108 – The Head of the Family and His Burden

“..Father? This little b*tch is your daughter?”

“You mean to say you ordered your own daughter to be kidnapped?

Honestly…what a completely messed up family…”

“..Do you desire to hear more of the circumstances?”

A chilling aura bloomed from behind the Duke.

An unspoken implication: to hear more meant gambling with one’s life.

A craft only those with sufficient power and authority

could readily employ.

“Ah…no, no. Haha… what good would it do for the likes of us

to know the circumstances.”

“That’s…that’s right. As long as you pay us properly…

We wouldn’t even question you if you insulted the king himself.”

Naturally, men who trafficked in people, living hand to mouth,

had never encountered such killing intent.

The two men’s heads bowed involuntarily,

their hands clasped together by reflex, flattery tumbling from their lips.

“If you understand, then be gone. You can collect your payment up ahead.”

“Yes… yes, sir!”

“Haha, t..thank you very much!!”

With the Duke’s order to be gone, the two men

vanished like arrows loosed from a bow.

Leaving only the two of them in that place.

Aria, still trapped within the small iron cage,

forced to look up at her own father.

And Duke Reinhardt, gazing down at his daughter with eyes of chilling severity.

Between them hung a silence so profound,

it prickled the skin.

Not a single word was exchanged.

“Gaaah!”

“Hey… why are you doing this to us… aaah!”

It was then.

Two screams erupted from behind Aria.

The voices of the pair who had abducted her only moments before.

She was no longer a small child;

she knew all too well what those screams meant.

“…Murder to silence them, Papa?”

Her voice trembled more than she could believe.

Whether she didn’t want to believe it,

or simply couldn’t, she didn’t know, but

her voice contained a hint of anticipation,

and the beginnings of a sob.

“Of course it is, Aria.”

“….”

“What else am I to do when the words from the worthless mouths of such scoundrels could stain the honor of our house?”

The Duke’s voice, following after,

shattered the fragile hope within her.

And heightened the sob, even more.

“Why… why… go so far…!”

“It’s something you need not know, child.”

“Even if I am young, I can still discern right from wrong!”

“Then discern it now. Of course… this is the right thing to do, but tell me, do you think it wrong?”

His words, not merely firm but unyielding,

left no room for argument.

She pressed her fingers to her forehead and threw

her head back abruptly.

Half in hopes of avoiding her father’s face.

It wasn’t just that he was an unpleasant sight to behold.

Part of it, too, was the lament for what her father,

once her idol, had become.

“Fath..er, please… stop… please…”

“Stop what, Aria?

Do you truly not understand what I’m doing?”

“This… this…!! How am I supposed to understand this?!”

Not an ounce of remorse, no hint of regret,

seemed to touch Duke Reinhardt.

Aria, then, spoke her anger, her heart blazing.

For the first time in her life.

“Is it alright to cast aside your own children for the sake of the family…

Is it alright to disregard life for the sake of the family?!”

“….”

“For that… for that empty…

formless facade of family honor─”

“It is not empty.”

The silver longsword, usually resting peacefully at the Duke’s hip,

began to slide from its scabbard.

*Sreureung─*

A sound that sent shivers down one’s spine.

The sound of steel meeting and parting from steel

raised every fine hair on her skin.

“Everything, I, you, all of us being able to live

more comfortably and prosperously than others, is thanks to this family.

How could you forsake that, deny it?”

“..Just because that honor is slightly tainted, nothing much will─”

“You are different from me, Aria.”

A blue aura began to emanate from the Duke’s blade.

A blue, so very blue, that it threatened

to send a chill down the spine of anyone who beheld it.

“Unlike you, I am the head of a family.

Do you know what that means?”

“….”

“The sacrifice of the few for the benefit of the many.

The happiness of the masses over the suffering of one.

If necessary, even children must be abandoned. That is the destiny of the head.”

“….”

“Have you, even once, felt the weight of this name?”

“Have you ever considered it?”

His blade resonates.

Along with the azure aura he exudes.

A colossal blade that the average person couldn’t even lift

began to tremble with a deep, humming sound,

and at the same moment, the Duke took a step forward.

“While you lot were growing up sheltered within the family walls

at your age, I was outside them.”

“….”

“Because I had to prove myself to the Head of the family, who wouldn’t acknowledge me.

That I was the one who rightfully deserved to inherit this family.”

“….”

“I cut down countless monsters, countless people

and even my own brothers.”

“….”

