Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 518

Chapter 518: The Lazy One Prepares (3)

Just by looking at Yeom Mong’s face, it was impossible to know what he was thinking. But Wei Jeonghan was determined to accept anything he said.

He believed it was the right thing to do.

Although it was also something he shouldn’t have done.

If they found out that Wei Jeonghan had hidden the son of his greatest enemy, countless people would immediately come to tear him apart.

And their anger would be justified.

Wei Jeonghan would have also reacted with fury in their place. In the end, the seed that he left planted bloomed in the direction everyone feared.

“You say he is the son of the Gran Rey Demonio?”

“…Yes.”

“That you hid him and raised him as your own son?”

“Yes.”

“…You’re crazy.”

Wei Jeonghan closed his eyes silently.

He deserved any reproach. It was the price he had to pay for betraying justice for his feelings.

“Do you know what you’ve done?”

“I know.”

“I’m asking if you understand.”

“…Frankly, I don’t know how to answer if you ask me like that.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes.”

Wei Jeonghan spoke calmly:

“I know it was something I shouldn’t have done. I also know very well that it was a result achieved with the sacrifice of so many people and their suffering. But…”

Wei Jeonghan shook his head bitterly.

Who could understand his feelings and his situation?

“If you saw that child’s face in his arms in the rain, even if I went back in time, I would make the same choice.”

“Ha.”

Yeom Mong stared at him before speaking:

“I thought you were a cold man.”

“Really?”

“Since then, you were very human.”

Wei Jeonghan didn’t respond.

He couldn’t feel good being ridiculed. He was also human. But Yeom Mong had every right to mock his decision. Getting angry here would be like denying responsibility for his actions.

“It was something that happened unintentionally.”

“With humans.”

Yeom Mong filled his cup and drank it in one gulp.

His gaze was also lost in the distance.

“Tell me.”

“Yes, senior.”

“If it were me from when I first arrived here, I would never have understood your decision. I probably would have drawn my sword to kill you.”

“…Yes, probably.”

The Yeom Mong that Wei Jeonghan remembered was a man without compromises.

Someone who would rather die than betray his principles. That’s why Wei Jeonghan felt comfortable with him. Yeom Mong didn’t reject him for that either. They were alike.

“But now I can’t get angry.”

“Why?”

“Because he was human.”

Yeom Mong’s voice sounded distant.

“If he was the son of a follower of the Demon Cult or the Gran Rey Demonio… that didn’t matter. He was just a child. A child who would die if you didn’t take care of him. Isn’t that so?”

“…”

Wei Jeonghan couldn’t answer.

Jeok Moku.

He hid him and raised him because he was the son of Jeok Moku. But if Wei Sanho hadn’t been his son, would he have been able to ignore that little child?

Impossible.

No matter whose son he was, Wei Jeonghan would have accepted him.

“That’s what I thought.”

Yeom Mong passed him his cup. Wei Jeonghan took it in silence. Yeom Mong, with the bottle in hand, filled Wei Jeonghan’s cup.

“We boast of protecting the Central Plains, but in the end, all we did was kill people. Isn’t that so?”

“…Yes.”

“The end justifies the means, but everyone who participated in that war was nothing more than murderers. And now those murderers strut around. What kind of crazy world is this?”

“Senior.”

They were words full of self-contempt and regret.

Wei Jeonghan couldn’t help but look at him with pain.

A terrible war. Where everyone killed each other, where comrades fell in an instant. What was left at the end of that long war?

“But you… saved at least one life.”

A laugh.

A laugh tinged with hopelessness that hurt Wei Jeonghan’s ears.

“Well done.”

“Senior…”

“I’m not mocking. Maybe tomorrow I’ll change my mind, but right now, I mean it. You did well. Yes, well done.”

Wei Jeonghan drank it in one gulp.

“Even after this result?”

“We are humans, it’s normal.”

Yeom Mong spoke like a resigned man.

“We cannot know the future. We only wish it to be as we want. We do everything possible to achieve it. Tell me, did you expect the boy to end up like this?”

“I only wished that he would never know.”

“Good. Then that’s enough.”

Yeom Mong clicked his tongue.

‘I’m consoling this guy.’

If it hadn’t been revealed that Wei Sanho was the son of the Gran Rey Demonio, Wei Jeonghan would have raised him as his real son. As the firstborn of the Wei Family of Guangdong, he would have accepted without problems that Wei Sanho would inherit the leadership.

How could he be reproached?

How to blame the one who made the greatest sacrifice?

“Does Sanho know everything now?”

“Yes…”

“Well. Then it’s not strange that he’s looking for his roots.”

