Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3627

The baby boy had never realized that it was Protheus the Doppelganger who came to visit him from time to time, impersonating Thrud and Jormun thanks to his bloodline abilities and the biological samples he had assimilated.

Lith felt honored whenever the baby boy called him dad. He was grateful for the trust that Valeron put in him and how much the baby boy cared about being considered a part of the Verhen family.

Yet those feelings only made things much harder for Lith.

If he added the third Camellia blossom, Valeron would have either understood that his parents were dead or assumed they had abandoned him for good. That Kamila and Lith were replacing Thrud and Jormun.

If he didn't, however, Valeron would have thought that his adoptive parents didn't return his love. That for them, he was just a guest, someone the Verhens had to take care of only because of duty, if not pity.

It was a lose-lose situation for both Lith and Valeron. There was no right answer, and no matter how much Lith pondered adding a third Camellia bud, he couldn't find a winning move.

Even if he did, it would just be a temporary fix, like putting a band-aid on an open wound. The more Lith included the baby boy in the family and the deeper Valeron's feelings for him became, the worse the inevitable fallout between them would be.

Lith knew that, one day, when Valeron was old enough, he would have to tell the boy the truth behind the disappearance of his parents. Lith would have to tell Valeron that Jormun and Thrud were dead because he had killed them.

Jormun had died by Lith's hand, and Queen Sylpha had executed Thrud, but it was only thanks to Lith taking down the Golden Griffon that she had succeeded. Lith knew that Valeron wasn't going to care who had dealt the finishing blow.

All that would matter to him was that his family was gone, his throne lost, and that Lith was responsible for it.

At that point, rage and betrayal would twist the baby boy's perspective. He would consider all the acts of kindness as acts of guilt for killing his parents. Everything Lith had done would be mistaken as an attempt to earn Valeron's forgiveness.

Everything Valeron the Second knew would turn out to be a lie, and his entire childhood a cruel mockery.

"Tough question doesn't even scratch it." Lith sighed. "It's a time bomb with a short fuse. Under any other circumstances, I'd say to exploit the baby's lack of memory and tell him the truth only once he's old enough to understand it, but we don't have that luxury.

"Valeron knows his parents, and there's no magic that can make him forget about them. To make matters worse, the War of the Griffons is already part of history books." He handed Kamila a tome opened to the right page.

"Sooner or later, he's going to read this." Lith tapped at the page where he was credited for killing Jormun and taking down the Lost Academy. "Even if he doesn't, someone is going to tell him.

"And you can bet that will happen the moment Valeron asks about his parents and someone overhears him. There are not many people named Thrud, and Valeron's silver eyes will clear any doubt about which Thrud he's talking about."

"Good gods!" Kamila stopped eating at the thought. "You can wait until he's four at most, if not even three." _{fгeewebnovёl.com}

"Which gives me between one and two years." Lith sighed.

"Poor Valeron. And poor you." Kamila held Lith's hand. "I can't imagine how a four years old boy will take such news or how he'll react, but I bet it will be far from pleasant."

"Hence my question." Lith tapped at the vase. "What do I do with this?"

Kamila pondered the matter for a while before answering.