Chapter 353: A Father’s Choice

[Son, no matter what you choose, we’ll stand by you.]

***

The long eight-year war had ended, and Deon Hart returned a hero. That night, the head of the Hart family sat down with his wife, a bottle of wine in hand.

No servants, no Cruel, just the two of them in a quiet, still room. After a long hesitation, he finally spoke, using the silence of his patiently waiting wife as a backdrop for his calm words.

“Deon… you must have heard the news that he returned alive.”

Wine filled the Countess’s glass.

Anyone else seeing this would assume it was a celebratory drink for their son’s heroic return. How absurd. A bitter smile touched the Count’s lips.

“He probably… resents us.”

“……”

“No, seeing as he hasn’t come home despite surviving, it’s safe to say he definitely resents us.”

Wine isn’t only for celebrations.

The stream of purplish-red liquid filling his glass shook violently. His voice seemed to tremble as well.

…They couldn’t bring the child back. Couldn’t extract him. Swapping him with the healthy, swordsmanship-proficient eldest was impossible. It was as if some supernatural force was deliberately interfering, every attempt to bring Deon back went awry.

Even now, as he took measures, the child must be teetering between life and death. It was maddening.

“……That’s hardly new information, is it?”

The wine bottle slipped from the Count’s grasp.

The Countess neatly poured wine into his glass, then wiped the spilled liquid with a handkerchief and tossed it into the fireplace.

As the handkerchief crackled and burned, stealing the Count’s attention, a delicate hand reached out, cupping his cheek and turning his face towards her.

“We expected as much, didn’t we? What information did you get, dear?”

“……”

Facing his wife’s resolute yet worried expression, the usually steadfast family head’s composure crumbled.

“That child…”

The father, exposing his vulnerability, spoke with a face ashen as if stabbed by a knife.

“…He requested a private audience with Your Majesty during the Merit Award Ceremony.”

“Ah….”

Normally, one would state their desires in a public setting as a matter of course. Unless they were asking for something that shouldn’t be known, there would be no reason for a private audience. A private audience…?

The Countess’s face, as if anticipating something, clouded with sorrow.

“Our family might be in danger.”

“……Indeed.”

In the worst case, the entire family might face death.

“It seems we’ve caused him a great deal of resentment.”

“He was unwillingly dragged to hell and back, after all.”

That frail child had clawed his way back from hell. Naturally, all that would remain would be malice. Affection and everything else must have been worn away in the eight years of bloodshed.

“……Wife.”

The Count called out to his wife, his voice trembling.

“I… I want to accept whatever choice that child makes.”

I was incompetent and couldn’t save my child.

I want to atone, but there’s no way for me to atone first. If he steps forward to take revenge, I would be glad. Even if he holds a knife to my neck, I would willingly accept it.

However, his resentment is almost certainly directed at the entire ‘family,’ not just the ‘family head.’

“Therefore… fake your death and leave with Cruel.”

Unable to drag the rest of the family into this, the Count covered his wife’s hand with his own and pleaded, pressing his lips to her palm.

“A carriage accident should suffice. He’ll be satisfied if it damages me, the family head, and my family….”

“Dear.”

“……”

“He’s ‘our’ child.”

Saying ‘damage’ is just a euphemism; the Count was prepared for the worst-case scenario—’death.’

The Countess withdrew her hand, her face firm.

“I, too, failed to protect our child. Why would you exclude me?”

“…….”

“Well… I do appreciate you trying to get Cruel out of this. He shouldn’t bear any responsibility.”

Cruel wasn’t an adult when Deon was dragged off to the battlefield. Even if he had been an adult, he wasn’t the family head, nor was he Deon’s parent. It was unjust for him to pay the price of sin.

At least, a mother who loved her child thought so.

The Count sighed heavily.

“……This is not something to be taken lightly.”

We could die, you know.

The words he couldn’t bring himself to utter swirled in his mouth. Afraid that voicing the possibility of death might somehow make it a reality, he spoke briefly and fell silent. The Countess smiled gently, as if she knew everything.

“I know.”

“……I can never win against you, can I?”

The Count let out a bitter laugh.

“He said he’s setting out on a journey again as a Hero’s comrade. His request must have been excessive, leading to added conditions.”

An ‘excessive’ wish that even the Emperor, known for valuing talent, would add conditions to. The Count somehow knew what it was.

“Given His Majesty’s personality, he’ll likely fulfill the promise as soon as Deon achieves his goal and returns.”

“……We’ll have to gradually reduce the number of servants until the child returns.”

I don’t want innocent people getting hurt.

To avoid revealing that they had caught on, a minimum number of servants had to remain, but it was still better to minimize casualties as much as possible. The Countess, choosing to prepare for the worst-case scenario, fixed her gaze back on the Count. Reading the urging in her eyes, the Count chuckled.

“Alright. And we’ll send Cruel somewhere else the day he returns.”

“A wise decision.”

Even if they tried to fake their deaths to evacuate him, Cruel, being as upright as he was, would surely refuse as soon as he grasped the situation. In that case, it would be better not to tell him anything from the start and naturally send him elsewhere.

“There might be a situation where we’re framed for treason, so I’ll prepare for identity laundering there as well.”

So that the child can change his identity if he so desires.

“Perfect.”

The Countess curved her eyes into a beautiful smile.

