Ch.169169. Family Time

Let’s talk.

Deus realized his situation as he couldn’t even remember how long ago it had been since he’d heard those words.

The family had given up on Deus, who lived freely—or recklessly, to put it harshly.

Darius had only occasionally warned him not to cause trouble and to marry the daughter of the Bright family.

Deia wouldn’t even spare him a glance, and if they happened to be in the same space, she would immediately become angry, saying he was disgusting.

Remembering how he had responded to Deia’s reactions with emotional and decadent behavior back then, regret washed over him like coarse sand.

“Is your right hand feeling better?”

It was a potentially clichéd opening question. Deus’s right hand, which now showed no trace of injury.

Looking at the empty space, Deus nodded bitterly.

“It just throbs a little now.”

After another brief silence following his answer, Darius continued with his questions.

“So you’re really Deus Verdi.”

“…Yeah.”

Though his answer was short, it already made the difference from Shinwoo Kim painfully clear, causing Darius to exhale bitterly while wiping his eyes with his thick hand.

“Right, I thought something seemed too sudden about the change.”

Darius had already heard everything from Deia. Since even she couldn’t gauge what his reaction would be, she remained silent and observed the situation.

“Are you… already dead?”

A heavy question.

Just that one sentence was enough to make tears well up in his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah… that’s right.”

His voice came out choked with sobs.

A sigh filled with self-blame about how he had ended up in this situation.

“Why?”

An uncharacteristic calmness from Darius.

No, it was pity and sadness disguised as calmness.

“I, I don’t know. I took drugs before sleeping. I drank alcohol too, and also…”

Various reasons were listed.

Looking at it now, it seemed remarkable that he hadn’t died sooner.

But with each reason Darius’s expression darkened.

“…”

After hearing all the reasons blurted out mindlessly, Darius couldn’t even sigh. He just lowered his head to look at the floor with a shadowed face.

Then he naturally turned his gaze toward Deia.

“Why did you hide it from me?”

“What good would knowing do?”

“What?”

With her arms crossed, Deia showed no sign of backing down even against Darius, who couldn’t hide his anger.

“Would telling you bring him back? He’s dead anyway. But we could make it seem like he wasn’t. Don’t you know how much trouble we would have been in if we had told the Bright family that he died back then?”

“Deia!”

Veins popped on Darius’s forehead as he scolded Deia for saying something she shouldn’t have, but she still didn’t back down.

“What! You liked him too! That idiot! Even though he wasn’t part of our family, wasn’t my brother! Yet he took care of me much better than my brother did!”

“…”

“Whether he was high on drugs, drunk on alcohol, or acting emotional. He was much, much better than that fucking bastard who filled the mansion with women’s moans every day, asking to have a relationship with his own blood!”

Deia raised her tightly clenched fist high, unable to contain her anger, but slowly lowered it again as if trying to suppress her emotions.

“Much, much better.”

Her head bowed deeply.

Teardrops falling beneath it.

Deia sobbed like a child as tears wet the floor at her feet.

“Give him back, you bastard. That person. Give me back my real brother…”

“…”

“You came to help? For his sake? Don’t bullshit me. I was finally starting to forget, starting to remember the good things about you before the disgusting things when I saw your face.”

She glared at him with reddened eyes as she wiped away her tears.

“I don’t need someone like you.”

He couldn’t give any answer.

Darius also knew how much stress she had been under.

In fact, her kind of misandry could be said to have been created by Deus.

In the past, Deus would have immediately hurled insults and made even more lewd remarks.

But he slowly got down from the bed, knelt, and pressed his head to the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“…!”

Deia’s eyes trembled. The Deus she knew would never kneel before others and apologize.

But at death’s door.

Having accepted his end and made a decision for others at the last moment while being sent off by Shinwoo Kim, Deus had changed a little.

“Bull…shit.”

But it was only natural that the victim couldn’t accept that.

Grinding her teeth, Deia tried to vent her anger again, but Deus’s voice echoed through the room from the floor.

“I’m already dead. But before I leave, let me do something for my family.”

“…”

“The reason I’m here now is for the sake of that person you wanted.”

“F…uck.”

She wanted to tell him to get out right now, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know what Shinwoo Kim was doing, but it must be serious enough to wake up the already dead Deus.

Her head understood, but her heart couldn’t. Anger rose to the top of her head, but.

“You…”

Slowly covering her face with both hands, Deia raised her head high to hide her tears.

“The wounds you gave me will never disappear.”

She had received too many wounds.

Because they were family, those sharp words and actions had nowhere to hide.

The deep wounds created that way were the kind that could never be healed.

“But on top of them.”

Over those deep wounds.

A new voice and memories were overlaid.

– Just give me 5 minutes every day.

It started when he asked for just 5 minutes, saying he would show his changed self.

– It’s the opposite. I took over Deus’s body.

The man who revealed his identity without hesitation when she demanded he not lie.

– He was a pitiful person, but not one to be pitied. Still, in the end, he left regretting his life.

He told her about the real Deus Verdi’s end, but even those words contained consideration for her.

– You may not want it, but I will try to become a brother you can be proud of.

Did he know?

That she actually treasured the bear keychain he had given her when they ate at Greyfond.

“Because that person’s memories covered it. I won’t forgive you, hate you, or deny you.”

“…”

“I’ll forget. That’s how I overcome my past.”

Just that alone.

