The flames crackled.
The wolf's meat hissed and sizzled as it skewered over the fire.
"That's it, father."
Seven told the Archduke everything. Well, almost everything—what happened before he died. Of course, he left out the part where Eden pierced his heart.
"I see…"
The Archduke let out a low chuckle, which soon turned into a full laughter.
But after a moment, the laughter died down and he stared upwards into the sky with a blank gaze.
"Eden… she really did it, huh…?"
***
21 days ago…
30th Day of the Seventh Season, Year 775.
"Father, I want to tame the prisoner from the basement."
Seven laughed as he said those words when the Archduke asked what reward he wanted.
'Prisoner?'
The archduke thought.
It was the first time he heard one of his children ask for a total random reward. Not even Eden would ask something like that.
Most of all, there was only one prisoner in the basement, and that was even the one who attempted to assassinate Seven.
'Yet he wants to tame him?'
But no matter how weird it was, the Archduke didn't dwell on the matter any longer.
After all, it was his words that Seven could take anything he wanted.
But before he could give permission, Seven laughed again before he left the room.
Step.
Seven finally left the throne hall and walked towards the entrance of the basement prison.
Now, only Eden and the Archduke are the ones inside.
"Archduke."
Eden stood up.
There was no hint of daughter and Father in their interaction, but only the Archduke and one of his vassals.
Eden recalled the spar she had with Seven.
"The youngest has changed. Again."
"..."
Silence.
The Archduke didn't reply. 'Unpredictable among unpredictables' is what he refers to as Seven.
Including this time, he couldn't count how many times he heard the praise "Archduke, the youngest had changed again" from almost everyone within the mansion—from servants and his children alike.
Instead, he stood up.
Step.
He walked towards the gray-tinted window pane and looked beyond the horizon, towards the direction of the Kingdom.
Then, his expression changed to a frown.
As it did, bloodlust filled the throne hall. Even Eden,with power ranked second within the household next to the Archduke, shivered.
Ruthless.
Chaos.
Cold yet hot at the same time.
Eden didn't quite know how to describe the feeling, but all she knew was the Archduke, at this moment, was the last person she'd make upset.
Sigh.
The Archduke sighed.
He shifted his gaze towards Eden and tossed what looked like a medal.
None of them spoke as Eden scrutinized the object. She put it inside her pocket.
"Archdu—"
"This Dukedom no longer belongs to us, Harts."
For a moment, Eden hesitated to reply. But she did as she realized what the words meant.
"I… I know, Archduke."
More than half of the Duchy doesn't belong to them.
The Harts.
Mercenaries inside the small and rundown mercenary hall are all planted, along with almost all of the merchants that didn't come from nearby independent villages.
More than half of the citizens.
The knights.
Though they weren't sure who were the ones within the knights, there was bound to be a planted one among them.
Even his own child, Avion Hart, was working alongside the nobles of the Kingdom, unaware of their true motives as he was blinded by the greed of succession.
It was Avion's choice.
After all, he himself knew that he, alone, doesn't have a chance against Eden.
This is the result.
Including the kidnapping case.
With all the planted people planted by the Kingdom, it would be impossible for such an important figure, Aeloria Havin, the daughter of the Archmage, to be kidnapped.
'I failed as the Archduke'
'I know nothing but my sword.'
'If only I…'
The Archduke blamed himself.
All of these could have been stopped if he stepped up before it got worse.
But no.
The current Archduke was way too lenient and different compared to the ruthless person he was back in the novel.
Not just him.
Lythian.
Seven.
Eden.
Ciae.
Iria.
All of them were the opposite of their supposed-to-be versions.
Seeing the unease on the Archduke's face, Eden slipped her hands into her pockets, gripping the medal he had tossed to her earlier.
"I will change the ways of the family, Archduke."
The Archduke didn't reply, but his gaze said that he was asking how.
Eden continued.
"With my own way."
***
Back then, the Archduke didn't know what Eden meant when she said 'her own way' .
Thus he went to the Kingdom as the Archduke to perhaps to make up for the mistakes he blamed himself for, even though he knew it might be a trap.
He was confident.
A six-aura gate swordsman.
Aside from the head of the Havin family, a six-ring mage himself, the Archduke was confident that no one else other than him could stand a chance against him in the seventh continent.
