My sudden leap from her lap and question to my father caught my mother's attention, who then also eagerly looked at him to hear the answer.
But instead of what we thought he would say, my dad just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"How would I know who's behind such a thing?"
Although he claimed that was the case, his eyes—which I caught gesturing at my mother as though to say, "Don't bring up that subject in front of Luke"—said otherwise.
"Dad! Why are you trying to hide it from me? I just saw you secretly signalling at my mother."
The fact that I saw through his methods and revealed them so directly immediately made his cheeks red and his face embarrassed.
Thereafter, helpless, he turned to my mom as though pleading for assistance.
But all she did was give him a shake of the head, as if she didn't want to get involved in what was going on between the father and son, though I know she was enjoying it too.
Dejected, my father tried to persuade me.
"It's still not time for you to be thinking about these things, son. You're still too young.
"That's not going to work, dad. Do you really think I am still a child after tonight's event?" But my straightforward rejection made him helpless.
"You... Okay, okay. To be frank, all I can tell you is that the water in this matter seems to be quite deep, and although it's just my speculation, if what I am thinking is true, then we really need to be careful."
His voice had a note of caution, and he looked at me with a very serious, stern expression, as if to tell me to be careful and not take his warning lightly.
"Even I don't know who's behind the scenes trying to deal with our family; I have some guesses. But it's not good to go judge someone solely based on guesses; it will only divert you from the truth. Therefore, don't act carelessly, and discuss with me or your mother before taking any major steps."
Although I wanted to know who my dad was referring to in those guesses, I knew from my dad's behaviour that he would not tell me any more than this.
So I changed the subject and asked about the next thing I wanted to know.
"Dad, then what will you do next?"
"What do you want me to do? Didn't you already start targeting the Greenbergs? Or have you forgotten that you demanded that girl, Selina, work as your maid?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Oh, I did, but that's not what I meant."
"I know what you meant, but investigating this matter from the outside is like finding a lost shell on the beach. So, we have to attack from within."
"But how to attack from inside?" I asked knowingly but acted as though I were genuinely curious.
There were, in fact, a great deal of things we could do right now, including, for example, secretly targeting the Greenberg family and then compelling those hiding behind them to reveal themselves.
or to use other families who would be with the Greenbergs to target us in the future and then investigate this matter through them.
which would be a piece of cake for us with the knowledge I have as a reader of the novel.
Unfortunately, I can't reveal that information at the moment because I have no source or excuse to support its origins.
And I can't take any actions myself because I am still too young and don't have any real powers within my grasp.
Therefore, for the moment, I can only follow my original plan: 'to use Selina as my chess piece and destroy Greenberg from inside.'
Of course, this is after using them as my dogs to viciously attack my enemies and extricate the hidden rat from its hole.
And just when I was thinking about how to suggest this idea to my parents, a sweet, mature voice from my side brought me out of my thoughts.
"Naturally with that girl, Selina."
It was my mother who answered me this time, and she did so with a mischievous expression on her face, as if she had already finished calculating all her plans.
However, my father, who was still unaware of it, had his own doubts.
"But we do not have anything like that potion to use on Selina. The one Luke gave is already used for investigation and is not suitable for use."
He took out another cigarette from the golden metal case in his pocket, retrieved the lighter from another pocket of his regal white long coat, and lit the cigarette with it in a single swift motion before continuing his speech.
"You know, Chloé, we can't be too unscrupulous because at the end she had to go back to her estate; anything excessive is not conclusive and will only backfire on us if we get caught."
"So using Selina to destroy their reputation and foundation is easy, but using her as a spy from within is not; it's too risky, Chloé."
Nonetheless, even after hearing my father's concerns, the mischievous smile on my mother's face remained unchanged.
"No, actually, we have a chance," she said mysteriously.
"How?"
My mother smiled at my father's suspicious gaze, but before replying, she first picked me up once again from her side, put me down on her lap, and while stroking my hair, she explained.
"As far as I know them, tomorrow when Stacey will send Selina, she will send her with more of that potion to use against Luke to make him fall for her. We can make use of that."
"Will they still? Wouldn't they think that the potion is a waste since it didn't work on him and also resulted in such humiliation for them? Would they still dare to use that potion?"
My father was still sceptical, to which my mother gave him a disappointed look as if asking, "Are you still the Steeline family's head? How can you be so dumb?"
