The truth that had been kept from the family had concerned matters related to another families involvement but also Rufus' own son who was the deceased former family head.
Due to the indifference of his father and the influence of his mother along with the maternal family, he had grown up in a similar way to Milo.
He had a major inferiority complex and was a cruel individual who was moulded to carry out his maternal families wishes.
Later when his mother had passed away, he had become even more unrestrained in his actions as he showed no mercy to his fellow siblings and their supporters which allowed him to be the only person left to inherit the position as family head.
He was granted the position by his father who had stepped down willingly but still handled many of the family matters so his inferiority complex had only grown worse as he was not capable enough to be trusted with more difficult matters.
He carried out some tasks and gained support from his maternal family to carry them out off the island to try to earn more power and respect but his father only showed him more indifference.
The only interest his father took in him was to arrange suitable marriage partners to carry on the bloodline so he had soon felt more humiliated as if his father only thought of his presence as a means to carry on the main lines blood.
His maternal family had contacts within the outside world and that was helping establish his place within the family as trade had gradually improved but he and his maternal family had started to go down a darker path together as they got a taste of the outside world and what it could offer.
Some Minks had gone missing from the poorer districts of Zou while some had even disappeared after a raid on their ships or within one of the islands they had visited.
It was difficult for many to believe that a group could be so easily subdued but it was not impossible if they had been split up or certain methods were used like poison, Devil Fruit powers or certain types of restraining weapons.
Those methods would be believable but not many would start to suspect that those Minks had been betrayed by those they had trusted and were subdued by their fellow tribe.
With the increasing greed and a desire to gain power, he planned to stage an attack on his father and his own homeland with an underworld group.
He had shown them how to get to Zou and they would enter with their best men then start abducting the weakest and youngest among the Minks to be sold at a high price on the slave auction.
Some were subdued with a lot of effort but it had alerted everyone on the island of their presence which had made the Mink forces move to defend their home.
A war broke out between the invaders and the inhabitants of Zou, during that time where everyones eyes were focussed on the battle there was something else going on.
The son believed that he had surpassed his own father who had grown older and not shown his own skills so he decided to launch a sneak attack on him.
The old man may be older but due to a Minks body type, even older Minks can still retain their fighting power unless they are suffering from a series of injuries or illnesses.
Rufus had a slight suspicion about the past events being related to his son so he had been more on guard than usual, that was another reason why the son had acted against him because he was afraid of the consequences of his father finding out and reporting it to others.
Rufus suffered a small would from the sneak attack and they fought and argued fiercely as much blame was put onto Rufus by the only child he had left in the world.
He had to make the choice between sparing him or killing him due to the severity of the situation and how great his sons crimes were.
The Minks are usually united, they may have their own factions and ways of competing within some groups or families but when it comes to their unity against others and protecting the tribe as a whole, they are always happy to work with their enemies or competition just so they can protect their home and the safety of their own race.
They occasionally made trips from Zou to trade and some even left the island for their own reasons but it was forbidden to bring humans to the island or show them how to get there unless it has been permitted by someone like Genghis Baan who can allow people to remain on the island for a while and even then it may be because of the groups contribution and help towards the Minks.
It was deeply forbidden to hand over the means to enter the island especially when it was to those with sinister intentions but it was much worse to sell out ones own kind.
Betraying ones own race which results in the death, injury or loss of freedom of their own kind was something unforgivable no matter what the reasons may be and his son's reasons were because of his own inferiority complex but also his insatiable greed.
Many lives had been harmed by his son and maybe many would would because of his plan.
In their battle, there had been the death of his son and the main supporters of his son had been killed.
With the help of Genghis Baan, it was arranged that his son and others had gone on a secret mission to find the source of the attack and that was told to those important enough had to accept while those lower in status just learned that he was going on regular business with the elders.
It was made much easier due to everyone being distracted during the war and the aftermath so the mess created within the family home had been cleaned up before others were back to notice anything strange.
Even a Mink with a strong sense of smell was not able to notice anything strange due to the excellent abilities of Genghis Baan and his own private forces.
There was also some aid from those with high positions within the other two Dukes which were from the Night Guard and the Musketeers.
Although the family head did have the Vivre Card of his son, many elders did not know such information that only the family heads were made aware of and kept track of like managing the Vivre Cards.
His son's Vivre Card had burned out and later the children were being born so he was forced to later announce his sons status as missing which had lead to years of hesitating to announce his sons death.
Rufus had suffered betrayal at the hands of his siblings when he spared them so he became indifferent to his family and focussed on work, his indifference had let him ignore the influence others had within the family and how his children had turned out which then lead to his sons betrayal of his own family and race.
He was forced to kill his own son, cover it up and live with the guilt, that guilt and the experiences along with a little charming from Pixel had helped him to take more of an active role within the raising of the newer generation of the main line even if it was monitoring from a distance and making a few decisions based on how the children were being raised and so on.
Rufus was just an old man who had been hurt deeply and was very serious towards his duties as family head but he occasionally made mistakes and was now trying to make up for them.
He had made the decision to kill his own son because his son had strayed so far away from being saved and it was kind of a mercy considering how his son may suffer once he was found out by everyone.
He was able to save the families reputation thanks to his swift actions and he and Baan had been working together to try to further investigate the maternal family of his son along with the locations of the missing Minks.
Unfortunately the family had been quiet for the past couple of years and exposing the families crimes as just like exposing his own sons and families crimes and shame to everyone.
They needed something decisive to be able to act so they had remained patient over the years and waited for the chance to find real proof.