Tbate: Resurgence

-Chapter 1: The Confession-

Arthur Leywin

I stood in the room, feeling my heart hammering in my chest. This moment was inevitable, ever since I began to accept that Grey—the cold, calculating king I once was—was still a part of me. Now, surrounded by my family and closest friends, it was finally time to tell them the truth. The weight of it bore down on my shoulders, making it hard to breathe.

“I’m not who you think I am,” I began, my voice quiet but steady. I felt the room freeze, their eyes turning toward me. My parents, Alice and Reynolds, Tessia, Jasmine, the Twin Horn members, and even Virion—they were all waiting for me to explain.

Virion's calm gaze remained fixed on me, but everyone else was starting to show signs of confusion. I could already see it spreading across their faces.

“I… I’ve been keeping a secret from you all,” I continued, feeling my throat tighten. “I was someone else before I was born here. I’m a reincarnate.”

Alice blinked, her face turning pale. I could see the confusion deepening in Reynolds’s furrowed brows. Tessia’s smile faded, worry flickering in her eyes.

“I was once Grey,” I pushed on, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “A king in a different world. I lived an entire life before I was reborn here.”

Silence filled the room. It was deafening. I stood there, waiting, knowing the storm was coming. And then it hit, like a dam breaking.

“Wha-what are you saying?” my mother stammered, her voice trembling.

“Shh,” Virion interrupted sternly, his eyes never leaving me. “Let him continue. Don’t interrupt until he’s finished.”

I took a deep breath and began to explain it all: the world I came from, the roles I played, the lengths I went to achieve my goals.

“A king?” Tessia’s voice shook with disbelief as she stepped back, her eyes wide. “You mean to tell me… you were some kind of ruler in another world? And all this time, you never told us?”

I winced. I expected her to be upset, but the hurt and betrayal in her voice cut deeper than I had imagined. “Tess, it’s not that simple. I didn’t want—”

“So, what was it then?” Tessia snapped, her fists clenching at her sides. “Did you get close to me because you were planning to become a king again? Is that all this was about?”

“No! It wasn’t like that,” I protested, but I could see it—the pain, the anger in her eyes. Her shoulders shook, tears threatening to spill.

“You’re a liar,” she said, her voice trembling with anger and hurt. “You were never really Arthur, were you? You’ve been pretending this whole time.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but then I heard my mother’s horrified gasp.

“You… You’re saying you were a grown man?” she whispered, her face ashen. Horror spread across her features as she continued, “I breastfed you. I raised you—oh gods…”

My stomach dropped. Her words cut like a knife. “Mom, it’s not like that,” I tried to explain, but the disgust in her eyes was unmistakable.

“I can’t… I can’t believe this,” she murmured, stepping back from me. “You’ve been lying to us all this time.”

Beside her, my father shook with anger, his fists clenching and unclenching. He looked at me with fury and betrayal. “So, you’ve been deceiving us. You’ve been lying to your own parents about who you are?”

“I wasn’t trying to lie,” I said, feeling my voice break. “I was trying to protect you—”

“Protect us?” His voice was dangerously low. “You’ve been living under our roof, pretending to be our son, and now you tell us that you were some…some other man this whole time?”