Hope Is Not Optional — Manuel Flores 109
Chapter 109
Ian
Ten years ago
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I moved without hesitation, my body reacting before my mind could slow it down. The moment my opponent shifted his weight, I stepped in, driving my sword forward in a clean motion that forced him to stumble back. He barely had time to recover before he tried to swing at me in panic, his grip sloppy, and his stance unstable.
I didn’t give him the chance to finish the movement. I kicked him hard in the stomach, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs and tearing his guard wide open, and before he could even register the mistake, my blade was already moving.
I swung my sword up to his neck and stopped.
The sharp edge hovered just inches from his skin.
The man froze instantly. I felt his entire body go rigid beneath the threat of the blade, his hands trembling as his eyes widened in pure fear. His face drained of color, sweat breaking out across his forehead as he stared at the sword poised to end him if I so much as twitched my wrist. He swallowed hard, breath uneven, clearly realizing how close he had come to death.
Around us, the murmurs began almost immediately.
“Woah… not again,” someone in the crowd muttered in disbelief. “It didn’t even last a minute. How many times is he going to win?”
“I know, right?” another voice chimed in. “He’s so good it’s almost annoying. Nobody even wants to compete with him anymore because they already know how it’ll end.”
“He’s only eighteen, and he’s already beating warriors twice his age.”
There was a pause before another voice followed. “Strength aside, there’s something scary about him. People don’t want to get close. Even though he’s the first young master of the Bloodrose family, if everyone keeps fearing him like this, he’s going to grow up alone.”
More whispers followed, growing bolder as they fed off each other.
I didn’t look at any of them.
Their words meant nothing to me. Praise, fear, resentment, it all sounded the same in the end. Slowly, I lowered my sword and pulled it away from the man’s neck, stepping back without a change in my expression. The fight was over the moment it began.
The man took a shaky breath, swallowed again, then bowed deeply in respect before turning and running from the field as if the ground itself were burning beneath his feet.
That was when my father and the fighting instructor approached.
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Chapter 109
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My father smiled as he reached me, placing a hand on my back with clear pride in his eyes. “You did it again, lan,” he said warmly, as if this were something to be celebrated.
The instructor nodded enthusiastically beside him. “As expected of the pack’s prodigy,” he added. “You’re very lucky, sir. Your son is improving at a rate that’s almost unreal. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
My father laughed at the praise, clearly pleased. “Don’t exaggerate, I’m not the only lucky one. The entire pack is. After all, my son will protect this pack, even if it costs him his own life.”
The instructor nodded in agreement.
I looked at both of them with indifference, then brushed my father’s hand off my back. He froze in surprise, but I didn’t wait to hear what he might say. I turned and walked away from the training field, my footsteps quiet as the crowd instinctively parted for me, eyes lowering as I passed.
When I reached my usual spot near the edge of the field, I paused.
In the distance, I saw my younger siblings, Kane and Sienna, playing together in the grass. They were laughing, chasing each other freely. For a brief moment, I watched them in silence. Then they noticed me.
Both of them froze instantly, their smiles vanishing as if they had never existed.
Without a word, Sienna let out a cry when she saw my face and turned, running away. Kane nodded his head in greeting before going after her.
I stood there for a moment longer, watching their retreating figures, before turning my back on the field and continuing on alone.
The large tree stood where it always had, its thick trunk casting a wide shadow over the grass beneath it. This was my place, it was quiet, and far away from whispers and stares. I was already loosening my sword, preparing to lie down in the cool grass, when something caught my eye.
Someone was already there.
I paused.
A small figure lay beneath the tree, sprawled across the grass, fast asleep. For a brief second, I considered turning away without looking closer, but then I noticed her white and black hair.
Selene,
I raised an eyebrow. This was only the second time I had seen her. I was rarely around the temple, always training or stationed elsewhere, so I knew little about the daily lives of the children there. But even I had heard the murmurs. The way people avoided her. The way they looked at her with discomfort, sometimes even disdain, because of her hair.
She was an outcast. So it wasn’t surprising to find her alone, sleeping here instead of playing with the others.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I looked down at her sleeping form.
