It is said that there are three inevitable things in the world: suffering, death, and the unconditional love of a mother.

  On that matter, I disagree.

  If anything, I’d replace that last one with desire. I never knew my own mother, after all. But I knew desire. Desire for money, for safety, for love, for knowledge, for something better than the cards life threw on my table. That, to me, has always been far more universal than whatever people fantasize a mother’s love is supposed to be.

  But that was only my view. Because in front of me now, begging me to take her son away, knuckles white and eyes trembling, was a mother who would have done ANYTHING I asked of her. Not for herself. Not for comfort. Just for the hope that even if she never saw him again, at least she would know he was alive.

  Love in its purest, rawest form.

  Not even I could claim that for Julia. I wanted her back because I needed her. Because I wanted to see her again, to hear her voice, to feel her warmth. I was in another world, working my way toward a chance at her revival, not to set her free from the grasp of death, but to bring her back to me.

  But this woman before my red eyes… she would have thrown all of that away. The desire, the need, the selfish part of love that I clung to so fiercely. She just wanted her son to be safe. Even if she never touched him again.

  That... was a mother’s love. A mother’s desperation. That... was something I’d spent a lifetime claiming didn’t exist, only for it now to stare me in the face.

  “Please, sir,” she whispered, sinking to her knees between my legs, eyes shining with tears as she looked up at me. “Just tell me what you want me to do. I’ll do it.”

  WOW, wowowow, Whoa, calm down, lady. My wife is watching!

  “Please, Duchess,” I blurted, practically teleporting backward as I shot to my feet, “You mistake my silence for refusal. I’m just... amazed by your resolve. I never said I wouldn’t do it unless I got something from you. We’re here not only for the Adventurer’s Guild nonsense, but also to make sure Stevin stays alive. He never wanted to come back here. He did because I promised his safety.”

  Her entire face flooded crimson as reality caught up to her. Clearing her throat, she scrambled upright, straightened her posture, only for her to bow deeply toward me.

  “...Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me yet,” I exhaled, rubbing my temples. “I’ve failed him so far. But there is one thing I do not understand... why? Why is his father against him? Why isn’t he protecting his own son from the rest of his house? Why is he allowing threats to his life at all?”

  “Because… I don’t know anymore,” she murmured, sitting back down, composure slowly reassembling itself. “Perhaps it is because he is his father. Because he fears being the one to spill the blood of his brother and nephews… just as Stevin fears spilling it.”

  That was far from a satisfying answer for my ears.

  Her hands clenched in her lap as she continued. “But I cannot allow my husband’s anxieties to lead to Stevin’s death. Even if I must kill them all myself. But I would rather not. I would rather send my son away. And from his own words… You, Sir Elio, are the best option he has.”

  I closed my eyes, tilted my face toward the ceiling, and let out a long, weary sigh.

  “Do you have any idea how much trouble your son has caused me? How he spread information about me to anyone with functioning ears, terrifying my entire party? How much of a brat he is? How he gives me a migraine every time he starts arguing with that priestess, only for it to somehow escalate into a physical fight before they start cursing each other out like two hormonal children raised in a barn?”

  She swallowed hard as I opened my eyes, half-expecting to find her on her knees again. Instead, she was smiling.

  “That’s my son for you.”

  “Yes,” I smiled back, “Even with all the headaches, even with all the annoying parts of him, he is intelligent, fierce, loyal, and extremely strong and resilient. As long as he needs me to, as long as he wants me to, as long as he tells me he wants to leave, I will take him with me. I will keep him safe. Hopefully, things will change in the future so that I can bring him back to you. Is that… satisfying, Duchess?”

  And as tears welled up in her eyes, as she began sobbing, and as she got to her feet, moving toward me, she just nodded and hugged me tightly, letting go of any form of decorum.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I said in my head as I hugged the Duchess back, letting her cry her heart out until she could no longer.

  After she calmed down, apologized profusely, agreed to talk some more in secret about it, and insisted that she would repay me somehow, I took my leave before I truly tested the patience of the Heavens, and met with the terrified maid.

  “Is… the Duchess? She was crying,” the maid muttered, still bloody terrified of me.

  “She is fine,” I nodded, “The discussion got sentimental. That is all. You can go check her well-being if you wish.”

  And with a nod, she went and did exactly that, making me feel guilty for some reason as we switched places, finding myself now standing in between the two colored-glass windows, waiting for the maid.

  Until, as if waiting for me to relax, Ephe began speaking words I didn’t want to ever hear.

  [Danger.]

  [Elio has Been Found.]

  [One Lifeform approaching.]

  [Subject: Silius Barta]

  [Species: Human.]

  [Age: 42.]

  [Road: Earth-Dancer.]

