CHAPTER 65…………………………………..
Without anyone having a chance to stop it, everything happened in an instant.
I rolled my eyes toward Grandpa and the dads.
They, too, looked startled by the sudden turn of events, their eyes wide as they stared at Mom.
“How could you toy with someone’s heart like that!”
Mom’s voice trembled with fury as she shouted, her anger spilling out uncontrollably.
“Because of your sick joke, that poor child suffered alone for a lifetime!”
“……”
“She couldn’t even love herself for so many years!”
Tears began to form beneath her violet eyes, swollen red with anger.
“She only had one person she could trust and depend on—and that’s how she managed to endure.”
“……”
“To think it was all because of you.”
Mom closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again and whispered softly.
“I don’t care about satisfaction or pleasure. I don’t want to know about things like that.”
At that, a single tear slid down her cheek.
“Not even once—did you ever truly love Harzen?”
“……”
“Not because you wanted to be Harzen’s world, not because you wanted to become his god—but because you truly cherished and loved him for who he was?”
“……”
Naturally, no answer came.
Once again, heavy silence fell.
“This bastard’s passed out anyway. Can’t answer even if he wanted to.”
At last, Dad Kyle stepped forward and spoke for him.
“And let’s be real—he never did. If he had, we wouldn’t be here.”
“……”
“Well, I guess he could try to claim even that twisted behavior was some form of affection.”
He crouched down in front of Berthold and brushed the hair off the back of his head.
“By the way, he’s not dead, right? Hit the back of the neck wrong and you’re done for.”
“Wouldn’t be a loss.”
“Yeah, true, but still.”
Then he lightly placed his hand near Berthold’s nose and sighed in relief.
“Still breathing. Good.”
I tilted my head.
Good? That he’s alive?
I expected Dad Kyle to say it was a shame he didn’t die.
“Yuria would regret it forever if she killed someone in a fit of rage.”
As if reading my thoughts, Dad Kyle stood up and said calmly,
“I don’t want to see you hurting over scum like this.”
So that’s what he meant…
“And besides—”
He lifted his chin toward Dad Harzen.
“Ultimately, the choice should be his.”
“……”
“It’s his life, after all.”
Just as everyone’s gaze began shifting from Dad Kyle to Dad Harzen—
“……No.”
A voice, hoarse and filled with pain, fell from above my head.
“I am the one who must bear the responsibility for all of this. The one to decide that man’s fate, to stain my hands with blood if I must—it should all be me…”
It was Grandpa’s voice.
“If only I had paid a little more attention to my children, it never would have come to this.”
“Grandpa…”
“I don’t even know how to begin to apologize. How can I undo these mistakes, pay for my sins, or make up for the years that child lost…”
His words trailed off as his legs gave out, and he sank to the floor.
“Oh, come on.”
Dad Kyle clicked his tongue.
“See? Told you—he’s going senile.”
“Dad!”
Grandpa was on the verge of collapsing from emotional shock, and he was still teasing him?
“Greed.”
That was when Dad Derrick, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.
Kyle responded immediately, as if waiting for it.
“Exactly—greed. In the end, all of this was just His Majesty’s greed, wasn’t it?”
“……”
“Blood on your hands or not—that’s for him to decide. After everything he went through, you’re really going to steal away his right to decide for himself?”
Then Kyle pointed at Dad Harzen.
“Let him handle it. Yeah?”
I turned slowly toward Dad Harzen.
Even amid the chaos, he just sat there, staring blankly at the fallen Berthold.
As if cut off from the rest of the world.
With empty, sorrowful eyes.
‘Of course he would.’
It was as if his entire foundation had vanished.
To find out that the one you trusted most was the cause of everything—it must feel like your entire life was being denied.
‘Berthold really was Dad’s world.’
Even if Dad’s world had since expanded, that old part of it wouldn’t simply disappear.
So even if he couldn’t act decisively right now, no one could blame him.
He had been conditioned by Berthold for so long.
We all knew how hard it was to break free from that.
So…
“It’s okay, Dad.”
I stepped up to him and wrapped my arms around him.
“Cici will always be by your side.”
Then I turned my head to look at Mom, the other dads, and Grandpa in turn.
“Mom will be here too. And Dad Derrick. And Dad Kyle. And even though he’s far away right now, Dad Sion will be, too.”
“……”
“Grandpa’s here, too. And…”
I kept patting his broad back with my small hand.
“Grandma will always be with us.”
I kept telling him—
That I was here.
That we were here.
That now, he had so many people by his side.
People who would love him as he is—who would become his new world.
People who would accept him as part of their world.
“So it’s okay.”
Even if it’s not okay—it’s okay.
No matter what he thought or decided, we would respect him.
“……Ci…Ci.”
At last, Dad Harzen—who had been sitting there like a statue—moved.
His trembling arms slowly wrapped around my head.
Clumsy, like a child desperately trying to hold on to something.
“I love you, Dad.”
I whispered against his chest.
At the same time, a familiar warmth wrapped around us from behind.
“Cici’s right, Harzen.”
It was Mom.
“We’re family.”
She hugged both me and Dad Harzen in a circle and gestured for the others to join.
Dad Derrick awkwardly shuffled closer and wrapped his arms around everyone.
As for Dad Kyle…
“Seriously? Right now? Here? In this situation?”
Even as he grumbled, he still came over and joined the hug—
Crunch.
‘Wait a second.’
Did Dad Kyle just step on Berthold?
No—he definitely did.
“……Thank… you.”
Meanwhile, Dad Harzen’s voice came out low and hoarse.
Right…
Let’s just overlook the little things and focus on the family bonding moment.
“Thanks to you, I think I can see things more clearly now. I can’t fall apart here—there are too many people depending on me.”
“Hold up, that’s not right. We’re the ones carrying you.”
Dad Kyle quipped, and Harzen smiled faintly.
“……Then I truly must come to my senses now.”
He turned his gaze toward the unconscious Berthold.
Unlike before, his eyes were calm and composed once again—cold, the way they were when he looked at someone outside the family.
“The sinner—”
He gave his order firmly.
“Take the sinner into custody immediately.”
At the same moment, a bright notification sound rang out.
Ding!
