The Grand Duke's Son Is A Heretic

"Sit."

"Yes!" Kael responded immediately. He stepped forward, carefully avoiding the mess of papers scattered across the floor, and took a seat in the plush leather chair before the Grand Duke's desk. Rami quietly entered behind him.

"Pardon my intrusion, Your Grace," Rami said with a bow, already bending down to begin picking up the documents that had been blasted away during the earlier clash.

Kael, meanwhile, settled into his chair with a half-nervous, half-cocky expression. "Knowing you, I doubt you summoned me just to ask how I've been."

Ruth didn't even bother to look at him. "I don't have that much free time to waste on you."

Without another word, Ruth opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a wanted poster—creased at the edges, yet the image on it was unmistakably Kael's. He placed it flat on the desk.

Kael's lips twitched the moment he saw it. His eye twitched too. Of course. Who else could it be?

Ruth's eyes locked onto his. "Speak."

Kael leaned forward slightly and muttered, "It's because of that damned Handel and his crew."

Ruth narrowed his eyes.

"What happened in the mines?" he asked, voice low but firm.

Kael exhaled and leaned back slightly, waving a hand. "I'm sure you already know about the dragon carcass. That was the target. The Serpent Fang gang had taken control of it. They used some strange method—ritual magic to manipulate the surrounding beasts and monsters, turning the whole mine into a fortress."

"They didn't want anyone getting close. Especially us from Veydrin."

Ruth said nothing. His gaze told Kael to keep going.

"I managed to ruin their plans. Was about to get out clean too… until that bastard betrayed me."

Kael slammed his palm on the table, his jaw clenched with frustration.

Behind him, Rami froze mid-motion and glanced at Kael with a strange look.

"That son of a—"

"Language," Ruth cut in sharply.

Kael let out a forced cough and corrected himself. "That guy… backstabbed me. I'm serious. You can ask Lyria, she was there. I'd swear on any Goddess you name."

Ruth leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together. "How did you escape?"

Kael scratched the back of his head, his expression twisting. "Well, I was trying to run while the ritual started collapsing. The bishop from Serpent Fang used a weird spell to divert it. I think it was a teleportation spell… it triggered and caught us all."

"The next thing I knew was boom and when I woke up in the land of the Ice Elves. Snow everywhere. It was freezing."

Ruth, unfazed by the mention of Ice Elves, asked calmly, "And what about the egg?"

Kael blinked, then sighed. "Yeah, yeah… It's a dragon egg. And yes, I just picked it up.

Rami, still picking up documents from the floor, paused with a stunned expression.

Kael threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "What?! It was just lying there!"

"..."

Rami, who had been neatly stacking a bundle of papers, staggered and nearly lost his balance when he heard Kael's words.

Even Ruth, whose stone-like expression rarely cracked, twitched visibly. His eyes narrowed sharply, and the vein above his temple pulsed uncontrollably.

"What did you just say?"

His voice was dangerously low.

"You're telling me… the dragon egg, something the entire Serpent Gang couldn't locate after occupying the mine for months—was just lying there, and you just picked it up casually?"

"Do you know what that means?"

The room seemed to shrink under his cold gaze.

"At least fabricate a lie that doesn't insult my intelligence."

Kael's smirk withered, his expression stiffening. He opened his mouth, only for a nervous chuckle to slip out.

"Hey… don't tell me… You want it for yourself?" Kael asked, half-joking but he was mostly panicking inside.

He wasn't pretending anymore.

The allure of the dragon egg was no small matter.

A dragon egg..a mythical object tied to one of the strongest species in existence. A potential tool for ascension.

SSS-Rank was considered the limit for humans. Beyond that lay the realm of the gods. A path that had long been sealed by divine decree.

Mortals had tried to cross it. Wars were waged between gods and men. The end result? A compromise: Demigods. But even becoming a demigod was next to impossible.

A dragon egg, however… it carried potential. A chance slim, maybe 10%, but still—a chance to break through.

Could anyone truly resist such temptation?

Kael eyed Ruth carefully. Would his old man try to take it?

But Ruth just stared at him coldly and said flatly as if understanding Kael's thoughts, "I don't need such useless things."

Kael frowned.

