For a while, neither of them spoke.
The forest remained peaceful.
Only the steady rhythm of footsteps and the creaking of wooden carts accompanied the wolf clan as they continued their journey north.
Leo glanced at Kieran.
"So..."
"What happened after the king fell ill?"
Kieran remained silent for a few moments.
His expression grew distant, as though he were no longer looking at the forest before him, but at memories buried deep in the past.
"The king had a family."
He finally broke the silence.
"Three sons."
"And two daughters."
Leo nodded.
"So one of them took over while the king recovered?"
Kieran slowly shook his head.
"There was never going to be a recovery."
Leo frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Kieran let out a slow breath.
"The king wasn't sick."
"He had been cursed."
Leo's footsteps slowed.
"A curse?"
Kieran nodded.
"At first, everyone believed it was some unknown illness."
"The greatest healers were summoned."
"The finest shamans searched for answers."
"But nothing worked."
"They couldn't find the cause."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"It was my father who discovered the truth."
Leo looked at him.
"He found out?"
Kieran gave a small nod.
"The king hadn't fallen ill."
"He had been cursed."
A heavy silence settled between them.
Leo folded his arms.
"...And who did it?"
Kieran's eyes hardened.
"His own family."
Leo stopped walking for a brief second.
"...His own children?"
Kieran didn't answer immediately.
After a long pause, he nodded.
"My father uncovered the truth."
"And when he did..."
"He told everyone."
Leo stared ahead, trying to process what he had just heard.
"He exposed the royal family?"
"He exposed the truth."
Kieran corrected calmly.
"There was no point hiding it any longer."
"The kingdom deserved to know why their king had suddenly collapsed."
Leo scratched the back of his head.
"I can imagine that didn't go over very well."
"It didn't."
Kieran's voice remained steady.
"But the people believed him."
"Many civilians stood behind my father."
"They trusted him."
"They trusted the king."
"And they refused to believe the kingdom should be ruled by those willing to curse their own blood."
Leo remained quiet, letting Kieran continue at his own pace.
"My father also knew something else."
Kieran's expression gradually darkened.
"As long as the bedridden king remained inside the palace..."
"...surrounded by the very people who had cursed him..."
"He would never be safe."
Leo slowly nodded.
"So he had to get him out."
"Not just for the king."
Kieran looked toward the endless forest ahead.
"But for the kingdom itself."
A faint breeze swept through the trees, carrying the scent of earth and leaves between them.
"My father gathered everyone who still believed in King Regulus."
"The civilians."
"The warriors who remained loyal."
"And the demi-humans who had only recently been freed."
Leo looked at him from the corner of his eye.
"He started a rebellion."
Kieran was silent for a moment.
Then he gave a slow nod.
"He did."
"And from that day onward..."
"The Beastmen Kingdom was never the same."
Kieran fell silent.
The conversation came to an abrupt halt as the two continued walking side by side. Around them, the wolf clan marched through the forest in quiet determination. Children clung to their mothers, warriors remained alert, and the elderly rode atop the wooden carts as the long procession slowly made its way north.
A cool breeze swept through the trees.
Leo stole a glance at Kieran.
The wolf leader's face had grown noticeably heavier.
"So..." Leo spoke softly. "The rebellion worked?"
Kieran let out a quiet breath.
"For a while."
His answer was neither hopeful nor bitter.
Just tired.
"My father revealed the truth."
"He proved the king had been cursed."
"And many believed him."
Leo listened without interrupting.
"Civilians began leaving their homes."
"They came to my father of their own will."
"Not because they wanted war..."
"But because they still believed in King Regulus."
Kieran's gaze drifted toward the wolves marching behind them.
"The demi-humans my father had freed joined us as well."
"They believed they finally had a place where they belonged."
"And wolves from every corner of the kingdom answered his call."
Leo looked behind him for a moment.
The children.
The elderly.
The warriors.
Looking at them now, it was difficult to imagine they had once stood against an entire kingdom.
"It sounds like your father had quite the following."
Kieran gave a faint nod.
"He did."
"For the first time..."
"It felt like we had hope."
A small smile appeared on Leo's face.
"So things started getting better."
The smile on Kieran's face disappeared almost instantly.
"No."
The single word was enough to wipe the optimism from Leo's expression.
"The rebellion grew."
"So did our problems."
Kieran continued walking, his voice calm despite the painful memories.
"We had more mouths to feed."
"More wounded to protect."
"More civilians depending on us."
"The nobles knew exactly what to do."
Leo frowned.
"They cut off your supplies?"
Kieran nodded.
"They controlled nearly every city."
"The trade routes."
"The farmland."
"The rivers."
"Every day..."
"Our situation became worse."
Leo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"So your father couldn't just focus on fighting."
"He couldn't."
Kieran replied.
"He spent more time making sure people survived than planning battles."
"For him..."
"The civilians always came first."
A brief silence followed.
Leo could almost picture it.
A rebellion constantly on the move.
Families.
Freed slaves.
Warriors.
Everyone depending on a single man.
