"Can you believe it, big sis! We'll all be in Arcadia next year!" Elenore exclaimed while she ate her dinner.
"That's… that's really great…! We can all be finally together… haha…" Bellerose appreciated her positivity, but even she could barely keep it together.
"""…"""
…Out of the seven people at the dining table, only two were actively talking.
The other 5? No one was even trying to spark a conversation, refusing to utter a word.
The only one who didn't feel the tension in the air was Elenore, too oblivious to notice due to her excitement.
On the other side of the table in front of me, Gael ate his food elegantly.
The one thing unfavorable about his manners was his… mortifying glare directed to me.
…What? Is he waiting for me to say something???
Is he expecting me to say, "Hurrdurr, dad, I wanna run away from home, please approve of this." While I casually flee the scene?
…No, that's diabolical.
I fled away from the scene when I met Erina, left Camellia hanging on her own, and for whatever odd reason, Anemone glared daggers at me.
To top it up a notch, Gael left his office right as I was about to say something important.
There is an unspoken rule in the household that if he arrives, then everyone has to be at the dining table, including me.
It's problematic, since I prefer eating in my room because… well, it's obvious why.
"Grrrr…."
—Rattle…
"…"
'Those two as well…? I sighed, extremely uncomfortable in this situation.
Besides Gael and Anemone? I sense two other glares from both sides. Camellia and Erina.
I knew Erina would be in a bad mood after that, so that's understandable. But Camellia? She's just an asshole in general, so I don't know the reason behind hers.
…
…
…
—Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!
A few minutes had passed like this. The only audible sounds were utensils clicking.
Before I knew it, the food on my plate was gone. The atmosphere was so suffocating that I couldn't taste anything.
"Children." Gael, who quietly observed us, called us out and broke the tension.
"""!!!"""
Everyone's gaze instantaneously went to Gael.
"I have something to tell you."
Gael turned his eyes to me, revealing that I was related to the topic.
An outcome I deduced: the worst scenario possible.
'Ugh… this is bad.' My eyes twitched now that everyone looked at me with all sorts of expressions.
Can I please jump off a window and run away? I'd love that. Truly.
Gael was never the type to talk, even as a father. The only things that came out of his mouth were important information.
Everyone would always listen to whatever he said since they knew this trait of his.
'I should focus my attention on him more…' I stopped thinking about my sisters' gaze and looked at Gael, the one who started this mess in the first place.
Surely this won't be anything important-
"Kuro… you are not my son." He declared.
…
…
…What?
"What… What do you mean, father?" I stood up and looked at him in shock.
"…" He remained silent and nonchalantly took a bite of his steak.
Unable to keep my composure from his overbearing attitude, I raised my voice in denial.
"Answer me. What the hell are you talking-"
"Your mother. I was simply paying her back as a favor."
"Fa…vor…?" My voice that started with anger turned into anguish.
"Your mother wanted you to live, and in exchange for saving my life, I took you in as my son." He didn't stop saying incomprehensible things.
'…Ah, is that why?' My face wrinkled, recalling memories from the past that led to this moment.
It's no wonder why that Kuro never existed in the family records.
Taken in by the Historia family… Most of my memories from the past were like a blur.
All I remembered was the dark, crimson sky… and my mother dying before my eyes.
"Then tell me. Why am I being treated like this? Why didn't you clear up the misunderstandings that I didn't do?"
I grinded my teeth, growing angrier every second,
...
...
...
—BLAM!!!
I slammed my fists on the table in rage. I could feel the blood, gushing from my knuckles. It stings.
"TELL ME GOD DAMMIT!!"
"—I never saw you as my own son."
—Crack…!
"…Ah."
"You are useless. Someone unworthy of our family name. I merely kept you because you served as a good servant for my daughters. Yet, that was your only purpose."
…
"Haha… Hahaha… are you kidding me…?"
I laughed, my emotions swirled like a blender.
"Why… would you say this now…?"
"…"
"…I see. Then if that's the case… I'm leaving."
"W-Wait…! Ah…" Surprised even by herself, Erina sat back down after her weird outburst.
To add the final nail to the coffin, I looked at the siblings one last time.
Even if they were the same people who saw nothing in me, they all looked at me with pity.
The emotion I hate the most in this world.
"I hope we never get to meet ever again."
—Bang!!
I uttered my last farewells, a phrase I held back for decades.
"…"
…Silence once again returned to the dining table.
This lasted until Gael dismissed the table and left without saying anything else.
Today, which was meant to be a happy day for Elenore, Camellia, and Anemone…
Turned into the day that changed their lives.
*
—Vrooom…!
The subway, albeit empty since midnight, took off as it always does.
Since it's so late at night, I reached the last stop in the nick of time.
"…"
Inside the bus were people who worked overtime, people who liked going late at night… and those like me, who enjoyed this silence.
…
…
…Was my acting good?
Have I escaped? The household I was confined in for most of my life?
When Gael left the office… I thought the plan fumbled and I'll have to delay my departure for a few more months.
But… in the end, it turned into a more desirable situation in my book.
I still cannot believe Gael just gave me the leeway to make the perfect excuse for running away.
How awesome was that?
It wasn't intentional, but I mixed lies with truths to fool everybody at the dining table.
—I mean, yeah, I was surprised by the sudden mention of my mother and how I wasn't related to the Historia family whatsoever.
I wrote this novel, of course. I had many doubts from the beginning.
But… I never wrote anything about Gael meeting my mom.
When Gael found us in the debris, I was unconscious.
Since then, I thought that I was gonna be living the life after finding out I'm related by blood to the Historia family.
Now I reap what I sow, and currently, it's the exact opposite of the situation.
"Mom…" I said out loud, rethinking about the truth behind my— or Kuro's identity behind all of this.
