Chapter 70: Shameless
Leon’s eyes widened the moment the two figures stepped into the room, and he muttered, "Dad... Mom..."
The words slipped past his lips before he could even stop them, forced out by the sheer weight of seeing both of his parents standing directly in front of him after an entire year.
A dizzying rush of memories flooded his mind, temporarily freezing his muscles as he took in the undeniable reality of their presence.
The woman shivered violently as she saw Leon, her entire body stiffening under the intensity of her son’s sharp, black eyes.
A heavy flash of guilt and fear crossed her heavily made-up face, and she subconsciously turned her head down toward the floor, completely unable to maintain eye contact with him.
She shrank slightly behind Teon’s broad frame, nervously clutching the fabric of her clothing as if trying to hide herself from the terrifying monster her abandoned child had suddenly become.
Teon on the other hand, widened his arms in a grand, welcoming gesture and laughed loudly, his booming voice echoing powerfully across the vast room.
He looked at Leon with a proud expression on his face, acting as though the past year of exile and bloodshed had never even happened between them.
"I knew it, a son could never forget the love of his father after all!" he said, speaking with shameless conviction.
His bright smile remained perfectly fixed, intentionally ignoring the lethal aura radiating off his son as he took a confident step forward.
Leon felt strange, chaotic emotions running through his frame as he stared at the faces of his parents standing side by side in front of him.
Seeing them acting so nonchalant stirred up a dark energy within his soul, pulling him between the lingering remnants of his past self and current self.
They were the exact same people who had pushed him out into the cold streets without a second thought and caused him to live a life of unbearable suffering for the past one year.
They were the ones who had watched him rot in the filthy slums, starving and weak, while they enjoyed the pinnacle of wealth, luxury, and prestige at the top of the continent.
The injustice of their current actions made his blood boil, filling his throat with a bitter, metallic taste as he stared at their calm expressions.
He honestly wasn’t sure if he should stand there listening to whatever twisted excuses they had to say, or charge at them and hack their heads clean off at that moment.
His hand twitched violently near his side, his grip firm on Excalibur as he strongly considered the second option.
At the end, he found his legs still firmly planted on the ground, his face twisting in rage as he managed to suppress the overwhelming urge to strike.
"Why did you really call me here... welcoming me with open arms? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he said.
Teon chuckled again, the deep, rich sound rolling smoothly through the air as he looked at Leon with an amused expression.
"You really don’t get it, Leon? We missed you, and simply asked for you to come back? Or can’t a father miss his son anymore?" he said, delivering the words with such warmth that they sounded natural.
Leon’s brows furrowed deeply, his eyes narrowing into tight slits in confusion.
"Miss... me?" He tasted the word on his tongue like a bitter poison, finding it completely absurd that the man who had cast him into the dirt without a second thought was now standing here claiming to miss him.
Teon nodded firmly, his smile softening into what looked like a genuine, regretful expression as he took half a step forward.
He looked directly into Leon’s eyes and said, "Yes! I know we chased you out of the family last year, and honestly... we were wrong."
An obviously sad expression formed on his face, his features contorting into a convincing display of heavy remorse as he looked down at the floor for a brief moment.
He let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of a guilty conscience, and he said, "We should have had more patience with you... and given you enough time to mature."
He raised his hand and gently tapped the back of his wife, nudging her to join the conversation.
The woman awkwardly stumbled forward, her heavy body swaying slightly as she tried to regain her balance.
She stood frozen between her husband and her son, her hands trembling violently at her sides while her wide, black eyes darted nervously back and forth from Teon to Leon over and over again, completely terrified of the volatile tension filling the lobby.
Her voice trembled horribly as she forced her lips to move, her throat dry as she muttered, "T-that’s right..."
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, unable to look directly at Leon’s glare.
She didn’t know how Teon could say such shameless things with a straight face, uttering blatantly absurd lies without a single flicker of hesitation or guilt in his eyes.
She felt extremely embarrassed and terrified even standing before Leon at this moment, completely conscious of the sickening spectacle they were putting on in front of the guild members.
Every single word coming out of her husband’s mouth felt like a grotesque performance, and she hated every second of being forced to participate in it.
Unlike Teon, who was a legendary S-rank powerhouse at the peak of physical condition, she was only an A-rank player and had gotten lazy over the years.
She had spent the last decade enjoying the peak of luxury, simply accumulating fat and riches instead of actively maintaining her strength or sharpening her skills.
With what she had personally seen Leon display in those horrific footage clips—slaughtering veteran B-rank players with effortless, bloodthirsty precision—she doubted she could last even ten minutes before dying in his hands if a fight broke out.
She could feel the crushing, lethal aura radiating from her son, and deep down, she knew that her A-rank meant absolutely nothing against the monstrous strength he now possessed.