Silence enveloped the room. It was probably the aftermath of calling Yuria.
Meanwhile, Renold, who was sneaking glances around, seemed to feel an immense anxiety about the situation.
In contrast, I was quite calm because I knew Yuria couldn’t do anything.
Even if she came out displaying her displeasure, nothing would change.
In fact, it would only show that she still couldn’t face reality, essentially revealing her weakness to me.
Seeing such a mood would have actually been good. But the likelihood of that happening was not high.
At least with Yuria, I expected her to show a rather indifferent demeanor in this situation.
So I waited. She’d probably show up after gathering her emotions; let’s just spend a little more time as I sensed a presence approaching from afar.
Everyone carries magic power within them, but Yuria’s was always cold and sharp.
It was an ice-like energy that seemed to pierce through a person, allowing me to recognize Yuria from a distance.
The sound of footsteps near my ear was no different from usual.
And the expression she wore while looking at me was, surprisingly, a bit softer than I usually saw.
It was the expected reaction. If she had shown an emotional response in this situation, I would have been rather disappointed.
As Yuria slowly walked towards me, she halted when we were close enough to hear each other’s voices.
She was perfectly concealing her emotions.
I tried to provoke her a bit to see her reaction, yet I couldn’t sense even a hint of anger from her body.
Seeing Yuria like that, I slowly began to speak.
“It’s been a while, Lady of the House.”
“…That’s right, it has been. You’ve changed a lot since then. You’re not like before.”
“I felt the need to change. If I hadn’t changed, wouldn’t you have thought about killing me by now?”
Haven’t I experienced the reality of not changing several times already?
To Yuria, I was merely an obstacle in becoming the Head of the House.
No good would come from me being alive; I was just a nuisance to her younger sibling.
That’s why she focused on breaking me from a young age, yet I never crumbled.
I lived, died, and came back to life, and ultimately ended up here.
Whatever Yuria did to me, nothing would change.
If there is such a thing as destiny, perhaps it is my fate to clash with Yuria.
And at the end of it all, it would mean that only one of us would survive.
“I never thought you’d grow the courage to call for the Head of the House. Quite confident, aren’t you?”
“If you’ve come here in response to what I said, it must mean the situation is quite dire. Isn’t it?”
“Nonsense. I’m the Head of House Taylor. Even if you now covet this position, nothing will change.”
“You’ve been living in delusion. I never thought you’d be that kind of person.”
At those words, Yuria’s eyes narrowed.
I realized she was already quite shaken by calling herself the Head of the House.
To maintain the support of the nobles she was currently holding onto, she undoubtedly needed to uphold that title.
In reality, she was just a temporary head, but if she couldn’t even hold onto that, Yuria would be in danger.
It was Yuria.
She smiled slightly. It was a smile just enough for Yuria to notice, but in reality, a chuckle slipped out since Yuria couldn’t say anything.
It was different from the past. It was different from the days when I lived in a bizarre misunderstanding, tortured, and died while being cautious of Yuria.
Now, it was clear to anyone that I was in a superior position.
However, I had no intention of pressing her further.
In the slightly colder atmosphere, I raised both hands.
There was no need to make the mood tense here.
I thought the real discussion would happen inside anyway.
After all, Renold was also here, so there was no need to argue unnecessarily.
“If I was rude, I apologize. I heard you’ve been appointed directly by the Duke, so aren’t you temporarily the head of the family for the time being?”
“Well, think as you will. That’s not what’s important right now. Isn’t there going to be a decision from Father soon?”
I was a little surprised by her calm reply, but Yuria quietly smiled and gestured for her attendant.
It seemed she had no intention of talking in this garden.
Maybe she thought there were too many ears to talk about the head of the family.
As she said to follow her and moved forward, I pulled Renold’s arm.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’ll be going into the ducal residence alone. You won’t be needed in determining the head of the family position.”
“Then what will you do in a dangerous situation?”
Danger? Well, I’m not sure who should say such a thing.
The reason for sending Renold outside was that I didn’t know what might be inside.
Since I deemed him useful, I intended to take him along until the end. I patted Renold’s shoulder and spoke.
“It won’t be as dangerous as what you did to me back then.”
“…Understood.”
I quietly smiled at his pale expression, as it likely sounded quite chilling from Renold’s perspective, even though I didn’t hold any strong feelings about the past.
I had no intention of pressing him about it, but unless I said things like this, he wouldn’t listen.
It was better for me to enter the ducal residence alone. After all, in the process of determining the head of the family, either I or Yuria would only remain.
If Yuria happened to stay behind, it would just put Renold in trouble.
I thought the possibility was low, but you never know.
Whenever I excluded any possibility, I always ended up experiencing failures. It was better to consider even the slightest chance.
The moment I sent Renold away, Yuria looked at me with a hint of confusion, but it was only for a moment.
Following her attendants, Yuria continuously walked ahead.
“There are many attendants I’ve never seen before. Did the Duke take care of this?”
“Either he couldn’t handle the work and left, or my father had them killed. It’s one of the two.”
“How unfortunate. The last time I saw him, he was still quite sharp.”
Yuria doesn’t know that I met with my father.
I had no hesitation in meeting him, expecting that he wouldn’t say anything, but to think she’d jump to the conclusion that he was senile right away.
