Chapter 46.1

Oswald could not remember ever dreaming of his parents. The few times he had tried, all he could conjure were the words "Master Pach" and "Mrs. Pach."

In truth, Oswald's parents were more like absentee landlords than parents. They provided him with an old manor, a doddering housekeeper, and a few servants, but little else. They offered no warmth, no comfort, no guidance, and no discipline.

Oswald could recall Master Pach's face if he concentrated. Master Pach would occasionally visit the manor on holidays, but his visits were more for show than anything else. He would ask the housekeeper, Ian, about Oswald's progress, but he would never speak to Oswald directly.

Mrs. Pach was a different story. Oswald could not remember her face at all. She had been ill for many years and had been bedridden for most of Oswald's life. He had seen her only a handful of times, and the longest he had ever spoken to her was at her funeral.

Oswald grew up in a cold and lonely world. He had no parents to love him, no siblings to play with, and no friends to confide in. He was an outsider, even in his own home.

But Oswald was a survivor. He learned to cope with his isolation and loneliness. He found comfort in books and his imagination. And he eventually came to terms with the fact that he would never have the kind of family that he had always dreamed of.

Oswald did not hate his parents, even though they had treated him indifferently. He understood that hatred required deep feelings, and he did not have those feelings for his parents.

As a child, he sometimes wondered why his parents treated him differently from their other children. He did not have any obvious flaws, so why was he the only one who was treated this way?

Children do not understand the nuances of love and hatred, and it is difficult for them to distinguish between the two emotions. However, Oswald could tell instinctively that his parents did not treat him like a son.

If a parent truly loves their child, they will express that love openly and confidently. However, Oswald's parents were always hesitant and reserved in their interactions with him.

It was not until Emperor Noel sent someone to take Oswald to the Wujin Suspended Palace that he finally understood his parents' attitude towards him.

They had treated him like a hot potato, neither wanting to let him go nor wanting to get too close to him. This was a natural human reaction, and it was not something to be angry about.

At first, when Oswald heard someone from the royal family say that he was the son of Emperor Noel, he was incredulous. He thought that either the person who had come to him was crazy, or Emperor Noel himself was crazy.

However, as Oswald learned more about his past, he began to realize that he might have been indeed the son of Emperor Noel.

He had always felt like an outsider, and now he knew why. He was not a Pach, but a member of the royal family.

Oswald's journey from a lonely child to a prince was not an easy one. He had to come to terms with his past and his identity.

In Oswald's eyes, Emperor Noel was far from being someone worthy of admiration or affection. Countless rumors about the emperor circulated, even though he secluded himself in the old manor and remained isolated from the world. Oswald had come across a few sporadic rumors from mischievous servants.

The emperor was known for his promiscuity during his youth, and his insatiable appetite for women, changing them as easily as clothes.

Of course, the emperor never admitted to being a scumbag. Instead, he would always emphasize that he was deeply in love with each woman in his court.

But his love was shallow, like a ditch that ran dry after a few encounters, disappearing as soon as he moved on to the next lover. Whenever he mentioned his previous conquests, he would attribute his actions to youthful naiveté, claiming he didn't fully understand his feelings at the time.

For more than thirty years, he remained trapped in this state of eternal youth, seemingly too lazy to raise the banner of love. As he reached middle age, he became even more restless and wandered.

Perhaps it was divine intervention or some other mysterious force at play when he finally grew tired of his playboy lifestyle and started contemplating the future generation. He was struck by the realization that he had very few children left by his side. Tragically, those few remaining children died at a young age, leaving behind only a single daughter.

The emperor's paranoia drove him to believe that his sole remaining daughter was not enough to inherit the entire Golden Lion Kingdom.

Thus, at over fifty years old, Emperor Noel embarked on another quest, endeavoring for several years to produce more sons. Yet, his efforts yielded no results.

He eventually resigned himself to his fate, reflecting upon the sins he had committed in his youth, desperately searching for a way to have more sons.

And so, Oswald became the emperor's only option, the child he had entrusted to the Pach family to raise as his own.

Oswald harbored no affection for the emperor who claimed to be his father, nor did he have any desire for a place like Wujin Hanging Palace, a symbol of power and status.

Those were the two most challenging years of Oswald's life. First, he received the devastating news of Kevin Fassbinder's death on the battlefield, ending any chance of seeing his dear friend again.

Then, the Pach family was annihilated, and the old manor, where Oswald spent many years, was destroyed. If he hadn't brought Ian to the palace with him, every one from his childhood and youth would have truly been lost.

It felt as if his entire past had been erased.

Given the circumstances, the relationship between Oswald and Emperor Noel couldn't be good.

During that time, Oswald was just a teenager, consumed by thoughts of killing the emperor every day and trying to escape from Wujin Hanging Palace by any means possible. He wanted nothing more than to distance himself from the damn emperor and this cursed place.

When Emperor Noel discovered Oswald's plan, he turned the palace into a fortress, layering it with guards to prevent any escape.

During those days, Oswald taught himself various skills, like picking locks and slipping through doors unnoticed.

He even built hidden passageways and secret hideouts in the old warehouses, where the way was as treacherous as dancing with the devil.

But the palace remained a palace, making it difficult to infiltrate and even harder to escape.

At that time, Oswald had no desire to interact with anyone except for the occasional conversation with the old butler, Ian. He despised everything about Wujin Hanging Palace, except for his half-sister, Sara, Emperor Noel's only daughter.

Sara was one of the few people in the palace who had no ulterior motives or resentments. She genuinely cared for Oswald's well-being.