  [Reigncraft Classification Detected: Core.]

  [Intent: Kill.]

  “How dare you?” Silius muttered, appearing in the hallway after taking a corner, “In... in my wife’s quarters?”

  I could only sigh again at my misfortune, “You misunderstand, Duke.”

  “I misunderstood? No… I think I did not,” he said quietly, as if not wanting to draw attention to his presence here, “Come, Sir. Let us go outside a bit. It would be a pity to ruin such halls.”

  “No explanation, then?” I asked, already sweating buckets. Not at the threat the man posed, nor at the questions that swirled in my head. No… at the swirling happening in my pants as Relia was starting to move, just in case.

  “No explanation needed,” Silius shook his head, telling me to follow with his head.

  So with a shrug, I followed the man, leaving the hall behind before the maid could come back from the Duchess’s room.

  After five minutes of labyrinth crossing, swearing I will fuck the mother of whoever designed this damn place, we arrived at the entrance of the mansion near the long staircase that led down the hill toward the iron gates we entered through. It was such a sight to-

  The bastard didn’t even give me a moment to finish my monologue before he stomped thrice on the ground in quick succession.

  *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

  Luckily, I already knew Stevin’s rhythm and what it meant, so I only had to move aside slightly before a spike shot up from the ground.

  “Either way, I had a few bones to pick with you,” I said casually despite my panicked heart. “I remember I told you not to hit Stevin again.”

  “And I remember asking you to tell me who you are to tell me how to educate my own son?” he said, before doing something Stevin had never once done in front of me.

  He stomped eight times as he stepped backward, each footfall sending the earth jolting upward. Then, as if shaping a wave of soil and stone, he hurled it toward me.

  But he wasn’t the only one with powers.

  “I, Ruler of Calcan Castle, Seed of the Reigncraft, Negate your spell, you worthless father. Denial.”

  An invisible force surged from me, crashing into the incoming wave and blasting the earth back toward him.

  Shock flickered across his face, but only for a moment. He moved again, dancing as he raised a solid barrier of earth, stopping the deflected attack just short of him.

  “Also,” I continued, as if the exchange of spells had been nothing more than an ad break. “How dare you? I can understand not trusting me, but not trusting your own wife? Not caring about your son’s situation?”

  The barrier collapsed into a heap of dirt at his feet. He stood still now, eyes fixed on me. The bastard was listening.

  “I’ve never met a poorer husband than you, My Lord. And what do you think your wife wanted from me? You, sir, are a fucking dumbass.”

  He didn’t interrupt.

  “She asked me to save your child from the people trying to kill him, something you, a Duke with enough gold to wipe your ass with and enough influence to threaten an entire kingdom, are apparently incapable of doing. For all the man you are, that much less of a father you’ve become.”

  He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “I’ve killed people for less than what your pale mouth just uttered, Vampire Lord.”

  My eyes widened. That seemed to have only made his chuckle bloom into laughter.

  “I’ve figured you out now,” he said proudly. “It makes sense why my lovely wife sought your help.”

  Seeing it now, really seeing it, I can say with absolute certainty that Stevin is one hundred percent this bastard’s son. The smile. The pride in his eyes. The way he puffed out his chest like a mentally challenged rooster. Even jumping to the vampiric conclusion within minutes. All the proof I needed.

  But still, I shook my head, “If you were half the man your son is, I would’ve liked you. But I do not, nor will I. You have pushed terror on a child. Your own child, telling him to act like an heir, to kill his enemies. To kill his own family. Or be killed by them.”

  “Forgive me,” he shrugged blatantly, “But do you know what it means to be a noble? Do you understand the sacrifices one must make? How many enemies do I have? How many enemies will he have? How many hard choices will he have to make? You do not, Vampire Lord. Your eternal life took away the greed you once had. You forgot the humanity around you and forgot that people kill. Animals kill. So you either kill, or are the one being killed.”

  “So that’s it?” I asked, “The circle of life? Instead of leading your son, teaching him, and helping him become the best version of himself, you just sit back, relax, and see if you have a son by the end of it all?”

  “I have another son. I can make more if need be.”

  I felt bile building up at the man’s words. This… disgusting excuse of a human being. There was no more Justice left in him.

  If this were how every fucking noble out there really thought, then best to just nuke it all into oblivion.

  [Directive ‘Detect the Cause of the Fracture’ Followed - Registered.]

  [Cause forFracture 7-A: Discovered.]

  [Reign Index Increased: 0.31% → 0.35%]

  [New Directive: Detect Fracture 7-B]

  [New Directive: Detect Fracture 7-C]

  [New Directive: Observe Fracture 7-D]

  [Once all Four Parts of the Fracture 7 have been Detected and Observed, the Broken Law of Justice could be Restored.]

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