Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
They passed the front gate and headed inside.
Heinz seed a bit shaken by the guard’s words.
“Does the Third Imperial Princess co to the mansion often?” (Note: I’ll shorten it to Third Princess from now on)
There was no one around, so Frey didn’t bother speaking politely.
Heinz responded after thinking for a mont.
“…she has been visiting frequently for the past few years. She mainly talked to mother whenever she ca.”
With Leita Blake?
Suspicion flashed across Frey’s face.
If it was related to her, who was an Apostle, then it might also be related to the Demigods.
The Third Princess.
Frey tried to recall his mories of her.
He rembered that her na was Fiore.
She was beautiful and very smart, and he’d heard that she was greatly favored by the Emperor even though she was a woman.
It was highly likely that her reputation was genuine and not made up by the imperial family as she had appeared in the cabinet, where only the highly ranked and intelligent figures in the empire could participate, several tis.
She was 25 years old this year and had missed the best ti to get married.
Maybe she herself refused a marriage, or she had the emperor’s backing.
“What do they talk about?”
“I don’t know… or without having to think too deeply about it, the visits might just be a politically motivated performance.”
“…”
Were her visits just to show that the Third Princess and the Blake family had a close relationship?
‘I’d prefer it if that were the reason.’
He didn’t care about the politics in this country, but Frey’s instincts were warning him that that might not be the case.
He was aware that the Demigods had a much bigger influence on the major countries than he’d expected.
As Fiore was a mber of the imperial family, it might be better for him to be more suspicious rather than relaxed.
While Frey was focused on his thoughts, they arrived at the garden and found a group of people walking there.
‘Isaka, Mischael and Leita.’
All of the mbers of the Blake family were gathered.
And it wasn’t just them.
A woman, who was probably Fiore, was standing in the center of the group, seeming to exude noble elegance.
Then Mischael, who was at the front of the group, spotted Heinz, and his face brightened.
“Heinz?”
“Oh my.”
“Hmm.”
At Mischael’s words, Leita and Isaka turned to look at Heinz, who bowed his head politely to Fiore as he approached them.
“Heinz Blake, second son of the Blake family, greets Your Majesty.”
“It’s been a while, Heinz.”
It seed Fiore and Heinz were well acquainted as she greeted him with a bright smile.
“Your Majesty seems to beco more and more beautiful every ti we et.”
“Thank you.”
Frey glanced at Heinz.
He found the sight of this blunt man speaking in such a flattering way quite strange.
Heinz only looked at his family after greeting the princess.
“Father, I’ve returned.”
“Good. We’ll talk later. For now, entertaining Her Majesty is the priority.”
“Yes.”
“…however…”
Isaka’s gaze turned to Frey, who was standing behind him, a complex light seeming to shine in his eyes.
He forcibly contained the questions that sprung up within him at the mont and suppressed the deep sense of incongruity he felt.
“Frey.”
“It’s been a long ti, Father.”
“…I’m curious as to what you’ve experienced during this ti, but I’ll ask about it later.”
“Understood.”
Then. Fiore looked at Frey and said.
“We haven’t t before, have we? My na is Fiore Diak Kastkau.”
“I am Frey Blake. It is an honor to et Your Royal Highness, who is praised as the sapphire of the imperial family.”
“Oh my.”
As Frey bowed politely, the expressions of Mischael and Isaka beca strange.
This wasn’t because he’d made a mistake.
Rather, it was the opposite.
Frey’s greeting had been perfect.
His manners had been impeccable, and there was no sign of nervousness, even when faced with the princess.
It was even more surprising because these two, who were used to his usually timid appearance, were inwardly anxious that he would make a mistake in front of the princess.
“I’d love to share the honor of hosting Your Highness, but I don’t think it would be so polite to do it with such a dusty appearance.”
“Huhu. I don’t mind, but I’ll respect Heinz’s will.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Heinz then nodded at Isaka.
“We’ll see you at dinner.”
“Yes… let’s go, Frey.”
Frey also nodded at Fiore and Isaka before following Heinz.
After they disappeared, Fiore spoke out with a slight smile.
“I only just found out that Duke Isaka has three sons.”
“Frey is a student at the academy, so he’s rarely at ho.”
“By academy…?”
“The Westroad Academy.”
Fiore looked a little surprised.
“That’s a very prestigious academy.”
“…that’s right.”
If it hadn’t been for his backing, Frey would not have been able to get into the academy with his skills.
But it was the best choice.
After all, even if he was an abandoned child, if he went to an academy worse than that one, it would tarnish the Blake family’s reputation.
“He’s not as good as Heinz and Mischael.”
“…it didn’t seem that way.”
“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
After mumbling to herself, Fiore shook her head.
* * *
Tak.
Heinz closed the door.
Then, he turned to Frey and said.
“There’s a high probability that Father, Mother and Mischael will question you this evening.”
“I know.”
He could tell from the brief encounter just now.
They didn’t have any good feelings towards him.
But with Fiore beside them, they couldn’t ask the questions they were thinking.
“So, how are you going to act moving forward?”
“First… I’ll have to act like the ‘Frey Blake’ they rember.”
He had to move as stealthily as possible in order to find clues about the Illuminium.
If he revealed himself for no reason and drew their suspicion, his actions might be restricted.
‘When I’ve found what I’m looking for, I can take action.’
Then it might be the ti to kill Leita.
Frey was determined to kill her since she was Leyrin’s Apostle.
Compared to that, the fact that she was Frey’s mother was not that important.
