Chapter 7: The One Responsible

2 weeks since that horrible day have passed. The bright and joyful atmosphere in the Velmont manor was all gone. What replaced it was a gloomy one, it was like everyday was a funeral.

There was duchess Aina, eversince Head Butler Peter explained to her about unfortunate incident that befell her daughter, the relationship between her and the Duke was strained. Like a rope that is hanging on to eachother by only a string. She ran over to the Duke and slapped him, blaming him for trusting that pervert and blaming herself for not being more adamant about her earlier suspicions on the day he first arrived. Since then the only time the 2 ever meet are during meal times sitting on the opposite ends of the large dining table.

The Duke on the other hand did not forget his duty of watching over his people and territory despite the events that happened, but he has started to develop a drinking issue whenever he has free time. His usually clean looks and shiny blonde hair now unkempt and dull with an unattractive beard growing on him that makes him look 50 when he's still in his early 30s.

3 days after being rescued, Chelsy woke up to see Head Maid Sara. The moment Sara noticed Chelsy was awake, she immediately broke her calm facade and ran over to hug her in tears. A moment later Chelsy asked Sara a painful question. "What's wrong Aunty Sara?" . When Sara heard the clueless tone of Chelsy's voice, she couldn't help but hug her even tighter. She remembered the words of that tall man in black, how the previous victims temporarily forget about the disgusting acts that man did to them only to remember them a week later. Head Maid Sara stood up to head out inform both the Duke and Duchess that Chelsy has awoken.

Head Butler Peter was probably the only one that was mentally better than the rest. Despite being there on that day and witnessing the crime scene, He still did his job properly and kept his looks neat and clean. But that was only on the outside, inside of Peter was a flame of rage that kept burning brighter and brighter, waiting for the investigation results on which family targeted the Velmonts so they know who to declare war on.

And lastly there was John, unconcious on his bed since that day he showed the Manticore group and his father on what happened that time with Devor. The moment he finished showing his father and the agents his recollection of what he did, He slumped over on the couch with blood coming out of his. Luckily the agents that checked on him diagnosed him with severe magius usage, although painful It is not lethal as the body will shutdown when it reaches a certain threshold.

Will the Velmont family every go back to their normal cheerful days? Only time will tell...

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In a different noble territory neighboring the Velmont family...

Inside a dark room of that Noble's manor, an elderly individual that looked to be in his 60s could be seen sitting on a leather chair with a glass of wine right beside it. Together with him was a young child that seemed to be the same age as the Velmont kids, drawing on a piece of paper.

"Grandpa look! It's my newest masterpiece!" The kid stood on her tippy toes and pushed a drawing into his grandfather's face.*

"Hoho Let's see here..." Looking at a drawing of a 6 year would not be that impressive but for this old man... It was God's work.

"Amazing! To think my granddaughter would be such a talented artist at such a young age Haha!" He picked her up and raised her high into the air spinning around. "We will keep this in our family vault so that future generations would witness your talent, how does that sound Ann?"

"Hehehe... Anything grandpa says sounds good." Ann tried to reach for down to ruffle her grandfathers beards and her grandfather noticed this and was about bring her closer until...

*BANG*

The door was slammed open and in came a man in his 40s with a darkish blue suit.

"Father! Our spy has finally sent wo--UGHRBFF!"

In the middle of his speaking, the man was suddenly interrupted by flying literaturs as it made its way to his face, and the title of said literature was "How to turn anything into a projectile".

Seeing her father and grandfather fight was always a funny sight so Ann couldn't help but chuckle.

While the man was still on the ground, the elderly placed Ann down to the ground and asked her to leave them alone for awhile. Ann didn't want to as she wanted to see them fight more, but she couldn't refuse if it was her grandfather that asked, with that thought Ann cleaned up her crayons and walked out the room not forgetting to close the door.

"Did I raise you to be such an idiot Herman? Do you want the whole world to hear you screaming out our most confidential information?" The gentle look on the old man's face disappeared and what replaced it was the face someone would have when they were looking st trash.

