Silent Crown

Chapter 304 Before Dawn

Not until the real riot was over did the city begin to be dazed and fearful. Emergency police officers rode horses on the streets to maintain basic order. There were even more troops running on the street under the clanging of metal armor. They were following the Queen's orders to catch traitors.

The silence of the uptown district was broken by the heavy footsteps. Lights dimly lit up in the dark, mixed with faint discontinuous cries and chaos. The sounds were quickly strangled as soon as they were born. So, it was still vaguely quiet.

All the manors and mansions involved with the parliament were surrounded. Soon a figure with a black wig was escorted into the carriage and sent to the nonexistent Fifth Department.

People who cooperated with the arrest could still keep their last bit of dignity while those who dared to rebel would be killed on the spot. Thus, all members of the parliament were uprooted in this suffocating darkness.

For a long time, the Fifth Department had been silently searching for clues and was ready for this day to come. These nonexistent figures suddenly appeared on the street like illusions and brought the prisoners into the nonexistent place. The prisoners disappeared from the world silently.

It could be expected that soon after the secret trial was over, countless corpses would be hung on the Traitor's Gate. They wound sway in the wind like chimes, paying the price for what they have done before.

The tower stood in the white palace, glowing with the only light at the top of Avalon. The light silently overlooked its own territory like a dragon's cold eyes. It watched the group of rebellious officials struggle against death.

"It's all over." Gavin staggered out of the scarlet vortex. Leaning against the wall, he coughed violently. He looked up at the lights in the sky, his eyes flashing with resentment and gloom. Gritting his teeth, Gavin ran home.

He had to completely get rid of all the clues before the Fifth Department found out about his situation. Fortunately, he had sent all of his family to another location at the beginning, and arranged backup and escape plans for himself, just in case.

He only needed to trigger the prepared equipment and leave a little spark. Everything would go up in flames.

Suddenly, he knelt on the ground. He vomited out a large mouth of rancid blood and felt the power disappearing quickly in his body. This was the penalty from the god.

Hyakume, who had lost his incarnation, was very furious. As a priest, Gavin had lost all the providence. If he had not prepared precautions beforehand, he would have died like the scapegoats in those chambers.

Stooping, he threw up the deadly green poison. He took out a silver needle and stabbed it into his neck and head. This sealed up the evil in his body temporarily. Now, it was a race against the clock. He did not have much time now.

Gazing at the distant firelight in the tumult, he ground his teeth. He climbed over the walls and fell into the garden of an old house. The chamber contained Robin’s puppet, his correspondences, the password of his secrete lines, and the deployment that he arranged before. All of this must be destroyed. He must destroy as much as possible. Otherwise, he would spend the rest of his life being chased by the Royal Musician Division. What a pity… He had planned for so many years but lost everything overnight.

Gritting his teeth, he regained his composure from the rage and pushed the door. And then he froze.

"Father..."

He saw the man in the wheelchair in the hall. The old man still wore his respirator and his breathing sounded like water sloshing in his lungs. He was still here; he did not escape.

"Father, why haven’t you left yet?" Gavin looked at him in astonishment. He quickly went forward, reaching for the frail old man. "It’s too late. Let me take you away..." But his hands stiffened in the air. After two steps, Gavin lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

"Father..." He gaped at the old man before him.

On Gavin’s face, the tattoos hidden under his skin lit up one by one. As if he was born with them, they were wedged into his flesh and bone marrow. He could not get rid of them. They had been carved in his body at birth. Now, they locked his strength and he lost all his power to resist in a moment.

A cane jabbed his face angrily as if the old man wanted to smash his cheekbones in. He did not expect that the dying old man could have such great strength.

"How dare you call me Father?" The old man gasped. He climbed up from his wheelchair, raised his cane with shaking arms, and smashed it onto Gavin’s face again and again until his feeble strength was exhausted and Gavin's nose was broken completely.

