kscans

Chapter 15 - What Happened to Her, and an Unwanted Favor, Part 4

"What in the world have you done?!"

A cry of utter despair echoed through two different baronial manors. The voices belonged to the current heads of both houses. Their respective sons, who apparently hadn't expected to be scolded so severely, looked disgruntled, but their parents' next words made both of them turn pale.

"Not only the Calmond Ducal Family, but you... you made an enemy of the Alcioni Count Family as well...! It's over... We can no longer live as nobles..."

"The Calmond Ducal Family is the cornerstone of our national defense... and the Alcioni Count Family is the cornerstone of our commerce... If we make an enemy of the Alcioni family, in particular... all the goods we've been able to purchase at preferential prices will be gone! If the prices just returned to normal, it might be manageable, but we could be banned from trading with them altogether...!"

As a dumbfounded "What?" escaped his lips, his father threw a teacup full of tea at him.

"Ow, hot!!!"

"You useless fool!!"

His face flushed red, the baron grabbed his son's hair as he hastily wiped away the tea, yanked him sideways, and sent him sprawling to the floor. It was hot, it hurt, and just as he was about to protest, his father began to stomp and kick him mercilessly, berating him with every blow.

"Did she ask you to do it?! Her Highness the Crown Princess! Did she tell you to punish the Calmond ducal lady! Even so, you have no right! What you did was an unwanted favor!"

With each punctuated word, he kicked and stomped him again and again. His face was trampled, and fearing he might lose an eye if he was hit badly, he desperately tried to protect his head, but his father's feet randomly stomped and kicked his body, his legs, everywhere.

"S-stop, please stop! Mother, help me!"

He pleaded for help, but his mother only looked at her son as if he were filth.

"I don't want to be called 'mother' by you. You devil who will destroy our family!"

And so the words were spun. He had done it with good intentions, under the banner of his own justice, intending it to be just a little warning. If this had been during their academy days, it might have been manageable, but they had already graduated. Now that they had returned to their proper stations, they needed to act accordingly. Acting on selfish whims was far too foolish. And the victims of their foolishness were their 'families.' Letters of protest from the Calmond Ducal Family and the Alcioni Count Family arrived at the baronial manors with incredible speed. They had visited without sending any notice and behaved rudely towards a ducal lady with whom they had little connection. The numerous troubles they had caused the ducal family. The barons were already unsure how much they would have to pay in damages for that alone, but on top of that came a concise letter of protest from the Alcioni Count Family. 'We will be severing all ties with you.' This was truly what it meant for one's blood to run cold. The breadth of the Alcioni Count Family's business and the size of their network. The fact that they had made an enemy of a distinguished ducal family and the fact that they had been abandoned by a count family boasting an immense network weighed heavily on them.

"...Hmph... If killing you and putting your head on a pike would solve this, I would have done it long ago, but... it's not a problem that can be solved by something so trivial..."

The words his father squeezed out between ragged breaths and the onslaught of pain finally brought the baron's son back to his senses. Or rather, he finally understood. The justice he had believed in was nothing more than self-righteousness. And the words that his son's head was not enough to solve the problem made him tremble.

"I-I'll go apolo—"

"If an apology could fix this, do you think we would have received such a letter of severance from the count's family?!"

"Th-then to the ducal lady!"

"And what would you do?"

"Well..."

The words "I will apologize" vanished into thin air. The icy gaze of his parents. How on earth did one develop such a foolish train of thought?

"...I praised you when you became an aide to His Highness the Crown Prince... but to think you would bring such shame upon us."

With a sigh far too loud, the baron collapsed onto the sofa.

"Our house is finished. Finished. And it's all your fault!!"

He threw the remaining saucer at his son, who was still slumped on the floor.

"O-ow!"

In a tearful voice, the baron once again thrust reality upon his pained son.

"...What you did wasn't just storming the ducal residence and causing trouble. You weren't satisfied with just that; you insulted the lady, made an enemy of the ducal family, and got us cut off by the Alcioni Count Family as well!!"

"Ah..."

"You probably thought it would please Her Highness the Crown Princess, but... it was just an 'unwanted favor,' wasn't it?!"

"Hahahahaha!" his father laughed as if he had lost his mind, while his mother collapsed in tears.

Incidentally, a nearly identical scene was playing out at the other baronial manor. At the Garibaldi manor, it ended there, but at the Ginasmo manor, while the events were the same, the intensity was said to be on a whole other level. The Ginasmo baron's son was not an only child; his older sister and two younger sisters, upon seeing the letter of severance from the Alcioni Count Family, screamed and not only berated him but also mercilessly beat him up, all three of them together. This story never reached the royal palace, but word got to Liam and Falty through the baron's sons' acquaintances.

"Why... such a terrible thing..."

Falty whispered in despair, while Liam's reaction was one of understanding. The difference between their reactions was something no one would ever know.