Chapter 68: Chapter 55: A Family Reunion Gone Wrong…

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 55: A Family Reunion Gone Wrong…

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-----??? POV-----

"And that would conclude the report about how things are going with our business at the border with Valciar. Lady Vauquelin is still proving to be an issue, as her soldiers keep massacring our men when they refuse to surrender." A tall and muscular red-haired man spoke in a calm manner before taking a small sip of his glass of wine.

"Servants, bring more wine. I want something good from Semdal this time." An obese red-haired older man spoke with a demanding tone before he resumed eating from the dozens of plates in front of him. "Damnit all! I should've kidnapped that woman too when I had the chance!" He suddenly hit the table with his fist, almost making everything fall to the ground.

"That would have been preferable as it would have saved us a lot of trouble now,  but it would also have left us with another Frederick, dear father." The muscular man shook his head.

"Do not mention that bastard in my presence! I'll gut you off and feed you to the dogs! I don't care if you're my son, you hear me, Michael!?" The obese older man looked extremely enraged.

Good grief… It is only morning and they are already at it again… Michael should know better than to mention our bastard older brother in front of our father first thing in the morning… He might try to speak elegantly to sound smart but it is not enough to hide how much of a dumbass he actually is…

"I find that a little excessive, father… But as you wish. Let's consider this just a little slip of tongue. My apologies…" My older brother bowed as he apologized to our progenitor.

"The only thing that is going to slip is my goddamn hand across your fucking face if you mention that name again!" My father quickly rose from his seat, sweat trickling down his forehead onto the table… True to his word, he had already raised his hand to slap my brother.

"My apologies, father… I assure you that it won't happen again." Michael bowed once again to appease our father.

Seriously, why do they need to act in such an unsightly manner first thing in the morning? It is exceptionally annoying… We are the most powerful family after the crown, they should act with class even if it is just us and the servants.

As I stated previously, the obese older man and the apologetic muscular dumbass who is trying too hard to seem classy are my father, Gabriel Mareus Laurent, and my brother, Michael Alexander Laurent, the current Duke Laurent and his heir respectively.

My name is Cretia Demetria Laurent, the second child of the Duke, or third if we were to count my bastard eldest brother, Frederick. 

As of now, the main branch of the Laurent family is composed of the three of us and my brother's wife, a spineless bitch who is too much of a coward even to come and have breakfast with us. It is such an embarrassment to have her as a sister-in-law… Seriously, what was my brother thinking when he decided to marry her?

"Lady Cretia, here's your dessert." A young male servant ignored the tension between my father and brother and kept doing his job. "I hope it is to your liking." He bowed before placing a cup in front of me.

The dessert the servant brought was nothing really extravagant, it was quite a simple dessert actually, but despite that, it is one of my favorites. 

The dessert is ironically called "Burnt Cream" even though it is not made with cream. This dish is made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, vanilla, and some caramel which along with the sugar, they form a sweet custard after being slightly burnt with Fire Magic.

Truly, this dish is a wonder of Marcelian cuisine despite its simplicity. Although, I must admit that it is even more ironic that this dish hails from the duchy of Vauquelin… I hope this doesn't trigger my father's anger.

"It looks splendid! You're doing a wonderful job just as always!" I smiled at the servant.

"Your words honor me, my lady." The servant replied as he bowed.

How unfortunate, though… I was hoping that this wouldn't enrage my father, but it seems like I'm the one who ended up being triggered.

"Oh my~. It seems someone doesn't understand sarcasm." I said coldly as I stood up from my seat. "The dish itself is fine and looks very appetizing, but I must ask… Why did you decide to serve me the same dessert you served me during dinner yesterday? I thought I had made it crystal clear that I dislike eating the same food twice in the same week." I looked at the servant with a calm rage. 

"L-L-Lady Cretia, my most sincere apologies…! W-W-We didn't have the ingredients to make anything else for you… Diane went out at first light to buy more ingredients but she hasn't returned yet, so…-" The servant immediately cowered in fear when he noticed the change in my mood.

"How is that my problem? Your job is to keep me well fed and care for my every need, yet you can't manage to handle something as simple as not serving me the same dessert twice? Why are we even paying you? You're a failure as a butler." I walked up to the servant and looked him in the eyes with disgust.

