You Shall Not Walk the Same Path as Me
“But you....!”
“That’s enough. Scarlet.”
“......”
At Andres’s murmured words, Scarlet fell silent.
“.....Shion. Do you know what meaning lies behind what you did at Luin Academy?”
He asked me in a low voice.
“Yes. Lady Chloe explained it well. It was something that tarnished the family’s honor, wasn’t it?”
“You know it well. As you said, Pascal may have acted somewhat inappropriately, but Pascal is now the face of the Frelia family. The crime of publicly, and intentionally, shaming him is quite grave.”
“....Even if, up until then, Lady Pascal had left me and countless others with wounds that could never be washed away?”
“It is regrettable, but that is how it will be.”
Regrettable.
The words that came from the father who had endured such a thing at the hands of his own son.
Normally, was the word “regrettable” ever used in a situation like this?
- You’ve always walked that path.
The voice echoing in my head grew clear.
“Shion Frelia. I ask you this. Do you admit to having committed a grave sin against the family because of this incident?”
“.....I admit it.”
My head was gradually turning white at the temples.
- To you, my existence was nothing more than a shadow.
Filled with pure resentment, frustration, and anger.
- An existence that could never voice its own opinion and simply followed quietly behind you.
Breath caught in my throat at the torrent of pure emotion.
“Then, Shion Frelia. Do you truly repent for what you did this time?”
Andres asked.
- Is this really the appearance of the son you wanted?
I...
“No.”
“What?”
“I cannot repent. No, I don’t even know what reason I should have had to do so in the first place.”
My bold declaration of rebellion, faithful to my emotions,
“.....You already know what meaning is contained in what I just said, don’t you?”
For the first time, anger appeared on Andres’s face, which had remained expressionless until now.
“Does it contain deep meaning? Simply that the son wants to rebel a little. When you’ve already forgotten your memories, what is there that you can’t do?”
“......”
“I have one question. If things had gone the opposite way, say if Lady Pascal had publicly shamed me, would Pascal have called me before my father like this?”
There was no chance of that.
Pascal was an existence cherished by everyone in the Frelia family. In comparison, Shion was an existence ignored by everyone in the family.
Between the two of them existed an invisible, massive barrier.
“Isn’t it strange? The two of us, Lady Pascal and I, are both children of the same father, yet we receive such different treatment.”
It was simply the massive barrier erected because Shion was the son of a dark mage.
Shion could never climb over that barrier and suffocated to death.
“.....How foolish. Truly foolish.”
Andres said, glaring at me with pitch-black eyes.
“How little the love of a parent is, raising pointless troubles. Is that how I taught you?”
Looking into those eyes, my body shrank of its own accord.
Was this the pressure felt from the rage of a 7-Star ability user, or from a parent’s rage?
“Parent’s love.... That’s right. It’s something so insignificant that it deserves to be called ‘little.’ But listen.”
Using the power of the trait Deceiver, I looked straight into those eyes and said,
“That ‘little’ thing you call parent’s love, if you look closely, has it grown even larger?”
“Shion.”
Andres, eyes wide, continued.
“If you continue to defy my words any further, I will have no choice but to consider excommunicating you.”
Excommunication. That meant being kicked out of the family.
“.....If I were to be excommunicated, then I would no longer be your son, would I?”
I drew in a breath.
“But listen. There is one thing I must ask.”
And then, slowly, I voiced the resentment that had been building inside Shion’s heart.
- Was there ever even once in your life when you thought of me as your son?
“Was there ever once in your life when you thought of me as your son?”
“.......!”
- Crash!
Andres’s mana erupted around him, shattering all the fragile glass objects in the surroundings.
At the same time, Andres’s mouth opened and closed as if about to speak, but his voice never reached my ears.
A brief silence followed.
I, Scarlet, and Andres said nothing, and time continued to flow.
“....Scarlet. Leave the room for a moment.”
“.....”
Scarlet glanced back and forth between me and Andres, then nodded and walked out of the Great Hall without a word.
Now the only ones left in this place were Andres and me.
“.....You’ve changed, Shion.”
Andres opened his mouth.
“At the time we met half a year ago, you were a timid, weak child, but you have become even more brazen now.... No matter what you’ve been through.”