Pfft~!
which immediately caused a twitch in the corner of my father's mouth, and even I almost burst out in a laugh.
Sigh!
Yet, oblivious to my father's grumbling from embarrassment and my struggle to contain my laughter, my mother just sighed and began giving an explanation in a humorous tone.
"'Dare? Why not dare? And you're wrong about that, Brandon. Let me explain it to you in detail."First of all."
She raised her index finger.
"It's apparent that the potion was given to the Greenbergs by the people behind them, so the Greenbergs would never doubt the effectiveness of the potion, because they know that the people above them would never allow such a mistake."
Then she raised her middle finger as well, implying that she would now make the second point.
"Second, they are already on this boat, so now even if they know that we have the support of the Church of Light, they will not be able to leave this boat."
"This is because not only the people behind them wouldn't allow it, as now we who have additional support are a stronger threat to them, but even the Greenbergs would not want to miss this chance to take revenge for the humiliation they suffered."
Then, with a grin on her face, she withdrew her hand and wrapped it around my waist.
"And finally, the main reason the Greenbergs will never doubt the success of this potion is because, according to them, the potion actually did work, just not how they imagined it to be."
Cough! Cough!
My father was taken aback by my mother's words, and as a result, he coughed up the cigarette smoke that got lodged in his throat as a result of his failure to properly inhale it.
And even after calming down, since he still didn't understand, he couldn't help but ask.
"Say What?!"
In response, my mother gave him a helpless look, but she proceeded to explain everything anyway.
"Okay, let's just look at it from their perspective. In the beginning of the party, Luke was clearly ignoring Selina, but after he pretended to drink the potion, he began acting more boldly to encourage Selina to do something inappropriate, and in the end, when all was said and done, instead of punishing Selina, he ordered her to let her work as his personal maid."
Then, with her eyebrows raised, my mother asked.
"Doesn't it sound like what those typical rich kids would do to a commoner woman, or a woman from a lower status family they like—make her their submissive slave or their maid? So did the potion work or not?"
The more she spoke, the more her voice got playful.
Her hug on me intensified towards the end, and just when my father got lost in his thoughts, my mother whispered playfully in my ear, as if she had figured out all my plans.
"Isn't that right, my little Luke?" This time, as she spoke, her breath gave me goosebumps on my neck, and I caught a whiff of her scent, which was warm, intense, and utterly intoxicating.
However, as if she were just speaking to tease me, she continued her explanation without waiting for my reply.
"Now these thoughts will lead them into thinking that the potion, for some reason, had a little less effect on Luke because, although it made him feel attracted towards Selina, the attraction wasn't enough that he would forget his basic common sense and fall head over heels for her."
As she spoke about their plans against me, her earlier playfulness was gone, and a murderous look once again appeared on her face.
"So those b*stards will surely use that potion or even a more potent version of it, which that b*tch's daughter, Selina, will once again try to feed to Luke. And what better opportunity will they have than this when Selina will work as Luke's personal maid for two months?"
This....
Speechless!
My father and I were just dumbfounded by my mother's perfect speculation and assessment of the situation.
As expected from my mother, the woman who brought hell to the kingdom of Netopia after Luke died in the book and who had to be killed by the author using the last card of betrayal from her parents,
The moment my mother learned about the reality of the situation, she instantly analysed everything and came up with a perfect reasoning of the situation, even going so far as to predict the thought process of the Greenbegs and instantly see through all my plans.
And this is all when she didn't even know the specific details of the charm potion, unlike me, who got it from the system.
"So you want to reverse the move, force that Greenberg's girl to drink the potion, and use her as a pawn and double spy against the Greenbergs?"
"Yes, that's it."
My mother simply agreed, and my father, who now finally understood everything, also nodded his head in approval.Well, I also agreed with my mother by snuggling in her arms and resting my head on those soft, natural cushions.
Obviously, I was simply resting my head and had no other thoughts about them.
I swear
Trust me! Okay?
"Then it's settled. Let you and Luke handle that girl when she arrives tomorrow, and speaking of tomorrow, "
My father then looked at me and asked,
"What are your plans for tomorrow about those people from the Church of Light? Do you really want to be their holy son?"
"Yes, dad, and at the moment we truly need the support of the Church of Light, so that anyone would think twice before doing anything against us."
