Contrasting Families

The words Kyle spat out were shocking to Oswell, to say the least.

It meant that the Drake family, famous for its high reputation even in the Empire, was acting as a stooge for the rebels, no different from being their accomplice.

But Kyle brought up this story not simply to expose their shady deeds, so the story was now about to begin in earnest.

“I expect they are manipulating the Drake family by holding something hostage.”

“Manipulating? Are you saying that the Drake family is being unilaterally used?”

“Yes. Of course, even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean the Drake family is without fault. Colluding with the Eyes of Dawn to devour the Empire is a clear and obvious wrong.”

No matter what circumstances there were, it was merely their personal affair.

From the Emperor’s, and furthermore, the Empire’s perspective, they were undoubtedly heinous bastards who abandoned their pride as nobles and acted as stooges to satisfy their selfish desires.

Kyle was merely trying to address the question: ‘Was that truly the will of the entire Drake family?’

“However, at least from my estimation, the current head of the family, Lord Persis Drake, seemed to be trying to break free from this situation.”

“I don’t understand. Trying to break free means the Drake family is breaking the agreement with the Eyes of Dawn and trying to return to the Empire’s embrace, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what it would mean.”

“But unless they’re incredibly foolish, they wouldn’t think that’s possible. How do they know how the Eyes of Dawn will react and commit such an act?”

Oswell’s question was perfectly reasonable.

After all, once they’ve joined hands with the Eyes of Dawn, they can no longer shake off the derogatory label of rebels.

Furthermore, if this agreement is broken, the Eyes of Dawn will surely try to secretly spread related information from behind to take revenge on them.

If that happens, no matter how much the Drake family truly repents and tries to return to the Empire’s embrace, it won’t be resolved smoothly.

It’s the same as how even if someone who committed murder repents and tries to return to being an ordinary person, those around them will simply despise them, saying that people can’t be reformed.

Knowing all that, why would they bother to reverse their decision at this point?

Kyle had a hint about this.

“Actually, not long ago, Lord Drake secretly visited our family.”

“Could it be to track down Vermillion-gongja (Young Master)?”

“Yes. I suspected that at first too. In fact, that might be the reason. It’s just that the purpose of the act of ‘finding Vermillion’ felt a bit different.”

“The purpose is different?”

If you were to make a one-dimensional deduction based solely on Kyle’s explanation, it would be correct to assume that Persis visited Kaintreche Castle to eliminate Vermillion, the traitor within.

But Kyle, who actually faced Persis and had a conversation with him, threw out a somewhat puzzling statement, causing Oswell to frown slightly.

Then, for what purpose did he go to find him?

“First of all, Lord Drake seemed to have anticipated that I was either hiding Vermillion or, at the very least, responding falsely while knowing his whereabouts.”

“Yes, it’s plausible. The news that you and Vermillion-gongja (Young Master) came to the capital together would have easily spread.”

Whether it’s the Eyes of Dawn’s intelligence network or the Drake family’s, they would have been able to access that much information.

So, it’s perfectly natural to suspect Kyle, who was his companion, or at least try to get clues about his son’s whereabouts from him.

Kyle thought so too.

However, the problem was the reaction afterward.

“But it was a bit strange. If Lord Drake was just a wicked man trying to act as a stooge for the Eyes of Dawn, what would His Majesty do in this situation if he were Lord Drake?”

“Wouldn’t he try to dig in and press for information by any means? But he can’t reveal that he’s in league with the Eyes of Dawn, so he’d try to act as naturally as possible.”

As Kyle’s question continued, the astute Oswell immediately put himself in Persis’s position and spoke.

“Yes, I expected that too. But Lord Drake left as if nothing had happened.”

“Left? Was that the entire conversation?”

“Yes. To be exact, he only left a message at the end, asking me to give Vermillion his regards if I met him, and then he left.”

“…That’s definitely strange. That much means he knows to some extent that you’re hiding Vermillion-gongja (Young Master).”

It could be seen as he retreated for now to seize the next opportunity since the situation wasn’t favorable.

But Oswell found several parts quite unsettling to think that way.

That’s because Kyle’s story ended right there.

If Persis was truly looking for the next opportunity, he would have done everything in his power to track them down and extract more information, at least.

And there’s no way a skilled person like Kyle would have missed that.

Nevertheless, the fact that Kyle didn’t say anything more means that Persis didn’t show any shady behavior afterward, doesn’t it?

“Then, have you encountered him or anything like that since then?”

“No. He didn’t seem to be sending spies or anything to try to extract information either.”

“That’s really strange. It’s as if he really only came to ask about his son’s well-being….”

“I had that impression too. Especially the expression Lord Drake showed at the end seemed to support that.”

He doesn’t really like to arbitrarily guess other people’s intentions by looking at their expressions, but Kyle still couldn’t forget the expression he saw on Persis’s face at that time.

It was clearly a father’s face.

A father’s expression, relieved that his son was safe, but still saddened by the realization that he would never be able to see him again.

Sometimes, a single glance that unconsciously reveals more than a hundred words can reveal a person’s feelings more clearly, and that was exactly how it felt at that time.

“Besides, I heard that Lord Drake had been stopping Vermillion from receiving favors from the Eyes of Dawn since a long time ago.”

“Favors? What is that?”

“It seems to be an internal expression. It’s just my guess, but wouldn’t it be giving him a certain position within the Eyes of Dawn or power befitting that?”

“Hmm, that’s plausible.”

If the Eyes of Dawn truly intended to continue working with the Drake family, they would have tried to seat and manipulate not only the current head of the family, Persis, but also his most promising son, Vermillion.

It’s certainly a convincing deduction.

But the fact that Persis cut that off on his own made Oswell think a lot.

It’s like.

“…Then could it be that Lord Persis did that to prevent those bastards from putting a leash on his son?”

“At least that’s what I’m inferring.”

“Heo….”

It’s no different from a dog that cuts off the leash with its own teeth to give freedom to its puppy, who was born under a dog butcher, when they try to put a leash on it.

And if that’s really the case, it’s safe to say that the current head of the family, Persis, doesn’t see the relationship with the Eyes of Dawn very positively.

Furthermore, if we assume that it’s a recent event, it wouldn’t be strange to infer that he’s simply cutting off the tail.

But the large-scale and active response to the Eyes of Dawn was relatively recent.

On the other hand, Persis’s actions have been going on since a long time ago.

That means that Persis has been harboring animosity towards them since before the Eyes of Dawn were cornered as they are now.

And if all of these inferences are correct, their relationship may not be a simple symbiotic relationship, but a deep and dark story may be hidden.

Didn’t the Eleanor family, where the biggest incident related to this recently occurred, also do that?

Of course, in that case, the head of the family at the time initially tried to borrow anyone’s hand to save his beloved wife, but gradually forgot his original purpose and ended up with a heartbreaking result of being intoxicated with power and ambition.

“Kyle. If that’s the case, could it be that the Drake family is….”

“…That’s right.”

Sylvia, who was comparing the incident with this story because it was something she had experienced, looked at Kyle with disbelieving eyes.

Kyle nodded with a bitter expression, took a sip of black tea to soothe his parched mouth, and then opened his mouth.

“Perhaps it’s the opposite of the Eleanor family’s case.”

The opposite.

Although it’s a somewhat abstract expression, none of the other two people in this place didn’t know what that meant.

If there’s an opposite to someone whose beginning was pure but whose end was ugly.

That would mean that the beginning was ugly, but at least they changed their minds, even if the end wasn’t pure.

Perhaps it could be an even sadder story than the former.

Especially if it’s not Persis’s fault.