Thud- Thud-
Water droplets, formed from the moisture clinging to the stalactites, fall to the ground.
As the droplets hit the puddle below, they create ripples and make a sound.
With the repetitive noise, Rynelle’s consciousness slowly becomes clearer.
As her slender, neatly arranged eyelids open, her unfocused gaze moves from side to side.
As soon as she regains her senses, Rynelle looks around, and for some reason, tries to lower her raised arms.
However, the creaking chains restrain her, rendering her unable to move.
Her plan to break the chains with body enhancement magic was quickly relinquished as soon as she realized mana wasn’t gathering.
After all, it would be a fool’s errand to kidnap a magician and then not prepare a means to seal their mana.
“So, you’ve finally woken up.”
“I didn’t expect to hear the disgusting voice of a betrayer the moment I woke up. This is the worst.”
“Haha! A betrayer, you say? Where do you find someone who cares about the Agail Ducal Family as much as I do?”
“Someone like you, who drove my mother to death, has now also kidnapped me?”
“Whoa, whoa, let’s calm down. You can blame me after you hear the whole truth—it won’t be too late.”
Rynelle twisted her lips at Judas’s words and actions, which only he seemed to know.
She turned her gaze away, deeming the conversation not worth the effort; however, at the end of her diverted gaze sat a man radiating an eerie aura.
A mysterious man wrapped from head to toe in bandages.
The area around his eyes, which were the only parts not covered, revealed red eyes identical to Rynelle’s.
“Who is that person…?”
“Wow! It seems the blood of Agail runs thick, doesn’t it? Just a glance, and you recognized him right away.”
“Shut up, Judas. With you here, the conversation isn’t going anywhere. Please leave.”
“Oh dear! Understood. I’ll step outside and keep watch; you can have an intimate chat with your uncle.”
“Uncle…?”
“Indeed, how could I forget to mention? The person over there is none other than your uncle, Ridahn Agail! He should have been ruling the Agail family!”
Rynelle’s eyes widened, but she slowly shook her head, denying it.
However, with those red eyes watching her, she couldn’t bring herself to speak her disbelief aloud.
“I understand it’s hard to believe. After all, you’ve been raised hearing nonsensical tales from your father. But I am indeed your uncle.”
“I’ve heard that my father had siblings, but they all died in wars with foreign countries…”
“Died in wars? Hahaha! Died, you say? My brothers and I?”
Ridahn’s reaction to Rynelle’s words was a hearty laugh, as if he found it absurd, rubbing his eyelids.
As the laughter gradually faded, he clenched his jaw and twisted his lips.
“I’ll let that joke slide since I haven’t laughed out loud in a long time. But don’t you dare spew that nonsense in front of me again.”
There was a chilling madness in Ridahn’s eyes. The atmosphere turned deadly serious, and Rynelle felt as if she were walking on thin ice.
She was convinced that if she uttered the word “death”, she would die right there on the spot.
“That traitor said that to you, huh? It’s amusing how he could commit such acts and still be scared of the truth in front of his child.”
“Are you saying my father lied to me?”
“Yeah, a downright vicious lie.”
“Could you enlighten me on what that lie was?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Otherwise, I can’t acknowledge you as my uncle. I would just consider you a madman envious of my father.”
“You’ve got some nerve. Fine, I’ll tell you everything—the past of the Agail family and your father’s ugly sides.”
Ridahn stood up with his hands clasped behind him and began to walk slowly.
Approaching Rynelle, he spoke in a gentle tone about the past.
“There has been a term used to refer to the Agail family since ancient times.”
The Arungarde Imperial Family represented light, while the Agail Ducal Family represented salt.
The emperor was the light illuminating the empire, while the duke was the salt purifying the rotten world.
While the emperor embraced the people warmly, the duke ventured into the darkness to eradicate corruption, and that’s how they were referred to.
Though this meaning has gradually been forgotten over time, everyone nodded in agreement given their respective roles.
“Our Agail has fought against countless corruptions as the salt of the empire. Yet, no matter how much we fought, corruption showed no signs of disappearing, and during that time, the biggest problem arose.”
The unprecedented event of the 5th Agail Duke turning to corruption broke out.
In a family with the duty to eradicate corruption and clean the empire, they had instead succumbed to it.
With glory vanishing from a family that forgot its role, all the members had to kill the 5th Agail Duke to restore honor.
A tragedy where one had to kill beloved family for the sake of the family.
But through that tragedy, the Agail family could renew itself as nobles committed to their role.
“The salt for purification became tainted, leaving a deadly blot on the family, and that incident led us to form a long-standing tradition.”
Agail Dukes would cultivate a harsh mindset in successors to prevent them from veering off the path of corruption, thus severing their emotions.
However, severing emotions in humanity was an incredibly difficult task.
Still, the Agail family sought solutions and chose a method that was simple yet brutal.
“At that time, my father gave me, the eldest and the heir, an order based on that tradition: to kill all my siblings with whom I had grown close.”