Hearing my words, my mother pushed my head deeper into her bosom as my peripheral vision got blocked by "them"—and a heady blend of sandalwood and musk with just a hint of vanilla and a touch of lavender hit my nose.
The fragrance seemed to envelop me, drawing me closer to her like a moth to a flame.
Yet, oblivious to my thoughts, she asked me in a concerned tone.
"But you don't have to force it upon yourself; Mother will never let anyone even hurt a single hair on your body."
"I trust you, mom, but I don't want to stress my mother and make her suffer because of me, and I'm not forcing it, so don't worry."
'And if I don't become the holy son, how would I get another heroine into my grasp?'
Of course, these thoughts stayed in my head, as I only smile sweetly on the outside.
After that, there wasn't much else to discuss, so after a brief conversation and after bidding my father goodnight, my mother and I went to our room.
As soon as we entered our room, my mother and I both went to the bathroom to wash our faces and change into more comfortable clothing.
However, after only a few minutes of resting in my mother's arms on the bed, I was startled awake by an electronic ding, and a flurry of system prompts flashed before my eyes.
[Host destroyed one of Kevin's most important opportunities, stole it, and publicly announced his own S ranked title, Ruler of Light.]
[The host has stolen one of Kevin's strongest future backgrounds.]
[Host slapped the heroine Selina and shamed her Greenberg family in public, causing great harm to their reputations.]
[Chloe and Stacey's relationship has been completely broken up.]
[Host exposed the Greenbergs' plan to his family and made the Greenbergs their life and death enemies.]
...
...
One by one, the system continuously prompted without stopping for more than half a minute, and because I already knew what these prompts were, I just read the starting few, gave a cursory glance to the ones in the middle, and directly came down at the end.
[Host's actions have greatly altered the course of the world's destiny.]
[System Reward: 1200 Destiny Coins]
Whoah!
F*ck, so many coins!
Mommy, I am rich!
For those of you who don't know, in these past seven years, with all the things I did, I made only 600 or so Destiny coins, but now, all of a sudden, in just one night, I made almost twice that.
Seriously! Changing the canon's timeline and plundering the protagonist's opportunities are the best,
HAHAHAHA
That whole night, with a wide smile on my face, I slept even more peacefully and comfortably in my mother's arms.
Next morning, 6:12 A.M. Chirp~! As I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside, I stretched my arms above my head. The sun was peeking through the window of my room, casting a soft glow across the plush rug on the floor and the bed as I felt the sun's warmth on my face. As I sat up, yawned, and rubbed my eyes, the familiar sights, including the large map of the continent of Ardonia on one wall, marked with pins indicating all the places I hoped to one day visit and where some major events of the book took place, came into my sight. My room is spacious but tastefully decorated, though unlike the rooms of kids my age, where toys and books fill the shelves and overflow the toy chest, mine looks more like it belongs to an adult scholar. In this case, I'll give my mom the benefit of the doubt and take the other half of the credit since I share this room with her and we both enjoy it this way. Looking to my side, I noticed that my mother wasn't there by my side, but the bed is s
As I descended the stairs with my mom, I greeted the archbishop and the other paladins and priests from the Church of Light, who were gathered around a large table in the middle of the hall."Good morning, Archbishop, and to everyone else." My mother nodded and also greeted them, and they all stood up and greeted us back."Good morning to you too, holy son, and to you too, Duchess Steeline.""Good morning, Holy Son.""Greetings Duchess.""Holy Son is very kind.""Does the Archbishop sleep comfortably? There weren't any problems, were there?" I approached the table and asked as we exchanged small pleasantries with each other."No worries; everything was good, and we all had a good night's sleep yesterday." He replied with his signature old smile.Then, one by one, following the archbishop, the other paldins and priests also started expressing their thoughts."There's no need for the holy son to worry; Steeline's hospitality was really one of the best we have experienced.""Even the gar
─ December 25, year 1000 Caspara Commercial Road. As a convoy of opulent carriages drawn by horse-like demons passed by the towering trees on either side of the road, the sound of their hooves clopping against the snow-covered asphalt filled the air. A single carriage in the centre was surrounded and escorted by four carriages of Aura users and Paladins of strength equal to "Swordman" and "Sword Master" rank. The carriage in the middle appeared ordinary yet elegant, with its exterior painted in a rich burgundy colour with gold trim that gleamed in the sunlight. However, only upon stepping inside can one realise that this carriage is far from ordinary. The interior of the carriage is a magical space, with a sense of grandeur that far surpasses any five-star hotel room. But what truly sets this carriage apart is the magical bedroom that lies beyond a set of doors. Inside the spacious and opulent room, on a king-sized bed that was covered in silk sheets and plush pillows, I was ly
