Chapter 51
“Mr. Orelian would like to see you.”
At those words, the bright smile on Rea’s face faded.
She looked at the butler.
“All right, I understand. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
“Understood, miss.”
The butler bowed politely, then took several steps back.
Rea turned to look at Kael.
“Kael, I have a favor to ask.”
“Tell me.”
Rea did not answer for a moment.
Her hand was still holding Kael’s.
Even though the music had ended and it would have been natural to let go, Rea had not released his hand.
“Promise me you won’t interrupt while I’m talking to my father.”
…
Kael fell into thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Understood.”
***
“Please go in.”
At the butler’s words, Rea and Kael entered the office.
Beyond the door, Orelian Valenkroft could be seen sitting inside.
The moment Rea saw his face, she remembered once again why she both hated and feared this man.
She had never seen her father openly display his emotions.
Rather than seeing people as human beings, he judged them by how valuable they were.
And his daughter was no exception.
“Mr. Orelian, they have arrived.”
At the butler’s words, Orelian set down his glass.
His brief gaze first touched Rea, then shifted to Kael.
It felt as though he had finished evaluating the two of them with that one look.
“Yes.”
There was no emotion in Orelian’s low voice.
“What do you think you’re doing, Rea?”
Rea smiled brightly.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I asked what you think you’re doing.”
“Then let me ask you in return. Is it something I need to explain to you whenever I go with someone?”
Orelian stared silently at her.
There was only an indifferent calm, as though he had expected her to say exactly that.
His gaze held no emotion whatsoever.
Rea hated it.
“If it doesn’t matter who you bring, then there would have been no reason for you to appear here today in that particular manner.”
His daughter answered her father.
“Is introducing my lover really such a problem?”
“Lover.”
Orelian slowly repeated the word.
“You?”
Rea took a step forward.
“I have that much freedom too. Who I meet, who I keep beside me, and who I have a private relationship with are matters for me to decide. Do you still think I’m your puppet?”
It was something she had wanted to say for a long time.
The moment Rea said it, she felt as though she could finally breathe, if only for a moment.
Yes, she had said it.
At last.
She continued.
“I raised Archeon Genetics to where it is with my own hands. And now you intend to marry me off to someone and erase both the position I created and everything I achieved?”
Orelian did not answer, but Rea felt that if she stopped now, she would never be able to speak again.
“I am not your property. I am certainly not a sacrifice to be offered up so you can bring in a son-in-law. Whoever I choose as my lover is for me to decide. So stop interfering in my life that way.”
Only after finishing did Rea realize that she was out of breath.
Even she was stunned by the words that had just come out of her mouth.
For a moment, she even felt a surge of confidence at having done it.
But the instant she looked at Orelian’s face, that feeling froze over.
He was looking at her impassively, as though nothing had happened.
No, she even wondered whether he was truly looking at her at all.
Orelian lifted his glass, took a sip, and slowly set it down.
“Is that all you have to say?”
Rea’s mouth opened slightly.
“…What?”
“Freedom and achievements.”
Orelian calmly summed up her words.
“Good. Hearing you speak, I can tell how sincere you are. However, you left out one thing.”
“What did I leave out?”
“Proof.”
Rea glared at him, but Orelian did not avert his gaze.
“If you wish to claim freedom, then you must also bear the consequences that freedom brings. You must prove that the man you brought is not merely a passing whim, that he is a choice valuable enough to reject marriage proposals from other families, and that he will not be a loss to the Valenkroft family.”
…
Orelian’s answer was firm.
“You are the head of Archeon Genetics. Your actions can affect the company’s reputation. If you know that and still speak only of freedom, then you remain as immature as you were before.”
“So what? Am I supposed to spend my entire life following a man the family chose for me, hand over my company, and quietly live for the sake of the family?”
Rea’s fingertips trembled slightly.
Her hand tightened around Kael’s arm, but he still said nothing.
“Exactly.”
Orelian looked at Kael.
“I’m talking about this man you claim to have chosen. If you want him recognized as your lover, then prove that he has the value to deserve it.”
Rea’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I intend to see whether he is a man whose value surpasses even yours.”
“Father.”
A warning entered Rea’s voice.
“Don’t cross the line.”
“You crossed it first.”
Orelian continued slowly.
“So prove it. For example… by putting up a good fight against Bastian.”
Rea’s eyes widened at the name.
“Against Bastian…?”
“Yes.”
Orelian gave a short nod.
“Do you really think that makes sense?”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Kael is a Tier 5 mage. The gap between him and Tier 6 cannot be ignored, and you expect him to put up a good fight against Tier 7?”
“Why is that a problem?”
Orelian’s gaze touched Kael, then returned to Rea.
“He is the man you went out of your way to bring here. And several corporations already consider him difficult to regard as an ordinary Tier 5. A man like that should at least not collapse disgracefully against a Tier 7.”
“A good fight? That’s wordplay. You know that Tier 7 is beyond the level of an individual combatant. You intend to test Kael against Bastian at a gathering like this? Isn’t that going too far?”
“If that is how you see it, then your choice clearly did not carry a commensurate sense of responsibility.”
“Father!”
Orelian spoke indifferently.
“If not, then you will be placed under disciplinary confinement from now on, Rea.”
Rea’s thoughts stopped for a moment.
“…What did you say?”
“Officially, we will announce that you are suspending your public activities for health reasons. Archeon Genetics will be entrusted to someone else for the time being, until you have reflected sufficiently and reconsidered your responsibilities to the family and the company.”
Rea clenched her teeth.
“You don’t have the authority to do that.”
“I do. You know that as well as I do.”
“Archeon Genetics is my company.”
“More precisely, it is under Archeon Holdings.”
Orelian set down his glass.
