A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

2 – Returning to the Beginning (1)

Where did it all go wrong?

If I were to answer that question, I would say that it is in this very moment.

“From today on, we shall serve the Empire.”

My father, ‘Crimson Gibraltar’, announced his betrayal of the kingdom.

From that moment on, everything began to change.

Whatsoever was the atmosphere back then?

“Ah, father! What do you mean?!”

My younger brother, Nouar Gibraltar, leaped up from his chair in surprise.

“O-Older brother, what… what did dad just say…?”

My younger sister, youngest child Retar Gibraltar, was scared beyond belief, even though she didn’t quite understand the meaning.

“Ah, ah….”

My mother, Charlotte Gibraltar, held her forehead as if she was about to faint.

And the others present?

The housekeeper seemed confused, and the maids cast their eyes to and fro.

Bombshell remarks that exploded before we could even start our morning meal.

“We are no longer a noble family that belongs to the kingdom.”

Despite the turmoil, Father continued speaking nonchalantly as he picked up his silverware.

“After the war, we shall be the family with the greatest merit among the imperial nobility.”

War.

Great merit.

It was a distinctive rhetoric, as if the front and back had been cut off, uttering only the main point known to himself.

It was only after I became an adult that I could understand my father’s rhetoric.

Switching allegiance to the Empire.

War.

Great merit.

“Father.”

“Yes, my son.”

Originally, I would have had that conversation here.

Our family is from the Byungbaek clan, isn’t it?

We are a royal family, but is it true that we decided to become part of the empire?

But I’ve already experienced that.

“Do you plan to open the passage through the gorge?”

“…”

The dream, for the first time, contradicted my memories.

My father put down his utensils and stared at me intently.

“To make way.”

The other family members did the same.

“Whose head did you inherit to be so brilliant?”

It’s not sarcasm.

“You are only 10 years old and have such thoughts. It must be a great blessing for our family.”

It’s praise.

That’s why it’s a bit more chilling.

“Do you know what it means to open the gorge?”

“When the empire raises a massive army to invade the kingdom, it enables a bloodless conquest.”

This is the thought process of a traitor.

“The kingdom will be at ease, thinking we will fight to the death against the imperial army.”

“Yes, as always.”

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A slight irritation and contempt flowed from my father’s voice.

“The kingdom thinks of our Byungbaek clan as merely a shield to protect the gorge, as it has been for the past few hundred years.”

At that time, I couldn’t understand my father, so I asked.

Why did you betray the kingdom?

I know why he decided to become a traitor.

“Do you think there is no future left in the kingdom?”

“Grey!”

My mother screamed in dismay.

“What are you saying! That is treason!”

Rebellion.

A grave crime, one that could easily warrant beheading at the mention of it.

“This is a discussion between ourselves.”

I bowed my head slightly towards my mother.

“If what is spoken here at this dinner table is leaked, then that would mean someone within our family has relayed my father’s words to the kingdom.”

“…You!”

“My lady, I have already made up my mind.”

My father, calming my mother, picked up the knife he had been using to cut his steak.

“No one here can leave until I finish speaking.”

A silver aura began to frost the silver knife.

An ‘aura’, an exclusive property of knights who can manipulate mana.

“Anyone who wishes to be pierced by my sword, speak now.”

Within the kingdom, he was a powerful figure, one of the top three, and people called him the ‘Sword Master.’

“Grey.”

With a sharp warning like a knife aimed at others, my father asked me in a gentle and benevolent voice.

“Why do you think I chose the empire?”

“Well, the reason.”

“Tell me anything, as it is. No matter what you say, even if it’s full of treason, it’s fine.”

“…Because the kingdom is rotten.”

I tried to be a little more tactful, even elegantly expressing, but my father just nodded his head slightly.

“…Is that not the answer you’re looking for?”

“No, continue.”

He looked disappointed, but should I give him what he wants to hear?

‘Anyway, everything is going to be ruined.’

He won’t know the outcome of betrayal anyway since he is no longer alive.

‘At least, let him be happy in his dreams.’

Thinking of it as an act of filial piety towards my deceased father, I cleared my throat with a false cough.

“This country is beyond salvation.”

“…Oh?”

My father’s eyes began to sparkle as he reached for the steak.

“There’s no easy answer. In what sense?”

“There are just too many broad issues and things to talk about – too many to go over one by one.”

What should I talk about?

“The nobility’s purity no longer exists. The royal family, blinded by gold coins, has sold titles to unworthy commoners.”

Noble titles were bought up by rich merchants through downright magic, causing the nobility’s authority to crumble?

“The farmers have turned into thieves, plundering as they please, and the central government has no intention of suppressing them.”

The desperate people, unable to bear it any longer, rise up in rebellion, but they haven’t been suppressed for years?

“The nobles are too busy protecting their own property, and the Dukes and Counts factions are split, committing all kinds of crimes just to get their powers in the Senate.”

In the central part, the nobles are breaking all the laws to gain positions under each other?

“There must be many reasons, but if I had to name just one representative issue.”

All these problems have already spread everywhere in the kingdom.

“Father, it may be a little embarrassing to say, but…”

“It’s fine. Go ahead.”

The turning point that led Count Gibraltar to betray his country.

“Wasn’t it because Mother was insulted by the king at last party?”

“……”

“Gray!!”

My father falls silent at my answer, while my mother’s face turns red.

“What kind of nonsense is that to come from a child’s mouth?!”

“I tried to put it delicately, but…”

“Tell it as it is.”

“Our current king, drunk on alcohol, mocked Mother. It wasn’t just mocking…”

“You!!”