“......”
“I know everything. Now that things have changed, it’s meaningless for an ‘abeoji’ to act as if he’s been trying hard all this time. While acting while being mindful of others’ gazes, I couldn’t even look at you.”
Andres was the head of the premier family of Praon Kingdom.
His every action could reverse the kingdom’s situation and sway the fate of countless people.
Dealing with Shion, the son of a dark mage, equally with his other children carried a significant risk.
That was why he had left me to my own loneliness for the sake of the family and everyone else.
“I will not say I ask for your forgiveness. Even if I do so now, the humiliation you’ve received over all these years won’t disappear. All that remains for me as a father is one thing.”
Andres continued in a trembling voice.
“People can only grow strong by hating someone. Only by fixing the destruction of that existence as the sole purpose and endlessly yearning for strength to achieve that revenge can a person finally become strong. So then.”
Pointing at himself with his finger, he said.
“You must hate me.”
Andres’s eye rims were gradually reddening.
“Hate the day you could have pulled me out of the abyss of misfortune and simply watched. Curse the day you gave me not even a single warm word while I was being persecuted by everyone. Resent the day you wore the mask of ‘father’ and did not fulfill the role of father even once.”
Finally, a single transparent tear flowed from Andres’s eyes.
“Use this pathetic father as fertilizer and grow even stronger.”
With that, Andres simply closed his eyes in silence and waited for my answer.
At the same time, an anger so enormous it could never be compared flooded my entire body.
The emotions that had been suppressed on Shion until now swept through my whole body like a tsunami.
- Stop it.
Shion shouted.
- Up until now you ignored my pain, so now you’re sorry you couldn’t take care of me?
- You are not a father. You’re just a hypocrite who completely mocked a human’s life.
- I wish you had never appeared in front of me.
- I hate you. I curse you. I resent you. I despise you. I...
Countless fragments of emotions toward Andres echoed in my head.
Those things that would make one’s mind vanish just by listening stirred my heart wildly.
I wanted to submit to the flood of emotions. Nodding at Andres’s words to hate myself, I wanted to live while hating him until the day I died.
Shion wished for that.
But, but.
Was that truly the ending Shion truly wished for?
I, who had peeked at Shion’s emotions, could tell.
Inside the pitch-black hatred toward Andres, a tiny spark of light glowed.
It was love for a parent.
Shion still hungered for the love of his father and thirsted for his father’s recognition.
No matter how much they had hurt each other, in the end Andres was still someone’s father, and Shion was still someone’s son.
To solve this twisted relationship that had become so tangled, someone had to first take courage.
And the role fit me perfectly.
“Andres Frelia. I ask you. At the time when Shion Frelia was struggling in agony, do you admit to turning a blind eye, using the excuse of others’ gazes?”
Andres flinched for a moment, then nodded sincerely and answered.
“....Yes.”
“Then, Andres Frelia. Do you sincerely repent for everything you have done until now?”
“....I sincerely repent.”
Even now, Shion was still screaming at me. Shouting at the monster wearing the disguise of family to fall away from him, never to be seen again.
But I knew. If I listened to Shion’s words as I was, then I and he would never be able to become happy.
I, who in my previous life had not reconciled with my parents and bid them farewell, knew how horrific the ending Shion wanted was.
Even if the relationship improved from now on, the horrific experiences Shion went through in the past would not disappear.
But by taking one step forward from the pain of the past, I firmly believed, I could cultivate even greater happy memories than that.
So, I forced a smile at Andres Frelia.
“That is enough.”
“......!”
I warmly hugged him.
“Even though the father caused me tremendous pain, even so, father is father. The only family I can call the one who gave birth to me and raised me. So....”
While patting Andres’s broad back, I continued.
“Do not give up the role of father on your own whims, and do not lower yourself to the target of hatred.”
“.......”
“If you have accumulated painful memories over these 17 years, then in the remaining years you can accumulate good memories. So then.”
Andres’s body trembled.
“I look forward to it. Father.”
And before long, hot tears flowed down my shoulder blade.
[I defy my natural nature. The ‘Enlightenment’ is gradually becoming clearer]