106.
Yu Jin von El Lucid, the heir of Lucid, is alive!
At first, people thought it was nonsense, but it didn’t take long for them to realize it was true. Lucid had officially announced that they would hold a party for the heir. Those who were initially confused quickly changed their attitude upon hearing the news.
“Isn’t this the first time the Lucid Viscount family is holding a party for an heir?”
“That’s right. Even when the eldest son was the heir, they didn’t hold a party for him.”
“The fact that they’re holding a party means they’re going to push this heir forward.”
Lucid caused a commotion in social circles. Especially those who knew the inside story moved quickly.
“I heard the head of Lucid ousted half of the elders.”
“They say it was those who supported the exiled first wife.”
“Come to think of it, the whereabouts of the eldest son are unknown. The second son is alive, but he has no chance of becoming the heir.”
“The family of the second wife isn’t small, but it’ll be difficult for them.”
The incident caused by Ahmed, the second son, had started to spread as a rumor in social circles. Getting involved with drugs was one thing, but trying to harm his sibling was another. Power struggles in noble families were common, but this case was different. The sibling he tried to harm had become the heir. Even those who had been associating with Ahmed quickly distanced themselves.
Crash! Ahmed threw the glass he was drinking from. The delicately crafted glass broke, making a noise. However, even in this situation, no one looked into his room.
“Ha, hahaha.”
He laughed, dumbfounded at how his situation had changed in an instant. How did it suddenly come to this? Ahmed couldn’t understand the current situation at all. All he did was mess with someone who had been practically abandoned by the family, and now things had turned out like this. He felt like he was going crazy. He wanted to rush out and meet Ruhan right away, but there was no way he would see him.
‘And he calls himself a father.’
Ahmed gritted his teeth. Just then, the closed door opened, and Azeth entered.
“Drinking again.”
Azeth sighed as he spoke.
“I need to drink to ease my mind. Is there still no answer from mother’s family?”
Azeth looked at Ahmed with a regretful expression in response to his question.
“They said they couldn’t help this time.”
“…Why not?”
“Ahmed. You’re smart, so I think you understand. Pamina was exiled, and Grein’s whereabouts are unknown. Half of the elders are dead, and those who survived have stepped down from their positions. On top of that, they’ve recently decided to hold a party to celebrate Yu Jin becoming the heir. You need to accept it now.”
“There’s no place for us here. So what does mother plan to do?”
Azeth bit his lip.
“For now, she plans to return to her family.”
Azeth had once thought about killing Yu Jin too, but he changed his mind after hearing about Pamina’s exile and Grein’s disappearance. His hatred for Yu Jin remained, but it was clear what would happen if he made a move now. Ruhan would surely try to deal with Azeth’s children. Even though they were born from that man, Azeth loved his children.
‘So I need to be careful.’
Azeth decided to take refuge in his family’s home for now and plan for the future.
“What does my sister say?”
“She said she’d come along. Roena said she’d stay, but she won’t be able to hold out for long. A marriage has been arranged for her.”
Ahmed gritted his teeth upon hearing his mother’s words. But Azeth was right. If he wanted to live, it was best to go to his mother’s family for now. His chest felt like it was burning with hatred for Ruhan and Yu Jin. He dreamed of revenge, but he didn’t know when he could carry it out. If he made a wrong move, he might disappear without a trace like Pamina or Grein.
Ahmed writhed in agony and reached for the bottle again.
A middle-aged man with neatly combed hair bowed politely to Yu Jin.
“Hello. I am Parsen, the deputy butler who will be serving Young Master Yu Jin from now on.”
Behind Parsen, who introduced himself, ten knights were lined up. Noticing Yu Jin looking at him, Parsen added an explanation.
“Originally, the head of the family wanted to send more knights, but due to lack of space in the mansion, only a few could come. Please forgive us for coming to serve you only now.”
Although Yu Jin had been staying at the mansion for a while after connecting with Jinhyeon, he wasn’t unaware of the rumors. The now somewhat functional underground information network had been delivering news. San, who was now in charge of most of the information network’s work, had grown a lot since Yu Jin first saw him, probably because he had been eating well. Moreover, his relationship with Gee, who accompanied him, seemed to have improved. They looked almost like brothers just by looking at them.
