For The Glory Of Sitia Empire

" What happened to his majesty? "

" *sigh leave him alone, he is heartbroken. General Viglasn was a long friend and subordinate of his, to find out he had this side is really...."

Bernard watched Jennings sitting on a side bench, head hung down and hands covering his face, looking like is in the verge of shedding tears.

' it's already been two hours, does he plan on sitting there for the entire day? '

Bernard felt complicated. He arrived about four days ago to assist in investigating general Viglas's properties. Today they finally found his most hidden estate, and truth to be told, no one was happy to find it, especially Jennings. He retched twice and was forced by his guards to retreat.

At the moment, Jennings cut a sorry figure as he sat on a bench alone while everyone was avoiding him not knowing what to do. Bernard was also at a lose, he knows very well that right now Jennings needed someone to be by his side, but he had no face to go there and act like his friend, not after what he did that day.

Bernard was clear about his master's suicidal thoughts, he was itching to jump from any cliff he finds. Even though Bernard knew that this day will come sooner or later, he ended up deceiving himself by believing that it happened because Jennings did not trust him.

' What trust what shit!! That guy must have said something like 'Bernard is here if anything went wrong he will take care of it' and I acted like a d*ck lashing out on him and that idiot believed it and blamed himself for something he didn't do! '

While Bernard was mentally beating himself, a knight hesitantly approached him. He saluted respectfully then stiffly handed an envelope.

" a letter has arrived from the palace to his majesty...."

No need to say more, it's clear that Jennings is out of reach at the moment. Bernard took the letter and opened it, making sure that it's nothing urgent, however, upon reading it, his face turned darker and darker.

Mustering up his courage, Bernard strode over towards Jennings who was still posing as a statue of despair. Only after he reached to Jennings and patted his shoulder did Bernard remember that he has never comforted anyone except his baby sister....he can't treat the Emperor like a child, can he?

Not knowing what to say, Bernard stiffly blurted whatever came to his mind:" you will start rotting if you keep sitting there "

' WHAT THE HECK AM I SAYING!! '

Although Jennings did not move, Bernard somehow had an image of a withered plant that instantly lost its colors upon hearing that. Panicked, Bernard suddenly remembered that one time when he was a mad brat and accidentally killed a few hundreds people after losing control over his demonic energy. At that time he was so miserable and guilty, so his master said some profound words to comfort him, although he didn't understand them, they were cool and logical that he just moved forward.

Thinking that it might work, Bernard instantly squeezed his brain cells and gathered a few fragments of that day. He walked forward and sat next to Jennings while trying to put on a relaxed and mature expression.

" Hey, depressing on a corner and growing mushroom won't change anything, it was inevitable, that's their fate. You could water their grave, pray in your heart then move forward "

Jennings was silent. Bernard pretended to look around while secretly glancing at Jennings from time to time, hoping that it will work.

" Fate? ", Jennings suddenly spokein a muffled voice, " are you saying that it was these children's fate to live through hell then just die without even understanding what happened to them? "

" Indeed "

Jennings trembled upon that answer, but Bernard continued regardless.

" Fate is not something to be interfered with by others, it's a path formed to suit a person's own decisions. Yes, they are young and ignorant of what led thim to this, but the arrival of ordeals never depended on age, it happens at the right time. Saying things like you want to save them or you could have changed their fate is meaningless. The absolute one saw their fate and choose to keep it as it is, then who are we, mere mortals, to believe we could oppose, when even devine beings who are worshipped by humans could do nothing about it "

' wah! Look at me talking like a damn honourable being '

It took Jennings a good while to respond again with a question:" then wouldn't that mean no matter what we do, we can't escape what is fated to us? "

" Not necessarily, you could be fated to find a treasure under your house, but whether or not you dig down to grab it is totally up to you "

Jennings didn't say anything more, and both stayed silent for half an hour before Jennings suddenly let out a long sigh. He straightened his back, rised his head and looked forward, the rims of his eyes were slightly red.

" I feel like garbage for losing my wits in front of my subjects "

Bernard internally rejoiced since his bullshit worked. While keeping a stright face, he pointed behind them, saying calmly.

" it's normal actually, if you look behind you, around fifth of the knights are unconscious while the rest are scattered like ghosts. In fact, from the three hundreds that we brought, only 25 took over the mission. Most of them are executioners who are used to such sights and a few psychopaths who volunteered to assist "

Indeed, when Jennings looked back, his people looked like cemetery ghosts having an outing. Even his ashen complexion wasn't that worse compared to them. Then he turned at Bernard who looked as annoying as ever, as if he had seen nothing out of ordinary.

" Then why do you look fine? "

" master once threw me in a low-class demon mass grave for three months, I could say I have seen far worse than human calamities "

Jennings was rendered speechless, ' Is this something you should be proud of? '

" ah, right. A letter came from the palace. Your son showed his face during hearing session making the minister of public affairs cry blood tears while dealing with his issues. And Queen Beatrice is lurching in your house like she owns the place "

Bernard summed up the letter contents while gloating over Jennings's dark expression as he read the letter with hands trembling in anger.