"Of course not father! I was just worried by the news our spy has sent."

"...Have that spy killed. The fact that he reported directly to you first instead of me is as if he was undermining my authority in this household."

"... I Understand father."

"So? What news did he bring for you to do something so stupid like shouting private information?"

"The Duke in Velmont is adamant in starting a war once the Manticore group finishes their investigation. What are we going to do father?" Herman stops talking to lift his head and look at his father's face only to be surprised to see that his father wasn't worried by such information.

"We have nothing to fear. The soonest that Velmont bastard can go to war is atleast 6 years from now. Winter is approaching soon which will give us a year and then we will probably earn atleast another 5 more years when I visit the kingdom and ask his majesty for protection.

"From his Majesty? But father how are we qualified to ask for such a thing? I don't remember our family doing anything to earn that kind of privilege."

"Of course you don't remember anything you idiot! You have done nothing worth remembering eversince I made you the family head!"

With such harsh words from his father, Herman could only look down in defeat.

The old man could only sigh when he his son would not even try and talk back. He would have still beaten him blue if he did talk back but atleast he had the courage to do it.

The old man stood from his chair and walked over to a painting of his grandfather. He took the painting off the wall and made sure not to bump it into anything.

Behind the painting is a safe with no handle or combination dial. That was because the actual method to open it was through Runic magic.

Placing the palm of his hand onto the safe, he leans his head forward near the safe and whispers a secret code.

When he finished whispering, the runes stopped glowing and then a steam of cold air burst through the seams of the safe showing that it was an airtight safe. Reaching his hand into the safe, the old man pulls out a gold medallion with 4 different gems on each side like a compass.

"What is that father?" It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, it was the type that any woman would fight and die for. Herman thought of how happy his wife would be if he were to gift her this.

"This right here is the Royal Medallion, only 4 have been made in our kingdom's history and being given one of these is a sign of the kingdom's appreciation of a person's efforts and loyalty towards the kingdom. You can thank your great-grandfather for this."

"To think our family had a secret like this..." The moment those words escaped his mouth, Herman was once again hit in the face by flying literature with the title this time as "How to properly throw anything at any distance"

'Is this old man just obsessed with throwing stuff?!'

"You idiot son! It's because you skipped out on studying that you don't even know our family's history! Take this book and read it!"

Without waiting for Herman to get off the ground, the old man quickly threw another book at him titled "Clauder Family Biography".

'F*ck!' Herman laid on the ground rolling while covering his face in pain. Despite him being in pain, it still was funny to watch.

"Remember this Herman," Ignoring his son rolling around. "the Clauder family needs the territory that belongs to the Velmonts. This is for the sake of our survival. Screw ups will not be forgiven, even if you are my son."

Still on the ground with the pain in his face finally lessened, Herman replies to his father.

"I understand."

"... When are you gonna get off the ground?"

'... Who's fault was it that I'm on the ground in the first place! '

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"Your grace, the results of the investigation have arrived."

"Bring it in..."

When Peter opened the door, the sight that greeted him was the Duke's haggard appearance and his new desk with 9 empty bottles of wine on the side of it.

Taking the file from Peter's hands, Duke Arbor began to read whilst holding on a half empty bottle on his other hand.

When he finished reading he still remained the same, it seems that he doesn't even have the energy anymore to be mad.

"Claudor... We have been neutral with them for decades extending all the way to my great-grandfather's time. Why would they suddenly do this? Why would they involve my daughter? Why couldn't it have been me..." The Duke pondered for awhile on why they would do this, but his drunken mind and state would keep him from thinking clearly.

"Leave me be Peter..."

And so Peter left the room. When he was sure Peter was gone, Duke Arbor took another bottle of wine and poured himself a whole glass of it. With winter coming soon, he's now forced to just watch the bastards that harmed his daughter for an entire year without even doing anything...

"Just you wait... I'll make sure to eradicate your entire family blood of this world!"