## Chapter 2678 – 2678. God’S Atlantis

Having annihilated a city, I shook off the blood from my body and headed towards the Valdert mansion.

The Valdert estate was, as expected, in chaos. Soldiers patrolled the grounds, controlling the people, and knights were awake even at this late hour.

It was only natural, considering a nearby city had vanished from the map in just a few hours.

I moved using Deception (SSS). I blatantly walked past a knight. The Valdert knight didn’t sense anything.

‘A bit disappointing. The knights of 17 years later would have at least sensed something.’

What I felt while dealing with the city earlier was that the empire’s overall military strength had declined compared to 17 years later.

Well, it was to be expected.

‘This era is before the system fully intervenes. There’s no God Seat either.’

This world was not yet the Atlantis I knew.

Thud.

My advancing steps halted. My senses caught something. The space in front of me rippled, and a person appeared.

It was a man with dark blue hair, wearing a black coat over his shoulders, looking exhausted. He seemed irritable due to his fatigue, but even considering that, he had a rather gentle impression. His right hand was resting on the ground with an ornate staff. The size was a bit different, but the design was similar to the staff Elena often used.

“How dare you trespass here?”

Ricardo Valdert.

A great mage known as the Tri-Polar Duke for mastering three types of magic. The current head of the Valdert family and Elena’s father.

“Nice to meet you, Father-in-law. I’m Sung Yoojin.”

“What?”

Intense killing intent was directed at me from Ricardo. The tips of my fingers tingled. It had been a while since I had faced this level of killing intent head-on.

I slightly circulated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and the tingling disappeared.

“You’re not ordinary. Was that nonsense you spouted to provoke me? Heavenly Demon. It won’t go your way.”

Heavenly Demon.

I had called myself that while destroying the city. I was a bit high-strung then. Some survivors had escaped the city, and my notoriety spread quickly.

“It’s neither a joke nor a provocation. I’m going to be the Valdert family’s son-in-law.”

“Who decided that?”

Mana gathered around Ricardo. The rapidly gathered mana quickly transformed into magic, dominating the surroundings. I blankly watched it. Since I didn’t feel any will to fight, Ricardo only frowned and didn’t attack first.

“That’s up to Elena, the head of the family.”

“Elena is the heir, but not yet the head of the family. I am the head of Valdert.”

“Elena is the head of the family. This is just a world within a mirror, created based on Elena’s memories.”

I didn’t hide it. There was no reason to hide it.

“Are you trying to buy time with that ridiculous nonsense?”

“Atlantis. Most strange things can be explained with one word: Atlantis. Ah, you probably don’t know since this isn’t Atlantis yet?”

Ricardo’s eyes shook greatly. Then, he used magic. Not towards me, but towards the sky. Blue mana flashed and covered the night sky like a spiderweb before disappearing.

“…It’s real. This star and the stars in the sky. None of them have life. Me, this world is fake…?”

Ricardo’s body swayed greatly. But he didn’t fall. He regained his balance.

“…Okay. I’ll believe that you’re going to marry Elena and become the Valdert family’s son-in-law. But why did you massacre a city? Why can a mass murderer be Elena’s lover? No matter how I think about it, my Elena wouldn’t choose a mass murderer as her partner.”

“Massacre? I was just doing some training. The people living in the city? They’re not people. They’re worse than NPCs… Ah. You probably don’t know what an NPC is. They’re just moving pieces of paper. Calling me a mass murderer for tearing up some paper is a bit of an exaggeration, Father-in-law.”

“…So, in your eyes, I’m also just a moving piece of paper.”

“Yes. But I’m still treating you with respect because you’re my father-in-law.”

“…This kind of guy is Valdert’s son-in-law. Why on earth did Elena…”

“You keep mentioning Elena, but I know more about Elena than you do, Father-in-law.”

“I can’t stand that. I’m Elena’s father.”

“I’ll tell you about your future, especially. In five years, you’ll be poisoned by your wife, and your wife will be killed by Elena.”

Ricardo stared at me intently. His trembling eyes and fingertips showed how shocked he was.

“…Don’t lie… Erika and Elena would never do that.”

“Why would I lie to moving pieces of paper?”

If it were real. If this world were a parallel world, I wouldn’t have said such things. It was Elena’s matter, so I would have respected her. But this world was neither a parallel world nor anything else.

“If you can’t believe it, ask Elena.”

Ricardo followed my gaze and looked behind him. There, a young Elena was standing. She must have sensed the huge flow of mana and come looking.

I could tell from her shaking eyes that Elena was flustered. Like father, like daughter. Their flustered expressions were identical.

“Elena…! Is what this man saying true?”

Elena hesitated for a moment, then sighed and admitted it.

“…Yes, Father. It’s true.”

“……”

An awkward silence fell.

I made eye contact with Elena. Her eyes held a hint of resentment towards me. I shrugged.

“Elena. I think we need to talk. But before that… is this man really going to be your husband?”

