"Cecil!""Darling!"
"Brother?!"
"!"
Everyone in the hall was immediately horrified at Cecil"s act of executing Kuran"s family members right in front of him. It was too cruel. The old man had already "confessed" to his crimes so what more did Cecil want from him?
"Y-You, you monster!!!"
"Ah, Elder, I gave you once chance to tell the truth, but you didn"t take it..."
"I already confessed! What more do you want?!"
"Didn"t you hear my question? I asked you, WHY did you let those invaders in and WHY did you let them attack the main family?"
"I—"
"I already know that you"re the one who let them in, otherwise, why would I even be asking you these questions? What I"m asking for is the motive behind it... now, I"ll give you another chance or I"ll just end your life in the most painful way possible!"
"Ha...haha...hahahahaha!" Kuran began laughing hysterically at Cecil.
"Monster, you just wanted to eradicate my family just because we opposed to your decisions!"
"So?"
"So?! Is that all you have to say for yourself? You murdered my family!!!"
"And you attempted to do harm to mine. t.i.t for tat, wouldn"t you say?"
"You main family members have only grown more and more brazen ever since we were brought to this G.o.dforsaken world! You may not have lost anyone due to your martial skills but every in the city, everyone in the branch families have lost family members due to us being powerless to defend ourselves!"
"Oh, cry me a river! You fools separated from the main family"s traditions precisely because you saw no merit in it! Now that it does have merit, you want to wiggle back into the family"s ancient traditions? Are you daft?"
"What? What"s so wrong about us wanting to learn to protect ourselves?!"
"Then go to school."
"?!"
"Learn how to fight like everyone else. Since you really LOVE to uphold the family"s traditions, don��t you know that it"s forbidden to teach our family"s martial arts to outsiders?"
"WE"RE FAMILY!"
"Ah, but you"re not part of the main family," Cecil curtly replied.
"You... you just want to be rid of us, don"t you?!"
"What I want to be rid of are traitors and fools."
"Fools...haha, fools you say! Well, let me say this then. YOU"RE ALL FOOLS! You don"t even know how large the world is out there! There"s a force already bearing down on our lands and they"re out for blood! I only thought it was time for a change in power so I let them into our kingdom!"
"..."
Kuran turned towards the Goldenia family who were present in the hall and roared.
"If it weren"t for you backstabbing Goldenias, then the Faustus Archduchy"s men would have made it off with Luca! And if they weren"t so incompetent, they would have already captured Anastasia and killed off that b.i.t.c.h and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d she"s carrying!" Kuran roared as he pointed to Serilla.
Cecil eyed the old man coldly and said, "So now you decide to confess, huh?"
"Haha, what more can I lose? My life? My life already has no meaning to me! You"ve killed my family! I only pray that the Faustus Archduchy strikes quickly and destroys everything you hold dear! Karma will come for you, you d.a.m.ned boy!"
"...How sad. I didn"t think that the branch families were this rotten."
Cecil waved his hand and Lucia stepped forward and snapped her fingers. Instantly, the scene in the front area of the grand hall began to distort and shimmer.
Everyone was confused and startled but in the next instant they were immediately shocked to see that Kuran"s "dead" family was once more standing in the front of the hall. Kuran was shocked to see them as well and he immediately turned to Lucia who had just stepped forward.
"You, what did you do?!" He roared in question and stomped towards Lucia.
Cecil waved his hand and sent the old man flying backwards, colliding right into his family members. He walked over to them and slowly said to the old man, "Now that you"ve spoken the truth, I"m very, very infuriated right now... How should I punish you? Should I kill your family members for real this time?"
"Cecil, that"s enough! You"ve already proven that he"s the culprit so you should now hand him over to the family and we"ll be the ones to determine his punishment!" Kaiser stood up and declared.
Cecil stepped back and turned to bow to his father before walking towards Lucia and Serilla. Kaiser released a sigh and waved his hand. The guards immediately went over to detain Kuran and his family.
"...we went to war and brought back some benefits for the branch families but this is what we get in return for our goodwill..." Kaiser slowly said.
"..."
"..."
No one in the branch family"s side retorted. Although it was only Kuran and a few other branch families that were in on the scheme, they were all held accountable. Kaiser didn"t think for a moment that the other branch families didn"t know about Kuran"s scheme.
It was completely reasonable to a.s.sume that Kuran had spoken to all the other branch families about the scheme to try and rope them into it. So although they didn"t take part in the scheme, no one from the branch families bothered to report it.
Actually, there were a few that did, but they didn"t have the full picture of what the scheme was since Kuran didn"t approach them. The elder already knew that these few family branches were too loyal to the main branch so he didn"t bother to try and rope them in.
