Chapter 53

Strolling through the public market, Toren felt overwhelmed with the merchandise bearing his personal designs and paintings.

It seemed like the world had been branded with his own artwork and the thrill made him overly blissful.

His signatures had been immortalized as people immediately recognized the strokes and color usages by his fingertips at a single glimpse.

This was not how Toren accurately imagined the life he always wanted and the sceneries he had always wanted to hear for it was too much. It went absolutely above and beyond his expectations.

When reality surpasses imagination and dream, things get out of hand and quite overwhelming especially to the receiver.

Toren became conflicted with the current standing of politics dealing with the great war amidst the rise of his masterpiece crafts.

As soon as he entered the headquarters, his butler appeared and greeted him anxiously, "Where have you been, Toren? The ministers and counselors from the North will be arriving later, so you must stay inside your private room!"

Toren began taking off his slippers and accessories as he went straight to his room.

"Worry not," He said. "I shall behave myself inside here. I merely want to go outside for the last time."

The butler sighed and stared at the boy. "I apologize in advance for possibly crossing the line, but may I ask why you still continue going out? Every time you do, the unpleasant things seem to always make you sick. You have grasped the world outside, so even if you were trying to look for inspiration to paint, is that not too much? Must you really go that far?"

"I am an artist," Toren replied, looking towards him. "I must go that far."

He knew that it was a lie. Toren had always felt it was more comfortable to keep a deep-rooted ulterior motive, so he did.

And again, what else could he do?

Toren instructed his butler to bring him his food, which was immediately complied.

That day, Toren acted so strangely that his personal butler did not know what to make out of it.

There were peculiar nuances which were quite new to him and the few subtle interactions left him baffled.

Toren finished everything that was on the plate.

The meal that was served was completely wiped out as if an animal had gobbled up everything.

The rice, meat, vegetables, soup, side dishes, and dessert. He left it all clean.

The butler did not know what sign it portrayed for the boy seemed unfazed and unchanged.

It was also new to him that Toren called for his presence inside his room and asked weird, unexpected questions.

When he had brought the requested famous books from the library, the boy quickly picked up the tale of the young prince and the poisonous deep blue flower.

Toren began asking about the book's whereabouts such as its author, publication date, and how it became so famous that everyone in the village had begun discussing it.

When the butler attempted to gather information from the scholars and ministry of literatures outside, Toren stopped him and suddenly demanded to just forget it.

He then asked for the butler's insight about the tale.

"It tackled... several themes," The butler unsurely answered, groping between the lines. "From the young prince's perspective, he regarded his behavior as in love. However, discerning the unreliability of the author, it was more likely addiction and obsession. In the end, he ended up being blissfully ignorant, which portrayed the dangers of blindly chasing desires and selfishly acting according to one's own whims."

Toren sipped on his barley tea.

"What did you think? Was the young prince foolish to do that? Even if he fulfilled his personal mission and died happily?"

The butler cleared his throat and stared back at the boy's glance.

"Of course. Risking everything else for the sake of own happiness does not guarantee safety, dignity, and righteousness. And besides, if your goals are meant to harm the people around you, especially those who are loving you, is that not an act of foolishness and selfishness?"

Toren remained silent.