Chapter 156 : Chapter 156
Chapter 156
‘C-Can I really come in?’
My heart raced like an earthquake. Unlike my usual self, I stepped into Lilac’s room with an unusually polite posture. Her room was surprisingly plain. Just a few pieces of furniture—no dolls or cosmetics typical for a girl her age.
Just… her scent filled the air. It was intoxicating, like a drug.
‘Get it together…’
I couldn’t make a fool of myself in front of Lilac, who was trying so hard to help with my troubles.
“Here,” she said.
While I pulled myself together, Lilac confidently brought a small wooden box from the center of her only desk. Everything else was simple, but this box, adorned with jewels and silk, screamed importance.
‘She had something like this.’
I felt a twinge of unease. Call it petty if you want.
‘A treasure of Lilac’s I didn’t know about.’
“This should be the answer to the patriarch’s task,” she said.
Lilac’s treasure. Something even I didn’t know about, something she cherished above all. What could it be…?
I reached out carefully. Lilac held the box with both hands, and when I opened the lid…
“Oh…”
I clamped my mouth shut. Inside was a gleaming metallic coin. A single copper coin, the least valuable among gold, silver, and copper.
“….”
It was so polished and cared for, it shone like it had just come from a craftsman’s hands. Martin’s face reflected in it like a mirror.
“This is…”
“You recognize it, don’t you?” Lilac asked.
“How could I not?”
It was from the day I first met Lilac. In the slums, when Vistavern scattered coins and people scrambled like animals, only one girl approached me with a single coin. That purity bound a boy and girl like fate. This coin was the link.
“You kept it all this time.”
“Yes. It’s the first gift you gave me, Master.”
The memory flooded back. The young Martin had given the coin Lilac returned to her.
“It was my most precious treasure. The hand of salvation young Master Martin extended to me.”
Lilac smiled, speaking lightly.
“You don’t have to give it back.”
“But it’s your treasure.”
“It’s okay.”
Her gaze was hazy, unfocused. Not on me… but as if seeing someone beyond me.
“It’s not anymore.”
Know-It-All (Lv 4) flinches. Could Lilac possibly…
Wild Instinct (Lv 4) snaps to attention. Maybe she really…
The skills babbled something, but I didn’t hear. I was already caught in Lilac’s spell…
“My Master is right here.”
She raised her hand and gently placed it on my chest. Seeing the flush on her face, my heart pounded.
“Right in front of me.”
“….”
Excitement. Love. Affection. Amid the whirlwind of terrifying love…
“Master?”
“Huh?”
“Why… are you crying…?”
“Am I crying?”
I was thrilled, overjoyed, yet tears fell. As if they weren’t mine… as if someone inside me was crying.
Lilac reached to wipe my tears but paused, lowering her hand. As if they weren’t her master’s tears.
Instead, she stepped back, grasped the ends of her skirt, and curtsied.
“Master, I’ll go prepare dinner.”
“Oh? Uh… sure.”
“You’ll be back before dinner, right?”
“…Yeah.”
***
I returned to the Ulvhadin County. My arrival startled the servants, but they treated me with utmost respect. Who’d have thought the abandoned hound would return in glory? But I spared them no glance. To me, their presence was as meaningless as a painting on the wall.
I stormed straight into William’s study.
“…I was waiting.”
William greeted me with unwavering dignity, not rising from his desk chair.
“You brought the proof?”
“Of course.”
I extended my hand. As I slowly summoned stellar force, white light illuminated the deep green room. William’s eyes locked onto the pure, radiant glow.
“This is the stellar force of Cosmos, the great order of the universe, the driving force of the Cosmos Empire.”
“Stellar force. Divinity, then.”
No surprise in his expression. He’d likely investigated Martin beforehand.
“And that’s your proof?”
“Absolutely. Divinity is power granted by a god. It burns all evil and destroys demons. Martin may have piled up sins, but his deeds and changes have earned recognition. What else could this be?”
I presented stellar force first because it was essentially the answer. A god granted this power. Unless the god intended to cast their chosen into hell, wouldn’t they go to the celestial realm?
“Martin won’t fall into hell’s abyss.”
But…
“….”
William’s eyes were cold.
“That’s proof of Martin’s salvation?”
“Is there a problem?”
“A problem? Yes. Your words aren’t wrong. It’s divine recognition. …But how is that Martin’s salvation?”
As I opened my mouth to argue, William bit out his words.
“It’s your salvation.”
“….”
It felt like a blow to the back of my head.
‘Could he see it that way?’
William staked everything for his son. To question even stellar force as uncertain showed his resolve.
“If that’s the proof you brought, I’m deeply disappointed.”
A seasoned hunter’s aura surged.
“Are you deceiving me?!”
As William rose…
“Then how about this?”
