Ch.213I’ll Give You My Last Name (3)

At first, I thought she was planning to secretly poison the snacks and kill me without anyone knowing.

Of course, such a scheme would be discovered immediately.

Still, I couldn’t think of any other explanation. There’s no way she would suddenly show filial piety to me when I’m not even her birth mother…

“Mother, wait a moment!”

Maybe I’d understand if I just opened it.

“Don’t open it!”

Before Seti could stop her, Rezein’s pupils trembled as she opened the box lid.

It was empty.

Not even a crumb remained.

[Mother, thank you always. Please enjoy these with Seti.]

After closing the lid again, Rezein read the message and smiled crookedly.

How could they eat something that wasn’t there?

This was clearly a political metaphor—that she had nothing left to share with her daughter and herself.

Lamenting, Rezein laughed endlessly before shedding a tear. At this point, Seti sensed things were going to hell.

“…Daughter, do you understand what this means?”

“No, Mother. It’s not what you think. I can explain everything.”

“He’s telling us to choose. Either leave this house voluntarily right now, or be disgracefully thrown out by his hand.”

“I just ate it all myself…”

Seti answered in a shrinking voice. She bit her lip hard. It tasted sweet. Ah, if only she had known, she would have saved at least one piece.

“I’m sorry, Mother. Actually, I was waiting to eat with you, but I was so hungry. I meant to eat just one piece, but it was so delicious that I ended up eating everything. It wasn’t Eidel who—!”

Rezein raised her hand to cut off her words. She chuckled.

“Daughter, don’t tell such obvious lies. I’m fine.”

“What?”

“Look at this box. It’s wide enough to hold quite a lot of snacks, yet not a single piece remains. I know you usually eat very little, Seti. There’s no way you could have eaten all of this by yourself.”

Seti’s mouth closed.

Well, I do eat small portions usually.

“These were really delicious.”

“Enough to lick up every last crumb?”

Seti gritted her teeth and nodded.

Rezein sighed.

“You’re a good daughter.”

“Me?”

“Wait just a moment.”

Rezein left the room and returned with a carrier.

“Pack your necessities first. We should leave here by tomorrow at the latest. We need to go far away before the family head changes his mind.”

We’re screwed.

Seti fully realized she had made a terrible mistake.

“W-wait a moment.”

The milk was already spilled, but maybe if she wiped it up thoroughly, she could salvage a few drops?

After desperately racking her brain, Seti contacted Eidel.

But of all times, that guy was on a business trip to Callisto and wasn’t answering calls or messages.

In short, he was ignoring her.

Typical of future professors.

In the end, she had no choice but to handle it alone.

“Please! Time is running out!”

“I’m not going! I can’t go! This is my home!”

Thanks to her maternal instinct to finally look after her daughter, Rezein just paced anxiously when Seti refused to move, unable to think of leaving alone. Taking advantage of this, Seti held out for half a day arguing.

The misunderstanding between mother and daughter wasn’t resolved until Eidel, finally understanding the situation, sent three more boxes of snacks the next day.

And after this incident, Seti was dishonorably nicknamed “white pig” by her brother for quite some time.

***

I learned from Seti that Rezein was afraid of me.

Let me think.

Regarding family matters, I destroyed the Adelbein family, announced to my family that I would take Zernya as my bride, and sent Brian packing on a revenge tour bus…

“Hmm.”

No wonder Rezein was afraid.

I lacked consideration. I decided to reflect on this.

With that in mind, I canceled the restaurant I had previously reserved and booked a better place. I also sent three more boxes of the snacks I bought last time.

“Brother.”

“What, what?”

“Keep this weekend free. We’re going out to eat for our parents’ wedding anniversary.”

I was currently at Callisto Academy.

I came to meet the professors and see Cartrick, and was in the middle of probing his intentions.

Cartrick seemed nervous about his conspiracy with Brian, especially after my eldest brother was taken in. He was being cautious.

Look at him now.

“Wedding anniversary? Hasn’t our parents’ anniversary already passed this year…sir?”

He immediately switches to formal speech with just a slight change in my expression.

Well, good.

This is how brothers should be. This is the right relationship between siblings.

“Is only our mother your mother?”

“What do you mean by that…sir?”

“Isn’t Seti’s mother also your mother?”

“That’s…”

“Anyway, I hope you’ll grace us with your presence that day. Understand? It would be best if you treated Seti’s mother like your own mother, brother.”

I patted Cartrick’s shoulder and smiled.

Cartrick smiled too.

***

Even after receiving Eidel’s snack sets, Rezein’s suspicions weren’t resolved. If anything, she understood Eidel’s intentions even less.

“Can’t you just accept things as they are, Mother?”

“Don’t think so innocently. Never underestimate the politics of the Ten Great Families.”

