Chapter 339: The Weight of a Choice
The Weight of a Choice
The room remained silent.
Videl lowered her gaze, trying to process everything Victor had just said.
After a long pause, she finally spoke.
"So..."
"You intend to deceive the entire kingdom..."
"...and start a coup?"
Her voice wasn’t angry.
It carried disappointment... confusion... and a quiet hope that Victor would deny it.
Victor met her eyes without hesitation.
"I’m doing this for the greater good."
Videl frowned.
"The greater good?"
She took a slow step toward him.
"Killing people..."
"Starting a civil war..."
"Is that what you call the greater good?"
"Explain it to me."
Victor remained calm.
He walked toward the large window overlooking Fantom City.
Outside, smoke still drifted lazily into the sky. Workers cleared away rubble while grieving families searched for loved ones among the ruins.
His voice became quieter.
"Look outside, Videl."
She did.
Everywhere...
There was sorrow.
Children searched desperately for parents.
Parents waited for family members who would never return.
Knights carried bodies wrapped in white cloth.
The victory over Alibaba’s undead army hadn’t erased the pain.
It had merely stopped it from becoming even worse.
Victor spoke again.
"Those people have lost everything."
"Their fathers."
"Their mothers."
"Their sons."
"Their daughters."
"Their husbands."
"Their wives."
"They’ve buried more dreams in one day than most people do in a lifetime."
His golden eyes remained fixed outside.
"And where were the nobles sworn to protect them?"
Silence.
"No one came."
"No royal army."
"No great lord."
"No powerful noble."
"They abandoned this city."
His voice remained steady, yet every word landed heavily inside the room.
"If I hadn’t arrived..."
"There wouldn’t even be a Fantom City left."
"Only corpses."
The room grew quieter.
Ramona unconsciously clenched her fists.
As head of the Redcliffe family, she couldn’t deny his words.
She had witnessed the kingdom’s failures herself.
Victor slowly turned around.
"I want to change that."
"I want people to believe tomorrow can still be better than today."
"I want them to have someone worth following."
His gaze shifted toward Eon.
"And Eon can become that person."
Eon looked stunned.
"M-Me...?"
Victor nodded.
"Not because you’re the strongest."
"Not because you’re the smartest."
"But because people need hope."
"And hope is sometimes stronger than armies."
Videl listened quietly.
She understood his reasoning.
Yet...
Her heart still refused to accept it.
After several moments, she asked softly,
"...Many people will die, won’t they?"
Victor didn’t avoid the question.
"Yes."
The single word made the room feel colder.
"Many people die every single day, Videl."
"They die because greedy nobles fight over wealth."
"They die because corrupt officials ignore them."
"They die because kings send them into meaningless wars."
"They die forgotten."
His expression became serious.
"I won’t pretend my path is bloodless."
"It isn’t."
"But if people must die..."
"I’d rather their sacrifice build a future where fewer innocent lives are thrown away."
"I won’t ask you to believe me."
"I won’t even ask you to stand beside me."
"But I will walk this road."
"With you..."
"Or without you."
Silence followed.
Videl lowered her head.
Inside her chest, two feelings clashed violently.
Her heart...
Wanted nothing more than to stay beside Victor.
She loved him more deeply than she could ever admit aloud.
She admired his confidence.
His courage.
His determination.
Every battle they had survived together had only deepened those feelings.
But...
The hero she wanted to become rejected his methods.
She wanted to save everyone.
Victor accepted that some people could not be saved.
Her emotions pulled her in opposite directions.
She hated this feeling.
She hated that the man she loved stood on a path her conscience refused to follow.
Slowly, she closed her eyes.
Memories flashed through her mind.
The crying families.
The children left alone.
The ruined streets.
The countless bodies they had seen only yesterday.
Could she really say Victor was completely wrong?
No.
But neither could she say he was completely right.
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
"...Fine."
"Do as you wish, Victor."
"But..."
"I can’t willingly take part in a plan that may harm innocent people."
"I need time."
"I need to think."
"There has to be another way."
Victor watched her quietly.
His expression softened ever so slightly.
"As expected..."
"You’d say that."
Videl slowly turned toward the door.
Before leaving, she stopped.
Without looking back, she asked one final question.
"...Are you truly certain..."
"...there’s no other way?"
Victor answered without hesitation.
"This is the only way I know."
Videl closed her eyes.
"I see..."
Without another word, she walked out of the room.
The heavy wooden door closed behind her.
Victor let out a quiet chuckle.
"At least..."
"She’s finally thinking for herself."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"She still needs a little push..."
"But she’ll find her own answer one day."
Then Victor turned back toward the people still gathered inside the room.
His expression became serious once more.
--------
After Videl left, the room fell into an uneasy silence.
The door clicked shut behind her, and for a while, no one said a word.
The conversation they had just finished wasn’t something anyone could simply brush aside. Every decision carried the weight of countless lives, and everyone present understood it.
Some lowered their eyes in thought.
Others quietly replayed Victor’s words in their minds, weighing every possibility.
Only Victor remained unfazed.
He sat with the same calm confidence as before, his expression steady and unreadable. His golden eyes drifted across the room, briefly meeting each person’s gaze before finally settling on Ramona.
"There isn’t a moment to lose," he said, his voice calm but carrying an undeniable authority.
"We begin immediately."
Ramona instinctively straightened.
"My liege."
Victor gave a small nod.
"Before we move..."
"There’s something everyone needs to understand."
The room’s attention focused entirely on him.
His gaze shifted to Eon.
The young man unconsciously stiffened.
Victor’s voice remained even, almost gentle.
"From this moment onward..."
"...your life is no longer yours alone."
Eon’s heart skipped a beat.
Victor didn’t give him time to respond.
"Whether you’re truly the lost Prince of Skyfall..."
"...or whether history has mistaken you..."
"...it no longer matters."
His words echoed through the quiet room.
"The moment you stand before the people..."
"...you will become their symbol."
"They will place their hopes upon your shoulders."
"They will believe that the royal bloodline survived."
"They will believe that Skyfall still has a future."
Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"And belief..."