Chapter 87

Heishar, after moving to a different spot, questioned me about the abilities I had displayed.

I thought his reaction was unnecessarily dramatic. He hadn’t been surprised when I used magic power.

“Isn’t your question coming too late?”

[That and this are different!]

He mentally shouted and then took a breath. Seeing the tiny wolf trembling with frustration made me feel sympathetic.

After sighing deeply, Heishar spoke weakly.

[I noticed you using magic power back on the mountain.]

“When my body was in terrible condition?”

[Yes. In urgent situations, humans display remarkable abilities. Especially, children born with natural talent for magic power occasionally appear.]

His words reminded me of the Spirit Mage from ancient legends.

Known for beautiful silver hair, this person was also famous as the first Spirit Mage. Even to someone like me who had lived for a long time, they seemed like a mythical figure.

Perhaps Heishar, being the Spirit King, might know about them.

“Like the Spirit Mage Widnia?”

[Correct. He could handle not only magic power but divine power as well.]

They said Widnia showed intelligence far beyond that of ordinary humans from childhood. He could perfectly replicate any dance or movement after seeing it once.

“So that’s why.”

He wasn’t surprised when I demonstrated perfect etiquette. The reason for Heishar’s lack of common sense regarding children seemed to be because of that person.

[Even Widnia couldn’t create a whirlwind by manipulating magic properties at six years old.]

“Maybe because he didn’t hold a sword? He probably could have if he had.”

[No, that’s crazy. What genius in the world can create a vortex with magic power at six years old?!]

“The Grand Duke probably could.”

[That human has blood mixed with the Divine Beast of Darkness, so that’s different! Besides, isn’t the age different?]

I had been half-listening to Heishar, but stopped at this unexpected information.

“Divine Beast bloodline?”

[Yes. Isn’t your family descended from the union between that Widnia and the Divine Beast of Darkness?]

I had never heard of such a thing.

No scripture mentioned the Grand Duke’s family being connected to a Divine Beast. I thought only the Imperial family had some relation to Divine Beasts in the Empire.

Heishar added, with a tone suggesting I should know this.

[Aren’t you too ignorant about your own family?]

“It did seem strange.”

No matter how villainous the family was in the novel, there were too many geniuses.

Three geniuses gathered in one place, when usually only one might appear in a century. All of them had exceptional ability to handle magic power and thinking capabilities far beyond children their age.

This was similar to what I felt when I saw Michael.

[I don’t know why the Divine Beast of Darkness formed a relationship with humans. Gods are always capricious.]

“That makes sense.”

Though this generation was particularly extreme, that’s how the Grand Duke’s bloodline had always been. The Astarote Grand Duchy had consistently produced heroes in some form.

The exception might have been when I was Kashian.

At that time, a branch family pushed aside the direct line and obtained the Grand Duke title. Until the current Grand Duke took office, the Grand Duchy had been slowly crumbling.

Yurian completely reversed all of that.

[Anyway, the abilities you showed are outside normal standards. That consciousness space was also strange.]

“I’ll return what you once said to me. Some truths are better left unknown.”

[Are you saying you’ll keep it secret?]

“Yes. Nothing would change even if you knew.”

A life of being reborn multiple times wasn’t something to boast about. Heishar slapped the floor with his tail, expressing anger at not receiving an answer.

[You learned a secret about your family, but now you’re being cowardly.]

“Sorry. But it’s truly not an important story.”

Moreover, telling someone had never led to good results.

I realized during my time as an Archmage how much talk of reincarnation or rebirth sounds like nonsense to others. There was no need to be understood by everyone.

The memory of mockery disguised as consideration echoed in my mind.

“Aren’t you confusing magic with divination? Researching such things won’t yield results.”

Indeed, I had failed, which is why I had to live again. But that time eventually reached Juno, so it was worth it.

Heishar reluctantly accepted my stubbornness. For someone who threatened to kill me, he was soft-hearted.

[Since I haven’t told you who I’m looking for either, I’ll let this pass.]

“Yes. Thank you.”

With the Heishar matter resolved, it was time for the next person.

I went to find the Grand Duke. I planned to ask him to cancel my knighting and give Lucas the opportunity.

***

The Grand Duke was back in his room, drinking tea. After searching the mansion for him, I felt deflated.

He greeted me, looking as though he had been waiting.

“Welcome.”

Seeing him leisurely sipping tea in his room, I wondered if I was seeing things. The Grand Duke seemed to have anticipated I would come about Lucas.

Exhausted, I stared blankly at him, bathed in sunlight.

“Would you like some tea?”

“Yes.”

The Grand Duke gestured toward the chair opposite him. He must have sent the maids away earlier, as the room was quiet.