“It seems that Young Master Yu Jin will become the head of the Lucid Viscount family.”
San asserted, sharing the information he had gathered so far.
“Look. All the elders who opposed Yu Jin have been dealt with, and the first wife was exiled and her whereabouts are unknown. The same goes for the eldest son, Grein. Furthermore, the second wife has returned to her family home with her son and daughter. One person remained in the family, but it seems unlikely that they will become the heir. Unless there’s another hidden child somewhere, Young Master Yu Jin is the only one left. Lucid will probably try to do something more soon.”
“What more could they try to do?”
Although he had been appointed as the heir, Yu Jin hadn’t really done anything. As if reading Yu Jin’s thoughts, Jinhyeon added an explanation.
“Actually, Lucid hasn’t been idle all this time.”
“What? What did they do?”
In response to Yu Jin’s question, Jinhyeon pointed to a certain part outside the window.
“There, there, and there.”
“…What’s there?”
“People hiding and watching you. They’ve been there not long after you were appointed as the heir. I left them alone because they showed no hostility and their emblems were familiar. Keith probably knows about them too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“I thought you knew.”
“Why would I?”
“You had a private meeting with the head of Lucid, didn’t you? I thought he wouldn’t have placed them without saying anything.”
Good grief. Yu Jin rubbed his face with his hands. He had thought there might be some other intention since he was only appointed as the heir and then left alone, but it seems that wasn’t the case. Ruhan had placed people to protect Yu Jin in his own way.
‘I thought I had given up all expectations of that person.’
Hearing such words from Jinhyeon gave Yu Jin a strange feeling. Yes, they had had such a conversation before. And today, as San said, he welcomed the people sent by Ruhan.
A family like Lucid doesn’t have just one butler. There are several deputy butlers under the head butler, and these deputy butlers usually work alongside the children of the head of the family.
‘But I didn’t have one.’
Yu Jin, being an abandoned child, didn’t have a butler assigned to him. The maids and servants gradually left due to harassment, and when Yu Jin left the family, only Keith and Haruna remained by his side. That’s why they were like family to Yu Jin.
“What should we do?”
Keith asked Yu Jin. He usually spoke casually, but he couldn’t do so in front of Parsen. Keith maintained a calm expression, but he didn’t seem to be in a good mood. The same went for Haruna. They were probably thinking the same thing as Yu Jin.
‘After leaving us alone all this time, now they come.’
Honestly, he wanted to send them back. But Yu Jin didn’t do that. After confiding everything to Jinhyeon, they had also talked about the future.
‘It’s not like I particularly want to become emperor.’
Jinhyeon, who originally would have become the emperor ruling the continent, had said that.
‘It’s not that I’m not interested in rising to a high position, but for now, I want to be with the person I love.’
He smiled at Yu Jin as he said this. Seeing that, Yu Jin unconsciously opened his mouth and stared blankly at Jinhyeon. Then Jinhyeon kissed Yu Jin and threw off his clothes. As Yu Jin’s thoughts reached this point, he cleared his throat.
‘No, that’s not the important thing.’
Jinhyeon had said he wasn’t interested in seizing power right away, but that didn’t solve all the problems.
Leviathan. It was because of them. Leviathan was an organization that wanted to stand in the highest position and control the continent as they pleased. In other words, they were in the villain position. For this reason, everything they did was evil. They brainwashed and controlled some of the nobles, and they also kidnapped people for experiments to gain power.
Being such villains, if left alone, chaos would come to the continent. Even the continental war that occurs in the latter half of the novel was caused by Leviathan.
‘But would it end just by eliminating Leviathan?’
That wasn’t the case either. This world had two continents, and both sides had villains. If there was Leviathan on this side, there was a similar organization on the Dragon Continent.
‘What was its name again?’
Was it Blood Sect? That side had a worldview similar to the martial arts world. Anyway, currently, Leviathan acts as a deterrent, preventing the Blood Sect from coming to this side. But what would happen if Leviathan disappeared? Naturally, the Blood Sect, with nothing to stop them, would cross over to this continent.
