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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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It seemed I had rarely ever truly considered Father as a father.
At some point, I had even avoided conversing with him and did not wish to face him.
Although I had spoken to him face-to-face in this life, seeing him like this felt strange.
The man who had always insisted on maintaining a noble appearance was now drinking cheap liquor.
I smirked, and a gaze fixed on me intently.
“How did you know to come here?”
“I already knew. Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t know?”
In this bizarre family where surveiling and checking each other was a family tradition, such a conversation was rather natural.
It was perhaps inevitable that his information had leaked out.
I wondered if Father was aware of how abnormal it was that such unnatural things were happening as if they were normal.
He tilted the bottle and poured more liquor, filling the glass.
As the cool sound of liquid flowing filled the silence, Father’s eyes narrowed as he moistened his lips.
He was probably deducing why I had come here.
Although he would likely find out soon enough, I opened my mouth to get to the point a bit faster.
“I think you’re not unaware of what Yuria has been doing recently.”
He was already in the position of family head.
He must have experienced power struggles to the point of nausea, and wasn’t he someone who had been hurting family members since he was young?
Rather than not knowing what Yuria was doing, he was probably just pretending not to know.
That was what it meant to be a Taylor.
After all, this cursed family would even kill their own parents if necessary.
Father nodded slightly as he met my eyes.
“I knew she was trying to kill me.”
“You knew and still pretended not to?”
“I didn’t intend to die for her, but since I didn’t die, I didn’t say anything in particular. Have you still not abandoned that weak thinking?”
I chuckled slightly at the words “weak thinking.”
In the past, when I heard such words, I was filled with the desire to refute them.
It might have been rebelliousness.
There were actions I had taken to show that I wasn’t weak.
Now, no one would remember, but I thought there was no need to take such actions anymore.
“It’s not easy to abandon it.”
“You’ve been like that since before. It doesn’t suit a Taylor.”
“Isn’t it because I take after Mother?”
Father’s hand stopped as I muttered while refilling the empty glass with liquor.
The hand that had frozen in mid-air then moved downward.
I saw the glass being set down with a thud.
Above it were cold eyes staring at me.
It seemed Father also reacted to the name “Mother.”
Yuria must be the strange one after all.
At least it was certain that Mother’s existence had meaning.
I didn’t know if Father had loved Mother.
I only knew that it had been close to a political marriage, and that she had passed away when I was young after giving birth to me and Yuria.
Had he grieved?
I didn’t even know that.
He had always been someone who never revealed anything about his own emotions.
In all my lives, Father had never directly killed me.
However, it was true that Father’s attitude had been consistent.
He had never taken any particular action when I died, simply maintaining his stance of indifference and tacit approval towards everything.
“…If you’re thinking of changing the subject with useless talk, stop it. Anyway, you’ve come for the position of family head…”
The liquor burning down my throat was hot.
I wasn’t particularly fond of drinking.
However, I felt that if I didn’t drink in this situation, I might feel strangely suffocated.
It had always been like this when conversing with Father.
I didn’t feel tense or pressured like before, but now memories of the past were surfacing.
I recalled Father’s gaze as he watched me dying, turning his back as if I were simply pathetic.
…Well, I didn’t care much about it, but it was true that I harbored no good feelings towards Father or Yuria.
That was why I had come here.
In the end, I too had come to use Father.
To fight a battle worthy of the Taylor name, I had to change my mindset from the beginning.
“The North, the South, and the Imperial Family.”
I showed my fingers as I continued speaking.
It wasn’t about asking him to make any judgment on these support bases I had secured.
It was to let him know that his era was now coming to an end.
Originally, these would have been places where the Taylor family head could exert direct influence, but Father’s era was gradually fading.
Yuria had already taken care of the interior of the duke’s residence, and the exterior could be considered my sphere of influence.
All Father had left was just the title of family head.
Perhaps understanding the meaning of my words, Father’s brow furrowed as he smiled slightly.
“So you’re asking for the position of family head now? You’ve become quite arrogant, the one who used to run from Yuria. Asking the family head himself for the position. Even Yuria hasn’t done such a thing yet.”
“I’m not asking for it. Why would I ask for a position I’m going to obtain anyway? I’m not foolish enough not to know that obtaining the position legitimately is most important.”
“Then, why did you come all the way here to see me?”
“To warn you. Perhaps by tomorrow, you might no longer be the family head.”
I knew that Yuria’s movements had momentarily stopped.
She probably knew by now that I had gone to the imperial palace, so she would likely begin to act soon.
I had visited the imperial palace despite the strange rumors the nobles were spreading.
Didn’t it mean that the imperial family trusted me if nothing had happened?
I thought I knew what kind of action Yuria would take.
Probably something close to an extreme direction, signaling the start of this competition for family head.
That was why I had sought out Father today.