"The Adrian family is done for!" He glared at Gavin as if looking at a bastard, a scourge that should not be left in the world. "It’s all because of you, Gavin! Because of you! All our ancestors' names are tainted because of you!" Purple-blue veins bulged across his face. Staring at Gavin made him grind his teeth. "Sure enough, a b*stard like you shouldn’t have been kept in this world…"

Gavin froze and gaped at the furious man. His lips trembled as if he wanted to explain something but did not know what to say.

In the end, footsteps sounded in the distance. Someone was leading the brigade here. A familiar voice shouted, "He’s inside! Don't let him get away!" It was Banner.

"Wh-why?"

"Only by sacrificing you could the family be saved." The old man looked coldly at this shameful son. "You’d better go with them obediently and distance from the family, understand? Don't get the family involved."

"But...didn’t..." Gavin looked at him blankly. But weren’t you the one who asked me to join the parliament? Father! You’re the one who asked me to join the parliament to get those big men's favor… It was…iIt was you who gave the name of Robin to me... It was you... It was you...

"I’ve clearly done it, Father." Gavin closed his eyes, grinding his teeth and trying to hold in the tears. "I’ve done much better than you’d wanted!"

In the approaching footsteps, Gavin roared. He drew out his dagger and gouged out the restrictions on his face. Scarlet blood spouted out and his pale cheekbones were revealed, full of cracks. He looked like a rotting corpses.

He growled with pain but he finally broke free from what had chained him down since birth. Flesh and blood came off, leaving behind pale bones as hideous as an angry demon.

Seeing Gavin climb up from the ground and go toward him, the old man froze. He trembled in the wheelchair and tried to retreat. "You... You… What do you want to do? Gavin, I…"

"I don't want to do anything." Gavin smiled. He reached out to caress his father’s sparse white hair and said gently, "Father, all this time, it has always been Banner took care of you. It’s the first time we’re so close. You’re old and not in good health. You should just sit and rest." As he said this, he gently pushed the dagger into the withered chest. The blade pressed against the heart and nailed into the back of the wheelchair as if it was part of it.

As the old man screamed. Gavin bent down and gazed at the old man's eyes with his grey eyes. "As you wish, please put all the blame on me. As you said, the family will be saved if Gavin dies." He kissed the old man on the forehead and laughed, turning his face into bloody pulp.

He took out Robin’s mask from his pocket and put it on his face. For the first time, there was no estrangement between the mask and the flesh, and it truly became his face. However, blood seeped out of the eye holes and fell down his cheeks. He just could not hold it back.

The Robin laughed with tears of blood, pushed the door to go out, and pounced on the fire that was going to burn him.

Hissing was heard in the darkness but it quickly fell silence. The roar stopped while the sound of the music finally dissipated as well. During this long night, the blood of countless people was doomed to be buried under the rotten soil with their enemies and bones, as well as despair and anger.

In the dark, the Blood Path quietly extended.

-

When dawn was about to come, a broken wooden boat drove out of a hidden port and quietly left Avalon.

In the cabin, the wounded Robin leaned against the wall. He looked at his bloody hands and laughed softly. His laughter, full of emptiness and desolation, echoed in the cabin before finally dissipating in the gloom.

"How long are you going to wait?" the Robin asked, without looking behind. "Shouldn’t we end this now?"

"You’re right." In the darkness behind him, that seemly sleeping teenager opened his eyes and looking at his back with compassion. "You discovered me long ago?"

"No, I don't have the strength sense anymore." The Robin lowered his eyes tiredly. "But I didn’t see you along the way, so I supposed you were waiting for me here."

"I see." Ye Qingxuan sighed and slowly rose. "Gavin, the eldest son of the Adrian family, present of the student council, the top student of the School of Royalty who entered the Royal Music Division after graduation, and even became the master's deputy…"

"These things I know better than you. There’s no need to read my resume."

"I just want to ask, with your ability, why did you choose to be a dark musician?"

"Yeah, why? I also want to know why." The Robin laughed wryly. "If I had to say, it’s probably because of my family that had fallen for so long? Since the previous patriarch, the family was expelled from the top level of society. My father failed to resonate and was reduced to a man who would suffocate if there was no wheelchair and respirator. After all these years, all that remained of the Adrian family was the name. There’s nothing but the name.

