Flora opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but Geoffrey cut her off.
“Nothing. No matter how many distress signals we sent out, there was no response.” Geoffrey didn’t even look at us. He looked at his palms and answered his own question, and his shoulders slumped as though his soul left his body.
In that moment, even his arrogance left him.
He looked depressed. It was obvious that recalling that period of time was incredibly painful for him.
My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. If what he said was true, then my father should’ve known about what was happening at the border.
But he had never mentioned it to me. Even before we came here for the present mission, he didn’t say anything about the border.
Building a high wall was no small matter. No matter how remote the border was, it couldn’t have been hidden from my father’s attendants.
So this left only one possibility: that my father had deliberately allowed the border to become like this.
When this thought crossed my mind, a shiver ran down my spine.
I didn’t want to suspect him of such a crime. After all, he was my father.
Over the years, although I had been alienated from him, I thought I knew him well.
How could a king, who worked for the interests of the citizens, watch his people be humiliated and tortured by the vampires? There had to be some sort of misunderstanding.
Rufus’ POV
“Could something have gone wrong? What if the distress signals never reached the imperial capital city? The border is very far after all. It’s possible,” Flora asked, frowning in confusion.
Geoffrey snorted. “What a convenient coincidence!”
“It just doesn’t make sense. How could the royal family have ignored this?” Flora licked her chapped lips and murmured.
“You already know the answer. We only received one reply in the end. At the time, my father excitedly opened the envelope, his eyes filled with hope-only to read a cold message.” He paused and slowly raised his head to look at me with a mocking smile. “Do you know what the message said? It said that this place was no longer under the jurisdiction of the werewolf race. Can you believe it?” He burst into bitter laughter.
“For so many years, we were shunned by the royal family-by our own race. Yet now, you have the audacity to come here and say you want to make our lives better? Such bullshit! What gave you the right? Is it just because you’re from the imperial capital? Is it because you were born noble? You think you have the power to show up here out of nowhere and change things? Stop kidding yourself!”
While laughing, he suddenly coughed violently and spat out phlegm. “My father! He was exhausted to death. His health deteriorated. All for the sake of the pack-in order to resist the vampires! He died one day during a patrol near the wall.”
I looked at him, listening to him vent his anger quietly.
His resentment and hatred towards me was valid.
But it wasn’t a good enough reason for him to hurt the innocent and pave the way for his ambitions.
I shook my head wryly. What I wanted to know now was whether my father really had done such a thing and whether he really had turned a blind eye to the miserable situation here.
With red eyes, Geoffrey continued in a hoarse voice, “After I became the Alpha of this pack, I reached out to the vampires and we reached a mutually beneficial agreement with them, which brought stability to the pack. Now, our strength finally grew and our pack flourished. And only then did you suddenly remember us. But what’s the difference for the werewolves here? We suffered for years. How could the royal family, who did nothing for us, suddenly reap the fruits of our victory? It’s unfair!”
All of a sudden, everyone around me lowered their heads shamefacedly.
Harry cleared his throat and said falteringly, “But you still shouldn’t have hurt innocent werewolves.”
“They’re not innocent! They’re all willing to sacrifice themselves to the vampires,” Geoffrey suddenly roared. He got up from the ground and walked to the public like a mad dog. “If you don’t believe me, ask them.”
Hearing this, the werewolves from outside the wall lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.
Only the boy with the injured shoulder stepped forward, accompanied by a crying little girl.
Standing tall, he pointed at Geoffrey and said loudly, “We were never willing to do that. If you didn’t threaten us with the lives of our families, no one would’ve wanted to live outside the wall.”
“You know nothing, brat. Isn’t it honorable to sacrifice a small, insignificant demographic, to protect the interests of the majority? If you really want to blame someone, blame the royal family for abandoning us.” Geoffrey snorted coldly, which made the little boy flinch.
All of a sudden, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
“What about you? Aren’t you also abandoning them?”
I whirled around in disbelief and saw Sylvia standing behind me, out of breath and sweating profusely.
“Hey, Rufus!” Sylvia smiled at me and spread out her arms to hug me.
But then she stopped abruptly in her tracks and looked at Geoffrey.
Sylvia’s POV
Geoffrey didn’t look surprised when I showed up. He glanced at the werewolves from outside the wall in disgust. “I just did what I had to do.”
“Then what’s the difference between what you’re doing now and what the royal family did to you? For the sake of your own interests and the welfare of most werewolves here, you gave up your compatriots outside the wall,” I pointed out loudly, gesturing at the bloody mess here. “Look at all of these dead bodies as a result of the chaos. Look at the children who have lost their loved ones and are crying bitterly for their parents. What’s the difference between them and you in the past?”
“This is different! They’re so lowly and don’t deserve to live!” Geoffrey glared at me fiercely. “Don’t you dare stand there and make claims about something that has nothing to do with you. Do you think you can tell me what to do? You’re young and naive, Sylvia.”
I sneered coldly. “‘Lowly’? Didn’t the werewolves you abandoned also come from that period of time? Their parents and elders were also among those who bravely resisted the vampires outside the wall and built the wall tirelessly night and day. If they found out that you treated their descendants like this, would they be able to rest in peace?”
Geoffrey stuttered incoherently, rendered speechless by what I said. After a while, he grew desperate and threw his arms in the air. “I don’t care! They’re dead. They’re gone!”
I looked at him with disdain. “You have a guilty conscience, but you still refuse to admit it.”
Rufus walked up to me and took my hand while eyeing Geoffrey coldly. “No matter what you’ve had to suffer, you never had the right to sacrifice others. We still don’t know the real truth yet. We can’t just listen to your side of the story. This wall needs to be demolished.”
Rufus’ words seemed to hit a sore spot with Geoffrey. He suddenly rushed to us and roared like a wild dog. “No! You can’t tear down the wall! I’m doing this for a great cause. Without me, the werewolves inside the wall will suffer!”
“Calm down, will you? If you really are so selfless, then move outside the wall. You yourself have to fight off the vampires or become their food to show how selfless you really are.” Flora clicked her tongue and shook her head in disgust. She smoothed her wig and rolled her eyes at Geoffrey. “Although I have to admit that your previous experiences were indeed very miserable, it’s clear you have no sympathy at all. You don’t want things to change for the better. You just want to get the best benefits for yourself.”
“You know nothing, bitch!” Geoffrey turned around and roared at Flora angrily.
“Fine. I know nothing. You know everything. Happy?” Flora didn’t seem to want to argue with him. She stepped behind Warren to hide, muttering loudly, “What a desperate monster!”
I pursed my lips and wanted to say something more, but suddenly, I sensed someone approaching from behind us.
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