“I built this company.”
Rea’s voice grew quieter.
“I built it, raised it, and brought it all the way here. I rebuilt every bit of it myself.”
“So?”
“And even so, you’re going to take it away from me?”
“I’m only holding on to it for a while.”
Rea let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t take it emotionally.”
“Emotionally?”
Rea took a step forward.
“Have I ever been emotional even once, Father? I’ve spent my entire life enduring things. I held on and held on until I achieved results. And now, because I said I disliked something just once, you’re calling me emotional?”
Orelian looked at her calmly.
“Choose.”
“Choose?”
“Have the man you brought prove that he is worthy of your choice.”
Orelian’s voice did not waver.
“Or admit that you are still an immature person who puts your rebelliousness before the family and the company, and submit to confinement.”
Rea was speechless and simply stared at Orelian.
Father.
The word felt strangely unfamiliar.
Rea opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“You don’t have to answer now.”
He lifted his glass again.
“However, I will not wait long. I expect to hear your choice by tonight.”
Rea lowered her head.
At that moment, she knew that she had lost.
“…Excuse me.”
As she turned and walked out the door, Kael quietly followed her.
***
The air on the balcony was colder than inside the hall.
Through the single glass door, music and laughter continued from within.
Masked people danced, raised their glasses, and exchanged information that might benefit one another in low voices.
Rea leaned against the railing and looked up at the sky.
Stars were faintly visible in the pitch-black night sky.
She looked at those stars.
…
The night was growing deeper.
That meant the time when she would have to answer was drawing near.
Rea lightly tapped the railing with her fingertips.
“Kael.”
She spoke without turning around.
“You can leave now.”
Kael, dressed in a suit, stood near the entrance to the balcony.
He looked at Rea for a moment before asking,
“What do you mean?”
Rea forced herself to smile as though she was fine.
“I mean exactly what I said. The commission ended successfully.”
“Successfully?”
“Yes.”
Rea turned away from the railing.
“You pretended to be my lover, and everyone saw enough of it. So the purpose of the commission has been fulfilled.”
…
“There’s no need to pretend to be my lover anymore. It says so in the contract.”
It had been her choice.
She had set the board, and her father had simply overturned it.
So Rea thought she had to bear at least this much.
“I expected that it would end up like this, to some extent.”
She was speaking more to herself than to him.
“There was no way Father would simply let it pass. He’s always been that way. He seems like someone I can never beat, no matter what I do.”
Rea let out a short laugh.
“It’s the same this time. I only mistook myself for a moment into thinking I’d won.”
Kael was still silent.
The strength drained from Rea’s body, and she could no longer remain leaning against the railing.
She sank down onto the balcony floor.
The hem of her expensive dress coat touched the cold floor.
“I suppose I’ll…”
Rea rested her arms on her knees.
“I’ll lose everything I’ve achieved so far. My position as head, my research authority, everything I accomplished at Archeon Genetics will all end up in someone else’s hands.”
She lowered her head.
“I thought I had dragged it up from the bottom, but in the end, I’m going to sink back down there. Isn’t that funny?”
Rea looked down at her palms.
“It’s all right. It wasn’t unexpected. I never thought I could easily beat Father in the first place. I just… thought I’d be able to hold out a little longer today.”
When she finished speaking, silence descended over the balcony.
And when Kael finally moved, Rea thought he would simply leave.
But he walked over beside Rea and sat down on the floor without a care.
Rea raised her head.
…?
“I can’t agree with that.”
Kael spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“What you said about sinking back to the bottom.”
Rea stared at him.
“Didn’t you hear what happened? Father is serious. If I refuse, he can remove me from my position as head. Archeon Genetics is under Holdings, and the board is ultimately under the influence of the Valenkroft family. No matter how much I’ve achieved, the power structure belongs to them.”
“I already heard.”
“Then why can’t you agree?”
Kael did not answer for a moment and looked down at his own hand. It bore calluses that could not be seen on the hands of Magitera’s upper class.
“When I was young…”
He spoke slowly.
“I lived in a den of criminals.”
Rea’s eyes widened.
She had not expected Kael to tell her about himself.
Especially not like this.
“It was a gathering place for trash. Deserters, people sold off to pay debts, murderers, adults soaked in alcohol and drugs. People like that all living together.”
Kael’s voice was calm.
“In that place, possessing anything at all was a luxury. If you got food, someone took it from you. If you found somewhere to sleep, you were chased out. If you got your hands on anything even slightly useful, someone stole it.”
Rea listened to him without saying a word.
“Of course, I struggled to survive by any means necessary. But whenever I thought I’d finally managed to obtain something, someone stronger would come and take it away.”
He lowered his head slightly and gave a bitter smile.
“Those days repeated themselves.”
Rea quietly swallowed.
“Even so, I never stopped struggling.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
Kael answered a little late.
“Because if I stop, it’s really over.”
It was a simple sentence.
“Loss became an everyday occurrence, so I got used to it quickly. There were plenty of days when I had nothing left in my hands. But every time, there was only one thing I could do. Move again.”
He lightly scratched his head.
“So I don’t really understand how you feel.”
Kael continued.
“I can’t know the weight of everything you’ve built. I don’t know exactly what Archeon Genetics means to you, either.”
His voice was low.
“But I do know one thing.”
“What?”
“What matters is how you act after everything has been taken from you.”
After saying that, Kael slowly stood. The hem of his suit shifted slightly in the night wind.
Rea looked up at him.
“Where are you going?”
“Why does it matter?”
“What?”
“You said the commission was over. That means you’re no longer my client.”
Rea’s breath stopped.
Holding his half-mask in one hand, Kael casually added,
“So whatever I do from now on won’t be a breach of contract, will it?”