"Do you understand? Mr. Holmes, all the education, all the things I ever heard in my entire life were related to making this family to rise again. I could sacrifice everything for this, even the destruction of Avalon, as long as the family of Adrian could return to its peak. Being a dark musician is just a small part of it."

"Revive the family?" Ye Qingxuan scoffed. "Do your father and brother really care about you? Banner sees you as an eyesore. Didn’t your father betray you just now? You give everything for something that doesn’t love you and you don’t love either."

"Love or not, is there a difference?" The Robin looked back at him with mockery, as if he was mocking Ye Qingxuan but also himself.

"As you can see, a family with nothing but a name, a father who uses me as a tool, a brother who hates me from the heart, these are the only things that I have in this world. I know they don't love me. How can they love me? I’m their eternal disgrace.

"I’m just an illegitimate child—I was born a sinner. If they didn’t discover that I had musical talent, I would have been drowned in the gutter.

"I was raised by the maids, ate my younger brother’s leftovers, and wore clothes that I could touch only when go out. If I dirtied the clothes a little, I would get beaten. This is good enough for me, very good. At least I’m still alive, even if the cost is to be a slave for my entire life. What other options do I have?

"I was born with no choice and no way to run. Ye Qingxuan, this is my destiny!" The Robin looked at him, exposing his steel gray eyes dyed red by blood. Behind the mask, they looked dark and dead. "That’s why I’m...so jealous of you."

In the silence, the youth closed his eyes sadly. "Actually, you needn't have done so much wrong."

The response to him was a cracked dagger. The dagger passed through the corner of Ye Qingxuan’s shirt, nailed into the cabin, and broke. The iron pieces broke in the hands of the Robin and embedded into his palms. Fresh blood flowed out and melted into the dry old blood. One could not tell old from new.

"Enough, Ye Qingxuan." The Robin glared at him. "Don’t talk about those ridiculous ideals. Is it necessary to show mercy to a dying person?"

Ye Qingxuan stood still in silence.

"Come on! Ye Qingxuan, what are you waiting for?" The Robin roared as if he was mad, but his angry eyes seemed to be begging. "Enough! Stop pretending to show mercy like a friend!"

-

Ye Qingxuan was stunned by those eyes. After a long time, he revealed a bitter smile. "You’re right, how can the Vengeful Spirit and the Robin be friends?" He lowered his eyes and lifted up the cane. "Gavin, you broke my heart."

Moonlight shone and poured into the Robin’s body. It rose like a flame and engulfed him. In the illusory flames, the Robin, stained with blood, closed his eyes and sank into the endless darkness.

All was silent.

-

When the boat returned to the dock, it had been already tightly blocked by the members of the Fifth Department.

The lone youth came out of the cabin, which was silent as a tomb behind him. He returned to the shore, going against the tide of soldiers who rushed into the boat. He seemed to be exhausted and sat wearily. Under the awed gazes, he took off his hat and threw it beside him along with his cane.

Someone gingerly stepped up and whispered, "Mr. Holmes, please..."

The youth did not seem to hear anything. After a long time, he looked up at the guy. There seemed to be a corpse buried in that pair of quiet and dark eyes. It was so terrifying that the guy dared not to meet his gaze. The comer bowed in awe.

"Got a cigarette?" the teenager asked.

"Eh?" The man froze but soon reacted. He looked back and soon, a pack of crumpled cigarettes was given to Ye Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan awkwardly tore open the package and put one in his mouth. The glow of the flame flashed. The teenager took a deep breath and exhaled the ashes of murder and darkness. He said hoarsely, "Go. Leave me alone."

The other dared not to say anything and he gestured to his companion. A black bag was carefully removed from the cabin and placed on the wagon. The people of the Fifth Department quietly left. Ye Qingxuan was the only one left on the silent dock. Only the vaguely sound of tides accompanied him.

After some time, a faint light lit up behind him, between the sea and the end of the sky. The sun quietly leaped from the tide, glowing faintly.

The faint light illuminated the youth's solitary figure.

The long night was over.

It was dawn.

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