<Chapter 6>
He calmed his mind with deep breaths.
He immersed himself in deep thought, systematically organizing the information he had gathered.
He examined countless possible scenarios, eliminating negative variables one by one.
He did not forget to reevaluate the directions he had deemed useless due to their inefficiency.
Finally, he subjected the conclusions to relentless scrutiny until he could fully accept them.
This was the mental discipline that Ruin had naturally acquired throughout his life as a grand mage.
Like running complex magical circuits, this unique process allowed for no logical inconsistencies.
This was why high-level mages were called Sages.
Their wisdom and insight were valued even more than their powerful magic.
Kings were desperate to have sages as their advisors.
Kazen was no fool.
He could not have failed to recognize the qualities of a sage in Ruin.
“The monthly meeting is now adjourned. Everyone, return and await further orders.”
As the subordinates solemnly paid their respects and exited the conference room, Kazen removed his lion-shaped signet ring and placed it on the round table.
Ruin waited silently for his father’s response.
“It is plausible, but incomplete.”
“To make a request to the king is to be in his debt. Are you really suggesting that I, the Kingdom’s standard bearer, should owe the royal family over something as trivial as a single mine?”
His pride was on full display.
But it was not simple arrogance.
As the only ducal house of the Kingdom of Lermadel…
The house that commanded half the kingdom’s military forces and had maintained its status for over a thousand years.
The pride of the knightly house was woven into Kazen’s very existence, like an impenetrable armor.
Ruin smiled faintly.
“The vast territory that once stretched to the edges of the Lurethian Plains… The massive army of thirty thousand… The population of 2.6 million… The absolute autonomy that exempted it from taxation…
Where is the former glory of the Duchy of Bern now?”
Kazen’s pupils flared with fury.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Ruin shifted his gaze to the window and spoke with measured precision.
“If you are content with this meager land, then continue living as you are, relying solely on the pride of the Knightdom. Ignore the whispers of the nobles who call you a mere title-holder, who say that you have fallen from grace.”
“Do not cross the line, Ruin.”
Kazen’s entire body began to radiate an intense aura, like a heat mirage.
His piercing gaze burned like fire.
Ruin had longed to see his father.
But now, standing before that terrifying gaze, he felt as if he were suffocating.
Unlike the past, he now possessed the refined self-awareness of a grand mage.
Even so, he could not deny that this moment shook him to his core.
Indeed, he was the head of House Hybern.
The Kingdom’s greatest knight.
But Ruin needed to test him.
If his father’s sword was only wielded for the pride of the Knightdom, then there was no reason to restore the house’s former glory.
“Do you truly believe that owning a single mine will allow us to reclaim our place as a true ducal house?”
“It is not knights or warhorses that determine the course of a war.”
“Then what does?”
“Wheat and iron.”
Kazen’s expression wavered ever so slightly.
“It may be a small step, but it will be an undeniable foundation.”
To Kazen, the power to change the battlefield lay in strong knights and warhorses.
Ruin, however, saw the battlefield through the eyes of a strategist.
“The Panaeum Mine offers more than just its resources.”
“The land adjacent to Panaeum belongs to House Saehel, which has strong ties to the Rensia family. If we acquire the mine, we will be in a prime position to monitor Rensia’s movements closely.”
“Additionally, integrating the guilds involved in mining into our sphere of influence would yield tremendous benefits.
In times of crisis, a well-connected intelligence network is as powerful as an army. Those who relied on the incompetent Bowen Duke will be easy to control—They can be coaxed with incentives or pressured into submission.”
As Kazen gradually calmed his anger, his eyes turned cold and calculating once again.
“What else?”
“There is one far greater advantage than everything I have mentioned.”
“And what is that?”
Ruin’s gaze darkened.
“For centuries, the House of Hybern has remained above noble conflicts, observing them from a lofty perch. The Kingdom’s greatest noble house, the Grand Duchy, has always been pure and untouched. But now, it will move for its own interests.”
Ruin slowly raised his hand and tilted it to the left.
“The balance will tip.”
The shockwave of Hybern’s shift would shatter the existing order.
Those who had aligned themselves with Rensia would begin to waver.
For the first time, Kazen was genuinely taken aback.
This was not simply wisdom…It was a level of foresight beyond what could be expected of someone his age.
Even so, Kazen maintained his impassive expression.
“I have another question.”
“Please, ask.”
Kazen’s sharp eyes locked onto Ruin.
“If you have thought this far ahead, then you must already know. Securing Bowen’s mine would not require a great sum of money.”
The Kingdom’s Knight, Hybern—
A family powerful enough to arbitrate disputes between House Darione and the guilds.
If House Hybern acted as a guarantor or took on Bowen’s debts, the mine could be purchased for an absurdly low price.
Darione had already reached a dead end.
“Given our house’s capabilities, we could certainly do that.”
“Then let me ask again, what is your true intention behind your financial policy?
Your extreme budget cuts—Are you simply trying to tighten control over our family and subordinates?”
Ruin answered calmly.
“When was the last time you personally inspected our lands?”
“An inspection?”
Kazen had rarely left the castle in the past decade.
The powerful illusion magic cast upon his body was highly sensitive and could easily be disrupted.
Traveling in a constantly moving carriage could break the spell. For a long time, the most he could do was sit on his ducal throne and listen.
Ten years passed this way.
During that time, his uncles gained power. His aunts seized control of the family’s assets.The regional subordinates did the same.