Were we perhaps unnamed characters that came out of nowhere when plot holes were scattered everywhere?
'I even paid extra attention to these troupes….' I pinched my cheeks a bit to contain myself from happiness.
…
…
This is reality… right?
I'm no longer anywhere near my sisters.
The school that bought me shame was out of sight.
And the persona I developed to keep myself safe is no longer needed too.
"I'm… free." A bright grin was all over my face, unable to hide it any longer.
My father told me the truth that could change my entire life?
Who the hell gives a shit! I'm not even there anymore!
"From now on, I'm free!" I screamed out loud on the train. There's no one to judge me anymore.
I can at last live the normal life I wanted and leave it all to the protagonist.
"Finally…! Ah."
"…" People looked at me, startled by my loud voice.
"Ah… sorry." I sat back down and acted like I was using my phone to erase my embarrassment.
Celebrating will come later once it all comes together.
…Well, it'll be fine. I already prepared all the things I need.
Now that I'm disowned as a bonus, if that's even a good thing. I can move into an apartment without as many problems as I thought.
I also have enough food to last for an entire year, money for emergencies or for my entertainment, and a college I'll be attending a few months from now.
Everything looks ideal in hindsight… but the greatest problem will inevitably rise—
The Cardinal Sky.
'Right… I forgot this was a world made to suffer, not a slice of life story…'
The Cardinal Sky is a catastrophic event that will occur in around 3 years from now.
The catastrophic event commences when entities that are called Eldias, invade the world from the sky, shattering glass and creating rifts from another dimension.
They are species that bear a grotesque form, enough to be depicted as the definition of 'Eldritch', which is unlike what humanity faced many years ago.
20 years ago, humans faced another evil force they simply called monsters that aimed to take over the world.
One would find themselves enraptured by humanity's greatest victory in history, but that's barely scratching the surface— they were blood offerings for the great one to descend, using them as bait to begin the Cardinal Sky.
To compare, we are against eldritch beings that are incomparably stronger than normal fantasy monsters.
Though at least the first Cardinal Sky won't have anything absurdly strong.
Only a few fissures will appear from the sky, or for short, pylons.
If humanity fails to destroy the Pylons at a certain period of time, they start to spawn creatures endlessly.
Humanity deemed the Eldias as an unknown threat, so most of them were destroyed before they spawned any monsters by breaking the core of a Pylon.
That is, except for the country this novel occupies, Demiurge.
Their recklessness resulted in Demiurge nearly being wiped off the map if Gael hadn't stepped in.
—That's how strong they all are. The pawns themselves are a huge threat due to their sheer numbers.
It only gets worse from here when the second Cardinal Sky happens, driving humanity to the brink of extinction.
Lastly, a 3rd Cardinal Sky never happens since, instead of invading the planet, we invaded theirs with their methods.
So all I have to do is prepare a bunker and hide in there for a couple of months. After that, I can go back to living peacefully and mind my own business.
Easy, right?
I'm not the protagonist, so why should I do anything?
If I interfere, then I'll do jackshit and make unknown variables that will have severe consequences or something.
My existence itself is already a variable, so I should stop interfering from now on before things get worse.
"Huuaaah… I'm sleepy."
Thinking about it, I didn't sleep that much last night due to overthinking about today.
Now that's all over, my adrenaline subsided and I feel drowsy.
"It's still 8:12 PM, I can sleep for an hour before I make it there…"
It's a long trip from my apartment, very far actually.
I didn't like living close to the Historia family, so I guess I picked the farthest place to be away from them.
…I still have some attachment to Arcadia, so I picked a street at the opposite side of the Historia residence, but at the same distance from Arcadia.
Yes, there exist teleportation devices to go to different places from one another in this novel.
Airplanes are now obsolete in this world, subways too, in fact.
But areas without much importance, like the place I'm heading to right now, do not have any access to it.
They are expensive to prepare anyways. Having teleportation devices everywhere around the world will literally ruin the economy.
…But that's all fine with me.
"I should sleep a little…"
This was the first time I smiled without forcing myself ever since unfortunate events happened in the Historia residence.
Haha… these outdated vehicles remind me of what I used to call home.
*
"That child. How is he doing?" Gael, the head of the family, gazed at the city from below.
"He's… currently doing very well, Lord Historia."
…
…
…
"…Scarlett."
"Yes, Lord Historia."
"Did I… do the right thing?"
"It was… inevitable."
"…I see."
…
…
…
Silence passed by with none of them initiating a conversation. Scarlett knew everything about happened between Kuro and the rest of the Historia family.
How he saved Camellia, only to be framed. How he killed a human being at the age of 11.
When she saw him after the incident, his eyes were devoid of life.
It was something a kid like him should've never experienced.
Yet after all of that, people didn't sing praises about his heroic deeds… he was called a monster by his siblings.
Kuro changed after that, turning into an entirely different person.
It was then Scarlett decided to interfere and consult Sir Gael about this… yet even he was afraid of what would happen to him in the future if left unchecked.
Gael knew that Kuro was a thorn in the family, a weakness that could be used as a hostage from THEM. Someone who cannot defend themselves in the near future.
…So he had no choice but to devolve him into someone the world could deem incompetent.
Thanks to that, there is no longer a need to target a worthless person, all of this exchanged for his sanity.
Despite such cruelty, Gael was aware of his decisions.
He knew that he had to bear the guilt for ruining his life.
He loved Kuro as much as he loved his daughters.
And today,
He lost that precious someone.
Scarlett opened her eyes and saw that his wine glass was now empty.
"Do you want another drink?"
"Yes."
Scarlett recalled the promise she made after being taken in.
If the whole world turned against Gael or Kuro, she would devote herself to protecting them.
Even if it takes away her life.