"I-I-It won't happen again, my lady! I'll make sure of it! As long as I'm here, the pantry will never be empty again!" The servant bowed, pressing his face against the ground. It was almost like he was begging me to have mercy.

"Of course it won't happen again… I trust that you have learned your lesson." I spoke elegantly as I held the tips of my dress… "You fucking piece of shit! You had one simple job! I've seen vermin doing a better job as butlers than you! Just what the fuck is wrong with you!? I can't believe the sheer amount of incompetence you have just shown me!" I couldn't take it any longer… I started kicking the shit out of our servant since he was already down on the floor.

It fucking pisses me off! I was having a really good day so far and this moron had to ruin it completely! That should be a sin! This bastard should rot in hell for the rest of eternity!

While I kept kicking the servant while he was down and cursing him to hell and back in my mind, my father started hitting the table with his fist to get my attention. It took a while for me to listen to him since the servant's pleas for help were obnoxiously loud.

"Cretia! Again!? Seriously!? This is the third servant this week! If you're going to do that at least don't do it at the fucking table while we are having breakfast!" My father grew a little irate.

As soon as those words reached my ears, I stopped kicking the incompetent butler, who was now pretty injured thanks to my relentless onslaught.

"My apologies father… I'll continue with this in my room when we are finished eating." I bowed to my father before shooting a glance at a few of our bodyguards.

The bodyguards just silently nodded and walked toward the seemingly unconscious servant before dragging him away from the dining hall.

Such weakling… I wasn't even kicking him THAT hard… I'm going to enjoy playing around with him and fully breaking him later though~.

"I assume that we'll have to hire a new butler for you later in the day… Dear sister, could you tone down your urges a little? It is not precisely easy to find someone willing to work for us without them soiling their pants." My older brother let out a heavy sigh.

"Of course, dear brother. I'll tone down my urges the moment you stop using our maids as your sex toys. Sounds fair, doesn't it?" I smiled warmly at my older brother.

"Both of you, shut the hell up. You're making me lose my fucking appetite…" My father frowned before taking a seat. "What are the only two rules I have ever imposed on you?" He spoke to the two of us with a threatening tone.

"No sex, corpses, or talks regarding those two things while at the dinner table." I replied, matching my father's serious expression.

"Any vices we have should be done far from the prying eye in a safe place. If it cannot be done in a safe location, leave no witnesses." Michael replied seriously as well.

"Precisely. I would like the two of you to continue following those rules, especially when I'm fucking eating breakfast!" My father shouted with increasing anger as he punched the table and threw the many dishes and plates on the table to the ground.

Fucking hell, Michael! Now our dear father will be pissed off for the rest of the day! I'm not in the mood to deal with that…

"We are deeply sorry, father…" The two of us apologized in unison. I couldn't help but glance at my older brother, vowing to make him pay for this.

This dumbass is going to regret getting us into trouble again…

"I've had enough of your hollow apologies… Let's just change the topic and move on." My father suddenly composed himself and motioned us to do the same.

Without a word, Michael and I followed his command and returned to put seats. Fortunately for me, my dessert had survived my father's rampage, so at least there was some silver lining in this situation.

"What do you want to talk about, father?" Michael asked.

"The upcoming tournament of the Blaise Academy. Have any of you managed to find out who the representatives of the princesses are going to be?" My father asked with a very peculiar expression on his face.

"I'm afraid I haven't been able to do so. Even after threatening the teachers and the personal assistant of the current headmistress, I got not a single clue about the identity of the special participants." Michael lamented himself. "The only thing I got is that even the headmistress herself doesn't know their identities. Any documents containing information about the participants were placed under a very powerful seal that won't be undone until the tournament starts. Last year's headmaster truly was a clever rat…" Michael clicked his tongue with frustration.

"Do you know the current whereabouts of that rat?" My father asked with an annoyed expression on his face.

"He left the continent as soon as he was done with his duties as headmaster. His last known location was the Holy City of Melunas." I replied in my brother's place. "Some say that he left the country in a rush… Almost as if he was suddenly told to run away as far away as he could." I told my relatives everything I knew right before I started eating my dessert.

Tasty~. 

