For Your Failed Unrequited Love

Felix’s eyes narrowed. There wasn’t anything in the chest.

He turned the lid upside down and checked the bottom of it. But he couldn’t find any difference.

There’s nothing here, but why did he keep it here?

The moment he asked that question.

“………it is a chest containing the prophecy of the Berg family.”

A weak, faint, trembling voice came from behind. Felix looked back.

“Mother.”

The Duchess appeared before he knew it. She was standing by the door with the shawl tightly fastened.

Her eyes swept past Felix, the open safe, and the papers scattered in it. She looked a bit nervous, but she didn’t seem to be trying to criticize Felix’s behavior.

Felix stood vaguely and looked at his mother as she was looking at the chest.

It was unusual for her mother to speak to him first. In addition, a few days ago, Felix felt even more awkward when he recalled the memory of unilaterally turning a blind eye to his mother, who was trying to approach him on campus.

After clearing his throat for no reason, he quietly asked his mother.

“What do you mean by family prophecy?”

It was new to him. He didn’t know there was a prophecy handed down in the Berg family. He had never heard of it.

“……it is a prophecy from the temple when this empire was founded and the history of the Bergs began.”

The duchess slowly walked into the office, pulling the shawl closer to her neck. Her eyes glanced at the door like a herbivore who is worried about being attacked by a beast that will appear at any moment.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“Because Arthur doesn’t want the existence of the prophecy itself to be known. He didn’t even tell me right after we got married. I just happened to hear Arthur talking to his father before he died.”

“……what does that prophecy say?”

Felix’s question spread a deep sadness over the Duchess’s face. Soon, however, she returned to her usual worried yet dull face. After a moment of hesitation, she finally opened her mouth.

The power of the family extends to the extent of the land that Berg has. 

The honor in the family is built up as high as Berg’s gold. 

The legacy of the family will be divided by the number of sons Berg has.

The duchess’s calm voice spread quietly throughout the office, as if she were reciting a poem. In Felix’s mind, however, the content was strongly and deeply embedded.

Land and power… …gold and honor…….

……the legacy will be divided according to the number of sons?

His mother’s voice lingered in his head. Felix, who was confused for a moment by the sudden prophecy, realized it after repeating the prophecy several times.

Why were all the previous Dukes of Berg so greedy for land and wealth.

Taking over lands for power, accumulating gold for prestige.

Those ambitions were all sparked by the prophecy.

“……Arthur seemed to repeat the prophecy every day. Funny how he once murmured it in his sleep. Perhaps those words gave him hope more than anything else. He, as the head of the family, wanted to expand his family’s power endlessly.” 

But what Felix was most curious about was the last sentence. The Duchess continued as if she had noticed his mind.

“But as I have just heard, the prophecy has also given the Bergs serious anxiety. ‘The legacy will be divided according to the number of sons in the Berg family.’“ 

She recited the last verse again.

“While many families were thriving to have many sons, only the Bergs could not do so. This is because only one son had to be left to prevent the family’s legacy from being split.”

Felix recalled the predecessors of the Duke of Berg, who was mostly an only child. Of course, in some generations, there were times in which other sons were born in addition to the successor. Felix vaguely recalls that there were other sons besides the heir……

“As soon as they were born, they died of illness.”

The Duchess said.

“Maybe it’s only the men in this family who know for sure if they really died of illness …….”

She had a deep shade on her face.

“I was also urged by Arthur to have only one son. I was afraid of him, so I agreed. But I…… I really didn’t know I’d have twins…….”

The Duchess, who had been talking calmly, cried for a moment, holding her trembling hands together.

She paused for a moment, as if to repress the surge of emotions. She barely held back her tears by closing her lips.

As his mother spoke, all the puzzles Felix could not comprehend were being matched one after another. He murmured with a disheartened face, recalling his father.

“..that’s why my father tried to kill Adrian.”

Because he wants to protect his family’s legacy. His young son, who is only six years old. With his own hands. 

“Father is crazy.”

He murmured.

“He’s really crazy……. He’s insane to try to kill his son for a prophecy that might not even be true. No, everyone in this family is crazy.”

Felix was so confused that he had a headache. Only then did he realize that his family was smooth on the outside, but corrupt and rotten on the inside.

“It was fortunate that you two were so identical as you were growing up.” said the Duchess in a still watery voice.

“Arthur didn’t touch Adrian anymore. Right now, I…… I think he decided to rather take him around and use him instead of killing him.”

Felix’s eyes flashed with anger. The other meaning of the word is that one day he will kill Adrian.

“I can’t take father anymore.”

The Duke had to be stopped.

His eyes turned to the papers in the safe.

I’ll charge father.

I’ll expose all his wrongdoings and put him on trial.

That is the best way to prevent the name of the family from being tarnished and save Adrian.

Felix reached into the safe without delay and scraped up the documents contained in it.

However, the Duchess, who was watching the scene from behind, stopped him in a low voice.

“Felix, take a thorough look at the papers.”

Felix raised his suspicious eyes and gave his mother a look, then lowered his gaze toward the document, as she said.

Tak~.

Felix inspected the random documents one by one. As a result, deep wrinkles began to form between Felix’s brows.

On the surface, the document looked like an ordinary document that had contracted several businesses. But if you look closely…….

“It’s all fake.”

The Duchess said. Felix sighed and put down the papers.

Indeed, his father would not have hidden documents that could have led to his demise in such a shoddy device. So where are the real documents?

“Instead, check the vault in the temple.” Felix’s mother said.

“The real documents signed by Arthur are kept in the vault in the temple.”

There was a separate vault for noble families in the temple. It boasted security as strictly as the vault in the imperial palace. Since it was an area protected by God’s power, there was no occasion where it was invaded by unauthorized people.

“Only those who have received a family seal from the priest can go inside.”

Felix calmly recalled his right thigh when his mother spoke. Immediately after birth, he was stamped with the family’s seal to prove that he was the successor of the Berg family.

If her mother’s words were true, Felix was the only one who could enter the Berg family’s safe in the temple.

He immediately pushed the scattered documents into the safe and closed the door.

“I will go to the temple right now.”

His mother, who had been watching him, replied.

“Me too…… I’ll go too.”

She spoke to her son with a determined face he had never seen before.

Felix stared at his mother in astonishment. Is he so deeply concerned about Adrian?

But she couldn’t come with him.

“No, if my mother disappears suddenly, father will suspect me, so please stay here and watch over him.”

The Duchess looked really eager to follow Felix, but she nodded as if she had decided to obey him.

Felix didn’t want to delay for a second. He and his mother hurried off.

However, her mother, who was leaving the office first, found something and stopped walking. Soon, her shoulders began to tremble slightly.

Felix sighed loudly, guessing what had happened.

Soon, a worried voice came from the door.

“The mother and son must be having a very cozy time.”

A dark shadow hung before him and the Duchess. Sharp eyes followed Felix as if they were about to pierce him. 

Felix clenched his fist and blocked his mother’s front as if protecting her. The Duke looked at his son and wife with a cold smile on his face.

“But that’s it.”

He pounded the floor with his cane. Consequently, suspicious men armed with weapons flocked to the front of the office.

Felix prepared to fight them in case of an emergency, but soon changed his mind.

The man in front of him was a cruel man who even tried to kill his son. If he rushes at him, his mother might be put in danger.

“Take him to his room.”

The Duke ordered the men.

Felix had no choice but to helplessly watch his mother and him being held by them.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