Chapter 432: Go (1/2)

Arthur stood and walked off, leaving the Royal Court room alone.

One would have thought that he would bask in his decision, even try to reconnect with his wife and daughter immediately. Unfortunately, unlike Laeron made it seem, this wasn't a fairy tale. People don't change immediately, neither can relationships fractured over several decades be repaired in a day.

At this moment, Arthur was feeling quite desolate.

Pride was a hard thing to overcome, especially when it was your own. Now, Arthur had to come to grips with the fact that he would not only be handing over something he had worked his whole life to build, but in doing so would have to act like he was grateful.

It was a difficult thing for a man to set aside his pride. It was even more difficult for a King to do so. It was difficult to the point where even though Arthur knew that he stood at a diverging path – one facing his family and the other facing his kingdom – he still found this decision hard to swallow.

The Royal Court remained silent. It was taboo for a King to display such emotion and this could be the first time any of them had ever seen Arthur like this.

Guinevere cast a glance toward Arthur's back but she hesitated. Her gaze wanted to shift to another place, but she didn't dare to look.

Their relationship had never borne any fruit, but Guinevere still felt all sort of complex emotions about it. Guilt, trepidation… but even those were accented by a budding sweetness and a freedom she hadn't felt in a long time.

She couldn't help but feel like she had taken advantage of Lancelot's feelings to make herself feel better. Such a thing filled her with a swirl of thoughts she didn't know how to deal with.

”Your Majesty.”

Leonel's sudden voice drifted to Guinevere's ears, stunning the Queen. She had never interacted with Leonel before and the start of such communication at this particular moment left her at a loss. If she was honest with herself, though she was grateful to Leonel, he was the last person she wanted to talk to now.

However, Leonel's next words shook her to her core.

”Go speak with him and be as open and honest as possible.”

Guinevere froze, her hand involuntarily tightening around Mordred's.

Mordred, who had, of course, not been expecting this looked toward her mother. However, she couldn't hear Leonel's words at all.

”It will be difficult.” Leonel continued. ”However, what Arthur needs the most now is your transparency. When a man loses everything, his family is his only pillar.”

Guinevere wanted to lash out at Leonel's words. However, she couldn't, not because she didn't have the mind to, but because she couldn't replicate Leonel's silent communication. This left her feeling overly stifled and her breathing even hitched, her grip tightening on Mordred's hand again.

She was a Queen. Maybe in some ways, the same pride that ran in Arthur's veins ran through her own.

But, it was even deeper than this, anyone being confronted about such an intimate matter would react defensively first. This would be the case even if two people were close, let alone if they couldn't have been closer to strangers like Leonel and Guinevere.

This in addition to the fact Guinevere was a woman while Leonel was a man, all added to the fact she was a Queen used to an unblemished and polished image… Guinevere felt a mixture of embarrassment, unwillingness, and unending grievances.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, Leonel was a kid in Guinevere's eyes. What did he know about being a man? Such words coming from the mouth of a teenage boy felt like a bunch of flowery nonsense without substance.

However, Leonel knew he had no choice but to continue to push.