Even though we left the Steeline castle at a relatively early hour in the morning, now that we are here in the royal capital, the afternoon sun has already begun to blaze overhead, giving everything it touches a warm golden glow. Since our visit today was very secretive in nature to ensure that the ceremony could be carried out without disturbance or interruption, there were no emblems or markings of the Church of Light or the Steeline family on our carriages. Therefore, our carriages were stopped at the gates of the Imperial City, but after the Paladins confirmed the identities, our carriages were respectfully allowed in without even going through any checks. Upon passing through the city gates located within the massive walls that encircled the Imperial City, we were greeted with a flurry of activity. The streets were filled with various vendors selling their wares in colourful stalls, craftsmen practising their trade, people going about their daily lives, and the sound of carria
"Then please." Hearing the cardinal's words, the elderly nuns standing before the altar who had been gawking at my earlier performance suddenly came to their senses and rushed over to him, as if they had been waiting for this moment all along. I understood why they were called, but having myself taken care of by a gaggle of elderly ladies was not really my first choice. It's not like all the nuns in the cathedral were old and wrinkled; I spotted a few young and attractive ones peeking at me stealthily from a side aisle. Some of them were probably my age or a little older, but they were apparently still in training and therefore not eligible enough to be responsible for my care on this momentous occasion. Though I really wanted to be dressed by those beautiful young ones, but what can I say? For the successful implementation of my plans and to maintain my righteous and sacred image, I have to bite the bullet, sacrifice myself, and let these old women take advantage of the innocent
Following the activation of the "play" by system, everyone watched in astonishment as the statue of the goddess began to glow with an otherworldly radiance.This radiance then burst forth from the statue of the goddess and engulfed the entire hall, especially me, who was the real recipient of it.The "divine energy of the goddess" that flooded my body bathed me in a warm golden light and then carried me off into the air.With excitement and fear, everyone saw a strange, powerful energy coursing through my body as I was lifted off the ground, my small feet leaving the soft red carpet.Instantly, as my body rose higher and higher, glistening with the same divine light that surrounded the goddess statue, I opened my eyes, which had turned completely white and were giving off a tyrannical oppression to anyone who dared to look into them."Impossible!""It's the goddess! The goddess has descended in the holy son."People's shocked exclamations reached my ears, and I smiled to myself."Card
"What?!"The Cardinal and the Archbishop exclaimed at the same time after hearing my words."Holy son, what do you mean by that?""Is it true?"Even my mother, who had a milder expression, was surprised by my abrupt statement."It is, and there's no reason for me to lie to you about such a thing.""No. It's not that; it's just a little unexpected and absurd."To my serious reply, the Cardinal just waved his hands as if to say that he never doubted my words, after which he asked what was on his mind."Then can the holy son explain what the revelation was about the saintess?""Yes."I took a deep breath, made a solemn face, and said word for word,"In the revelation, I saw many things; some of those things I can tell, some I can't, and others are incomplete. Please understand."Everyone nodded at that, as if they understood that all things can't be said in such situations.Satisfied with their reaction, I continued to explain."The goddess has blessed a certain girl in the duchy of spad
"Audrey.... White? Do you mean the daughter of Archbishop Freyden White?" It was a question asked with a look of surprise on his face."She is probably a Peak Stage Sword Apprentice, but I have no idea whose daughter she is other than the fact that she has blue eyes and white hair and is about six or seven years older than me."When we were discussing Audrey, my eyes seemed to flitter and wander as though I were lost in a wistful reverie.However, only my mother noticed that look in my eyes.But she didn't point it out at that moment.She just sat back and observed the unfolding drama without saying a word."If anyone resembles your description, then she must be the daughter of Archbishop Freyden, because I can think of no other family named "White" connected to the Church that would have someone of the same description.""Alas! She..."After ascertaining Audrey's identity, the cardinal sighed and spoke in a resigned and contrite tone.But before he could finish, I completed his words