I really dislike eating the same thing twice so soon, but there's no way I cannot eat such a delicacy when it is right in front of me.

Hmm… Maybe, I'll be a little merciful and let the servant go with only a few scars as a cute reminder to not make the same mistake twice~. 

"I see… So you're willing to go that far to hide the information, Eliana? How amusing." A smirk suddenly appeared on my father’s face. 

“I would have been tremendously useful to know the identity of the special participants in order to arrange the bets during the tournament in our favor as usual, but I suppose this can just be considered a minor setback for now.” He said while falling lost in thought.

Both Michael and I made brief eye contact before the two of us looked at our father once more.

“Father, have you tried asking His Majesty about the representatives of the princesses? I am aware of how much Lady Eliana loves intrigue and surprising everyone, so asking the Emperor about it should be a much more straightforward solution.” Michael asked our father.

This moron… I swear to the gods that one of these days he is going to actually die because of his lack of a functional brain and his increasing stupidity…

“Michael shut the fuck up.” My father looked at him with annoyance. “Do you really think I haven’t thought of that before? His Majesty left everything related to his daughters’ education to Eliana and his wives for a reason. He doesn’t care… No, that’s not entirely correct. Greyfus does care about his daughters. More than anyone could ever believe. However, his prophecies of the future and his dreams of restoring the Empire to its former glory matter more to him than them.” My father spoke with a serious tone while rubbing his chin.

“So, in other words, that means…” Michael seemed a little confused thanks to my father’s words. A signal of his undeniable stupidity.

I can’t believe this moron is going to inherit the title… Just because he was born before I was… Sigh…

“Even if you ask His Majesty, he wouldn’t have a clue of who the special participants are.” I replied after having another spoonful of my delicious dessert. “It would be a fool’s endeavor to continue our attempts to forcefully obtain that information, so I suggest that we wait just like everyone else father.” I smiled at my dear father after cleaning my lips with a napkin.

“Indeed. It is not like we have a fucking choice now…” My father was neither amused nor dejected. He just stared at the table with a difficult-to-read expression.

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“Although, even if we do not know the exact identities of these special participants, we can still take a guess based on the personalities of the princesses and Lady Eliana.” I said cheerfully as the three royals came to my mind. “Let’s see… If it is Lady Eliana choosing the representatives in her nieces’ stead, I think she would choose only the strongest amongst the students. Only one person comes to mind when talking about the strongest in the Blaise Academy. The boy known as [Midnight Starlight].” I couldn’t help but smile mischievously.

“Alberis Bertran Nebandia huh… The son of the current headmistress. It doesn’t sound that far-fetched for him to be the representative of Her Highness Marina. Who knows? Maybe he will also represent Her Highness Alicia as well.” My father replied with increasing interest. “He’s one of the most capable contestants this year and a very solid choice to be the representative of the princesses as much as it pains me to say it.” My father clicked his tongue and frowned.

“Father, are you still mad at Earl Nebandia for last year’s incident?” Michael asked.

Sigh… Really, Michael? Do you really need to ask the most bitter and resentful man we know if he is still mad? I thank the gods that I can’t hear his thoughts, otherwise, I would go mad thanks to how much garbage there must be in his head.

“Michael… I swear to the gods that I will fucking castrate you and name Cretia my heir if you make another dumb question like that one.” My father seem like he was on the verge of spitting on Michael’s face. “Of fucking course I am! We lost an entire fucking shipment of drugs thanks to the Roses of Nebandia! We lost at least a million Des in profit and a hundred men because of their needless involvement!” My father hit the table with his fists yet again.

“But we still recovered that amount of money in the following months, we still delivered a new shipment of drugs, and we quickly replaced those men, didn’t we?” Michael calmly argued with our father.

“It does not matter if we did! We lost MONEY and our POWER was threatened… The things that matter most to this family. Threatening our power or our profits is simply an unforgivable act!” My father scoffed and looked at Michael with anger. “Why do you think I hired that band of buffoons that called themselves bandits in the first place? I did it to screw over Ophelia and her knights for sticking their noses in our business. They messed with our business, then the people of her territory faced the consequences. It is as simple as that.” My father said with a serious expression.