The Count gazed silently at that smile before reaching out and taking her hand. His lips gently descended onto the back of her hand.

And an apology flowed out.

“I’m sorry. My incompetence is causing you harm as well.”

His lips brushed lightly against the back of her hand with every word, tickling her. Watching this, the Countess used her free hand to cup his cheek, raising his face and pressing her lips to his.

A voice, terribly tender, whispered words of love.

“If we’re going to talk about that, I should mention my incompetence too. Instead of those words, could you say something else?”

“……I love you.”

“I love you too.”

***

The Count and Countess, prepared for all sorts of situations, were momentarily stunned to face Deon, who had come to kill them himself.

Fearsome red eyes and suffocating malice. Covered in blood from brutally killing the servants, the child standing before them was even thinner than before, and possessed a madness never seen before.

‘Ah.’

In that moment, they couldn’t help but realize.

‘He’s been tainted by the madness of war.’

This child had gone mad.

If he hadn’t felt betrayed by his family, if he had endured with the determination to return to his family’s embrace, he wouldn’t have gone this far. A parent’s intuition spoke. This child had gone mad because of betrayal, because he was too sad.

And so, even as they watched their son, weapon in hand, standing before them to kill his parents, sorrow preceded shock or fear.

……We’re sorry.

“……Cruel isn’t here.”

“Cruel is away on business. He didn’t even show his face when you returned from the Eight Years’ War, and now he finally appears, only to ask for his brother.”

“Who’s your brother?”

The unfamiliar young man glared at them with an unfamiliar expression.

They should have been trembling from the ominous malice, but because he was undoubtedly their child, the Count calmly looked at Deon and opened his mouth.

“Just let me ask you one thing.”

“…….”

“During that time… were you hurt anywhere?”

“……Ha.”

A cold laugh froze the air.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I was hurt plenty.”

“…….”

“Well, I somehow managed to come back alive, limbs intact, so isn’t that fortunate? …No, perhaps it’s not ‘fortunate’ for you.”

Prepared to accept any mockery or anger, the Count and Countess didn’t even flinch at his unfamiliar demeanor.

They simply offered faint smiles, as if relieved, and obediently closed their eyes. Sensing the child before them pause at their non-resistant attitude.

……Words they had to swallow for their child’s sake swirled in their tightly closed mouths.

‘Son, no matter what choice you make, we will support it.’

Because that was the only atonement they could offer.

However.

‘Did you find Cruel?’

May all those choices be directed only at us.

In the off chance, if you ever regret it later, Cruel might be there to comfort you, and protect you from any unforeseen danger.

Cruel is our safeguard.

‘We hope that by killing us, the anger directed at Cruel will also subside to some extent.’

The dagger pierced a vital point, and a moment later, sharp pain followed.

His skill was clean. If things went well, it might even be helpful to Cruel.

Dreaming of a future where the two brothers would rely on each other, the Countess didn’t resist the fading consciousness and willingly let it sink below.

Lastly, faintly, footsteps could be heard.

No one should be coming…

….

“Brother.”

***

On the day Deon Hart returned with the Hero’s corpse, Cruel received an order from his father.

There was a discrepancy in the ledger for the villa management on an island, and he was ordered to go and check it personally. It was an order given under the guise of training for the future family head.

However.

‘Why today of all days?’

Cruel was doubtful.

Why on the day Deon returned? And being urged to leave immediately, it felt as if they were trying to prevent him and Deon from meeting.

Already on his way to carry out the order, he would normally have just let the doubt pass and focused on returning as quickly as possible after finishing the task, but today, an inexplicable unease prickled at his spine.

So, instead of urging his horse faster, he seized the doubt and delved into it.

‘……Deon returned from the Eight Years’ War and requested a private audience with the Emperor during the Merit Award Ceremony, didn’t he?’

And immediately afterwards, he became a Hero’s comrade and set off on a journey.

A child with a weak constitution, and a general who had become seasoned in combat after eight years of war, would have no reason to seek out the battlefield again. There must be a reason.

‘Was Deon’s request so excessive that additional conditions were attached?’

His sharp mind raced. Cruel slowed his pace, furrowing his brow.

‘What could be such an excessive request that would warrant additional conditions?’

No, in the first place, what could Deon possibly ask for through a ‘private audience’? What could Deon want now?

‘Could it be…….’

Deon Hart was unwillingly dragged to the battlefield. No matter how he returned as a hero, the shock and betrayal from that time wouldn’t easily disappear.

If he had nurtured resentment and hatred on the battlefield instead…….

‘……No.’

Green eyes that had realized something were engulfed in shock and trembled as if about to shatter. He desperately hoped it wasn’t true, but he couldn’t just stand idly by and pray. Cruel immediately turned his horse around.

His destination was the Hart mansion where his parents would be.

Driving his horse like mad, he bit his lip hard. Even amidst the shock, his mind deduced another truth.

‘They knew.’

Knowing, they only evacuated me.

He felt he knew what they were thinking. He couldn’t not know.

Cruel, who had spurred his horse and urged it onward, covering the distance in the shortest time, crossed the unmanned mansion entrance. Crossing the hallway reeking of blood, he arrived at his parents’ room and discovered—

“Brother.”

……Deon, pulling a dagger from his father’s heart and turning to look at him.