Can I think of Robert as a target for restraint?
There was a time when I lived with such thoughts. No, that thought was indeed correct.
Wasn’t my younger sibling always the incompetent one?
I never even entertained the slightest expectation that he could become a competitor someday.
Becoming the head of the family was for me; being chosen as the lady of the house when I was young was not because I was exceptional.
Even when I said he would become the head of the family in front of me someday, I just thought he was being arrogant.
Now, what difference would it make to struggle in vain?
Since most of the nobles reached out to me, Yuria didn’t feel the need to be wary of it.
Whether I go north or south, nothing changes.
Robert must have some idea about how badly his reputation is ruined.
Though he spread those rumors back in the day, he wouldn’t feel guilty about them.
I thought it was necessary to crush the buds in the first place. In a way, I was disregarding him.
Of course, I had no choice but to ignore it.
The feelings I had towards my unusually weak younger sibling since childhood were nothing but pity.
He was loved even without doing anything, without excelling at anything.
So, after our mother died, I had a little foresight.
The world isn’t that kind, so I just realized that such whining was utterly useless.
Knowing that kind of pain would cost me only ten fingernails.
However, I gave up on the things that never changed despite the passing time.
Since it was flawed from the beginning, I judged that no matter how hard I struggled, it wouldn’t change.
Pity and weakness. If he ever became the head of the family, he would eventually become something I had to deal with someday.
I thought that going to the north or south wouldn’t change anything.
Since it was that limited, I believed nothing would change no matter how much I tried.
Wasn’t the possibility of me not becoming the head of the family never there in the first place?
That’s what I thought. I lived with such thoughts.
I never imagined he would thrust a knife toward my throat, but I knew full well how quickly the tables had turned.
The complications started from not obtaining the position of head of the family through my father.
Nobles were leaving one by one, and the balance we had barely maintained through the noble powers was shattered.
The balance that crumbled in an instant led to extremes.
If things continued like this, it was painfully obvious that I wouldn’t be able to become the head of the family.
It meant nothing less than that it was me, and not someone else, who would end up that way.
Why? I searched for where it all went wrong, but I would have never guessed that I wouldn’t gain anything from going north or south in the first place.
Normally, you wouldn’t be able to gain the support of the Grand Duke and the Saint so easily.
I couldn’t even laugh at how naturally everything connected as if we’d known each other beforehand.
Everything was distorted.
The plans I had set, the forces that followed me—nothing remained intact.
“What’s the problem?”
Yuria had no choice but to finally admit it.
The decisive reason for the situation having come to this point was Robert; he was more outstanding than I had thought.
He possessed the ability to turn this situation around.
I had felt disturbed by the noticeably changed attitude over the past few months, but who would have thought he was sharpening his knife?
Rather, I thought it was a good thing.
At that moment, when Robert’s situation turned around in an instant, there would be no one to oppose me even if I ascended to the position of head of the family.
No one is supposed to be here.
I pondered ways to bring Robert down, but there wasn’t a definite way to eliminate him right now.
It’s a self-destructive act, but rumors spread that I might be plotting betrayal.
However, since the imperial family didn’t respond, how could it have any effect? The nobles have now expressed doubts about him as well.
The Grand Duke supports him, and even the Saint sides with Robert.
A few nobles still supporting me are keeping to themselves, wary of others’ opinions.
Even if I tried to politically restrain Robert, it would be meaningless, and isn’t it now suspected that the Head of the Family is losing his wits?
I thought the only way to clearly resolve this situation is to kill him.
If I kill him somewhere no one knows, then the only successor left will be me.
…I should have killed him long ago.
If that had been the case, this situation wouldn’t have arisen. Yuria admitted to herself that she had let her guard down.
Even born into the Taylor family, could she really have been that pathetic?
She changed the structure of the Ducal Residence, using magic to ensure no one would suspect her as she made her way to the basement.
She even anticipated forces coming from the North that might pose a threat.
The attendants following me each possessed the prowess of a knight, and even if faced with a Knight Commander, I thought we could overwhelm and kill him together.
“Did you think ten would be enough? You were too complacent. You’ve always chosen the easy way out.”
Swish.
Robert, wiping the blood off his face, quietly laughed.
Yuria couldn’t believe the reality she was witnessing.
She was certain each one had exceptional combat abilities, so despite catching the leader of the Immigrant Tribe, she thought she could bring them down.
Robert, who had single-handedly taken down all ten, didn’t have a single scratch on him.
Even the body that had been stumbling from the poison moments ago was perfectly fine.
It was as if he had taken an antidote beforehand.
The antidote had been secretly administered only to him and his attendants, yet Robert effortlessly snatched the sword and eliminated the rest in a matter of minutes.
“It seems you were quite confident. Judging by your flustered state.”
Yuria’s eyes were trembling.
Once, for the disbelief in her own eyes witnessing the impossible, and twice for all that she had imagined crumbling down.
She never thought the assassination would fail. While she had prepared poison in advance, she had never truly failed before.
No matter how powerful someone is, they can’t escape assassination.
The bothersome noble died from the sword, and those trying to restrain me were defended by many, but all the attendants just killed them, ultimately choking even the nobles.
There was a guaranteed method for success, so why try a different approach?
I believed it would work this time too.
With time, I thought Robert would collapse, choking on his own blood beneath my feet.
“…You’re not Robert.”
A tiny voice slipped from her trembling lips.
Her calm demeanor had completely vanished, revealing the emotions she had hidden until now.
Fear—was the person in front of her truly the younger sibling she knew?
What if they were someone else? Would they be the Crown Prince? Her mind was in disarray.
“Robert has never even held a sword; there’s no way you could wield it so well. Ha, I thought it was just a silly rumor, but could it really be true?”