Buffoons…? Ah, the Band of the Warhawk. Those guys were pretty rowdy and seemed a little capable, but in the name of all the gods, their leader was extremely annoying with all the bootlicking he was trying to do when father hired him. He was pretty obnoxious too on top of that, thinking that he could take down the entire order of the Roses of Nebandia by himself with that flashy enchanted spear of his. What was his name again?

Hmm… I don’t really remember his name, but he did remind me of Bron in a way. The two of them were always flaunting their abilities, basically begging for our praise and trying to show off their weapons… Just thinking about them makes me annoyed…

While I was deep in thought, thinking about the similarities of one of our servants and that sorry excuse of a bandit my father had hired, something unexpected happened… All of a sudden, one of the walls of the dining hall exploded…

Shattered pieces of brick and wood flew across the room while our bodyguards all rushed to place themselves between my family and whoever was the one foolish enough to attack us.

“So you were behind those fools too? Why am I not surprised.” A manly voice spoke to all of us with sarcasm. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in years…

“You…” My father immediately grew irate the moment he heard that voice. He quickly stood up from his seat and looked at the owner of that nostalgic voice with disdain.

There he stood, a gigantic figure right in front of an enormous hole in our wall. A silhouette that no one in this family could forget even if they wanted to… A dull-looking, tall, and muscular man with short brown hair and the proof of his relationship with my father, Michael, and me, a pair of hazel-colored eyes. 

Contrary to us with our expensive robes and clothing, the muscular man was wearing something fitting of a broke peasant. A simple white tank top, brown trousers, and a pair of old boots… Despite how terrible his outfit was, it still helped him look more threatening than normal… The gigantic axe he carried in his left hand also helped him a lot in that endeavor.

That man was no one other than my bastard oldest brother, the prodigal son of House Laurent, Frederick Laurent.

“Greetings, father. I see that you’re still the same fatfuck you were almost five years ago when we last saw each other… It was around the time when the Emperor disbanded the Bastard Knights, wasn’t it?” Frederick spoke with a teasing tone toward our father. 

“You dare show your face here and mock me! Unforgivable!” My father immediately shouted back at him with an indescribable rage brewing inside him. “I’ll fucking show you! I’ll give my entire fortune to the one who brings me his head!” My father looked at the servants and our bodyguards, clearly expecting them to fight my older brother.

Despite receiving orders from my father, no one dared to move a muscle… All the people in this room were aware of the exploits of my eldest sibling and his renowned nickname… Even if they were offered all the money in the world, they would not raise their weapons against a man who has slain literal dragons without ever suffering a single wound…

“What are you doing, you idiots!? I said that I’d pay you more money than you will ever need in your entire lives! Fucking gang up on him now!” My father yelled at our servants as he became as red as a tomato thanks to his ever-increasing rage.

Even after enduring his angry shouts, neither the servants nor our bodyguards moved to face my older brother in battle. They were all terrified and frozen in place thanks to my brother’s imposing presence.

“Wow, it seems you have actually gotten some people that know when they are outclassed. You should learn a thing or two from them, dear father.” Frederick replied sarcastically as he walked further into the house while pulling a rope with his right hand. 

“Why, you!?” My father began clenching his teeth thanks to his frustration.

“Michael, Cretia… It has been a while.” Frederick said as he walked toward us. He was ignoring our father.

“Yes, it has been a long time since we last spoke, dear brother.” I replied as I elegantly stood up and bowed politely.

“You damned bastard, who do you think you are to present yourself in this place again after our father disowned you?” Unlike me, Michael violently rose from his seat and looked at our brother with disdain.

“Trust me, I’m the one that dislikes this place the most. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have chosen set foot in this house again.” Fredrick replied before shrugging. “At least Cretia seems to have matured. You don’t seem to be the bratty and spoiled little girl that I remember. I guess appearances can be deceiving since your tantrums and violent outbursts are still famous amongst the nobility even to this day.” He said with a smirk on his face.

“That is not a very nice thing to say about your younger sister, dear brother. I am certainly a prim and proper lady. Tantrums and violent outbursts as you call them are beneath someone of my standing. It hurts me a lot that you would believe such tasteless rumors about me…” I immediately denied his accusations.

