Chapter 203: Fake Kindness And Lawful Good (7)

Chapter 203: Fake Kindness And Lawful Good (7)

When did it all start?

When had her gentle father begun to change so drastically?

Was it when her sister was forced to leave?

Was it when she returned as an Awakener?

Or maybe... he’d hidden his true, twisted nature behind a mask of kindness from the very beginning, just like how she pretended to be the Saintess of Rome in order to avoid being discovered as the Queen of Leeches.

"Why...?” Isabella forced her to move and opened her mouth. "Why... did you do this?" she asked with great effort.

It was true that her father's authority had significantly weakened after Isabella took over the household, but as an Unawakened, Paulo had been oppressed by the collateral line before Isabella’s appearance and was only the family head on paper. In fact, he was able to enjoy more power than before once she returned and crushed the rebelling families.

So why was he acting like that?

"Was I such a thorn in your side? So much so that you wanted to get a Seven Star involved to kill me?"

"..."

"Please, say something. Father, isn’t talking the one thing you’re good at?"

Isabella gave him a tired expression.

Paulo dropped his head and clenched his fists without a word.

"Why... did I do this?" His clenched fist trembled slightly. "Are you... really asking that because you don’t know?"

"Yes. No matter how hard I try, I can’t wrap my head around it."

"Because of you... it’s all because of you! Do you have any idea how miserable I’ve been living?!" Paulo cried.

"The authority of the family head? It was better before you came along! I would rather live without any hope as a puppet of the collateral line!"

At least his mind was at ease back then. He could at least console himself for not being chosen by a celestial.

Although his position of being the family head was merely a facade, at least it wasn't miserable.

However...

"Since... since you came back... everything has been ruined."

Isabella was competent.

Excessively competent, in fact.

Regardless of her being an Awakener or not, she had a natural talent for dealing with people.

She didn’t use her hidden power of an ‘Awakener of Hirudo’ to trample on the family heads of the collateral line.

First, she’d created disputes among the family heads by using land and businesses that only direct descendants of the Colagrande Household could possess as bait.

—It was the equivalent of throwing a sheep into a pack of wolves.

Blinded by greed, the family heads had nothing but the bait in their eyes, and she stirred up conflicts, worsening their relationship even more.

She’d approached Awakeners who showed outstanding talent during that time and created a team of bodyguards that worked directly under the Colagrande Household.

After that, everything was smooth sailing.

She’d cunningly absorbed the businesses of the family heads who had exhausted themselves in their fight against each other and then forced them all to submit to her power.

That’s right...

All of what she did was possible for 'Paulo Colagrande' as well.

"Y-You will never understand how miserable I felt!"

Isabella had accomplished what he had deemed impossible and given up on, and she’d done it indifferently as if it were nothing at all.

His misery had become a sharp dagger and cut away at him.

* * *

* * *

"Do you remember what you made them do after you subdued the family head? Hm?”

"...I made them apologize to you."

"Yes! You made them apologize to me!"

Ah, how could he ever forget the nightmare of that day?

How could he forget the appearance of them forcefully bowing their backs and lowering their heads?!

He could never forget those contemptuous and mocking gazes directed at him for achieving victory thanks to his competent daughter by doing nothing!

"If only... I was as competent as you. If only I possessed the same talent as you."

If that were the case...

"Kasia... that poor child... could have been saved..." Paulo wailed, hunched down on the floor.

If Isabella had been the family head instead of him at the time when he was pressured from all directions to exile Kasia under the pretext of 'tradition'...

"I didn't want to know... I didn't want to find out about any of this."

If only he lived without knowing that the seemingly unattainable, happy future he imagined was actually something he could have obtained using his own hands—

—He wouldn't have been so miserable.

The shattered pieces of hope turned into tears and flowed down her cheeks.

"...My princess."

"Stop!" Isabella shouted at Paulo with a glare.

"Don't... call me that."

She concentrated mana into her arm as she cried.

The dark-red blood gathered at her fingertip transformed into the shape of a giant scythe in the shape of a vampire’s fang and touched his head.

Paulo looked up at Isabella tearing up and gave a faint smile.

"I'm sorry."

"..."

"I'm sorry for being a terrible father."

"Please, shut up. It's not going to make me spare you."

Paulo had forcefully stimulated a dragon vein in order to make her use the stigma of Hirudo.

She was somehow able to minimize damages thanks to the help of Ohjin and Ha-eun, but at least hundreds of people lost their lives to the monsters' attack on that day.

Those who had died were innocent people who had just gone to enjoy the beach.

"Do... you have any idea what you've done?"

The wailing faces of families who lost their relatives vividly appeared in her mind.

Among the victims were pregnant women with newborns, newlywed couples on their honeymoon, and people traveling with their parents.

She hadn't lived a completely righteous life herself, but she knew well that she couldn't defend Paulo's actions just because he was her father.

"..."

It seemed like Paulo had nothing left to say as he silently closed his eyes.

"Huff, huff, huff!" Isabella gasped for breath and raised the bloody scythe.

'Swing it down.'

Yes.

It was the end.

If she just lowered her hand by 30cm, she would no longer have to chase after the forever vanished faded days.

'This isn't difficult.'

It was easier than stepping on an ant crawling on the street.

'I... I... I...!'

Isabella closed her eyes tight.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and dropped to the floor, and then...

Slice!—

Thud, thud, thud—

Paulo's severed head rolled on the floor.

"...Huh?"

Isabella opened her eyes and looked at her arm in confusion.

The bloody scythe in her hand was still raised high and remained still.

"What happened...?"

She turned in confusion to look at Ohjin, who was standing still with a bloodstained spear in his hand.

After he watched Paulo’s head roll along the floor, he slowly raised his head.

"I killed him."

Ohjin approached the trembling Isabella and carefully embraced her.

"Ohjin...?"

"I'm the one who killed him, not you."

"Why did you...?" Isabella asked with a trembling voice.

Ohjin gently patted her back and spoke in a low voice.

"You didn't do anything."

That's right.

She wasn't the one who destroyed the hope she kept in her heart or the happiness she had desperately wished for.

"I—"

The one who shattered her hope...

The one who crushed it entirely...

"—killed him with my own hands."