“It would be better for you to show a different side.”
“Why?”
“They already know of so of your deeds. Like defeating the pirates and being recognised by Peran Jun. If you acted that way despite that, they might beco suspicious.”
Mischael might be too stupid to notice, but Isaka would definitely be suspicious.
Heinz was certain of this.
“…hmm. You’re right.”
Although he agreed so easily, the task would still be pretty difficult.
He would have to play a slightly more mature Frey instead of a loser Frey.
‘But it makes sense.’
It would be annoying, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He had no choice but to do what Heinz had suggested.
He had co to the Blake family with a strong resolution anyway.
After all, if everything worked out as he planned, he would be able to force Leyrin into Hibernation while also finding the information he needed.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
Heinz left the room.
Frey looked around, only just realising that they had been standing in Frey’s old room.
It wasn’t shabby; on the contrary, it was as large as a room in an expensive inn.
However, there was a large amount of dust sitting on every surface as though it had not been cleaned in a long ti.
Frey took off his robe and opened the closet.
Fortunately, the clothes in the closet were relatively neat.
Frey took out so house clothes and put them on.
Although it had been a long ti since he had been ho, he didn’t feel impressed.
Instead, he was currently feeling a headache because of all of the things he had to think about.
Frey sat on the bed with his back straight, intending to ditate to pass the ti.
A little after the sun went down, the door to the room was opened without warning.
“…”
Frey opened his eyes.
Standing there was a man who appeared to be the butler.
His na ca to Frey’s mind easily.
‘Fabian.’
He was in his late 30s and was one of the people who had looked down on Frey when he was younger.
Even at that mont, his attitude was extrely rude.
He opened the door without knocking, then he stood there looking at him as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.
He even furrowed his eyebrows while looking at him.
‘I rember this situation, but it’s still shocking to see it again.’
When he saw that Frey had yet to say anything, he finally spoke.
“The Lord is calling for you.”
He crossed the line.
Thinking this, Frey got up from his seat and stared at Fabian for a mont before saying.
“Don’t forget to knock next ti.”
“…huh?”
Fabian was taken aback and asked with a confused expression.
He was surprised by Frey’s sudden words.
The timid young master who would get embarrassed just from being looked at too strongly was now talking to him in such an informal tone.
With an indifferent expression, Frey spoke again.
“I will forgive you this ti. But there won’t be a second ti.”
“…ah. Yes.”
Fabian nodded in a confused manner with his head tilted to the side.
‘…what was that?’
Did he just get reprimanded?
“Where is my father?”
“In the dining room on the first floor.”
Frey imdiately headed to the dining room.
There, he found the entire Blake family sitting around a long table.
Isaka, Letia, Mischael and Heinz.
Their eyes turn to look at him at the sa ti.
“Amazing. It’s been a while since I last saw you, but now, it seems that you have beco quite proud.”
When Mischael spoke out with a very sharp tone, Frey simply bowed his head and held back a sigh.
“Sorry.”
“Hmph. Do you think that’s enough? You are the reason we’ve been wait-”
“That’s enough, Mischael.”
Isaka interrupted him before turning to Frey.
“Sit. We will talk after we eat.”
“Yes.”
Frey took his seat.
Unfortunately, it was beside Leita.
Frey picked up a spoon while shooting a glance at her.
Leita turned her head to him with a mysterious expression on her face while taking a sip of tea.
“Do you have sothing to say?”
Frey pretended to flinch and shook his head.
“N-, no.”
“Hmmm.”
Leita turned her head without questioning him further.
Not long afterwards, the food ca out, and for a mont, only the sound of the cutlery could be heard.
‘They won’t say anything while having dinner.’
It was one of the tacit rules of the Blake family.
Frey cut the steak before him and began eating,
The al soon ended.
The quality of the food was incredibly high so it was the most satisfying al that Frey had in a long ti. (Note: ironic)
He felt a bit drowsy after having a few sips of wine with his al, but Frey cleared it away with his mana before turning to Isaka.
The important part was coming.
“Frey, where have you been?”
Frey put on a determined expression while saying.
“…I wanted to travel the world.”
“Hahaha…”
A laugh filled with ridicule.
Needless to say, it ca from Heinz.
“So you didn’t go back to the Westroad Academy, huh? You know you’ve been expelled, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t enter the academy with your own ability in the first place. Do you understand what I’m saying? It took a lot of money and effort to get you into that school.”
“My deepest apologies.”
“Tch…”
Frey lowered his head, and Mischael snorted.
“You don’t have to listen to any more of this, Father.”
Then, he turned to look at Frey.
“You want to travel the world? That’s a good excuse. It seems to that he had a miserable ti at the academy and ran away because he couldn’t take it. Truly the trash of the Blake family.”
“…”
Isaka didn’t try to stop Mischael, Leita continued drinking her tea and Heinz acted like he wasn’t interested in what was going on.
It seed that they were waiting to see his reaction.
“I didn’t run away.”
“Really? Then did you get anything from your ‘travels’?”
Mischael Blake.
It was like he was looking for any reason to continue the argunt.
Frey felt a bit dirty as it was like being bitten by a child over and over, but the situation itself wasn’t bad.
He couldn’t openly confront Isaka because he was the head of the family, and he needed to be careful around Leita.
Heinz could be considered an ally.
This ant that Mischael was the easiest target among those in the dining room.
“I did.”
“Hoh. Tell what you got.”
“At least.”
Frey locked gazes with Heinz.
“I don’t think I’d lose to you, brother.”
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