“So why have you come here, bastard!? To insult your siblings and disrespect our father!?” Michael shouted at Frederick. He was clearly the spitting image of our father who had done the same thing mere moments ago.

“So now you’re acting like we are siblings? Didn’t you two say that you weren’t related to a monstrous giant like me when we were little? That you would never accept me because of my status as a bastard?” Frederick asked with an amused look on his face.

“So you came here to stir up some shitty heartwarming family drama, eh? Do you think that just because you’re all strong and famous, I will come crawling to your feet to apologize for disowning you so we can all play cute happy family again? If you came here for that you’re goddamn wrong! You threw that to the garbage after you spat in my face after that last opportunity I gave you when you were a child!” My father yelled at him yet again. He looked like was about to jump at Frederick and fight him himself.

“Fuck no… The day I come here expecting any of you to apologize will be the day where pigs will learn how to lay eggs and the gods will descend to exterminate all races from the face of this world.” Frederick shook his head in denial at my father’s words just as he reached the table where we were all at.

“Then what the fuck do you want!? Why come here all of a sudden!? I doubt that you came here to apologize and beg for another chance to join us since you have things like integrity and morals and such other pathetic beliefs!” My father grew even more irate than before…

“Now that’s way more improbable than the last one… So, nope… I am not here for that either.” Frederick suddenly turned his head and looked at the hole in the wall he had left. “I just came here to deliver some trash I picked up on the way here back to you.” He said before he suddenly pulled from the rope he was holding with his monstrous strength.

As he pulled the rope, a strangely shaped object flew into the dining hall at an incredible speed and went above our heads, almost immediately crashing against one of the other walls… For a moment, I thought that he was attempting to destroy our ancestral home, however, as I turned around to look at the mysterious object, I was left speechless.

That strangely shaped object was nothing more than a pile of human bodies… Bodies that belonged to people that worked for my family… It was obvious to me that the majority of those people were dead, but I was able to notice that a few of those bodies were still moving and breathing, although very very weakly.

“Is that Bron…? You! What the heck do you think you’re doing to our subordinates!?” Michael shouted.

Bron, the man who I was thinking about before just laid there among the other bodies, barely breathing and sweating profusely… He had no arms and the ancient cursed weapon, that black scythe he used to boast so much about was nowhere to be seen.

“To put it shortly, this was just a little bit of long overdue self-defense.” Fredrick said as he quickly took a seat without caring for the gazes of our father and brother. “These lousy thugs of yours were protecting some guys that lived in my old neighborhood who tried to curry my favor in the past. The children of those guys were targeting and bullying my daughters when we used to live here in the capital. Since your thugs were protecting the parents of those stupid kids, we had no choice but to kick the shit out of them. Though, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it.” Frederick explained with an uncaring and cold expression as he looked at the pile of bodies.

“I see… You must be talking about an annoying guy named Braun and his equally annoying friends…” My father unexpectedly seemed like he had calmed himself a little. He quickly took a seat and looked at Fred with a serious expression. “So? Do you understand what you have just done? You attacked someone who was under the protection of our family, you know what that means?” Our father asked Frederick while looking moderately irritated.

“I am perfectly aware of what you’re implying, pops.” Frederick suddenly smiled from ear to ear. “This is where you’re going to threaten me. Here is where you’re going to say that it doesn’t matter how strong I am or whatever… That the full might of the underworld you control will fall upon me… That all the criminals, goons, and assassins you have will come for everyone I hold dear while I am unable to do anything but watch as you take everything away from me…” He spoke in a very somber yet threatening tone.

“...” Our father could only stare at Frederick while he was talking.

