Chương 16: Sibling Drama

The book on my bedroom table was obvious and stupid. Someone was trying to kill me, and they were making it exceedingly obvious who they were, since the servant in charge of my apartment in the mansion had let me know who had entered and left it behind. I made my way to my father's part of the mansion. There were two guards standing outside the doorway to his personal apartment.

"Can you let my father know there is a serious issue?" After a moment of hesitation, the guards knocked on the apartment door. A minute later, it opened.

"What is it?" my father asked, already dressed for bed with a slight scowl on his face.

"Someone is trying to kill me. There was a book on gardening on my bedside table," I told him. His scowl turned angry in a single heartbeat.

"I will deal with it. Follow my son back to his room and collect the book. Bring it to me," my father ordered. The guard saluted and followed me back to my set of rooms in the family mansion. The guard took the book and then brought it back to my father. If I had gained a gardening skill, I would have died instantly. Healer Castelle warned me there would be no warning. One second, I wouldn't have a skill, then the next second, I would get one, crossing Meldor's Threshold and instantly dying.

He then said the death might not be instant, as the details of Meldor's deranged experiments were heavily restricted, but I would die anyway. The suffering from the point of getting another skill to my death was the uncertain part. The most dangerous aspect of all of this was that the danger and risk to my life wouldn't trigger my Danger Sense.

As for my skill, Soul Resistance, Healer Castelle said it was a rare skill, usually only seen in people who had been heavily tortured and used soul skills, or those who had used specifically crafted torture devices on themselves. Getting the skill of Soul Resistance was my soul's natural way of trying to defend itself. He also explained that leveling it up was stupid, since the criteria for leveling it up meant hovering right over Meldor's Threshold or prodding at my soul, a lot, and in ways no one sane would do.

The next day, everyone was called in for a family breakfast. I noticed that one of my siblings, Timothy, had gone missing. That only left the eldest, the heir, Dereck, and the youngest, Greg. Greg was three times my age at 27. My father's first wife was also present. She was usually silent and demure. She knew that her husband's second wife, my mother, was purely for the power she represented and that I was placed at the bottom of the inheritance for the Duchy.

My two half-sisters had been married off at a young age, so they could have children and then level after that to extend their lives.

"So, father, where did our brother Timothy end up?" Dereck finally spoke up, breaking the rules of etiquette.

"He has joined your other brother as a merchant and is no longer in consideration for any inheritance. I will not tolerate scheming inside this estate. It is bad enough with the other vultures circling outside from the King's Court and other nobility," my father said.

"Just the two of us left, brother. The Supreme Warlady has brought down two of us already," Dereck said in jest, but it was pretty rude to make fun of my mother. He clearly was upset about his younger brother being banished for attempting to kill me.

"You will shut your mouth," my father said with a glare.

"You know why I took a second wife. Do you have a desire to fight against Crownsmith on the border? No? Then learn something and be silent. Unless you don't want to inherit this Duchy?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Father's glare intensified as his eldest son shrank in his chair.

"I am sorry, Father. It was wrong of me to overstep," he replied. My father was still quite upset and continued chastising his eldest son without hesitation.

"You think that involving myself with Supreme Warlady Elena was foolish? I can tell what you are thinking, so don't lie. Well, the cost of fighting would have crippled this Duchy. We might be wealthy, but our military power has been lacking, particularly in high-end capabilities that align with our status. Since none of you had the drive to become a legend, I did what I had to do to secure our future. Now you must accept the price and accept that your half-brother is here to stay."

Everyone glanced at me, but I didn't dare say anything. While I was a part of this family, I was also not part of it. It was like two families living together, which made things much tenser.

"In fact, try to make friends with your younger half-brother instead of trying to sabotage or kill him. When he becomes a legend one day, you will pray to the System and any other higher power you can, that you have his favor. For when our enemies come, they won't hesitate," Duke Darren Burnstock declared while glaring at his two remaining sons.

"Dear, perhaps having some wine would be best," his first wife said. While no one dared speak, a servant rushed over to fill his glass back up with wine quickly.

"I am sorry, Justin," Dereck said.

"I accept your apology." Since it was settled, I said that no one should speak of the entire incident again, and they all relaxed slightly at that. If I had tattled to my mother, people would have died. I knew that now. However, I would not use her as a means to an end. Timothy might have overheard something and thought it a joke that gardening would kill someone. Unfortunately for him, my mother wasn't one to make jokes about my safety. If she found out, she would kill him without hesitation.

It only depended on how much she would leave behind after she was finished. Dereck spoke up again to defuse the situation.

"I heard that you have health concerns?" While he might do some scheme, everyone knew that if I died while on the estate, everyone here would not be alive for long. That was why I wasn't worried about sharing this information.

"I have too many skills. Right now, Healer Castelle is keeping my soul stable, but more skills could kill me," I said, keeping things simple. There was no need to explain everything behind what was happening to me, but extending an olive branch to avoid any misunderstandings felt like the right thing to do.

"Concerning. Very concerning. I assume your mother is finding a solution?" he asked.

"Yes. But I am also handling the issue myself by adjusting my training to focus on more mental skills to fix the issue," I explained.

"Can we do anything, Father?" Dereck asked.

"No, Healer Castelle is renowned for his extraordinary medical skills. Finding someone better is close to impossible, even for me. The only place that has better healers is the Five-Star Institute of Healing. I have talked with him personally, and there is nothing more a healer can do, except keep Justin alive for now. Matters concerning one's soul are pretty tricky and rare. Supreme Warlady Elena will return with a solution, and Justin adjusted his training."

The dinner table quieted down now that the drama was over, and everyone had gotten the answers they wanted. For now, the family regained peace. My siblings were under a lot of stress, and not just from my mother. Duke Burnstock was looking to arrange marriages for his two sons and to retire. While I saw little of that side of the family, countless issues needed to be addressed and resolved.

From dealing with the influx of refugees from the neighboring Crownsmith kingdom to addressing local complaints and handling trade matters, the list went on. While the Duke, my father, could have delegated more, it was dangerous to delegate too much authority, as other nobles would take advantage. It also didn't help that Duke Burnstock's territory was vast. Then he had to deal with pressures from the King of Terander.

While it might seem like my issues were center stage, they were just one part of the family dynamics and not even the main part, except for one reason. Unfortunately for everyone else, no one could ignore or slight my mother. Only legends could bring justice to a legend, and she stood above almost all of them. That was why no one could do anything for my mother except try to convince her.

But if she didn't like someone or something, she could wipe them out with little to no repercussions because of her high level and immense power. As for who would inherit everything, it seemed set that Dereck would remain the official heir. As the official heir, he was managing quite a bit. The disruption my mother caused to the running of the estate and the duchy was immense. While I knew my father didn't have any regrets, his heir, my half-brother, had to deal with the stress and drama with no way to respond.

Even if our father had appointed him the next duke, there was no way he could have told off my mother. As his wife, this was technically our home. Unless I moved out, there was no way to remove this hassle from his life. He was frustrated with my mother and me because of that. For a noble, the best way to express their annoyance was through veiled insults. Unfortunately, that was a terrible idea regarding my mother. She knew such things but didn't care. The world bent to her, not the other way around.

I knew there was quite a lot of danger to my life if I got another skill, but I was going to stay in the estate. There was no going back to physical training either. After experiencing training from my mother's Squires, returning to the guard captain of the estate would feel like several steps back. He was good, even as an elite guard, but nowhere near the same skill levels as my mother's Squires.