Chapter 131. To Stand on One’s Own (3)
“I would like you to give him one last chance.”
The white armor symbolized the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Felix.
The white armor, a symbol of honor, and the insignia on his chest shone brightly, but he was a man who was neither honorable nor radiant now.
He was simply a father with his head bowed.
“It’s not just about this one incident….”
Looking at his brother, who was silently staring down at his teacup, Vitelli felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
His brother had always been perfect, strong, and a man who would rather draw his sword and face someone head-on than bow his head.
“The faults and karma that have accumulated over time have finally exploded. You know very well how many chances Father gave that boy, don’t you, brother?”
Schumacher couldn’t answer Vitelli’s words and simply kept his mouth shut.
Everything his younger brother said was painfully true.
“Even Iselin’s case is unforgivable. If things had gone wrong, we could have lost the future Saintess….”
“I heard she died.”
Schumacher always had a cold expression, but in that moment, it seemed as if a tiny bit of moisture could be felt.
“They said she collapsed while offering prayers for her son until the very end, and never got up again.”
The woman who was his mother and Schumacher’s wife had voluntarily entered a monastery on behalf of Jonas' wrongdoings.
“...We couldn’t accept it. The fact that the child we bore was not a lion.”
She had prayed for her son’s transgressions until the very end and died while blaming herself for not guiding him well.
Schumacher calmly lifted his teacup and spoke.
“But now, I accept it. That child may have inherited the blood of Tolome, but he is not a lion.”
“…”
Vitelli watched as Schumacher quietly set aside his pride and was overcome with complex emotions.
From the moment they came of age, Vitelli and Schumacher had been fierce competitors for the position of the next head of the Tolome family.
Their competition was so intense that Stefan and Weird, who didn't even dare to interfere, went off to find their own paths elsewhere.
Schumacher and Vitelli had been the two youngest and fiercest lions in the Tolome family.
But now, the strongest lion in the Tolome family was admitting his own faults.
“On the night the Evil ran rampant, I became certain when I saw Count Blanc.”
A quiet ripple spread across the teacup Schumacher was holding.
“That is the nature of a lion.”
On the night they vanquished the Evil that Carmen had spread.
Watching his nephew run through the darkness shoulder-to-shoulder with the Gray Knights, Schumacher couldn’t help but think of his own son.
Two individuals of a similar age, yet with vastly different capabilities and capacities.
“I must let my child be at ease now. Living among lions with the vessel of a cat will only bring him pain.”
At Schumacher’s confession-like monologue, Vitelli firmly closed his mouth and nodded.
He had cleanly set aside his pride and his right to choose for Jonas' sake.
This would be Schumacher’s final consideration for his only son, Jonas, and for his wife who had died for him.
“I understand.”
In his past life, the one who became the head of the Tolome family was not Schumacher, the family’s strongest knight, but Vitelli.
He had become the head not because of his sword skills, but because of his exceptionally sharp mind and his eye for accurately assessing situations.
At this very moment, Vitelli felt that the lifelong battle with his brother over the power of Tolome was tipping heavily in his favor.
“If you give Jonas one last chance, I will concede the first choice to you.”
“What kind of concession?”
Vitelli’s eyes glinted sharply as he waited for Schumacher’s words.
“Whether you will remain here and become the next head of the Tolome family, or….”
The teacup Schumacher placed on the table was completely empty.
“...become the lord of the newly established Tolome territory.”
Hearing Schumacher’s words, Vitelli let out a long sigh and leaned back deeply into his chair.
A small smile played on his lips.
‘Yes. That’s more like it….’
His lifelong rival, a man of the same blood with whom he would continue to fight.
His brother had not given up yet.
And he was looking at the same thing.
The current foundation built over generations, or a new possibility alongside Blanc.
Which of the two would make him the master of Tolome?
Vitelli had been a step behind Schumacher his entire life, but he could see that right now, he was one step ahead of his brother.
At a crucial juncture that could decide the rise and fall of the Tolome family.
“You have conceded something truly remarkable, brother.”
Schumacher had yielded the right to move first at the most important turning point.
Nevertheless, his intention to take the remaining option meant that the fight between the two brothers for the headship of Tolome was not yet over.
“I had already made my decision long ago.”
Schumacher looked over his teacup at his cunning younger brother, who was smiling.
“My choice is….”
It was the smile of a raccoon dog that seemed to have aged a hundred years.
***
“So… that’s what happened….”
After finishing his work in the Black Forest, Blanc stopped by the Neudorf mansion to explain the recent events to Berger.
It had started with the Evil attached to Ciella, but its end pointed toward a massive and ominous tree.
It was an incident caused by a black magician so powerful that two Demon-breaking Knights acknowledged him as an ancient and mighty Evil, but hearing this, Berger’s heart actually felt lighter.
Until now, Berger had thought he had pushed Ciella into despair through his own carelessness, but if the Evil was as powerful as Blanc described, he wouldn't have been able to do anything either.
“Is Ciella doing well?”
However, as a father, Ciella's situation inevitably remained a painful wound in his heart.
“She is doing well, Father. She’s practicing alchemy and looking after the territory, moving about with more vigor than when she was here.”
It was Blanc’s turn to speak, but Franz cut in and answered.
Although he had spoken out of turn, hearing from her own brother that Ciella was living comfortably put Berger’s mind at ease.
