“Ha! You finally showed up!”
Unfortunately, my opponent recognized me immediately and shouted fiercely.
He was my biological elder sibling, the young master of the Rudleman Household.
Paul Rudleman.
He was the successor to the Visount Rudleman and the son of the Countess, his legitimate wife.
Of course, we weren’t particularly affectionate. I still get goosebumps thinking about the time he put a centipede and a beetle in my soup.
The fact that Paul’s scarlet hair was the same color as mine was already appalling.
Why on earth did that bastard inherit his father’s hair color? I wish he had black hair like his mother’s. Then it would feel less like blood relations.
I ignored Paul and tried to walk towards the door leading to the staircase.
But he quickly approached me, grumbling, and grabbed my wrist.
“Hey, how dare you ignore me?”
“Who are you?”
“Ha… Is that how you respond to your family?”
I slowly looked down at my wrist, which was caught by my so-called brother.
‘Should I just throw him away like this?’
But then, wouldn’t this bastard with ordinary physique end up with fractures and excessive bleeding?
Haa… It’s a bit unfair that my life could end as a murderer because of this guy. I barely managed to suppress my murderous intent.
“Clara Rudleman. As the head of the household, I warn you, listen to me.”
“…Head of the household?”
If the successor, Paul, is the head of the family, then does that mean his father has died? When I looked at him, questioning silently, he answered with a squint.
“My father passed away recently.”
“Oh, I see. That’s none of my business, so I don’t care.”
I spoke indifferently, calculating how much of my Spirit I needed to suppress to shake this jerk off without killing him or causing much injury.
“Consider it an honor. To be honest, it’s annoying enough that I have to acknowledge a lowly thing like you as a member of the Rudleman family. But I will accept it as an exception.”
‘Is he officially crazy?’
It was common knowledge that the Viscount went bankrupt and eventually ended up selling his title.
The power structure of the Leuke Empire is based more on wealth than on noble titles.
What’s the point of putting in so much effort as a provincial owner with no money or wealth?
“It’s not even funny, but the ancestral blood flowing through your veins has brought out your talent as a Spirit holder.”
“…….”
“A prospective bride with magical proprietary or Spirit abilities is highly valued in noble families. That’s why the head of the Count Hammond family has decided to take you in as his bride.”
“…What?”
I wanted to keep ignoring him, but I was left speechless by such an absurd claim.
Now I understand.
This bastard… was trying to sell me off as the Viscount’s daughter in exchange for a dowry.
‘And here I wondered why he kept searching for me, the illegitimate child, even though he considered me as a foreign object.’
They failed to realize it while I was at the Count’s family, but later when I became a knight and discovered I had Spirit, they must have been frustrated.
In Paul’s eyes, I looked like a lottery ticket yet to be scratched—one that could fetch a considerable sum of money.
At that moment, my body moved on its own.
I kicked Paul in the stomach while yanking my arm away from his grasp.
“Cough!”
He came here on purpose and got kicked out, it wasn’t my fault.
I barely managed to open my mouth, suppressing the urge to beat that bastard into dust. My voice trembled slightly, perhaps out of anger, but certainly not out of fear.
“Get out. I have no connection to your family.”
After severing all ties with this poor excuse of a family and creating a new family register, I have no ties with his family.
“This damn bitch, how dare you hit your brother?”
“You’re a total stranger, so stop calling yourself my brother. I think you’re out of your mind. Please go to a doctor.”
If that bastard still didn’t leave and continued to push my buttons, I considered going to the Security Forces and reporting him for trespassing.
But then, the sound of Paul spitting out nonsense stopped me in my tracks.
“You! I’m going to sue you for cutting ties with your blood relations!”
“……”
“I’ll request proof of blood relation from the Magic Tower! Just wait and see! The crime of daring to defy my words as the family head, I will make you fully realize it!”
When I turned around, Paul, who had been barking like a dog, visibly flinched. My gaze must have been that fierce.
But his expression soon turned grim, and he shouted again.
“…Crazy bitch, you’re just acting confident now! But you will see….”
“…….”
Perhaps not wanting to be beaten any further, Paul left those words and quickly ran off.