Then a thought crossed his mind.
"What happened next?"
Kieran didn't answer.
His footsteps slowed ever so slightly.
The smile that had briefly appeared on his face vanished completely.
"...My father disappeared."
Leo stopped walking.
"What?"
Kieran continued forward.
Leo quickly caught up beside him.
"Disappeared?"
Kieran nodded once.
"One day he was there."
"The next..."
"He was gone."
Leo stared at him.
"No battle?"
"No."
"No body?"
Kieran slowly shook his head.
"No."
"No witnesses."
"No clues."
"It was as though he simply vanished."
Leo remained silent.
After everything he had heard...
That answer somehow felt even more unsettling.
"What did people think happened?"
Kieran let out a long, weary sigh.
"No one knew."
"Some believed he had been assassinated."
"Others believed the great clans captured him."
"There were even those who believed he had abandoned us."
His jaw tightened.
"But regardless of what people believed..."
"My father never came back."
The sound of marching feet filled the silence between them.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Kieran continued.
"The rebellion wasn't built on weapons."
"It wasn't built on numbers."
"It was built on one man."
"My father."
"When he disappeared..."
"So did everyone's hope."
Leo lowered his gaze.
"The people turned against you."
Kieran gave a bitter smile.
"Not all of them."
"But enough."
"Rumors spread faster than truth."
"People began saying Fenris Grayfang had run away."
"That he feared the consequences of his own rebellion."
"That he abandoned everyone to save himself."
Leo clenched his jaw.
"And people believed it."
"They wanted someone to blame."
Kieran answered quietly.
"And we were the easiest target."
"The wolves who had once fought beside the civilians..."
"Were now treated as the reason everything had fallen apart."
"The rebellion collapsed."
"One group after another surrendered."
"Others simply returned home."
"The rest..."
He looked toward the warriors walking behind them.
"...kept running."
A heavy silence settled over the two.
Even Leo couldn't think of anything to say.
After a while, Kieran spoke again.
"With the rebellion gone..."
"There was no one left to oppose the royal family."
"Not long afterward..."
"Dominus Valerius."
"The firstborn son of King Regulus..."
"...ascended the throne."
Leo slowly looked at him.
"I don't suppose he tried fixing what happened."
A humorless chuckle escaped Kieran.
"No."
"He never cared about the truth."
"He only cared about power."
His golden eyes grew cold.
"The very first decree issued by the new king..."
He paused.
As though those words alone still weighed heavily upon him after all these years.
"...was the extermination of the Grayfang Clan."
Leo's eyes widened slightly.
Kieran looked ahead, his expression unreadable.
"His order was simple."
"'Kill every last wolf.'"
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
The conversation had ended, yet the weight of Kieran's words lingered between them.
The wolf clan continued its march through the forest. Warriors remained on guard along the flanks, children chatted quietly among themselves, and the wooden carts creaked as they rolled over the uneven trail.
Leo kept his eyes on the path ahead.
His thoughts were elsewhere.
King Regulus.
Fenris Grayfang.
The rebellion.
The mysterious disappearance.
Dominus Valerius.
One piece after another slowly fell into place, but the more he learned, the more questions seemed to appear.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"There is one thing I still don't understand."
Kieran glanced at him but said nothing.
Leo hesitated.
He knew this wasn't a pleasant topic, but curiosity got the better of him.
"So..."
He chose his words carefully.
"What do you think happened to your father?"
Kieran remained silent.
Leo mistook the silence for hesitation.
"I mean..."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Do you think maybe he—"
His sentence never reached the end.
Kieran came to an abrupt stop.
The sudden halt made Leo stop as well.
The wolves walking behind them instinctively moved around the two, continuing the march while stealing curious glances in their direction.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
Kieran turned his head.
His golden eyes met Leo's.
There was no anger.
No rage.
Only absolute certainty.
"My father..."
His voice was calm.
But it carried a weight that made Leo unconsciously straighten his posture.
"...was a warrior."
Kieran took a single step closer.
"He stood before an entire kingdom."
"He carried the hopes of thousands upon his shoulders."
"He fought for people who had no one else to fight for them."
His jaw tightened.
"And you're asking me if he ran away?"
The question hung heavily between them.
Leo opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Kieran held his gaze.
"My father would sooner die with a sword in his hand..."
"...than abandon those who placed their faith in him."
A faint breeze passed between them, stirring the leaves overhead.
The forest had somehow become unnaturally quiet.
Kieran's eyes never left Leo's.
"So..."
His voice dropped even lower.
"...watch your words."
Silence.
Leo stared at him for several seconds.
Then, with an awkward cough, he raised both hands.
"Alright..."
"My mistake."
"I shouldn't have assumed."
Kieran didn't respond.
He simply looked at Leo for another brief moment before turning away.
Without another word, he resumed walking.
Leo quietly fell into step beside him.
This time...
Neither of them spoke.
The only sound that remained was the steady march of the wolf clan as they disappeared deeper into the northern forest.
Toward a place where the answers to all of it had been waiting for centuries.