“If you say so, then it must be true.”
Franz cherished Ciella as much as he did.
Franz was a man who valued his sister and the honor of his family so much that he had interrupted his own research and studies to rush to her side.
For Franz to acknowledge it, Berger could once again confirm that his decision to send Ciella to Blanc had been the right one.
“…But there is just one thing missing.”
“What is that?”
Just as he was about to lift his teacup, Blanc asked Berger with wide eyes.
Berger couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Blanc.
He coveted it.
The blood of the black wolf sitting before him.
His strong, solid, and sharp gaze.
“I’ll be 60 next year myself. My time is gradually running out, and the teacup I hold grows heavier by that much.”
Berger’s eyebrows drooped as he tried to show Blanc his most pathetic expression.
“Don’t say that, Count. You are still young.”
However, just as Blanc said, no matter how much Berger feigned old age, his charm, befitting his nickname as the one blessed by the gods, had not diminished at all.
It was clear whose genes Ciella, who was called the Red Rose of the Kingdom of Felix, had inherited.
“Hahaha. Even if I look that way, I’m already rotting on the inside.”
Berger was swayed by Blanc’s compliment, but he quickly wiped the smile from his face to achieve his intended purpose.
“I lost my wife early, and I have to send my only daughter and the son who must carry on the family name down to Norington. It’s lonely, is what I’m saying.”
Berger made the most pitiful face possible to evoke Blanc’s sympathy.
“I’ve had such an imagination. The imagination of my beloved daughter visiting this place with a black-haired grandchild.”
Finally understanding Berger’s intention, Blanc let out a short, internal gasp.
“…I understand what you mean, Father-in-law.”
Understanding Berger’s words, Blanc addressed him with the title of father-in-law instead of Count.
“Is it possible? Isn’t it also time for the Cadmus family to have children?”
Everything Berger said was right.
It had been two years since Blanc and Ciella were married, so it wouldn’t be strange at all for them to have a child.
Furthermore, since Blanc was the only person in the world with Cadmus blood, if anything were to happen to him, the succession rights to Norington and its surrounding areas, which he had worked so hard to secure, could vanish into thin air.
Of course, Blanc was also aware of that problem.
However, there was something that weighed on his mind.
It was an anxiety he had harbored in his heart ever since he had regressed.
“I am also aware that I need a child for the sake of Ciella and my family, but…”
“But?”
Seeing Blanc’s expression suddenly darken, Berger and Franz put down the teacups they were drinking from.
They wondered if there was some problem they were unaware of.
However, Blanc’s answer was on a different level from what Berger and Franz were thinking.
“…I have seen the edge of the darkness that approaches us.”
Blanc clasped his hands and spoke in a serious tone.
The Blanc of this moment was not his son-in-law or brother-in-law, but Blanc Cadmus, the Seeker of the Blue Star and a Demon-breaking Knight.
“I can tell that they are just waiting for the time to raise their heads from the darkness where they have been hidden. It won’t be long.”
As someone who knew the future, Blanc didn't want to bring his child into a world that would be ruined by the Void.
Because he knew it all too well.
He, who had endured all the storms of the world since childhood because everything had burned down.
He, who had ultimately witnessed the end of the world, knew.
How cruelly such a world treated the young.
“That is why I want to do it.”
That was why there was something Blanc had to do.
“I want to build a sturdy barrier on a solid foundation. So that I can protect the young and the weak within my embrace.”
Seeing Blanc’s serious gaze, Berger and Franz nodded.
Indeed, for someone who had achieved such dazzling accomplishments at a young age, his foresight was extraordinary.
“So, what I’m trying to say is…”
Just as Berger had put on a weak expression to evoke Blanc’s sympathy, Blanc now looked at Berger with a similar expression.
“What do you want to say?”
With a puzzled expression, Berger looked at the documents that Blanc had placed on the table.
“These will be able to make Norington solid.”
The document Berger’s gaze fell upon had the title ‘Establishment of the Dwarf Craftsman Guild’ written on it.
‘Dwarves!’
Just by looking at the title on the document, it was clear that Blanc had secured a business related to the dwarves.
He would have to look through the documents to know the details, but businesses related to dwarves were no different from laying golden eggs in the human world.
“And…”
Amazed by Blanc’s business acumen, Berger turned his gaze to look at him.
“As this matter progresses and Norington stabilizes quickly, wouldn’t the possibility of having the grandchild you wish for increase, Father-in-law….”
There, a single raccoon dog, not the hero who had been worrying about the darkness approaching humanity just a moment ago, was looking at him with a pathetic expression.
“…Are you short on money?”
At Berger’s question, a single black-haired raccoon dog quietly nodded its head.
***
The place where the black wolf’s banner flies.
The honorable torch.
The lion with a sword in its mouth.
The Golden Balance.
The place where the upright banner of Quiesco stands together.
Norington.
“Who did you say has come?”
Although its master was currently absent, Ciella, who had temporarily set up her own place right next to where the lord should be, asked Nicholas with a surprised look.
Unlike the flustered Ciella, Nicholas spoke in a calm tone to soothe her.
“Right now, you are the only one who can receive them here, my lady.”
At Nicholas' words, Ciella turned her head to look out the window.
Far in the distance, at the entrance of Norington, men holding the banner of Gartaria were waiting for her summons.