Transmigration: I Made A Deal With A Man in Yellow

Everyone instantly got up when they noticed that the Duke had arrived, including me.

"Good evening, Family Head."

We all greeted him and bowed slightly.

"Good evening. You can all sit."

His deep, calm voice echoed through the dining room.

Everyone sat back down.

The Duke had a blank expression on his face. Without saying anything else, he picked up some food, placed it on his plate, and began eating.

Once he did, everyone else followed.

Soon, the only sound that could be heard in the dining room was the clinking of cutlery against plates.

It was weird.

Uncomfortable, even.

Everyone was just... silent.

Goddamn.

Could this family get any weirder?

The silence was suffocating, especially when you were sitting in the presence of someone who was basically a walking, living atomic bomb.

"So, dear, how was your trip to the capital?"

Lucélia finally spoke, saving us from the awkward silence.

The Duke didn’t lift his gaze from his plate.

"It was fine. It was just a normal meeting with the King and the other Dukes regarding some matters of the kingdom."

Oh.

So he hadn’t been in the estate.

That made sense.

Otherwise, I would’ve been able to feel his vast presence from the moment I arrived.

"That must have been tiring, considering you have to deal with a bunch of paperwork every day," Lucélia said with an understanding look.

"Yes."

The Duke continued eating and said nothing else.

The other wives spoke with him one after another, asking how his trip had been and how things were going.

Van Der Vaal gave me the impression of a robot.

He only gave one-word replies whenever he agreed or disagreed with something, and even when someone asked him a question that required an explanation, he kept his answers short.

I honestly didn’t think he would feel like this in real life.

When I created his character, I imagined him differently.

Another funny thing was that he didn’t look at his children.

Not even once.

His eyes only seemed to move toward his first wife whenever he actually looked up from his plate.

It was as if the food in front of him mattered more than anything else.

But I knew that wasn’t the case.

That was simply how Van Der Vaal had always been.

He was a really interesting character and one of the ones I liked the most when I was writing my book.

Despite the cold treatment he gave everyone in his family, he still put his family above anything else.

A man who would do anything for his family...

Yet he neglected his youngest son.

That made me pissed.

But I also understood him.

And somehow, that made me hate it even more.

A parent should always be involved in their children’s lives, but Van Der Vaal was barely present in any of his children’s lives.

I bet he didn’t even know what his children’s favorite colors were.

Deadbeat father, I’d say.

Funny enough, he hadn’t looked at me even once.

I thought that maybe, since I had returned awakened, he would ask me about it.

But he didn’t.

Well, I didn’t mind.

I continued eating my food.

However, just before I brought my fork toward my mouth, I noticed my mother staring intently at Van Der Vaal.

She was really obsessed with him.

The light in her eyes said everything.

I simply shook my head inwardly and continued eating.

Not long after, Arnold decided to speak.

"Father, can I ask you a question?"

Van Der Vaal finally lifted his gaze from his plate and looked at Arnold.

Arnold flinched slightly under his gaze.

Would you look at that?

He acted all confident and arrogant all day, but the moment he was in front of the Duke, he acted like a chicken.

The Duke nodded.

Arnold quickly regained his composure.

"Why is Yves participating in the Rite of Passage? Isn’t the gap between him and the rest of us too big?"

Of course.

This dinner wasn’t going to be peaceful after all.

Then his mother chipped in.

"I agree with my son. Yves only awakened two months ago, while his siblings have already been awakened for almost two years. I feel like it would be too unfair for the boy."

She looked at me after finishing her sentence.

This wretched woman.

Both of her children really resembled her.

Arnold paused for a moment before adding,

"Since I love my little brother so much, I couldn’t just let him fight while disadvantaged. That’s why I’d suggest that he sit this one out."

Love my ass.

Did this kid forget about the deal we made?

He was now trying to stop me from participating.

Did he chicken out of the deal or—

Ah.

I understood what he was trying to do.

He wanted to make me lose the deal.

Let me explain.

In the contract, I had written that if I didn’t win the Rite of Passage, I would be banished from the family.

I had also added conditions preventing both parties from directly harming each other.

However, I never said that one party couldn’t try to disqualify the other through different means.

I never specifically stated that I had to lose during the Rite of Passage itself for the contract to activate.

Arnold could simply ask the Duke to reconsider my participation.

If I was disqualified before the Rite even began, I would technically fail to win it.

Which meant I would lose the bet.

How could I have not foreseen this?

I looked at Arnold.

He was smiling cheekily at me.

