Chapter 60: Are You Going to Run Away By Dying? (5)

Suvide certainly came to understand that a single punch could say more than a hundred words. He realized that neither his status as head butler of a noble family nor his old age could stop Keter’s fists.

“This letter looks familiar, doesn’t it?”

Suvide nodded when he saw the letter Keter held out.

“It seems that my mother is the one who wrote this letter. Who delivered it? Surely it didn’t just magically appear on the patriarch's desk, right?”

There was no way a letter for the patriarch of a noble family could have been delivered directly. Numerous procedures and checks would have been involved. Above all, the patriarch didn’t have the time to look over trivial letters.

“It’s possible my mother personally came here to deliver the letter. If not her, then someone would have. Tell me who it was.”

“...I guess even a rascal like you longs for a mother’s embrace, it seems.”

Thwack!

“It really pains me, you know. I should respect the elderly, yet here I am assaulting one... Since you’ve caused me such heartache, you’ll have to feel even more pain.”

Suvide had learned something through Keter’s beating: though all his senses had dulled with age, it seemed like his pain sensitivity had only heightened. Despite being hit with a blunt fist, the pain felt as if a stake were being driven straight through him. He endured the excruciating agony, not even able to scream.

Then, Keter finally stopped punching.

At that moment, Suvide quickly said, “I didn’t see them! I looked into it as well, but there was no one who received the letter, including the patriarch. The letter was simply on his table to begin with.”

“Hmm, just as I thought.”

Just who is my mother, anyway? She abandoned me in the Liqueur, then gave me an artifact to leave Liqueur to get me out eighteen years later.

None of this was anything a mere human could accomplish. Why go through such troublesome and suspicious actions?

If it wasn’t something that a human could do, was it a god, like the queen of the Liqueur? That’s a weird thing to assume, too. Why on earth would she do this? And if my mother really were a god, does that make me a demigod? No, that can’t be. Even if I am a bit extraordinary, I’m still human.'

Keter let out a scoff. He thought his past life had been complicated, but his present one wasn’t much better either.

Just like the Godfather said: family or not, in the end, we only use each other. Whatever her reasons, she must have done this with a purpose

.

Though Keter didn’t know what exactly, he strongly felt that way.

I’m grateful she gave birth to me, but if she thinks she can use me as she pleases, I can’t treat her like a parent.

A tangled web of questions swirled in Keter’s mind, each one leading to another. But he chose not to dwell on them and buried these thoughts deep within him. What good would it do to dig up the secrets of his origins or his mother’s mysteries? What mattered was him living a good life.

Keter let go of Suvide’s collar.

Suvide squeezed his eyes shut, thinking another blow was coming, but nothing happened. He still kept his eyes shut for a while, so he grew curious. He didn’t hear any footsteps leaving, yet there was no sense of anyone nearby.

“Did he... leave?”

Suvide cautiously opened one eye.

Squelch!

Keter, who had been standing right in front of him, poked both his eyes with his fingers.

“I haven’t left yet.”

“Agh!”

“I treated you like an angel because you behaved. One piece of advice before I go: just confess before they restore the vial and run the fingerprints. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“Guards! Is no one there? Guards!” shouted Suvide, but strangely, no one came.

* * *

There were three people seated at the Sefira dining hall.

“Father is late. That’s unusual,” muttered Myle, the second eldest son, as he glanced at his pocket watch.

Besil would always let them know in advance whenever he would be late for breakfast, telling them to eat without him. As far as he knew, it was the first time for Besil to be late without a word beforehand.

To Myle, Anis said, “Was there something going on last night? Do you have any idea, Myle?”

“No idea. Taragon, I heard you did the night patrol yesterday... You didn’t notice anything, did you?”

Taragon felt both nervous and excited; this was the first time his older brothers had asked him something about official matters. But he couldn’t say anything. How could he tell them that Suvide, the head butler, had tried to poison the patriarch to frame Panir? Everyone present had taken an oath; they were to carry this incident to their graves unless the patriarch himself spoke of it first.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything.”

