Chapter 264 Benjamin goal
As Joy disappeared into the corridor, Benjamin sat down at the piano, letting his fingers drift over the keys. He lingered there for a moment, his mind still locked on his ever-present goal: Damon and world key.
His fingers hovering above the keys, but the music wouldn’t come. His mind felt heavy, a haze clouding his thoughts as the thought of his failures hung over him like a shadow that he couldn’t shake. He had built himself up on the idea that he could break Damon, that he could tear down the one person who had always stood in his way. But even now, after years of scheming, Damon remained untouchable, wings unbroken, power still intact.
His hands trembled slightly as he pressed a single note, the sound ringing out, hollow and lonely in the room. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, but instead of feeling calm, his chest tightened. The grand piano, once a source of his calmness, now felt like a reminder of everything he had lost, everything that had slipped through his fingers.
Benjamin’s jaw clenched, and he struck the keys harder this time, a discordant noise filling the air. His hands moved faster, the notes becoming increasingly erratic and harsh, but there was no melody, only chaos. His breaths came faster, frustration gnawing at him as he desperately tried to create something beautiful, something controlled—but he couldn’t.
The more he played, the more the tension inside him built, until he slammed his hands down on the keys with a loud, jarring crash. The sound reverberated through the room, and in that moment, everything fell still. His hands remained on the keys, his shoulders hunched, his head bowed. There was no energy left to keep playing, no determination to keep fighting.
He stayed like that for a while, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, his face hidden from the world. The dim light from the window barely reached him, casting long shadows over his figure. Outside, the world continued, oblivious to his struggle, his failures, his fears. But here, alone in the silence, Benjamin’s expression began to crack.
His hands slid from the piano keys, his fingers curling into fists in his lap. There was a flicker of something in his eyes—a glimmer of desperation, of helplessness—before it was quickly extinguished. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to straighten, forcing his expression to harden once more. But there was no denying the emptiness that remained in his gaze, no matter how tightly he tried to conceal it.
Without a word, Benjamin stood up from the piano and walked over to the window, staring out at the dense forest that surrounded the castle. The fog drifted lazily over the treetops, hiding the world beyond in a thick, impenetrable mist. It felt suffocating, and yet, he couldn’t look away.
He pressed his forehead against the cool glass, the tension in his body refusing to leave. The fight inside him felt like it was slipping, and for just a moment, the thought crossed his mind: what if he couldn’t do it? What if Damon was always going to be out of his reach? What if every step he took only led him further into the dark?