Perhaps Yuria already guessed that I’d be aware of my father’s condition.
Common sense said that it made no sense for my father to be senile.
“Rani, there’s a limit to how nonsensical things can get.”
“Nobles must have some kind of inkling.”
“Arthur Taylor going senile? They must think that’s absurd, but this is just how the succession of the Taylor family has always been.”
“Absurd justifications, but heirs who act to make those justifications a reality.”
“There were dubious reasons, but it was always the heirs of Taylor who turned such things into facts.”
“They probably thought it would be the same this time.”
“Perhaps he’s not truly gone mad, but most would believe Yuria would eventually push my father into a similar situation.”
“It’s likely Yuria was the one who killed the attendants of the Ducal Residence. Isn’t that the kind of madness she has harbored from the start?”
“To kill without hesitation and then scheme to blame it on Father, that’s certainly what she would think.”
“To put it nicely, it was very much like Yuria.”
“I expected she’d act that way, but her boldness exceeded my imagination.”
“She probably intended for this behavior to instill fear in others, but the issue is that she crossed a line.”
“Even a mouse knows that it will bite a cat when cornered.”
“As Yuria’s madness deepens, the backlash grows, and naturally, her factions will start crumbling one by one.”
“The back of Yuria, walking ahead, looked more shabby than before.”
“But where is Father? I should be hearing about the succession from him.”
“He’s not in a sane state of mind, so it wouldn’t matter to talk to him now. I can arrange for you to meet him later, but not right now.”
“Understood.”
Thud—
“I know this corridor leads to the basement.”
“It’s changed a lot since I was here; this corridor now leads to the basement.”
As I surveyed my surroundings, Yuria, who was watching me intently, slowly parted her lips.
“I went to the north and south and did quite a lot.”
“I told you, I’m going to be the Head of House. I was looking forward to what preparations you would make, but I’m disappointed beyond expectation.”
“I haven’t shown everything yet. I think it’s too early to be disappointed.”
“Perhaps that’s true. I imagine she must have put a lot of thought into handling my absence.”
“My reputation wasn’t what it used to be for a political cover-up; and there was a high chance that the outer territories wouldn’t cooperate.”
“Yuria must already know about my connection with the princess.”
“Even if she spreads rumors, they won’t have much effect, and she’s powerless against the support of the North and the Saint.”
“Once a nuisance, I have now become a worthy heir threatening her power.”
“Even though I secured the temporary Head of House title from Father, there wouldn’t be much I could do either.”
“Though that impatience didn’t show on the surface, I quickly realized Yuria’s psychology.”
“She’s anxious. As time goes on, she becomes the one at a disadvantage, so she’d want to see the end of this battle as quickly as possible.”
As I got closer to the basement, a strange scent wafted from the surroundings.
I chuckled softly at the smell; it was one I had encountered in my past life.
While it wouldn’t easily kill me like a drink would, prolonged exposure could definitely be deadly poison.
Seeing that the surrounding people were fine, I guessed they must have already taken the antidote.
I noticed, but still walked casually.
I intentionally cleared my throat, rubbed my forehead, and let out a small sigh.
“Are you feeling uncomfortable? You don’t look well.”
A faint smile appeared. It seemed clear now which way they were leaning on how to handle me.
In short, they were thinking of killing me. Not a bad idea.
If I were in Yuria’s position, the quickest way to handle me would indeed be to eliminate me.
Considering the news from the North, they probably knew I had martial prowess, so weakening my body with poison was quite clever.
If I were an ordinary person, my physical abilities would have significantly declined with every breath.
Soon, walking would become difficult, and Yuria’s stabbing sword would be something I wouldn’t be able to avoid.
I shook my head slightly and looked at the large door that was revealing itself.
The door to the basement had not changed, so as I quietly gazed at it, Yuria, with her back turned, spoke up.
“You’ve done well to come this far.”
Thud.
I heard the sound of a door closing behind me.
Had they excluded even the possibility of escape?
Even though the attendants were already behind me, their thorough approach made me chuckle bitterly. Yuria didn’t know. She had just made a fatal mistake.
I wasn’t an ordinary person; I had died and lived a hundred times to reach this point.
“Before you arrived, I magically remodeled the inside of the Ducal Residence. Every step you took was part of the stairs leading to the basement. And this door… well, you know it well, right? It’s the place you used to visit often as a child.”
As Yuria said that, she confidently walked toward me.
Now, not hiding her smile, she chuckled at my hesitation.
Cold sweat dripped from my pale face.
This, too, was controlled by magic, but as the distance between us shrank, I scanned the surroundings.
There looked to be about ten attendants. I knew they all had swords.
I could clearly see what Yuria was thinking, and I almost burst into laughter.
But I held it in and deliberately stepped back toward the wall until Yuria got closer.
The gap closed. So close that I could hear each other’s breathing, and as Yuria approached, she whispered softly in my ear.
“Goodbye, Robert. My always foolish little brother.”
Then she turned her back again, flicking her hand at the attendants.
That was when I laughed. I released the act of being sickly and gave Yuria a big grin.
I was the one who had been waiting for this situation all along. The reason I sent Renold was to create this exact scenario.
I had taken the bait.
That much was certain.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