'Is he saying that out of pride? Or… wait, maybe he doesn't know how to use it?'

'Yeah, that's it..He just doesn't know how to use it.'

After all, very few did. Kael himself had devoured ancient scripts and lost knowledge just to learn about it. Even then, the process required was so complex and specific that most wouldn't even attempt it.

"Now," Ruth said, his tone sharp and clipped, "what do you plan to do with the dragon egg?"

Kael leaned back and answered, "Naturally, I'll keep it."

Ruth's gaze narrowed. "It might bring us a lot of trouble."

Kael grinned. "Are we afraid of trouble?"

A rare flash of approval crossed Ruth's eyes. He raised a brow and gave a slow nod.

'Good… at least he's grown brave.'

Ruth exhaled and reached for his teacup, only to pause as Kael reached into his bag and pulled out a thick folder, setting it gently on the desk with a self-satisfied smile.

"…Now that you've asked everything," Kael said, brushing invisible dust off his jacket, pulling out the documents "Now should I begin?"

"Begin what?" Ruth asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Then he saw the documents. And his expression froze.

With a blur of motion, faster than a trained knight's sword swing, he snatched the folder and flipped through the papers.

His eyes skimmed line after line, growing wider with each page.

"Wait…"

His lips parted in shock.

Kael folded his arms proudly. "It's not fake. I put my life on the line for this. And—you'll love this your lovely daughter is also involved."

He leaned forward, watching eagerly.

He expected a yell. A slammed desk. Maybe even another aura clash.

Instead, Ruth calmly put the file down, leaned back in his chair, and after a brief moment said with an eerie calmness..

"I see."

Kael blinked.

'Huh?'

That was not the reaction he expected.

"…That's it?!" Kael asked, bewildered.

Ruth took a sip of tea and smirked faintly.

"I knew she was up to something. She's your sister in crime, after all. Since you have such a knack for knocking trouble how can't she?"

"Are you sure you aren't cursing yourself after all, it's from you where we might have inherited this?"

"Don't tag me with you? It might have come from an ancestor just like your Uncle Ramos."

Kael's lips shut up.

Now that Ruth said that, even Kael couldn't find any words to refute.

Kael groaned and collapsed back in his seat. "Tsk. You old man… you never react the way I expect."

Rami, finally done cleaning, silently lit a scented incense stick in the corner and muttered with a sigh, "If this is how every reunion goes… I'll need an extra year's salary."

"Maybe he's too shocked to react."

Kael decided to wait a moment, letting the old man process what he had just said.

However..

'What the fuck…'

"What do you mean, 'I see'?"

Kael's voice rose in disbelief.

"Aren't you supposed to condemn her? Isn't she tainting your damn pride?"

Ruth furrowed his brow but said nothing.

Kael's expression darkened, his eyes glinting with cold fury. A chill began to seep from his body, sharp enough that Rami in the background subtly stepped back.

"You're showing favoritism now? If it were me, you would've kicked me out without a second thought."

Ruth raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly, his voice calm but heavy.

"Do you think what you've done so far hasn't been enough to deserve being kicked out?"

Kael froze.

"And despite all that," Ruth continued, his voice edged with steel, "have I ever dragged you by the collar and thrown you out? Even when you were acting like a complete nuisance, did I ever cut you off or humiliate you in public? I didn't even slash your budget."

"If it were someone else, you might have already been abandoned and thrown out to fend for yourself on your own..Hm.."Ruth snorted coldly.

"Huh..."

Now it was Kael's turn to be shocked.

Thinking back, even though his status had been ignored at times, he was never truly restricted. Not in freedom, not in spending. Unlike his previous life where he was tightly leashed, here—even with a weak body—he had been allowed space.

Yes, he was ignored and looked down on by servants but his freedom was never restricted. It's just that the previous self had too thick skin to go out.

And his finances had never been blocked, not in the way he had assumed.

Ruth noticed the change in Kael's expression and calmly added, "This battle is between her and you. So naturally, you should end it… Unless you are incapable."

"I don't care what meaning you use unless you kill one another secretly.I won't be involving myself until and."

A sudden monstrous aura burst from Ruth like a tidal wave.

"Unless she comes for my head wanting to dethrone me and take the seat herself."