“His roots are in the Wei Family of Guangdong.”

Wei Jeonghan spoke firmly.

“Although we don’t share blood, no one in this world can deny that he is my son. Even if the Gran Rey Demonio returned from the dead, he couldn’t claim to be his father.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Upon mentioning the Gran Rey Demonio, Yeom Mong sank into distant memories.

“Now that I think about it, was he really the Gran Rey Demonio I knew?”

“…Yes.”

“Yes, of course.”

Having been so close, Yeom Mong had seen Wei Jeonghan and Jeok Moku sharing a drink a couple of times. But that man was the Gran Rey Demonio.

“What a pair of eccentrics.”

It was something strange, in retrospect.

The Gran Rey Demonio was the leader of the Demon Cult. Why did he approach his side to drink with Wei Jeonghan?

“He was someone who couldn’t find peace even in his own place.”

“When the whole world was in his hands?”

“For him, the world meant nothing. What he really wanted was not the world.”

“Then why did he start that terrible war?”

“…I don’t know for sure.”

There was no point in saying it.

Wei Jeonghan smiled bitterly.

The leader of the Demon Cult.

The Gran Rey Demonio, called the incarnation of Asura, who would understand if he said that what he really wanted was freedom? Even Wei Jeonghan found it hard to understand.

‘Could the senior accept that there was someone behind him?’

The opponent to whom he dedicated all his strength.

Who could accept that the one he swore to kill even at the cost of his soul was just a puppet?

It took Wei Jeonghan years to understand it.

Telling him wouldn’t be good for Yeom Mong. It would be like denying his life itself.

‘Someday he will know.’

Now that the Demon Cult resurfaces.

Maybe the hidden truth, which even Wei Jeonghan doesn’t fully know, will come to light.

“Your son is stronger than I thought.”

“Are you talking about Wei Yanho?”

“Yes. He looks a lot like you.”

“I don’t know if it’s an insult or a compliment.”

“Let’s say both.”

Wei Jeonghan smiled bitterly.

His ideal son was Wei Sanho. But not because Wei Sanho looked like him. Wei Sanho looked like Jeok Moku. That showed how much Wei Jeonghan admired Jeok Moku.

The one who looked like Wei Jeonghan like a drop of water was not Wei Sanho, but Wei Yanho.

Every time he saw him, he couldn’t help but laugh at how much he looked like his younger self. It was clear that, had he been born in another era, Wei Jeonghan would have lived as freely as Wei Yanho.

Ah, except for his damn Lazy, of course.

“He is a strong child.”

“More than I thought.”

“He was closer to his older brother. That he can remain so calm even after his brother joined the Demon Cult is admirable. Honestly, although he is my son, he has already left my side. He follows his own path.”

“Tell me, Jeonghan.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how extraordinary your son is. I only know one thing.”

“…I’m listening.”

“Everyone who knows me says I’m amazing. They don’t hesitate to call me a true hero for dedicating my life to my duty.”

“Isn’t it true?”

“Does it seem like it?”

“…”

Yeom Mong shook his head.

“Even today I want to run away from here. On the outside I seem strong, but on the inside I am rotten. Is it human to resist here knowing that they can come and kill me at any moment? I have done it for twenty years.”

“…Senior.”

“If you only see the surface, you will miss the truth. I recognize that your son is extraordinary. But what he is enduring is something that even veterans would have difficulty enduring. Don’t let events make you lose sight of people. You will live the rest of your life regretting it.”

Yeom Mong added something unnecessary:

“If you survive, of course.”

Toc.

Leaving his cup, Yeom Mong stood up.

“Let’s go to sleep. This is the end of the world. Anything can happen here. This could be the last night we sleep. We must appreciate what we have now.”

“Rest well.”

Without answering, Yeom Mong jumped from the watchtower.

Wei Jeonghan looked into the distance in silence.

Over there.

Somewhere behind the sandstorm, was the Demon Cult.

‘Sanho must be there too.’

Wei Jeonghan gave a faint smile.

Wei Sanho.

That little child that he had to carry carefully, had now grown so much. And he was looking for his own path.

If Wei Jeonghan was a good father, he should respect his decision. But he couldn’t. Even if this choice changed Wei Sanho’s life, he couldn’t let him continue like this.

‘My friend.’

Among the stars, he seemed to see Jeok Moku’s face.

What would he have said if he saw the current situation?

Would he have been angry with Wei Jeonghan for not controlling his son, or would he have apologized?

He would never know. The dead do not speak.

Filling his cup with the last drink from the almost empty bottle, Wei Jeonghan let out a deep sigh.