Chapter 138: The People of Blue (2)

"It won't happen again, I swear...…"

"Good. Again."

"I will never again take pleasure in my family's suffering... wait, hold on, you're the one who started teasing me first...…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir...…. It was a pleasure."

"Puhut~"

Isaac put away his rattle with a look of deep satisfaction.

Shuri slumped against the wall as if he were about to die. Isaac, you little demon. Let him toy with me twice more and I won't survive it!

That said, Shuri could kind of understand. Honestly, if it were him being teased about marriage, he'd be furious too...…

"Who told you to act like my big brother, huh?! You're a good eight hundred years too early for that, nuisance Shuri!"

THAT'S what you're upset about?! Shuri stared at Isaac in disbelief.

But Isaac wasn't finished. He jabbed a finger toward Kina and snarled.

"And who told you to bring the Pope's grandson into my house! You trying to get me killed?!"

Shuri clutched the back of his neck.

"I didn't bring him here!"

"Shuri said he could pay his respects to the Head of House Blue."

"So you DID bring him here!"

Damn it! This is unjust! When did I ever tell him to pay his respects at the HOUSE? I told him to do it while we were at the Holy See!

Why is it always me these bastards torment?!

Of course, the household staff and the nobles visiting the Eshua estate were beside themselves with shock over Kina's visit.

That Kina Berith came here to pay respects to the Head of Blue?

Could it be... that this is the will of His Holiness the Pope himself?

The whole house buzzed with speculation — the Pope's own grandson, coming all this way because of Isaac? — yet Isaac himself looked thoroughly displeased about it.

Which, honestly, made no sense to Shuri. Just the fact that Kina had abandoned House Berith to visit the Eshuas was a colossal piece of news.

He could've at least milked it a little...…

"Eshua, you're going to marry into Berith! You'll be family with me!"

Ah. Yeah, no. I get why he's displeased.

And then, perhaps because of the sudden news of a marriage meeting, the main estate had already been thrown into complete chaos.

"A marriage meeting? For young Master Isaac?!"

The entire family had mobbed the elders in protest over the unthinkable news.

"Absolutely not! Not the young master!"

"Marriage? For Isaac?!"

"That's right, Isaac is out of the question!"

Even Goel, who despised Isaac, joined in as though the whole thing were preposterous. Shuri glanced at them — his father included ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— with faint surprise.

...Isaac, you brat. So you've actually gotten closer to the family while staying in the capital, huh...…

"If we send that little monster off to get married, he'll shame the entire family!"

"With Isaac's personality? It'll never work!"

"Send him to another house and he'll bankrupt them within a year."

...Isaac. You're being talked about very, very worriedly right now, in more ways than one.

And Isaac, for his part, was extremely touched by his family's reactions. Frankly, from a personality standpoint, he thought the people of this house had far bigger problems.

But it was true that the marriage-meeting news didn't sit well with him.

I'm how old, exactly?

What interest could he possibly have in snot-nosed little brats? And above all — a political marriage within a holy family?

Which meant the other side would be a priest too, wouldn't it?

Are they insane? He'd sooner have a sham wedding with the Magic Empire or a dragon.

That one was chasing me to KILL me.

And judging by the family's reactions, this whole situation was anything but normal.

"To begin with, Isaac is only eleven. There's no way they don't know it's far too young to even be discussing marriage."

Those words came from Rillai, his brows drawn into a scowl.

For all that they were grumbling about personality, there was a real reason behind their hypersensitivity.

There are more guests than usual. People I've never even seen before.

Certainly, every New Year, numerous nobles — cadet branches included — came to call on the Eshua main estate.

But did anyone honestly believe just anyone could walk into Eshua?

They might pale next to other ducal houses, but the Eshuas were still one of the Five Great Families that propped up the Empire. Guests were required to formally state their intent and purpose for visiting, and to receive the permission of a member of the household first.

And what did that mean?

That someone in the family had granted permission for a visit whose stated purpose was a marriage meeting.

And who could that possibly be?

For the men of Eshua, marriage almost always means leaving the family.

In other words — the work of those who wanted Isaac OUT of House Eshua!

There's only one person who'd pull a stunt like this!

The other direct descendants hungering for the position of Head of House Eshua!

Sure enough, they headed straight for the inner residence of the estate.

"Lord Rillai!"

Past buildings the size of a small village and the vast gardens of Blue lay the inner residence, reserved solely for the main family. Isaac, who had been raised in nothing but the tower, had in fact never set foot in it even once.

When Rillai finally stepped inside and flung open the great doors, an enormous hall spread out before them.

BANG!

The moment the doors swung open, he raised his voice.

"Are you telling me you tried to SELL Isaac off to some other noble house?!"

At Rillai's shout, the people inside turned their heads. Isaac, trotting close behind, poked his own head in to peek.

Oho.

Inside were people Isaac had never seen once in either of his lives.

Those must be the other siblings.

The New Year was the day the direct line of Eshua returned to the main house — and indeed, the hall was filled with faces that looked vaguely familiar from glimpses here and there.

Whisper wasn't wrong.

Inside stood five in total — three men and two women, silver-haired and brown-haired alike.

The silver-haired ones, heirs of the Saintess's blood, had the look of a pack of wolves. The brown-haired ones, carrying the Pope's blood, were cats through and through.

