They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System Chapter 405: This Kingdom... Will Have to Find Another Heir

Chapter 405: This Kingdom… Will Have to Find Another Heir

“Have I ever forced you to do anything in the past? Ever? I have let you make your own choices since you were old enough to speak. Can’t you do this one thing for ? Just this one, can’t you find soone else to marry?”

Somto exhaled slowly. She was his mother. And he did respect her. But no matter how many years passed, she still did not see it, didn’t see her.

So he decided to try. One more ti. Maybe, just maybe… if he explained it clearly, she would finally understand.

“Mom,” he began softly, “you think this is about infatuation? About attraction? It’s not.”

Queen Chioma crossed her arms, silent but tense.

“When I was broken and sick, Nnenna did not pity , she took care of . She stood with . When I doubted myself, she reminded of who I was. She doesn’t know these things. That just hearing of her exploits motivates ! And when everyone else saw her as nothing, she still chose to give everything.”

He stepped closer, his voice deepening with emotion.

“She reminds of the kind of king I want to be. The kind of man I should be. She’s… she’s not just soone I love. She’s soone I admire.”

Queen Chioma’s eyes flickered, just for a mont, but she said nothing.

“You say she’s the reason Dad is gone,” Somto said, his voice tight with old pain. “But you weren’t there when she cried for him. When she blad herself. When she risked her life to help Abuchi save his fiance.”

He took a step back, swallowing hard. “You hate her. But I… I’ve seen her heart. And it’s the purest thing I’ve ever known.”

Silence stretched between them like a sword drawn and waiting.

“Maybe I am disappointing you,” Somto said, finally. “But I won’t lie about how I feel. Not even to you.”

“You and Dad have been trying to arrange engagents for since I was barely old enough to talk,” Somto said, his voice calm but firm. “But I’ve never liked any of those girls.”

“We already made an agreent, Somto,” Queen Chioma replied, her arms crossed. “Or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t forgotten, Mother,” he said. “Dad said that if I didn’t want an arranged marriage, I should marry soone of even higher status than those girls you picked. You know that. And I agreed.”

“Exactly,” Queen Chioma snapped. “So why is Nnenna even in the equation?”

Somto stared at her, his gaze steady. “Because I know what I’m doing, Mom.”

Queen Chioma’s lips thinned into a hard line. “Fine. If you think you know better than your own mother, then listen to carefully.” Her voice turned sharp, cold, threatening.

“I will fight this with everything I have,” she declared. “I will never allow that girl to beco your wife. I will never let her be Queen of this land.”

The words hit like cold steel, but Somto didn’t flinch. Instead, sothing inside him shifted. Hardened.

That was the mont he knew, really knew, that her hatred ran so deep, she couldn’t see anything else. Not reason. Not growth. Not even his happiness.

She didn’t see the girl who had suffered and still rose with grace. She didn’t see the one who had risked herself to protect others, who had quietly earned the love and respect of people who once looked down on her.

All Queen Chioma saw was a shadow from the past.

And Somto… realized nothing he said would change that.

Not now.

Maybe not ever.

He let out a quiet sigh and stepped back. “Then I guess we’ll see,” he said softly. “Because I won’t stop loving her… even if you never accept her.”

His parents had never sat him down to explain the full story, but Somto was no fool. He had long since dug through the shadows, asked the right questions, and uncovered the truth his mother never spoke about.

He knew why she hated Nnenna so bitterly.

But the version Queen Chioma clung to… wasn’t the truth.

In reality, it was his father who had made the mistake. An engagent in place, yes, but he had fallen in love with soone else. Love, genuine, unpredictable, inconvenient love. Sothing that couldn’t be controlled. Sothing that destroyed the fragile arrangent.

And that soone had been Nnenna’s mother.

From everything Somto could find, Nnenna’s mom hadn’t even known the man, his father was promised to soone. Not to ntion that she was in love with soone else, Nnenna’s father. She had likely been as blindsided as anyone.

Yet Queen Chioma had rewritten the tale, turning betrayal into a vendetta. She needed soone to bla. And she had chosen the woman.

Then the daughter. Year after year, she had poured that anger into a grudge so deep, it turned into poison.

Somto looked at her now, and realized sothing painful.

She didn’t want the truth. She wanted to hate.

If she couldn’t see Nnenna for who she really was… if she chose to turn even the court and the nobles against her… if she used her influence to make Nnenna’s life hell…

Then this kingdom would lose its king.

“I never thought I would say this,” Somto said quietly, his voice cool and sharp like winter steel. “But if it cos to it… if you force this fight… then I’ll walk away. And this kingdom can find another heir.”

Queen Chioma’s mouth fell slightly open. Her face flickered with disbelief, then fear, then rage, but Somto didn’t flinch.

“I’m not bluffing,” he added. “You can either let go of a past that was never even Nnenna’s fault… or lose your son.”

He paused. The silence was heavy. Too heavy.

Then, with a soft sigh, he glanced toward the castle gates.

“It’s ti to go.”

He looked at his mother one last ti. His eyes didn’t hold anger, but they were full of sothing else.

Disappointnt. Sadness. A complicated, quiet ache.