Chapter 95 : Chapter 95

Chapter 95 - The New Club

A guest visited the Dark Moon Grand Castle in the middle of the night.

The guest, accompanied by one attendant, was quiet.

The mere fact of his presence nearby was enough to make everyone in the domain tense.

The guest, who could never be turned away even though visiting like this in the middle of the night was rude, spoke.

“Where’s Dante?”

“He is out for training. If you tell me your business, I will deliver the message as soon as he arrives.”

The Head Maid answered politely.

The Fourth Son waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s fine. I’ll wait.”

“In that case, Sir Jubel has acquired a set of high-end desserts from the South. Shall I prepare them for you?”

“Really, really? Then that would be great.”

A suddenly brightened attitude.

The high-end dessert set from the South was a taste vouched for by the pre-diabetic Head Maid.

She served brownies and a slice of cake on a beautifully crafted plate.

She also placed tea next to it to prevent him from getting tired of the sweetness.

“Please enjoy.”

“Yeah! This is something I wish my Chief Secretary would learn! My Chief Secretary won’t let me eat because my teeth will rot, you know? Does she think I’m a kid!”

“……”

He was a kid.

Both the Fourth Son and the Fifth Son were boys, although the spoons they were born with were too great.

And yet.

‘To be treating the Fourth Son like a child and maintaining her life. She even seems to be quite favored. What a surprising fact.’

The woman who followed the Fourth Son at a constant distance.

I stared at the Chief Secretary.

She stood still with her eyes closed, occasionally moving a handkerchief.

“Oom oom.”

“If you eat with food smeared like this, you will be embarrassed when you see the Fifth Son. I recommend you eat with caution.”

“Heehee. Thanks.”

A mouth cleaned without a single crumb by a gentle touch.

The Fourth Son looked satisfied.

Should I say he looked fulfilled?

The Head Maid, another person with an emptiness in her heart, though of a different kind, could recognize that.

By the time the Fourth Son’s plate was empty.

The outer wall opened and the Butler entered.

He was the one the Fourth Son had been staring at with shining eyes as soon as he came to the castle.

“Head Maid. The Young Master is here.”

“Understood. Could you please go out to greet him and tell him that the Fourth Son has come?”

“Yeah. I will.”

The Butler glanced at the Fourth Son as he left.

It was a look of caution.

Like a house dog seeing a stranger.

Such a look of caution.

Butler Amon went out through the outer wall and dropped down to the main gate in one go.

“Heutcha.”

Although he was scanning as he fell, not a single speck of dust entered his nose.

The castle, meticulously cared for by the god of cleaning, was spotless and had no qualms about letting in guests.

“But I don’t think that snot-nosed kid is it.”

Even though he himself looked like a snot-nosed kid.

The Butler took a deep breath and greeted the new master of the house.

“Young Master. You’ve returned.”

“Yes. On the way, I saw that the Captain of the Royal Guard’s expression was unusual.”

“Yeah. A person called the Fourth Son is inside. The Head Maid is dealing with him.”

“…The reason.”

“I don’t know that. But the atmosphere was unusual, you know? They looked ready to fight.”

The Youngest Son shook his head as he created a staircase to ascend.

“That won’t happen. My second-oldest brother is someone who moves by his own rules. And I am within those rules.”

“What is it? Those rules?”

“There is such a thing.”

It was a rule that was difficult to explain to others.

Those detailed inner thoughts that could only be known by having been a player myself.

Since the rules were made up of such abstract things.

Based on those rules, I predicted that the sharp momentum now was not directed at me.

“Somehow, this time. I have a strong feeling that the situation has been reversed.”

Such a strong feeling did not betray its owner.

“Dante! Won’t you join me in a business venture?”

As soon as he opened the door of the outer wall, with whipped cream smeared all over his mouth.

“You’ve gotten it on you again. You’re so clumsy.”

“Oom! I’m in front of Dante right now!”

“You must wipe it off even more so because you are in front of the Fifth Son.”

