Blood On Your Hands

V

Deruth Henituse summoned him to his office. Of course, he sat calmly on the couch while his siblings and stepmother stood behind the count.

"Because I could not find any leads and because of the North's brewing silence, I will take your word for it, Cale."

He smiled. Deruth is a very efficient man to work with.

Cale hands down the document about the Founding Banquet bombing. He smiled the moment his father's expression turned pale.

"You..."

"This is the information I have," he said, referring to a combination of his and White Star's plans.

Deruth let out a long-suffering sigh. He places an invitation on the table, one from the Crossman Royal Family. Deruth wasn't sure at first, but the way Cale proved that something would indeed happen made him certain.

Cale is not fooling around.

His supposed good-for-nothing trashy son has turned into a predator due to a single night's hangover. Deruth could not believe the sudden change, but...

"The Crossman Family has been the leading family of the Rowoon Kingdom; the founding noble houses support the Royal Family and even sold their children to control the royal court," Deruth says solemnly. It was more serious than it was in his previous life.

Cale is aware of these inhibitions. After all, Henituse County is a family that has long supported the Royal Family from the sidelines. Resigning from that position is treasonous.

"To be honest, father, I do not think the Royal Family had any features worth following." It is only because they have been blessed by the sun god that they have been elected and chosen as the Kingdom's leading household.

The struggle for power, however, nearly wiped out the entire royal family, including the noble household. Henituse County is the only legitimate bloodline in existence right now. The only family that defended everything beneath it from the Forest of Darkness.

Deruth must have realized that the Royal Family is looking for a suitable powerhouse to strengthen its position in the kingdom right now. The powerless Crown Prince, the Second Prince Faction, and the Third Prince's involvement with hunters—the royal family is as chaotic as ever—to the point of extinction.

The perfect noble house that kept the Royal Hall in order was none other than Henituse County.

Deruth appeared to be concerned about everything. Of course, Zed Crossman tried to shut him down in order to keep the Royal Family in power. He manipulated everything and even set Henituse County to neutrality, despite the fact that it was never equal from the beginning.

"We are marionettes in the palm of a puppeteer father."

Deruth let out another long-suffering sigh.

" I don't know what to believe. You just came to me and fired all those bombs, but Cale, Let me ask you, should we continue to play the innocent or—"

"Be a powerful family, father." Cale needs Deruth to be ambitious right now. "That even the Royal Family couldn't do anything to you."

Cale was well aware that he sounded like a greedy and ambitious man. He could care less because their lives are on the line.

"No matter which path we take, it will end in bloodshed, Father."

Deruth closed his eyes tightly and exhaled. He opened his eyes again and said to Cale.

"To become free and independent," says Deruth, "we need one good reason to separate from everything below the northeast."