Was enough for Deus to be grateful, but he didn’t say it out loud.

He didn’t have the right, and Deia wouldn’t have wanted to hear his response anyway.

The conclusion to their already distorted relationship.

Seeing them each offer their own answers, Darius felt complicated emotions but slowly approached Deus and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What you did to Deia is certainly unforgivable.”

“…”

Deus slowly raised his head and met Darius’s eyes.

“But what I did to you couldn’t be called responsible behavior as the eldest son either.”

“Bro…ther.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t guide you to the right path.”

Looking back on his past when he had ignored his broken brother because he didn’t want to see him, Darius offered his apology.

“Ugh!”

Watching the eldest son embrace his tearful younger brother, Deia slowly left her place.

Even though her relationship with Deus had reached its conclusion, she had no intention of getting between Darius and Deus.

Coming outside and leaning against the wall next to the door with her arms crossed, Deia waited for a while.

If it were Findenai, she would have had a cigarette in her mouth at a time like this.

Thinking it might be an appropriate way to pass time, she stood with her arms crossed until Darius came out of the room.

He saw Deia and hesitated briefly, but immediately realized why she was waiting.

“So what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

Deia’s brow furrowed at his response, pretending not to know when he clearly did.

“Don’t imitate him.”

“Ahem.”

Caught imitating Shinwoo Kim, Darius awkwardly cleared his throat and turned his head away, while Deia continued to press him.

“I don’t care if you’ve accepted him as your younger brother or whatever. For me, my second brother is only that person.”

“…”

“Even if you don’t acknowledge it.”

At Deia’s bold declaration, Darius looked down at her for a moment before smiling and placing his hand on her head to stroke it.

“What are you doing!”

Though she complained irritably at the sudden touch, she didn’t push his hand away.

“No, it’s funny.”

“What is?”

“That at this age, I’ve gained another younger brother.”

“That means…”

“Why are none of my younger siblings normal?”

Removing his hand from Deia’s head, Darius answered with a somewhat satisfied smile.

“If they were even half like you, I’d have fewer worries.”

Leaving those solid words behind, Darius returned to his office.

Looking at his back, Deia thought for the first time.

“We are family.”

That he was dependable.

A little while later.

“De-Deia! What should we do about this?!”

If only he hadn’t brought the invitation from the Republic of Clark to his office in such a fuss.

She would have thought she could finally trust the eldest son.

“How can you not maintain the atmosphere for even half a day?”

“A-ahem!”

Darius cleared his throat and pretended not to hear, while Deia snatched the republic’s invitation to check it.

“A banquet for a peace treaty?”

A banquet to restore the strained relationship between the Griffin Kingdom and the Republic of Clark.

An invitation inviting Spiritmaster Deus Verdi, who was indispensable in this incident.

Seeing it, Deia felt a headache coming on.

“Why send this directly to us instead of the royal court?”

“They should think Deus is dead in the first place?!”

Darius had a point. This bizarre invitation seemed to reveal something about the Republic of Clark.

“Sigh, contact the royal court right away. It seems like those republic bastards are trying to pull something.”

“Got it!”

“And you! You bastard! If you were impressively cool just now, shouldn’t you at least try to maintain that image for a day?!”

Deia’s last words were complaints, but Darius had already ignored her cries and turned his back to leave.

“Geez.”

There was no time to continue her complicated personal worries. Looking down at the heavy banquet invitation in her hand, Deia closed her eyes tightly again.

The entire continent’s attention was focused on Griffin and Clark.

Ignoring this would be like rejecting a peace offering extended with their head bowed first.

‘But there could be many advantages just by attending.’

Whatever the Republic of Clark’s ulterior motives might be, they were approaching with their heads bowed first.

It could also make other countries perceive that the Republic of Clark had admitted their wrongdoing.

‘The suspicious part is…’

That they suddenly bowed their heads and held a banquet at this time.

Plus, they sent the invitation directly to the Verdi family rather than to the kingdom.

And they invited Deus Verdi, whom they should believe to be dead.

Deia, who found all of this unsatisfactory, noticed a phrase written at the end of the invitation.

Something that had been written in elegant cursive, creating a strange pressure.

– Please return the item you took.

“Item?”

Wondering if there was something they had taken, Deia thought for a moment before immediately frowning.

She almost made the mistake of crumpling the invitation.

“They want the Saintess’s left hand back?”

They were demanding the return of former Saintess Stella’s left hand, which Deus had retrieved at the risk of his life.

“Haa.”

Realizing how complicated the situation was becoming, Deia sighed.

To be completely honest about Deia’s personal opinion of the Republic of Clark.

It was shitty, but.

From the Griffin Kingdom’s perspective, they couldn’t afford to have the Republic of Clark as an enemy too.

Through the Marias Great Forest incident, they had learned that the desert kingdom of Zerman was also eyeing them.

Since they could be attacked from both sides, Griffin’s priority was to restore a neutral position with Clark.

In that case, it would be best to coolly return the left hand, have the Spiritmaster attend the banquet, and proceed peacefully, but.

The problem was.

“Haaaaa!”

The current Deus Verdi was not a Spiritmaster.

“We can’t send that idiot to the republic either!”

The appearance of Deus Verdi, whom they believed to be dead, at the banquet could deliver a sufficient blow to them.

“You bastard.”

Leaning back in her chair and looking up at the ceiling, Deia murmured with longing.

“When are you coming back?”