Chapter 16 (1/2)
“I’m giving you my seat as the Head of the household.”
Yeriel grew speechless. Her lips had stopped cursing me entirely. I found it adorable, the way she blinked in confusion, her mouth puffing as she tried to make sense of what I just said and reply to me at the same time.
“You…you’re lying!” Ariel spat the words out, barely managing to compose even that short sentence.
“Your manner of speaking still has no class or elegance to it.”
“…That’s a lie!”
“That’s a little better.”
“…See! That’s a lie as well!”
I shook my head at her reply. She still seemed unable to believe me.
“I don’t lie.”
“…”
Only then did her hands start to shake. Her eyes began roaming around the room, seemingly looking for something.
“Pen…I-I need a pen and paper…memorandum…write a memorandum right now.”
“You have no dignity.”
“See, that’s…”
“A lie? I’d have already cut off your finger before you could point it at me and say that. Would it not be better if I just take an oath?”
“…”
An oath was far more significant to a wizard than to ordinary people. Simply put, it was no different from applying a memory-based magic spell that would bind their souls to the promise they took. Breaking it would either result in their death or the loss of their power.
“Really…will you really?”
“Yes.”
“No, this doesn’t make any sense. Why? Why are you suddenly doing this?”
Naturally, I couldn’t say that it was to soothe her anger and remove future death variables. Yeriel found my decision too sudden, making it hard for her to trust my words. However, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I would one day turn over my position to her anyway; all I did was push forward that event’s date.
“From now on, I’ll be focusing on my research on magic. I won’t have time to attend to my duties as the head of the household. Hence, I deduced that this is the best possible move for everyone’s interests, considering you’ve already mastered the art of lordship anyway, at least to some extent.”
“You only realized that now?”
“I’ve known about it for a while. I was just testing you.”
Deep in thought, she wiggled and soon shook her head with a scream.
“Test?! I’m the one who should be testing you!”
“If you don’t want to believe me, don’t.”
“…”
Ariel moistened her lips, then, still in doubt, slowly looked at me.
“The…the succession ceremony…w-when are we doing…it?”
She stuck her tongue out at the end, like an actual little sister, which I found cute. I hadn’t given any thought to that event at all yet. Hence, I just made up an answer on the spot.
“You’ll know when the time is right.”
As if she understood my point immediately, she nodded along.
“In three years. Exception Day.”
“…”
I didn’t know what she meant, but I just went along with it since she looked so serious. Pondering to herself, she gathered the things she brought with her. On the bed were a dagger and a pistol, which I thought meant, ‘Today was going to be the day I murdered you.’
“You’re leaving already?”
“Of course! A certain someone spent 200 million at an auction, after all. I have to go earn back what we lost.”
She often screamed at me out of nowhere, but the embers from her voice had died down now. The Yukline Household would one day transcend 200 million. I was certain of that.
Our territory was called Hadekain, which was a continent rich with fertile soil. Its location had mountains surrounding its borders with rivers running along the middle, making it worthy of being called a Holy Ground. On top of that, our political position was ridiculously good.
We weren’t high enough in the system to reach the Imperial Family, but we also weren’t so far that we lacked any means of communication either. This Holy Ground continued to develop with those advantages, attracting both local wizards and knights. Only the Iliade and the Leviron households could become our opponents, but Iliade’s area was too small, and Leviron was too far.
The Head of Yukline was a position far above everyone around us.
“Oh right, you…” As she was about to leave, Yeriel stopped by the door. “…better not change your mind later.”
“What?”
“…I’m not making you take an oath because of my little…faith…in you…” Barely finishing the sentence with her diminishing voice, she stopped abruptly at the door.
“If you’re lying, then even I don’t know what’s going to happen next…this moment can make or break our family. You know that, right? I’m already considered a lord by the people, after all.”
I knew that all too well. She’d probably poison my food or drink if I went back on my word.
“Believe me. It’s not a lie.”
“…Hmmph.”
Ariel put her dagger and gun in her bag.
“…”
She then continued to stare at me, this time in silence, but I didn’t avoid her gaze. Yeriel soon grabbed the door and turned to glance at me one last time as she was about to leave.
“I still don’t believe you. I doubt you’d do it. I mean…”
“I’ll take an oath right now.”
“…Don’t need it.”
She turned the doorknob, opened the door, and walked out of the room.
“Yeriel.”
I caught her just as she was about to go down the stairs. Turning around, she looked like she was curious about what I had to say and seemed almost afraid that I might go back on my promise.
“…What is it?”
I didn’t know what I was supposed to say to her. I just impulsively called out to her. However, I didn’t feel satisfied with just eliminating the death variable. I wanted to take it a step further. I didn’t want to live like Deculein using the system’s [Personality] as an excuse. Although it certainly bound me, it wasn’t a shackle I couldn’t escape.
Hence, to reach my goals, at the very least, and for me to remain as Kim Woojin and not become Deculein, I had to personally mend this character’s already damaged relationships…
“You should at least eat before you leave. You’ll grow hungry on the road otherwise.”
…I felt goosebumps all over my body as I affectionately said those words, which took courage to do. That act alone deviated from the character’s core itself. Yeriel flinched upon hearing them, her round eyes shaking as if she saw a ghost.
“No! No way! No! Don’t spout such weird things out of the blue! I don’t know what happened to you, but I have to go now!”
Yeriel was screaming.
Ting tang, ting tang—!
She rushed down the stairs like an eager elementary school student.
“I’m going! Get the car ready!”
Eventually, her clamor reached the first floor.
“Hmmm.”
[The Villain’s Fate: You have overcome a Death Flag.]
And I, after received money from the store as a reward. The total amount I had in it was now six won. The System Store was currently accessible, but…
“…I feel like a mess.”
I was out of my mind. Only about fifteen minutes had elapsed since I had arrived home, but I felt like I had been here for hours. What kind of storm just went by? I closed the door and stretched my arms out in the air.
“That’s interesting.”
I was about to sit with a glass of wine in hand when a strange voice came out of nowhere. I felt flustered, but at the same time, I felt strangely calm.
“I know I’ve said this before, but no matter how surprised I internally am, I just can’t express it externally. It’s such a mysterious yet efficient disposition.”
“…Just saying that I’m here,” The voice replied, sounding a little sharp.
Not long after, a breeze entered the room through the moonlit window frames. Unable to stop me, I looked in the direction it came from.
“So something like this happened.”
Ganesha, a beautiful woman with unraveled fiery-red hair, looked at me with a playful smile. I frowned faintly at her in reply.
“An uninvited guest appears.”
“I’m sorry. I am, but the Professor is handing over his seat as the head of the household? Are you trying to change?”
Why was this adventurer sticking her nose in another household’s business?
‘Oh, that’s right. Yukline isn’t my household.’
I calmly answered her.
“I just think she’ll do better than me.”
Still in doubt, Ganesha murmured, “Really? I can see where you’re coming from, but…the fact that she’s not your real sister still exists.”
“…”
Her words disconcerted me for a moment, but according to the setting, Yeriel was my half-sibling, so she had a point.