After pouring tea into a cup, he opened a jar containing sugar. His motion of putting sugar in tea looked practiced.

“Too much sugar isn’t good for you, so I’ll just add two.”

Two sugar cubes slowly dissolved in the teacup. The cup, cooled to an appropriate temperature, was pushed toward me.

Holding the warm tea with both hands cleared my mind.

“Thank you, Grand Duke.”

I waited for him to bring up his business first. I felt he had something to say to me as well.

A hint of awkward playfulness appeared on his otherwise inscrutable expression. Both the Grand Duke and Lucas had a similar way of starting conversations abruptly.

“Did you fight with Lucas?”

“No.”

“He’s improved somewhat compared to the past.”

That was practically saying he had deliberately provoked Lucas while knowing everything. Remembering Lucas’s upset face, I couldn’t remain silent any longer.

I looked directly into the Grand Duke’s eyes and spoke clearly.

“Lucas was the one who should have become a knight. You know that too.”

His admiration for Kashian and all the effort he put in to reach that position.

The Grand Duke crushed Lucas’s efforts with a single word: “genius.” That wasn’t a rational decision, even as the head of the Astarote family.

Lucas was also the heir who would inherit the family.

“I understand how you feel, but this knighting ceremony was meant to fail.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wanted Lucas to experience failure. That child has grown up as a genius and never experienced failure.”

“That can’t be right.”

I recalled how the Grand Duke remained unmoved when the magical beast showed signs of self-destructing. I had wondered why he didn’t immediately order the ceremony to stop.

What if he had deliberately avoided intervening, not to give Lucas a chance, but for the exact opposite reason?

“Grand Duke… you didn’t…?”

“Magical beasts are difficult to control, but not impossible.”

“You know Lucas could have been in danger.”

The toxic energy spread by a self-destructing magical beast was fatal.

Once poisoned by it, there was no going back. The barrier would have prevented it from escaping, and the damage would have been severe.

The Grand Duke spoke as if understanding my confusion.

“I wasn’t planning to leave it that way. I don’t know if that answers your question.”

This still wasn’t right.

No test should take precedence over a child’s potential. Even if the Grand Duke’s position was to test him as the family head, it wasn’t acceptable.

Even parents don’t have the right to force their child to fail.

“Why are you trying to raise Lucas so harshly? Because of the rebellion?”

“That’s one of the reasons.”

The Grand Duke put down his teacup and fingered his earring.

That simple gesture caught my attention. The Grand Duke had a unique dignity and restrained demeanor.

Lowering his hand, he continued in a calmer voice.

“The bloodline of the Grand Duchy is inherently arrogant. Because they’re born with physical abilities far superior to others.”

This overlapped with what Heishar had just told me. The Grand Duke continued in a composed tone.

“Superior abilities don’t always guarantee victory.”

“Have you ever failed, too?”

“Until I obtained my title, everyone thought I would fail. Winning itself was a stroke of luck.”

The story of the Grand Duke’s succession was famous enough that even I had heard of it when I was a slave. It was a case where succession in a family, second only to the Empero,r was achieved through murder.

Luke, who had witnessed the process, seemed to fear the Grand Duke.

<The Grand Duke is someone who doesn’t discriminate between means and methods to achieve his goals.>

I don’t know how the Grand Duke lived before succession, or what his determination was like in the process of gaining power.

“I still think it was too harsh on Lucas.”

“Is that so?”

“But I can also understand. I believe you didn’t truly intend to hurt Lucas.”

“Thanks to your intervention, I witnessed an interesting sight.”

Only after seeing his faintly smiling eyes did I remember what had happened.

‘That’s right. Is this okay?’

This was practically admitting that I was the Sword Master who used power in the library. I had also revealed my wind attribute magic power.

“Why weren’t you surprised?”

Even during sword lessons, he was merely interested, not surprised. He seemed like someone who already knew I possessed such power.

“For the same reason I mentioned earlier.”

“Bloodline?”

“Yes. You are already of the Grand Duke’s bloodline, and our blood relatives are generally superior to others.”

The Grand Duke gave this answer knowing that I, being adopted, couldn’t possibly share his blood.

That statement was equivalent to saying he would pretend not to know about my power.

“You are an ordinary genius.”

“……”

“And my daughter.”

I felt my inner stubbornness, which I had maintained until then, crumbling. I hadn’t wanted to hear such words from the Grand Duke.

Did he know that I had thought of myself as a monster?

This shook my resolve to push him away. I uttered the title I had sworn never to use.

“…Father.”

Crash!

At my barely audible word, the Grand Duke dropped his teacup to the floor. After a momentary pause, he casually picked up the scattered glass pieces.

The Grand Duke’s earlobes were visibly flushed red.