“This position holds weight, soaked in their blood and lives.”

He steps forward again.

Toward the iron cage she’s trapped within, to be precise.

His mana-infused sword, humming,

drags along the floor, leaving its mark.

“I must shoulder the responsibility. The responsibility to advance the family

by the worth of their lives.”

“….”

“And in my family, someone mediocre and insignificant

is absolutely unnecessary.”

“..Such!”

“Even if they are my own child…!”

The Duke swung his sword.

A horizontal slash moving from left to right.

His massive blade cleaves the air

and surges towards the iron cage.

“..Eek!!”

“….”

The Duke’s sword is by no means special.

Neither its hardness, nor its shape, nor the materials composing its blade,

nothing about it is particularly remarkable, it’s just a large sword.

However, that ordinary sword, infused with his mana,

is completely reconstructed and reborn.

Boasting hardness several times greater than ordinary steel,

His blade, meticulously coated in mana.

Before his mana-infused sword, these iron bars

were no more than mere wooden sticks.

*Shirr-*

Not even the sound of iron meeting iron.

His swordsmanship sliced through the bars so cleanly,

without the slightest resistance.

“..Huh?”

Yet, she remained uncut.

Not a single strand of hair severed.

Looking down at her unharmed body,

she raised her head with a plaintive gaze, but

he, as if she were no longer of any concern,

turned a cold back and walked away from her.

“Allen.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Take Aria and lock her in her room.

Sever all communication with the outside world.”

“Yes.”

“….”

Her older brother, Allen Reinhardt,

approached her, his silver armor gleaming,

taking her arm to help her stand.

“..Are you alright?”

“..Big Brother, what do you

think about all this?”

“….”

“Am I strange?

Am I overreacting..?”

“….”

“Before being the head of the family and a Duke,

he’s our father, a human being..”

“….”

“But..why..?”

“..Let’s go, Aria.”

“….”

“..Let’s just..go for now.”

*Thump-thump-*

Their footsteps echoed.

Toward a sun that had already set.

The sound of their advancing footsteps.

*

“There, perhaps a moment of composure…”

“Incapable of such a thing, I am.”

A voice attempting to dissuade me from behind

Repeatedly reaches my ears, but my pace does not falter.

Nay, I have no desire for it to do so.

“That is to say… such words are difficult to utter, but…

We are, in our own way, searching…”

“…”

“You… are to receive your peerage tomorrow…

Directly from His Imperial Majesty, no less…”

Her words trailed off endlessly,

But still, the speed of my stride remained unchanged.

My gaze darted, seeking an exit.

The exit to this interminable corridor.

With all my heart, I wished to shatter any wall

And wander outside, but

The precious paintings and

Exquisite carpets that caught my eye at intervals barely

Held my sanity tethered.

This is the royal castle, I chided myself, take a moment to gather your thoughts.

At least, creating a disturbance here is impermissible.

“If you continue… rumors will spread in an instant…

Even if it concerns your sibling, a bit of calm…”

“Calm?”

My arm swung towards her,

And something fell with a crisp rustle.

Her rose-tinted hair danced, entangled,

In the air.

She belatedly pulled back,

But she knew it well.

That had I exerted my hand a fraction more forcefully,

She would now be dead.

“If you do not intend to intercede,

Then simply hold your tongue.”

“Ha ha… truly, you are swift…”

“Cease trailing me and chattering incessantly.

It serves only to distract and irritate.”

Were it anyone else, I would not act so…

But she is not a stranger.

My one and only little sister, in this life,

Because she’s my family.

I wanted to protect her.

This time, for sure.

“…Haa, alright.”

“…?”

Before I knew it, she had come back to me,

And grasped my shoulders from behind.

One hand clutching my shoulder,

The other pressed against her forehead,

Her figure almost seemed resigned.

“Tch, we in the Charlotte family will try our best to

search… so you stay here.”

“What kind of bullshit—”

“Or, do you have another way?

Some brilliant method for finding that child?”

“….”

“No, right? That’s why we’ll take care of it.

Instead, you’re staying here… how about it?”

“..Why.”

“If you aren’t here tomorrow…

His Majesty’s plans might be disrupted.”

“….”

“Don’t worry too much, I have a few places in mind to look.

Besides, they probably won’t kill her right away.”

If they were going to kill her right away, they wouldn’t have kidnapped her,

Her tone seemed intended to reassure me.

“….”

“How about it?”

Just, that kind of expression,

And that kind of tone.