CHAPTER 36
– The Truth Buried
I held the mineral in my hand, my heart pounding.
It was beautiful.
At first glance, it resembled a crystal, emitting a faint glow under the light.
Yet it was neither mana stone nor orichalcum.
It was something else entirely—an alternative, refined and perfected.
“…You really made this?”
“I didn’t. A child made it.”
“…A child?”
“Your child.”
“…”
My hand froze.
I couldn’t believe it.
“Jay… made this?”
“Yes. That child created the final formula. We only followed the composition. We couldn’t replicate the structure ourselves.”
“…!”
“Even the great Rodburigo mages couldn’t. But that child… restructured the mana molecules.”
“…Then why did you call him a failure?”
I gritted my teeth.
“Why did you keep saying he had no talent?”
Adix didn’t answer right away. He looked at the mineral in my hand with a complicated expression.
And then he spoke.
“Because we needed the world to believe it.”
“…What?”
“Everyone in Rodburigo knows: Jayster was the most gifted mage we’d ever seen. But the world couldn’t know.”
I stared at him.
“You were trying to protect him.”
“…I was trying to protect Rodburigo.”
“…What does that even mean?”
Adix’s gaze turned cold.
“You think the Tower has survived this long by being honest?”
“…!”
“We’ve made enemies in every corner of the continent. Rodburigo is feared and envied. If the world found out a child in the Tower had created a substance to rival orichalcum…”
“They’d come for him.”
“They’d tear down the Tower to take him.”
I lowered my head.
“…So you buried the truth.”
“We made the world think he was nothing. A failure. An embarrassment. Even within the Tower, only a few know the truth.”
“…”
“That’s why I had to get rid of you.”
I looked up.
Adix met my gaze, unapologetic.
“You would’ve exposed it eventually. The world would’ve seen through it. I couldn’t risk that.”
“So you kicked me out.”
“Yes.”
I held the mineral tighter.
There was a small crack on its surface—barely noticeable, but it told me everything.
Jay must have tried to recreate this over and over. He must have bled, cried, and failed again and again.
He was ten.
Just ten.
“…You really are a monster.”
“I never denied it.”
“Why tell me now?”
“Because you’ve won.”
“…What?”
“You brought the heart. You found the herbs. You came back alive from the Dark Forest with knights, nobles, and even the Duke of Elliott behind you.”
Adix laughed bitterly.
“I lost. I don’t get to hide things anymore.”
“…”
“And…”
He hesitated.
“Asta… begged me.”
My eyes widened.
“She asked me not to lie to you. That if I did, she’d leave the Tower.”
“…”
“That little brat—never listens to me.”
He slumped back into his chair like a man who had just lost a war.
I looked at the mineral again.
Jay, you really…
“You said you made enemies everywhere.”
“Yes.”
“…You just made one more.”
Adix raised an eyebrow.
“Me.”
The knights escorted me out of the Tower without a word.
I held the mineral tightly as we exited Kosaren, the Tower looming behind us like a dying monument.
Cecil looked at me curiously.
“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“…Worse.”
She didn’t press further.
We boarded the carriage.
As the wheels turned and the road stretched out before us, I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes.
Inside my head, one truth echoed:
My son created orichalcum.
And the world never knew.
They called him a failure. A burden.
They made me believe it too.
Not anymore.
“…Jay.”
I whispered his name.
When I see you again—
I’ll make sure the whole world knows your worth.
Even if I have to burn it down to do it.
