325 False Protection
Leaving Sera cocooned in the warm embrace of my cozy bed sheets, I exited my room and walked down the spiral stairway leading to the ground floor.
As I came closer to the end of the stairsteps, I heard the loud clamor of voices belonging to the people I was very familiar with. From the sounds of it, they were all engaged in a heated argument.
After taking the last turn of the spiral staircase, several individuals suddenly came into my line of sight.
I exhaled a soft sigh and spared them all a few brief glances.
Come to think of it… I had been sighing a lot since I came to this world. Maybe I should start taking care of my mental health.
Shaking my head, I stopped just before the last few steps of the stairs and slipped my hands into my pockets.
I then swept a quick gaze across the hallway and looked down at the people standing before me.
There stood Reynold and Adel, both dressed extravagantly in modern regal suits and adorned with opulent jewelry.
Well, most of the finery belonged to Adel since Reynold's attire was very plain in comparison to his second son.
To my surprise, standing among them was also the Ice Princess herself, Yelena.
She was wearing the Top-18 blue and white academy uniform, suggesting that she had come here directly from the academy.
Since Yelena was a Council Member, she had to fulfill her Vice President duties even during the break.
Seeing me, all of them grew silent and momentarily stopped their argument, whatever it was about.
"Wouldn't you look at that? The whole family is here!" I put on a wide smile and clapped my hands, then frowned. "Oh, no, wait… Mother dearest is not here."
I confusedly tilted my head and looked at Reynold before posing a question, "Where is she on such a rare occasion?"
But instead of replying to my question, Reynold voiced a question of his own.
"Lucas," he began, giving me a dubious look. "Did you visit the Last Call bar today and assault someone there?"
Ahh, once again I stand corrected.
Frowning, I shook my head. "I did no such thing."
Adel, who was quietly giving me a seething glare while gritting his teeth until now, quickly yelled out, his voice filled with accusation.
"Liar!" He said. "Father, he's lying! There were many witnesses present, you can ask anyone! The security footage should also be available! Lucas attacked Apolus!"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and regarded Adel with an amicable tone, my smile only widening.
"My dear little brother, I'm refuting the accusation of assaulting him. Regarding whether I attacked him… Yes, I did, but solely in self-defense after he made the first move."
Reynold palmed his face.
Meanwhile, Adel vehemently shook his head and yelled out in rage one more time: "Lies! You're lying again! Apolus only touched your shoulder!"
I scoffed at his words as if Adel had told a joke. "Have you seen the size of that man?! My shoulder would've been crushed by the sheer weight of his hand. I only acted in self-defense!"
Both Yelena and Adel looked at me with wide eyes and mouth agape, startled by my obvious shamelessness.
They both knew I was lying. I had enough strength to flip the guy but not endure the weight of his hand on my shoulder? Yeah, right.
Reynold finally uncovered his face and looked at me seriously, his expression stern.
"The Blackwoods are a noble family. You attacked a nobleman," he said.
"In self-defense!" I hastily interjected. "And honestly, why is it such a big deal? The Blackwoods are nobles of the Eastern Continent, right? They have no authority or purpose here in our– I mean, your land."
As if I had stepped on a landmine, with palpable frustration present in her voice, Yelena suddenly erupted before Adel or Reynold could even have the chance to respond:
"That's precisely the problem! If they were Western nobility, Father would've cleaned your mess, like he usually does! But they're from the East! Thanks to you, the Eastern Overlords now have one more excuse to avoid trading with us!"
The frown on my face turned heavy as I slowly leaned to my side on the staircase railing.
"What trade are you talking about?" I inquired.
Yelena's eyes twitched as she exclaimed, "You make me want to bash your stupid head somewhere! Do you have any idea what's going on in politics these days?"
I tilted my head and regarded Yelena with half-closed eyes. "Dear sister, I can't even keep track of my own life, so I apologize if I haven't been keeping up with political affairs."
Yelena smacked her forehead in defeat as I desperately suppressed my laugh. In truth, I knew all that was going on in the world.
The Overlords of the North, the heroic Wright family, were still defending the borders and fighting the vampires.
The Overlords of the West, the revered Morningstar family, were supporting the Wright family by supplying soldiers trained directly by them.
The Overlords of the East, the exalted Vermiër family, were also supporting the Wright family by supplying weapons and armor.
The Overlords of the South… Now this topic is interesting… According to some rumors, Southern Overlords are planning a coup against the Central Government.
Some people even believe that they are accomplices of the covert organization, the Spider.