Ruin’s expression darkened.
“Excessive stockpiling of goods. Unreasonable spending on training. A blatant disregard for proper accounting practices. This is beyond mere mismanagement. Why have you never once looked into their ledgers? Did you really trust the financial reports you received?”
“They are knights.”
Ruin sighed.
“Knights are still human. Given the choice between coarse vegetables and tender meat, they will choose meat. When their bellies are full, they will prefer lying down to standing up. That is simply human nature.”
Ruin’s words insulted the noble ideals of chivalry. But Kazen could not refute him.
Even knights were not immune to the temptations of luxury.
“They truly…”
“If you had been good with numbers, you would have figured it out long ago. The traces of manipulation are evident everywhere.”
In truth, Kazen had never paid much attention to the financial ledgers.
Ruin was wasting away by the day. Even his towering honor and formidable swordsmanship were utterly powerless in the face of his son’s incurable disease.
But the human heart is fragile before time. The weight of his duty as the kingdom’s pillar, the responsibility of overseeing the domain…it made him see his sorrow as a weakness.
Perhaps the order of confinement was not to protect his son but rather to shield himself.
Because not seeing it made it easier to endure.
Kazen lifted his head and looked at his son again.
All Ruin had done was read a single report on the nomads and examine the financial records.
Yet, he had not only deduced solutions to every issue but also laid out the future course for their house and even awakened Kazen’s own sense of duty as the kingdom’s pillar.
“Now I will ask. Who are you?”
With only the most fragmentary information, Ruin could grasp the bigger picture, construct countless logical frameworks, and derive absolute reasoning.
Such insight was something no seventeen-year-old could ever attain.
Most of all, Kazen knew his son better than anyone.
Ruin had never once been free from illness. He knew how broken his child’s spirit had become.
How could a heart so scarred possess such wisdom?
“What do you mean?”
“Do you take me for a fool?”
The fact that a dying Ruin had survived was already hard enough to believe.
But now, he had returned as an enlightened sage. Kazen’s suspicion was only natural.
“If you were going to doubt me, you should have done so from the moment I cut out the Mana Stone in my bloodstream.”
Ruin smirked.
Kazen gazed silently at his son.
Come to think of it, he was right.
Ruin had sliced open his own artery near the heart, without a moment’s hesitation, to remove the stone.
Even for knights who had trained their whole lives, such a feat required unshakable resolve.
All humans instinctively fear death.
As Ruin watched his father remain calm despite his confusion, he realized something.
‘You can deceive the entire world, but you cannot deceive your father.’
Especially not a father who had sacrificed everything to protect his pathetic son.
‘I want to tell him everything.’
At least to this stubborn, foolish father of mine.
But could he accept that the family’s ancient curse was nothing more than the arrogance of a demon?
Would he believe that the torment that plagued House Hybern for over a thousand years was just a twisted game played by Gyrobel?
And worse still that Ruin’s mind was now intertwined with that lunatic’s, each influencing the other?
His rigid, proud father would never accept such an absurd reality.
Above all, Ruin had defied the natural order.
The truth of his regression was not something he could speak of lightly.
As he stood there, deep in thought, Ruin’s expression turned complex.
‘You’re determined not to tell me, no matter what.’
Kazen’s eyes darkened further.
“You should know that clumsy excuses won’t work on me. The insight you’ve shown is beyond mere wisdom.
“If you had tried to lie and say you gained all this knowledge during your ten years in confinement, I would have expelled you from this house immediately.”
Ruin smiled bitterly.
He was a knight who bore the entire kingdom on his sword, standing at the peak of this nation’s martial prowess.
This towering figure was not just his father—he was the Grand Duke of House Hybern.
And Ruin, too, was a Grand Mage of unparalleled achievements.
Yet, as the absolute ruler of this land and the greatest knight of Lermadel, his father lacked nothing in authority or discernment.
“Go back and rest.”
His father’s words were calm and without hesitation.
Ruin looked puzzled.
After all the talk of expulsion, was he really being dismissed so easily?
“Are you saying you’ve set aside your doubts?”
Kazen shook his head quietly.
“I simply understand with my mind. A man with such wisdom would not have cut open his own chest recklessly. It was not foolish bravado but a calculated decision, you were certain you would survive.”
As Ruin hesitated, biting his lips, Kazen’s steady voice rang out again.
“I do not yet understand with my heart. I cannot fathom how you recognized the Mana Stone in your bloodstream, how you survived, or where this knowledge that defies time comes from. However…”
Kazen’s expression softened.
“Your gestures, your breath, your words, even your gaze. Every bit of you is still my son.”
Ruin barely held back the emotions welling inside him.
Kazen placed his hands on Ruin’s shoulders, his eyes glistening with warmth.
“Prince of House Hybern, my eldest son, my child.”
“Father…”
Ruin slowly raised his head to meet his father’s eyes.
“If only you could recover and live in good health…That is the one and only wish I have, as Kazen.”
A child never has to prove anything.
To a parent, the simple fact that their child is alive and well is enough.
That is the heart of every father in this world.
“For the heir of House Hybern to have secrets…It means you are becoming a knight in your own right.”
Kazen smiled brightly, more than ever before.
“For a knight, a secret is but another name for conviction.”
Like all fathers, his eyes were filled with boundless warmth.
“This father of yours will protect your conviction, Ruin.”