“No need to apologize... But speaking of rumors, is it really true that you’re running laps around the training ground because of Keter? Is that ridiculous rumor true?”

Taragon bit his lower lip, but he had no intention of denying it. He couldn’t bring himself to lie about taking advice and learning from someone better than him just to save face.

“It’s... true.”

“True? Why would you be following Keter’s orders? Have you forgotten what Hissop told you?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a complicated story...”

Although Taragon’s confidence had grown thanks to Keter, he still couldn’t completely shake off the intimidation of his older brothers.

“Anis, you said you were going to have a rematch with Keter, but I haven’t heard anything. Are you still recovering?” Myle asked.

“...I have my own reasons.”

“You’re both acting strange. What is it? Is there something I don’t know? Why do I feel like I’m the only one left out?”

As Myle stood up and glanced between Taragon and Anis, the dining room door opened. The three of them adjusted their postures, expecting it to be Besil, but it was someone else who entered.

“My lords, I have brought a message from the patriarch.”

Myle and Anis, who didn’t know what happened, were confused when Gasilius, the commander of the Order of the Galaxy, appeared. They wondered where Suvide was and why Gasilius was delivering Besil’s message.

“Lord Besil says, ‘I have no appetite today, so eat amongst yourselves.’ That is all.”

“Sir Gasilius, is there something wrong with the patriarch?” Myle asked Gasilius.

However, he just shook his head, refusing to answer.

As soon as Gasilius departed, both Taragon and Anis stood up.

“I think I need to lose some weight, so I’m going to go,” Taragon said.

“I have some unfinished work from yesterday, so I’ll skip breakfast just this once,” added Anis.

With both of them hurriedly leaving, Myle found himself alone, bewildered.

“What is this? What’s going on?”

Feeling extremely puzzled, Myle lost his appetite.

“Strangely enough, everything seems to connect back to Keter.”

Anis and Taragon had both changed after meeting Keter. Myle felt certain there was something going on with him. Of course, Hissop had advised him not to meet Keter, but...

“If Hissop were in this situation, he’d have gone to see Keter, too.”

Myle stood up as well.

“I’ll have to go meet Keter.”

* * *

Besil had heard it all—the full story behind the poisoning incident, from start to finish.

Though everyone thought he had fainted after being poisoned, he hadn’t actually lost consciousness. Even Keter hadn’t realized this. Who would have guessed that the head of a noble family was merely pretending to be unconscious?

Besil sensed the poison the moment he tasted the soup. During his younger years, he had nearly died from accidentally eating a poisonous mushroom, which left him with a deep trauma around poisons. To overcome this, he deliberately ingested small amounts of various poisons, gradually building up a resistance until he had completely conquered his fear.

Only his father, Ricotta, knew about this; had anyone else known, they would have surely tried to stop him. Even Suvide, his closest confidant, was unaware of Besil’s exceptional resistance to poison.

So, as he pretended to be unconscious, Besil observed everything, eventually realizing that it was indeed Suvide who was responsible for the poisoning.

Even after being moved to the infirmary, he lay on the bed for a long time without rising. It wasn’t because of the poison; he could have gotten up at any moment. He simply didn’t want to.

Suvide’s betrayal was the betrayal of someone he had trusted so deeply. Even if it was done with Besil's best interests in mind, it was still a betrayal.

As the patriarch, he couldn’t just let it go. He would have to enforce strict punishment. Without a firm example, there could be more traitors in the future. Rationally, he knew what had to be done, but Besil was torn.

He laid awake through the night, only rising when dawn broke.

“M-My lord!”

Besil gestured for him to be quiet and then exited the room, where Gasilius was waiting just outside.

“I’m relieved to see you unharmed, my lord,” Gasilius said.

“Thank you for pretending not to know.”

Gasilius noticed when he touched Besil to help him. He saw Besil's eyebrows tremble slightly but went along with the ruse, fooling the others with him.

“The children must be waiting. Could you go and tell them to eat without me?”

“Understood.”

After sending Gasilius away, Besil went to find Suvide.

Suvide was huddled in the corner of his cell, and the moment he saw Besil, he knelt down.

