Chapter 4: 3

It seemed like they finished preparing the luncheon. The servants, standing along both sides of the hall all dressed in formal clothing, were bowing towards me. They were all familiar faces.

I patted them on the shoulders individually and greeted them.

“Hey, it’s great to see you like this again. How have you been?”

The servants, eyeing each other, seemed very surprised. Because it was the first time seeing me like this.

However, it didn’t bother me. Honestly, I felt closer to the commoners and slaves than the aristocrats. During the generation of destruction, I was abandoned by the aristocrats and the knights but as I went through battlefields, I shared life, death, hardships, and happiness with people like commoners and slaves.

One aged servant didn’t know what to do.

“Yes, thanks to your kindness, I’ve been comfortable and well.”

“That’s good to hear. Anyways, take care of yourself. There’s no need for children. You have to take care of yourself.”

“Ah, yes~”

“Then take care. I’ll get going.”

When I entered the room for the luncheon there was a noble lady with an uncomfortable appearance and 13-year-old noble boy quietly seated. They were Helen, who was a concubine but became my stepmother after my mother’s death, and Yosef, her son, or my half younger brother.

I glanced at them and sat next to the highest-ranked seat.

‘I have to see them again? Wow~, driving me crazy.’

My relationship with that mother and son is not so great. Although I’m the one who pestered them one-sidedly, I also didn’t feel at ease doing that. Because whenever I see them, I’m reminded of my dead mother.

Before my mother passed away, she told me to get rid of those two, who received all of the father’s love, as soon as I become the Grand Prince. That’s how deep the emotional gap between us two and those two was.

Of course, I don’t have any thoughts of getting rid of them now, but I also don’t want to share the family bond either.

It was like this during the previous life also. Yosef and I did not share any brotherly bond at all.

Maybe once, before I went out to the last battle we had a conversation of that sort. He asked ‘You will be back alive this time also, right?’ then I answered ‘Wouldn’t it be a little difficult this time?’ and it ended there.

‘Whatever. I guess I can just live without seeing them that much.’

Soon father came in with many servants.

“Lady, I’m here.”

Then finally Helen’s face got brighter.

“Grand Duke majesty, welcome.”

“How have you been?”

“Comfortable and well.”

Father slightly glared at me. There’s no way he wouldn’t know how I treated Helen because he planted eyes and ears even within the property. However, he didn’t say much as turned towards Yosef, who ran into his arms, and patted Yosef’s head kindly.

“Our Yosef has grown so much while I was gone.”

“Yes~”

“So how were your grades in school?”

“I was first in class again.”

It might sound weird if I say it but Yosef is one of a kind genius. When he was 5, he memorized all 40000 ancient Rune characters and surprised everyone around him, and when he was 7, he completed Pratha’s Political Theory which was known to be very difficult and turned the world upside down.

Then when he was 10, he became the disciple of Bilke, the great scholar and the president of the Imperial Aristocratic School, and made father very proud. Recently he memorized and mastered the Imperial Political Philosophy, and became the best student of the president Bilke.

Ah, he’s so full of himself.

‘Of course, you should be the best student, you are showing that off? Don’t. After 8 years, all of that doesn’t matter. The world is ending, you think people will treat you well because you read some books? Sword is the best then. Hahaha.’

I laughed delightedly. Before I was intimidated by Yosef’s genius that I couldn’t even raise my head before my father but now that I’m a little more experienced, I was being headstrong.

Also honestly, I wasn’t good at studying but my ability and effort for swordsmanship weren’t behind anyone else. Of course, whenever I tried to read, my vision got darker so I focused more on swords as an escape route but so what? I got up to the master level when I was around 30 anyways.

“Grand Duke Majesty, the appetizer soup will be ready soon.”

“I got it.”

Father kindly seated Yosef and headed to his own seat. But when he glanced at me as he passed by my side, there was shade on his face. I knew that expression very well. He is regretting the fact that he can’t make my half brother Yosef as his successor. He can never make Yosef the Grand Prince instead of me. That is the power of my lineage.

‘Sigh~ I have to see that facial expression until the day of extinction again? It’s gonna make me crazy.’

In the past, I blamed my father a lot. I never felt comfortable since he only favored my brother even though we were both his children.

That could be why I was even more afraid of my father at that time. I could just endure some scoldings but that glare left big scars in my heart like a sharp knife.

‘He was still very strong at this time though.’