They could only report to Anastasia about Kuran"s movements and she only ordered them to continue monitoring the elder"s movements. She only planned to report it to Kaiser when he got back or when she had enough information that would warrant the Patriarch to personally step in and take action.
She didn"t want to add to Kaiser"s burdens since her husband should be fully focused on leading the army. Then, when her husband had just gotten home, the attack on the main family"s estate and on Luca"s workplace had suddenly occurred.
There was no time for her to report anything to him by then since Cecil had already taken action personally.
"I"m rescinding any of the benefits that we planned to give to the branch families. Cecil, transfer the benefits over to your uncles and aunts. Also, split them up between the kingdom"s duke families."
"Yes, father," Cecil replied. He then turned to search for Fatima since he wanted to just dump all of the work on his sister. He found her standing guard around a few unfamiliar people. They weren"t Alternians so he only a.s.sumed that they were the family"s guests or something.
"Lulu, Seri, I"m going over to big sis to discuss about dividing the benefits we got from Merkruz, wait here, okay?"
"Yes, darling~ and, good job out there," Serilla said before giving him a light peck on the lips. Lucia, however, sneered at Cecil and said, "Discuss? You mean to say that you"re just going to dump the task onto your sister, right?"
"Tsk, I"m going over to DISCUSS it with my sister, okay Lulu?"
"Sure~"
Cecil shook his head and gently flicked Lucia"s forehead. The girl only stuck her tongue out playfully.
Cecil walked over to Fatima and silently talked to her about how they should split the benefits between the kingdom"s families. It was a good way to reward the people under them for their hard work.
It was originally supposed to go to the branch families who weren"t all too loyal to the main branch in order to pacify them, but with how things stands, there was no way Cecil would agree to give them any sort of reward since they had just threatened the well-being of his brother, mother, wife, and his unborn child.
"Okay, big sis, I leave it to you then!"
"Oh no, you don"t! You"re coming with me later and we"ll PROPERLY discuss the details!"
"Ah, come on sis, you"re better at this than me!"
"That"s why you need to learn! Also, don"t act like you don"t know anything, alright? I"ve seen through that ignorant guise that you"ve always put up! You"ve been secretly doing things behind our backs! Why not rely more on your big sis and your brothers? It"s better to share the burden, alright?"
"...fine... but can I leave just this one to you? Just this once, please? I"m going to a.s.semble—"
Cecil cautiously eyed the unfamiliar people behind Fatima and whispered, "I"m going to a.s.semble THAT, you know... we"re going to be connecting two kingdoms together. Don"t you think that"s more important, big sis?"
"...Agh, fine, but only this once, alright? Next time, you"re going to help out!"
"Yes, mother..."
"Tch," Fatima disdainfully clicked her tongue.
"What? You sound just like, Mom!"
"..."
"Come on, you know you do!"
Fatima shook her head and waved him away. However, just before Cecil could walk away, Augustus stepped forward and quickly greeted him.
"h.e.l.lo, Cecil Silvaria."
"Hm? Do I know you?" Cecil replied questioningly to the unknown man who somehow knew his name.
"Oh, we"ve met before when you were younger. My name is Augustus Goldenia. It"s a pleasure to meet you," Augustus introduced himself and stuck his hand out.
Cecil tilted his head in confusion before taking his hand, shaking it, and introducing himself, "Uhh, well I"m Cecil—ah, you already know that. Anyway, it"s a pleasure as well, sir."
"Why yes, of course."
"I should get back now."
"Ah, please, wait. May I introduce you to my daughter, Katya?"
"Huh?"
Augustus snapped his finger and immediately gestured at someone in his group.
"Katya, come here!"
"Y-yes, father..."
Cecil turned towards the person that was being called. The person that was walking towards them was a young girl about his age. She had long blonde hair that was curled near the ends. She had sky-blue eyes and beautiful face.
"I-I"m Katya Goldenia," the girl greeted.
"Mhm, I"m Cecil Silvaria. I suppose you already know that, though."
"Eh, y-yeah...it"s nice to meet you, Cecil."
"Nice to meet you too, well, I should go now."
"Ah, wait, Cecil," Augustus called out.
"Yes?"
"I"m not sure if you remember, but you saved my daughter Katya before."
"What? Really? When was this?"
"When we were all still back on Earth."
"Ohh, sorry, but I probably forgot, hahaha..."
Back where Lucia and Serilla were sitting at, Angelia nudged the two girls to get their attention before saying, "Big sis Seri, Big sis Lulu! Look! Cecil is being introduced to a girl!"
"What?"
"Ohho~h?"