Because of that, even though the head of the Netyoive is a General-ranked soldier just like Reynold, unlike my father, she isn't allowed to own a military unit under her.
The Netyoive family, despite being a ruling house, holds little power even in their own territory because the Central Government does not trust them.
Right now, a clear discord has been created between the Southern Overlords and the rest of the three Overlords because of this mistrust.
The Central Government is vigilant, closely monitoring not only the Netyoive family but also the other three ruling houses.
They fear that if one ruling family were to turn against them, then the others might attempt to do the same in the future.
This is precisely why the Central Government could not know of the ongoing trade between the Morningstar and the Vermiër families.
What is this trade, one might wonder?
"We're supplying soldiers to the Eastern Continent and receiving weaponry in exchange," Reynold explained. "This trade is something that the Central Government mustn't learn of, as it could lead them to suspect both the Eastern and Western ruling families of treason."
In reality, the entire world is well aware of the trade transpiring between the East and West, just not its real nature.
To hide the true nature of this clandestine exchange from the observant eyes of the Central Government and the world, it has been shown as a trade of goods and relics between the East and West, instead of weapons and soldiers.
I was aware of this because... Do I really need to explain? Heh. The novel.
However, what I can't understand is the why behind it. What is the objective of this secret trade?
The Vermiër house is not a military family. They are blacksmiths, exceptionally skilled ones, to be precise.
Since the situation at the Northern Border is showing signs of escalating soon, it's understandable why a ruling family with weak military prowess would require more soldiers.
Since the Central Government is unwilling to provide them with more troops due to their own insecurities, the Vermiërs have no choice but to engage in a trade for which they could be charged with treason.
But what do the Morningstars gain from this? The Wolves of the West already have enough soldiers and weaponry... unless... unless they are preparing for a war.
But a war against whom?
I furrowed my brow, shaking my head, and shifted my gaze to Reynold. I could think about all this later.
At this moment, I opened my mouth to speak. "You've already disowned me. If they show any reluctance for what I did, simply tell them that I acted on my own. You're not liable for my actions."
Even though I was talking to Reynold, it was Yelena who snapped at me the next moment.
"Oh, you don't say! Obviously, he'll say that because it's the truth! What else do you think happened..."
However, her voice continued to echo in the background, failing to reach my ears as my mind fixated on what I had just said.
Not liable for my actions…
My thoughts immediately returned to the conversation I once had with the former Abyssal Vampire King, Reina.
She had mentioned how vampire spies kept an eye on me, believing I was the Spearman mentioned in their prophecy.
However, after observing me during my youth for several years, they lost interest.
Could that be the reason why he disowned me?
If Reynold truly knew what was going to happen, perhaps he allowed Yennefer to use Arcane magic to influence my mind so that I would do what I did and give him a reason to disown me.
In this way, the Vampires would see no reason to continue spying on me, believing I had no talent, lacked family support, and had no conviction.
In their eyes, I would be nothing more than exactly what the world thought of me—a prodigy who failed at a young age.
A fallen genius.
"Pathetic," I muttered under my breath, casting a furious glare at Reynold, barely keeping killing intent from slipping out.
"What did you just say?!" Yelena erupted, stopping whatever previous rant she was on about.
"Do you have a problem, trash?!" Adel also chimed in angrily.
A profound silence hung in the air for a while as Reynold's gaze locked onto mine. After several tense minutes, he said with a blend of defeat and sternness present in his voice:
"Lucas, go back to your room," he then turned to look at Adel. "You too, Adel. Neither of you is allowed to leave the mansion unless you're leaving the city."
Before Reynold had even finished speaking, I spun around and ascended the stairs, making my way toward my room.
Adel's voice argued with Reynold in the background, but I paid it no attention at all.
My mind was consumed by something else entirely.
What they had done to me, to Lucas—it wasn't protection. They never protected him! I don't know what other choices they might have had, but I refused to believe this was protection.
They had left him to suffer… alone!
"This is it," I seethed. "I'm leaving this damned city."
After all, I had achieved my goal. There was no longer any reason to remain in this wretched place.
Gritting my teeth, I reached my room and forcefully kicked open the door with a resounding thud. "Come on, Sera! We're getting out—"
But as soon as I stepped into my room, a blinding white light assaulted my eyes, prompting me to instinctively shut them.
"What the—?!" I exclaimed, taken aback before opening my eyelids in a squint.
The light was blinding, yet it didn't feel violent. It felt warm… almost familiar?
Looking around the room for its source, I noticed the intense glow was originating from where my bed should have been.
To be precise, where Sera should've been…
"...Huh?"