At the moment, I suddenly remembered the day my father passed away. Although I didn’t want to remember it, that glare brought back the memory of that day.

On the day Yosrahim’s capital fell to the demons, father came to me all exhausted. He was so strong to be called the iron blood chancellor but at that moment, he looked very small and worthless like an old soldier who returned from a lost war.

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It’s a sad and sorrowful memory even when I think about it now but I get a little angry.

At that time, he went out to the last battle telling me to take good care of my stepmother, Helen, and half brother, Yosef, as his last words but there was nothing concerning me in that long last will. I might have the persistence to return alive from numerous life-threatening battles but he was being too much.

‘Fine. I’ll give it to you. What good is the Grand Prince position.’

I decided to willingly give up the Grand Prince position to Yosef.

When the generation of destruction comes, it’s something that will disappear like an illusion. There was no need to keep that position and live under the shadow of my father. No matter how I thought about it, it was better to give up the position with a seemingly good heart now.

“Father…..”

“Ah, speaking of which, Viscount Tyben came to me not too long ago.”

Father cut me off and just said his words. He really can’t even be spoonfed.

“Viscount Tyben?”

“Yes. I heard the Viscount’s granddaughter got pregnant.”

As soon as I saw his furious glare, I remembered my memory about Viscount Tyben.

Viscount’s granddaughter, Lilia, was my classmate at the Imperial Aristocratic School. Before graduating she approached me seductively so I spent a few nights with her since she was pretty but that caused a big problem. It was because, with her pregnancy, Viscount Tyben requested official marriage with me.

However, since I already had a fiance I couldn’t have another wife. As a result, my father gave a significant amount of political benefits to Viscount Tyben to cover up this incident quietly.

I scratched my nose with my index finger few times and calmly opened up to speak.

“So what?”

“You are not asking that without knowing who the father of that child she’s pregnant with is, right?”

I know. The thing is I know too well.

“Of course I know very well.”

“Who is it?”

“Her guard, Sir Layton.”

Father raised his eyebrows.

“According to the Viscount, that’s not what I heard?”

“It’s not that it doesn’t agree with what you heard but what I said is right. I know the relationship between Lilia and Sir Layton very well….”

I was 100% certain that Lilia’s child was not mine. It was something I directly heard from Lilia and confirmed with my own eyes.

Right after the capital fell, I was abandoned by the vassals and had no place to go so I went to the house of Viscount Tyben’s. I believed that I wouldn’t be treated badly since I was at least the father of her child.

However, I was kicked out harshly. Since I was desperate I kept arguing but Lilia’s response was that I wasn’t the father of her child.

And I definitely was not. Her son who came out with her looked exactly like Sir Layton as if they were twins. They looked so similar that I couldn’t even say anything else and had to leave Tyben’s property.

“You are definitely not the father?”

“No, I’m not. If you are still suspicious, you can do the paternity test with magic.”

“And if it comes out to be true, then that means I have to give up even more political benefits to the Viscount.”

“There’s no way of that happening so don’t worry about it.”

My father gazed at me and made a fist. I guess he decided to trust me first. It’s true that an experienced politician like him would be able to read my truthful facial expression easily.

And I was always honest with my father because he found out right away when I lied.

“Okay. I’ll take care of this matter about Viscount Tyben”

“What are you going to do?”

“He will have to pay the price since he threatened me.”

There was even a death threat in my father’s glare. It’s already maddening enough that a mere Viscount is making a threat-like request with his granddaughter’s pregnancy but even that is a lie. If my father stays still, he’s not the iron blood chancellor.

I clicked my tongue.

“It’s fine. Just leave it.”

“No, it’s only fair that he pay the price for this ridiculous scheme. That’s how politics are.

“They will pay for it later, so don’t worry about that.”

“What do you mean?”

After I was kicked out of the Tyben property, I met Lilia again. I remember the place to be the fortress Sden. At that time I was the commander leading 5000 soldiers and she was a prostitute making a daily living by selling her body to the slave soldiers. Amazing how someone’s standings can change so quickly even though the world was a mess.

Anyways, I had mixed feelings at that time. It was absurd that a high-class woman was selling her body to slave soldiers for only oat bread. So I caught Lilia, who was about to run away with tears, by her wrist, handed a bundle of beef jerky and a couple of wheat bread to her, and walked away without saying anything.

Then that evening, I saw from afar a prostitute, who was thought to be Lilia, weeping sadly as she threw herself down the castle wall to the demons.

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