Perhaps if not today, I wouldn’t even be able to have a conversation, so I had decided to make this a final greeting.
I looked at the old man whose hair had now turned gray.
Father himself must have realized by now.
If he had any ability to think, he should quickly realize that Yuria was now aiming for his neck.
“You know that Yuria has become twisted, don’t you?”
“…I know.”
“I came to warn you. You might want to step aside, as you don’t know what Yuria might do. And I wanted to tell you about the thoughts I harbor.”
The thoughts I harbored.
They could be said to be directly opposite to the beliefs Father had upheld his entire life.
A small glint appeared in the eyes that had been staring at me intently for a moment.
In the spreading silence, the sound of liquor filling the glass was heard again.
After a brief silence, Father opened his mouth.
“You’ve always moved contrary to my thoughts since before. Do you intend to do so this time as well? Have you forgotten what I’ve emphasized so many times?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re not rebelling at that age, are you? You don’t seem to realize how pathetic the thoughts you harbor are. Do you think the Taylor family can maintain its current status forever with such thoughts?”
“What do you mean by ‘current status’?”
A smile leaked from my twisted lips.
‘Current status’ surely didn’t just mean the Taylor family’s standing.
Was it right for family members to try to rise by killing each other?
Was it right to raise a knife even against one’s own parents if necessary?
I couldn’t understand.
Although those who couldn’t understand this had all died by now, it was certain that it was wrong.
“I’m not rebelling. I’m just trying to do what I think is right.”
“You’re wrong.”
“The one who’s wrong is you, Father.”
The eyes that met mine were cold.
They were eyes I used to fear and avoid, but now I felt not even a hint of fear.
The blue eyes, frozen like Yuria’s, were simply amusing.
It felt like the words of a mere old man stubbornly insisting that what was wrong was right.
What had I been afraid of?
There was nothing to be afraid of.
It was just that my past self had been scared prematurely, so I smiled quietly at those glaring eyes.
“I hope you don’t die. I hope you live long and watch me become the family head.”
“……”
“That way, you’ll be able to see me tear down everything you’ve built up with my own hands.”
The tradition you’ve built up, and all the cruel acts and customs done under the name of that tradition.
What the House of Taylor needed now was no longer tradition and family precepts
What I had endured from Yuria would not be repeated.
The future I had envisioned for myself was markedly different from the Taylor family I had seen in my 100 lives.
And at the end of it all, when you see the House of Taylor crumbling under the name of treason.
I wondered what you would say to me then.
I hoped you would live long and in good health.
Because you had done nothing to me, I also intended to do nothing to you.
Nothing at all.
I wouldn’t take any action whatsoever, so you could just watch.
Father’s eyes narrowed as he slammed his hand on the table with a thud.
His hand, trembling as if in anger, turned white.
“…You’re crossing the line, Robert Taylor.”
“It’s too late to turn back now. Even if you were to capture me here and imprison me somewhere, the flow has already begun.”
That was how the flow of things worked.
Like a wave whose origin is unknown, it suddenly surges like a tidal wave and sweeps people away.
The end of the life of a man who had valued the Taylor name more than family, who had lived solely for the family, was also such an event.
It was already decided, even if I hadn’t said I would become the family head.
Wasn’t his downfall predetermined from the moment he had given Yuria the position of young lady?
I had seen it enough times in my 100 lives.
The only difference was that the Taylor family he had built up his entire life would crumble by my hand.
“So rest now. This is already out of your hands, Father.”
The seal I had received from the North was on my chest.
The divine power I had received from the saint was imbued in my body, and the imperial artifact I had received from Miragen was in my bosom.
As long as those powers supported me, even if more time passed here, the generation would eventually change.
Renold would be moving even at this hour, and my meeting with Father was simply to bid a final farewell.
Father, who had been glaring at me, slightly moved his lips.
“Do you know what you’re trying to do now?”
“Of course.”
I knew better than anyone what I was trying to do.
It probably wasn’t the answer Father wanted.
No matter how much you think about it, you won’t be able to understand my actions.
I didn’t want to be understood by you in the first place, as I was trying to tear down the traditions built up over hundreds of years.
I poured liquor into the glass until it was almost overflowing, then lifted the precariously full glass.
Then, quietly, I opened my mouth towards Father.
“I’m in the process of inheriting the family head position, Father.”
The liquor flowing down my throat was no longer hot.
Rather, my whole body felt as if it was about to freeze, and I shuddered from that coldness.
Exhaling a cold breath, I smiled slightly as I looked at Father, who was staring at me blankly.
The position of family head held no meaning for me.
That was all.
I was simply trying to become the family head, but to you, would I look like a villain trying to tear everything down?
The last image of Father I captured in my eyes was pathetic.
More so than any moment I could remember.
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[My satisfaction is through the roof, vengeance will be sweet]