“My lord, whatever you’ve heard, none of it is true.”

“Suvide, your eyes are swollen. I thought you never cried.”

“No, my lord. Keter came to me last night and tortured me. That brat did this to me.”

Suvide removed his shirt and showed the purple bruises all over him.

Besil let out a deep sigh.

“Head Butler Suvide, it’s just the two of us here, so you can speak freely. Did you truly try to bring Panir down solely for my sake, without any other motive?”

“Why would I ever do something like that?”

“Because you care for and worry about Sefira as much as I do.”

”...!”

“You said a few months ago that we should dismiss the two elders who refuse communication and are forming separate factions within the family. You said we needed to unify the family.”

”...You remember, my lord.”

“Of course. I cannot ignore you so carelessly? I just never said anything because I believed you knew it wasn’t feasible.”

“...”

“It’s all my fault.”

Besil placed a hand on Suvide’s shoulder.

“I thought you’d understand without me having to say it. I thought I would burden you if I shared my thoughts. It’s my fault for not making my intentions clear!”

“M-my lord... I... I'm so sorry. I failed to trust you.”

Thud!

Suvide struck his forehead against the floor, and blood trickled down his face. Besil wanted to close his eyes tightly and turn away from reality. If not that, he wished he could at least shed tears.

The frail old man before him, bowing with his forehead to the ground, was someone who had given Besil more care and love than even his father, Ricotta. Suvide was the one who taught him manners and the history of their family, and he was the one who always cleaned up after his misdeeds when he was young. Once, Suvide had even shielded him with his body when Ricotta was about to punish Besil.

This person, who had influenced Besil more than anyone else, was now suffering disgrace because of him. He felt a surge of emotion welling up inside.

“Please, rise. No, please stand, Head Butler Suvide. It's my fault entirely, not the elders’ or yours. This mess is all because an incompetent leader like me tried to guide capable people such as yourself.”

“My lord, why are you speaking to me so respectfully? Please, don’t.”

“How can I deny my incompetence when I see you like this? You, the one with the most noble character in Sefira, were driven to such shameful actions because of me. How could I not be at fault?”

“Please, stop... I’ll admit to it all. It was indeed my doing. I’m an old fool. I only wanted to be of some help to you, my lord. I knew it was presumptuous and wrong, but I couldn’t bear to see you suffering in silence. I’m sorry.”

”...”

Besil turned away. Even without looking in a mirror, he knew his face must look pitiful, and he didn’t want Suvide to see him like that.

Suvide once again lowered his forehead to the ground and said, “My lord. Panir and Reganon were acting with intentions clearly opposed to yours. If they were left unchecked, they would have inevitably become obstacles to you. That’s why I sought to eliminate them. That’s all there is to it. My lord, I’ll accept my sins as they are and offer my life as an apology. Please, do not forgive this foolish old man.”

Suvide leaned back, his head held high. He was going to slam his forehead into the ground to end his life.

“Are you going to run away by dying?!” Besil shouted.

Suvide froze and looked up at him.

“Oh, my lord... why do you make a face like that for me?”

“As I said, it is my fault for not communicating. But we can start over. I’m saying that you can do things right from now on.”

“My lord...”

“Things will change, so please trust me. If you can't, then I won’t stop you from choosing death.”

“Do I have the right to live?” Suvide asked.

“Live for me.”

“... Yes, my lord.”

Suvide slowly lowered his head, and after a moment, he collapsed, overwhelmed by exhaustion. Besil lifted him and laid him on the bed before leaving the cell.

“Keter, come out,” Besil called into the empty corridor, and Keter emerged from behind a narrow column.

“Really, it's impossible to deceive you, Father.”

“You’ve helped me both within the family and outside. I owe you so much.”

“No need to thank me—I’m keeping a record of everything.”

“Did you come for me or for the Head Butler Suvide?”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“I came to see both of you before leaving, but... now, just you.”

“Leaving? You don’t mean...”

Besil hoped Keter wouldn’t say what he expected.

But, mercilessly, Keter smiled and said, “Yes, I’m leaving Sefira.”