Chapter 202 - GOOD

THE general's next words answered Reas' question about whether Cyrus Lancaster indeed asked this cousin to help the other deal with him.

"We discovered from the evidence we found that your brainless cousin wanted to frame you for what happened yesterday.  It's obvious that he was quite determined to ruin your reputation.  Probably wanting you to be out of favored and be ostracized by your family.  Quite the jealous and insecure guy, if I must say.  Good for you, the criminal he hired actually had a semblance of conscience.  He didn't frame you and he even went as far as giving us the vital evidence that it was your cousin who was behind it all."

The video that Specter sent them was actually a direct recording of his video call with this Kristoff Lancaster.  So, everything that the other said was caught on camera.    From asking the hacker to sabotage the virtual pods and then framing it on his cousin.  To how much he would pay Specter for it. 

It was really stupid in Wulfric's opinion.  The other was dealing with a fairly well-known hacker.  So, why, why would he contact him personally and even choose video call as a means of communication?  It's either someone was setting him up or he just really didn't have that much of a brain cell.  Wulfric had a feeling that it was the latter.

After all, if someone else was behind this, that Specter should have already mentioned it.  The fact that he didn't just prove that this Kristoff Lancaster truly lacked intelligence.  No wonder he couldn't surpass his much more talented cousin.

That was… a bit unexpected. – Reas thought after he heard that.  Well, if he thought about it carefully, a big noble family like the Lancasters would definitely have some weird power struggle within.  There's no way they wouldn't have some sort of politics.

It was something that he would probably never understand.  After all, he grew up in a very loving family.  The idea of them hurting each other in any way was very foreign to him. 

Anyway, it seemed that he indeed owed Cyrus Lancaster an apology for beating the crap out of him yesterday. 

Cyrus, on the other hand, was just trembling with so much anger.  Really, how could someone be so stupid?

He knew Kristoff disliked him.  Mostly because they were of the same age and almost always compared with each other.  Cyrus being an overachiever and the other being the complete opposite just forced them to not get along with each other. 

On his end, he didn't really care much.  He just wanted to do the best he could in every way, so nobody could mock him.  He really didn't put Kristoff and his antics in his eyes.  For him, he was just an immature brat who was just there to do immature things.

But that wasn't the case for Kristoff, obviously.  The other thought of him as an enemy who was stealing all limelight.  He probably thought that if he wasn't there, then the attention of everyone would be on him.  But what he failed to understand was even without Cyrus, there was no way he would 'shine'.  He just didn't have the ability for that to happen.

Cyrus was convinced that the thing that instigated Kristoff to do this was because of their last family dinner.  It's where all members of the family go back to the main house twice a year to have dinner together.  They talked about topics concerning the family, as well as solve problems made by some family members.

When the topic turned to Cyrus applying to enter the Imperial Military Academy, Kristoff then said that he also wanted to apply to the same military academy.  But their grandfather immediately rejected that proposal.  Saying that he didn't have the ability and that lack thereof would only put shame to their family's name.

Kristoff's frustration was probably slowly piling up since then.  And this was just the result of him finally exploding.  But his choice just proved how right their grandfather was to not allow him to enter the Imperial Military Academy.

"Since we have already proven your innocence, I will not punish you for what happened.  But if you go and rat this out to your family, so, they could fix this situation before it could get bigger, I will make sure that you will be expelled from this academy.  You catch my drift?"

This was a good opportunity for Wulfric to hit the Lancasters' reputation.  That family was having it good these past years.  It would really make him happy if he could put a stop to their lucky streak.  To do that without a hitch, he needed this Lancaster brat to not warn his family about this. 

So, the other's next actions would prove whether he's just another Lancaster or if he had big enough balls to separate himself from his family and act indepently.

Cyrus remained silent for a few seconds, as if he was contemplating what his answer would be.  And he was.  As a Lancaster, it's his responsibility to make sure that their name wouldn't be tarnished by such a thing.  But at the same time, he knew that the prince also meant what he said.  He would really make it impossible for him to be in this academy if he didn't do as he said.

It's no secret that the prince despised the Lancasters.  If not probably for the current emperor, the prince wouldn't hesitate to massacre them all and erased them from this Empire.

Even though it looked like Cyrus was considering which option he should choose, deep inside, he knew that he had already made a decision.  He took a deep breath and finally said;

"I will not say anything about this to my family.  Your Highness can do whatever you want with this information and I, Cyrus Lancaster, won't do anything to stop you."

Reas glanced sideways at Cyrus, he seemed to discover a newfound side of this guy.  And he wasn't really sure what to feel about that. 

Wulfric, on the other hand, grinned.  Almost like a beast showing his sharp fangs..  "Good."