“What?”
“To put it simply, he told me to kill my beloved younger siblings with my own hands. To sever my heart.”
“Was there such a tradition in the family?”
“It means that to lead the Agail family, one must possess that level of determination.”
“Then why was my father alive and became the head of the family, while my uncle was said to be dead?”
“That’s because Ruphon Agail refused to die. That bastard killed all my brothers, including me, just to live for his own sake, even killing the previous head of the family—your grandfather.”
Rynelle’s pupils began to tremble.
She had finally understood why her father had so thoroughly hidden his past, and why her mother had been so vague.
It was also possible that it was a lie meant to sow discord.
However, the tone full of hatred that Ridahn displayed while recalling the past made it hard to dismiss as a lie.
“The youngest among us, Ruphon Agail, was a pure child. But that was all an act. He cleverly induced carelessness, and in a place where no one was around, he killed me and the other brothers. And even the previous head of the family.”
Ridahn gripped the bandages wrapped around his body tightly.
He began to pull them off forcefully, revealing his bare skin.
As he unraveled the bandages one by one, his dry, withered skin emerged.
It looked as if he had been burned, and Rynelle gasped in shock.
“Ruphon Agail killed his family to hide his heinous acts and burned everything. I was the only one who barely survived, but I ended up in this ghastly state.”
“I can’t believe such a terrible thing happened in the past…”
“If you still can’t believe it, just recall the passage you walked through to get here. Originally, it was a secret escape route known only to the head of the family and the official successor.”
The man before Rynelle knew of a secret passage that the Agail Duke, who wasn’t the official successor, did not.
That fact already proved that Ridahn’s words were all truthful.
Of course, there remained the possibility that Ruphon Agail knew it yet chose not to share.
However, Rynelle, who knew her father’s daily life better than anyone, completely denied that possibility.
“Not only did Ruphon Agail take away the family that should have belonged to me, but he also took away my family, my appearance, and my happiness! So I resolved to make that bastard feel the same pain I did!”
“And that’s why you killed my mother and kidnapped me?”
“Ah, I had been lurking and watching for an opportunity while joining forces with the remnants of the White Fang, who despised the Agail family.”
“…Your methods are all wrong. My father wasn’t even saddened by my mother’s death, and he sees me as a nonexistent child from the start. He wouldn’t blink an eye if you killed me.”
“Hmm? That’s a misconception on your part.”
“A misconception?”
This time, Rynelle frowned in anger.
She had tried to avoid easily understanding someone else’s pain. It was rude for someone who had never experienced such suffering to try to understand it.
But Ridahn outright denied the pain Rynelle had endured.
That was a complete provocation, yet Ridahn calmly expressed his thoughts.
“Ruphon Agail hasn’t fathered any other children since you were born. It’s not like he had any special issues with his sexual functions, yet he refrained from sleeping with his wife. Upon contemplating why he wouldn’t create a second child, one answer emerged.”
“No way…!”
“That cowardly bastard refrained from having another child because he didn’t want you to have the same experiences he did. Can such a critical matter be decided without affection?”
“That’s impossible! My father…! My father loves me…!”
“He’s the one who slaughtered my family. He likely didn’t want to hold his daughter in his blood-stained hands. From the looks of it, he seems to want you not to inherit the Agail family.”
“…So that’s why my father has been ignoring me all along?”
“Well, since I’m not the one involved, I can’t say for sure. But soon everyone will know. Just look at the expression that cowardly bastard will have when he sees his only daughter dying.”
Ridahn began to smile faintly, anticipating a reunion between father and daughter.
Meanwhile, Rynelle bit her lower lip hard, as if in anguish, causing red blood to seep out.
The truth was still elusive. But one thing was certain: the fate of the Agail family would be decided tonight.
*
“It’s dark under the lamp.”
─Bang!
With an explosion, the wall of the utility room crumbled down.
Stairs appeared through the fallen wall.
“What did I tell you? I said there was a hidden passage, right?”
“Umm…”
“Haah…! How could a duke not even know the structure of his own house?”
I had previously asked the Agail Duke whether there was an emergency escape route in the mansion, having heard reports that Rynelle vanished after entering the mansion.
He had adamantly denied it, yet my detection using space magic revealed it plainly hidden.
Ever since realizing that, I had continually berated the duke.
Courtesy towards a duke? I discarded such niceties as soon as Rynelle went missing.
If he wanted courtesy, he should have acted accordingly.
“I’m terribly sorry.”
“Save your apologies and just follow quietly, will you?”
“Understood…”
He spoke solemnly, but his voice was tinged with a tone of melancholy.
Having lost his wife and now his daughter, the Agail Duke was currently in a state of mental and physical frailty.
If I didn’t regularly scold him, he wouldn’t be able to regain his senses. It was truly a difficult situation.
What am I to do with this doting fool of a duke…?
Ugggh they really did spin it to “he was actually caring all along”..