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As I blinked in confusion, my vision cleared.

Eugene stood there, his usual calm expression unchanged, having subdued the gentleman who had grabbed him. It seemed like a simple task for him, and he didn’t appear to have exerted much effort. While his opponent was an elderly man, the aura Eugene had briefly shown was impressive. I was left gaping in amazement at how this Eugene, whom I had always thought of as fragile and weak, had instantly overwhelmed such an intimidating presence.

However, Axel, standing by my side, simply scoffed arrogantly, as if he had expected this all along.  

“Now that he’s my disciple, he should at least be able to do that,” he said, his voice overflowing with pride.  

When I sharply turned my head to glare at Axel, he shrugged his shoulders in a boastful manner.  

“Quite different from someone else’s disciple, wouldn’t you say?”  

He was referring to Hazen, my former disciple, who had reappeared as a sinister mastermind. His words were so accurate that I couldn’t even refute them properly, and I pursed my lips in frustration. Meanwhile, Eugene pushed the old man away, almost as if he was tossing him aside. The elderly man, not expecting to be subdued so easily, stood there in a daze, clearly shocked.

‘Well, who would expect one of the former emperor’s closest servants to be subdued in such a manner?’

It wasn’t a difference in strength but a difference in power that had allowed him to maintain his dominance. He could never have imagined that such authority would be overturned here, and by an illegitimate child of the Kreutz family, no less.

“What is the meaning of this!” the elderly man, having regained his senses, straightened his posture and bellowed in a dignified tone.  

“This is why proper family upbringing is so important! Growing up outside the family, without the proper care of one’s parents, leads to this kind of behavior…”  

“Hmph. Shouldn’t the one who grabbed someone first be the one lacking proper upbringing?”

I deliberately muttered to myself loud enough for him to hear, cutting off the absurd words of the elderly man. This time, his face flushed red as he turned to glare at me.  

‘What? Are you mad?’  

Why make comments that would clearly anger others if you’re going to get mad when you hear something similar?

I boldly glared back at the old man, locking eyes with him in a stare-down. It was Eugene who stepped between us.  

“Elder,” Eugene addressed the man, bowing with perfect court etiquette that made the man’s comments about “family upbringing” seem ridiculous. Even to my untrained eyes, Eugene’s bow was flawless.  

‘In fact, it’s exceptionally graceful!’

With his words rendered nonsensical, the elderly man’s face turned red as though he were about to explode. Eugene spoke politely to him,  

“I will not be returning to the Kreutz family. As you can see, I’ve received proper upbringing here as well.”  

“No matter how much you refuse, as long as your name is Eugene ‘Kreutz,’ you cannot defy the head of the family’s orders,” the old man insisted, invoking authority, his face still flushed.  

“If you continue to resist, rumors will spread that the Elpinard family is detaining the Kreutz family’s heir and refusing to return him. Such rumors would be a serious affront to the Elpinard family, to whom you owe a debt of gratitude, wouldn’t you agree?”

It was practically a threat. While the Duke of Elpinard and Axel were not the type to flinch at such threats, for Eugene, who owed them a great deal, this could be a significant concern. I hurriedly moved toward Eugene, intending to tell him not to fall for such petty threats. But Eugene was quicker in turning the threat back on the old man.

“If that’s how you wish to proceed, then I shall spread my own rumors. About the abuse I suffered as a child at the hands of the Duke of Kreutz.”  

“Abuse, you say!”  

The Kreutz family knight, who had been silently watching the situation unfold, jumped up in outrage at Eugene’s words.

“The Duke cherished his frail son so much that he even visited various temples, pouring his efforts into purification rituals! He donated vast sums for those rituals. How could such a person possibly abuse his son?” 

Despite both Eugene, the victim of the abuse, and myself, a witness to it, glaring at him, the knight had the audacity to spew such blatant lies. It was true that, outwardly, Duke Kreutz had a reputation for taking in his illegitimate son late in life and cherishing him. The knight seemed to be using this public narrative as a shield, trying to counter Eugene’s not-so-veiled threat.  

“Purification rituals, you say.”  

Eugene responded with a twisted smile as he slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. Beneath the partially opened shirt, I glimpsed a surprisingly muscular chest…  

“What are you looking at?”  

Before I could fully process what was happening, Axel’s large hand suddenly covered my eyes. I struggled, trying to push his hand away, but there was no way I could overcome the strength of a grown man.  