And what else would you expect from Eshua bloodlines? Every one of them was strikingly beautiful. The women looked carved by the heavens themselves, and the men were tall and long-limbed, like something out of an elf's dream.

But even among such peerless faces, one figure stood out so overwhelmingly it was almost unfair: Isaac. Every gaze in the room slid right past Rillai and locked onto the boy.

The man Rillai was currently glaring daggers at bore a resemblance to Goel. Compared to Goel — that crooked, nouveau-riche thug of a face — this one looked smooth and slick, with just a hint of a frivolous, womanizing air.

Noel Eshua.

The fourth son of Eshua, and Isaac's uncle.

Yep. The slimiest piece of trash gunning hardest for the headship.

And probably the person who'd hate him most of all.

Sure enough, Rillai's eyes grew murderous.

"That was you, wasn't it, Noel? You granted the visitors outside permission to enter. A marriage meeting — are you in your right mind?"

Noel gave a snorting laugh.

"What's the problem? Everyone's been dying to meet the youngest, so I simply invited them over."

Rillai looked thunderstruck.

"Isaac isn't even sixteen yet!"

"Since when has age ever been the issue? The youngest is the finest talent Eshua has ever produced — contracted to a Supreme God, no less. He already carries the weight of a full adult, so I merely thought he deserved a spouse to match."

"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

When Rillai's eyes flared wide, Noel burst out laughing, doubling over as if this were the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"What, you angry? You can't even father a child yourself, so I suppose playing house with your nephew must be such a thrill for you?"

Rillai's fists clenched in fury.

At that moment, Benyamin, the second son, entered the hall as well and backed him up.

"Noel. Pushing this through on your own authority went too far."

Noel's mouth curled upward.

"Oh my, and look who's here — the useless second son who's too incompetent to inherit the headship himself?"

"You rotten piece of—!"

Watching the fourth son rake both Rillai and Benyamin over the coals with equal relish, Isaac clicked his tongue.

Wow. And these people had the nerve to lecture ME about a bad personality? Turns out the real trash heap was right here all along.

He'd wondered how House Eshua could possibly contain someone like this — but honestly, it was plain as day.

The Saintess's blood and the Pope's blood absolutely despise each other, huh.

Whisper clicked his tongue too, muttering about a rotten household.

That's the abyss of House Eshua. Don't go digging into it.

Well, that's what he SAID — but it was obviously the Pope who'd planted them there. To devour the Eshuas from the inside, of course.

Then again, it just shows how valuable the Eshua family really is.

That fourth son over there clearly coveted the headship desperately enough. Why else would he try to kill his own nephew and drive the boy out of the house, even going so far as to marry him off?

But whatever his reasons were — did the man actually think it would work?

The headship ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is MINE, damn it.

Grandpa dotes on him so much. And he's been such a good, well-behaved boy.

What! Be honest, wouldn't the Skeleton Demon King make a better head of the family than that patricidal lunatic?

Ah, shut up! Even so, I'd rather the family fall into a demon's hands than into that bastard's!

At that moment, Noel laid eyes on Isaac.

Oblivious to — or indifferent to — how thoroughly he'd set his brothers' nerves on fire, he stretched out his arms toward the boy and strode over.

"So YOU'RE Isaac! We haven't met before, have we?"

The moment the siblings' attention swung to Isaac, Rillai and Benyamin both flinched.

That psychotic bastard — what's his angle, getting all friendly with Isaac?

Rumors were already circulating that the Head of Blue had marked Isaac as a leading candidate for the headship. There was no way Noel looked on the boy with any fondness.

Noel's smile stretched wide as he closed in on Isaac.

"Ah, wonderful, wonderful. So glad to finally... hold on. You really don't look a thing like your grandfather, do you?"

"!"

"You ARE of Eshua blood... right?"

The whole room flinched at that.

Though the Saintess was always born of House Eshua, occasionally she was born outside it. In such cases, she was wed to a direct-line Eshua bearing the Saintess's blood and power, and awakened as the Saintess. Isaac's own mother, the Saintess of the previous generation, had been exactly such a case.

Those born outside were sometimes treated as outsiders — but still. Did he really have to come right out and say it like that, unprompted?

Rubbing salt straight into the wounds of a child who lost his parents. Unbelievable.

Yet Isaac simply beamed.

"Oh, so you're Uncle Noel? I've heard sooooo much about you."

There was no way the little brat had failed to catch the "illegitimate" jab. But when Isaac smiled on, perfectly unbothered, Noel sneered as if to say, look at this one.

"What a cheeky little bra—"

"I heard Grandfather beat the living daylights out of you over at the Berith villa. Guess you survived, huh? Your mouth's still working just fine, after all."

"?!"

Every jaw in the hall dropped at Isaac's icy smile.

ISAACC!

What on EARTH is that way of talking to your own uncle...?!

Shuri — no, every single Eshua in that hall — was struck speechless. It was enough for the smile to drain clean off Noel's face.

"You... what did you just say to me?"

But Isaac merely flashed his eyes, as if the question were beneath him. He had absolutely no intention of being gracious toward anyone coveting what was his.

And this one carried the Pope's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blood? Then there was nothing left to discuss.

"Since your yap's still flapping, I asked if you hadn't been beaten enough yet — you punk?"

Want me to beat you with my rattle?