Axion nodded as he looked at the Baron.
"This is correct."
The pleasant expression completely disappeared from the Baron's face after hearing the answer.
The Baroness's face also froze severely.
Huge bang!!
A violent thunder struck, and the entire dining hall shook noisily.
"You."
The Baron ordered in a cold voice.
“Get out of here immediately.”
"What?"
Axion, who was sitting at the table, looked at the Baron with a puzzled face.
The Baron's voice rose.
“Do you know where you are until you came here?!
Didn’t your father’s destruction of our family suffice, but he sent you to confirm for yourself whether we were completely destroyed?!”
Axion looked with a puzzled face at the Baron and Baroness.
Elia looked at him, convinced inside.
'Obviously, Axion knows absolutely nothing about this matter.'
Wasn't this something she herself didn't know about until recently?
“How do you feel now that you are confirmed?
Go back to your father and tell him clearly!
We will never collapse easily!”
He stared blankly at the Baron.
“I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you're talking about.
But I won't be able to convey your words to my father.”
A bitter smile spread on Axion's lips.
He said in a cold voice.
“My father fainted a while ago and is unconscious.
He is lying in bed, just waiting for the day he dies.”
The Baron's eyes widened after hearing the answer.
Elia was shocked too.
'Derek Ruppelt, Commander-in-Chief and Grand General of the Imperial Army, is unconscious!'
'I also don't know the details, but it seems that the situation on the Imperial Army side is a little turbulent.'
The news Yusar mentioned came to her mind.
This seemed to be the reason why the Imperial Army was in disarray.
Then Accion set down the cutlery, rose from his seat, and approached the Baron.
“What, what?”
The Baron was confused by Axion's sudden approach.
Axion now approached until he was directly in front of him.
Then he bowed his head towards the Baron.
"I'm sorry."
The Baron's eyes shook at Axion's apology.
He now looked directly at the Baron and said.
“My father is someone who treats what he considers trivial things with indifference, if it is for the sake of a great cause.”
A strange feeling floated in his blue eyes.
It was not known whether it was sadness or anger.
“Even if it is something that is not at all trivial and extremely important to someone else, what happened to this family must have happened that way.”
“……”
“You may consider my words deceit, but I know very well how you feel.
So, I apologize on behalf of my father.
I am truly sorry.”
Elijah and the Baron and Baroness, who saw that sight, were unable to utter a single word.
Illya stared pensively at Axion as he apologized.
I remembered what Axion said about his father in the Demon World Cave earlier.
‘He said he forced him to do crazy cruel practices to the point that he made him disabled in order to train.’
He is a human who trained his son to the max, trampling on human rights, claiming that he would raise him to be a strong soldier.
Just as he trampled and destroyed this feudalism.
Therefore, it would not be a lie that Axion understands the feelings of the baron and baroness whose fiefdom was destroyed.
But I wonder, what kind of feelings does Axion feel as he bows his head before the Baron and Baroness, while feeling such feelings?
Elia felt a tightness in her chest for no apparent reason.
In the end, she stepped between her father and Axion, who were having a confrontation.
“Stop now.
What happened in our fiefdom has nothing to do with this person, right?”
The Baron sighed lightly without being able to reply with a word.
He couldn't put any more pressure on this young man who was sincerely apologetic.
In any case, the collapse of feudalism has already happened.
And the destroyed feudalism will not return to what it was before, Blameh.
After the Baron came to this conclusion, he looked at Axion.
“Okay, I'll stop now.”
But he continued speaking in a cold voice.
“But there is no way I can allow you to stay the night at my house.
Please understand my lack of generosity.”
"decent."
Axion answered in an understanding voice.
“Once the rains subside, I will summon a carriage for you, so go to the city and find a room in an inn.”
The Baron finished speaking and left the dining hall.
The Baroness approached with an uncomfortable expression.
“I have to take care of your father.
I will call for the carriage immediately as soon as the weather improves, so go to the reception room.”
She glanced at Axion and whispered in an almost inaudible voice.
“…Most importantly, I’m sorry your father had to endure what happened to him.”
Axion made no response to her words.
Elia took Axion to the reception room.
As soon as they sat side by side on the drawing room sofa, silence fell.
The sound of heavy rain!
Only the sound of violent rain showers could be heard piercing the silence.
'How embarrassing!'
'To spend the last night of my vacation with Axion this way!'
'I was supposed to have a delicious dinner with my family and enjoy the last time.'
Looking at Axion, Illya felt a strange feeling of injustice due to this unexpected situation.
His face, reflected by the dim candlelight, looked extremely handsome, fragrant with a mysterious atmosphere.
“More importantly, why did you come to visit us, oppa?”
Axion remained silent for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.
“I don't really know myself.”
'What kind of illogical answer is this?'
While Ilia stared at Axion with a puzzled face, he continued speaking.
“…I somehow felt like that person would understand me.
So, I guess I came.”
'What exactly does she understand about Axion?'
“What exactly does he understand, Aoba?”
Instead of answering, Axion slowly closed his eyes.
He remembered the events he went through before coming here.
•
After parting ways with Erhan and his companions, he took a public carriage to return to the Ruppelt family's fiefdom.
As expected, his father never sent the family carriage.
Because the moment he decided to join the Grand Duke's Special Army Unit instead of the Imperial Army, his father disowned him.
Therefore, even when he joined the Grand Duke's dukedom, he came in a public carriage.
But he did not feel any remorse or regret for his father's announcement of his disavowal.
On the contrary, he felt completely comfortable.
In any case, there was not much affection left between father and son.
At least for Axion.
But the atmosphere in the house he arrived at was not normal.
His mother and servants told him that his father had fallen unconscious two weeks ago.
The cause of his fall was unknown.
Axion headed to the palace annex, where his father's bedroom was located, to visit him.
As he crossed the garden to go from the main building to the annex, he discovered a small building.
That was the training room where his father trained him so harshly.
As soon as he saw him, memories of past traumas seemed to surface, so he hurried his steps towards the annex.
He reached his father's bedroom, tried to calm his breathing and entered the room.
On the bed, a middle-aged man with blond hair who looked exactly like him was lying.
His father had withered and thinned miserably because he had not received proper nutrition for two weeks.
Even his muscular muscles were largely gone.
Axion stared in amazement at his father lying on the bed.
Is this corpse-like man really Derek Ruppelt, the imposing Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army and his father?
Who was treating him so cruelly and training him like that?
He could never believe this contradiction.
Confusion was greater than pity and sadness as a son.
He no longer wanted to stay in this room.
He wanted to leave quickly.
At the moment when he was about to get up,
Fist!
His father, who thought he was unconscious, grabbed his wrist.
“……?”
'Did I miss sighting?'
But it was clear that his lying father's hand was holding his wrist.
He felt an icy cold sensation on his wrist.
While he was confused,
Sparkle!
Derek's closed eyes opened.
His blue eyes, matching his own, stared at him intensely.
"……my dad?"
Axion's body trembled.