“I can’t possibly be good with a sword. Haha, I thought it was just a silly rumor, but was it really true?”
He knew better than anyone that he had never even held a sword.
He never had the athletic ability to wield one since he was a child.
He couldn’t even run and had barely any talent for moving his body at all.
But did he have any talent for academics?
No, aside from his tenacity, his younger sibling had nothing.
That’s why he thought he was useless, yet what was that sword just now?
The magic power that completely dominated this space constricted Yuria’s body.
It felt like he was suffocating. Even if he tried to step back, his body wouldn’t move, and all he could manage was a gasp.
“Are you asking who I am? You already know quite well, don’t you?”
As he dropped the blood-stained sword onto the ground, Robert walked slowly towards Yuria.
Even with the magic power erased, Yuria could not move.
For just a moment, as he contemplated her bold attitude, Yuria, looking at Robert, finally spoke.
“I don’t know who you are. If I did, I wouldn’t have prepared so poorly.”
“You are certainly quite bold. Do you really think you have the upper hand right now?”
Yuria’s attitude hadn’t changed much.
She remained arrogant, still looking down at him with her cold gaze, to which Robert couldn’t help but smirk.
That attitude was actually preferable. If she had been trembling in fear, it would have completely chilled him.
“…If you come closer, I’ll cut you down.”
Yuria drew her sword from her waist.
Even though she couldn’t be sure that the man in front of her was Robert, one thing was clear: she could handle a sword.
She had sliced through attendants with skills comparable to her own in an instant, but now that she had discarded her sword, she could at least pose a threat.
In this critical situation, her brain was rapidly devising one plan after another.
She was cornered, but surely this wasn’t the end of everything.
Robert’s expression slowly grew colder. Looking at the sword he had been offered, he quietly smiled and replied.
“I am Robert Taylor. The son of Arthur Taylor, the son of Serena Yugress, and the brother of Yuria Taylor.”
“That can’t be—”
“However, there is one thing different; you likely don’t remember.”
Blood flowed from Robert’s hand gripping the sword.
Even though the blade had pierced him and blood was flowing, his expression didn’t change.
The little boy who cried over a small wound was a memory from hundreds of years ago.
Only Robert himself remembered that, while Yuria couldn’t grasp that gap.
Not missing the slight tremor of Yuria’s body, he simply broke the sword.
With a crack, as the broken sword fell to the ground, Yuria hurriedly widened the distance.
As she tried to open the door behind her to go inside, she ultimately ended up heading to the basement without reaching it.
“Number 101.”
Robert mumbled.
“We’ve come this far. You probably won’t remember, though.”
With every step he took, blood dripped from his hand onto the floor.
He closed the door to the basement so that no one could enter.
Click, as the door locked completely, Yuria’s eyes narrowed in the corner.
The chance to escape, perhaps, she had no realistic chance of getting away on her own from here.
There’s no chance of escape, but that’s alright.
However, for the sake of a possible situation, there were those stationed here.
If they could just hold on until those people arrived, there was a chance, however slim.
Even if it seemed like the poison hadn’t spread, that was merely an illusion.
It was a toxin lethal enough to kill just by inhalation. If exposed without an antidote, could they really hold out over time?
As Yuria pondered such thoughts, Robert, watching her, suddenly chuckled as if he realized something.
“Why are you thinking about why you’re still in one piece? They must have used poison, so why are you still fine?”
If he were curious, he could explain. This kind of poison couldn’t simply be countered with magic.
If it could be neutralized with magic, poisoning wouldn’t work.
The reason he was able to remain unaffected by the poison in this life might have had a deep connection to luck.
As he summoned his magic, a pure white light emanated from him.
This strange energy, distinctly different from the blue mana, made Yuria frown.
Unlike mana, this warm and gentle energy was definitely similar to what the Saintess possessed.
“Divine Power neutralized the poison. By chance, in the South, the Saintess bestowed her divine power upon me.”
“The Saintess, huh.”
There’s no way there was such a thing as receiving divine power by chance.
He was predicting even this.
If the poison didn’t work, what were the chances that he could hold on for a while?
As Yuria contemplated that, she slowly parted her lips.
She had to buy some time. As long as she didn’t die, she couldn’t give up on hope.
“If you kill me, it’ll only make you the suspect. You know that I have many allies in this Ducal Residence. The rumor has already spread that you and I headed to the basement together. Can you handle the aftermath? If it gets out that you killed me, it would be unfavorable for you.”
Assassination was a frequent occurrence for Taylor, but it had never become an undeniable truth.
However, this time, wasn’t it clear that both he and Robert had come here?
He couldn’t kill her here.
After stating that, a brief silence followed, and Yuria secretly smiled, thinking she had hit the nail on the head.
“I guess you won’t be able to kill me. You won’t be able to handle it. So—”
“I never intended to kill you in the first place.”
Robert replied. He agreed that eliminating completely was a clean solution.
He understood that cleanly taking a life rather than leaving a person incapacitated, like what he had done to Teresa, was the best method.
However, that was not a punishment for Yuria’s sins.
There was a way that would be worse than death—but would leave her utterly broken so she could never do anything again. He had thought long and hard about it and eventually found a method.
“Don’t worry. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll leave you unharmed. You might even prefer to die instead.”
Hallucinations, illusions.
But could it truly be called just an illusion?
After all, these memories were born from the pain he had experienced, so could he really fully accept these hundred memories?
Robert silently gazed at Yuria.
Soon, he simply smiled a little, seeming somewhat sympathetic toward the woman who was about to be broken.
What kind of reaction would the woman moving toward tragedy show?
Perhaps he wouldn’t see any reaction at all.
Surely, probably definitely.
She would be destroyed.
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