Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 208: Visiting His Past-2

Chapter 208: Visiting His Past-2

While her feelings were transfixed between Ivan’s state and the fact she had unknowingly ventured into his past, his memories seemed to shift, and with an erratic blur of movements, it was daytime.

The dark-haired boy could be seen running along the hallway to the spiraling stairs, his face beaming with excitement as the result of his royal examination just came out, and the first person he seemed eager to show the result to was his Father.

Since he couldn’t awaken his vampiric senses, he had been trying in other ways to make himself useful for his Father. He had sacrificed his sleep, his time, almost to the point that he could sleep no more, and in the end, his hard work didn’t go to waste since he had succeeded in ranking top on his exams. Queen Carina always told him he would never succeed since the royal examination was no joke, he wouldn’t deny that the papers made him sweat at first glance, the words were complex, but in the end, he prevailed.

"Young Prince, slow down or you might hurt yourself! It is good to see you in a cheerful spirit but may I know why?" Albert asked Ivan who had stopped running to look at him, and due to his excitement, he showed the papers to Albert.

"The results for the Royal examination are out, and I ranked top." He expressed his happiness, his blue eyes lighting up as Albert also beamed at the news. The royal examination was a way to test every prince on their capabilities of ruling a Kingdom, starting from their tender ages, but more as scholars, and Albert wasn’t surprised that Ivan came top out of everyone, he was a gifted child.

"Congratulations on your success, young Prince."

"Do you perhaps know where Father is?"

"Your Father is likely to be in his study." Albert answered, and Ivan nodded his head in affirmation before heading to his Father’s study.

When he successfully found it, he was about to push the door open when he heard voices coming from inside his Father’s study. As it would be considered rude to interrupt his Father while he was probably talking to the Ministers, he was ready to head to his Mother’s chamber when a brash statement caught his attention.

"Do forgive me your Majesty but if the Prince cannot awaken his vampiric powers, then I am afraid he is useless and cannot take over the Throne." Those firm words had struck Ivan to the core of his heart, he could no longer move from the door, as if frozen by shock, and he could hear his Father’s displeased tone coming from inside.

"Do not forget that his Mother is a human, are you trying to say that my wife is useless to the Kingdom because she isn’t a vampire? Cause it seems to me that you are forgetting who exactly you’re talking to, having the audacity to spit vermin from your mouth."

"We dare not, your Majesty, but the truth cannot be overlooked simply because you say so. You have decided to make him King out of all your sons. His energy is weak, he has no knowledge of combat and he is partially blind. How will he stand against the enemies of the kingdom while possessing these poor traits? The people need a king they can look up to in your absence, I think it will be better to reconsider your options, your Majesty. Eamon will be the best as he possesses the capabilities."

"Do you have any idea that you just insulted me by going against my decision?" Muzan’s voice was half-raised in anger. "For your information, Ivan will take the Throne, and none of you will question my decision on that matter. Because his powers aren’t awakened doesn’t mean he won’t awaken them at a later time. Eamon is a pure-blood, and so are the rest of his brothers, you cannot compare their growth to that of a human."

"So you are doing this out of pity?" Questioned another voice that seemed to belong to Draven.

"What?" Muzan’s voice wavered at the unexpected question.

"The royal examination doesn’t justify that the topper can rule a Kingdom properly, it is based on a one to three people’s perspective. You feel bad for your son, which is why you made him study for the examination, and if he comes top, he will believe that he really has some worth to give to the Kingdom. You are partially right, a twinkle of worth, but you’re not handing the throne to him simply because you believe he can rule it to perfection, you pity his predicament, isn’t that why you’re doing all of these?"

Ivan’s blue eyes widened in shock when he heard this words, and there was something inside of him that awaited to hear his Father deny what was being said, that his Father wasn’t handing the throne to him out of mere pity, he hated that word, but when the silence in the study continued to prolong, the realization sunk in, and the papers in his hands dropped, same way his heart turned heavy upon realizing his Father’s reason for handing him the Throne.

Backing away from the door with his eyes filled with unshed tears, he turned and left.

"Ivan?" The voice of his Mother could be heard, and she had strolled her way into the garden to find her son sitting at the gazebo. His usually bright eyes appeared dim and gloomy, and he was staring into space, which was a habit too unhealthy for her child to start indulging himself in.

"I was waiting for you and was worried why you never came. I heard you did well on your exams, you studied hard for it but you’re not happy. Is there a problem?" She took her seat beside Ivan, her eyes portraying her concern, and when he lifted his gaze to look at her, he uttered.

"Does being human make me worthless, Mother?" He asked, sounding dispirited, "No matter how hard I try, they’ll never see any worth in me till I awaken my powers, will they?"

"What? No, no one thinks you’re unworthy, where did you hear this?" His Mother pulled him close to her chest, pure affection laced in her words as she embraced him. "Your Father and I take full pride in you. I am human too aren’t I? Do you think I’m weak?" She inquired from her son who shook his head at her question.

"Being human doesn’t define your weakness or strength, neither does being a vampire, my son." She said, still holding him close, "whatever you must have heard, discard it from your thoughts and keep reminding yourself that you are capable of achieving great things... Do you know why? It’s because you’re my brave son, my pride."

"But why can’t I awaken my powers? Eamon–"

"Such things take time," his Mother explained, "do not compare yourselves with your brothers. There are some things that make them greater than you, the same way you possess other skills that make you greater than them. Your powers are hidden, all you need to do is strive hard in order to unlock them. You will see, no one will look down on you in the future. You have to bear it until that day comes."

But as days passed by, Ivan could still not awaken his powers, and that took away most of his joy as he was made to isolate himself. His brothers mocked him whenever they got the chance, and Carina never toned them down. At this point, his Father was already gone, and his Mother had fallen ill because of it. This gave his brothers more opportunities to invade his privacy as he no longer had anyone to keep him protected, and most importantly, he never told anyone, he couldn’t go to his sick Mother, and he didn’t want to trouble his Grandmother whose fingers were already tied from overlooking the Royal Court.

It continued like that until....

"AHHH!!!" His heart-wrenching cries could be heard within the Orb room when Eamon shoved the dagger straight into his heart region. The little piece of the orb was pushed into his wound, and Ivan could feel his consciousness slipping when his eyelids became too heavy for him to keep them open. He was broken, harassed, bullied, and worst of all, he was alone.

He couldn’t even keep himself protected, he was useless... Why was he even born then? Only to die so painfully?

"Tell Father we miss him when you see him." Were the last words he heard from Eamon before falling into his dark abyss.