There was my second-oldest brother, who seemed to have become younger in a different way since I last saw him.

More importantly.

“What kind of business venture are you talking about? For you to come all this way at night, it must be a serious matter.”

A serious matter.

I swallowed my saliva as I spoke.

It was because I knew that the Fourth Son had been madly chasing the Forest Witch, the culprit behind the destruction of Hojeopgung.

Furthermore, that culprit was currently diligently guarding the cauldron at Hexa.

The Fourth Son was right at her doorstep, so to speak, but she had no interest.

-The President will take care of it.

A voice like that seemed to echo in my ears.

The Fourth Son smiled with his once again clean mouth.

“I heard that recently, Dante, you’ve been taking action towards the elders.”

“Are you referring to the invitations?”

“That beautiful Scripture of the Dark Wheel’s temple is also included in that action.”

The Youngest Son did not particularly deny it, and he continued.

“Now that Eclipse is working properly, the elders are caught by their past statements. Aren't they going to try to interfere with Dante? Dante is also worried about that.”

Was it just worry?

A secret struggle with one elder was already underway.

The very existence of a nation was already at stake in that struggle.

The person who didn't know that said casually.

“The elders each have great academic factions, military power, and power within the family. Even for Dante? It will be difficult alone.”

“So you’re saying you’ll lend me your strength so I can fight against the elders. Is that what you mean?”

“Uh-huh! That’s it.”

“I understand. But.”

The Youngest Son’s hand gently caressed the line of the teacup.

“I may have become a target for certain elders because of Eclipse, but why are you trying to antagonize the elders, Older Brother?”

The one who was antagonized.

The one who intended to antagonize.

The difference between the two was great.

And the Fourth Son was clearly the latter.

He spoke without hiding anything.

“To place the Forest Witch in the position of an elder!”

The one listening, however, hid many things.

“…The Forest Witch. In a family elder position.”

With his expression, emotions, and so on.

On the other hand, the Fourth Son was only bright.

“Yeah! She wants it too. That’s why she attacked her maternal family, the Mystics, to prove her strength. As a way of venting her anger for having her maternal family status taken away because of the Mystics.”

……?

“Who told you such a story?”

“The Land General Manager.”

At the appearance of an unexpected name, the Youngest Son’s eyebrow rose once more.

That name was not just entangled by a fair amount.

“The Land General Manager encountered the Forest Witch and, calling her a benefactor, leaked the location of Hojeopgung to her. And then he pretended he didn't? How detestable.”

I nodded without answering.

The reaction when the Land General Manager encountered Lores here later was also something to see.

I could tell to what extent he was a benefactor.

But that was none of the Fourth Son’s business.

“So that bastard is now in the Execution Department. It’ll be hard to throw him into Mugan, but! I’ll be able to blow off a few of his limbs.”

“……”

I nodded moderately in silence.

The Fourth Son’s words were the plain reality without any embellishment.

That's why it bothered me even more inside.

Whether he knew that or not.

The Fourth Son continued with what he had to say.

“Did I kill over half of that guy’s subordinates? Around that point, he spilled what he knew. The Forest Witch had tried to bribe the Land General Manager in advance.”

At this point.

The outline of what the Fourth Son in front of me was planning and what he wanted was taking shape.

“If you place the Forest Witch in an elder position, you can get your hands on her right away. So you’re saying you’ll aim for that moment and kill her.”

“That’s it! As expected, Dante understands my heart right away, doesn’t he?”

“What you want from me, Older Brother, is to join forces to drive out one elder for that plan. That’s what you mean.”

“That’s correct too!”

The Fourth Son clapped his hands.

“How about it? Interested?”

“Very much so.”

As it happened, I too had an elder who was so annoying I could hardly stand it.

“If you’re okay with it, Older Brother, I’ll even narrow down the candidates.”

“Good, good! But from the way you talk, it seems you’ve already decided on someone in your heart?”

From his words alone, he looked like a kind older brother trying to give a present to his younger brother.

But the content was the creation of a kill list.

“Elder Kian. I am worried about him.”