“Why’s that kid suddenly taking off his clothes…?” Axel grumbled, his hand still over my eyes. But then his words trailed off, and I felt the tension leave his arm. As soon as I sensed his grip loosen, I quickly pushed his hand away. The moment I did, I saw Eugene standing there, shirt removed.  

“Huh!”  

Eugene’s body, now fully exposed, was covered in scars that looked as though they had been there for years. I gasped in shock, and it wasn’t just me. Axel, the Duke of Elpinard, the knight from the Kreutz family, and even the elderly attendant of the late emperor were all equally stunned. The only one who remained composed was Eugene.  

“With the evidence so clearly marked on my body, it’s difficult to deny, don’t you think?” Eugene spoke nonchalantly, addressing the knight of the Kreutz family in an informal tone.  

This was a far cry from the boy who always smiled and acted playfully in front of me.  

“N-no, the Duke… His Excellency would never do anything that could leave such scars…”  

The knight, who clearly hadn’t anticipated this, stammered. Eugene sneered and spread his arms wide.  

“Do you still think your words will hold any weight after seeing this?”  

“W-well…”  

The knight, now lost for words, clamped his mouth shut. Eugene then turned to face the elderly man.  

“If the Duke truly cared about me and wanted to bring me back into the family, shouldn’t he come here himself and first apologize for the past? Though I doubt his lofty pride would allow for that.”

The elderly man, too, remained silent, his lips tightly sealed. Eugene calmly began to button his shirt back up. The way he methodically fastened each button, from his chest down to his sleeves, looked incredibly elegant.  

It was clear that Eugene had won the battle of legitimacy. The elderly man, lips quivering in frustration, glared at Eugene before abruptly turning on his heel. The knight from the Kreutz family quickly followed after him, whispering urgently.  

“Are you just going to leave like this?”  

“What else can I do? How do you deal with a lunatic who shamelessly flaunts his own disgrace for the world to see?”  

The word *disgrace* snapped me back to reality. I had been so shocked that I hadn’t considered it, but scars like those on a noble’s body, resembling those of a slave, would indeed be a source of great shame. Axel and the Duke of Elpinard’s faces had grown unusually serious, likely because they had thought of this as well.

“You dared to reject the late emperor’s arbitration. This won’t end quietly, young lord!”  

The elderly attendant, refusing to drop his haughty demeanor until the very end, stormed off.  

He had made such a fuss about family upbringing, yet he left without even offering a proper farewell to the Duke of Elpinard.

It was clear that the elderly servant had acted that way, emboldened by the power of the late emperor, who had made a grand return to the political center. I watched his figure retreat into the distance, glaring at the back of his head, before quickly rushing to Eugene’s side.

“Why did you do that? Everything could have been resolved with the document you signed,” I said, clutching my chest in frustration. Eugene responded with an awkward smile, looking a bit uncomfortable. It was hard to believe that this was the same person who had just stood up to the uninvited guests so confidently. 

It didn’t take long to figure out why Eugene was acting this way.

“You didn’t sign it, did you?” the Duke said, glancing at the documents still sitting on the table. 

Startled, I turned to Eugene.  

“What? You didn’t? Why not? You don’t want to feel indebted to the Duke?”

Sure, the elderly man had backed down today due to Eugene’s show of force, but next time they could come back with something even stronger. Eugene needed a name other than *Kreutz* to protect himself for the future.

“This is technically Axel’s title, so it’s fine. Besides, it’s only temporary,” Eugene said casually.  

Axel looked as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but I didn’t care.

“I can’t accept teacher’s land and title, even if it’s for a limited time.”  

“But…”  

“I’ve already received so much help from the Elpinard family. This time, I want to face the challenge on my own.”

Eugene spoke with determination. In a normal situation, his resolve would have been admirable, but there was a deeper reason why we couldn’t let Eugene go. The Duke, Axel, and I remained silent, unable to easily respond, which made Eugene narrow his eyes as if he had figured something out.

“There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there? And it has to do with some kind of sacrifice and a grand purpose, doesn’t it?”

Sacrifice and grand purpose. I blinked in confusion, having never heard those terms before. Eugene, looking down slightly, continued in a softer voice.

“I deciphered the document. The encrypted message that Reshia brought. The sacrifice it refers to… is me, isn’t it?”