33 Risen#re

As all eyes turned to Lirian, he continued to eat his weight in savouries and desserts, not giving a care to the nobles who were waiting for his explanation.

His attitude didn't earn him the good will of any of the nobles, even the ones who were more amused by Lirian felt annoyed at his lack of respect.

"Young Lirian would care to explain your words, this accusation that you're making is no small matter," Lord Callum said loudly to Lirian, putting on airs of righteousness as he spoke.

"Fucking nobles," Lirian muttered to softly for anyone to hear, he knew that Lord Callum was on his side, but he knew that Lord Callum would have joined the other nobles had he not known about the situation.

The thing that bugged Lirian was that despite Lord Callum's knowledge on the subject he was still playing things completely safe, and trying to see the full picture before taking any specific stance.

Lirian continued to silently dig into the food as if he heard nothing at all, he was waiting patiently, from the beginning he was only focused on Telamon, sensing all the changes happening to Telamon and right at that moment Telamon seemed to regain his calm.

While the nobles were gritting their teeth in annoyance at Lirian silence Telamon finally spoke, "There is no need for the boy to say anything," Telamon's voice sounded firmly and all the nobles turned to look at him.

Telamon felt like he'd been played for a fool earlier when he tried to resolve things diplomatically with Lirian, but as it turned out that was just part of Lirian's plan to make him feel like a fool.

Telamon turned to Taliyah and looked her in the eye, "Taliyah I'm going to say this as your master, this behaviour of you spoiling your children can go on no more," he said loudly and with a hint of disappointment to his voice.

The nobles were not to surprised by this turn of events, many of them had discussed the empress's treatment of her children with their peers and without a doubt many of their conversations had reach Telamon's ears.

It was high time that someone addressed the empress on the issue and it was all the better because it was coming from the empress's master himself, other than the emperor he was the only one in the empire that could address her by name.

And he was probably also the only one that could discuss this matter with the empress without facing any punishment.

"Taliyah, I have always placed your interests as what is most important to me, I have given up my post as advisor to act as a guardian and guidance counsellor to your late children,"

"All that I have done since I found you in a prison cell ready to be executed on Scavanour, was to help you grow into an incredible woman, and you have," Telamon said those words with purpose, reminding everyone of his love for the empress and the thing he sacrificed to help her.

"I have watched over your every child as they grew up, but you know as well as I do that he has never shown me even the slightest bit of respect a child should his elder let alone what should be shown to a benefactor,"

"As your master I must say that the manners of a child are a reflection of their upbringing, in which you have failed dearly this time, if you were any other student of mine I would beat you until your skin changed colour for raising such a disobedient child,"

"A child of yours has openly thrown threats at me, and disrespected me by calling me incompetent and now he accuses me of treason to the empire I have served and protected with my life, I was even willing to look past all his actions on your account but this goes to far, you know what the punishment for slandering my name is and I expect it to be carried out immediately,"

"Even if you call him your son this is not the behaviour of a child, it is the behaviour of a brat who has never been disciplined in his life, I will not allow such a child to tarnish the reputation of our empire," Telamon said resolutely, and his words had a very powerful effect on the crowd.

There were several nobles that even stood up and walked in Lirian's direction, all they were waiting for was a word from Telamon and they would carry out the punishment to kill Lirian, from this it could be seen what a powerful influence Telamon had accrued over the years.

"Anyone who dares to direct their thoughts onto my son will have their entire worlds eradicated by me personally!" Taliyah said in a chilly voice, she didn't let out her aura yet the nobles who were moving towards Lirian froze in place, none of them dared to doubt her words.

Taliyah was clenching her fists in anger, as she looked at her master with disbelief in her eyes, he wanted Lirian dead and he wanted the execution to be done immediately.

She knew that her master was a very rational man, for something like this he could have given it time before the execution, his desire for it to be immediate only told one thing, that her master had something to hide.

Taliyah felt like her heart was breaking as she looked at her master, a man she loved as if he was her father, but all the evidence was pointing at him being guilty of some crime, and she knew Lirian he wouldn't say such words so openly unless he had some form of proof.

Taliyah's heart was trembling with pain as she looked at Telamon, she didn't care about being rebuked, but if he truly did something to harm Lirian, she had no idea how to handle it, yet everything was in her hands currently.

With just a word she could end things here, it would raise a lot of question but no one would be able to do anything about it or she could choose a side her masters or her sons, it was all up to her and it left her shaking inside with grief.

Taliyah looked between them with gloomy eyes and slowly she turned her back to Lirian and walked towards her master.

The nobles all breathed out in shock, they thought that the empress would either drop things or side with Lirian, because siding with her master was the same as killing Lirian.

Telamon smiled seeing Taliyah's decision, he honestly believed that Taliyah was a lost cause, she had far too much of a soft spot for her children, but he supposed it was probably because there was no real blood ties between her and Lirian that she could give up on him.

Telamon finally saw some hope, as far as he could tell it was very likely that the emperor was involved, the moment the emperor arrived, he'd be dead for sure, but with this he could rid the empire of its great threat first.

If Lirian died the future he saw would never come to pass, and the empire would remain safe, with that he could save the empire from a disaster, it was all he needed to do.

He looked at Lirian who continued to eat as if he had not a worry in the world as Taliyah stood by his side and faced Lirian with him, like an obedient student.

"I'd offer you last words, but I'm certain it would be just a bunch of made up crap to slander me," Telamon said to Lirian as the entire crowd closed in around him.

Lirian however merely placed down his food and smiled lightly at Telamon without a single trace of fear or worry.

The nobles were completely perplexed by his demeanour, especially since his own mother had just abandoned him and practically signed his death warrant, they would have expected him to feel betrayed or to be furious, and most of all scared, but he was just as the rumours claimed a fearless individual, even n the face of betrayal he remained perfectly calm.

It was like he never cared about it from the beginning.

"So, you've finally excepted the truth mother," Lirian said with a smile then he tilted his head slightly to face Telamon and he tapped two fingers against his throat.

Telamon looked at Lirian in confusion for just a second when he felt something cold pressed up against his throat, and as he turned to look he saw the sword held firmly in Taliyah's hand a look of determination filled her eyes as she looked at Telamon.

"My son asked you a question, as the empress I order you to answer him," Taliyah said with a shaky voice, but all that mattered was that she was standing on Lirian's side.

A smile blossomed fully on Lirian's face, his smile was enough to capture the hearts of even the most cold hearted of people, and they could sense pure joy radiating from his smile, the joy was infectious in its power.

Lirian was truly happy at that moment, because his mother finally made her decision, and she chose him, she chose him without knowing the details of the events, without any certain guaranty that he was correct, that was all that mattered to him.

That was what Lirian wanted, for her to choose him, he knew that her heart was breaking inside, but sometimes people have to be selfish to get what they want and he'd never regret his choice.

All that mattered was that she chose him over her master before being made aware of the truth, had the elites been here they would have blabbed already and made it impossible to force Taliyah to make the decision between him or Telamon.

If the truth was revealed then the decision would have been rendered meaningless, it was also why Lirian refused to speak, he wanted this decision to be made before he revealed the truth.