“I guess I’ll have to find another peaceful place,” I muttered to myself.
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Chapter 109
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I liked quiet places. This tree had always been that place for me, but she was here first. I turned around, already planning where to go next.
“Brother?”
The soft voice stopped me.
I paused mid-step and turned back. Her eyes were open now, still heavy with sleep, her expression drowsy but calm as she looked at me. There was no fear in her gaze.
She glanced around, then slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Oh, I-I’m sorry, brother,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in your spot.”
My spot?
She smiled faintly, almost shy. “I’ve always wondered why you like staying here all the time. But now I understand.” She looked around at the shade. “It’s really comfortable.”
I blinked.
She was talking to me normally.
I didn’t say anything, still trying to understand why this felt so strange. Cross, Kane and Sienna avoided me. Warriors twice my age trembled when I looked their way. And yet this small girl spoke as if I were no different from anyone else. As if she’d been watching me for a while.
Seeing my silence, she stood quickly, dusting off her clothes. “Sorry,” she said, a little flustered. “I talk too much. That’s what people say. I’ll leave right now.”
She turned to go, then paused.
Slowly, she looked back at me and reached into her waist, pulling out a small bundle wrapped in cloth. She held it out toward me with both hands.
“Brother,” she said, “I know you like training, but sometimes you have to eat.”
I stared at the bundle.
“I hardly ever see you eat,” she continued earnestly. “You should eat and get stronger, so you can protect yourself, and our siblings.” Her eyes shone with determination. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to work hard alone. I’ll get stronger too, so I can protect them with you.”
“You don’t have to carry everything on your shoulders.”
I froze.
For a moment, I couldn’t move, or speak. I simply stood there, watching as she bowed her head slightly and then turned and walked away, her small figure disappearing just like the others had earlier. Only this time, it felt different.
I lowered my gaze to the bundle in my hands, the cloth warm from her touch. Then, slowly, I looked in the
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Chapter 109
direction she had gone.
…
:
For the first time in eighteen years, something unfamiliar tugged at my chest.
My lips curled upward, just barely, in a smile I hadn’t known I was capable of.
“What an interesting child,” I murmured.
******
(01)
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Present Time
Since I was young, I have always been strong. It was not the kind of strength people grow into slowly, but the kind you are born with, the kind that makes others uneasy when they look at you. I could do things no one else my age could do. I could defeat grown men in combat, read the battlefield before the fight even began, twist any situation until it bent in my favor. Strength, intelligence, calculation, it all came naturally to me.
They called me a prodigy.
With that title came expectations. Especially from my father. To him, I was not just his son; I was a weapon meant to protect the pack and elevate the Bloodrose name. I trained harder than anyone else. While others played, I bled. While others laughed, I learned how to kill.
And honestly, I didn’t mind.
It wasn’t because I cared about the pack, or because I felt any pride in the Bloodrose power. I could care less about their politics, their praise, or their fear. Compassion and sentiment were things I cut out of myself a long time ago. I became a man who could cut someone down without blinking, a man whose heart had gone cold enough to survive anything.
But there was one thing, I would never allow anyone to take from me.
My siblings.
They were the only reason I kept moving forward. The only reason I endured the training, the wars, the blood on my hands. When I destroyed an entire pack, it was never for glory or loyalty. It was to make sure no threat ever reached them. Every battle I fought, every enemy I crushed, was done with one thought in mind.
Protect them.
Protect Selene,
Even when everyone called her a curse. Even when they whispered that she should never have been born. Even when the world seemed determined to push her into the dirt and grind her down.
I never believed any of it.
She was the only one who ever looked at me and saw a human being instead of a machine forged for violence. She spoke to me without fear, and expectation. And that alone made her irreplaceable.
I would burn the world before I let anyone lay a hand on her,
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Chapter 109
Slowly, I lifted my gaze.
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My blue eyes locked onto the prince before me. I didn’t need to raise my voice or rely on theatrics. When I spoke, my voice was low, and deadly calm.
“I will ask you one more time, Prince Adrian,” I growled. “Where is my sister?”
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