understood something clearly.

He had already lost long ago.

He simply never realized it.

A long time passed.

Then tears finally escaped his eyes.

At first, only a few.

Then more.

Soon, he was crying uncontrollably while leaning against the prison wall, muttering incoherent words beneath his breath like a broken man abandoned by everything he once believed belonged to him.