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Chapter 22
His tone was indifferent, as though he were speaking of something worthless.
But Theodore sucked in a sharp breath as if he had been stabbed.
“…Like my father?”
For a brief moment, the image of a gaunt red-haired man surfaced in Theodore’s mind before fading away again.
To him, his father had always been an ambiguous existence—closer than a stranger, yet farther than family.
Ever since Theodore was still young enough to count his age on one hand, Leopold had already been branded a disgrace, and the Count had separated him from the siblings under the excuse of education.
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
Theodore abandoned even the bare minimum of courtesy as he ground the question out through clenched teeth. Gregory merely curled the corners of his lips upward.
“You already understand, yet you ask anyway.”
Gregory stepped back a few paces from Theodore. Seen at a glance, the boy’s face resembled his father’s remarkably well.
“He was a weak man. One who hated fighting and always wanted to run away from the battlefield.”
A man utterly unworthy of the name Voltaire—the Empire’s spear and shield. Yet Gregory had given him a chance.
“I thought perhaps things would change if his power awakened. If he became even slightly more worthy of the Voltaire name, I would have gladly served him. But in the end, he was devoured by the dead.”
The very same experiment Gregory had used on Theodore.
Leopold had failed to escape the grasp of the dead as they slowly reached for him. His fragile soul had been corrupted by overwhelming malice until its light was extinguished completely.
‘What… am I hearing right now?’
Theodore’s breathing gradually quickened.
All his life, he had grown up beneath the shameful title of “the son of a disgrace.” By the time he was old enough to understand things, he was no longer allowed to see or even speak of his father.
‘But Father… Father was just being used too?’
A sharp ache spread through his chest.
He could barely remember his father’s face. Red hair like Isabella’s. The features beneath it flickered like fog.
“…If I had failed and died, would you have done the same thing to Isabella? Would you have continued until the family’s power appeared in someone?”
At that question, Gregory waved his hand dismissively.
“Of course not. If you were to die…”
Shrugging lightly, he met Theodore’s stare directly.
“Then Isabella would simply need to give birth to another gray-haired Voltaire.”
‘Ah.’
Something inside Claire snapped before the sentence had even fully ended.
CRASH.
Her fist slammed into the spot where Gregory had been standing. The marble floor caved inward, and cracks splintered across the windows from the shockwave, but Gregory had narrowly dodged the attack.
“There’s no need to hear any more.”
The knights hurriedly swung their swords at Claire, but she ducked beneath the attacks and grabbed one knight by the ankle.
“GAAAAAH!”
Like a whip, she hurled him into the others, sending them tumbling across the floor in a tangled heap. Claire snatched up the sword one of them dropped and pointed it straight at Gregory’s throat.
“Let’s kill this lunatic and get out of here.”
Veins bulged across her forehead and neck.
‘You disgusting bastard.’
For one fleeting moment she regretted ever comparing him to a wolf. A pack leader fought to protect its own. But the man before her twisted the necks of children purely for his own amusement.
“Claire!”
“I’ll tear this bastard’s head off myself.”
Claire stood on the edge of losing her reason entirely to rage.
Yet Gregory merely smiled calmly, unafraid of her murderous glare.
“You truly resemble Veronica in moments like this.”
At the familiar name, Claire’s eyes widened briefly.
But only briefly.
“That’s a short last sentence.”
Claire thrust her sword straight at Gregory.
He twisted away at astonishing speed, narrowly avoiding the blade before picking up another fallen sword. The clash of steel echoed through the corridor.
“Hm? I’m surprised you’re not curious how I know your mother.”
“So what?”
“…What?”
“So what if you do?”
Claire frowned as though annoyed.
Gregory was the type of man who toyed with others using vague, manipulative words. She had no intention whatsoever of listening to the stories spilling from his mouth.
‘It’d be better to kill him quickly and hear about Mother from Angela instead.’
Once she shut her ears to him, all hesitation vanished. Claire’s attacks became completely merciless.
‘He’s strong, but not unbeatable. I might have to sacrifice an arm or something, though.’
Gregory met her attacks with visible delight. The expression on his face almost looked nostalgic, which only disgusted Claire even more.
‘Claire… I knew she was strong, but this strong?’
Theodore watched their battle in shock.
The two moved so quickly their figures blurred.
‘How ridiculous must it have sounded whenever I said I would protect her?’
Heat rose to Theodore’s face.
Once again their swords collided, but this time the blades shattered apart under the force from both sides. Without the slightest hesitation, Claire discarded the broken sword and immediately swung her fist instead.
A violent boom rang out as dust exploded into the air.
“Veronica preferred her fists over swords too.”
“So you can use swordsmanship as well. I suppose mercenaries taught you how to fight?”
“Have you learned how to properly control your feral instincts?”
Claire had ignored Gregory’s constant chatter until his next words made her freeze.
“In some ways, you resemble Ian quite a bit as well.”
“Ian?”
For the first time, Claire’s unwavering gaze trembled.
Delight flickered across Gregory’s eyes.
“Yes. Since you resemble him so much, naturally you’d be curious. I mean your father.”
Over Claire’s light brown eyes, Gregory superimposed the face of another man.
Curly blond hair. A physically weak man whose eyes had nonetheless shone brilliantly.
‘Ian… if the Imperial Palace learned your traces still remained, they’d cause an uproar.’
Gregory slowly examined Claire from head to toe with greedy eyes.
She had not yet realized the true nature of her power, but she was already a priceless jewel beyond measure.
“Your father was—”
“No!”
Claire’s sudden shout cut him off for the first time.
“There’s no way I resemble my father!”
For a brief moment, Gregory looked genuinely stunned.
‘Father was different.’
Claire, however, was utterly serious.
Unlike the mother-daughter pair of grizzly bears, her father had been soft and warm like sunlight given human form. If Gregory truly knew her father’s face, he could never compare the two of them.
“I don’t know how you know my father’s name, but that was a pathetic attempt. Did you really think I’d fall for such an obvious lie?”
Gregory blinked slowly.
“I wasn’t referring to your appearance, but what lies within—”
“Shut up!”
Now angry for an entirely different reason, Claire slammed her fist toward his face.
Theodore suddenly realized that the fury consuming him had faded so completely it almost felt absurd.
‘You really are something else.’
Letting out a bitter smile, he looked around.
While Claire kept Gregory occupied, he needed to find something he could do.
‘First, I need to contact Grandfather.’
In the family head’s office, there was a communication stone capable of contacting Ludwig at the border. Ludwig possessed an emergency artifact for spatial movement. If Theodore could summon him directly to the estate, this entire situation would end immediately.
‘Can I evade all of them and safely reach the office?’
Heavy bootsteps echoed from downstairs.
More knights were clearly coming.
‘The estate itself—perhaps even the entire family—has already fallen under Uncle’s control. First, I need to escape this enclosed corridor.’
Swallowing hard, Theodore picked up one of the remaining swords.
The office was one floor above, at the end of the hallway. Not terribly far away.
If they could restrain Gregory before the other knights arrived—
Just as a spark of hope lit in Theodore’s eyes—
“Now then, playtime is over.”
The moonlight filtering faintly through the windows became blocked by clouds.
Gregory’s figure blurred into the darkness, and then—
A high, metallic screech rang through the corridor.
“Huh?”
Before Claire could even identify the source of the sound—
Blood suddenly burst from her mouth.
