"Now that the title of Crown Prince has officially been conferred upon you," Empress Anastasia declared calmly, her voice carrying through the throne hall with unwavering authority, "you shall also prepare yourself to bear several additional ministerial responsibilities according to your talents, so that you may contribute fully toward the prosperity and stability of the Eternal Sun Empire."
Not even the slightest shift appeared in Anastasia’s expression as she looked down at the kneeling William before her. Despite the calmness on her face, she already understood exactly what was passing through his mind at that moment.
William hated the idea of burying himself beneath administration, governance, endless procedures, and mountains of bureaucratic obligations. In his eyes, such responsibilities threatened to consume the time and freedom he needed for what he considered truly important—training, growing stronger, confronting enemies, and preparing himself for the ambitions and dangers that lay ahead.
But Anastasia viewed the matter very differently.
Far differently than William did.
And as his mother, she believed it was her responsibility to guide him toward the best path possible, even if he himself could not yet see the necessity of it.
In her opinion, it was absolutely essential for William to shoulder responsibilities he had never been forced to carry before.
Over the course of recent events, she had observed his temperament carefully. For someone his age, William was already exceptionally pragmatic and intelligent. He possessed courage, adaptability, and a frightening ability to make decisions under pressure that would leave seasoned rulers astonished.
Yet beneath all those strengths, Anastasia could still see flaws that deeply concerned her—flaws that she feared would eventually hinder William from becoming the great leader he had the potential to be.
William’s judgment was often clouded by his own emotions and personal convictions.
Anastasia could sense that there were fears and burdens hidden deep within his heart, things he refused to share with anyone. Those hidden emotions were beginning to influence his decisions more than he realized. At times, she even felt that he was developing the dangerous tendency to become almost irrational whenever certain people or situations were involved.
Not weak-hearted.
Never that.
But emotional in a way that could become dangerous for someone carrying such enormous responsibilities.
William allowed his personal attachments, guilt, instincts, and fears to influence critical decisions too heavily. Without realizing it, he often narrowed his own perspective and trapped himself within goals shaped entirely by emotion rather than pure logic.
Anastasia had noticed this clearly during the confrontation against the Primarchs and especially during Lux’s descent.
William’s mistakes had not come from ignorance.
They had come from revenge, fear, and attachment.
Before the battle against Winston had even begun, William insisted that no one kill the Pope prematurely because he wanted the right to execute him personally as Rudra Solaris’s son.
At the time, Anastasia herself had not opposed the idea too strongly. Deep inside, she too wanted Winston to suffer for everything he had done.
But neither of them fully considered the consequences of keeping him alive longer than necessary.
That single decision eventually became William’s greatest weakness during the battle.
Because of the delay, Winston had managed to activate the divine weapon that ultimately led to Lux descending upon the battlefield.
Even now, the memory left a bitter ache in Anastasia’s chest.
Had she known events would spiral into such catastrophe, she would never have allowed her son to carry that burden alone.
Then came William’s second miscalculation.
The moment Lux descended as an avatar, William’s concern for Tamasya and the safety of his loved ones completely overtook his judgment. Instead of coordinating resistance immediately, he focused entirely on protecting everyone and evacuating them into the Domain of Infinity.
From Anastasia’s perspective, there had been far better options available.
William had powerful allies beside him.
Tamasya herself possessed prior experience dealing with divine avatars and escaping overwhelming enemies. There was also the strange creature aiding him, along with the Primarch he had enslaved. Even if Lux’s presence was terrifying, they still possessed enough strength collectively to delay him until reinforcements arrived.
Yet William chose to shoulder everything alone once again.
He did not even call back the others who had been sent to assist Rominus.
Instead, he isolated himself against Lux while prioritizing everyone else’s safety above his own.
And as much as Anastasia wished she could have stood beside him during that moment, she understood her own limitations as well. Compared to the beings clashing on that battlefield, her cultivation remained lower. Deep inside, she knew that in a direct confrontation against Lux’s avatar, she might have become more of a burden than genuine assistance.
Even so, she could not help but believe there had been another path—one that might have spared William from enduring so much pain and suffering.
Still, despite all of this...
Anastasia did not blame him.
Not truly.
Because deep down, she understood where those instincts came from.
It was the nature of a man to place himself between danger and the people he loved. To carry burdens alone while keeping his family safely behind him.
And more than anything else, Anastasia had never underestimated William.
Like every parent, she carried her own flaws and regrets. Yet parents always wished for their children to grow stronger than they themselves had ever been. They wanted their children to avoid repeating the same mistakes that once wounded them.
In fact, Anastasia genuinely believed William had already achieved things that most people several decades older than him could never dream of accomplishing.
But what impressed her most was not his strength.
It was his courage.
William was brave in a way that frightened her sometimes.
Even after his core shattered and his very life slipped away, Anastasia still remembered the smile on his face. There had been no terror, no despair, no visible agony in his expression.
Only peace.
That image haunted her.
Every time she remembered it, her heart trembled.
What kind of suffering must a person endure to face death itself with such calm serenity?
And because of that, Anastasia believed William possessed potential greater than both hers and Rudra’s.
Yet she also believed there were gaps within him created by her absence over the years—gaps no amount of talent, power, or cultivation could ever naturally fill.
She wanted to shape him into someone sharper, wiser, more complete.
In many ways, her understanding of William was remarkably accurate. There was only one crucial misunderstanding.
Anastasia still did not know that Rudra was alive and the reason William insisted on keeping Winston alive until the very end had not been revenge alone.
William knew that Demon Lord Amon had taken Rudra’s unconscious body somewhere 15 years ago. Winston was likely one of the very few individuals who possessed information regarding what happened afterward.
William wanted answers from him and that was why he refused to let Winston die too soon.
Yet despite that missing piece of truth, Anastasia’s overall understanding of her son remained correct. William carried burdens entirely alone even in this case.
And he constantly allowed his personal convictions to corner him into dangerous situations.
Now that Sunchaser was gone, William alone carried the knowledge that Rudra Solaris might still be alive somewhere in the world.
That secret rested solely upon his shoulders.
And so, even if a few details in Anastasia’s conclusions were inaccurate, she had still managed to understand her son with frightening clarity only days after reuniting with him.
Perhaps that was simply the nature of family or perhaps it was true what people often said.
Crisis revealed a person’s true self more clearly than anything else ever could.
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[A/N: I know there was a lot of inner monologue in this Chapter, but it is an important one to understand how the mother-son relationship is going forward, and I also feel that it’s the first time I have explored so deeply into William’s character through the lens of another character.]