“That old trick works nice on the common folk, but it doesn’t work with me, father. At least not anymore.” Frederick's voice suddenly became very menacing. “You always taught me when I was little that all that dared to go against House Laurent would suffer destinies worse than death. You basically engrained that idea into my brain from the moment I learned to talk… Even after I came to be known as the Skull Crusher and the Emperor recognized my strength, some part of me still believed that idea. So when the children of that bastard Braun and his friends started bullying my daughters, I did nothing to stop them other than threatening them because of that very same idea you had beaten onto my brain… That even if I was strong, it wouldn’t be enough to defend the people I loved were I to finally snap and sent those children and their terrible parents that were under your protection to see the Goddess Skell. That I would lose my loved ones because I dared to go against this family…” Frederick started talking with a lot of regrets…

However, that regret seemingly didn’t last long…

“I thought I had freed myself from your influence a long time ago, old man… But I didn’t… And because of that, I failed my daughters in a way that no parent should ever fail a child… I failed to protect them... And more than once too… All because of that cowardice you instilled in me… That fear that you brewed that made me afraid of confronting you and your goons… But after today, that fear will never affect me again.” Frederick soon rose from his seat and looked down at our father. “Someone I admire whose physical strength is not yet comparable to mine showed me yet again the meaning of courage and what true strength is like… Because of him, I swear that I will not fail my loved ones again as I did before. Even if I have to burn down the entire Empire and murder each and every noble including you three and even the Emperor himself in cold blood, you can bet every single gold coin you have that I will do exactly that to protect the ones I love.” For just a moment, a cold chill went down my back as some unmatched killing intent started to pour out from my older brother’s body.

Because of the business of my family, I was already acquainted with what it was like to feel killing intent directed toward me, but I had never felt such murderous intent as the one my oldest brother was emitting… It was like a bottomless ocean of bloodlust that could attempt to drown me violently within a moment’s notice… It was horrifying…

Everyone in the room, the servants, the bodyguards, and even my own brother Michael were trembling in fear… They all looked like they were struggling to breathe properly…

“Do you get what I’m trying to say, old man?” Frederick asked our father, not holding anything back when it came to his bloodlust.

“...” Our father, the only one that looked even remotely calm in this situation, stayed completely silent.

“What I’m trying to say here is that you no longer scare me, Gabriel and that you never will do it again.” Frederick suddenly grabbed our father by the neck with his right hand and raised him in the air, easily strangling him with one hand. “Oh, it would be so easy to rid this world from you, father…” Frederick said coldly.

Even while our father seemed like he was about to be strangled to death, no one in the room could do anything thanks to the increasing fear my older brother was instilling in us with his absolute power and bloodlust… Even our father could only look at him in silence with increasing fear in his eyes.

“Never mess with the Laurents. That is the most basic common knowledge amongst the common folk... I’m sure that you know about that since that was always your objective. To teach the common people the place where they belong just as you liked to say when I was little…” Frederick made a long pause just as he seemed like he was about to break our father’s neck. “Allow me to teach you some other common knowledge that will be very useful for you, father… Never mess with me or my family again. This is your first and last warning… If I ever see any of your goons near my family or if I hear anything about you sending assassins to take care of us or trying to do anything that could harm us or even disturb our lives…” Frederick stopped talking all of a sudden before he suddenly hit the table with his axe…

As soon as his axe came into contact with the table, the table and the marble floor beneath were completely shattered and turned to dust… Frederick’s left arm muscles twitched ominously in front of the destruction he had quickly caused.

“I will personally come here to end your pathetic lives, no matter the consequences. Even if I have to sink to your level and become the most wanted criminal in this country, I will never fail to protect my family again. Even the Emperor will not be able to protect you… In fact, he’s also on thin ice with me.” As soon as he said that, Frederick released our father, making him fall to the ground. “Pray that you and I never met face to face again, old man… Because if we do, I will avenge Aleisa Vauquelin, my mother, without fail.” Frederick soon rested his axe over his shoulder before turning his back on us.

As I watched the back of my bastard older brother, I couldn’t help but reminisce about the past… On how that timid, goofy, pathetic doormat older brother of mine had become the peak embodiment of absolute strength… I was terrified because of his bloodlust and his threats, but I was not angry like I knew my father and brother would be… I was turned on… Unbelievably so…

“This is our last farewell… At the very least I hope it is. I have already killed enough people in my life… Don’t make me become a kin-killer as well.” Frederick turned his head one last time and spoke with a voice filled with conviction just before he started walking again to leave through the hole he had made in the wall.

That strength… That absolute and terrifying strength… I want it… I want it for myself… Dear brother Frederick, whether you like it or not, that precious strength of yours will be mine… I will have it one way or another… I’ve made up my mind~.

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Chapter 55: A Family Reunion Gone Wrong…

END

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