Little did he know that they had his weakness—the one he was willing to sacrifice his life for.
And little did he know that all of his knights, except for the head knight, would betray him.
Now, in front of the skewered wolf's meat, he recalled Eden's words as he stared in the ruins of the Dukedom.
'This is her own way, huh?'
He smiled.
On his way back here, escaping, he found no corpse on the estate, nor the corpses of his other children.
'...She changed her ways then."
The Eden he knew was cold, indifferent, and ruthless, just like him. When given a mission to kill, Eden would spare no one, not even kids, elders, and pets.
Literally annihilation.
But also, the Eden she knew, was soft and cared so much for Seven.
'Is it a good thing or…'
He looked at Seven, who's busy rotating the meat.
Tallying what Seven said, Eden came back along with a random person, he didn't specify, and he lost consciousness when Eden focused his killing intent on him.
Parts of it were lies.
Of course he knew. But if Seven didn't want to tell him, then he had no rights to ask further.
But then again, even if the Archduke did ask, Seven didn't know what happened after within the seven days of his death—including the part where Ciae annihilated the evacuating citizens.
Cough.
The Archduke coughed.
His gaze shifted towards the ruins of the dukedom visible from the cliff-their position.
"Father."
Seven called the Archduke, gesturing to the meat—asking whether the Archduke wanted to eat already.
"No."
The Archduke shook his head.
After all, the meat was not cooked that much yet.
Munch.
But Seven didn't mind it and took a bite himself.
Seven already ate raw meat given to them by the wolves as Lythian said, but he refused to believe him as wolves aren't known to be that friendly.
In fact, he's eating a wolf right now.
Munch.
The meat was hot and crisp, but the inside was soft and deep red in color, almost raw. Yet the taste was good enough to make him smile.
'Chewy, with a light softness.'
The Archduke looked at him and frowned. He did not expect that the picky Seven he knew learned to eat wild meat.
Cough.
But since it was the Archduke's idea to had a last meal together, he had no choice.
Cough.
He coughed again. He had no other wounds beside those two, at least on the surface.
'This is why I hate mages.'
Aside from the dark cultists, he also hated mages as much.
'A world of swords should only have swords.'
Cough.
"Give me a slice.'
"Okay."
Seven noticed the Archduke's complexion growing paler.
Without a word, he sliced the roasted meat into two portions—one small, one large.
He picked up the smaller piece by the bone, but for the larger one, he skewered it with his sword and handed it to the Archduke.
A barbeque, but in the sword, not stick.
"Son."
Suddenly, the Archduke called Seven his son, not 'Seven, youngest, and such'.
But 'Son'.
Seven, who was about to take a bite, looked at the Archduke taking the ring off from his finger.
A black ring.
It wasn't special, nor did it hold any extraordinary power, but just a normal ring.
Then, he gripped the ring. Tightly.
"You never met your mother, did you?"
The Archduke asked, though he didn't look at Seven. His gaze remains fixed on the ring.
Seven remained silent.
In his memories, there was no mention of his mother, nor any sight of her face.
None.
"Hah…"
The Archduke took a deep breath and shifted his gaze right after, locking with Seven's.
"I never loved her the way I should have."
Slowly, he turned his gaze away and looked at the distance as if he was seeing a face beyond the horizon.
"I hope… I hope one day you meet her."
The Archduke opened his mouth, ready to take a bite.
But before he could, he froze.
His hand trembled slightly, and the sword skewered to a piece of meat slipped from his grasp, falling onto the ground
"Father?"
For a moment, it seemed like he was simply pausing, his eyes blank as though caught in some distant thought.
But then, his shoulders slumped.
His eyes flickered one last time, meeting Seven's gaze and smiled.
"Happy… 17th birth… day, my… son."
The Archduke's body went completely still.
He died with eyes still wide open.
"..."
Yet Seven was calm despite witnessing the final moments of the Archduke's life play out.
Instead of crying, or the same emotion he felt—his body felt—after Iria's death, he felt nothing.
'System. Date.'
[Date: 51st Day of the Seventh Season, Year 775.]
'He couldn't have waited two more days…?'
Even in this life, Seven never got to celebrate his birthday with a father.
"Last meal...? Fudge it."
His gaze fell on the untouched meat lying beside the Archduke's body.
"He didn't even took a single bite."