“That’s enough, my lady. Before being a ten-year-old child, he is the heir to a count.”

My father didn’t seem too eager to discuss the matter, but in the end, that was the starting point of the rebellion.

“Yes. The king mocked your mother. When you become an adult, I’ll tell you more details, but he dragged her into his bedchamber.”

“Ah, uh…”

My mother covers her face with both hands.

“What kind of man would stand idly by while his woman faced such humiliation?”

The fear of shame, humiliation, and scandal spreading like a nightmare must have been overwhelming.

“The kingdom has always seen us as a shield. They never think that the count will betray them, as it’s always been like this.”

“So, because of that, they did such a deed?”

“Yes. The king has insulted our entire family. By touching the countess, he asks what the count can do about it.”

The corner of my father’s mouth twisted up.

“So, what now? Are you going to assassinate the king? Or start a rebellion? Do you have the courage to do that?”

“Did the king say that?”

“Once you peel off the shell of all the political rhetoric, only the crude expressions remain.”

Rebel if you don’t like it.

That’s what his words amounted to.

“So, we decided to betray the kingdom.”

“…….”

“On the day the empire brings its soldiers, we’ll open up the valley. We’ll guide them through the road to the capital without a single battle.”

“It would take at least three months to go another way, but if they follow the valley and take the road to the capital, they’ll arrive within a month.”

“Yeah. Of course, the empire isn’t yet at the stage of starting a war.”

My father wiped his knife with a napkin and stood up.

“In 10 years. It will take at least 10 years to launch a full-scale war.”

I was 10 years old now, and the war would exactly occur when I turned 20.

The future had been predetermined since the day our betrayal was decided.

“Until then, this is our family’s secret.”

And if there was a reason why we could keep this secret from anyone for those 10 years,

“Only for us, ‘the bloodline.'”

It was because of my father’s cruelty.

Thump.

The sound of something getting stabbed by the casually thrown knife reached my ears.

“Huh?”

With the sound of the wind leaking from my throat.

Tsuuwhak!!

Spewing out a gush of red blood, one of the maids, with the knife stuck in her throat, collapsed forward.

“Kyaaak!”

“Count?! What-“

“Except for our bloodline, no one can be trusted.”

My father said, and with those words, methodically killed everyone in the room.

One by one.

Blood smeared on the knife used for steak, replacing the sauce.

The conversation changes, but the nightmare remains the same.

“No one must know what happens outside.”

The acrid smell of blood.

People dying.

The lifeless bodies of my mother and siblings.

“The same goes for all of you, my children.”

My father poured himself a glass of wine as if to quench a burning thirst.

“Hoist your glasses.”

It was a command.

“Quickly.”

Although what we were drinking was just ordinary water, we hoisted our glasses just like my father.

“Grey.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You, huh, no. …there must be a reason you’re the eldest after all. I have great expectations.”

With those words, my father gently shook his glass towards me.

“We’ll betray our country and become the spearhead of the enemy.”

We opened the doors for the Empire, becoming the primary contributors to the fall of the Kingdom.

“We’re going to enjoy wealth and prosperity for generations-“

That was wrong.

“Heh.”

A laugh involuntarily escaped my lips.

“…Grey.”

My father was laughing too.

“You seem happy just thinking about it. Yes, perhaps the history of humiliation and oppression that the Greyfield family has endured could finally be wiped clean in your generation. Rejoice with all your heart.”

It was genuinely enjoyable just to think about it. I laughed wholeheartedly.

“On the day our empire unsheathes its sword, Gibraltar will open its gates and welcome them. Until then, we will silently sharpen our blades.”

Father truly believed it.

Shall I tell you?

Your dream has come true, but it has not been carried on for generations.

“All five traitors here have died.”

Though the order may have differed, with me as the last, the blood of the Gibraltar family has ended.

“Mother took her own life on the day the kingdom fell.”

At the age of twenty, Gray.

On the day the empire finally declared war on the kingdom, crossing the valleys and occupying the royal roads.

Upon hearing the news of the kingdom’s downfall, Mother ended her own life.

“Retar was killed while mocking the fallen nobles.”

At the age of twenty-five, Gray.

Youngest sister Retar tortured and tormented the knights of the kingdom until she was killed in retaliation.

“Nuari was also killed while messing around trying to catch the men who killed Retar.”

Gray, age twenty-six.

Nuari, the second son, was seized by the resistance that sought to restore the kingdom and was executed under the name of traitor.

“Father.”

And then Gray, age twenty-seven.

“I was poisoned in the institution, and you were executed after being defeated by the emperor.”

I was assassinated at the institution’s party, and my father was killed in a fight with the emperor.

Originally, I should have died as soon as I drank the poison-

Thanks to my slight resistance, or rather immunity, to the poison, I died a little later.

And after that….

“Tsk.”

I picked up a glass.

“What’s the point when it’s all over?”

After all, this is just a dream.

A mere regret of a traitor who betrayed her, kept silent, indulged in luxury and pleasure, and sold his country.

“Cheers.”

I lightly tilted my neck.

“…?”

The coldness flowing down my throat.

At the same time, the carbonation bubbles awakening my senses.

“Gulp, gulp, gulp…!!”

“Ha, hahahahaha! Gray, you rascal. You really love carbonated water, don’t you? Alright. When our ties with the Empire grow stronger, I’ll ask them to provide a carbonated spring for you.”

“Gulp, ye-yes, thank, thank you….”

Wait.

What’s going on?

“…”

I don’t wake up from this dream.

In the glass filled with bubbling carbonated water, my reflection shows me as a 10-year-old-

“…”

As the carbonation subsides, my mind clears.

This moment is ‘reality.’