SON OF THE HERO KING

A heavy silence settled between the two naked individuals, one tucked in the other's embrace while the other silently waited for the other's reply.

"What did you just say?"

"You can just quit, you know…is what I said."

Kiyohime was about to rise up, anger evident in her actions, but a hand from Sol brought her down.

Kiyohime was a little surprised by the strength Sol just showed. She could break his binding easily, but she was still taken aback by his sudden action.

"Before you go all angry and start screaming at me, just hear me out."

Sol was calm, far too calm even after what he just uttered. He knew that Kiyohime was not someone unreasonable and could be talked to without her giving in to her anger.

He hugged Kiyohime tightly, wrapping her in the confines of his warmth as he softly told her his reasoning, "I neither have your thousands of years of experience nor can I understand your pain and suffering. However, nothing obligates you to suffer like this in the first place.”

"You make it sound so easy." A bitter smile of pain and melancholy formed on her lips, she let herself relax, ever so slightly, in his embrace as she continued the next line, "I really want to quit, but I cannot."

"No. That's what you're making yourself believe. You can quit at any time. You simply do not wish to and there lay your problem."

Sol grinned as he continued correcting her, "Let's play a small game, shall we? I will ask you a question and you will have to answer with just yes or no. Pretty simple, right?"

He didn't wait for her reply and kind of brute forced his way into the beginning of the game…

"Did Tiamat ever force you to become the Dragon Queen?"

"No."

"Did she ever force you to stay as the Dragon Queen?”

“...No.”

“Will your siblings be completely helpless without you?”

Kiyohime closed her mouth shut, her thoughts running wild as she carefully contemplated the answer to that question. She thought about Fafnir, Welsh, and the others.

Fafnir in particular was quite popular in the realm and wielded a notable amount of authority, as such, her answer was already evident.

“No.”

“What about the dragon realm, will it fall into disarray without you being the Dragon Queen?”

“*Sigh*...No, it won’t. I get it…”

Kiyohime sighed bitterly, Sol was completely destroying her pride.

"I do not know if Fate is really unavoidable, but at the end of the day, everyone is free to make their own decisions. Life is full of choice and our choices shape our future.”

His eyes became profound as he remembered all the threads of fate he had seen and even wielded to some extent, when using his divine weapon.

“Nothing forces you to stay in your position and you told me that you do not wish to remain. Then tell me, Kiyo, just why is it that you can't quit?”

The answer was as simple as it could be, “You simply do not want to leave. Be it because of your love for your kin or because of your sense of responsibility, the fact of the matter is that you made a choice purely out of your own will. And that is to remain as the Dragon Queen.”

He grinned, "In the same way you chose to continue bearing this weight on your shoulders, those traitors made their own decisions to rebel, so you have nothing to reproach yourself for. To do so would be stupid of you.”

Kiyohime just gave a bleak laugh as a response, "So I am stupid in your eyes, now?"

"Courage is knowing that it might hurt you but doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same thing. The line that separates those two actions is so thin it's almost indistinguishable.

"A selfish person could argue that courage is stupidity. I believe the same too. But you see, only courageous people can succeed and accomplish great things.

"You could just quit. But you didn't.

"You could just quit. But you never even thought of doing it.”

He laughed speaking till there, that thought was enough to make him happy, and hugged her tightly.

“This resolution of yours is truly admirable. In order to protect them and give them what you never received, you decided to bear a weight that would have crushed most people to dust. You are truly someone befitting of the crown of the queen.”

Kiyohime felt her heart warm at Sol's words. it was always good to be recognized for your efforts.

“I just want you to know. You can quit at any moment without the slightest regret. If you need it, I can even come with you and ask Tiamat to let you go. I know you do not want to let go of your responsibility. But you see…There is a great difference between someone making a sacrifice when they have no other choice and someone making a sacrifice even though they have the option to leave.”

Sol smiled a bitter smile inwardly.

This reminded him of his parents in this universe. Mars and Blaze.

He wondered if their sacrifice could be called courage or stupidity. Perhaps both. He didn't want to think about that anymore…

“Then…What about you?”

"....What do you mean?"

This time it was Sol's turn to be taken aback by her question.

"Since Mars came here I know how the system works. After you go back to the mortal realm, you will be crowned King of Lustburg. Which will make you the King of the entire human race."

'...I see… That's indeed true…'

Sol realized a problem that he had been neglecting.

He would become a King himself soon. After that, his responsibility and authority would skyrocket like never before.

"Unlike us divine beasts, only Blessed can become the King of their respective races and you, Sol, are the sole and unique blessed of Luxuria. So then… What will you do? Can you just quit?"

She wondered how Sol would answer, but his opinion was clear from the start.

"I can."

His eyes shone as he thought back to the golden thread tying him to the goddess.

"At any moment… I can leave."

He now had the power to cut this relationship whenever he wanted to but…

"However, I do not want to. Not right now, at least."

Doing so would most likely make him the enemy of the goddesses or they could find it fun and interesting.

It was hard to guess how they would react.

As such, he had been very careful during the fight so that no one even thought he could do something like that.

And even now, he was careful in not thinking about this power of his. As long as he didn't have the power to perfectly shield his thoughts like Tiamat, this was the most he could do.

All he needed now was time.

Time to grow strong enough.

Once he reached the power equivalent to that of someone like Anubis, he would be able to do whatever he wanted with impunity.

Why could Anubis steal a part of the Afterlife realm and stay unpunished?

Simple. Because he was strong. Strong enough that no one can cross him.

The goddesses could do nothing to him. So they could only watch and be thankful that he wasn't the type to create too much turbulence.

Sol wished to reach that level of power.

Thankfully, from the might he showed during his temporary power-up, Sol knew that he had nothing to worry about.

People trained, not knowing whether they would really become strong or fail.

It was different for him. He had a clear path and knew that at the end of this path was the power he so dearly desired.

Then…

An image flashed in his mind for a short moment but was swiftly erased before it could form.

Meanwhile, Kiyohime was surprised by the assurance in his voice.

She had to admit that he looked quite manly at this moment.

"You are very interesting."

"I get that a lot."

"Also pretty arrogant."

"I am a dragon after all, that practically runs in the family."

Both of them laughed after that little banter.

The mood that had been so serious a few moments ago was completely broken and gave birth to something lighthearted.

For the next few minutes, Sol began to seriously wash Kiyohime, to her dismay, as he was being quite touchy-feely.

She vehemently refused to have him wash her intimate parts and nearly threw him out of the bath when he tried to have sex again.

All this while, Kiyohime had never felt so calm and peaceful.

It was like all the stress that had been building up instantly vanished into nothingness.

Sol was right. If she couldn't bear it, she just had to quit.

The mind was something hard to explain, with an extremely complex processus.

People who did what they liked even though they had other and better options would always be happy.

Kiyohime's love for her family was genuine.

But because of all those feelings of responsibility, she had been progressively destroying herself and might have come to resent the world for it.

But now, she understood that everything was out of her own free will.

She was doing something she enjoyed doing, not because she had no other choices, but because she really enjoyed it.

That made all the difference.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome."

Kiyohime smiled at his simple response.

She did not know what her relationship with him exactly was.

But, did it even need a label in the first place?

All she knew was that Sol brought happiness to both her body and her mind.

This was more than enough in her opinion.

(AN : I really missed writing chapters like this. I think I am an alright author when it comes to action. But I am better when it comes to writing moments like this. What do you guys think? Welp. Time to mind manipulate some lion.)

(EN: In the next episode of SHK… Mind Break tag is added, people….)

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