“Hmph. The elder who opposed the conquest of Eclipse. Right? And you have a problem with that elder too?”

I affirmed with silence.

The corners of the Fourth Son’s mouth rose even higher.

He was like a snake just before swallowing its prey.

“My, my. Could this be a night that will be recorded in the family’s history? Two direct blood relatives, who are mere brats in the eyes of the elders, joining forces to crush one of the Ten Elders!”

─!!

A great laugh, so loud it was hard to believe it came from a small body, rang out.

“Very good! I like it!”

“The same goes for me.”

The two brothers shook hands once more.

For now, their clasped hands were warm.

***

He was imprisoned by the king.

Though it was called probation.

The reality was a future where he would be locked up here until he died.

Resigned, he was tearing at the hard bread given in prison.

He saw a ghost.

“Y-Your Highness….”

The dead Third Prince.

William Reggie Krawl.

Now that he was stripped of everything he had, he was even seeing his illusion.

Had I lost my mind?

It was an all-too-realistic illusion.

With that illusion before him, he shed tears.

“I’m sorry…. I’m sorry, Your Highness. When I said you should stay on the front lines then…. It was because that was the way to preserve your life.”

But.

The First Prince’s inferiority complex could not be extinguished even by the cold of the corpses piling up on the front lines.

“I only learned of Your Highness’s death notice after that shameless plan had proceeded.”

If he had known, he would have definitely stood in the way.

They hadn't informed him from the beginning.

He was disillusioned with this royal family.

And yet.

He stubbornly stuck around until the king himself drove him out.

“There must be at least one person left by the royal family’s side to speak the truth. The Administrative Grand Officer must do so. Because Your Highness and I believed so, I worked silently.”

But now he couldn't even do that.

It was a sorrowful reality.

“I’m sorry…. Prince William….”

Only now did he kneel.

Only now did he beg for forgiveness.

“If only I could go back to the past…. I might have persuaded Your Highness and brought all the soldiers from the front lines to occupy the capital. Heh heh….”

Having nothing, his thoughts became more and more radical.

Busy taking care of the country, he was single and had no family.

That's why he wanted to throw everything away even more.

While his meaningless regrets continued.

“…!!”

The number of ghosts increased.

It was a ghost wearing a mask.

That masked ghost said.

“Should we hit him?”

“That would be easier. To go back that way carrying a moving person, phew….”

“Yes. It’s easier to throw something that isn’t moving.”

Conspiring right in front of the person concerned.

There was no such thing as question time.

Before he could raise his hand, the masked man’s hand would move first.

“W-what is this─”

Pow.

And thud.

With a dull sound, the prisoner collapsed.

.

.

.

The collapsed prisoner opened his eyes in the morning.

The first thing he saw was a rather cozy room.

The second was a window.

The sky visible outside it was strange.

Is it… night? Or day?

A sky that was ambiguous to distinguish was hanging there on the ceiling.

A strange but familiar sky.

He had seen the sky he had seen before during the completion ceremony.

Yes. This is.

“Eclipse…? Why am I here….”

He blinked his eyes.

The clothes on his body were neat.

Instead of the musty smell of prison clothes, there was a warm and pleasant smell.

For a moment, it even seemed to smell like flowers.

He pushed back the blanket and got up.

A strange room where a door was nowhere to be found.

The environment was too good to think that he was imprisoned again.

So much so that if it were a dream, he wouldn't want to wake up.

But the reason he thought it wasn't a dream was.

“Keuk….”

It was because of the back of his neck, which was throbbing for some reason.

Kururururung─

“W-what is it.”

The outer wall opened.

On the other side, revealed as it slid open to the left and right, were.

Puuuuu─

A child with a ram’s horn blowing what might be a celebratory trumpet.

A woman in a maid’s uniform with a blank expression, holding out a long piece of paper.

On that paper, it was written.

“Welcome… to the Coup d'état Club…?”

An opportunity to join a new club.

It seemed like the second chapter of his life was about to begin here.

Oh, no.

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