When Rezein was still a young girl.

The Adelbein family showed no mercy even to their own.

Selling out, deceiving, and betraying relatives for money and power. Rezein grew up walking on eggshells in such a harsh environment.

Naturally, she had seen villains who wore masks, pretended to be friendly, and then turned their backs one day.

Brian was that type. That’s why Rezein remained wary of non-blood family members even after coming to Rheinland. She wasn’t sure about Eidel, but the possibility seemed high.

“You understand, Seti? To survive, you must always question everything. Never open your heart easily to anyone.”

“Even to you, Mother?”

“That’s…”

“Mother.”

Seti firmly held Rezein’s hand.

“Let’s go. Father and brother are waiting.”

Reluctantly nodding, Rezein moved with heavy steps.

The restaurant Eidel had reserved was an ultra-luxury buffet specializing in seafood, with an entrance fee per person equivalent to half a commoner’s monthly salary.

It was essentially a restaurant for the wealthy only.

Rezein frowned.

“…Is this the last supper?”

“Mother!”

Seti was sweating profusely trying to drag along Rezein, who was suffering from paranoia.

It was fortunate that Seti had stubbornly refused to leave the house last week; without her, Rezein would have fled long ago.

“This way, Mother.”

Entering the restaurant, they found Eidel and Cartrick already there.

Cartrick quickly came forward and pulled out Rezein’s chair for her.

Rezein was surprised.

For the first time in 20 years, the second son who had always ignored her called her “mother.”

Cartrick glanced at Eidel and continued his greeting.

“Happy anniversary, Mother.”

“What? Yes, well…”

It was an anniversary she hadn’t paid attention to for so long. She wasn’t even sure if it was the 20th or 21st anniversary. It seemed too bothersome to check the calendar, so she just assumed it was around that time.

It felt strange to have this remembered by people who weren’t even blood relatives.

“Father, Mother is here.”

“Hmm.”

Turning around, she saw her husband, Arnold von Rheinland.

Thanks to anti-aging technology, he looked almost unchanged from 20 years ago, but the experience reflected in his golden eyes was on another level.

Arnold scratched his head and sat next to Rezein.

“You came.”

“Yes.”

The conversation didn’t continue further.

“By the way.”

Arnold, glancing at Eidel, asked a casual question.

“Eidel, is it confirmed that you’re marrying two wives?”

“Yes. We’ll hold the ceremony during winter break.”

“Why didn’t you bring them here?”

“Today, you two are the main characters.”

Arnold glanced at Rezein and cleared his throat.

Both were so passive. Seti cleared her throat and tried to liven up the atmosphere.

“Shall we eat first?”

“Yes, that would be good.”

“…”

Rezein and Arnold stood up simultaneously. Eidel and Seti started to get up to bring food for them but then decided against it. It seemed better to observe their interaction first.

A while later, Rezein and Arnold returned with identical meal selections.

“Do we have the same taste?”

“It seems so.”

Eidel and Seti sighed and stood up.

“We’ll go get our food then.”

Cartrick, who had been spacing out, finally got up and brought his food too.

While Eidel focused on seafood, Seti chose meat and salads.

“Why are you bringing lobster as an appetizer?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It lacks class, especially for a family head. If you come to a place like this, you should know the proper meal order! Oh, and while I’m up, I’ll bring soup for our parents!”

“Says the person who couldn’t wait and ate all the snacks by herself?”

“Sh-shut up.”

Seti placed corn soup in front of the couple.

“Anyway, eating the main dish first makes you look like a buffet amateur. You should start with something light that warms your stomach.”

“It all ends up in the same place anyway.”

Eidel skillfully removed crab meat from its shell. Seti quickly snatched and ate it. Eidel’s expression froze.

“What the hell?”

“Wow, delicious. You’re good at cracking crab.”

“I was going to give that to Mother!”

“Oh.”

Leaving behind Seti who had suddenly become a devoted daughter, Eidel prepared crab meat for Rezein and Arnold. Rezein hesitated before moving her fork.

It was delicious. Though it sounds cliché, it melted in her mouth. This expensive buffet was worth it.

Seeing Rezein’s satisfied expression, Eidel also took a spoonful of soup, blew on it, and ate. The corn soup paired with the crab meat created a supreme crab soup experience.

[— The effect of premium soup gives you mental stability. Pron value decreases by 5.]

Eidel frowned.

Damn it. This makes it hard to choose what to eat.

Eidel tried to select foods that wouldn’t affect his Pron value. Then he had an opportunity to mix pineapple pizza with mint ice cream, which surprisingly accumulated about 10 Pron.

“Oh.”

This was a new discovery. While 10 was a small amount, it was quite decent for food-derived Pron.

And thus began the Rheinland family head’s bizarre eating habits.