I cut him off, pulling the small wooden box from my pocket and holding it out.
With a click, the box opened, revealing a single copper coin wrapped in silk.
“….”
“….”
William’s beastly eyes, blazing with intensity, fixed on the insignificant coin. For a long, unbreaking moment.
“….”
“….”
The silence was stifling, but I was confident. This was Lilac’s answer.
“…I accept.”
Slowly, very slowly, he sank back. The fury that had risen like a volcano cooled, as if lava turned to petals and smoke to sweet fragrance, like magic from a fairy tale.
Lilac’s magic.
“…I see.”
William couldn’t hold back a chuckle. The first time I’d seen him laugh.
“So, Martin… has been saved.”
His hand, lined with sinew and wrinkles, gripped the desk. He bowed his head, one hand on his forehead—or perhaps his eyes, hiding tears hotter than molten iron.
“Martin… has become a little kinder. Forgiven.”
I turned away silently. A father’s tears weren’t for others to steal glimpses of. But I had to say something.
“Yes. Your son, Martin, has surely been saved.”
I stood there for a while. Behind me, faint sounds of something clinking, trembling, stirring. William was suppressing tears and worries long held as a father, breaking through a dam. I could endure this much patience for him.
Martin von Targon Ulvhadin’s soul pulses.
‘Huh?’
A sudden, chilling system message appeared.
‘What? Could Martin… here?’
A cliché from possession stories. Taking another’s body, if the original soul resists… would I lose this body? That thought hit first.
He saw Lilac’s coin.
It wasn’t that.
He sees William’s tears.
Instead… it deepened the heavy air of familial love.
Martin repents his childhood corruption. He confesses his evil deeds, realizing they’re irreversible, too late. But before it’s too late to fix anything, he deeply thanks you for setting things right. You are truly Martin’s salvation.
No reward came. No points, no helpful items. Honestly, what would the original Martin have?
‘Think I’m a charity?’
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly annoyed, but I brushed it off.
“…Just this once, Martin.”
On Kim An-hyun’s impassive face, two tear streaks—Martin’s—fell.
***
“Follow me.”
William, emotions calmed, spoke first. The altar in the mansion’s depths was unchanged.
Auspicious energy filled the chamber, the giant hound statue carved from the cliff gazing down. A waterfall from its eyes formed a lake below.
“I’ll first pass down the heirloom reserved for Ulvhadin patriarchs.”
William removed his ammo pouch and fastened it to my waist. It held only ten bullets.
“Eternal Bullets. Once they touch or hit a target, they pierce space-time to strike, no matter where fired. A symbol of infallible hunting, of the Ulvhadin patriarch. So powerful and dangerous, even the emperor doesn’t know of it…”
As he attached the pouch, William spoke as if letting go of something long cherished.
“If saving the world through you is divine will, I’ll use it without regret.”
A bullet-shaped artifact—rare since the Finest Holy Diamond Bullet and Nerjin’s magic bullet.
“You’re now the Ulvhadin patriarch.”
“…Understood.”
The patriarch role was a hassle, but worth enduring for such an artifact and Wild Instinct’s full awakening.
“If you wish, I’ll handle family duties as acting patriarch. You don’t want to be tied to a mere count’s trivial affairs, right?”
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
As expected of a Wild Instinct wielder. We understood each other.
“Now, let’s awaken Wild Instinct.”
The main event. The patriarch role and Eternal Bullets were mere byproducts. I came solely for Wild Instinct.
Wild Instinct (Lv 4) can’t contain its excitement. The time for awakening has come.
“Patriarch succession and Wild Instinct’s full awakening typically occur together. It takes about a month.”
A month. A heavy timeline. It’d be a tough journey. By the end, Founding Day might begin.
“Not all patriarchs succeeded. Since the first founded the family, 23 patriarchs attempted, 18 gave up, one died, and only four succeeded in preserving Wild Instinct.”
William added,
“I’m among the four who succeeded.”
As expected of a peak gold knight, just shy of platinum. If he hadn’t succeeded, who would?
“I figured.”
“If you succeed, you’ll undeniably be the legitimate 25th Ulvhadin patriarch.”
My shoulders felt heavy. Not from the patriarch role, but the trials ahead. Difficult, no doubt. But I couldn’t back down. The original story twisted, the end hastened. No time for leisure. Anette, Luri, Adela, Savo, Nerjin, even the protagonist party were growing stronger—I couldn’t stagnate out of spite.
“If you start now, I’ll inform your household and the academy. Absences for patriarch succession are counted as attendance.”
“Thank you. Then…”
Sebastian stepped forward, standing by me. His resolve likely mirrored mine.
I wanted to go to Lilac, act spoiled, and ask for her support for this big trial.
“Let’s begin.”