How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

It was Alcas who spoke with rough anger, mixing in curses.

“…What? What are you saying, Frey!”

But they weren’t the only ones surprised by those words in that place.

The one who had spoken was none other than Lady Rena, who was his birth mother.

She feared her son might overreact to something that wasn’t yet certain. Also, it didn’t seem plausible that the first wife, who was the spouse of the head of the family, would do such a thing.

However, if there was evidence, it would be a different story.

Especially if it included witnesses.

“Come in now!”

At Frey’s call, the door to the room where they were opened.

“……!!!”
And in that moment, Lady Orleans, who had been shocked by Frey’s words and unconsciously clamped her mouth shut, turned pale instantly upon seeing the faces of those who entered.

“Y-You are…!”

The individuals who entered were two in total.

They were a maid who was trembling and bowing her head deeply, and a middle-aged man who appeared to be the family’s head chef.

Thud…!

“I’m sorry! I only did as I was told! Please forgive me…!!”
First, the middle-aged chef, showing his wits, knelt on both knees and began to confess his sins. Seeing this, the relatively young maid next to him also fell to her knees with a thud and hurriedly began to admit her guilt.

“I-I’m sorry! I just! I only followed the orders of the lady over there…!”

The gaze the maid pointed to was, of course,

“””……!!”””
“What… did you say?”

Directed at Lady Orleans, whom Frey had pointed out as the culprit,
who had turned so pale she seemed to have lost all blood from her face.

At the end of those words, Frey once again looked around at the audience and spoke to them.

“These are the people Lady Orleans instigated. And according to the official magical analysis requested from the ‘Magic Tower’, this empty potion bottle was confirmed this morning to have contained a certain ‘drug’ that caused the head of the family to fall into an unexplained state of unconsciousness. To be precise─.”

Frey looked at Lady Orleans, who couldn’t continue speaking, and then continued in a cold voice.

“It has been confirmed to be classified as a kind of ‘narcotic’ substance that Lady Orleans prepared with the intention of making the head of House Phoenix lose his mind and turn him into a puppet.”

“”””……!!!!””””

Narcotics.
These were drugs that had been taboo under imperial law for a very long time.

They also referred to substances that have anesthetic effects and are habit-forming, causing addiction symptoms when taken for long periods.

“Lady Orleans. Do you still intend to deny it?”
“……”

The evidence had been presented in a series of situations that were far too sufficient to deny.

Albert, Orleans’ son, speaks with a solemn expression. Albert, who had risen from humble beginnings.

“…Mother. How could you……”

His tone suggests disappointment.
His expression shows that he still can’t believe it, or rather, doesn’t want to believe it.

Even Iolus and Alcas, Lady Orleans’ other sons, couldn’t say anything or refute.

With so much evidence and witnesses presented, it wasn’t a situation where they could rashly intervene, even if they didn’t want to believe it.

“Ugh…! Damn it! Why! Why, Mother…!!”
“……”
At least Alcas showed a rough attitude, clenching his fist and glaring at Lady Orleans as if criticizing her.

And as he glanced around, seemingly checking the reactions and faces of others,

‘It seems that Alcas is trying to draw a line now. Afraid that he might be mistaken for being complicit, that it wasn’t just Lady Orleans acting alone but that she had already recruited her sons.’

Frey lowered his gaze and quietly observed the unfolding situation.

The eldest son, blue-haired Iolus, tightly gripping the hem of his mother’s elaborate red dress with both hands, finally broke his silence and bluntly spoke to Lady Orleans, who was pale and trembling with her head bowed low.

“Mother. Was it because of me? Did you plan to do this because of me?”
“……!”
“What? What are you saying, First Brother!”

Despite Alcas’s interjection, Iolus continued to stare directly at Lady Orleans.

“N-No. All of this was my plan alone……”

It was then.

“─Enough.”

Rustle….

“””……!!”””
“Darling…!”

From the direction of the bed, the head of the family spoke and rose.

The head of the family, raising his upper body with beads of cold sweat still on his forehead, said,

“…That’s enough. There’s no point in continuing this.”
The head of the family’s gaze was fixed on Frey, who had orchestrated this situation.

Then it moved to the first wife, who was looking at the awakened head of the family himself with disbelief.