This bastard was actually smart.

He was trying to exploit a loophole in the contract I had made myself.

This was exactly why mana contracts had to be crafted carefully. Every single clause needed to be reviewed thoroughly because even the smallest loophole could be exploited.

I made a mental note to check for loopholes the next time I created a contract.

I still couldn’t believe this musclehead had thought of something like this.

The only person I could imagine being clever enough to come up with such a plan was his mother.

So if the family head genuinely believed I was too weak compared to the others, he could prevent me from participating.

But I doubted that would happen.

His Shadow Guardian had invited me to participate in the first place.

It would make little sense for me to suddenly be disqualified now.

Van Der Vaal remained silent for a moment.

Then his crimson eyes moved from Arnold to me.

The moment our eyes met, I felt as though gravity had suddenly increased around me.

My body became heavy.

My breathing grew slightly more difficult.

Yet I didn’t react.

I simply stared back at him.

For a brief moment, some sort of expression flashed across his face.

It happened so quickly that I couldn’t even tell what it was.

Then the pressure surrounding me disappeared.

Everything returned to normal.

"What do you think about that?"

Van Der Vaal’s voice was calm.

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward me.

Even my mother.

Did he just ask for my opinion?

"You’re asking me?"

I raised an eyebrow and pointed toward myself.

Van Der Vaal didn’t reply.

But the look on his face said everything.

I’m not repeating myself.

I took a bite of the last piece of meat on my plate before putting down my knife and fork.

Then I wiped my mouth with a napkin.

"Thanks for asking me, Father."

I looked toward Arnold.

"Well, if you really want my opinion, I’d say I understand why Arnold asked that question."

I paused.

"It’s not because he’s worried about me. It’s because he doesn’t want me to participate."

Arnold’s expression changed slightly.

"He hates me, after all."

"What—"

"I’m talking."

I interrupted him before he could finish.

"I know that I wasn’t eligible for the Rite of Passage anymore because I had failed my awakening twice."

I leaned back slightly.

"But now, I managed to awaken."

I paused before continuing.

"That doesn’t mean that I have any chance of closing the gap between us."

Antonia’s expression softened slightly, as if she had finally gotten the answer she wanted.

But I continued.

"That’s what I would’ve said if I didn’t have a chance of beating them."

I tapped my finger against the table.

"I know they have more experience than me. But they don’t have the same two months of experience I have from spending time in that deadly forest, fighting monsters that could have taken my life if I made even one mistake."

I looked at Arnold.

"So I’d say that’s enough to beat all of them."

Antonia narrowed her eyes.

"Aren’t you being a little too bold?"

"Bold?"

I scoffed.

"It’s just facts, ma’am. Something you’ll have to accept tomorrow."

My gaze remained cold.

"Just watch and see the child you all called useless rise above your children and win tomorrow."

"You insolent child!"

Antonia slammed her hand against the table.

The sound echoed through the dining room.

But before anything else could happen, Yversa, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke.

"The insolent one here is you, making a fuss in front of the family head."

She smiled sharply.

Antonia’s eyes widened.

She immediately pulled her hand away from the table and lowered her head slightly.

"I’m sorry, dear."

She apologized.

Van Der Vaal didn’t even look at her.

His eyes remained fixed on me.

"As I was saying, I believe I have every right to participate just like my siblings."

I leaned back in my chair.

"Whether I lose or not is my own problem, not theirs."

After listening to my words, Van Der Vaal closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he spoke.

"Then do as you wish."

"Thank you, Father."

I nodded my head.

However, Arnold wasn’t happy.

"But Father—"

The Duke simply looked at him.

Arnold froze mid-sentence.

Van Der Vaal rose from his chair.

"It was a good dinner."

He paused.

Then his eyes moved toward me.

"Yves, I see that you don’t wear earrings anymore."

Ah.

I had forgotten about that.

Yves used to be obsessed with his father and tried to copy almost everything about him.

His father always wore earrings, so Yves had gotten his ears pierced and started wearing them as well.

Van Der Vaal currently wore two long gothic drop earrings, each with an intricate circular filigree medallion near the earlobe and a thin crimson-red pendant dangling beneath it.

I touched my ear.

The piercings were no longer there.

"When I awakened, the holes closed completely. Ever since then, I never got them pierced again."

I answered honestly.

The Duke didn’t reply.

One moment, he was standing right in front of us.

The next...

He was gone.

No footsteps.

No movement.

Nothing.

He had simply disappeared.

Leaving all of us alone in the dining room.