Goodbye

  He's going to die

  There is nothing to fear from him in any way

  Not an old woman whose greatest strength is to weaken and insult others

  If his punishment for his actions was this pathetic, he wouldn't accept it so easily

  "You've lost your mind," the old woman gritted her teeth

  "Maybe...a long time ago."

  "Enough nonsense, now wear better clothes than this and go out to meet your teacher. He is already waiting outside for you to leave." The old woman shook her head sharply and almost turned to leave the room.

  "When people are close to death... they feel fear and their conscience resurfaces. They may feel guilty for things they never felt guilty about before, perhaps even for things that were not their fault."

  The boy's voice spoke very calmly 

How do you feel?" The question really sounded like innocent curiosity rather than sarcasm

  "You! You...how, how dare you?! You've gone crazy!"

  "Know"

  Tack!

  The sound of a slap echoed throughout the room

  "What have you done!..." the servant shouted 

"What do you think you are? You should be thankful that you are actually inside the palace instead of being eliminated. You dare..." The woman raised her arm to deliver another blow.

  "Stop!" the servant shouted and tried to hold the woman's huge hand with his thin hand

  Boom!

  The door suddenly opened with a loud slam, and a figure with long red hair and green eyes burning with anger appeared.

  The scene stopped in the room with the old woman's arm hanging in the air and the servant's arm trying to... 

The scene stops in the room with the old woman's arm hanging in the air and the servant's arm trying to hold on to her

  "You?...."

  "Miss, what are you doing here? This is the young master's room. A respectable lady should not…."

  "Did you just....slap my brother?..."

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Ashley has changed

  It didn't take a genius to realize that, with just one conversation, Elena already noticed the difference

  It was terrifying

  She learned that he had been really sick a few days ago, and as usual, she gave the butler several bags of medicinal herbs to help him recover quickly.

  She wanted to burst into the room to check on him, like every time he was sick, but as usual, the annoying old woman would stand up to her and start a lecture for several hours, then direct her to talk to the hysterical stepmother, who would lose her temper in the middle of the conversation and send her to get more headaches with her so-called father.

  Your Excellency the Grand Duke

  gross

Anyway, it was more than just an illness this time, and she already realized that

  Her brother had never looked at her like that before. It was already one look at breakfast first

  She had already seen that look on the outskirts of alleys before

  That was not the look of a living person

It wasn't her brother who was running around her, despite her sharp, uncontrollable tongue. 

He wasn't the person who never stopped trying to be nice to everyone and get close to them. He was a different person

Elena decided to ignore it at first

  But it didn't stop, and it even got worse

  "Ashley, are you okay?"

  This was the first time in a long time that you used his real name and not some new silly nickname she thought about 

  "Maybe I will,"

  Elena did not understand what her brother meant by the answer, but she realized that it was not a good thing

  Then everything got worse 

Elena had already planned to try to figure out what was wrong with her little brat on the trip to the capital

  Ashley always wanted to go on a trip together, but he was too young for her to be able to take him out with her, and then she had to go to the academy far away in the Empire, and she didn't get to come home very often.

  He'd love it, wouldn't he?

  Well, maybe she should go first to find out 

"What do you mean I won't go!"

  "I didn't say you wouldn't go. I said you would leave in two days with the Duke, not today." Lucas, the butler and the Duke's assistant, spoke with a tired face to Elena.

  "Are you kidding me?!"

  "Miss, the Duke has an urgent business, and he can't leave now."

  "What's the matter with me? Why can't I go with Ashley then? Stepmother and Leo will stay with him anyway, what's the need for me?!"

"Because Marquis Alios has offered to accompany the young master and it would be rude to force yourself to go with him."

  "But..."

  The servant interrupted and continued, "The Duke has ordered you to wait with him because he knows that you will cause chaos with the soldiers without his presence."

  "hah..It's not my fault in any way. They are weak and can't handle some blows."

  The servant was silent and stared at Elena's face for a while before turning around and entering the Duke's office

  "Well fuc*k"

After the failure of the first plan, she decided to go to Ashley's room and investigate him seriously this time

  Perhaps it would be an uncivilized method to force her brother to talk by storming his room, which she did not enter much in truly, but the end justifies the means, doesn't it?

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Perhaps what she expected to find when she decided to break into her little brother's room was nothing like this

  "Did you just slap my brother?"

  Elena advanced into the room like an angry bull and raised her sword to the old woman's neck

  "Madam, you have... you have misunderstood..." The old woman trembled in fear in front of the real maniac of the family

"Ashley, what's going on here?"

  Elena looked at her brother's face and expected waterfalls of tears to fall down the reddened cheek, but instead, she found an empty face.

  "Ashley!"

  Her slit's eyes suddenly moved again, and he looked at her before turning and leaving the room

  "Hey Ashley!"

  The servant tried to run after his master, but Elena shouted at him and stopped him

  "Tell me what is happening here now!" Elena looked at the old woman kneeling in front of her, trembling and crying

  "everything"

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he's crazy

  The old woman was always right

  Maybe she was the only one who saw his true colors from the beginning

  He had already had enough

  Ashley passed in front of the Duke's room before he suddenly decided to stop in front of it

  In front of the room of the man who only wanted one real look from him throughout his first life and never got it

  'I have to leave now'

But contrary to his thoughts, his feet remained planted in front of the room

  He is not afraid of death

  Why is he still afraid to meet him?

  After hesitation, he finally came forward and knocked on the door with light knocks

  Maybe he wished it was low enough so no one could hear him

  Moments later, the door opened, and a tired face appeared

  The Duke's assistant was slightly shocked to see him before speaking

  "What do you need, young master?"

  Ashley was silent for a moment before opening his mouth, "Can I come in?"

  "Just a moment." The servant entered and stayed for a while before returning again

  "You can enter."

Ashley slowly advanced behind the servant until he finally reached the Duke's desk

  "You should be leaving with the Marquis now,as I remember."

  "Correct."

  "Then why are you here?" The Duke continued flipping the papers in front of him without raising his head

  "I don't know,"

  "...." The Duke's eyebrows rose, but he did not raise his eyes and continued to look at the papers in front of him

  "I'm supposed to say something before I leave."

  The Duke continued flipping through the papers

  "Duke"

  He didn't say father

  Because he never was a one 

  "You're a bad father"

The stifling silence in the room continued for a moment before the Duke opened his mouth

  "Why?"

  "No need to tell you, the knowledge will be of no use to you."

  Ashley may have considered himself less than deserving of a good father, but he knew that despite his treatment of Michael and Elena in a much more humane manner than him, he did not live up to the level of being a father to them either. He did not even try for Leo.

"How could I not benefit from the knowledge?" The cold voice replied

  It's a funny fate that he was here before at about the same time, but for a completely different matter

  He had come to beg his 'father' to let him stay and leave with them. He cried and begged so hard

  Of course, he didn't even care about his embarrassing tears and sent him and one of the guards to the carriage

  Now, he is here to tell the Duke about his failure in his role as a parent 

  "Because you will never change"

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