The Fake king

The man's lips trembled, and his eyes glowed with deep sorrow and grief...

As he slowly gazed around, his body was drenched in blood...

A vast desert, filled with countless corpses—angels, demons, star nymphs, supreme humans, dragons, fairies, and many more...

All of them lay side by side, lifeless, their blood filling the air with the scent of death and fear...

"The same result again... No matter how hard I try, everyone dies..."

The man muttered to himself.

"Everyone has died again... No one remains... for the hundredth time..."

He spoke hesitantly, gripping his glowing white sword tightly...

"I have nothing left to offer this world... It's time for me to step down from the throne... The new generation's time has come... I am no longer fit to rule the realms..."

As he spoke, darkness engulfed him, transporting him near a massive green tree...

"You will lead the world after me... You will accomplish what I could not... The First King... You shall be the new ruler..."

The First King whispered to himself. Then, suddenly, a brilliant light surged across all realms...

And with it, he vanished...

***

**Year 2025...**

"Ah... I'm sorry, Mother! I... I'm sorry!" 

Those were the only words that came to my mind. 

As my mother pressed a heated knife against my eye, she showed no regret, no emotion—nothing toward her own child. 

"Dammit! How could a child like you be born?! Why are you... why were you even born in the first place?!" 

Words filled with unjustified anger and hatred, directed at me by my own mother, sent shivers of terror through my body. 

"I'm sorry, Mother... please... I-I'm sorry!" 

My words, mixed with my tears and the blood running down my face, only fueled her rage and deepened the look of disgust in her eyes. 

"Damn you, you cursed child! Get out of my sight! I never want to see you again!" 

I grabbed my bag and rushed out of the room, my tears refusing to stop, and blood still dripping from my face. 

So... how did I end up in this situation, being tortured this cruelly? To be precise, this wasn't even the first time I had experienced something this terrifying. 

I am the second son of an incredibly wealthy man, a renowned jeweler. My mother, too, is a highly successful businesswoman. In other words, we are *very* rich. Being the child of two such people would make anyone envious, thinking I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. 

But the reality couldn't be more different... just because I was born second. That *silver spoon* turned into a blade, cutting me from every angle. 

All my parents' attention was focused on my older brother. He received all their support, everything he wanted was granted the moment he asked for it. 

Meanwhile, as the second-born, I received nothing. That *golden spoon* that was supposed to be mine—my brother had taken it before I even had the chance to see it. 

No matter how hard I tried to earn their attention, all I ever got in return was abuse and endless insults. 

Every time I outperformed my older brother at something, instead of receiving praise like any other child, I was met with punishment from my mother. 

"Mother! Mother! Look! I got first place in my class!" My words were filled with excitement over my achievement, but all I received was a look of pure disgust. 

"Ugh... Mother, what...?" 

I had been waiting for her to place her hand on my head with affection, to hear words of praise from her like she did with my older brother. But instead, she kicked me in the stomach and started beating me without any warning. 

"You disgusting child! Don't you ever try to surpass your brother, do you understand?!" 

Her eyes were filled with an unimaginable amount of hatred and rage. Just that look alone was enough to send terror through my body. Even though I was only six years old, she punished me simply because I had outperformed my older brother. 

"Understood…" 

I lowered my head, my tears on the verge of falling, but I didn't dare cry freely. If I did, she would hit me again. That's how it always was—every time I surpassed my brother in something, I was punished. 

Yet, I didn't give up. I tried every possible way to earn her approval. I wanted just one word from her, but she never said it. 

On my brother's birthday, a huge crowd gathered to celebrate him. Even my father, who was always busy, made time to attend his party. 

As for me? I was locked in my room. I wasn't even allowed to stand among them. 

They laughed, danced, and celebrated while I sat alone, drowning in my tears, with no one there to comfort me. 

I wished that someone, anyone, would come and pull me out of my loneliness, but no one did. I had been completely forgotten. 

That night, I cried myself to sleep. But even in my dreams, I couldn't do anything. I wasn't even allowed to speak. 

Two weeks later, my own birthday arrived... a day no one remembered. 

My father and mother, the two people I had been waiting for, abandoned me on what was supposed to be the most important day of my life. Meanwhile, my brother was off studying in one of the most prestigious schools in the country. 

From the depths of my heart, I wished for just one person to walk through that door and remember me. But no matter how long I waited, no one came. They didn't show up... they had forgotten. 

But even if they had remembered, I knew they would have ignored it. 

To them, I was nothing more than a burden, a person who shouldn't even be allowed to exist. 

All because I was born second. 

Because my brother was born a few years before me, he took everything for himself. I never even got to see the simplest of things. 

My birthday, the one day I should have been surrounded by people who loved me, was spent alone, trapped between the walls of my room, my eyes filled with tears. 

"This isn't fair... this is just so unfair!" 

I tried my hardest to hold back my tears, but I couldn't. 

How could a seven-year-old child be abandoned by his own family? In my eyes, not even the worst person in existence deserved this. 

Even the school I attended was nothing like my brother's. 

His school was one of the most prestigious in the country, filled with geniuses and elites, a place only the wealthy could afford. 

Meanwhile, my school was barely decent—just an average, rundown institution that barely met the minimum standards of an actual school. 

Still, I worked as hard as I could, hoping that my efforts would make my family acknowledge me. I gave everything I had, just for the sake of hearing one word from them. 

But all my efforts were thrown away like they were meaningless. 

Every time I scored perfect marks on my tests, my mother would beat and punish me—because she didn't want me to surpass my brother. 

"I told you, you disgusting thing! Don't even try to reach your brother's level!" 

Not once had she smiled at me. Every day, those terrifying red eyes and that whip in her hands haunted me. She never ran out of insults and demeaning words to throw at me. 

Even though I was her son, her own flesh and blood. 

"Don't be too harsh on him, Mom. What he achieved is actually quite impressive." 

From behind her, I heard a calm voice... the voice of the person who had taken everything from me. 

"My older brother…" 

I didn't know if I should be happy that he stopped her, or angry that he was the reason for my suffering in the first place. 

"What nonsense are you saying, Leo? What's so impressive about what he did?!" 

My mother's voice immediately softened when she spoke to my brother. 

"All I'm saying, Mother, is that my little brother managed to achieve something quite impressive, considering the environment he's in... surrounded by those worthless, filthy beggars." 

A disgusting smile spread across his face as he looked at me with nothing but contempt and mockery. 

He hadn't come to save me—he came to humiliate me, to enjoy watching me suffer. 

Was I nothing more than a source of entertainment to him? 

Was I not a part of this family? 

Wasn't I his little brother? 

Weren't older siblings supposed to protect and help their younger ones? 

But in their eyes, I was just a stray, a beggar who happened to live with them. 

They didn't see me as family. 

They didn't even see me as human. 

My parents, who treated my brother like a priceless treasure, had brought me into this world just to be his toy—something to amuse him when he was bored. 

That thought alone made me wish for death. 

I tried to hold back my tears and leave the room, but what I heard next shattered my heart even more. 

My tears wouldn't stop. 

On the other side of the room, my brother was grinning in satisfaction, enjoying my suffering, while my mother looked at me with pure disgust. 

With great difficulty, I got to my feet, trying to make my way back to my room, still crying. 

Neither of them did anything. 

They just stood there, enjoying the sight of my misery. 

And just as I left the room, I heard them talking about dinner. 

"See you later, dear little brother. Mother, can we eat out tonight?" 

"That wretched child ruined my mood. Let's go." 

"... So I'm just a thing to you?" 

That one sentence alone made me wish for death more than anything else in this cursed life. 

********

**Author's Note:** Everything has a reason, please remember that.