I was worried he might occupy the front of the house and cause a fuss, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Still, I knew it wasn’t time to feel completely at ease because that bastard had said something significant.
‘…A lawsuit for recognition of blood relations?’
It was an unfamiliar term. Of course, I could roughly guess what it was about upon hearing the name.
It likely involved a lawsuit to prove blood ties in cases where family registers had been separated, restoring one to their original family register.
But the fact that it was unfamiliar meant that it wasn’t a very common lawsuit.
‘I should stop by the knights’ office for a moment and check the law books.’
I turned around and decided to head back to the knights’ office, not intending to go home for now.
As soon as I entered the knights’ office, I pulled out a dusty document on family law from the law books of the Leuke Empire, which I usually had no reason to look at.
I checked the relevant laws and casebook, while racking my brain.
No, this is seriously a big problem.
As I suspected, the blood relation recognition lawsuit was a method to register a family member that had been separated from the family register back into the household by using magic from the Mage Tower to confirm blood ties.
‘…..I never thought that a minor law, used only a few times a year, would hold me back.’
In the first place, it would be rare to find cases where a family member who left home or separated from the family register would be brought back as a family member willingly.
If things were as they stood, Paul wouldn’t have been able to force me without knowing this method.
‘How on earth did he figure this out? Did he consult a lawyer?’
Whatever he did, it didn’t matter how that bastard found out.
The problem was the reality right in front of me.
‘What should I do… If this happens, there’s no way to stop me from being thrown back into the Rudleman Household.’
That wasn’t all. The Leuke Empire was a country where customary laws bordering on bad laws still persisted here and there.
One of those oppressive laws was the absolute power of noble heads of households.
In particular, the fact that the family head could arbitrarily decide the marriage partners of unmarried children belonging to the family!
‘That’s 90% of the reason why I would never return to my family!’
If things continued this way, I would have no choice but to return to the Rudleman household due to the blood relationship lawsuit and be sold off to a husband whose face I don’t even know.
‘If it’s going to be like this, I wish I had been born an orphan. Or better yet, just a mere commoner!’
I cursed all sorts of things in my mind, but reality didn’t change. I gritted my teeth and searched through all the relevant laws to see if there was any way to avoid this disaster.
And the conclusion was dire.
“If an engagement or marriage has already been concluded and registered by a temple, the head of the household cannot annul it…..”
I wiped my face with both hands. If I don’t want to get married, are you telling me to get engaged or get married to someone else? This world has truly gone mad…
Now that I think about it, I recall seeing something like this in the newspaper.
I remember reading about the heir of a famous family who fled in the middle of the night to avoid a political marriage and hurriedly got married, having the documents registered first.
But that’s not a method that I can use, can I?
‘I wish I could change all the blood in my body to someone else’s.’
Although I really don’t want to admit it, the blood of the Rudleman household flows through me.
It would be a truth that could be verified immediately if I used magic to check my blood relations at the Mage Tower. Paul would win the lawsuit without a doubt.
‘What should I do?’
I felt utterly helpless. I had barely managed to escape from a family I didn’t even want to call my own, and I somehow managed to survive.
I met Gustav in the Knights Templar and suffered all kinds of humiliation, but I thought it was still better than before.
I thought that finally… I could be at peace.
Why is it that there’s never anything good in my life?
A predictable, flat life.
Was it so wrong to wish for just that one thing?
My eyes grew hot, but I gritted my teeth and held back my tears. I felt defeated but I refused to bow down.
“First of all… I’m not a legal expert. I’ll meet with a lawyer and consult. Then there might be another way…”
Don’t be discouraged. Even though it’s hard, isn’t this life the one I’ve somehow managed to survive so far?
“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just leave the Empire. I’ll join a mercenary group and make a living. Hahaha.”
I may have to live a rough and unpredictable life as an illegal immigrant in a foreign country, but it’s better than being sold to a man whose existence I don’t know.
I felt a lot more relieved when I assumed the worst scenario. Seriously, I was glad I had a sword.
I couldn’t give up my foolish hope of a peaceful life until the very end. After absentmindedly flipping through the law books for a long time, I finally went home.