Seeing the head of the family shift his gaze, Frey stepped forward and spoke.

“No. We need to know. We have no intention of foolishly passing over this matter without knowing anything.”
“……”

That they had the right to know.
Not just himself, but everyone gathered here. Including the blood-related brothers and sisters, and even their mother, they all had the right to know.

He intentionally didn’t refer to just himself, but invoked group psychology by purposely using “we”.

At that, it was Lady Rena who approached the head of the family to support him as he barely raised his upper body from the bed.

“Darling…! Are you feeling alright? You’re not pushing yourself, are you?”
“I’m fine. Sigh…. Alright. I will reveal all the facts.”

The head of the family, Count Sunlight, spoke while looking at those on Frey’s side.

And the one who couldn’t help but be most surprised by those words was Lady Orleans herself.

“Y-You…! Don’t tell me you already knew….”
“How could I not know? When he looks so different from me.”
“……”

The gaze the head of the family pointed to was none other than the eldest son of House Phoenix.

It was Iolus von Betelgeuse, who had always been mentioned within the family as the likely successor to the family.

However, Iolus, who received the gaze, didn’t seem particularly flustered.

As if…

‘…As if he already knew some truth and inside story that we don’t know.’

As if he knew that truth….

The head of the family spoke.

“……Iolus, Iolus von Betelgeuse, is in fact not my son.”
“””……!!!”””

Everyone was shocked.
To the point where they wondered if they had misheard.

“I-Is that really true?”
“Yes.”

Alcas asked, and the head of the family answered.

Albert stepped forward and asked the head of the family once more.

“Don’t tell me, we too are not Father’s…?”
“That’s not the case. Except for Iolus, you are all my biological children.”
“””…….”””

That included Frey as well.

Currently, knowing the situation would turn out like this, the youngest daughter Reina was not present.

Frey glanced over to observe Lady Orleans’ current expression and appearance.

It seemed to be true.
Judging by the lady’s reaction.

The head of the family continued with a sigh and a deep lament.

“That’s why. Only by getting rid of me, the living head of House Phoenix, could Iolus be made the official successor to the family.”
“D-Don’t tell me. Is that why Father has been delaying the selection of the family successor until now, having noticed these facts long ago?”
“……That’s right.”
Albert was the one who spoke.
The head of the family said with another heavy sigh.

“She was probably preparing and guiding measures and foundations behind the scenes to make Iolus the official successor of the family after I collapsed.”
“……”

Those were things that would naturally come to light if investigated later.

“How could this be…!”
It was Alcas who covered his mouth with the back of one hand, his eyes wide open.

But Frey observed from the side.

The corner of Alcas’s mouth that kept trying to rise, trembling, not fully covered by his hand.

That guy.

‘…Even in this situation, he’s thinking about the possibility that he might be selected as the family successor. The possibility he had inwardly given up on until now because of the firstborn, Iolus.’

Truly, Alcas was a fool who kept having such misguided thoughts even in this situation.

‘Stupid bastard.’

At that moment, Iolus, who had been the family’s eldest son, finally spoke up.

Looking at Lady Orleans, whose pale expression could only naturally bow her head and look at the ground due to the consecutive truths that had been revealed.

“…Mother. Please use this opportunity to reveal everything clearly. Who exactly is my real father?”

As if he really wanted to know.
The question he couldn’t directly ask his birth mother, Lady Orleans, even though he himself had somewhat noticed the fact until now.

Iolus’s attitude suggested that he wanted to know the truth and the final facts, as he said, using this opportunity.

Well, from his perspective, from the moment he had somewhat noticed that possible doubt and truth, he must have been burning to ask all this time.

At that question, even the head of the family quietly looked at Lady Orleans.

‘It seems that even the head of the family doesn’t know the inside story of that truth…’

As Frey had guessed.
The head of the family seemed to know nothing about that fact.
To the extent that he couldn’t even easily guess.

From Lady Orleans’ standpoint, it was a truth she wanted to keep hidden at all costs, so she must have erased and tidied up various traces of the past in advance in many ways.

To that question, Lady Orleans finally opened her mouth, which had been quietly closed along with her pale complexion, and answered with difficulty.

“……Your real father is.”