“Yes, Father. There’s no man more suitable to be by my side than Yoojin.”

Elena said confidently. Ricardo looked at Elena with a complicated expression.

“Elena, Father-in-law. I’ll wait inside the mansion.”

I didn’t care what kind of conversation Elena and Ricardo had. It would be meaningless to me, if not to Elena.

• • •

I waited in the reception room, reading a novel.

About an hour passed. There was a knock, and the door opened, and Ricardo entered. I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t Elena.

“I heard from Elena. That you are Elena’s… and the Valdert family’s benefactor. As the head of the family. As a father, I thank you.”

Ricardo bowed to me. It was a noble gesture.

“Please raise your head. Honestly, I don’t feel anything even if you bow.”

“Is it because I’m fake?”

“Yes. Nothing changes even if you know the future, the truth. And… personally, I can’t understand you. Why do you let your wife’s affair go on? If I were you, I would have broken her legs first.”

“…I love Erika. I trust her as much as I love her. And… I also feel sorry for Erika.”

He forced her to come. Did he threaten her with the family’s power? I erased the romantic story that was forming in my head.

“Do you love your wife more than Elena?”

Ricardo paused before answering.

“…I love them both.”

He loves a woman who commits adultery as much as his own child? The answer was as good as given.

“What did you do when Elena was having a hard time? I heard you were often away from the family… Is work more important than family?”

“Atlantis isn’t far away. It’s only two years at most. I had to carry out the orders given by His Majesty the Emperor and lay the foundation for the family after Atlantis. I believed that doing what was best for the family was also what was best for Erika and Elena.”

“Ah, is that so.”

I was the one who asked the questions, but now that I heard the answers, I felt less interested. I probably wouldn’t understand the man in front of me for the rest of my life.

“…What do you love about Elena?”

“Uh. Her beauty? Elena is beautiful.”

“…Don’t you look at her personality?”

“Of course, I do. Elena has a beautiful personality too.”

“…I don’t understand why Elena loves someone like you.”

“I don’t understand why Elena respects you either.”

“……”

“……”

It was a good thing Ricardo died early. If he had lived, we would have clashed constantly. And since he was Elena’s father, I couldn’t have killed him carelessly.

Knock knock.

With a knock, Elena entered. Elena scanned the atmosphere and sighed.

“I expected it… but the atmosphere is terrible.”

“Ahem.”

Ricardo cleared his throat, trying to shake off the awkwardness.

“……”

I just remained silent.

Elena approached me. She sat on my lap as if it were natural, leaving the perfectly good seat next to me. I wrapped my arm around Elena’s waist.

“E, Elena? There’s a chair next to you.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m small… but this is more comfortable. Yoojin. Let’s get to the point. Did you get any information?”

“I found out that the one who introduced the tutor to your mother was Baron Dumple. When I went to find him and beat him up, the name Duke Suui came up.”

“Baron Dumple and Duke Suui. Baron Dumple… in my memory, his entire family was attacked and killed by bandits while moving before this world became Atlantis. Now that I see it, it wasn’t the bandits but Duke Suui. I finished cleaning up before I inherited the family… it’s no wonder I couldn’t find him.”

Elena let out a cold laugh. In contrast, Ricardo’s expression was stiff.

“Duke Suui? Why? We’re both Imperial Dukes, but there aren’t many points of contact.”

“Father. You don’t need a grudge to stab someone in the back. It could be to keep our family in check… or they might have judged you as dangerous. You’re the most active of the current Imperial Dukes, and you directly dealt with the cult that was eating away at the empire. Duke Suui might have a grudge against you.”

“…That was His Majesty’s order…, no, wait. Is there a connection between the cult and Duke Suui?”

“Yes. It’s not confirmed, but there are rumors. Ah, there probably aren’t any rumors in this era.”

“…Elena. Yoojin. What are you planning to do?”

“Originally, I was going to gather information quietly. But… this idiot ruined it all.”

Elena turned her body. The tip of her eyebrow slightly rose. Elena grabbed my cheeks with both hands and shook them.

“Since it’s come to this, I’m going to go wild in this idiot’s way. Yes. I’m going to storm Duke Suui’s estate and hear the truth directly from him.”

Elena let go of my cheeks. My cheeks were a bit numb. I held back the urge to retaliate.

“…His Majesty the Emperor has summoned the Imperial Dukes. An entire city was annihilated in a few hours, so the entire empire is on high alert.”

I chuckled.

“That’s good. I’ll just take care of Duke Suui and kill the Emperor too. I didn’t like the Emperor either.”

Elena got off the chair, looked directly at Ricardo, and said.

“Father. Please help me. As the head of the Valdert family, I must know the truth.”

Ricardo closed his eyes tightly. He clenched his fists so hard that the blood drained from them, agonizing before opening his eyes again.

“No one can look down on the Valdert family. I’ll help you, Elena.”